I approached town square with excitement bubbling in my chest.

Dad took Mom’s hand and surprised her by pulling her into the throng of dancers. Theo’s mouth dropped open at the act.

I grinned and poked him in the ribs. “You should try it yourself. It’s fun.”

Mot danced among other elven kids but when he spotted me, he left them and held his hand out to me.

“You’re back. Care to dance?” he asked. I took his hand as Theo’s eyes bugged out.

“I’d love to.” My shoes clopped after him and we danced freely to the upbeat tempo.

I motioned for Theo to join us. Mot noticed and ran over to him. Theo shook his head fervently, backing away. Mot held his hand out in open invitation. I stopped dancing with a stomp of my foot and hoped Theo could read my glare as a declaration of my opinion of his pigheadedness.

Theo strode forward, not taking Mot’s hand. I took Theo’s hand and tried to get him to at least bounce to the beat.

“Come on! Feel the music. Let loose your body and move to the rhythm,” I encouraged him. “It’s fun!”

Mot had no problem being an example to Theo, carefree with shimmying his shoulders and swaying back and forth.

Theo watched, eyes shaky and off-put. He looked around at the humans and elves alike all having a good time as panic filtered in his flicking gaze.

He shook his head again. “I’ll just watch.” He retracted back to the sidelines, but I didn’t pressure him further. It must be a big step against his comfort and I respected he had at least come along, giving us a chance to show him the innocence of the dance square.

The music lilted to an end and most dancers stilled in place to wait for the next song to strike up. People grinned and gave compliments to those around them. Some couples switched up partners. From the band’s corner, an elf with a fiddle leaned over to a human girl with thick braids sitting beside him to give her a smooch. One of his bandmates tossed an apple core at him in lighthearted antics.

“I didn’t know if you would come back or not, but I’m glad you did,” Mot told me. He seemed to be between my and Theo’s ages, six or seven.

“I would have come yesterday but couldn’t. Do you come here every day?” I asked.

“Not every day, but as often as I can. It’s one of the things that makes me happy.” He closed his eyes as if soaking up double the energy he had expended.

The flute played a note before music struck back up and Mot’s mouth stretched into a grin. “Okay, this one has steps. I’ll teach you.” He spent most of the song teaching me the dance. I feared I would forget before being able to perform it in full. An elf and human pair taught Mom and Dad. Theo watched on as a sullen wallflower.

Mot taught me two more dances before Mom and Dad bowed out on the excuse of fatigue.

I clung by Mot, not ready to be torn from this moment.

Mom smiled at me and said from beside Theo, “Have all the fun you want.”

Theo scowled and Dad ruffled his hair. Mot motioned something to the four-man band.

The next song started and it was the first song he had taught me the steps to. I grinned and tried my best to follow in speed with everyone else. Mot patiently reminded me before each new step and corrected me when I faltered.

He clapped when the song ended and I blushed.

“Thank you for teaching me and being patient,” I told him.

“Thank you for being my dance partner. If you want, we can practice together for you to learn all the dances.”

“I’d like that.” I grinned at him. I felt a bit breathless from all the dancing, but I never wanted to stop.

“Me too.”

We danced to four more songs before I made unfortunate eye contact with Dad. With a sorry smile, he jerked his thumb back towards home. Mom and Theo were already gone. I hadn’t noticed when they left.

I frowned as my arms hung limp. “I guess I have to go now. But this was so fun! I can’t wait to learn all the dances!”

“I’ll walk with you so I know where you live, if that’s okay?” he checked as we left the main square.

I wondered if my parents would be fine with that, but I certainly was. “It’s the one-story cabin down this road to the left with the log in the front yard.”

He nodded. “That’s easy enough to remember. I’ll see you later!” He waved as I headed off with Dad. I waved back before grinning openly.

“Looks like you had a great time,” Dad noted.

“The best! The music was great, dancing was fun, and Mot is so nice,” I gushed.

