She laughed as his enthusiasm to see the ballet on opening night, ?I guess, yeah. Envy jist makes th? practices tha? much more difficul? righ? now, bu? I think it?ll pass ova time.? She turned the corner of a street to reveal perhaps not the cleanest street in Rhydin, but up ahead was a sign that read ?La Barre? ?An? at leas? I thin? they do. Git all gooey-eyed an? mushy.? She seemed to find this rather amusing, and grinned. She leaned a bit closer to him to point at the sign, ?Tha?s the otha place tha? I work a?. Righ? where we?re goin?.?

He read the sign and then glanced at her. "You dance here as well?" From the outside at least, the bar did not seem to be a place where ballet would be the sort of dancing on offer. He was not about to say that though, so he followed obediently and waited for clarification from Katie.

"Oh no, nah here. I tend th' bar. They go' a studio upstairs 'cause th' wife used ta dance an' is gonna star' givin' lil kids lessons soon." She grinned and pulled the door open for him again.

It did not seem open yet, but there was an older Irishman with a naturally red face. Stout and short, he gave a grin to them, "Evenin' to ya Rini. Who's yer friend?"

"Oh, Mac this is Peredhil. Peredhil, Mac. He an' his wife own th' place."

Peredhil extended a hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you." Glancing around, he added, "Nice place you've got here." He smiled at the man, then looked at Katie, awaiting further instructions.

At Mac's pointed look, Katie simply grinned. "Peredhil's mah firs' student. We're headin' up." She gave Peredhil a reassuring smile over her shoulder, before she lead him behind the bar and out the swinging doors to reveal a metal, spiral staircase. They wobbled slightly, but it did not seem to worry her. Once they reached up the stairs, they entered a simple dance studio, with a bar along the back wall and with mirrors against the rest of the walls.

With a parting wave for Mac, Peredhil followed Katie up the stairs. "I'm your first student? That's a lot of pressure on me." He laughed and hoisted Katie's bag over his head. "Where should I put this?"

"Well, yer mah firs' studen' here." Another reassuring grin, before she waved her hand to a corner, "Ya kin jist leave it there..." her voiced trailed off fer a moment, glancing towards th' piano, "We dun hav' a piano playa yit, an' I usually dance 'n silence. Ya dun mind me countin' instead, do ya?"

Placing the bag down where she indicated, he shook his head. "I don't mind. You don't mind me stomping on your toes, do ya?" He teased lightly, moving towards her with a sly grin.

"I would, bu' yer nah goin' ta, so I dun mind." She moved to the center of the room, and beckoned him to join her, "First thin's first..." she looked down to inspect what kind of shoes he was wearing.

He glanced down at his shoes. He wore simple moccasins, having foregone the boots because he had less faith than she did that he wouldn't crush her toes. At least the moccasins wouldn't hurt as much.

She gave a faint bob of her head, "Those'll do fer now. I kin pick ya up some good dancin' shoes fer our next meetin'. Jist dun wear boot tha' go up ta yer ankles, yeah?" She grinned, "Now, th' firs' par' o' th' dance is th' way tha' ya stand. Show me wha' ya would do if were were gonna dance. Where would ya put yer hands?"

He thought about putting his hands in his pockets, but decided that she might take it as a personal affront. He didn't want to insult his teacher before he'd taken his first step. Stepping forward, he placed one hand gingerly on the middle of her back and reached for her hand with his free one. Meeting her gaze, he shrugged. "I don't know if this is right."

Her face gave away nothing until he was finished, and she smiled, "Nah, this looks real good." She released his hand for a moment to gently fix the bending of his elbow, before replacing her hand. "Okay, now th' first step ya ar' gonna take is wit yer left foot, always star' wit' th' left foot. Then yer second step is gonna be ta th' right wit' yer right foot. Stop when ya git there, Ready?" She nodded for him to move when he wanted to.

Nodding at her instructions, he moved forward slowly with the left foot, then shifted to the right with the right foot. "Like that?"

"Jist like tha'." She followed his lead seamlessly, appearing to need no beat to follow his tempo. "Now, yer gonna shift yer weight ta yer right leg, Then, yer gonna slide yer left food ova an' stand up straigh' again. Then, on th' fourth bea' yer gonna step back wit yer right leg."

He leaned too heavily on his right leg and stumbled over the next step. Recovering quickly and apologizing profusely, his face red, Peredhil slid his left foot over, straightened, and, counting the beats in his head, dropped back with his right leg.

Her hand tightened against his as she nearly toppled along with him. She tried not to chuckle or joke, since his face had turned red and apologies were quick. "Tha's okay, dun worray ova it. When th' motion's more fluid, it'll be a lot easier ta shift an' lean. Now yer gonna do almos' th' same thin', but wit th' opposite feet. Step yer left leg back, and ta th' left, leanin' yer weight then ta yer left and bring yer right foot tagetha wit th' left."

Under control again, his steps were more precise this time. She was a good teacher and her instructions were easy to follow.

"Good!" She grinned and gave his hand a very faint but reassuring squeeze, "Tha's th' basics of it. One, two three, four, five an' six." She lead them then, saying each beat with the movement. "Wanna try 'em all togetha now?"

He nodded, grateful for her praise. "Sure, I think I'm ready."

She smiled and gave a small nod, her fingers tapping lightly against the back of his hand to set a tempo for him.

