The Forgotten Waltz

  Perhaps it was the way the music seemed to be the only thing that rang in Labelle’s ears amongst the crowd of hundreds. Perhaps it was the way the scent of pine and the chorus of leaves rustled against the pitch black sky, that made her feel so utterly alone.

Labelle wandered through the tightly dense scene around her, bodies adorned in varying shades of golds to the deepest of blues, and all she ever discerned were her own shallow breathes and the sweat condensing just below her nape. The ball of The Grove raged around her. Dresses ruffled against perfectly tailored tux’s and perfectly statured postures. She was practically the only body in the area that wasn’t dancing reverently to the melodies that left the little orchestra of 5.

“It’s beautiful” she whispered to no one.

And it was, under the full plump moon, everything seemed to be bathed in this iridescence of a white glow, suddenly people were covered with a haze and all blended in with one another into a collection of living breathing entities, who pounded their feet to the now quickening melody. Labelle was already exhausted enough and the rush of adrenaline that everyone seemed to have in their spirits, just never reached her. When she arrived, everyone just seemed to walk right past her. Never really noticing her, even if she decided to dress up a little more than usual for this occasion. So there she sat on a small tree trunk, lined with glowing mushrooms and twinkling fireflies. There she lounged, in complete boredom.

There, but not present.

Alive, but not living.

Labelle let out a sigh of frustration, as she ruffled her ebony hair and slowly got up to try and find a refill for the empty glass in her hand. She walked carefully around those who danced in the middle, spotting her company twirl away with a maiden adorning a mask, fashioned to look like a fox of the purest white. Staring at her older brother, she felt a pang of jealousy, for he was always like that, the center of the dance, as much of the main show as she was just a bystander.

“Oh pity me,” she mumbled “might as well get drunk before wallowing.” as she continued her search for the nearest table, housing the liquor that has nullified the ache in her chest.

Finally, she spotted the table that was garishly decorated with heaps of vines and fallen leaves, and poured the liquor until it filled her glass entirely, she made sure to catch the small sips that escaped the glass from the overfill. Labelle closed her eyes tightly, savoring the warmth and tang of the golden ichor left on her soft lips.

“Well someone sure looks like they’re having a good time”

Labelle turned towards the new voice, stopping midway as the face just beside her ear smiled. His breathe caught on the loose stands of her hair, Labelle took a step away as the man leaned back up with a slow dignified grace. Almost as if he had all the time in the world.

“Excuse me?” Labelle says.

“Well,” he stares “you do seem to be taking one too many glasses of the ichor” he remarked with a smile.

Labelle noticed this, but doesn’t catch if it reaches his eyes since it was covered by yet another mask featuring a woodland animal of the sort. His was a sparrow hawk, it’s feathers simply vanished into his hair, and Labelle spotted pieces of it fallen and lost into the wild strands that escaped the bundle of locks tied in a string of silver.

“And my state of intoxication has what to do with you?” she replied, wanting but unable to turn away as she was completely and utterly transfixed over the man who practically lounged in front of her.

Turning his head away from her, thankful that the darkness covered his feline smile the man in the mask simply shook his head.

“It’s not any of my business,” he bowed gently, “apologies darling” tilting his eyes up towards her.

“Labelle” she said after a pause, reaching her hand out.

“Cai” he replied, took her hand and placed a gentle kiss on it.

Labelle was taken back by the act, strange in a place where formality was long forgotten at the front door and all that remained was the wicked splurge of laughter and sweat on silk. She pulled her hand back, switched the glass between them and took a big quick sip to hide the red that blossomed across her cheeks. Labelle wished she wore a mask too.

“So,” he said “what brings u here anyways?”

“What brought everyone here, free liquor and a good time” she replied.

“Funny.”

“What is?”

“You seem to be only participating in the former.”

“Well, haha guess that’s just the way I like things” she said, taking a deeper sip this time.

“Would you like to change that?” he replies, as he turned towards her, his face framed by the glow that seemed to magnify his darkened features, almost like marble.

Labelle considered this, thinking about the moment she gets to go home with the ache in her chest even bigger than when the night started.

Chugging down the remains of the glass, she set it down and grabbed his hand.

“You better know how to dance lover boy”

With Cai trailing behind her, and Labelle walking with a sudden burst of determination, it was almost comical in a whimsical kind of way. Labelle’s dress of green billowed against Cai’s fast long strides, trying to keep up with the hand now grasped firmly between his slender fingers. The laugh that bubbled from his lips was intoxicating. Heads turned at the sight, of foxes and bears and deer's, all staring at the two as they weaved their way to the corners of the rush that was dancing.

