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Varian pranced through the gates of Corona. Quirin watched him with a smirk on his face.
“You seem happy.”
“I am it’s my first dance.”
It was the day of Hearts and the youth dance was due to begin, every year the fourteen to eighteen year olds were invited to join in. Including Varian. It was the one day of the year that propriety allowed the teens to get close to each other, and tradition over wrote usual rules to allow the boys to kiss the girls they like the most- just on the cheek of course. Varian had overheard a group of teenagers talking about it the week before and decided that he was going to go. He was wearing a brand new shirt and had been practicing dancing down in his lab, though he had to wait for a girl to ask him as the rules of the dance dictated that the boys had to be asked by the girls.
Quirin laughed.
“I never had anything like this where I grew up. Though I was the same at your age, any chance to get the near the girls I took.”
“I wonder if Cassandra is going to be there, if she is I’m going to ask her to dance.
“Varian it’s a youth dance, Cassandra is a young woman, she’s a few years past attending.” Quirin frowned and looked at his son. “Cassandra isn’t who you’ve got your eye on is she?” He asked not wanting the boy to be disappointed by the woman’s rejection.
“Noo… she’s just a friend. I haven’t really got my eye on anybody, but they’re all going to be impressed by my moves.” He threw his arms in the air and wiggled his hips. “I call it the glow-worm.”
Quirin smiled though inside he was nervous that the boy’s dancing was a little bit too ‘unique’ for Corona, but maybe he just didn’t understand the young people’s styles these days it had been years since he’d danced.
When they reached the town square Quirin headed to the castle to discuss some business with the king and Varian ran to join the wide circle of boys who had gathered there. They were all smiling nervously at the girls who were standing in the centre giggling behind their hands to each other.
It wasn’t long before the music started. Varian folded his arms behind his back and stuck his chest out. He hoped that a straight back would make him look taller as he was the shortest boy there. For a long minute nobody moved, until one girl picked up the courage and went over to a tall blonde boy opposite Varian and asked him to dance. The boy smiled in return and took her hand. Encouraged other girls started to go and pick their partners, slowly at first but then with more confidence. Soon every girl had picked a boy, and Varian was left standing on the outskirts with a few others as those in the circle danced a fast-paced jig.
It was okay with Varian that nobody had asked him, after all, he didn’t know many people and he assumed that a lot of the girls had simply picked family friends and people they knew well to start the dance with. Plus, there were more boys and girls, so it really didn’t matter that he hadn’t been picked first, there was still plenty of time. He smiled and tapped his foot as he listened to the jig.
An hour later and he was starting to feel slightly deflated, he had been watching carefully and he’d noticed that he was now the only boy who hadn’t been asked to dance at least once. In fact, most of the boys had danced a few times and a couple had only left the dance floor once to regain their breath and have a glass of lemonade. He decided it might be time to take matters into his own hands. He was stood near to the lemonade stand so as a girl with brown curly hair walked past him to buy herself a drink he stepped into her path and raised his hand in greeting.
“Hi, I’m Varian.”
Her eyes widened and she gasped as she rushed off to the opposite side of the town square. Maybe she was shy, Varian thought. He decided to try again. This time he recognised the girl coming towards him, she was his age that lived in the village. Their fathers were friends and they had played together when they had been little.
“Nancy. Hi, Happy day of hearts.”
She looked down at the floor and spoke to him a hushed voice.
“I can’t dance with you Varian.”
“Oh, uh, why not? It’s just one dance.”
“If everybody saw me dancing with you, they’d think I was like you.”
“Like me?”
“A witch.” Nancy whispered.
“What? I’m not a magician, I’m an alchemist.” He tried to explain but Nancy rushed off.
Varian knew people talked about him, he had heard the rumours muttered behind his back when he was in the village, but he mainly kept himself to himself. He hadn’t realized it was more than a few people, he hadn’t realized that people hated him. He watched the joy and excitement taking place in the square and realised that he wasn’t a part of it.
Behind him he could hear a couple of middle aged women talking.
“Is that Dorothy’s boy?”
“Oh, he’s grown so big and handsome, I can’t wait till he reaches eighteen I’m going to send my Francesca straight to the great hall to be the first to kiss him. They say so many young people marry the person they dance with at the day of hearts dance.”
“Or that kisses them on their eighteenth birthday.”
“So romantic.”
Varian rolled his eyes, of course they married people that they’d danced with, or kissed, it was a small city, most people married people they’d known their entire lives.
“Is that Varity’s boy?”
