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They slipped out of the gala after an hour of stilted mingling. Skirting each other's shadows, they slunk down a marbled corridor, their shoulders ducked in towards the wall. Caitlyn kept her voice low, whispering directions, guiding them along her escape route.
"Left here."
Vi swung around the corner without question. Caitlyn followed, keeping close. She brushed a glancing touch between Vi's shoulder blades, directing her onwards.
"There," she nodded, "Just ahead. The window. You see it?"
Vi chuckled and paused. "Yep."
"What?"
A wily smile and silver eyes flashed at Caitlyn in the semi-darkness. "You really can't stand these things, can you?"
Caitlyn wrinkled her nose. "No. And what? You can?"
Vi's smile widened and then disappeared behind her shrug. She turned.
"They're not so bad." Sidling up to the window, she flipped up the latch and pushed it open. "Food's always good."
"Hm. That so?"
"Yep." Hopping up onto the sill, Vi turned and offered her hand. As Caitlyn took it, she stopped and gave her a glittering once-over. Her shoulder lifted and her voice went low. "Dessert's usually better, though.”
Caitlyn tsk'd through her teeth. Rolling her eyes, she tipped up onto the sill. "Menace.”
Vi sucked her canine to smooth away her smirk. Casting one leg out the window, she bent into a mock-bow.
"After you, Polite Society."
Caitlyn tweaked her ear as she slid past. "Hush."
"Nah."
Dropping down into the gardens, they kept to the darkness, moving hand-in-hand. Caitlyn led them to a gap in the fencework. Vi snorted as they ducked through it.
Caitlyn knew why.
"It's all just for show," she confirmed, "Not security."
"Obviously." Vi gave her a look. “You Topsiders don’t even lock your windows.” Stepping out onto the sidewalk, she stuffed her fists in her pockets and swung out an elbow, offering. "Why do you think I follow you around everywhere?"
Caitlyn threaded their arms together.
"For the view?" she teased, but even as she said it, she pulled Vi gently to her. Gray eyes flashed up and over. The look in them was soft with meaning and sharp with wit. And something else. They darted away to scan the street. Always so alert.
Caitlyn squeezed her arm. "I appreciate you, you know."
Vi glanced at her, gaze catching.
"Yeah,” she said, “You, too. Wanna head home?"
"Sure. The long way, though. It's a lovely night."
"Long way it is.”
Pressed together, they fell into step, strolling down the side street towards Main. The city was misty and rain-swept in the wake of a sundown shower, adding to the cool, gilded stillness of the night. Wet cobbles scattered the golden light of the streetlamps like sequins. They twinkled underfoot.
Caitlyn inhaled. "I love the way it smells."
"What? After it rains?"
"Right."
Vi was quiet for a few paces.
"Petrichor."
Caitlyn looked down at her. "What?"
"Petrichor," Vi repeated, "That's what it’s called. The smell."
"Really? I didn't know there was a word for it."
"Me either. Read it in a book once. Had to look it up. I like it, though. Good word."
"It is."
The world brightened as they turned down Mainstreet, the storefronts throwing light onto the sidewalk. Music filtered down the sloping lane from somewhere up ahead. Strings. Probably a lute. The strum and pluck were lilting and bright. Caitlyn glanced down to see Vi already tilting her head.
"Sounds like the buskers are still out," she said lightly.
Vi's mouth quirked. "Yeah, 'course they are. It's not even nine yet."
"Fair point."
They dipped into silence again, weaving through the sparse throngs of people dotting the street. Caitlyn nibbled at the inside of her mouth, a smile already ghosting around the corners.
"You know," she said, "as much as I love ducking out parties early, there is one thing I regret."
Vi frowned at her sidelong. "What?"
"Well. It's just...we usually leave before the dancing."
A nervous jump raced through Vi. Caitlyn bit away her smirk. Without breaking stride, she studied Vi out of the corner of her eye. It was too dark to be sure, but she was nearly certain her face had flushed.
Vi looked anywhere but in her direction as she shrugged. "That's fine. You don't like dancing, you don't like dancing."
Caitlyn's smile began to get the better of her. "I didn't say I didn't like dancing. Did I?"
