Medinia was excited. Very excited. She hadn’t imagined that there would be an article 17 dance on shipboard! Not that anyone would want her! Some of her family ran to stout, and some to short, and she had gotten the genes for both. Her father was going to find it hard to find her a husband, and she couldn’t imagine any of these military lads wanting her, even with his money. She would probably end up as the fertile wife of some banker.
But a dance was a dance, and she had never been this close to Miss Illoia! They had actually exchanged greetings! Her father would be thrilled if she had managed to form some sort of relationship with her. Maybe she would get a chance to talk with her. Maybe Miss Illoia, too, would be a wallflower. Maybe none of these military lads would dare to ask her to dance, let alone try to seventeen her…
“Excuse me,” she heard. A male voice. A lad standing right behind her! She turned and, her heart in her throat , she saw… It was the young hero! With his uniform set to black and his medals flashing on his chest!!
For the very briefest of instants she was sure, utterly sure, that he had come for her. But then she saw that his eyes were not on her, but on Miss Illoia. And he hadn’t tapped her on the shoulder, he had just…
She darted out of his way, bumping into two other lasses, and he moved on, his eyes still focused on Miss Illoia.
She saw him stop just outside the group of lasses that were standing closest to Miss Illoia and stare at her. Medinia stared at her too.
Miss Illoia was wearing a gorgeous neo-silk dress, in a style called the ‘Dictator’s Ball Gown’. Neo-silk came from a caterpillar that spun a super strong and fine almost transparent thread that sparkled. Tarento was known as its origin and it had made Miss Illoia’s grandfather a fortune. Her particular dress was pink with a variety of shades, and at her waist she wore no fewer than seven petticoats under its skirts, producing a very nice effect. And the dress rose smartly toward her bosom, the colours lightening and accenting her breasts marvelously. Medina sighed. She could never look that good even in a dress that expensive. No wonder the hero wanted Miss Illoia.
Medinia looked back and forth between them. Miss Illoia was just shorter than the hero was, about his age (so rather old for an unmarried lass) and her eyes echoed the intelligence that everyone talked about. Her long brown hair was tied high with a single knot that her unmarried status required. Really, except for her nose, which it must be said was too big, what was there for a lad not to like?
Medinia spared a quick glance for the rest of the room and pretty much everyone else was also staring at the hero. Medinia crept closer and listened. Miss Illoia was still telling a joke, and she had not quite reached the punch line when the young hero pushed his way into the inner circle, stared at her, and she finally noticed him! She gave him a brief, startled, glance, faltered for a second, and then turned hastily back to Eudoria, and blurted out, “So then he said…”
“Excuse me,” the hero said, tapping her very smartly on the shoulder in the traditional way, and stepping closer, his eyes piercing, making Medinia’s heart race. “Might I have this dance?”
“What?!” Miss Illoia said, turning back to him, taking a half-step back, her eyes a bit wide and then narrowing, “No thank you,” she said, “I don’t feel like dancing right now…”
Medinia gasped, watching Miss Illoia turn back to the other young ladies. You weren’t allowed to do that! Once a man, a military man, tapped you on the shoulder you had to dance with him! And why would any lass refuse to dance with him?! He was a hero! On his way to the front to do heroic things…
All of the lasses looked shocked. Some of them turned back to Illoia, but most of them stared at Tom, eager to see what he would do with this rejection. He didn’t look embarrassed or anything! He just grinned, gave a few notes of a tuneless hum, and then reached out his hand, again, to tap her even more firmly on her shoulder. Medinia so wished he was tapping her! She wouldn’t have refused him!!
“I invoke Article 17,” he said, very clearly, and bent his arm in Miss Illoia’s direction.
Miss Illoia whirled back, stepped a full step back from him, flushed white, then red, but after a few deep breaths took his arm.
