The dancing could only be described as joyous. I sat watching silently, enjoying the lively music and the noise of people having fun. The squeal of a startled girl, caught around the waist and dipped unexpectedly by her enthusiastic partner, put an amused smile on my face as I watched them idly, hands folded in my lap, twitching occasionally to stroke or smooth the soft fabric of the finery I wore. I dare not shift where I sat in the grass, lest a wiggle of mine bruise a leaf and put a green stain on the expensive fabric. 715Please respect copyright.PENANA5kMmaPd5v2
I wasn't quite sure why I was here. Not that I was ungrateful. I'd been wanting to come since I was no more than a cub, too small to be allowed at a Faire even if I had been normal. Not that any of us knew I wasn't back then. 715Please respect copyright.PENANALsdDOSMn6f
Six or seven was the normal age to go to one's first Faire, but here I was, already ten years old, looking like an adult but feeling just as lost as the half-grown cubs I saw scampering around in nervous huddles, or else hiding behind mothers' skirts, full of wonder and excitement and fear. 715Please respect copyright.PENANAkIBKGiZBph
I couldn't help but admire those skirts, and those I saw being peddled by a few vendors around the market area, but of course I dared not go look closer, touch the deliciously beautiful fabric, or exclaim over them as I saw many females doing. I could just afford to admire the clothes on others, though; then it just looked like I was gawking at their often ill-concealed bodies beneath the lovely garments. 715Please respect copyright.PENANAfjXsduZkB1
With a sigh, I returned my attention to the dancers, who had broken formation and were standing around, panting and grinning at each other for a few moments in between songs. A flute player shook the spit out of his instrument and set it on a cloth behind him, then picked up another, smaller flute and licked the mouthpiece pensively before he began with a trill that the others soon joined in with, and in another moment the dance was back in full swing, partners prancing around each other with delight on their faces. Some, I could see, were mates or sweethearts, moving knowingly together, the expressions on their faces more tender than exhilarated. Others had clearly just met, and were nervous with each other, or missed steps, or--in the case of one bright-furred, handsome male--paid no attention at all to their partners, instead ogling the tails of any females who passed. 715Please respect copyright.PENANAuhmOicTO45
I jumped and almost fell over as a girl came from behind me and plopped herself down just to my right on the grass, too familiarly close for my comfort. She smiled at my start. She was lithe and soft-furred, tan bespeckled with a bright goldish color. She wore a long red skirt and a tiny top that fit tightly around her breasts and barely covered anything else. "Hey, handsome," she said in almost a whisper, "Sitting out, are we?" 715Please respect copyright.PENANALYkwlDdTtL
I winced, but tried to hide it by scratching my brow. I didn't want to be 'handsome,' and certainly not to her, who I had never even seen before. "My name is Hawean," I said softly.715Please respect copyright.PENANAIgSQbw5ZDo
She smiled, looking down demurely, and moved a little bit closer. "I'm Jasi," she said, "Want to dance?"715Please respect copyright.PENANAoNbxbY7UM0
I was completely taken aback. Dance? Me? With her? I could scarcely believe she had even asked. Certainly she was a pretty enough female, but that didn't mean that I--715Please respect copyright.PENANAgLe8hYCQQU
"I'm not going to force you," she said, seeing my expression, which I quickly controlled. "If you don't want to dance, I don't mind." 715Please respect copyright.PENANATLGIq6uk8u
I tried to inch away from her subtlely, but she saw. "Am I bothering you?" she said quietly.715Please respect copyright.PENANAxBpTnqIpgm
I opened my mouth, not sure how to respond, and she sighed softly.715Please respect copyright.PENANAOq6ZbtAL7H
"Sorry," she said, getting up, and started to walk away.715Please respect copyright.PENANAn5gChYAQMd
"Wait!" I said suddenly, scrambling to my feet as I realized that I was missing the point. I, who had always wanted to come here and be a part of this wonderful festival, was now shoving myself away from the heart of it.715Please respect copyright.PENANAfqGaqv8Rzx
"You're not bothering me," I babbled nervously, "I'm just--I'm shy." Not precisely true, though I could be a bit intimidated by people. It was close enough to excuse my behavior.715Please respect copyright.PENANAPMrudb252r
Her smile was back, radiant and kind. "Well then maybe I should give you a little more space," she said, padding back up to me and stopping a couple steps away. "My offer still stands, though."715Please respect copyright.PENANAVFuVNPJXJo
I hesitated. I did want to dance, but she wasn't exactly my ideal partner, and I didn't want to give her any wrong ideas...715Please respect copyright.PENANAzZZ7TFBzQf
"No obligations. Just a dance as friends if you like," she said, again reading my face like script. 715Please respect copyright.PENANAQsN7JWlHQK
I nodded. "Yes," I said, making myself relax, "I'd enjoy that."715Please respect copyright.PENANA473L7Y0uLX
Just then the song changed again, the drums beating a slower tempo, and the instruments wove through it serenely.715Please respect copyright.PENANAngDkWMeRNL
Jasi chuckled. "Maybe next song," she said, and flopped, again, on the grass as I sat carefully beside her. "So where do you hail from?"715Please respect copyright.PENANA44RNsSqeFS
"Ek'nen," I answered, again smoothing at the wrinkles in my clothes.715Please respect copyright.PENANAV4ezzX8jCQ
"I don't know where that is."715Please respect copyright.PENANA7zcJLWkOGJ
"Northeast. A few days' travel. We're pretty far out."715Please respect copyright.PENANAf88KHgDJVG
She nodded. "I'm from Kaalak, south of here."715Please respect copyright.PENANADrN6RyrgPD
