Chapter 33: Magical Dance
When the sun started to get low, Kaitlyn brought her tablet out and started a photo slide show on it which we’d prepared a few days ago. Liberally scattered among the shots were our selections from the WNBR newspaper interview. Chad had really done a great job with the photos. We’d added several more shots that Kaitlyn and I had taken in our months together. The group passed the tablet around, watching it in bunches of two and three.
Once my parents had their turn watching the slide show, we made our excuses, got dressed, and left for town in mi burro.
I’d offered to cobble together a set of camping gear for my parents, but they’d refused. We never had gone camping back in India, either. They said they were eager to hit the local tourist attractions, which would keep them busy until Jess could take them back to Salt Lake with her.
I drove them slowly down the canyon, then out to their hotel in town, chatting as well as we could in my noisy machine. They said it was the strangest wedding they’d ever been to, but they seemed happy with it. Or maybe it was just that they were happy to see me finally wed, at 29. We parted happily enough, then I got myself back out to the canyon.
As I arrived, several people were setting up tents and getting their camp sites set up. The order of couples down the canyon was:
- Allison & Joss
- Sherry & Jasper
- Kaitlyn & I
- Mama Mary & Papa Ramón
- Carmen & Miguel
- Jess & Vin
They’d given each other plenty of space for privacy, though each pair of tents was at least in sight of the other through the twisty canyon.
Everyone else was still naked, so I shortly joined them, helping Kaitlyn with our tent. We were well practiced in setting it up, so we were quick.
When we finished, I went off to help my new parents-in-law. At one point, Mary came up to me and said, “Davie, I just wanted to thank you for everything. Not just for today, but for falling in love with my daughter. I’m not going to go into details, because it’s not my secret to divulge, but she’s been hurt, okay?” I nodded, having heard that much already from Kaitlyn. Mama Mary went on, saying, “What happened to her… Well, let’s just say that it was bad enough that I despaired of her ever finding true love, but now I know that she has. You cracked through a rather tough shell, whether you know it or not. I know you will not mistreat her again.”
“No, ma’am,” I said, fervently. Then my demon bit, and I added, “Because Allison would shoot me dead.”
“Also Ramón,” she added with a half-smirk, “and then Vicente and Miguel would jump on your dead carcass.”
“Eeek,” I said, mildly. I knew I was in no danger from them, because I definitely wasn’t going to ever purposefully hurt Kaitlyn, and I was fearful of ever even doing it by accident.
Mary smiled at me, now that we were square on these points.
Then I heard Miguel strumming on his Spanish guitar again, accompanied now by Carmen on maracas, and Kaitlyn called me over for a dance around a campfire they’d gotten going, wanting the light only, the heat not needed at all on this warm evening.
I walked over and embraced my wife. My wife, Turing and Ritchie bless me! As I shook off the stunning effect of that thought, Kaitlyn whispered urgently in my ear, “I can’t dance! Not even a little bit! Help!”
“Relax,” I soothed. “Get into a trance and then into rapport with Gaia and me. That’ll synchronize our steps naturally. You would actually have to try to step on my toes in that state. Bonded with Gaia, you will find yourself graceful and light-footed besides. You remember those showy acrobatics I performed when we first met? You have got the same gift now.”
She relaxed into me, so I kissed her on the cheek, and we began dancing. I won’t make any judgements on artistry, but neither of us stepped on the other’s toes, and it did indeed feel like we were flying weightless above the sand. We got a round of applause at the end, so I guess it was okay.
Then Kaitlyn’s mother and father cut in for the traditional mother-son and father-daughter dances, and we did nearly as well, each of us guiding our non-mage elders around the fire in a coordinated dance, Kaitlyn and I sharing ideas through the Gaia bond and implementing them smoothly, as if we’d choreographed it and practiced it until our toes bled. We got an even bigger round of applause this time, and we partners kissed cheeks and swapped back again.
Then the whole wedding party joined us on the dance floor. Dance sand? Whatever. Eventually we got Miguel and Carmen into the dance, his parents substituting in for them on the instruments. Ramón wasn’t as good on the guitar as his son, but Mary had clearly practiced her rhythms from the showing she gave. She even added some credible sexy moves into the dance, rotating around her husband. I guessed they’d done this before. I wondered what they were like when they were young. It’d probably been pretty hot.
The whole time, Jess was taking more discreet photos. I snuck over at one point and chimped some more. It was amazing stuff. While I’ll defend the value of a skilled artist over excellent tools, there is something to be said for the latter: in low light, a better camera will run rings around a low-end one. It’s best to have both, and we did: Jess and her fine camera. I kissed her on the cheek, then passed the camera to Vin and took Jess out onto the floor with me. I had her laughing with glee by the end.
At that point, every one of the other women grabbed me for a whirl around the floor, and all the men took Kaitlyn around.
We finished the night with a slow couples’ session, Miguel and Carmen back on the instruments, Carmen making her own slow dance around her husband, sexy as hell. Even Jess put down the camera and gave Vin a nice slow dance. There were stiffies all around when that dance was done, even Miguel.
As we slow-danced, I whispered quietly into Kaitlyn’s ear, “Never doubt that I love you deeply, Kaitlyn.”
She squeezed me, then replied, “It’s impossible not to know that while bonded with you through Gaia. It’s the single best thing about being a mage, Davie. Not the healing, not the sex, not the flashy tricks… It’s being able to bond to my lover and completely dispel fear and doubt. Without it, we wouldn’t be together, Davie. I’d have talked myself out of the relationship eventually, but once I knew tresses to toes that you loved me, well… I just had to have you, that’s all.”
Then we just danced quietly for a time, performing the vertical expression of a horizontal desire, naked in each others’ arms.