“Thank you,” she said austerely. “A glass of wine would be most welcome.”

The two ladies moved off toward the refreshment table as the rest of the guests shook themselves and returned to interrupted conversations.

Pat Rin remembered to breathe.

“See?” Miri gave his hand a companionable squeeze before releasing him, and sending another grin up into his face. “Piece o’cake.”

“As an author of the joke you might well say so,” he replied, with feeling. “But consider how it might seem to those who had no—

“Indeed, it was ill-done of us,” Val Con murmured, slipping his arm away. “We had not taken into account that your duty would place you between the two ladies.”

Pat Rin turned to stare, and Val Con inclined his head, for all the worlds like a proper Liaden, and murmured the phrase in high Liaden—”Forgive us, cousin. We do not intend to distress you, but to attain clarity.”

Sighing, Pat Rin also inclined his head, “It is forgotten,” rising reflexively to his lips.

“Next time, we’ll send you a clue ahead of time,” Miri said.

He eyed her. “Must there be a next time?”

“Bound to be,” she answered, not without a certain amount of sympathy. Her eyes moved, tracking something beyond his shoulder.

“Band’s settin’ up,” she said to Val Con.

“Ah,” he returned, and lifted an eyebrow “Cousin, I am wanted at my ‘chora.”

“By all means, go,” Pat Rin told him. “Perhaps Ms. Audrey will induce my mother to stand up with Andy Mack.”

The band played surprisingly well, and in a rather wider range than Pat Rin had expected, fiddle and guitar at the fore, Val Con’s omnichora weaving a light, almost insubstantial, background.

At Ms. Audrey’s insistence, he and Natesa had stood up for the first dance—a lively circle dance not dissimilar to the nescolantz, which had been a staple at young people’s balls when he had been considerably younger. He spied Ms. Audrey, with Lady Kareen and Luken bel’Tarda at her side, observing the pattern of the dance from the edge of the rug. Further on, Clonak ter’Meulen was in animated conversation with Uncle Daav and Cheever McFarland.