<div class="floatleft">(https://i.imgur.com/hiW13Hj.jpg)<div align="center"><strong>Alizeh Cloudborn</strong> (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=299823.msg14660956#msg14660956)</div></div>Alizeh laughed at the idea of a centaur dancing the way the two elf-blooded women were, and the thought made her relax enough that she was able to keep up decently with the slender elf that had her wrapped up in her arms much better than she would have been if she had been focusing too much on it.<br/><br/>After smiling back to Valena's wink, not daring to try to return it, she became unaware of the world around her as they twirled, and as they stopped in unison and Alizeh's red dress settled about her she suddenly became aware that her and Ianora weren't the only person in the room again. "You're an incredible dancer." She gushed, meaning it. She moved slightly to take her hands away and...no. They were held. Oh. Still, the elf kept her in that grasp that felt so light but yet Alizeh had about as much chance of pulling herself away from as if they were the magical bonds that kept the wizard's castle in the sky. Her waist also held she found herself unwilling to remove her own hand from the lady's shoulders, it would seem incredibly rude to pull away from a woman who was so willing to be chained to her body, a body that Alizeh still felt was oddly shaped and clumsy next to Ianora's. She'd heard stories of elves competing and trying to find the ugliest creature to bring to a dance and a part of her worried that something like that was occurring here, but the woman seemed so sincere, and she danced so well, and she felt so good when she brushed up against the half-elf woman.<br/><br/>She blushed a little, still amazed that she had the attention of such a beguiling creature, and then she noticed clapping. She glanced about to see what the commotion was and was perplexed for a moment to see people smiling back at her. Oh. Oh!<br/><br/>"Are they..." she turned her neck the other direction to see the crowd there, "are they clapping for us?" She whispered in shock. Alizeh, the girl who had been ignored most of her life or had her nose so deep in a book she'd never known if anyone was watching or not, now had received a round of applause twice in the same evening. It was almost too much! What a wonder the right dress and the wrong shoes and a supernaturally beautiful and agile dance partner could do! "I can't believe it." She said just as softly. She turned back to Ianora.<br/><br/>Or at least she meant to. As she turned her head she paused halfway, as her yes fell on one of the few sights that could keep her from returning to the elf she was embracing. Mara. That sun-kissed skin, that heart-warming smile, and those arms. Oh yes, all of those things, they were still there - not a daydream or illusion. And they combined to give Mara the ability to give Alizeh a dozen inappropriate thoughts just from glancing her way.<br/><br/>And glance she did. She paused, giving the unrefined woman a smile that she hoped was friendly and encouraging as if to say "look at me, I'm doing the making friends and getting us contacts thing! This is working!" Poor Alizeh, a novice to put it mildly in affairs of the heart that took place somewhere other than a poem or a novel or a painting, did not realize the many other ways such a smile could go to a woman who she had feelings for, when given from another woman's arms.