Amalie watched Krath with a frown. ‘I suppose he thinks he’s dancing, but he has no sense of rhythm. Not surprising given he has no sense.’
I glanced at Krath, giggled, and turned my eyes back to the more appealing sight of Fian. ‘Are Deltans allowed to dance like that? It doesn’t look respectable to me.’
The song ended, Fian turned to me and laughed. ‘I told you, I’m a very bad Deltan, and anyway I’m just copying Rono. Come and dance too.’
I gave a theatrical sigh. ‘I’m getting corrupted by a Deltan.’
Fian took my hand, pulled me close, and whispered in my ear. ‘I’ve always wanted to corrupt a Betan.’
‘I thought you were still nervous of Betans.’
‘I was, but now I’ve got used to the idea of you being one, I think it could be quite exciting.’
The music started up again with song number four, and we danced. Krath stopped jiggling around to stare at us. ‘Amaz! Jarra can really dance.’
I laughed. ‘They teach us Earth kids to dance in Home. The idea is it wears us out without wrecking the place.’
After about an hour, the band took a break, which was followed by a set of quieter, romantic songs. My lookup picked this moment to chime and I hastily muted it. I glanced at who was calling, frowned, and disentangled myself from Fian to head to the portal end of the hall where I wouldn’t disturb anyone. Fian followed me, with an expression of frustrated disapproval.
‘Sorry, but it’s Keon,’ I said. ‘I have to answer in case …’ I broke off because two familiar figures were walking towards me.
‘Hello, Jarra,’ said Keon. ‘I thought I’d call you. Less effort than searching through the crowd.’
Issette just gave me a hazy smile. I looked at her sternly. ‘Are you powered?’
Keon sighed. ‘Medical students! They mixed up a bowl of their own special drink. I dread to think what they put in it.’
‘It doesn’t seem to have affected you.’
‘I wasn’t stupid enough to drink it.’ He gazed across the hall at the band, which had just started a louder number. ‘I brought Issette here because I thought archaeologists were more respectable than medical students. Perhaps I was wrong.’
‘You see the one going mad on the drums? That’s my lecturer.’
Keon shook his head sadly. ‘Norms.’
‘He’s got great legs,’ said Issette.
There was a moment of pure horror before I realized she wasn’t looking at Playdon but at Rono. I sagged with relief. Rono wouldn’t be embarrassed to get drunken compliments, he’d just laugh and tell Issette he was flattered but extremely happily married. I decided Rono did look a bit like Issette’s favourite singer, Zen Arrath, though Issette was right. Rono had much better legs.
Issette was dancing now, and drifting inexorably towards the crowd watching the band. Keon sighed, took her hands, and they swung into the dance routine that won them first prize in our last year at school.
‘Could we do that?’ asked Fian.
I giggled. ‘I could do that. I don’t think you could.’
‘Oh really? Just let me try!’
He tried. I was right. He couldn’t. We returned to our previous, closely entwined dance style, with Fian murmuring startlingly suggestive remarks in my ear. I swear I actually heard him use not only the butt word, but the breast word as well. Rock and roll music seemed to have a shockingly bad effect on innocent Deltans. I made a mental note to do detailed research on this later when we were somewhere more private.
The band wound up for the big finish, and did an encore before packing away their instruments and sound system. I introduced Keon and Issette to Amalie and Krath, though I doubted whether Issette was in any state to remember names. The six of us got drinks of Fizzup and went over to chat to Playdon and Dalmora.
‘That was amaz!’ said Krath. ‘You can actually play those drums.’
Playdon laughed. ‘There’s no need to sound so surprised, Krath.’
I noticed Dalmora was staring at the floor, looking depressed. Had she been trying to look as beautiful as possible, hoping to win a response from Playdon? I could have told her that would never work. Growing up as a ward of Hospital Earth, I’d learned to recognize the type of adult who’d abuse a position of trust. Playdon definitely wasn’t one of them. I hoped Dalmora would forget about him now, maybe even get interested in one of the class.
I handed a glass of Fizzup to Playdon. ‘Sir, a couple of my friends are here. They’ve brought their bags, and we have several spare rooms, so I wondered if …’
‘I remember Keon and Issette,’ said Playdon. ‘We’ve run into each other a couple of times in hospital waiting rooms. If they’d like to stay, I don’t see any problem.’