Road to Ruisea

❆ ❆ XLI. KUMARI ❆ ❆

Kumari thinks she rather really likes parties.

They'd gotten dressed — Kumari in that red dress with the belly button, apparently Yasmin had shuffled into her purchases after all, despite what they'd agreed on. Turns out it was a good choice, because it matched Qilucan party fashion perfectly, or so Chiro said.

Chiro looked pretty dapper too, in his little shirt and vest and fedora. As did Jae, with suspenders and a fancy hat of his own. They were totally ready to get down, whatever that meant.

First they'd stopped at Naomi's of course, to say their goodbyes and Naomi had indeed given the most genuine of apologies...

"I'm really sorry!" She cried.

"It's okay, it's okay!" Kumari insisted. "I forgive you."

"You're really very sweet. I hope we can still be friends?"

Kumari of course, would like nothing better, and promised to send a letter once she was back home in Cevalon.

An unfortunate and unhappy thought had crossed Kumari's mind at the time...

If I'm back home in Cevalon.

But she shook it out of her mind — This is no time for negativity! Life is good and things are going well, mashallah. It's party time!

And so, once evening fell, Chiro walked them both to the discotheque Lupin, where, to Kumari's surprise, there was a sign made of colorful lights, in the shape of...

"A dog," Jae remarks. "Well, would you look at that."

As they head inside the building, their ears are immediately greeted by loud music, coming from the band in the corner. Kumari notices it has a traditional Qilucan vibe, and yet... It's different. She likes it.

"It's so loud," Chiro mutters.

Kumari likes that. She loves the sound of laughing and chatter and drinks clinking and people tapping their feet to the beat of the music.

"What are we waiting for! One of you needs to dance with me, now."

"I'll take first shift," Jae laughs. "Chiro looks too much like he's going to hurl."

"Okie-dokie," and Kumari's happily dragged into the throng, Jae's hand in hers as he spins her around, and soon enough he lets go, Kumari getting into the rhythm of it, moving next to him but not necessarily in sync, as she lets her body take over in favor of her mind.

She spins and she flicks her wrists, taps her bare feet across the colorful floor, and watches Jae out of the corner of her eye, noticing that though he's not moving as much, he's definitely dancing, shoulders and feet moving distinctly and expertly.

"Hey, you came!" Comes a voice, speaking Qilucan, and Kumari turns around, trying to understand what they're saying through the slight language barrier and over the sound of the less slight music.

"Oh! Josefien!"

"That's me," says the blonde, spinning up to Kumari, never once stopping dancing. "It's so much fun being here when you weren't invited, isn't it?"

"Weren't invited? But you invited me!"

"Well. I did, but it's kind of a private party anyways," she shrugs. "And everybody came anyways. I guess the mafia must be feeling really generous if they haven't kicked us out yet, but Qiluca knows they throw the best parties."

"M-mafia?" Kumari's surprised, faltering in her dancing. "You've gotta be joking, right?"

"Nopers," comes the voice of a black-haired girl, who'd apparently been dancing right behind Josefien — Kumari remembers her name, it was Ioanna. "Mafia party. The stray dogs of the city — they own this place. We didn't tell you?"

"You did but," Kumari mumbles. "Must've gotten lost in translation..."

"Just enjoy the ride," Josefien calls, dancing away. "No stress while we're on earth. So what if they're the mafia? They sure are great hosts."

Kumari's tempted to agree with their words, at first...

It's just the mafia! No big deal, it's a party... We're not doing anything illegal, and I'm less scared of mafiosos than I am of Sho anyways!

But then she figures she should tell Jae, anyways, just in case...

"Jae!" She calls his name, but she doubts he can hear her over all the noise.

And then she realizes that she's lost him, danced away too far from his side. And there's so many people — it's like the whole city got packed into once dance hall.

She wades through the people bumping into her best as she can — still dancing all the while, because the music's just too catchy not to.

She bumps into Chiro.

"Chiro!" She throws herself on him.

"O-oh! Do you want to dance...?"

"Well. Yes!"

So he takes her hands, immediately shifting into gear, moving smoothly, and not nervously at all, like Kumari thought he would. He spins her and dips her properly, like she's seen all the counts do with their countesses, when she'd sneak out of her room to spy on them, during ball nights at home.

"You're good at this!"

"I try," he chuckles, nervous after all. "Some magic involves dance, so..."

"Oh, right right. Like the fire dance!"

"That's one..."

Kumari shakes her head out of her party-induced stupor, "Chiro..."

"Mhm?"

"If this mafia were hosted by the party— I mean! If this party were, theoretically, hypothetically, hosted by the Qilucan mafia... Would that be too big a problem?"

Chiro frowns, then laughs. "Kumari, always trying to make things more exciting, huh?"

"No Chiro," she shakes her head. "Lupin is a mafia-owned business. This party is theirs. A lot of people in Qiluca came, but it's not exactly a public party..."

Chiro's pale skin goes even paler, "Oh no. That's really bad."

"What do we do?"

"Uh... Ask... Jae?"

"I can't find him!"

"I'll help you, then..."

Hand in hand, they dance their way through the crowd once more, looking for Jae among the blur of people dancing.

But they don't get to reach him before suddenly the music dies down, and everybody stops dancing.

"Huh?" Kumari's confused, not letting go of Chiro. His grip on her hands tightens.

"Welcome to Lupin!" Calls the voice of an older man, and Kumari's eyes turn to the very back of the discotheque, far in the back, where she can just barely make out the silhouette of someone sitting on what looks like a throne, his legs crossed. "I'm glad you could all make it to our celebration."

There's cheers from the crowd.

"Now, I know this was originally supposed to be a private party! We are the mafia, after all. Discretion is our business!"

Parts of the crowd laugh.

"But oh well. We run half the city and everybody already knows that. So might as well make the party available for ALL the stray dogs, yes? Not just the mafia's. Now, please put your hands together for... My dear guests of honor."

"Who could that be?" Kumari whispers to Chiro.

She's surprised when she finds out.

"Please, a warm welcome for Crown Princess Kumari of Cevalon, the kingdom of sunrise and sunset! And her dear illusionist friend, Chiro, from our very own kingdom, one of the last magicians left in our world!"

Then came the sound of thunderous applause.