After wandering through the carnival for hours, Sera eventually found herself on the outskirts of the festival, drawn in by the firelight. The electric lights weren’t as frequent so far away from the main event, but there were a few small bonfires set up, and music playing. The music! Stars, Sera had never heard music that raw before, music that was cutting through the air on reedy fiddles and flutes and guitars, played with unskilled fingers. She was used to the perfect recordings of old world music, to the practiced and beautiful compositions of the Silvers. The music of her world was so much more REFINED than this, but it was nowhere near as ALIVE as the melody she could hear wafting through the firelight. Couples and children danced in a giant circle, paired off into twos and threes and fives as they spun and clapped and laughed in time with the beat, and Sera found herself counting their steps as she hovered on the outskirts of the group. The dance was unfamiliar to her, but simple enough. One, two, three, cross, spin, clap, two, three, clap, clap, spin. It was easy to follow, an uncomplicated pattern that was embellished on by the more talented couples in the group, and by the time she’d watched two cycles of it, Sera was fairly certain she had it down. Not that she was about to INTRUDE, by any means, but a dancer herself, she was all too interested in this folksy bit of fun.
She had good intentions –– the BEST of them, really –– when someone bumped into her, sending her stumbling forward, closer to the group of dancers. It was odd. No one immediately apologized or reached to steady her. No one bowed or cowered before her. Three people turned to glance curiously at her, but that was that. Sera blinked, startled, but then smiled, a bit pleased that no one had recognized her. She didn’t have to be the ghost tonight. She clapped when the song finished, CHEERING for the band with the rest of the Reds, intending on turning around and leaving them to their own devices and enjoyment, when a new song started up. Something slower, still unfamiliar, with drawn out claps and a humming so loud and deep it felt like the buzzing vibration of standing in the middle of an oversized beehive. Someone grabbed her by her wrist and tugged her into the stamped down circle of a dance floor, and before she could protest, they were spinning and dancing with the rest of the group. She stumbled a little with the steps, glancing at her partner’s feet and at the feet of the couples around them, and flushed SILVER in the firelight.