• Solo • Celebration of Friendship

[Rei'sari]

10th Vhalar, 721

Location: ---


Rei'sari woke with the sun. She felt restless as she went about her morning routine, so as soon as she finished clearing away the breakfast dishes, she went out for a morning flight. The wind whistling through her feathers felt wonderful. She kept her eyes peeled for wind currents, selecting ones that would give her a bit of a challenge without being too difficult for her to handle.

She danced with the wind, playing with the wind currents as a child might play with a treasured friend. That was what the wind currents were to her, after all; close friends. After a while, she began to do some simple aerial tricks. She flew shapes in the air, then flew up as high as she could go, only to dive straight down until she could almost touch the tops of the trees. When that ceased to amuse her, she began racing one of the wind currents. Finally, she flew a few loops.

When she felt the restless energy that had been built up inside her calm, she flew back to Egilrun. As she flew overhead, she noticed that people were gathered in what looked like a celebration of some kind. People wearing bright colored clothes danced for an audience, and Rei'sari thought that they looked as free and happy as she did when she flew.

Curiosity got the better of her, and she found a place to land where she wouldn't disturb anyone. After she was on the ground, she went to join the crowd that was watching the dancers. Everything about them was beautiful. They moved with a grace that amazed Rei'sari as she watched them dance. Some of them wore long, flowing gowns that shimmered with the slightest movement. Others wore shorter dresses that were easy to move around quickly in. All of them were brightly colored, and all of them were beautiful.

"They're beautiful, aren't they?"

Rei'sari turned to see a girl who looked to be about her age standing beside her. She nodded.

"Those are Daia's dancers."

"Daia's dancers?"

Rei'sari wondered who Daia was. Was she the woman who taught these dancers how to dance? Or perhaps Daia was the person who ran the dance troupe that these people belonged to? Or wait...wasn't there an Immortal named Daia? Rei'sari thought there was, but she wasn't completely sure about that.

The girl nodded.

"That's right. Daia is the Immortal of Dance, and these dancers dance to honor her. At least...that's what I've heard, anyway."

Rei'sari repeated the knowledge to herself so that she wouldn't forget it.

"Have you seen the rest of the festival yet?"

"No. I just got here a few bits ago."

"Then you should definitely take the chance to look around and see everything. There's singing, and music, and all kinds of stalls selling stuff..."

The girl would have said more, but she was distracted when three more girls ran up to her.

"Sorry. These are my friends, and I really need to get going. But you absolutely should look around while you have the chance. Bye!"

Rei'sari watched the friendly girl run off with her friends in bemusement. Then she turned back to watch the dancers some more.

[Rei'sari]

10th Vhalar, 721

Location: ---


When the dancers stopped to take a break, Rei'sari decided to see more of the festival rather than watch the new dancers that were getting ready to perform. She wandered around for a while until a small crowd caught her attention. When she stopped to see what was going on, she saw a woman who was dressed like the dancers she had just seen giving dance lessons to the people around her. Rei'sari had never really been interested in dancing before. Not on the ground, anyway. But the dancers had made it look so effortless. As they moved they looked so...free. Almost as if they were flying. It had made an impression on Rei'sari, and she found that she was interested in learning how to dance now that she was presented with an opportunity to do so. In order to do that, Rei'sari moved closer to the front of the crown so that she could see and hear better.

"The word dance itself means a series of movements that match the speed and rhythm of a piece of music. In other words, dancers move rhythmically to music, typically following a set sequence of steps. This is not always the case though. There are many different styles of dance that to have steps that one must learn. But at its most basic essence, dance is simply moving to music, so you do not need to know the steps to any one particular style of dance to be able to dance."

Rei'sari listened carefully to what was being said. She wondered if the way she "danced" with the air currents could be considered to be real dancing if she did it while listening to music. Then she wondered how it might be possible to manage something like that. Would she be able to hear a song well enough to dance to it if someone was playing music on the ground below her?

The woman who had spoken began demonstrating a few different dance steps. With each one, she told the crowd which type of dance she was demonstrating, and how difficult the step was to perform. She made them all look easy, but from what she explained, some of them were quite difficult to do. After a while, another woman approached her with a violin, and she asked if anyone wanted to try some of the dance steps themselves. Almost everyone did. The second woman began playing music softly so people who wanted to do so could try to dance to it.

Rei'sari watched as several people in the crowd attempted some of the dance steps with varying results. She didn't really want to be at the center of attention, but she did want to learn how to dance so she waited until most of the crowd had dispersed before asking if she could learn one of the steps too. The woman asked her which step she wanted to try, and Rei'sari told her that she wanted to learn the simplest one that she had shown them.

After trying it several times, Rei'sari managed to perform the step correctly...but her attempt looked nothing like what the woman had demonstrated. She felt frustrated with herself for failing at something that was supposed to be simple. Her feelings must have been obvious because the woman asked her to close her eyes, and try to feel the rhythm of the music.

When she did, the woman told her to try moving to it. Not to try the step she had tried to learn again, but simply to move to the pulse of the music. Rei'sari did as she was asked, and she was amazed that she was able to do it. She didn't attempt to do anything fancy the way she might have had she been flying, but there was a freedom in simply giving herself over to the music and moving.

"And now you're dancing. It really doesn't have to be that hard."

Rei'sari stopped, and stared at the woman. She chuckled.

"Oh, don't get me wrong. Some of the styles of dance are very challenging, and if you want to become a professional dancer, it is far from easy. But for someone who simply wants to experience the freedom that dancing can bring? Dancing isn't hard at all. It's fun."

And it was. Rei'sari danced for a little while longer before it was someone else's turn to give it a try. Then she moved on to see what else the festival had to offer.