Dances and Responsibilities

The first dance lasted for several more minutes with the adults and children watching the three pairs dance in relative silence only making the occasional comment after Barret had made his statement. None of the noble children could fault Jien for trying to avoid starting trouble since they were all supposed to help one another. Still, this did not make Rosalind feel any better about it. She wanted to set it aside, but humans were irrational to begin with, not to mention a girl who wasn't quite sure what she was feeling.As the dance ended Jien led Mrs. Romero in her black dress back to where everyone was waiting while Lord Losler led Runa and Mark led Emily. The first dance had been a success on the part of all parties involved and the small talk on the dance floor was pleasant. Mark and Emily had only smiled at Jien's choice while discussing the future of his training. Lord Losler and Runa on the other hand were discussing their concerns about Jien's health given everything that had happened and the attitude of the demon he had summoned, if she really was one. They were still not fully sure if they felt that she was or if she was perhaps some other type of creature. What they did know was that either way she was bound to a certain extent and couldn't do Jien much harm if any.Once Jien had let go of Mrs. Romero's hand, he now had to make a tough choice. There were three choices present to him at this moment. He could avoid dancing from this point and thus attempt to keep things calm. This was a plan he was seriously pondering, at least until he looked at Rosalind who had an odd expression, halfway between wanting to cry and wanting to have a sweet smile on her face but not quite able to do either. This led him to the other two choices, dance with Rosalind or dance with Olivia.Technically as host he was meant to dance three dances throughout the evening. They didn't have to be back-to-back, but he needed to dance the first dance and then one dance with two female guests. If Runa hadn't been chosen by his father, he had considered choosing her, but he ultimately had chosen Mrs. Romero. Now seeing the look on Rosalind's face, he knew that if he avoided dancing with her, he would go directly against his original intention. This meant that he would also have to dance with Olivia. After these last two dances he hoped to be able to escape the remainder, at least to a degree.With this in mind after Mrs. Romero had walked back to where the other adults were, he walked forward toward Rosalind bowed calmly and offered his hand while asking her for the next dance. Rosalind nearly jumped up and down and took his hand before practically dragging him to the dance floor. Her brown eyes glowed with excitement and her orange hair having been put in a ponytail swayed with her excited steps almost akin to an excited puppy wagging its tail. The other children giggled at this, realizing whether Rosalind knew it or not that she had found herself at least slightly attracted to Jien despite knowing him for less than a day.This time all parties were welcome to dance and so the parents coupled up together making their way to the dance floor as well. Lesley offered his hand to Olivia with a challenging sneer on his lips to which Olivia accepted smiling deviously. Mark had separated from Emily and approached Runa for a dance, offering his hand to which she quickly accepted despite having already had a dance each. Lord Losler approached Mrs. Romero as well, though he was making such a choice out of courtesy as to not leave the lady without a partner. Gloria was quick to accept, and they made their way back to the dance floor with a bearing that seemed to pull everyone's attention.This left Emily, Bernard and Barret on the sidelines of the dance floor. Barret seemed to sink into the background rather naturally as if purposefully avoiding the possibility of dancing, leaving Bernard to ask Jien's fencing teacher for a dance. This was quickly accepted and as Barret was smiling about escaping yet another burden, he noticed that Jien's summoned demon Anuva had appeared next to them at some point as if to round out the numbers. He didn't know what to make of it since it wasn't like he could understand her or her him, but having a feeling that she had most likely been tasked to dance with the remaining person he decided to get it over with and made a dance offer that the scarlet haired demon accepted as if she was aware of the etiquette already.The music started to play as the last pair joined the dance floor, taking up their hands, waists and shoulders in preparation to dance. As the music played the entire group moved as one swiftly across the dance floor, always appearing in lock step and moving around each other with such precision that one would think that they were figured spinning in a music box, controlled by the timed gears and springs of a machine.