Lunch was served, and Verdi finally showed up, giving me nothing more than a chuckle as I walked in the dining room to serve him his usual wine. Asni snickered. That insolent girl had a rather excellent intuition. I had no doubt that she was not unfamiliar with Verdi’s rather changeable, curious nature. The man kept glancing at me all afternoon, but did not linger like last evening. However, before he left, he couldn’t help but make a rather vexing remark.

“I am quite looking forward to your dance, Jane.”

And before I was able to think of a proper reply, he had walked away.

“He is not the only one,” said Asni.

I was to show myself in her quarters at nine in the evening, because the festivities would start at ten. Luckily, making myself presentable –if you could still call it that in this case- would take less time now that I had less garments to wear, which was about the only upside of it.

Asni had already dressed herself for the evening when I arrived, but her hair, which was usually adorned with many pins and bells, was loose, dark and long. She was wearing many layers of skirts, and a very loose pants underneath them. Cords with bells were placed around her skirts. She was not wearing any shoes, but she did have rings around her toes, which were also adorned with the same white symbols as on her dark arms. Her bare stomach also displayed said symbols. And above it she wore something which could be called a bodice. She was a vision in green and red, twirling around in her skirts as she basked in my amazement, and her bells, together with the many silver bracelets around both her wrists and ankles, jingled cheerfully.

“I shall now know exactly where you are all night because of the sounds you make,” I said in rather good spirits.

She blew away a few strands of hair from her face.

“And I haven’t even put bells in my hair yet. I do like to make as much sound as possible when I dance. It reflects my happiness. If I weren’t able to dance I would have gone mad a long time ago.”

She looked rather grim, but soon regained composure when she looked at the clothes I was to wear for the evening. I was squeezed into her clothes, and my hair was braided. She was surprisingly gentle when she touched my hair, and had even remembered to bring some tapes. She had made a more extravagant hairdo, and I dare say she was better at this than my maid ever had been. After my hair was done – she had not forgotten to put in bells in mine as well- she made my lips red with a paste which was most likely made out of berries.

As she adjusted everything, she guided me to a large mirror in her closet. Its frame was a golden circle, and arrows guided the eye round. In between these arrows, there were eyes above and underneath the frame, the eye on the top was open, the eye on the bottom was closed.

I was so taken by this mirror that I almost forgot to look at myself, and when I did, I found it hard to not burst into tears. The experience in the hold had taken its toll more than I had realised, and to experience the privilege of looking decent again laid out a connection to my old world which I had not expected.

“You look familiar,” muttered Asni.

“Perhaps I look like someone else who was once put on this ship.”

“Perhaps,” she said.

“I really am quite taken by this mirror,” I continued.

“It is a very special mirror which doesn’t have a likeness anywhere in the world,” Asni said proudly.

“My mother said she found it inside a wreck of a ship from the east.”

I nodded, and looked quite fearfully at the door, in which direction Asni was now walking. I followed her and was a bit startled by the jingle of my golden bracelets and anklets.

“Don’t look so scared,” said Asni as she made a braid in her own hair.

“You will only dance after I started. I think you will know what to do.”

“You think?”

I did hope she was right.

By the time we reached the deck of the ship, we were greeted by a ghastly wind and blue and red lights from the candelabra’s. How they could have lights in these colours was beyond me. It was as if different laws were at play on this ship. Some men in striped knickerbockers were playing a cheerful tune on their mandolins , and one of them was tapping a set of drums. They were surrounded by people, but I did not see if they were guard, decoy or servant, for they were all wearing outlandishly lavish clothing, which might even have made my silk-obsessed mother envious. All were dancing, laughing, eating pastries and drinking wine or ale. Before the musicians, there was a fire inside a large pot.

One of the musicians was sitting next to harp, but was not playing. He stood out like a sore thumb, wearing a simple white tunic and a black knickerbocker. He seemed to find the whole scene very dull indeed, but when he saw Asni, he smiled. It didn’t surprise me when he introduced himself as her brother.

“I am very pleased to meet you, your sister has taught me a great deal. In her own characteristic way. But why have I not seen you during dinner?”

He bowed mockingly. It was a very quick movement which somewhat startled me.

“My name is Aro, Aro Rai. I notice by your accent right away that you are no commoner. But I do feel sorry for you, for having to deal with my sister so often.”