Dancing in The Grove was no ordinary feat, with the added amplification of the lunar significance, people from all kinds of villages and kingdoms slithered their way into the glorious night. Tiered in a way of extravagance, they way you got through the experience was by stepping into the Leyline of Muse. With the music speeding up and the dances getting harder and intricately woven like ravaged constellations the closer you got to the circle’s center. Labelle was no dancer, and only ever heard about the atrocity of the Leyline through mouths attached to feet so tired and breathe so taken away, a fire seemed to bloom from their core and it was like flesh reborn. Molten and forged by the movement of feet on dirt and bodies thrown into the crescendos.

“Are you sure you want to start here” Cai called out over the music that seemed to exist even louder around them.

“Scared?” she replied, smiling for the first time during the entire night.

Cai’s eyes widen for a split second, trying to absorb the sight in front of him in as much detail as possible, to capture, Labelle in that very moment. Glistening with so much childlike excitement and grace he couldn’t help but try and calm the beating in his chest.

“Oh test me Labelle” he smirked.

Labelle’s grin widens as she ushered him straight into the edges of the Leyline’s very center.

#

There it was, the symphony of flesh and harmonies rising by the very second. Like a glorious summoning, a collection of bodies that swayed in such synchrony, to those watching it was nothing more than a holy ritual to the moon and to the music that flowed it’s way into their very being.

The edges were forgivable, the dancing simple and slow, the place for couples to whisper in each other ears and for lovers to hold their significant even closer. Labelle knew the steps to all the rings of the Leyline, having watched and memorized for the time she would finally brace herself to enter and morph into a new person. Cai knew them too, having done it multiple times before.

“So,” Cai whispered into her ear, his breathing even “am I to your satisfaction?”

“For now” she whispered back.

He leaned back and pressed her closer to the sturdy frame of his body, their heartbeats clung together through the fabric, the beat of the two loud and clear with the turns and switches of their feet.

“Oh for now it is?” he said, “Tough crowd.”

“Well, okay you’re not that bad”

And Cai wasn’t, the entire time his hands were placed firmly and deliberately above her waist and his feet seemed to lead in a way Labelle, though she refused to admit, would’ve never been able to do in a million years.

“Saints, was that a compliment I heard?” he said cheekily.

“Oh silence yourself, I can practically see your ego inflate in front of me”

“Technically, I heard no denial”

“You’re infuriating”

“One of my many lovable qualities actually”

“By who’s standard?” she smiles.

“Mine” he smiles back.

They slid their way through the music, the outer edges were like the flow of air and water, gentle nurturing but still filled with life and cadence. Labelle’s emerald dress of silk danced around the them unconfined, as the two held hand and hand and moved with the earth.

“Want to go in closer?” Labelle questioned after a while.

“You sure?” Cai said hesitantly “It’s gonna get pretty fast and I’d rather not lose sight of you”

“Oh please” Labelle said, turning to the center to hide the rush of emotion in her eyes “you don’t even know me, it’ll be child’s play.”

“Then shall we?” Cai requested, chuckling.

Passing couples adorned in the colors of the sky and dirt, they maneuvered their way into the second circle, closer and closer to the feverishness of the center. Here there was no time for idle chatter or poetry and prose to be sent by lips. There was only the rush of feet, the delirious mess of loose hair and bodies curving in and out as the music richens and saturates those who were fast enough to keep up.

Instantly, Cai and Labelle were windswept into the crowd, they spun and turned, tapping their feet and clapping their hands with smiles practically burned onto their faces. Sweat glistened on their foreheads as they’ve never once, broken eye contact. Two souls, weaving and flowing across the tapestry of flailing limbs and stomping legs, intertwined by the simple connection of them never letting go. Although they would have to eventually, for this part of the Leyline entitled partners to switch halfway in the “Metamorphosis of Time”. Where partners are torn apart and replaced with others in a rapid change of hands and breathless turns.

“Okay we have to let go right about…NOW” Cai yells.

Labelle let out a shriek of laughter as the warmth of his hand escaped hers and she turned and spun into the arms of another male.

Labelle didn’t even have enough time to discern any of the new partners features for it was all but a blur of skin and gold as she was twirled yet again into the arms of another person.

This time Labelle caught a glimpse of the brightest red, her partners figure was shorter and slimmer than the past one and Labelle’s eyes lingered towards them a little longer even after the switch, because she was probably the most beautiful woman she’s ever laid eyes on. The lady in red caught her glance and sent a deep sultry smile her way before vanishing in the chaos of the crowd.

Labelle laughed, deep and rich, as she landed into the arms of another suitor once again.