“Didn’t you?” Vi took a keen interest in something on the opposite side of the street. "I thought—"
"No, in fact, I enjoy dancing a great deal. I'm fairly good at it, actually."
"Not 'excellent'?" Vi’s tone was challenging.
Caitlyn was unphased. "No. Just good. Can't be excellent at everything."
Vi hummed in acknowledgment. The sound broke halfway through as she swallowed reflexively.
The sound of the buskers grew louder.
"I was wondering..." Caitlyn went on, her tone bright.
"Oh my god." Vi groaned and closed her eyes. Her head fell back.
"You can say no."
Vi snapped open her eyes and whipped around to glare at her.
"Unfair!" she griped, "When have I ever been able to say ‘no’ to you?"
Caitlyn smiled benignly. Vi's gaze dropped to glower accusingly at the paving stones beneath her boots. A muscle ticked beside her nose.
Softening, Caitlyn tugged her closer and nosed briefly into her hair. She left a kiss among the roots.
"I mean it," she said quietly, "You really don't have to. I just thought maybe somewhere like this, with fewer people...but I'd never want you doing anything you don't—"
"No. It's fine." Vi’s face scrunched grumpily and let go. “'Course I want to. I just don't know how."
"Ah."
They passed through a pool of light thrown by a soda shop window. Glancing over, Caitlyn noted without any ambiguity that Vi was indeed blushing. Hard.
"What I have in mind isn't complicated, if that's what you're wondering.”
Vi sniffed and rearranged herself inside her suit jacket.
"I don't know any steps," she mumbled. This time, an undercurrent of embarrassment ran beneath her words. Caitlyn slowed their pace, pausing them amidst an arrangement of overflowing flowerpots. Unthreading their arms, she slipped around to stand in front of Vi. Her arms settled instinctively around her neck. Vi's arms settled instinctively around her waist.
Caitlyn tilted her head, eyes keen, smile soft. "Do you trust me?"
Shoulders lifting on an inhale, Vi deflated.
"Like you even need to ask anymore." Her mouth turned upwards as her gaze opened around raw affection.
"Okay." Caitlyn lowered her head, resting her lips against Vi's temple. She curled her fingers through flyaway strands of red hair. "Dance with me, then? One song?"
Vi sighed and leaned against her. "Just one?"
"Mm-hm. And if you don't enjoy it, that's that. Never again. I won't even ask."
A soft groan thrummed in Vi's throat. "And I don't need to know any steps?"
"That's right. Not one."
Another groan. Longer.
More theatrical.
Then, at last:
"Fine! You wanna dance, hotshot? Let's dance."
Stepping back with a good-natured grimace, Vi offered her arm again. Grinning, Caitlyn took it. She followed eagerly as Vi turned and directed them up the street with exaggerated purpose.
Rounding the bend, they spilled into the full wealth of the busker's music.
Caitlyn spotted the lutist tucked beneath a veranda. Lithe and lanky, the young musician sat perched on a tall stool and folded lovingly over their instrument. They were dressed in a patchwork waistcoat and wore a ribboned wreath of flowers in their hair. Passersby tossed coins into their open lute case. The lutist nodded at the metallic clink. They were playing with their eyes closed.
Vi slowed as they approached.
"Something wrong?" Caitlyn asked.
"What?" Vi looked up, her attention splitting. She shook her head as her thoughts caught up with her. "No. Sorry. They’re just…good. Really good."
Her head cocked as she listened.
Caitlyn smiled. "Better than stuffy orchestrals?"
"Nothing wrong with 'stuffy orchestrals.’ But—"
Vi stopped as the lutist tumbled into a beautiful, silvery riff, fingers flashing over strings in the honeyed glow of the street lamps. The sound made a few stiffer Piltovans pause and listen.
Vi stood rapt.
"Yeah," she admitted, "This is better."
Pleased, Caitlyn leaned into her. Vi leaned back. Together, they stood arm-in-arm, listening.
The lutist sailed through the rise and fall of their song, hanging bright, plaited notes in the air. Their ribbons shone and their smile grew as they swayed, fingers flying.