The hero’s hand on her arm, his face a smug grin, her face a barely concealed grimace, the young hero walked Miss Illoia past the other lasses, right by Medinia herself, and then on to the small gap between the group of lasses and the married officers, the only space (except for the similar space near the lads) that seemed to have any room for dancing. Medinia sighed, resigning herself to being the only wall flower. Maybe she could talk one of the older lads of the married officers into dancing with her.
Then she noticed the group of married officers opening like the Red Sea before Moses and the young hero, also seeing the gap, walked Miss Illoia on toward the centre of the room, both of them falling into the rhythm even as they went until, reaching the very centre, will all eyes on them, he turned fully toward her, held out his right hand, palm out, she put her right hand against his, and they began dancing in place, or as much as the steps allowed them. The music was a Fennellen rhythm, and the two moved naturally into those steps, holding, almost pushing, each other at arm’s length in a complicated series of exchanges, a series of bows for the the hero and, for Miss Illoia, an equal number of twirls.
Miss Illoia danced marvellously, but Medinia almost giggled at the way the hero was dancing. He danced… like a cat. More or less the right moves but no… no real… his movements were so soft. There was no spring to them. Certainly not the way Medinia had been taught to dance.
Miss Illoia and the young hero danced for almost a full minute before a subcommander tapped his own wife on the shoulder, grinned and said, loudly, “Let us show these infants how it’s done!”
His wife, despite the infant strapped to her back, moved gracefully with him onto the floor where they joined Tom and Illoia. Seconds later several other couples had joined them and the party proper could be said to have begun. Medinia settled back against the wall to wait… eyeing the food but knowing that getting food would totally ruin any chances she had for getting a partner.
Thank you for reading Von’s Substack. I would love it if you commented! I love hearing from readers, especially critical comments. I would love to start more letter exchanges, so if there’s a subject you’re interested in, get writing and tag me!
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Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,
Von
Links
Article 17
Intro // Podcast Version
She was pretty, popular, snobby, and a planetary governor’s daughter. He was the son of shopkeepers, a social misfit, and a decorated hero. She thought she was there to dance. He had other ideas.
A Dance // Podcast Version
As a governor’s daughter, Illoia usually avoided such events, but when the captain made the announcement that there was to be an Article 17 dance, she, too, was forced to attend. If only the scum hadn’t been there too.
The Unbridgeable Chasm // Podcast Version
Eukles and Meriones, brave military leaders, quail at cross the gulf between themselves and asking a lass to dance.
There He Is // Podcast Version
The young hero comes in, and Aleshia and Illoyia gossip about him.
Article 17
Intro // Podcast Version
She was pretty, popular, snobby, and a planetary governor’s daughter. He was the son of shopkeepers, a social misfit, and a decorated hero. She thought she was there to dance. He had other ideas.
A Dance // Podcast Version
As a governor’s daughter, Illoia usually avoided such events, but when the captain made the announcement that there was to be an Article 17 dance, she, too, was forced to attend. If only the scum hadn’t been there too.
The Unbridgeable Chasm // Podcast Version
Eukles and Meriones, brave military leaders, quail at cross the gulf between themselves and asking a lass to dance.
There He Is // Podcast Version
The young hero comes in, and Aleshia and Illoyia gossip about him.
More information on the Article. It can't be refused. Very formal indeed.
I like this new character. She seems like the "Girl next door" type. As Jasini said, she'd support her husband and never draw attention to herself.
I'm enjoying this story. Very much.
Ah Ha! A complication!
Assuming this new POV character is really a character, and not just an alternative viewpoint for the dance, this can go several ways:
1. She ends up with Our Hero, leaving the governor's daughter fuming (more points if the governor's daughter has to marry one of the lesser officers).
2. She ends up with one of the lesser officers (nice boys) and is deliriously happy (to the surprise of both). Then either both the governor's daughter and Our Hero are taken down a few notches, and are happy together. Or neither one of them is taken down a notch, and they're miserable together. But breed well.
I expect this lass to turn out to be the perfect young officer's wife, propelling him up the ladder while never drawing attention to herself.
Hopefully someone will ask her to dance, so she can show everyone how it's done.