Dancing had never been Essek's forte. His fortes laid in more solitary pursuits, pursuits that didn't require him partnering up with someone who likely only wanted to be seen with him to attempt advancing their social standing among the court, requiring him to touch them as they tried to weasel den or state secrets out of him. There were many reasons that he hated parties and had done his best to avoid them once he was old enough to do so and the social expectation of dancing when an orchestra was involved was one of them.
He didn't mind dancing in Vallo, though--the list of things that he didn't mind in Vallo that he had very much minded in Rosohna was long and expansive, so that didn't make the activity all that special in a general sense. Dancing, though, Essek tended to associate with Caleb, being the sentimental old man that he'd somehow become. They didn't have many occasions to do so, but the handful balls and parties they had attended together usually had dancing and, well. He'd already given Caleb his den and state secrets, so might as well enjoy the proximity.
Teaching had become an actual forte of Essek's. Though teaching magic felt like a much different task than teaching someone to dance, but there had been few things that he had been able to say no to Blue Sargent regarding and apparently teaching her to waltz was not one of them. Essek didn't know how that had happened, but he was beyond caring to actually figure it out; he was just glad to be able to count the vibrant young woman among his cast of friends.
But that was how they had found him in the large living room of his towers, the space big enough for such a task. His towers weren't used for much more than storage and the occasional quiet escape when he needed it, so it felt good to give them a use. Blue at his side, he made familiar gestures with his hands, after which the furniture throughout the room all skidded across the wooden floors, settling against the walls to clear the space.
Essek turned to Blue and gave her a small, crooked smile. "This is your final chance to back out and find a proper dance instructor."
Blue was not what one would call a dancer. She liked to dance, but in that nobody is watching way, when in fact it was very much in public. Anything could be a dance in her opinion—as long as she was throwing her hands around and moving her feet, and wiggling at least one third of her body in time with the beat. It was a chaotic mess of limbs, and Blue was moderately okay with where she stood on the dancing meter.
Except for the fact that it had somehow charmed herself into the graces of a sociopathic cannibal for a brief fleeting moment. It made her feel pretty icky, and she vowed to never twerk again.
But she didn't want to give up dancing entirely. And not that she minded embarrassing Gansey when they dragged each other onto the dance floor at a handful of weddings, but she wanted to be better. Surprise Gansey with her slick new moves, which would in fact be slick old moves. Waltzing always seemed too stuffy and something Blue didn't think she had any interest in. Until now.
She watched as the furniture slid aside, and Blue straightened her shoulders with her tried-and-true determination. "Proper dance instructors are overrated. Do I look like I do anything properly?" Blue asked, smiling up at Essek.
"Do I need to stretch? Do a few toe touches?" Blue twisted side to side, and lifted one leg in a half-hearted attempt to touch her feet.
"I doubt that we will get nearly that vigorous, but by all means." Essek's voice was mildly teasing, accented by the smile he was still giving Blue as he canceled his floating cantrip, dropping several inches as his shoes touched down on the floor. He didn't float nearly as much as he used to back home--which was, of course, all the time--but he still liked to keep it up, partially out of an echo of vanity but also because he just liked it. Floating off the ground seemed counterproductive to dancing, however.
And though he had just teased about stretching, Essek did the same, stretching his arms and twisting to the side as he mimicked Blue's movements, clearly showing off his extensive (aka nonexistent) understanding of stretching and physical health.
"I hope to keep this as painless as possible," he promised, "and I do include that to mean that I will do me best not to trod on your toes. I think that is frowned upon, even for not proper instructors."
"Shouldn't I be telling you it will be as painless as possible? I'm definitely going to step on your feet, even if I'm trying not to," Blue said as Essek copied her warm-up. They were definitely in for it if Essek was talking cues on stretching from her. Her education had been public school P.E. at a bare minimum when it mattered, and Calla's aerial yoga, merely as an observer. She knew she was bound to get lost in the silks.
Blue did one last arm shake, and hopped from one foot to the other, before she smoothed down one layer of her multi-layered skirt, and nodded. Affirmative. "Okay, I'm ready." Now that Essek wasn't floating—she needed to figure out how to do this because the extra inches on the height was noticeable—she held out her hands. "Where do these go? Gansey's a little taller than you, but I think it won't really matter. I just need to know how to do the basics."
She paused, giving him a curious glare. "When was the last time you waltzed? I'm not going to change my mind, you're the only person who I know won't give me a hard time about bumbling through this, but..."
"Mm." The thoughtful hum likely did nothing to instill any confidence over whether or not Essek could successfully do this little lesson. "It was an event here," he continued, considering with a tip of his head, "and it was with Caleb. He is a far better dancer than I, but we are here so I am afraid you are stuck with me."
