Elegy for a Star

Mairaela clapped her hand down on Tess’ ass, causing her to squeak sharply.

It almost sounded like two slaps. Had that been the echo? Gods, she hit hard! Mairaela was cackling like a hyena.

Much of Tess’ face was, understandably, cherry red. Especially as most of the attendees of the Ball turned to look at them. At Tess. It only dawned on Gwen a moment after that Tess might get hard from that. What was their plan if that happened?

“Rub it out,” Gwen advised Tess with a knowing smirk, “‘Cause it’s time to dance!”

Tess was glaring knives at Mairaela when Gwen tugged her down toward the dance floor.

“Oww, that hurt! She somehow got both cheeks! What the fuck, Mai?” Tess laughed, rubbing her sore bottom.

Gwen could only join her, but she was more focused on the approaching dancing.

There was already a minstrel playing in the corner and a few couples that were dancing to the music. Gwen had learned to dance as a knight—being able to show yourself in the high life was one of its minor requirements—excited to show her what a good dancer she was.

It was perfect timing too, because the song changed just as she and Tess arrived upon the ballroom floor. Gwen recognized the song, but didn’t know its name. All she recalled was a haunting, beautiful melody that she could lead Tess through. When she brought her date—or better yet, girlfriend—to the center of the dancing floor, she wrapped one arm around Tess’ back and took her hand in the other, extending it to the side.

Tess was in good spirits by the time Gwendolyn got her into this dancing position, though her cheeks remained a pinkish color that only made her look more beautiful than she already was.

“Someone is excited for this,” Tess said with a smile as Gwendolyn began to lead her along in a slow circle, slowly rotating as they went along with the other dancers.

Gwen couldn’t help it, she was just so excited to be here with Tess! She couldn’t believe how lucky she was. Oh, how her life had changed since meeting this woman through that strange ritual. What ever happened to that ritualist by the way?

It wasn’t important, there was no time to dwell on it! Gwendolyn didn’t really care about anything but her dance partner at the moment anyway.

Her attention was pulled to the side where she saw Mairaela and Joyona, with the former in stitches, howling with laughter. Joyona was even smiling. Gwen was so glad to see the two of them having fun. They deserved it.

Gwen startled as she ran into someone behind her. She had grown distracted, so lost in Tess’ eyes that she didn’t keep the pace she was supposed to, and ran into the couple ahead of them. She turned to see Lulu, dancing with a well-dressed Fey. Lord Altair Aelrindel, a noble that abandoned his birthright to join the Corps. Was Lulu really that desirable to gain the affection of a Lord, of all people?

“Really?” Lulu said, furrowing her brow at Gwen.

Lulu had been the one to outshine Gwen in their aura class, leading to Gwen’s breakdown. She’d been meaning to talk to her, but never found the right moment. They had been so busy with the void.

Tess spoke for them, “Sorry about that, I’m new to dancing.” She gave a nervous laugh.

Lulu kept her eyes on Gwen, shaking her head, “Like I believe that. Gwendolyn has always had it out for me.” Her large, yellow eyes were focused on Gwen beneath a heavy layer of displeasure. “Will you please just leave me alone?” Lulu snapped, “I have done nothing to you.”

Gwen tried to find the words, but fumbled for a moment, “Lulu, I…”

Tess was pulling on her, “Let’s just dance some more.”

“No,” Gwen replied, shaking her head, “Lulu, can we talk?”

“So you can stab me like you did Admaris?” Lulu said, clearly bitter about their past interactions, but that remark stabbed her in a different way. Gwen hadn’t known it was affecting Lulu so badly. She was like a shield wall during class. Nothing ever fazed her. She was always focused on the teacher, getting every question right. Did she really catch Gwen’s hateful stares?

“No, just-... somewhere else?”

“Whatever you want to say, you can say here, where I feel safer,” Lulu replied. She was clearly upset. Gwen felt like someone was squeezing her heart. What had she unknowingly done to this girl?

“I wanted to say sorry,” Gwendolyn replied, “My behavior toward you was out of line. I was under-…”

No, don’t make excuses.

“…I messed up, and I’m really sorry.”

Lulu gave Gwen a dubious look. She didn’t believe the apology, Gwen knew.

