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"Are you ready? Not too nervous?"

Hazel swallowed hard and gripped the lining of the lion costume. "I'm ready."

"Are you sure? Because we can call this whole thing off right now if you don't feel comfortable."

"I'm fine, Jin." Hazel said. "I... I want to do this."

"Okay, if you're sure. You think you know your part well enough?"

"I think so." Hazel dropped her gaze until she was looking at her feet. "Will this really work? I'm not an acrobat like you."

"You'll do fine," Jin insisted. He gave her a reassuring smile. "It's not really about your physical skill at the Dance. What's more important is that our minds are in sync -- and I've never felt as comfortable doing this with anyone as I do with you."

Hazel felt her face flush, and she averted her eyes to one side. "What if it doesn't work?"

"If it doesn't work, it doesn't work," Jin said. "We can try again another time."

Hazel took a deep breath. "I'm ready," she repeated.

"Okay, then we'll start."

Jin lifted his part of the costume, and Hazel did the same, draping the material over her head.

The lion costume consisted of a large, painted wooden head attached to a colorful cloth cape. Jin had the hollow head over his torso, and Hazel had the cape draped over own upper body, so that their legs would be the legs of the "lion," with Jin forming the front and Hazel in the rear. When Jin was performing, he would also wear colorful, frilled slacks that matched the colors on the cape, but today was a practice session, and Jin had explained that the lion itself was the most important part of the ritual.

Jin took a step forward. The Lion Dance had begun.

Holding her breath, Hazel stepped forward as well, matching his movement. What began as a few simple steps and kicks soon became more elaborate, with twists and flourishes and leaps. She followed every move, turning when Jin turned, sliding around him as he spun, catching him as he stepped onto her knees for a move that made the "lion" appear to rear up. Though they had no audience out here in the forest clearing, Jin gave it his all, holding nothing back.

Hazel found herself sweating as she struggled to keep up with the complicated routine. She didn't feel anything yet, and it wasn't hard to imagine why. It was all Jin's skill, not hers: she was the student, desperately trying to mimic the master. She did her best, and it would likely prove impressive to anyone watching, but she was not nearly on Jin's level of skill. She was a fraud, a fake, leeching off of the performance of one greater than herself. The Dance would be better off without her.

No... no, that wasn't right. Hazel couldn't match Jin's level of skill, but right now, in this clearing, she was his partner, and this was a two-person dance. It took two bodies to wear the costume, not one. Without Hazel, this Dance, the one they were dancing right now, couldn't happen.

And then she felt it. The energy rose like a hook in the pit of her stomach. It swirled around them, through them, filling the air of the clearing. It was raw and powerful and feral, made of emotions her ancestors had long forgotten. It pulled her towards Jin like a tide, gentle but inexorable. Jin must have felt it, too, because the cadence of the Dance changed, and Hazel found that she could match it more perfectly. The Dance was coming together.

Jin went into a couch, tensing his legs. He was going to leap forward, and Hazel needed to do the same. Though they had not rehearsed this move, Hazel somehow knew that this was the moment that the Dance had been leading to: the culmination of the ritual. She had one last chance to back out. She could stop now, loosen her grip, and the costume would be pulled off of her. The magic would dissipate, and everything would go back to how it was before.

Hazel crouched, tensed her legs, and leaped.

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