Asni slapped him.

Aro’s eyes held a hint of green, more subtle than Asni’s bold eyes. He had some stubbles on his chin, suggesting he didn’t think too much about his appearance. Nevertheless he was an unusually handsome man.

“As you might have noticed, the guards do not dine together with the decoys. Usually, food is brought to us downstairs by miss Melissa.”

“The other girl who works with us sometimes,” said Asni, knowing about my lack of attention.

Asni’s brother was a guard, then. It did not surprise me, for he had a very muscular physique. I was somewhat jealous of it, for it would make serving much less tiring.

“I heard you are also going to perform tonight, I wish you good luck. And I will try to play the harp according to your step, in case you mess up.”

He walked away with the rudest grin I had ever seen. He was Asni’s brother all right. As he reached his companions, he gestured for them to stop playing, and his long legs stepped confidently to the centre of the circle by the fire pit.

“Ladies and gentlemen, servants, guards, decoys, navy men and pirates, half-sirens and humans. It pleases me greatly to inform you that our beloved Asni will dance for us tonight once again.”

To my astonishment there was not a single person on deck who did not cheer for her.

“And later on, our new servant girl, miss Jane Aminta Steffons, will also make an appearance.”

A few hesitant cheers came from the public, together with the sound of one pair of hand’s more self-assured claps. I turned around to see who it was, but I couldn’t see them. When I looked back, Asni had taken the place of her brother.

Aro started playing his harp, and was soon joined by the mandolins. They sounded like the waves of the sea, vibrant, overwhelming and changeable. And as these waves of sound erupted from their instruments, Asni startled everyone by making a fast set of tight turns, in the directions of the spectators. She made wide arm gestures. One minute she was standing up, the other lying down. All of it was done gracefully, yet fiercely. The jingle of her jewellery mingled perfectly with the sound of the music that accompanied her.

I, who had been taught that it was most improper to dance without a partner, had never seen so powerful a woman in my life. I was, not unlike the others who watched her, completely enchanted. When the spell broke at last, I felt at once very anxious, for it was now my turn to dance in front of these people. I cursed Asni under my breath when her brother announced my name, and beckoned for me to come forward. I had by no means any lack of experience, but how could I dance without a partner?

I stood in front of the fire, which made my hands if possible even more sweaty. My heart was beating loudly in my chest because of the humiliation, and I even saw lines of worry on Asni’s face. I saw movement from the corner of my eye. Aro was getting up. Was he about to join me?

I never found out if this was the case, for a gloved finger tipped my shoulder. I was having trouble refraining from shouting. He merely gave me an amused look. He looked quite well, but I was not surprised. From the very first moment I met the treacherous vendor I had known that he could never not look… well. Had I not met him the way I had, I should have mistook him for a real gentleman. He was wearing a green doublet and pants, with golden embroidery. He wore two black leather boots over his pants. He had bound his hair together in the back, and had left his hat by a very intrigued Asni.

“I suspect you do know a great deal about coupled dances?”

He seemed not the least bit worried that everyone was looking at us.

“Very well then,” he said, not waiting for my answer.

“We shall do it as you know best. Make room everyone!” he shouted, as he walked towards the place the musicians were sitting. I now knew far too well what to do. The dance we were about to execute had been part of various balls, but I was rather curious to know where Verdi had learnt of it.

Footwork was very important for this dance. I gambolled backwards towards Verdi exerting to great lengths to make sure my legs hopped at the correct height. I quickly turned around when I knew I was near my dance partner, to find that we were moving in sync. I quickly turned back and then forth again. We continued to hop towards and from each other, all the while moving over the edge of the circle around the fire. The musicians played faster and faster, and we were forced to move faster too. I began to move away from Verdi, improvising some of the turns Asni had made earlier, with a big smile on my face. The crowd cheered for us, especially when Verdi began to move closer to me. He seemed quite surprised at my dancing, and this filled me with even more joy.

We began to face to, and away from each other again, and at the last hop. I did not care much for the cheers of the spectators. I was gasping, for one of the wings of Verdi’s doublet had shifted, revealing a tattoo of a wing, right on his neck.

He smirked at my astonishment, but when he realised what I was looking at, he quickly fixed his doublet, and walked away, leaving me with the deafening calls of the public.