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“I don’t see why I should have to learn this,” Roland said, her face the epitome of reluctance and general unwillingness. Laurence wished that he had gone flying with Temeraire instead, just for a moment. But if the aviators were not going to teach Emily Roland how to behave within society outside the coverts then somebody had to and Laurence liked to think that he was fairly well equipped to do so.
“You might have to join a dinner or celebration or some such and not want to stand out,” Laurence reasoned patiently. “Being able to join somebody for a dance should help with that.”
Roland stared out of the window for a few more seconds – or rather glowered. Outside dragons were wheeling, Laurence knew.
“Fine,” she finally said though it sounded like she had agreed to drink poison instead of what Laurence had intended for her to learn.
Roland’s posture was atrocious – as slumped as she could be while standing upright – but Laurence decided to overlook that for now. It would change if she found dancing pleasant, hopefully. Of course dancing was easier with music but neither did Laurence know of any musicians at Loch Laggan nor did he think that Roland would appreciate witnesses to this lesson.
When he brought them into dancing position, she met him with a sullen but challenging expression. Her hand grabbed his far stronger than any of the ladies he had ever danced with but that was hardly surprising. Roland was used to hanging onto the harness of a dragon in flight; her grip was very suited for that.
“Now the basic step of the waltz is fairly simple,” he said and thus started their dancing lesson.
An hour later found them dancing through the room, moving in the gentle rises and falls of the waltz. And Roland was thoroughly enjoying herself, grinning as she led Laurence with easy grace. He had reasoned that while those were the wrong steps for her to learn, at least she was getting the hang of it somehow. She would have to mirror the steps and her rhythm would need to be worked on but they had more progress than he’d anticipated. And she was having fun which was a great improvement from how they had started this lesson.
A loud knock interrupted them. They both turned towards the door as a servant entered.
“Captain Roland requests Midshipman Roland,” she said.
“Well then,” Laurence said. “Thank you for giving this a try, Roland.”
“Thanks Captain!” she shouted and ran after the servant. “Let’s do this again!”