09


"Longest Night" was a misnomer. The full moon did not always fall on the solstice, but it was a more palatable (or even marketable) name to the foreign merchants and visitors who braved the frigid north to celebrate the midwinter full moon. To them, this far north, it likely was the longest night they would know; daylight lasted only a scant few hours this deep into winter, with the sun completing only a shallow arc over the horizon before night again blanketed the port town.

Despite what it had become, it was still a joyous occasion. The hard winter nights were shortening, and Saravys was a time for celebration.

Theo's duty during such events was to talk - to see what news foreign ports brought. They flitted between groups with ease, switching languages and demeanors to match. Alexei, with the other Paladins, simply had to attend and be seen - a reminder for their visitors to be mindful.

Alexei had trailed Theo for a time before they shooed him off and told him to go have fun. He'd found a place to stand aside and watch the cries instead, arms crossed behind his back. The temporary market's open space had been cleaned of snow, iron braziers set out for light at intervals between the stalls that allowed those without sufficient night vision to see what wares traders had brought with them.

"Alexei!" Theo called, and he scanned the crowd again, finally finding them waving him over with mischief on their face.

He muttered an oath under his breath and stepped away from the edge of the market, picking his way through the crowd to reach the group of Catalunyans Theo had joined. "Shtono?" What?

"Oh, be nice, you know Kynosian." They said as they looked past him without actually answering, waving at someone else now.

Linneas - the Paladin who served under Katarine - stepped up beside Alexei, brow slanted at Theo. He was in the same official finery, and he scanned the Catalunyans with some curiosity. He didn't deal with foreigners nearly as often, so to be summoned over to a group of them must have been disconcerting.

"We've had a request," Theo said cheerily, switching to Irovian and causing Alexei to share a suspicious glance with Linneas.

"Shtono?" This time it was Linneas who asked.

"Geleva Senna! These fine gentlemen are sailors who know of our game and hoped to see it in person." They sounded delighted at the prospect and the Catalunyans looked amused enough by this fact alone.

The two Paladins looked at one another again. Linneas shrugged one shoulder in a 'why not' gesture, so Alexei nodded to Theo. It was as much a sparring game as it was a dance, and despite his distaste for having attention on him, it was something that Alexei otherwise enjoyed. It also explained the need for two Paladins, they were the only individuals allowed to be armed tonight.

"If you can find musicians who-"

Theo hurried off before he could finish, weaving through the crowd with little difficulty - off to find a fiddler and a drummer.

"I do not know how you keep them in line," Linneas said with a chuckle, watching as they disappeared into the crowd.

He couldn't help a low laugh of his own. "They know when to focus. I have learned the importance of letting them have their fun."

Linneas hummed his understanding. He paused before continuing. "Are you... well enough for this?" He'd lowered his voice, not to be too obtrusive.

Alexei knew what he meant - it was a complicated drill that would need both hands. His grip was fine enough with his left hand, but he had only practiced at slower speeds. "I suppose we will find out," he said with a slight grimace, "but I believe I will be fine." It had been nearly two years now, so he was willing to try.

Linneas smiled, clapped him once on the shoulder. "I am glad to hear it." The two had always gotten on well, an easy camaraderie between two people who would rather train than deal with others.

It didn't take Theo long to return with two musicians in tow. They always seemed to know where someone was, or at the very least where they should be, at any time. Alexei recognized the drummer - she had kept time for drills before, but the fiddler he didn't believe he'd met more than in passing. "Thank you both for your time," he said with a shallow bow.

They returned his bow, both smiling. "It is our pleasure," the fiddler said before the two moved to get out of Theo's way. Theo whistled loudly to get the attention of those around them before herding the crowd into a circle and telling those who asked why that they would be answered soon enough.

With everyone moved aside, Theo took a place beside the drummer who had dropped to a knee, hands at the ready. Theo raised their arms to cross their wrists over their head, taking in a deep breath before they dropped their hands and began to sing - voice a loud and rich tenor over the chatter of the crowd. Geleva Senna was a popular tune amongst Irovian sailors and it didn't take long for others to join their voices with the Haruspex's. The first verse served more as a call to gather and to allow time for the performers to take position, and the Paladins moved to oblige.

Alexei and Linneas stood a few long paces away from one another in the center of the small ring Theo had urged spectators into. They stood at attention and drew their sabres, bringing the grips to their foreheads in a salute before bowing. Each fell into starting position, standing with their feet together at an angle, left arm behind the back, right arm outstretched with the blade pointed forward and slightly up in a middle-height guard.

The fiddle came in after the opening verse, the same words repeated but to a new, faster rhythm that the rest of the song would build on. Linneas was grinning, and Alexei's own came unbidden as each dropped the tip of their blade to swing them into small mirrored moulinets, starting at the wrist and moving to the shoulder, wide arcs matching the slow starting cadence of the song. The crowd clapped in time with the music, and the drum picked up the tune as the tempo increased.

The two stepped forward into a single spin, moving their left arms up overhead as they did to roll the grip of their sabres over their left wrist before catching it and continuing the motion now in their off-hand.

Their swords caught the firelight in glinting arcs as they spun them over their heads and behind their backs. Linneas had set the pattern and blessedly kept his switches between hands few. As the second verse rose, both stepped forward into what was more clearly a dance, each taking a step with their right foot, then a sweeping outward step with the left to circle around the other, moving closer and maintaining the pattern of moulinets they'd set. When they were nearly within striking range each spun again and reversed direction to move right around the other rather than left.

There was a woop from the crowd and the song's tempo suddenly jumped. Each took a gathered step back to reset their measure before lunging in again to meet fully in the middle, falling seamlessly into what without music would have appeared to be a normal sparring drill. They kept their movements offset just enough that each cut flowed into the other's matching parry, trading blows not yet meant to land.

The clash of steel kept time with the song, the drum and clapping nearly imperceptible under the sound. They kept pace as they circled one another, steps and blades in time with the music.

The song crescendoed into its final verse and the two broke apart, still circling one another but blades stilled into a hanging parry and left hands returned to sit behind their backs. The game now was to land a blow as the song ended, a test of timing and anticipating what one's opponent would throw.

Linneas moved first, but Alexei ducked and turned his blade so the curved edge of his own sabre caught Linneas's blow. He pushed back up with the same motion he'd turned his sword into the parry, sweeping the blade through overhead to disengage Linneas and make room for his own cut. He dropped the blade's tip behind him into a moulinet much like the dance's and stepped forward to catch him on the collarbone. He collapsed his arms as he did, following through to not actually hurt the other, nearly colliding with him as the song ended and the crowd cheered.

Linneas caught him with a grunt, then laughed raucously as he pulled him into a hug. "Good show, Alexei," he said, just loud enough to be heard over the din and clapping him once on the back.

"Same to you, Linneas," he returned, laughing breathlessly and leaning to carefully knock his horns against the other's forehead. "Thank you for preferring the right hand."

Linneas only grinned more widely and clapped him on the shoulder again before he released him and turned to bow to the crowd, Alexei following suit.