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That Old Dance
Once there was a red dragon of pride, who snubbed all companions, talking only to herself in the mirror from time to time.
Once, at Samhain, she was to host a grand banquet and her mirrored self was to help. But the two could not appear together before the guests, or the reflection would perish.
The reflection had no choice but to obey the dragon's will. She went and fetched the wakeman for the banquet. The wakeman rejected their invitation and told the reflection to desert.
Still, the reflection returned to the lair on her own, only to find the banquet had already begun. The reflection hurried to hide in darkness beyond the bonfire.
As the banquet went on, the guests somehow began to vanish, one by one. And the red dragon found and dragged her mirrored self out of the darkness, forcing the reflection to dance with her.
The two kept dancing, so relentlessly that the reflection could not feel her toes. She asked for a little rest, but the red dragon was never satisfied.
Here, Loughshinny.
The book you wanted. The sequel to the Steam Knights adventures.
'Why', you ask?
Do I need a reason to do something for my beloved sister?
But, do you really need to read it?
Do you really need to read a book you have no interest in at all, but feel pressured by others our age to read?
- Loughshinny
I do want to read it.
- Eblana
Didn't you tell Father you didn't want anyone asking you why a Victorian wouldn't enjoy stories about the Steam Knights?
- Loughshinny
This book... did Dad ask you to buy it for me?
- Eblana
Why do you ask?
- Loughshinny
Because... how did you know?
- Eblana
You're backing away from me, Loughshinny.
- Eblana
I don't want you to be scared of me like everyone else.
- Loughshinny
No, I...
- Eblana
If me knowing what you told Father is so scary, how about we dance together to calm you down? Hm?
- Loughshinny
A... dance? Really?
- Eblana
Why not?
With those words, Eblana gracefully extends a hand towards her sister.
But in Loughshinny's memories, even when her parents put on their favorite music, even when Father shook his head to the melody, even when Mother tapped her fingers to the beat...
Her sister would only sit perfectly still while bearing an icy smile.
She had never moved her body to any tune. Not even once.
- Eblana
Once you can keep up with me, you'll no longer have to worry about any book, request, or even friends our age.
- Loughshinny
...
The unopened knight novel falls to the ground, and the pleasant new book smell is now drowned by muddy water.
She was still young then. She never imagined that achieving her desires could feel so heavy and bitter. She only remembers stumbling, turning away, ignoring what was reaching out to her...
A soft and cold hand.
- Eblana
Loughshinny.
- Eblana
The crowd is gone. You need no longer hide your identity.
- Eblana
Do you still think of them as alive, even now?
- Loughshinny
I only know that every Taran's heart burns with a similar flame. And that ever since our ancestors first bent the knee to the Victorians, that flame has never gone out.
- Loughshinny
That goes for all the townsfolk, as well as those who followed me back here. They all have the same fire, except that theirs has never been tainted by the shade of death.
- Eblana
What a wonderful analogy, Loughshinny.
- Eblana
Then let me ask you again: what will you do?
- Eblana
Dye these flames in your own hue? I imagine you must have tried already.
- Loughshinny
...
- Eblana
No matter who they are, once tainted by death, your flames can only render them into ash.
- Eblana
So I have a proposal, Loughshinny. Kill me.
- Loughshinny
And everyone in the city as well?
- Eblana
If it bothers you how this will be recorded in history, then you can just say that I killed them, and that you merely laid them to rest.
- Loughshinny
The people of Na Saoirsí are still alive.
- Eblana
Even if what animates their bodies is not life, but death?
- Loughshinny
If they were truly devoid of even the faintest spark of life, they would have long since become one of those hollow, shambling corpses you have wandering about.
- Eblana
Oh, they will. Eventually.
- Loughshinny
No, they won't.
- Loughshinny
I'd rather see the purple flames in them as a plague, one instigated by you.
- Eblana
And you plan to find a cure for it?
- Loughshinny
That's right.
- Loughshinny
I want to cure you of it as well, Eblana.
- Eblana
How wonderful.
- Loughshinny
...Wonderful?
