#traditional dancing

The little town is called Fredisthmus, and it sits on a small tongue of land by the sea. Most are fishermen, seamen or travelers of some kind – they have a nice port. This is part of the reason Nina and Matthias settled here, to be able to travel to Os Kervo and then Os Alta quickly if Nina is summoned. It happens rarely, now. Her gifts are unique, but not often required. Their eldest daughter is living at the Little Palace, though, just finishing up her Healer training, so that inspires some of their trips.

Fredrik, their youngest, is sailing the seas, putting his Squaller gifts to use. He has always been a free spirit. Maja, their middle child, is still at home, courted by a lad in the village that Matthias intimidated properly in the beginning. Nina has to hand it to the lad, he stuck it out gracefully and she thinks he does deserve their little swallow. She will thrive working with him in the pub that he owns, where she started waitressing years ago.

The tensions are finally easing, it has been a nerve-wracking ten years of seeing if the peace accords will hold. Finally, the former enemies have established trade and settled. There are still differences in how Grisha are seen, and most emigrate into Ravka, but the Fjerdans have had to admit to using Grisha powers for their own gain, revealing their hypocrisy.

The tensions easing are at fault for Nina's current problem: the midsummer fete.

Or more like, the traditional Fjerdan dancing at the midsummer fete.

The town has established many traditions: market days, autumnal harvest party, midwinter mass for believers of different faiths and afterwards a merry evening of good food and warm alcoholic glög, served from stalls on the streets and consumed quickly. They have even had midsummer feasts before, but this one is to celebrate ten years of lasting peace. It will be grand, with a sit-down dinner of potatoes with dill, fresh fish and pickled cucumber, early summer vegetables and warm bread. Long tables are already placed in the square around the flower-bedecked midsummer pole, and after the eating they will be cleared away to create a dancing space.

Nina doesn't quite know how to dance the Fjerdan dances. She has played hostess at most other events since they moved here seven years ago, happily claiming to be too busy to dance, and Matthias has never pressured. Now though, the other ladies in town have quite forbidden Nina from working at the fete, claiming it is her turn to enjoy the festivities. She has desperately tried to learn the dances from her friends, but there is only so much one can practice on their own, and she refuses to admit to Matthias that she cannot dance.

She has always been slow to pick up dance steps, though she loves moving to music. Ravkan dancing is freer, less structured steps and more having fun. There are partnered dances, but Nina has never cared for those. Besides not knowing the steps, she never quite trusts someone to lead her. She doesn't care for the loss of control, the idea that she has to let a man lead her. Nina can manage well on her own, thanks.

But she knows Matthias wants to dance, so she will try her best, even though the thought gives her anxiety. They had not even danced at their wedding, though it was a relatively quick affair when Nina first got pregnant.

Her husband, completely unaware of her distress, serves her more of the rhubarb pie she loves, and continues the conversation with Maja and her admirer over the table.

Their children are all children on war, born when the conflicts were still brutal, though none of them remember much of it, thankfully. Still, Nina and Matthias have always wished they had been able to give the children better childhoods. They tried their best though, while doing important work, and the kids loved all their Grisha aunts and uncles who babysat them. Sometimes, Inej would even dock in Os Kervo and entertain the children on her ships with stories of the sea as Nina met spies to exchange vital information in the port city.

Nina stops reminiscing when the last "skål" is called out and everyone empties their shot glasses of fruit punch, and begin clearing the tables. She sneaks some dirty dishes over to the big wooden tubs where the washing will be done, but her neighbor Olena gives her the stink eye and she backs away laughing, hands in the air. Okay, she will not get away with working.

Instead, she watches as the men clear the tables. Children run afoot, and she gathers them to her on some hay-bales, telling them the story of Sankta Alina of the Fold, highly embellished, until there is no more danger of them tripping the working men.

Then, she has no choice but go to the dance floor when the fiddler strikes up a tune and two men and a woman sing a fast paced polka. It feels horrible to start with this dance, and surely she will make a fool out of herself, but Nina takes Matthias' warm hand and jumps into the fray. Soon enough, she realizes most other Ravkans in the village are as lost as she is, but most of the Fjerdans know the dance and spin the others around to end up in the right places. Keeping up with the steps is an impossible task, but Nina tries.

Next, the crowd partners up for a waltz, and Nina swallows heavily. Matthias is supposed to lead now, and they take the appropriate position. She wedges her leg close between his, which Zoya always said helped when they attended dances and Nina would hesitate. You can feel his movements better, it helps him guide you.

The music starts, and Matthias moves her with careful pressure on her hand and waist. Nina follows stiffly, trying to melt to the music the way she knows she should. It just makes her feel awkward. Matthias frowns slightly down at her, and then whispers,

"Are you nervous, rœd fetla?"

She denies this vehemently, and steps on his toe, completely by accident. He throws his head back and laughs, that deep and soul-warming laughter of his that she has always loved. He looks down at her, eyes sparkling, dimples showing in his cheeks, and suddenly Nina has forgotten how to be stiff.

He continues to tease her about being nervous about a waltz, and without noticing she begins to let him lead, defending her honor and making him laugh all the while.

When the next dance begins, she barely thinks about it, follows Matthias' lead and trusts his hands and body to guide her. They have moved on to mocking each other about some matter unrelated to dancing, but the banter keeps Nina from overthinking her steps and her need to be in control.