He gave a slight smile before continuing, "I did not dance very much back home and, when I did, it was because my mother was glaring at me across the room of some gala or event. I was taught at an early age, but it wasn't until attending parties here that I came to appreciate it." A sentimental thought, he chided himself. At least he knew he could express such a thing in Blue's company.
"But, most people in Vallo are taller than me, so it really should not make much of a difference in the long run. You just will have to reach a bit higher with your arms." Essek held his own arms out in the air before him in the proper position, demonstrating for a moment before letting them fall again. "But I will teach you how to follow at first, then we can try to let you lead. I may be wrong, but something tells me that Gansey would appreciate that, too."
"Most of the dancing from where I'm from is just lots of swaying. Or grinding. This is why I didn't go to my senior prom, bleck." Blue finished off the sentence with a half-hearted gagging noise. She might have made it at the thought of learning formal dancing too, but this was—ugh. It was different now. There was someone in her life that would be pleasantly surprised by secret formality; Blue knew she wasn't exactly proper by any means
Blue's hands shot out again, mimicking the position—her hand on Essek's shoulder, and the other scooping up his hand. "He would, " Blue agreed, a little crinkle in her brow. "I think he would enjoy any part of this, the fact that I'm learning at all. But you can't tell him. I know I said it once, but I have to say it again."
She knew Essek wasn't going to spill the beans, but there was a sliver of embarrassment that she hated to admit. Tough as nails, down-with-the-patriarchy Blue Sargent was doing something archaic for a boy. But that boy had done more than enough to make her feel special without the expectation of something in return. The ring on her finger was a tangible reminder. "He surprises me all the time, it's giving me a complex if I don't get him back. Like, getting revenge but with nice things."
That, Essek found, was a familiar sentiment. The list of things that Caleb did for him, both as a surprise and just because he was so generous with those he cared about, was extensive. He could understand just as well the desire to give back in return; Essek had long since given up on thinking he would ever feel that he truly paid Caleb back for all of the kindnesses he had shown him, but he also thought that was just what loving someone and being loved in return was all about. That didn't keep him from finding ways to appreciate him all the same--and he found himself very glad to be able to try and be a part of Blue doing the same for Gansey.
"Your secret is safe," Essek said as he adjusted their joined hands and lifted his other to rest gently at Blue's waist. He leaned in a bit closer, as though sharing a secret of his own. "I dabbled in spymaster once, you know, so I have the credentials."
Straightening back up, Essek fixed his posture and continued, "I am happy to help you with your nice revenge. I expect to hear all about it when you do surprise him." Nodding toward their joined hands, he asked, "Does this feel all right? I thought we would start with the basic steps, then eventually work toward adding music. It seemed a logical approach."
Blue huffed and smiled. "Using your skills for good, Essek. Even if I curse about it, I swear it's for good." When Essek took up his position, Blue momentarily stilled. It wasn't a bad thing, only that all the joking needed to be set aside, if only for a moment. If she was serious about surprising Gansey, she had to be serious about learning.
"You might get to see all about it when it happens," Blue said, taking a cautious step back, and trying to count a lively 1-2-3 in her head. With or without music, she was going to be stumbling through most of this. Waltzing felt like a lot of organization of her steps, and given her current outfit situation—layers of colors, patterns, and textures—being organized was for suckers, and not for Blue.
"There's the ball coming up on the first. Just have to survive through the rest of this month—" which given the past few weeks, Blue wasn't sure if that was entirely possible unscathed. "So there's a deadline to at least get these two left feet presentable for public consumption." She bounced on the balls of her feet and somehow managed to step on one of Essek's, already. "Ugh, sorry."
"No apologies necessary," Essek assured Blue, internally proud of himself for not even wincing. "This is why I am good friends with a cleric." Among many other things, of course; it was Jester, after all.
"I had forgotten about the ball." He didn't know if continuing to talk would be a good or bad thing, if the distractions would coax Blue into a more relaxed state or just result in more tread upon toes. Either way, it seemed worth a shot. "It sounded as though it will be a fine event. I may have to see if I can talk Caleb into going, so I have an excuse to dress up and see your dancing in action." He did take up more than his fair share of space in the closet, most of the outfits too stuffy for the classroom or running errands in town. It would be a win-win, in that regard.
Essek glanced down at their feet as he continued to lead them through the slow, simple box step, then back to Blue. "See, you are doing well. Just try not to overthink the steps too much."
"And take Caleb dancing, you forgot to say that. I'm sure you're both all lovely and wizardly and will waltz circles around everyone at the party," Blue said, almost sounding put out at how nice the idea was and how badly she wanted the same elegance for her and Gansey. But Blue also knew she couldn't compare her skills—or relationship—to anyone else's. It was setting herself up for failure before she even started.