He jumped slightly at the mention of his mother’s name, the familiar aching settling into his chest.
“Yes, can’t you see he’s got the mark of dark magic on him.”
Varian’s hand unconsciously reached for the blue stripe in his hair.
“I heard that he conducts spells and summons demons that shake the grounds of Old Corona. If he weren’t under Quirin’s protection the village would have thrown him out by now.”
“It’s because of Quirin that he’s got the dark mark. I don’t know why Varity married that foreigner, coming in from goodness knows where.”
“I know, it was such a waste, she was the prettiest girl in Corona, all that auburn hair.”
“Oh, I would have died to have hair like that. You would have thought that her son would at least of inherited something of her.”
The ladies walked off leaving Varian looking at the floor thinking. Was that what everybody thought of him? That he was evil? Magical? Dangerous? That he wasn’t one of them and they’d prefer it if he left?
He looked around the square again, this time noticing something. The square was crowded, people walking around, teens dancing, parents watching, but it was as if there was an invisible wall all around him, nobody came close. They were avoiding him as if he carried the plague. Varian started to realize that maybe he wasn’t always alone because he choose to be, maybe it wasn’t because he was always so busy with his experiments. Maybe it was the other way round and he made himself busy so as to not notice he was alone, that people were avoiding him, that he was an outsider.
The afternoon turned into evening. The sun began to set, some people had disappeared others were still dancing. A few boys kissed the girls on the cheeks and the girls gathered in gangs grinning and giggling talking about who they had danced with. Varian watched it all, sitting on the side of the fountain with his legs drawn up to his chest. He was like that when Quirin passed through the square on his way home. He spied his son sitting apart from everybody and sighed. . He’d been scared of this; his son was clever- but he had no awareness of safety and his experiments scared people. Twice he had caused explosions in their hometown that had caused damage. For months afterwards he had had to defend his son to the council of elders, promising them that he would keep him in check. If he weren’t leader of Old Corona by King Fredrick’s word then he was sure he would have lost his position by now, however much the people respected him, having a son who blew things up wasn’t ideal.
He walked over and put his hand on his son’s shoulder.
“Come son, it’s time to go home.”
Varian got up and silently followed him through the city streets. When they had reached an empty area Varian looked up at him.
“Dad, why are people afraid of me? I’ve never hurt anybody. I’d never want to hurt anybody.”
“Because you’re different, ordinary people get scared of that which they don’t understand.”
“I’m not ordinary?”
“No, son you’re extraordinary.”
“Nobody else thinks that, they all think I’m weird or dangerous. They think that the stripe in my hair is a dark mark and I have dangerous powers.”
Quirin struggled to find something to say to reassure his son. Luckily as they approached the city gate he saw something that might distract the boy.
“Ah, look Cassandra is on guard duty.”
Varian looked up but didn’t smile.
“Hello Cassandra.” Quirin said walking up to the young woman. “Did you draw the short straw?”
“No I volunteered. “ She answered. “Hi Varian.”
Varian gave her a slight smile.
“Oh, hey Cassie.”
“We’re you enjoying the dance?”
Varian shrugged.
“Dances aren’t really my thing.”
Quirin meet Cassandra’s eye and slowly shook his head hoping that she would pick up the hint and drop the subject.
“Dance’s aren’t my thing either.” She said.
“Really?” Varian asked.
“Yep, my father used to make me go to the day of hearts dance every year, but I used to just scowl at all the boys to make sure they never came near me.”
“Re..really? So, you never danced with anybody either?”
“Well once a boy asked me, and although I told him that it was meant to be the girls who asked the boys, he wouldn’t leave me alone. Luckily, I was wearing my big boots and I stamped on his toes so hard he would never have ever thought of kissing me.”
Varian gave a short little laugh.
“Yeah, I don’t think I’ll go next year. Dances are kind of lame.”
“Totally lame.” Cassandra agreed. She leaned down and gave Varian a quick peck on the cheek. The boy almost stumbled over in surprise.
“Happy day of hearts Varian. “
“Thanks Cassie.” He answered blushing.
“We’d better get home.” Quirin said with a smirk.
Varian definitely seemed happier on the way home, and Quirin was glad that Varian at least had some friends who didn’t think him dangerous. He thought that Cassandra’s kiss had distracted him from the dance entirely but Varian turned to him as they approached their home and asked him one more question.
“I heard some people talking about Mum, they said that she was beautiful but that I hadn’t inherited anything from her. Have I inherited anything from her?”
“Yes, her heart. It was the most beautiful part of her.”