Slowly, after a round of fluttering, birdlike refrains, the music swooped to a close. The lutist drew their hand across the strings in a final, arcing strum, their face blissful as the reverberations faded. A few people applauded and tossed coins.
"Wait here," Caitlyn said quietly. Vi loosened her arm in answer. Stepping away, Caitlyn crossed to the busker and greeted them as they moved to tune their instrument. They regarded her with warm, amber eyes.
"Evening," they beamed, "And what might I do for you?"
"Do you take requests, by chance?"
"I do." Strings pinged as pegs were turned. "What would folk so fine as yourselves like to hear?"
Caitlyn had the name ready. Glancing back at Vi, she leaned in and whispered it behind her hand.
The lutist's face came alive like starlight.
"Ah! So, someone's in love," they sang boldly. Loudly. With the whole of their chest. Their grin claimed every line of their face.
With a beleaguered smile, Caitlyn dropped her head and then swung a look back at Vi.
Vi was ramrod, red-faced, and wide-eyed.
Caitlyn turned to the lutist again.
"You know," she teased, "she's shy enough about all this without you doing...that." With a quick smile, she pressed coins into the musician's hand. Grinning, they dropped them into their shirt pocket.
"Doing what?" they asked. Their voice was filled with a wink they didn't bother to play out in their eyes.
"Why is it that everyone I meet seems to be trouble incarnate?"
The lutist flicked a string. "Like-knows-like, sweet katydid.”
Smirking, Caitlyn rolled her eyes. She pointed. "There's enough there for at least two, I think. After the first, dealer's choice."
Jangling their pocket of coins, the lutist waggled their eyebrows. "There's enough here to hire me out for the evening, darling. I'll play you whatever you like."
Caitlyn straightened up, glancing once more at Vi.
"Let's see how it goes with just the two," she said.
The musician touched their nose in understanding. As Caitlyn made her way back to Vi's side, they began to pick lightly through the song's opening notes.
Vi shifted her weight. She tugged her fists out of her pockets and Caitlyn caught one in her hand, gently unfolding her fingers and lacing them with her own.
"So," she began.
"So," Vi echoed, her eyes already seeking purchase elsewhere.
Caitlyn stepped into her line of sight. "May I have this dance?"
The air left Vi in a rush, her face full of puff and bluster as she worked up her nerve. Her shoulder ticked.
"Yeah. Yes. Fine. But—" She peeked around Caitlyn and then pulled a face, shooting her a look. "Here? In front of...?"
Her gaze flashed back and forth. She tipped her chin towards the people milling in the street. Caitlyn shook her head and smiled, taking Vi's other hand in hers.
"No," she said, "That'd be a bit much, wouldn't it? Follow me."
Looking relieved, Vi allowed herself to be led away.
The music followed them as Caitlyn headed past the lutist towards a low-slung awning tasseled with hummingbird swings and pinwheels. Just beyond it was an alleyway. Turning, she took Vi by the shoulders and guided her around the corner.
The corridor that opened before them was clean and dry, paved with a footpath and flanked with walls of clinging green ivy. The leaves were beaded with rain and glistened gold like everything else. Tucked away in this half-lit passage, she and Vi could consider themselves alone. Only the most observant pedestrian would notice them standing there, and Piltovan elites weren't exactly renowned for their vigilance.
The lutist trilled through a series of sparkling cords.
Caitlyn gathered Vi to her, draping her in an easy embrace. "This better?"
The relief she'd seen in Vi's expression unfolded into gratitude. Her gray eyes rolled over her face, their dark centers softening in the dim light.
"Way better."
Caitlyn warmed as Vi lifted her arms and settled them around her neck, allowing her to take their weight. She brought up a hand to soothe over black ink as Vi sagged forward, letting her head drop lightly into the hollow of her neck.
She smiled as mumbled words tickled along her collar.
"Now what?"
Caitlyn rested her cheek against Vi's temple. "What do you mean?"
A finger poked her shoulder to punctuate the words. "I don't. Know how. To dance."
"Oh!" Caitlyn laughed. "Right. No, like I told you, no steps or anything. Just this. Be with me."