I nodded back. I hadn't heard of it.715Please respect copyright.PENANAbWSwcBVr2t
We sat in silence, me cursing my awful social skills as my mind was suddenly blank of anything at all to talk about. I started fiddling with a grass blade I plucked to avoid having to look at her.715Please respect copyright.PENANAuLKLcTqYz8
"They've all got such beautiful dresses," she said wistfully, startling me into glancing down to where she lay, head on her arms, again to my right. She was watching the dancers just as I had been.715Please respect copyright.PENANAJBh6onynnT
"You do too," I said, surprised.715Please respect copyright.PENANA4JI1HKOo2E
"Oh, this thing." She rolled on to her side and held out the fabric of her skirt so I could see it better. "It's been to almost every Faire since my grandmother was my age. There have always been enough females in the family to swap out on who wears it, so I don't think anyone has ever noticed that it just keeps coming back, and back..." She flopped back onto her stomach again. "It's like it's the dress wearing the aasen, not the other way around."715Please respect copyright.PENANAvGDYpWBZa0
I snorted at her unexpected joke, and we looked at each other and laughed for a moment. Grinning, she reached up and poked me in the muzzle.715Please respect copyright.PENANAujPMK3wQ4f
"There's a smile," she said, "I knew you had one in you."715Please respect copyright.PENANADZ6OYvH8F8
Now only grinning from embarrassment, I looked down.715Please respect copyright.PENANAKi42O1I4Lg
She just chuckled. "You really are kinda shy," she said, "One would never guess by the way you stare at their butts." She nosed toward the dance floor.715Please respect copyright.PENANAoBa4xK5Mak
"I wasn't!" I said, then made myself relax. There was nothing wrong with a male eyeing females, it was only a little forward...715Please respect copyright.PENANAmmjHVaatlM
"Of course you weren't. You were admiring their dresses." She saw my nod and looked at me incredulously. "You really were."715Please respect copyright.PENANAuudlPigP68
"I like the designs," I said, sensing that she didn't think it too strange of me, suddenly eager to express what I'd been thinking. 715Please respect copyright.PENANAus5VrhP7qk
Jasi just shook her head. "You're an odd one."715Please respect copyright.PENANAISy3z3wNtS
"Sorry." I studied the blade of grass between my fingers, quite bruised from my idle attentions to it.715Please respect copyright.PENANAEaF9MrXdm3
"Oddity is good," she said simply, "Makes for much more interesting times."715Please respect copyright.PENANA4TKthGsqoR
I chuckled slightly, nervous but relieved, and stood up as the song ended again. "Ready?"715Please respect copyright.PENANA9b7tuXwUXW
She bounced up beside me, making me take a step back. "Certainly."
We stood opposite one another, she watching my face as I only tentatively met her eye, both of us waiting in the tense, silent seconds before the start of the next song. Somehow we'd gotten into the very middle of the formation, and even though I was glad to be there, the sense of having no escape was making me twitch. 715Please respect copyright.PENANAvN5qSeIeBG
She reached over and took my hand as all the other pairs did the same. "Not used to dancing?" she whispered.715Please respect copyright.PENANAAQnTk1myhY
"Not like this," I replied, and then the drum set a quick beat and we were off. 715Please respect copyright.PENANAvtghNj3rLw
It was a whirling dance, a set of revolutions around one's partner, joined by the hands, followed by quick reverses, interspersed with moments when everyone split into two groups divided by gender and danced, for a moment, alone, watching one's partner until we all rejoined and spun once more. 715Please respect copyright.PENANAW1GDtqGx5H
At first the dance was easy, repetitive and simple, but as the short verse started over and the tempo increased, I realized what the aim of it was. Verse after verse, one or both members of each pair would grow too dizzy to continue, some even falling down before being helped by their partners off the floor. I was faring fine, feeling befuddled but keeping my feet, as over half the floor was empty, but Jasi was slipping, and several times I only barely managed to catch her and keep us going, suddenly glad of my size and strength. Finally, though, she skidded to a halt and practically collapsed against me, making me hold her up. 715Please respect copyright.PENANAHSMWlLEar3
"I'm out," she gasped, and we threaded our way, unsteadily, out of the mix and into the trees beyond, passing the place we'd been sitting by her lead until we reached a small stream that was just in hearing of, but hidden from, the main part of the Faire. A young male cub, his clothes discarded on the bank, was trying to catch fish in the shallows, but when he saw us he squealed, snatched his pants up, and fled into the trees, holding them in front of him concealingly. We both laughed hard as we settled down on the bank, and Jasi stuck her whole face in the water and came up dripping, her long tongue flicking the drips from the end of her nose. 715Please respect copyright.PENANALdNCScdgeV
"You were good," she said, "Sorry I lost balance so quickly."715Please respect copyright.PENANA06los6JKV3
I chuckled. "Don't apologize for that," I said, sticking my big feet in the chilly water and watching my long fur wave around in the current, "It was fun."715Please respect copyright.PENANAYqkoxuFOlp
She smiled. "Of course."715Please respect copyright.PENANAMvNSVhkucE
I shifted until I could lower my face to the water and lap a good quantity of it up, cool and refreshing, my breath calming after that wild dance. 715Please respect copyright.PENANAVh7ANyRoqg
"Want to go find a snack with me?" Jasi said suddenly as I finished, again bouncing up fast enough to take me aback. 715Please respect copyright.PENANA9GRwHENjRr
"Sure," I said, getting up more slowly, and we padded toward the clearing again in companionable silence.
