Maggie and Matthew are teaching me the summer festival song and dance. Yay!
As soon as they start singing, the boys splashing around in the river hop out and begin to dance too.
Huh, in my previous life, the girl who wanted to be an idol took dance lessons. Compared to that, this dance is really simple and repetitive. It’s easy to pick up.
I pull my flute out of my shoulder bag and try playing the newly learned festival tune.
Oof, right… I can’t sing if I'm playing the flute. But since everyone else is singing, having accompaniment actually helps.
“Zoe, come dance with us!”
Maggie grabs my hand, and I quickly tuck the flute away in my bag. I really don’t want any of the boys grabbing it and blowing on it.
Not only is the idea of them putting their mouths on it gross, but it’s also a magic tool. I’ve gotta be careful with it.
Well, the boys here don’t seem to have even a speck of magic in them.
Hmm? But Matthew… I think I can feel a little magic from him.
Whoa—now that I’m paying attention, I can feel faint traces of magic from Maggie and even some of the boys. It's barely there, but… maybe all humans have some level of magic?
Still, this isn’t the time to be thinking about that!
We all sing and dance together.
My past-life memories are getting noisy again, though. This kinda feels like folk songs, or like the Bon Festival dance.
After a few rounds of dancing, we start to heat up.
“Let’s dip our feet in the river!”
Maggie kicks off her shoes, and I copy her.
We sit on a big flat rock by the river and dip our feet into the cool water.
“I wish someone could teach us how to dance while playing a hand drum.”
Looks like Maggie feels slightly obligated—probably because she was the one who stocked the hand drums. It’d be bad if they didn’t sell.
“That’s kinda hard without an example,” I say.
Maggie thinks for a bit, then calls over to Matthew, who’s still in the river with the boys.
“Matthew! Dancing with hand drums was totally the trend at last year’s summer festival, right?”
Matthew climbs out of the river at her call.
“Yeah, the kids from Carlton were dancing and playing hand drums last year. I think they even did that at the Carlton harvest festival too? But I didn’t get to see much of it since I was with my dad that time.”
Maggie nods. She knows the story.
“Well yeah, you had to prep for school in Carlton over winter, right? No time for festivals. Are you going again this winter?”
I dunno how to put it, but these two are close in a close kinda way… I’m a little jealous of their childhood friendship.
A childhood romance, huh? Kinda nice.
Meanwhile, I grew up in the deep woods of Schwarzwald with only the witch Selina, Merry the goat, and Ben. Not exactly prime dating material.
But then again, Matthew always tries to one-up people, and that gets on my nerves.
“If the general store’s selling hand drums, I’ll buy one,” he says.
Maggie’s probably glad her stock’s moving.
“In that case, Zoe should watch you practice dancing with it! The other kids have tambourines, bells, and chimes too!”
Whew, Maggie’s got a real head for business. And she’s clever—she sold the most expensive hand drum to the village chief’s son and aimed the more affordable tambourines and bells at the other kids.
Her plan worked. Starting tomorrow, we’ll be practicing the summer dance by the river in the afternoons.
Apparently, the girls picked up bells and chimes too. Maybe it’s thanks to Maggie spreading the rumor that tambourine dancing is all the rage in Carlton.
In the mornings, I handle chores, tend the goats, and work in the garden.
I also pour magic into my harp instead of the flute—gotta be careful—and save up funds by hunting monsters for our next trip to Carlton.
My summer dress had a stain on it, but after a few rounds of “Purification♪,” it’s looking much better.
Normally I wear a blouse and pants, but now that we’re practicing for the festival, I kinda want a ribbon too. Maggie’s rubbing off on me.
The other girls are getting all dressed up for the festival. I don’t wanna be the only plain one!
Anyway. The dance practice is fun, but teaching it is another story.
“Watch the demo carefully, okay?”
Dancing with a hand drum slung over your shoulder takes heaps of energy. So stop making me show you over and over again, Matthew!
I grit my teeth and keep dancing while tapping the drum.
He keeps going, “Oooh, I get it now!” but he’s not even on beat!
“Matthew, you go practice your drumming! Everyone else, grab your tambourines, bells, or chimes—we’re dancing!”
Maggie dances while ringing her bells. They’re lighter than a hand drum, and she just rings them while dancing. Seems good enough to me!
As for tambourines… you can use them like bells, but they’ve got way more variety. You can hip-hit, leg-hit—they’re perfect for mixing it up!
My inner idol is going wild.
“Ermm… Tambouriners, watch closely! You can just shake and dance, but it’s fun to throw in some twists!”
I jazz up the basic summer festival dance with tambourine flair—shake it above my head, spin and hit it on my hip, kick and strike it with my foot.
“Zoe, that’s super cool… but it’s a little too much.”
Maggie gives me a look, so I dial it down to kiddie-recital mode. Still fun though!
After a few demo runs, I sit down and play my flute. Next to me, Matthew’s still practicing his drumming… and I’m kind of over it.
Honestly, I’m not a fan of Matthew. But in Lang Village, he’s super popular.
Not just Maggie—the other girls are all watching him too…
Part of me wants to shoot him a look and go, Can you please just get better already? We’ve got dancing to do!