“You did look like you were in your own world. This Mot boy. . . Do you like him?” Dad asked.

“Yes! . . . Oh, you mean like like, . . . like you and Mom. I don’t know Mot well enough to decide that.”

He chuckled at my answer. “Well don’t be thinking about getting any boyfriends until your mom and I say you’re old enough, years and years and years from now.”

I didn’t have a response to that, feeling years and years older than I was, and yet a kid at the same time.

“But you are okay with Mot being my friend? Are you okay with him coming over to play and teach me dances?” I inquired, nervous as we left town.

“That’s perfectly acceptable to me. Theo might not like it, but he’ll warm to the idea, I’m sure.”

“Why did he and Mom leave early?”

“Theo asked to go. He seemed to be at his limit so Mom took him home. He’ll get used to elves being fine people. He just needs time to adjust to the idea. You looked so happy dancing. I hated to make you stop.”

“It’s okay. Tomorrow is another day.” I hoped Theo wised up sooner rather than later. Especially if Mot visited from time to time. I looked forward to having my own friend. Mot seemed so kind, fun, and accepting. And he was a real-life elf. Wherever I came from before, there certainly weren’t elves. It had been too much of a shock to me that they were real, just like monsters and this kind of magic. I hoped to never encounter any monster though. That could stay firmly in stories for me.

***

Mot visited the very next day while Theo played at Elliot’s house and Dad was gone, working.

Mot hadn’t come alone, but with his teenage brother, Eric, prepared with a fiddle. He was the one I saw that kissed a human girl at town square. Eric helped Mom move the furniture to the sides to make room for us. Eric played for us as Mot taught me dances in the middle of our living room.

The attention solely on us made me self-conscious. I buried that embarrassment and focused on the steps Mot taught. He was so sure on his feet, like he had been dancing all his life.

I fumbled another step.

“It’s okay. That part is tricky. Let’s try it again.” Mot walked me back through the steps, demonstrating it slow for me to absorb.

His cheeriness smoothed every blunder, and every misstep became a laugh with me rather than at me mistake. We kept practicing and I got a better hang of some of the dances.

We were pretending to duck under couple’s raised arms when Theo opened the front door.

“Hi, Theo.” I grinned happily at him.

He looked to the two elves and Mom before trudging to his room.

How long would he keep this up? Surely, he could see mingling with elves wasn’t a big deal. They were people, just with pointy ears is all.

Eric cleared his throat after we got through a dance that I was excited to see everyone do in sync. “I have to go. I have plans that I can’t be late for.”

Mot waved him on. “Go ahead. Thanks for being our musician. See you at home, if you are going home tonight.” Mot smirked at his brother.

“We’ll see about that, you little oaf.” Eric chuckled as I tried not letting it show what I assumed his plans were. It could be anything! Travel, work, something not related to a date entirely!

He left after helping move the furniture. Mot scratched the back of his neck. “I guess it’s hard to dance now without accompaniment. Want to play? I can be a dashing rogue and you can be the damsel in distress.”

“What am I in distress of?” I asked, thrilled he wanted to spend time with me beyond dancing. I was used to playing different roles according to Theo’s imagination, and damsel in distress was a common theme. I was fine with it, because sometimes I made him be the one needing saving.

“The evil charlatan! He’s a bad guy who preys on pretty girls,” Mot suggested.

“You made that up, right?” I asked, worried that a creep stalked around town. Except if that was the case, there was no way our parents would let us go anywhere without supervision.

“Of course. Do you think your brother will play as him? Or would he prefer to be the dashing rogue?”

“Or I could be the evil charlatan and Theo could be the dude in distress!” I joked.

“Dude?” Mot cocked his head and I caught Mom give me a strange look too from where she sat, busied with knitting.

“Uh, guy in distress, I meant to say,” I covered, wondering where I had got the information downloaded in my mind from. There had never been more of an inkling hint of a past life memory, nothing more distinct than what I inherently knew.