“I was only jealous that you did better than I did during class. I was used to being top of my class, in my youth, and I should have accepted that this wasn’t the case anymore,” Gwen explained slowly, “But instead I was envious and hateful toward you. I’m sorry. Can you ever forgive me?”

She didn’t look like she knew what to say, but Lulu didn’t tear it down immediately, which was a good sign. Eventually, she spoke, “Maybe someday. But for now, I would like my space from you.”

“Yeah,” Gwen replied, shaking her head, “Of course. Sorry, again, for bumping you. It was a genuine accident.”

Altair tugged Lulu’s arm, saying, “Let’s go. Let them not bother us any longer.”

Lulu gave Gwen one final look, turned her attention to Tess, before turning around to resume dancing with her lordly date.

Gwen turned back to Tess with an apologetic frown, “Sorry that happened.”

“No, that’s okay,” Tess reassured her, “That was the girl you were talking about, right? Lulu, you said?”

Gwen nodded her head, “I was pretty mean to her, leading up the Week of Conflict.” Gwen sighed, “I didn’t think she noticed. Thought it was all in my head, but I guess I was being obvious about it.”

“You aren’t the most subtle, no,” Tess grinned, giving Gwen’s shoulder a squeeze as they rejoined into their dancing position, “Don’t worry. You’ve apologized, now it’s up to her whether she forgives or not, and you can’t control that.”

There was a sudden clattering and a gasp just off to the side as a dark-haired, antlered woman collapsed to the ground, falling from the sidelines and into the dancefloor, her face bloody and nose broken. Gwen’s hand went to her sword belt but found nothing there in its place. The crowd gasped, but no threat appeared. Did she trip?

“Oh gods, that’s Morena,” Tess said, wide-eyed, looking at the bloody woman. Tess pulled away from Gwen and stepped toward the beautiful, dark-haired woman who was collecting herself and covering her bloody nose. She was crying.

“That was you, wasn’t it?” Morena sneered at Tess.

“What?” Tess said, shaking her head, “No, I just saw you fall, so I wanted to-...”

“Wanted to what? Gloat?! Mock me?”

Gwen was about to give the woman a kick when Tess did a quick triplet of signs with her left hand. How had she gotten so fast? Gwen only saw The Keepers, but didn’t manage to catch the other two. Tess was getting really good at this.

Morena squeaked as her nose popped back into place on its own, the split in her lip fixing itself, and though the blood on her face didn’t clean itself off, there was no further blood that gushed from her wounds. Morena was testing her nose before she looked up at Tess with big, cat-like eyes, “You’re a Wyrden?”

Gwen felt a pressure in her chest, her mind scrambling to think of how this could be bad for them. Maybe they only just found out about Tess’ sorcery? No one had to find out that Tess could cast in the Void. Maybe she was just a late blooming Wyrden. She didn’t want to come out about it before she knew it for a fact, maybe? Yeah, that would be their alibi.

Tess stood and offered Morena help to her feet. Morena simply stood up on her own, heels threatening to slip on her own blood. She got to her feet and pushed an arm across her nose. There was something feral and wild about the woman covered in blood. There was something natural to it. It suited her, like claws on a monster. It was beautiful in a way.

Morena just turned around, notably not offering thanks to Tess, as she made her way to the doors to leave. Tess turned back to Gwen and shrugged her shoulders, “Sorry about that.”

“That’s okay. We both have our drama. Who was she?” Gwen asked, taking Tess’ hand and placing the other on her hip. She felt nice. Warm and soft. The curve of Tess’ hip filled her hand in a lovely way.

Tess looked in Morena’s direction, but then back to Gwen with a shrug, “Met her after you-... well, after the Week of Conflict. She was in my sorcery class. Gave me shit every day. She hates me for some reason.”

“And here you are, fixing her up. You’re too nice, Tess. Should’ve kicked her,” Gwen smirked.

Tess rolled her eyes, “Let’s get back to dancing before another classmate is set on fire this time.”

“I think I’m a bit danced out, do you mind if we go over there?” Gwen nodded her head toward one of the clearer areas off to the side.

Tess just smiled, “Oh, good, my feet were tired.”

Gwen returned the smile, looking over Tess’ face, which only made her lips go wider. Her feeling went from happy to joyous and with one hand on Tess’ lower back, Gwendolyn pulled her into a fond, lingering kiss.