He timed his steps to Katie's beats, his confidence increasing slowly but steadily with each step.

"It doesn't have to be, although the most important features are that it's smooth and flat. But you don't want to find a stone that's too light, or it will sail up into the air rather than skip.? He watched her, grinning at her earnest attempts to find a good stone to throw.

"Sail inta th' air er sink like a' anchor. Go' it." She ticked off his standards to keep them in mind. Humming softly, off-key, she finally picked up a round, black and most importantly, flat stone. "Like this?" She returned to him and showed off the rock like a prize.

"That looks perfect! A minute in, and you've already passed the first test with flying colors." Grinning, he set his feet apart, exaggerating his motions for her benefit. "You'll want to stand with your legs apart and, assuming you're right-handed, you'll have your left shoulder facing the water."

"Okay." Not realizing he is exaggerating, Katarina mocks his stance in her dress, looking over her shoulder to watch him. After years of studying under people, her understanding was to repeat everything literally.

He smothered a chuckle and nodded encouragingly. "Right, now once you've established a stance that is comfortable to you, all you need to do is whip your arm around like this..." Demonstrating a sidearm motion "and you release the stone." He watched as the stone skipped across the pond, eventually dropping into the water near the opposite bank. Turning back to her, he shrugged. "There's not much to it really."

"Do ya throw it hard, er soft? A' wha' angle? Do ya use all yer fingers er only one?" She did not even blink as she asked the questions, bending her kneesjust slightly to properly mock his stance.

"Don't throw it too soft, but you don't have to throw it with all your might either." Walking over to her, he gently arranged her fingers. "Rest your middle finger below the stone and place your thumb and your forefinger at opposite ends of the stone to keep it steady."

"You want to throw it sidearm so that it hits the water at a flat angle, almost as if you're throwing it parallel to the water." Meeting her gaze, he grins. "Any more questions?"

Her hand instantly relaxed as he rearranged her fingers. Once she was certain she was doing a satisfactory job, she held her fingers in place. She blushed at his grin, "Nah, I thin' 'm gonna giv' it a go." She waited until he was not in hitting distance anymore, before throwing the stone. It skipped three times on top of the smooth surface of the water before sinking.

He whistled softly, clearly impressed. "Not bad at all for a first effort."

She grinned and even laughed lightly at her unexpected success. "It bounced three times!" She repeated, just in case he had missed it.

"I'd say nicer things but I don't want that head of yours to get too large or I'll have to cut down all of these trees to get you out of here."

She broke her stance to give him another playful push with a crescendo of laughter, "At leas' i's nah a bad face er nothin'!"

He laughed. "I know. My eyes work just fine!" He splashed water in her direction. "I'd better douse you off before you catch fire."

She could not help but giggle and try to avoid the water. "Nah th' dress!" Her smile would suggest it was only an excuse instead of a real concern.

Her push caused another deluge of water, which was forceful enough to douse the hem of her dress. "So much concern for material things?" He shook his head, standing upright in a foot of water while considering his options.

"Only cause i's mine an' I take care o' mah stuff.. an'.. I dun wana git wet!" Laughing, she bent down to splash water in his direction wildly before attempting to escape.

"I can see it expanding..." He pretended to stare at her head. "Yeah, there it goes!" He grinned as water sprayed his shirt and arms, kicking a large wave of water in her direction.

"Gah!" She felt the water go through spots on her back and on the backs of her arms. Turning around suddenly, she grinned and charged him, splashing and laughing all the way.

"Be careful, Katie. Push me too far and I may just have to dunk you entirely." He grinned mischievously, hands on his hips, awaiting her reaction. If she let it go, so would he. If not...

"Only if ya kin catch me." She shot a spray of water to his face in utter defiance.

He sputtered in surprise and laughed uproariously. "Now you've done it!" Leaping out of the water, he raced after her.

Hoping her long legs did not fail her now, she turned and sprinted in the other direction, unknowingly kicking up water as she ran.

"You can't say I didn't warn you!" She was quick, but he managed to close the distance between them, although he was utterly soaked. Afraid that she would get away, he dove for her, tackling her from behind with both arms and sending them spilling forward so that they were both submerged in about three feet of water.

His dive clipped her arms to her body, and she had only a moment to catch her breath before being submerged. She tried to break away from him without harming him to sputter for air.

Releasing her once they hit the water, he came up beside her, unsure what to expect.

After she had a few breaths of air, they were quickly gone as laughter consumed her. "Gah i's freezin' 'n here!" She splashed absently in his direction, but she was laughing.

He grinned at her, floating on his back. "What are you talking about? The water feels great."

She watched him float by, muttering, "See how ya like it now." And aimed an attack to dunk him.

Caught completely off-guard, he was at her mercy as she dunked him. He grabbed her arms, his own recourse was to ensure that she went under with him.

If there was something Katie learned from her older male cousin, it was dunking contests. Without wanting to drown him, she fought against him to try and get air before him.

It was his turn to rise to the surface, gasping for air. He still held onto her arms, although his grip was gentle now that both of their heads were above the water.

Her hair was no longer in curls,and she had to go back under to get most of the blond away from her eyes. When she came back up, she was very grateful for the material of her dress to not be transparent despite its white color. "Yanno this was all yer fault, righ'?" She grinned, and made no movement to move.

He was willing to accept the blame and made no attempt to shirk it. Instead, an easy laugh escaped his lips. "You know what they say about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer."