Helm by Gould Steven

Author:Gould, Steven [Gould, Steven]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Science Fiction
Publisher: digitalNoir publishing
Published: 2010-08-25T05:00:00+00:00

Leland, Cornelius, and his daughter, the Gentle Guide Amalia, were laughing at something Phillip said when the fanfare sounded. Sylvan and Marilyn, being the guests of honor, were not announced. Instead strings, flutes, guitars, and a drum heralded their descent.

Sylvan was dressed in scarlet and green, with a belt worked in gold. Marilyn wore white, with underdresses in shades of cream and ivory. They walked down the stairway slowly, Sylvan carrying his shoulders back, his chin raised quite high.

GREAT ADAM’S APPLE.

Marilyn’s eyes were on the crowd, a quiet smile on her face. She floated on the stairs, her feet invisible, hidden beneath the slips. Her skin was so pale that her dress seemed to blend with her bare shoulders.

They reached the bottom and the music stopped. From his position at the top of the stairs, the majordomo’s voice echoed through the hall. “A toast to Guide Sylvan Montrose and the Gentle Guide Marilyn de Noram. Long, clean, wise life.”

When the response from the assembly had rolled off the walls he announced the next couple. “The Gentle Guides Zanna de Noram and Charlina de Rosen.”

Charly was wearing a long, loose gown in blue—something with a complex weave that included bits of metallic gold and silver. Leland was willing to bet that she’d woven it herself.

Zanna was dressed in dark pants and a matching cutaway jacket over a blouse of scarlet silk. Her hair was tied back much like Leland’s, and the heels of her polished boots made her seem slightly taller than Charly, though Leland knew Charly was actually the taller of the two. He checked as they walked down the stairs and saw that Charly was wearing flat slippers.

As the couple neared the bottom of the stairs the majordomo spoke again. “The first dance will be ‘The Balanced Diet.’”

Sylvan and Marilyn took the head of the set. Leland turned to Cornelius’s daughter and bowed. “Guide Amalia, would you honor me?”

Her eyes grew very large. “Certainly.”

Leland led her onto the floor. They ended up the second couple down, Leland as vegetables, Amalia as fruits, to Sylvan’s legumes and Marilyn’s whole grains. The pattern repeated every third couple, down the length of the set.

“The Balanced Diet” was the one dance Leland knew well. He’d learned it as a child, as did all children in Greater Noram, to supplement instruction in the categories. He went through the steps automatically, smiling at his partner or his temporary partners, as the dance progressed. He didn’t realize that this unconscious competence lent a great deal of grace to his simple, clean movements.

Sylvan, on the other hand, did not know this dance. His expertise lay in partner dances. The instruction of the categories in Cotswold was not universal, and line dances, calling for the mixing of ranks, were not fashionable. He managed to complete the first steps without any great disasters, but he was scowling by the end of the first cycle.

Leland wove around Sylvan during one of the extended figure-eights and nodded pleasantly. Sylvan glared back and nearly collided with the next couple down.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.