The Glorious Evolution

Meanwhile, Crowglass stood at the balcony railing, watching her guests gradually fill the dance floor.

As a Grandmaster Alchemist, she spent an unreasonable amount of time arranging these evenings.

Most of her peers remained secluded in their laboratories, emerging only when their research demanded something the outside world could provide.

No one would have questioned her if she did the same... Unfinished experiments always waited for her, and a Grandmaster’s time was too precious to waste like this... especially when only twelve existed across the Chained Universe and its neighboring realms.

Yet, every year, she opened her doors.

She chose the musicians, approved the dinner, and made certain the tables could be moved aside when the time came.

Her attendants could have handled all of it... but she liked doing it herself.

Long ago, she had attended a gathering much like this one.

She remembered very little of what had been served, or who had hosted it... But she remembered the young man who approached her after dinner, asking whether she would care to dance.

At the time, her late husband looked so confident of himself... yet, it took less than a minute to discover that he had absolutely no reason to be.

Crowglass smiled softly into her teacup, the image of her late husband reflecting on the green surface.

That was why she kept holding these gatherings.

Each year, she watched strangers introduce themselves, husbands offer their hands to their wives, and their sons work up the courage to ask a girl to dance.

Sometimes, a gesture would catch her attention... an awkward bow, a hand hovering uncertainly at a waist.

Then, for a little while, she could remember that evening as though he were still here to remember it with her.

Soon, her gaze wandered toward the edge of the floor... there, her new apprentice appeared to be losing an argument with his own feet.

The girl beside him was doing little better.

Crowglass watched them attempt a turn, hesitate halfway through it, then abandon the effort with matching smiles.

’Such sweethearts...’

She showed an amused smile as she leaned closer to the railing; their clumsy dancing skills reminded her of her own first dance with her late husband.

But then, she noticed something was moving through the stone around the girl’s shoes.

A faint vibration... too carefully contained to have come from the musicians.

As the owner of this establishment, her omnipotence level allowed her to detect it.

She may not seem like it, but she had a fair share of Nocturnal Games herself centuries ago before she became a Grandmaster.

Cauldron-Fey Trueborns might have inharited alchemy based bloodline, but their strength wasn’t to be scoffed at... after all, no one could buy a Kingdom in the Boundless Expanse, and they had to earn it through sweat and blood in the ring... their ancestor did just that, and they grew it to its current level.

Crowglass followed the faint vibrations to Levi.

’What is that little fox doing?’

Her eyes narrowed with curiosity after figuring out that he recreated each instrument through a different part of his body, keeping the entire orchestra in time even as he danced with his companion.

Crowglass’ attention returned to the girl as another realization dawned on her.

She had not heard her utter a word all evening... even her laughter had been silent, expressed through a smile and the slight shaking of her shoulders.

Crowglass assumed she was simply reserved.

Now, she watched a delicate phrase pass through their joined hands... and saw the girl immediately lean closer, her fingers tightening around his.

’Oh, my dear...’ Crowglass covered her lips.

The girl was deaf.

And Levi carried the music to her through touch so she could dance with him.

Crowglass slowly set down her cup, watching him with growing fondness. Whenever a passage delighted the girl, he played it for her again, letting the musicians move on without him.

All that effort... and he still took care to discover which parts she liked best.

’You really are a gentleman, aren’t you?’

Below, Jasmine rested her hand more fully on his shoulder.

Levi’s own hand shifted at her waist, then stopped, as though he wasn’t quite certain how closely he was allowed to hold her... and then Jasmine moved closer to him.

Crowglass’s smile softened as she remembered that hesitation.

Her own hand had once hovered in much the same way... until the young man before her gently guided it to his shoulder.

”Here?”

”Yes.”

”You sound very sure.”

”I’m trying to.”

She laughed at that.

Below the balcony, Levi attempted another turn, and for a moment, Crowglass saw someone else in his place... the image of her late husband overlapping on him.

The same careful hold... the same determined expression from a young man who had invited her to dance and only afterward considered what that might involve.

”You do know how?” she asked.

Her future husband glanced toward the other couples.

”I was hoping it would come back to me.”

”And has it?”

”Not yet.”

They managed three steps before his shoe caught her hem.

Crowglass recalled looking down, then up at him... how mortified he appeared, and how much worse she made it by laughing.

He began apologizing, and she caught his hand before he could let go.

”Try again.”

On the floor below, Jasmine drew Levi back toward her.

He followed willingly.

Crowglass folded her arms over the railing and then rested her head on them.

”Madam?”

An attendant stood beside her with a fresh cup.

Crowglass barely glanced at it.

”In a moment, dear.”

The attendant withdrew a step, exchanging a surprised look with her colleague as she watched Madam Crowglass’s expression warming up, too engrossed in her reminiscence to care about anything else.

For a moment, she could almost feel his hand around hers.

”We did enjoy ourselves... didn’t we?” She mumured softly, but the grief could never be masked behind her words.

Below, the musicians were approaching the end of the song, and the music passing through Levi’s body followed them toward its conclusion.

Crowglass watched the girl’s hands settle on his shoulders.

They took one last step together.

Then neither moved.

Her own dance had ended like that.

She remembered standing close enough to notice how her partner’s composure deserted him when she lifted her face.

He looked at her mouth.

She waited.

Below, Levi lowered his head a fraction.

Crowglass straightened.

’Go on, then.’

Jasmine remained close.

He hesitated.

Crowglass’s smile faded.

’Oh, surely not...’

The little fox managed an entire orchestra inside his body, and he was nothing but a courageous fella... this was where he drew the line?

As Crowglass saw his hand beginning to loosen at the girl’s waist, she nearly reached for her shoe to throw at him.

But unlike Crowglass... Jasmine understood how much Levi carried. His fight against Burden Collector was still fresh in her mind.

She would never rush him or resent his hesitation... he held enough without having to worry about disappointing her, too.

So, she rose onto her toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek, just below the fox mask.

Crowglass went still and so did Levi.

Below, Jasmine lowered her veil and signed with her hands.

Crowglass couldn’t read it, as this specific sign language belonged to Earth... but she recognized the gratitude in the girl’s smile, the affectionate squeeze of his hand.

And judging by the way Levi remained frozen, the little fox was proving every bit as hopeless as her husband had been.

Crowglass pressed her lips together as she watched them leave the dance floor and return to their table... Jasmine’s arm entertwined with his, neither caring about the other’s judging look after their ’masterpiece’ of a dance.

Crowglass watched them sit, fondness mingling with an old, familiar irritation.

She married her hesitant young gentleman... she loved him dearly, and they shared more dances than she could count.

But goodness... he sure as hell made her wait.

Even after their first kiss, she spent too many evenings wondering whether she would have to arrange their entire courtship herself.

She never let him forget it.

Then, her gaze settled on Levi.

’And you seem determined to be just as troublesome.’

She smiled a little.

”Your tea, Madam?” the attendant ventured.

This time, Crowglass accepted it.

She was very pleased that the little fox would be studying under her.

Alchemy was important, of course... but watching him leave with that lovely girl, she began making a few additions to his courtship lessons.

”After closure, guide Dark Sun and his companion to my office.”