This one was taller, and smelled like honey and wine, this turn of the dance was longer so Labelle could discern what her partner looked like this time. He was relatively pale, with hair cut wild and short which framed a face that was round and soft. He looked remarkably young.

“Hello” he said sheepishly, his pale complexion failing to hide the fluster under Labelle’s scrutiny.

“Hello to you” she says all teeth and grins.

His words were cut off as Labelle caught a familiar face getting closer, pulling her hands back, she spun around the young gentleman before landing in familiar arms. In Cai’s arms.

“I believe we’ve never met” Cai said with his smirk full blown and sweat dripping down the dark exposed skin of his blouse.

Cai took a good long look at the Labelle in front of him, already brimming with so much life and raw energy that she does not resemble the husk of a person he caught washing away her thoughts with gold.

“You sure?” she says, playing with his game “well that’s a shame I could’ve sworn I met a man as egotistically annoying as you before”

“You see,” he replies, mock hurt “that hurt Labelle.”

Labelle laughs at the pout he gives her as he takes her waist in his hands and lifts her up to the rise in beat. Labelle’s words were swept away from her mouth.

Cai set her back down, Labelle flushed directly against him, both breathing heavily and pure ecstasy rushed into their veins. They could live in that very moment forever.

Suddenly, a chorus of clapping aroused around them as the trance they were in broke, and they both look up to see the musicians rise from their platforms, surrounded by intricately woven branches, and took a deep bow. Labelle and Cai looked away from one another, the space between them absent of heat as they clapped with the crowd.

The Leyline dancers departed and headed to their tables as the customary break occurred, a moment for them to catch their breathe and prepare for the center’s full blowout.

“Wait why did we stop” Labelle asked, unaware of this.

“The Lyre players need to prepare the ritual piece” he says, not looking at her.

“Ritual?” she questioned.

“Yes,” he answered, pulling out a chair for her to sit before he settled into another across her “the center signifies the collection of souls intertwined forever, under the full moon the dance itself becomes magnanimous, almost holy”

“That sounds terrifying” Labelle muttered.

“Well most things extraordinary are anyways” he replied, looking at the empty space in the middle of the grove, Cai pictured the ghost of memories across the eroded floors; the moments with her.

“We don’t have to participate if you don’t want to” he said, eyes lowered to his fidgeting fingers” or maybe you’d want to do it with someone more significant to you perhaps?”

Labelle turns at this, and stares at the glory of the man in front of her. Not questioning the emotion rising up from her very core. She hasn’t known Cai for longer than a day, only having spent the past few hours with him, and yet she seems to gravitate towards him unwillingly. Like a pull that she just couldn’t describe. A voice, rising from the ache in her chest, once heavy and dark, now lifting and saying ‘Go’

“No, but maybe we can finish the dance somewhere else.” she states.

Cai freezes and looks up at Labelle leaning forward, the intimacy of her startling him more than their dance together.

“Your wish is my command” he simply says.

#

So they danced, took each other in their arms and swayed to the soft hum of music far away from the grove. A gentle movement under the glare of the full moon, Labelle and Cai would have their first of many dances. They would dance before their first kiss, swayed and drunken on the white light and stars flickering above their temples.

“I love you” Cai would say.

“How much my dear” Labelle would always reply.

“More than the poets loved the stars and the sea loved to crash along earth’s shores”

“And I too, will love you for eternity” she’d say, with tears in her eyes.

Cai would kiss them away, softly, because he had all the time in the world right?

They danced during their wedding, a small thing really, but to them it was the very essence of their lives that seemed to connect and forever be interwoven to their fate. Labelle and Cai were known throughout the kingdoms as the “Lovers of the Moon”, always caught in the middle of Leylines and always drifting and pulling towards one another like planets crashing across the sky.

They would always be like that.

At least that’s what they hoped.

In that moment alone, Labelle found her home and Cai found his love.

Although fate, had other plans.

Time and cruel, cruel fate shook the world under Labelle’s feet and tore out cries of anguish as the flowers wilted and the sky turned grey, for fate would not change for these lovers. Even as she dances, every full moon, all alone in a house empty of another soul, the wedding band rusty as it’s other half to the set is still attached to the finger now buried under nothing more than dirt and a remembered man.

Labelle dances on her own now, forever haunted by the warmth that’s never found it’s way back to her. People pass their estate, watching as she lifts her hands up like a prayer to the skies and sways to the music that’s no longer there. She sways and sways and flows to the grief that encapsulates her every breathing moment, reliving that night in the grove where she first met him over and over again. Until the sun rises, until Labelle steps out into the sun, framed by it’s raging light like a soul set on fire, and wishes she’d burn with it.

THE END.