Gilded Ashes: When Shadows Reign

Sang lifted his hand.

The quartet started, and the first notes filled the ballroom so cleanly that Raizen forgot to breathe for a second.

Then reality hit him. And the white flames started dancing, too.

Saffi stood in front of him, waiting.

And Raizen had absolutely no idea what to do.

He didn't know how far to stand. He didn't know where his hands went. He didn't even know what his feet were supposed to look like. He just stood there, stiff, shoulders slightly raised.

The music continued anyway.

It didn't wait for him.

Saffi glanced up at his face, then down at his hands, then at his feet.

She took in a small breath through her nose, then she sighed.

All of a sudden, she grabbed his hand.

Quickly. Firmly. Surprisingly strong for someone who looked so small next to him right now. Her cheeks turned red immediately, but her grip didn't shake.

Raizen's eyes widened.

"Saffi -"

"Shh" she hissed, like she didn't want to admit she was nervous.

She pulled him toward her without hesitation.

Too close.

Ridiculously close.

Before Raizen could react, she guided his hand to her waist and pressed it into place. Then she took his other hand into hers, fingers warm, palm flat against his.

Raizen froze.

Chest to chest.

Close enough that he could feel her breathing. Close enough that if he turned his head even slightly, their faces would brush.

He didn't move.

He didn't trust himself to move.

Saffi's eyes stayed focused, serious now. That excited, talkative side of her vanished like someone flipped a switch. This was the version of Saffi who built entire machines without blinking, who got quiet when something mattered.

She leaned in just enough to whisper near his ear.

"Just follow my movement"

Then the music shifted, and Saffi moved first.

One step.

A smooth pull.

A turn that made Raizen's body react before his mind caught up. His feet stumbled for half a beat, then found her rhythm because she guided him into it.

Left. Right. Step. Close.

Raizen looked down once, immediately regretted it, and forced himself to look anywhere else. Their shadows moved together under the chandelier light. His hand stayed at her waist, not daring to move it.

Saffi led him into a slow rotation.

They started waltzing.

Raizen didn't know what a waltz was, but his body began to understand the pattern. Saffi's steps were confident. She didn't drag him. She didn't force him either. She just moved with enough certainty, that Raizen could follow.

They crossed the center of the ballroom, gliding through empty space

Saffi's grip tightened slightly when the rhythm picked up.

Raizen felt it immediately.

The music shifted into a faster phrase, and Saffi adjusted without thinking, her feet changing pace as if the tempo lived in her bones.

Raizen almost stepped too late.

Almost.

But Saffi's hand gave him a small cue, a tiny pull that corrected him without calling attention to it. Her palm stayed firm against his. Her eyes avoided his, so they stayed forward, focused.

They turned again. More, faster now.

The room moved around them in a smooth blur - marble, brass, flames, light. The white flames along the walls dimmed now, to a golden light.

Raizen's ribs complained quietly when he shifted weight too hard, but the pain stayed manageable. It didn't stop him. It just reminded him he wasn't fully healed.

Saffi didn't seem to notice.

Or maybe she did, and she adjusted her lead slightly, keeping the turns clean and the steps controlled so he didn't have to fight his own body.

They moved together in a wide circle, then cut across the floor diagonally.

Raizen stopped thinking in words.

He stopped thinking at all.

All he felt was the pressure of her hand in his. The music resonating in his mind. The din lights gently flickering. The rhythm under his feet. The way Saffi's shoulders stayed aligned, the way her posture never wavered even when her cheeks stayed red.

She was nervous.

He could tell, even without her saying it.

Every time they got too close during a turn, her breath hitched slightly. Every time his hand shifted on her waist, even by accident, she stiffened for a fraction of a second and then forced herself back into that professional calm.

Suddenly, the music softened.

The quartet slid into a calmer section, slower, almost gentle. Saffi's pace slowed with it, and Raizen felt the tension in his shoulders finally drop. His steps became smoother. His weight shifts stopped lagging behind hers.

For the first time, he stopped feeling like he was being dragged through a pattern he didn't understand.

He felt like he was part of it.

Saffi glanced up at him for half a second.

Her eyes were serious, but there was something in them too, something small and bright.

Like she couldn't believe this was working either.

They spun again when the music rose.

This time, Raizen didn't stumble.

He matched her turn cleanly.

Saffi's lips parted slightly in surprise, and she quickly looked forward again, cheeks warming another shade.

They kept moving.

The ballroom felt even bigger than before, but somehow they filled all of it. The empty space became their path, and the music became the only thing that mattered.

Raizen began to recognize the shifts before they happened. Not because he knew the piece - because the patterns in it were just too beautiful.

And Saffi was following it, too. She tensed just before a faster phrase. She loosened just before a softer one.

They crossed near the edge of the ballroom where they entered, and Raizen caught a glimpse of the back door again. It looked strange now. Like it didn't belong to this room.

He barely had time to process that before Saffi pulled him into another turn.

Raizen's footwork stayed a little too heavy, a little too grounded. Saffi's was lighter. She stepped like she trusted herself completely.

Raizen did doubt.

But the longer it went, the less that doubt mattered.

The music began building toward the end.

Raizen felt it in the way the notes climbed. In the way the rhythm tightened slightly. The quartet's tone grew sharper, more focused, like everything narrowed into a final line. And Sang was leading perfectly.

Saffi adjusted her hold subtly, preparing for the ending pattern.

Raizen tried to match her.

But on the next step, he placed his foot just a little too far.

A fraction of a second too early.

And Saffi's heel caught his shoe.

Her balance snapped.

It happened so fast she didn't even gasp at first.

Her body tilted sideways, and Raizen felt her weight leave the pattern.

Instinct took over.

Raizen tightened his arm around her waist and pulled her in before she could fall. His other hand kept hers locked, not letting go.

Saffi's back arched slightly as she dipped, one leg sliding back to catch herself. Her eyes widened, and for a heartbeat she looked shocked - not at the stumble, but at the fact that he caught her so cleanly.

Raizen stared down at her, not brething, still holding her.

They froze in that pose.

And the music ended.

The final chord hit perfectly, clean and full, filling the ballroom like a seal.

Raizen didn't move.

Saffi didn't move.

And the last beat settled into silence.