- Eblana
Yes. That's absolutely wonderful.
- Eblana
Did you not notice?
- Eblana
You aren't trying to run from me anymore. You're trying to cure me, of all things.
- Eblana
Come, dance with me, Loughshinny. The same dance I've always invited you to, the one you always ran from.
- Loughshinny
What... did you say?
- Eblana
I asked you to dance with me.
- Eblana
But before the final bar, be sure to pierce my heart with your spear. This plague is lethal, and there is no cure. I do not question your resolve, but your efforts will be in vain.
- Eblana
You've run from your fate long enough... From Na Saoirsí's fate, and ours too.
- Eblana
It is not yet Samhain, but the boundary between life and death is more ambiguous than it has been in all of Taran history.
- Eblana
Do you truly wish for Tara to become a kingdom of death?
Loughshinny subconsciously turns her head away.
The fierce purple flames still rage in the skeleton the hero dragged all the way here. Culann, now taken over by purple flames, briefly stands up before sinking back down to kneel.
She cannot bear another look at him, so she turns her gaze back to her sister's eyes—and the hand she's been offered for so many years.
It is unclear if it is her imagination or a side effect of the purple flames depriving everything they touch of vitality, but the hand before her seems so pale and bloodless compared to the one in her memories.
- Loughshinny
We speak of a city and the lives of countless people, Eblana. You cannot sum this up as a matter as simple as 'fate'.
- Eblana
Are you finished? I believe we've spent enough time talking past each other.
- Loughshinny
...Eblana!
- Eblana
Oh, but feel free to continue. If you so desire, I shall wait here for as long as you need me to.
- Eblana
But do try not to take too long. You can afford to wait, yet that may not be true for others.
- Loughshinny
(Breathes deeply) You're right. You can afford to wait, but that may not be true for others.
- Loughshinny
Alright. I'll dance your dance. Until one of us falls and can dance no more.
- Loughshinny
But I will not follow your lead. Absolutely not.
- Eblana
As you please.
- Eblana
Though you seem to have misunderstood something, my dear Loughshinny.
- Eblana
The one who cannot afford to wait is standing before you now.
'Cannot afford to wait'?
Loughshinny scrutinizes her sister's face as she suddenly realizes something entirely unrelated to their conversation.
The offered hand is indeed pale, and it is not just her imagination.
Purple flames seem to weave together into an omnipresent cloak, giving Eblana her beautiful yet terrifying appearance. Yet they also fail to conceal the malady which seems to consume her beneath her pale white skin.
She shouldn't be like this. She was never like this before.
- Loughshinny
Eblana, are you...
- Eblana
Hm?
- Loughshinny
You...
- Loughshinny
Are you... alright, Sister?
A smile spreads across Eblana's face. The same old ice-cold smile is always found there.
This time, it seems to bear some warmth, but this only highlights her conspicuous paleness.
- Eblana
I appreciate your concern. Really, I do.
- Eblana
After all those apathetic partings and painful reunions, to only now hear you asking if I'm well... It has truly been so long.
- Eblana
Incidentally, I really do want a dance with you.
- Loughshinny
...I will, once I find a way to heal you.
- Eblana
Very well. Then I shall await you here.
Eblana strides towards the citadel, her footsteps so faint that they seem almost frail.
- Brigid
Phew...
- Brigid
Hoo... Red dragon! Nemos!
- Brigid
There was no one at the gates when I got back! I thought something must've happened! What's going on in the square—
- Loughshinny
...
- Brigid
Red dragon... what's that...?
Loughshinny is holding a small box in her arms. The dim night lights seem to make it harder than usual to see.
- Loughshinny
I couldn't save Culann. I...
- Loughshinny
This was the only way for him to rest in peace. So he'd no longer have to suffer from the flames in the square.
- Brigid
...
The nomad is silent for a long time, until she finds a stone on the ground.
She hurls it with all her strength towards the citadel.
But the darkness of the night swallows it up, and it fails to even make a sound.
- Loughshinny
It's already past curfew. Nemos, Brigid, let's just—
- Nemos
No...