We soon found ourselves back at the place where Jasi first found me, several sahnaw fruits in our arms, and we sat down--her, as seemed to be usual, with a bang, and I more sedately--and ate them carefully so as not to get the juices all over our fancy clothes. I, still not quite sure of her even though I was more relaxed now, didn't feel inclined to talk, and she seemed content to just stare off into space as she munched slowly. I ate daintily as always, and after a time became aware that she was watching me pick neatly at the fruit with my teeth.715Please respect copyright.PENANAcqbOu3EvyJ
"What?"715Please respect copyright.PENANAP8rzX7E3Kd
"Nothing," she said with a smile, and went back to staring out over the most of the Faire. Now it was my turn to watch her in confusion, wondering just what a pretty, outgoing female like her wanted with odd, quiet me. She smiled slightly, deep in thought, and absently pulled the front of her dress up slightly where it had started to lose its hold. Realizing this wasn't something I ought to be watching, I looked away again. 715Please respect copyright.PENANA9AyiFEysa0
She startled me by chucking a finger under my chin. "Don't be so awkward," she teased, "Though it is cute of you."715Please respect copyright.PENANAiA6i1SgyIO
Again I winced. She was getting the wrong idea. 715Please respect copyright.PENANA1PGExbIPgr
I got halfway up and resettled, sitting on my ankles with only my paws and tail touching the ground, almost a stride more removed from her than I had been. "Jasi..." I tried to say gently, not sure how to word it. "I'm not interested in you like that," I said quietly, unable to meet her eyes. 715Please respect copyright.PENANAbJ9a3ja8Ao
"Tsk. I can tease my friend, can't I?"715Please respect copyright.PENANAs0SdWBZ2n1
I cocked my head at her.715Please respect copyright.PENANA9Ja9FTlJta
"I'm not trying to flirt with you," she said, grabbing the panel of fabric that came off my hip and using it to pull me sideways so that I fell onto my haunch and was sitting about where I had been beside her. "Well, not really. I'm just looking for someone to hang out with. I don't know you well enough to be courting you." She laughed, though I wasn't sure if at herself or me.715Please respect copyright.PENANAg9Sdc0zAwg
I nodded. "Sorry," I said, "I just didn't want you to get the wrong idea."715Please respect copyright.PENANAsicPAs43wz
She smiled. "That's good of you."
We parted not long after, when a sister of Jasi's came bouncing up, all adolescent excitement, and dragged her away. She turned and briefly bid me good-bye and I was able to call back just before she was dragged out of sight.
That night, I was lying in my tent, fiddling idly with my necklace by the light of a single tallow candle when the flap swished aside and my mother crawled in. I shifted aside for her. She didn't need as much room as I did, but still I couldn't lie in the middle of the 'floor.' 715Please respect copyright.PENANAdqgIQT0exi
"So, how was your first day?" she asked, shrugging out of her dress, just as heavy-fabricked and uncomfortable to sleep in as my clothes. She eyed me. "And why aren't you out of that yet?"715Please respect copyright.PENANAuUxJmlCqIC
"I can't reach the ties in the back, remember?"715Please respect copyright.PENANA9KbVdW0jYe
She nodded, "I forgot, silly me." She gestured for me to sit up and I did, and felt her nimble fingers untying the cords that held my jerkin on. I sighed in relief as the heavy, constricting thing came off, and again as she untied my undershirt. I shrugged out of both of them and shook myself, silently enjoying the freedom.715Please respect copyright.PENANA6lE5b7oEba
"Get your pants off and get in those blankets, squirt," Mom chided, "You're just asking for some peeper to spy on us and rat you out."715Please respect copyright.PENANALEYOYMcPzq
"I'm not a squirt," I protested mildly, slipping out of my pants and then under the light blanket as she folded my finery neatly so that it would be nice and unwrinkled for tomorrow. 715Please respect copyright.PENANANoMhn35YLZ
She caught my head between her hands and nuzzled into my mane. "You'll always be my squirt." She blew the candle out and crawled under the blanket beside me. "Now go to sleep."715Please respect copyright.PENANA8Nne5gTM9c
I was glad to obey.