Vi pulled back and reset her head so she could eye Caitlyn from below. "You wanna stand here and hug?" She scoffed. "We could have done that—"
"No. We're dancing."
"...beg to differ."
Caitlyn looped a shock of red hair around her fingers and tweaked it. "Mouthy tonight, aren't we?"
The grin was wolfish and immediate. "Maybe if you ask nicely."
Caitlyn tweaked Vi's hair a second time, a bit harder than before. She grinned as she felt teeth graze warningly along the ridge of her collarbone.
"Okay," she chuckled, "Let's not get—"
"What?" Vi chirped. False innocence. More teeth. "You started it."
"Mm, well. I'm stopping it."
The play-bite softened into a kiss, smoothing over nipped skin. Warmth bloomed along her throat as Vi let out a breath, asking, "Sorry. Too much?"
Caitlyn was quick to reassure her. "Ah. No."
Gathering more hair into her hand, she paused, kneading, then tugged—firmly and languidly—at the roots. Vi gasped, going pliant in her grip.
Caitlyn pretended not to notice.
"One song," she said lightly, "One dance. No distractions. After that, you can go right back to being a nuisance."
Vi blinked dazedly and swallowed. "'Kay."
Letting her go, Caitlyn smiled and scratched gently through the shorn side of Vi’s head, clearing out the buzz she'd given her. She sobered as Vi faded back into herself.
"Like I said," she repeated, "Nothing complicated. Just be close. Move with me a little."
As she said it, she let her body find the rhythm of the lute. Her arms mirrored Vi's, draping loosely around her neck and shoulders, guiding.
Vi didn't need it. She found the count in the next breath as if she'd only been waiting for an invitation.
Together they began to sway.
The lull was instant. As they moved, the smirk and zest of their teasing faded off them like a fog, leaving velveteen silence behind. Instead of words, music hung between them. Bright, cascading notes found the small spaces between their bodies and reminded them, You could be closer.
Caitlyn sighed as she felt Vi relax, tucking into where she knew she fit best. Curtained in each other's embrace, they rocked and resettled in time with the lute, letting each line and curve find its match.
"Good?" Caitlyn asked simply.
Vi nuzzled her head to the side so she could be heard.
"Good," she answered. Then she inhaled again and turned her face into Caitlyn's neck. Her arms softened, hanging heavier, and Caitlyn felt a slow, absent touch begin to drift along her back. Circles. Spirals. Whirls and whorls.
She closed her eyes.
Leaning, she lowered her head to settle against Vi's, her cheek falling to rest among the feathered muss of her hair. Warmth and a scent like linen and brown sugar rolled off Vi, eddying as they danced. It was familiar. Her atmosphere. Nothing else was so comforting.
Or felt so like home.
The lutist's melody twirled, dipped, and slowed. She and Vi slowed with it, drifting but going nowhere, whittling out their own little pocket of space and time. A way’s away, bells rung. Someone laughed. The world turned.
She and Vi spun on their own axis.
The strings began their closing refrains. Repeating. Reeling. A delicate call and answer. The busker managed a sound that caressed the ear like a harp. Aching. So beautiful. And soothing, too, softening the loss of the song as it finally ran out, trailing away on the breeze like gossamer.
She and Vi went still, their last rock and sway guided by the mellowed beat of their hearts.
As they stood and fell into true silence, Vi stopped, shifting. She shuffled and pressed. It was fractional movement, barely there, but Caitlyn understood it. She knew its meaning by the tightening of arms around her neck, by the curl of fingers along the curve of her spine. By how Vi's body sought her out in a way that begged 'stay?'
Caitlyn held her close and murmured into her ear. "What did you think?"
Vi hummed, percolating with a thoughtful sound.
"Not so bad," she admitted. Her voice was drowsy. Sheepish. A smile teased at its edges. Her arms tightened even more.
Caitlyn smiled, too. "Shall we stay for another, then?"
Vi pretended to think about it.
"Sure. One more's good."
As if on cue, a starry swale of chords strummed away the silence. Beyond walls of rain-jeweled ivy and pools of golden light, the lutist spun art out of air again, giving them another song to sway to.
This time, Vi moved first.
Heart brimming, Caitlyn followed.