hand.”
“That’llbetrickier,”Daiyumuttered,andtriedtofastenthe bracelet around her right wrist. She was clumsy enough that the copper band clattered to the floor. “Can’t I just brush it against his skin?” she asked.
“We do not want him to sense danger and jerk away before he has been transported,” Aurora said. “It is best to take no risks. Plan to secure it around his arm.”
“As I said,” Ombri commented, “it will be wise to practice. And on someone other than yourself.”
Kalen immediately held out his own bare arm. Daiyu tried to snap the bracelet around his wrist, but she accidentally caught a little skin in the clasp. He smothered a yelp and pulled back.
“Sorry,” she said. “Seeming a little less easy all the time.”
Kalen laughed back at her. “Even less easy when you’re dancing,” he teased.
“Do you know how to perform the tiaowu ?” she retorted. “Because you’re the one I want to practice on.”
She expected him to say no, but he surprised her. “Yes,” he said. “Aurora’s been teaching me.”
“We have been focusing on this day for a very long time,” Aurora explained. “We thought Kalen might make a reasonable partner. Ombri will play music for us whenever you’re ready to learn.”
Daiyu rose to her feet and everyone else followed suit. “May as well start now,” Daiyu said. “The sooner I learn, the sooner I’ll be able to go back home.”
I tturned into a scene of hilarity. Ombri hauled out what looked like a xylophone and used soft mallets to coax music fromit. At first Daiyu just stood near the wall and watched Aurora and Kalen tread out the patterns of the tiaowu . The moves were very formal, a hand clasped here, a step taken there, a bow, a twirl, a promenade.
“This doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen in cultural videos about China,” Daiyu remarked when they took a break. “It’s more like something out of a Jane Austen movie.”
“The Han culture on Jia has points in common with China, but not everything has translated,” Ombri replied.
“And it becomes even more complicated when you add other couples to the dance floor,” Aurora said as she motioned Daiyu forward to take her place. “Once you learn the basic steps, Ombri and I will join you, and you’ll see how the pattern changes.”
“That might not be for a while, ”Daiyu said. She had slipped the copper bracelet into the pocket of her black pants, and now she stood facing Kalen, arms extended, palm to palm. When the music started, they took their first careful steps, forward, back, to the side. She was concentrating hard, but she stumbled once and missed two key turns. By the time they segued into the part of the dance where he was escorting her in one wide circle around the dance floor, she was so frazzled that she forgot about pulling the bracelet from her pocket to manacle his wrist.
“You lost your opportunity,” Kalen said. “That’s when you were supposed to fling me back to my own iteration.”
“Oops,” Daiyu said. “Let’s try it again.”
She made almost as many mistakes the second time through, and the third, but she was starting to get a sense of the pattern of the dance. It got more interesting when Ombri and Aurora joined them in the middle of the room, both of them humming the music as they danced.
“Well, I finally understand that little turn after the promenade,” Daiyu observed when they were done. “Let’s do it once more with all four of us.”
This time as she paraded down the middle of the room, her right hand on Kalen’s arm as they followed Ombri and Aurora through a sequence of steps, Daiyu managed to free the bracelet from her pocket. The music swooped to a peak, sending a signal to the dancers, and Kalen swiveled in Daiyu’s direction. Daiyu snapped the bracelet on his wrist.
Instantly he collapsed to the floor, gasping and writhing. Daiyu shrieked and dropped beside him, crying out his name. Ombri flew across the room as
“That’llbetrickier,”Daiyumuttered,andtriedtofastenthe bracelet around her right wrist. She was clumsy enough that the copper band clattered to the floor. “Can’t I just brush it against his skin?” she asked.
“We do not want him to sense danger and jerk away before he has been transported,” Aurora said. “It is best to take no risks. Plan to secure it around his arm.”
“As I said,” Ombri commented, “it will be wise to practice. And on someone other than yourself.”
Kalen immediately held out his own bare arm. Daiyu tried to snap the bracelet around his wrist, but she accidentally caught a little skin in the clasp. He smothered a yelp and pulled back.
“Sorry,” she said. “Seeming a little less easy all the time.”
Kalen laughed back at her. “Even less easy when you’re dancing,” he teased.
“Do you know how to perform the tiaowu ?” she retorted. “Because you’re the one I want to practice on.”
She expected him to say no, but he surprised her. “Yes,” he said. “Aurora’s been teaching me.”
“We have been focusing on this day for a very long time,” Aurora explained. “We thought Kalen might make a reasonable partner. Ombri will play music for us whenever you’re ready to learn.”
Daiyu rose to her feet and everyone else followed suit. “May as well start now,” Daiyu said. “The sooner I learn, the sooner I’ll be able to go back home.”
I tturned into a scene of hilarity. Ombri hauled out what looked like a xylophone and used soft mallets to coax music fromit. At first Daiyu just stood near the wall and watched Aurora and Kalen tread out the patterns of the tiaowu . The moves were very formal, a hand clasped here, a step taken there, a bow, a twirl, a promenade.
“This doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen in cultural videos about China,” Daiyu remarked when they took a break. “It’s more like something out of a Jane Austen movie.”
“The Han culture on Jia has points in common with China, but not everything has translated,” Ombri replied.
“And it becomes even more complicated when you add other couples to the dance floor,” Aurora said as she motioned Daiyu forward to take her place. “Once you learn the basic steps, Ombri and I will join you, and you’ll see how the pattern changes.”
“That might not be for a while, ”Daiyu said. She had slipped the copper bracelet into the pocket of her black pants, and now she stood facing Kalen, arms extended, palm to palm. When the music started, they took their first careful steps, forward, back, to the side. She was concentrating hard, but she stumbled once and missed two key turns. By the time they segued into the part of the dance where he was escorting her in one wide circle around the dance floor, she was so frazzled that she forgot about pulling the bracelet from her pocket to manacle his wrist.
“You lost your opportunity,” Kalen said. “That’s when you were supposed to fling me back to my own iteration.”
“Oops,” Daiyu said. “Let’s try it again.”
She made almost as many mistakes the second time through, and the third, but she was starting to get a sense of the pattern of the dance. It got more interesting when Ombri and Aurora joined them in the middle of the room, both of them humming the music as they danced.
“Well, I finally understand that little turn after the promenade,” Daiyu observed when they were done. “Let’s do it once more with all four of us.”
This time as she paraded down the middle of the room, her right hand on Kalen’s arm as they followed Ombri and Aurora through a sequence of steps, Daiyu managed to free the bracelet from her pocket. The music swooped to a peak, sending a signal to the dancers, and Kalen swiveled in Daiyu’s direction. Daiyu snapped the bracelet on his wrist.
Instantly he collapsed to the floor, gasping and writhing. Daiyu shrieked and dropped beside him, crying out his name. Ombri flew across the room as
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