"How do you not overthink steps? Everyone always looks so graceful when they do this, and—"Blue stopped dancing for a second, to hold up a finger at Essek before he could interrupt. "I'm graceful when I want to be. Don't let Ronan fool you." With a huff, she picked up Essek's hand again, and began to take the lead, mostly out of frustration. She was only moderately better at pulling Essek around
"I need to know if you were terrible when you started doing this. Like crushed everyone's feet, tripped on your robes, sort of bad. I think it will help," Blue said, knowing it wouldn't, but that didn't stop her from asking.
"Awful," Essek replied easily, letting Blue lead without a thought. It wasn't even a fib, as he thought back to his youth, his resistance to learning this particular skill, and the clumsiness that he liked to pretend he never dealt with. Still, he had learned that a little honesty would go a long way in giving ease to another, so he continued, "I had a habit of tripping over my feet just walking around before I had grown into my limbs. Even so, I got there eventually--and so will you."
Somehow he wasn't surprised that Blue seemed to take to leading a bit quicker and it made him quirk a smile. "I think that if I were a bit more well versed in being a dancer, I might have a better explanation for not overthinking steps. Something about feeling the music? Working in tandem with your partner?"
Of course, there wasn't any music playing. Essek lifted one of his hands to snap his fingers, music with a nice one-two-three beat filling the room. He paused their steps a moment to adjust to the tempo, then started them moving again. "Maybe that will help."
Despite the fact that Blue had hung around enough magic users—like magic-magic, not just the theoretical kind that gave a person fuzzy feelings—Essek snapping his fingers to make the music play still surprised her. She mumbled something teasing, like show off, but there was no heat behind it. Blue would take advantage of snapping her fingers if she possessed that same sort of ability.
She was feeling better about the basic box-step and the repetitive nature as the music added a steady rhythm to follow. Maybe it was also the fact that fancy boy Essek had also been terrible when he first started. Sometimes she forgot that people didn't come out fully formed with silver spoons in their mouth or possessing all the skills to be a functioning member of the upper echelon of society. Gansey was the same, after she had gotten past his awkward flirting.
"It helps. I already feel more regal. Just imagine me in a really poofy dress and I'll be all set," Blue said, causally before her face scrunched up. "Ugh, no. I just imagined myself in one of those things and I just see marshmallow. Go back to picturing me waltzing in something I made instead. Lots of colors. Some kind of floral pattern, spinning across the floor."
Blue's eyes lit up for a second. "We should do a spin. Is there spinning in waltzing?"
It wasn't all that hard to imagine Blue as the spinning floral vision that she described. Once upon a time, such a thought would have been something that Essek would have curled a lip at. Then again, once upon a time, Shadowhand Essek Thelyss had no friends like Blue Sargent; he didn't have friends period, but that was what it was. Needless to say, he knew that he was in a far better place now, where he could simply enjoy the idea of someone he cared about having fun.
"Sure." Essek shifted their stances gracefully, trading so he was now the one that was leading their movements, at least for this first attempt at a spin. "It's not too tricky. Just make sure you duck a bit. That part will be easier when you have a partner of a more average height."
Essek smiled at that, then began to nudge and lead Blue into the spin, taking it slower than the tempo to make it a bit easier to keep her footing.
Blue didn't struggle to keep the lead, she simply followed Essek's direction and ducked appropriately for the spin under his arm. And admittedly, Blue was disappointed. Not because of Essek or the spin, per se. But she expected more. Ugh, she now understood why people wore really flowy robes and dresses and whatever else to these things because a spin just didn't feel exciting without some dramatics.
She came back into the starting position to waltz a bit more, but now she was pouting. "We're going to work on that," Blue said, her voice heavy with determination. As she box-stepped herself around the area, Blue's brow furrowed together, deep in thought, before she stopped dancing all together. She hadn't stepped on Essek's feet for awhile, and she was feeling overly confident.
"Any other fancy dances you know? Trick moves? I'm good with waltzing, but if there is some drow two-step, pull it out. And then I can teach you, I don't know. The macarena?" Maybe not that, but Blue's other option was the chicken dance, and that was going to get old fast.
Essek considered for a moment, though his attention was caught on the word macarena. That was a new one and he was decidedly intrigued, though Blue had also mentioned grinding when it came to the dances from where she was from. Though he doubted that she would actually subject him to that, his intrigue downgraded to simple curiosity.
Regardless, he paused, thinking over his repertoire of stuffy noble dancing. No drow two-step, but there were others. He smiled, nodding once. "Let's see what I can come up with, then you're absolutely showing me what a macarena is."