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Callum wasn’t exactly sure what he’d actually expected Rayla’s reaction to be when Ezran announced that, for his 11th birthday, he wanted to throw a castle-wide talent show.
Staunch refusal seemed plausible. She certainly wasn’t shy, but Callum had some doubts about her desire to get on a stage in front of everyone.
The other reaction he’d thought likely was on the exact opposite end of that spectrum: a confident, bravado-filled show of her fighting skills, with, of course, some impressive gymnastics sprinkled throughout.
So far, though, all he’d been able to get out of her is that neither of these two scenarios were the plan for this evening.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” had been her first reaction when he asked her about what she was going to do on their last day at the Banther Lodge, when Ez had announced his grand plan. He noticed a little heat gather in her cheeks as she smiled at him teasingly.
“I’m not telling,” she’d responded, in a sing-song voice, the next time he’d asked over lunch a few weeks later. This time, it seemed she was no longer embarrassed about her act.
”Callum, it’s a surprise,” she’d huffed last week when he’d asked again. This response was paired with a stern glare in Ez’s direction when Callum had immediately turned and asked him if he knew what Rayla was planning.
”Would you quit asking already? I’m not telling!” She’d elbowed him sharply in the side earlier today when he’d tried one last time to get her to spill the beans on their walk back to the castle.
Now, he sighed, wishing Rayla was next to him to quietly snicker at Soren’s poetry with him, but she was up next. So, she had disappeared to stand in the shadows next to the stage as Soren sauntered across to the center. The spot on Callum’s cheek where she’d left a quick kiss before she left still tingled a little.
“You think you're so smart, with your fancy little words, this is not so hard.” Soren recited, counting each syllable on his fingers. So far, half of Soren’s haikus seemed to be about how well he could write haikus. Callum rolled his eyes before tuning Soren back out and tuning into Rayla fidgeting in the darkness.
He looked with interest as her form just barely paced back and forth, staying within a foot or so of the spot where she stood, bouncing up and down ever so slightly. When she rocked into the sliver of moonlight that fell next to the stage, he saw her lips moving, eyes downcast to gaze intensely at her hands. She was wringing her hands, pulling at her own fingers in what he could only imagine must be nervousness. He raised an eyebrow taking all of this in. Clearly, she was practicing in preparation to say something...but what?
His first clue that Soren had wrapped up his recitation was not the gentle claps and his dramatic bow, but Rayla stilling and straightening up to the side of the stage. He tracked her with his eyes as she crossed the stage to where Soren had stood and he felt the corners of his mouth turn slightly upward when she looked up and her eyes immediately met his. She looked down to the ground in the next instant. He had to suppress a gasp when he heard the musician, who’d provided background music while Corvus sang earlier, begin to play and he realized what was about to happen.
A grin spread across Callum’s face when he saw her inhale and start to sing.
Her eyes left the ground and she raised her chin so that her steady gaze looked up towards the large window above everyone’s heads on the back wall. Callum felt his eyebrows raise realizing that singing out to everyone like this was clearly not new to her. Her voice was clear and bright and loud. She sounded...lovely. The lovesick smile that was so often plastered across his face took the place of his wide grin. Then, he started to actually listen to what she was singing.
Just a line or two was enough for it to dawn on him that this was a love song she was singing. He felt heat cling to his face as she continued, realizing that she was singing to him. Then, the serious, nervous expression she’d had as she started to sing changed so that she was smiling, even smirking at some lines. Her eyes wandered back down and he felt the color in his cheeks spread down beneath his collar when her eyes, lit by the intense light aimed at the stage, met his. He glanced to her lips, watching the subtle change in their shape when she sang the words ‘love’ and ‘you,’ separated by only a few notes. Then, there seemed to be a brief interlude after the verse she’d sung, and she let a toothy grin breakout across her face, directed at him.
He glanced around to see too many adults watching his face as she sang, and they were all smiling. He turned to let his expression convey his chagrin to Aunt Amaya, but quickly adjusted the look on his face so that Rayla wouldn’t think she’d embarrassed him. Of course, she had, but he didn’t really mind. He was too fascinated by this hidden talent of hers to protest her adorable little display of affection. He blinked back up to see her winking at him as she started the next bit of the song.
He smiled again as he watched her start to move with the music, more comfortable now. She swayed back and forth, crossing the stage to stand at the corner of it closest to where he sat. He rested his head on his hands, leaning against the table he sat at, keeping his eyes steady on her. He glanced from her bright lilac eyes, to her lips as they formed new shapes, to her hips as they moved in time with the rhythm. A line in the song made her giggle through the words, and he smiled, especially when he saw the beautiful, familiar, rosy blush spread across her face just after.
He sighed as the music slowed. She sat at the edge of the stage now, legs dangling down. She’d stopped smiling to match the more somber, serious tone of the music now, but she still stared at him intensely. He looked at her encouragingly, sensing her nerves returning by the way she brought a hand up to grasp at her opposite elbow. Her mouth formed the final words of the song, and she immediately dropped her eyes back to the ground as the music came to an end.
Everyone erupted in applause as she finished, and Ez shouted out compliments to her. Callum looked appreciatively at the slight smile she wore and the red on her cheeks. She glanced around before meeting his eyes again, and he couldn’t help the hasty way he stood and crossed the room to her when he saw the discomfort—embarrassment, he supposed—in her eyes. When he reached her, he pulled her in by the waist, offering his shoulder, which she quickly buried her scarlet face in.
“That was really good,” he whispered into her hair, vaguely aware of how the rest of the room had settled into quiet chatter. She pulled back, hands lingering on his shoulders. “And really sweet.” He glanced to her lips.
“Thanks.” Her eyes cut behind him to their friends and family quietly murmuring behind them, and she shook her head the tiniest bit as she too glanced at his lips. “I, uh, think I’ve embarrassed us enough for one night.” He smiled and shrugged, and she returned his smile. One hand trailed down his arm as she hopped off the edge of the stage and tugged on his hand to walk back towards where they’d been seated, heads down to avoid the everyone’s stares. He glanced to her when she sighed in relief as they sat, realizing everyone’s attention had gone back to the stage where the next act was beginning.
He squeezed the hand he still held. “Hey,” he whispered, leaning in closer, with a wink. “No one’s looking now.”
She turned and leaned closer too, eyes becoming half-lidded, a hand at his cheek. She placed a brief kiss against his lips, letting her fingers linger against his face as she pulled away smiling.
“Did you like your surprise?” She whispered back.
”Very much,” he said just as quietly. “Will you sing more for me?”
”Like this? Probably not.” She scoffed and laughed, cheeks turning pink again.
”Alone?” He asked, nudging her shoulder with his. She squeezed his hand and placed her cheek against his shoulder.
”I’d like that.”