Temple Palace

Chapter 15: Tracer

Tracer looked out at the dance floor with horror. He was not doing that. The dancers were twirling around the room faster than he could track. The women were all in colourful dresses and holding long fans that they were wielding like sticks. When they spun away they would open their fans and spin them around their bodies in blurs of motion. The men were all wearing colourful thin boots like the pair they had tried to get him to wear. Yeah right. He was not taking part in this. He would just have to find some clever way to tell Tek without hurting her feelings.

“I am not doing that,” he stated.

“Please Tracer, it's simple. The male part is easier because you don't have to use fans. Here.” She handed him a pair of painted sticks from a basket next to the door. She grabbed herself two fans to match her lavender dress. A dress that she should not be wearing in public. She must not be aware of it but the entire top half was see through, covered only by squiggly patterns of ribbon that barely covered the important parts. So barely that he could almost see them sticking out from under—

Nope, he couldn't. He couldn't see them because he was no longer looking. His gaze was fixed back on the dance floor, the tables, the dancing sticks, anywhere but Tek's—

“Here, I'll show you how to do it,” she said, breaking off his thoughts just in time. Not that it helped now that it had drawn his attention back to her. Her and her see-through dress. Oh God.

“No thank you, I don't want you to show me how to do it.” He gave a frustrated chortle and looked at the ceiling, his face on fire.

“Are you okay Tracer? What's wrong?”

He felt her small hand touching his arm with concern and he cursed the fact that she was so caring about everything. Cursed her innocence that made her lean into him so that he could feel the warmth of her body, making sweat break out everywhere.

“Nothing, it's just, uh, warm in here.”

“Yes I know, thats why you should have put on some dance clothes. They're different from other clothes to allow more movement, see?”

No, he didn't want to see.

“Fine, let's dance,” he growled. He stomped out to the edge of the floor with Tek following behind him. Other dancers quickly made space when they saw the look on his face, some of them stumbling in their haste to get away from him.

“Okay, so first you face me.”

Reluctantly he turned around. He focused on her forehead.

“So you hold them together like this, and then we step towards each other and bring them up to hit.” She ran through the motions with him, adjusting his arms with her hand when he got it wrong.

“And then we do the same, but on the other side.”

“That's it? It looks more... complicated.”

“It is. This is just one of the moves. Here, I'll show you the rest—“

“No! That's not necessary. We can just do this...”

He heard Tek sigh and then she started dancing again, going through the motions slowly for his benefit. The drum beat picked up and all the dancers around them started to dance faster too. He watched as couples started to pull away and trail over the the tables around the edges, sitting down at the cushions on the ground.

“Wait, can we do that too?”

Tek expertly manoeuvred them past another couple and to the edge where she claimed them two cushions. It was darker at the edge of the room, the lights focused on the dance floor like it was a stage. Food sat on the table untouched.