- Nemos
No.
Nemos reaches out to the wooden box, as if trying to brush nonexistent dust off the lid.
She suddenly recalls being rejected by her own people a few days ago, and the superfluous words she heard then.
- Solemn Wakewoman
The wakemen do not stand with the living, nor do we require their reverence. Until, of course, they are dead.
- Solemn Wakewoman
That is the tradition Dublinn should be honoring.
- Nemos
Still, I'm grateful you were at least willing to give me this whistle... I'll be going now.
- Solemn Wakewoman
Wait, Nemos. You knew well that Samhain approaches and the wakemen would be lacking sacred instruments. Yet you still came.
- Solemn Wakewoman
Did the Dublinners force you to?
- Nemos
No, I came here of my own—
- Solemn Wakewoman
Nemos, you haven't changed one bit.
- Solemn Wakewoman
You wait, mediate, and reconcile... Are you also like this in Na Saoirsí? Do you also serve the Red Dragon like this?
- Nemos
I just... don't want to see a situation that could be improved deteriorate any further. Or people who could have cooperated fighting each other.
- Solemn Wakewoman
If conflict is inevitable, you will only ever sink deeper into the mire.
- Solemn Wakewoman
The city has tainted you with its darkness, Nemos.
- Nemos
So, The Leader—the Red Dragon—
- Nemos
Eblana will never give Na Saoirsí true life? Is that right, Loughshinny?
- Loughshinny
She said she couldn't. She... actually doesn't like to lie, unless there are other circumstances...
- Nemos
She's The Leader of Tara, the one and only Red Dragon, what could possibly be tying her hands?!
- Nemos
I...
- Brigid
What's wrong, Nemos? You seem... different...
- Nemos
I get it. I finally get it, Your Highness Loughshinny.
- Nemos
It seems that that fire can in fact infect the living.
- Loughshinny
Nemos?!
- Nemos
The people I once depended on turned out to be a swarm of selfish parasites.
- Nemos
The Leader I once believed in turned out to be an evil dragon who doesn't care if anyone else lives or dies.
- Nemos
The people I once put my life on the line to protect... became the reason my closest friend died.
- Nemos
I can't even imagine what they would have done to him if that wicked dragon hadn't lit him up with her flames.
- Nemos
Culann was right to ask what we would do once Samhain is over. What should I do?
- Nemos
Other than revenge, there's nothing left for me either.
As she utters these words, Loughshinny sees a flame ignite within the final Na Saoirsían left untainted by the purple fire.
- Nemos
Your Highness, will you regard me the same as the rest of the residents—a servant of Eblana?
- Loughshinny
No. This deadly disease... It has ultimately infected even the last person in the city.
- Nemos
If so, Your Highness, then I swear to you that I will aid you in this dance that's been forced on you. Until the very end...
- Nemos
Until the wicked dragon falls.
- Loughshinny
...I have heard your vow.
- Loughshinny
Now, I must leave the city for a while. Come with me, Nemos.
- Nemos
To the wakemen?
- Loughshinny
Mhm. I have no hope of curing the flame here, so I thought we should seek aid from anyone who might be able to help.
- Nemos
No, I can't go with you. I have no right to be there anymore.
- Nemos
I'll stay in the city. As long as the Red Dragon doesn't realize what's going on and tear me apart... I'll try my best to keep the situation from deteriorating.
- Nemos
Though, I'd appreciate it if you could return this whistle for me.
- Nemos
And... Culann too. Please give him a proper funeral.
- Nemos
A proper funeral requires eulogies from friends and family, so... I'll write one. Could you read it for me there?
- Loughshinny
...Alright.
- Nemos
Here. It's done.
- Brigid
I'll go with Reed. The Dark Woods aren't lettin' anyone in or out, but it should be smoother with us two.
- Nemos
No, Brigid. You should stay too. I need your help.
- Brigid
Reed?
- Loughshinny
I'll be fine by myself.
- Brigid
That works, but... Nemos, you're so different now.
- Nemos
...I guess this is what vengeance does to a person.
