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Nuri had the afternoon off.  A rare treat.  She had pleased the kitchen-master last night, so he had given her a few hours off to roam among the royal gardens.  She shuddered as she remembered her time with him last evening.  Then she pushed such thoughts far away from her.  She would not think of them today.   This was her chance to be alone.  To enjoy the sunshine on her face and the breeze in her hair.  

She entered the garden and pulled on the ribbon ensnaring her long locks.  As her midnight tresses fell to flow around her waist, she walked towards the ornamental pond.  It was her favorite part of this beautiful garden.  She found a seat in the shade of a tree and leaned her head back against its trunk.  Then she closed her eyes and simply drank in the peace surrounding her.  And wished she had a dream to dream.

That was how Hobi found her a few moments later.  Her captivating face upturned towards the blue sky.  Her eyelids still hiding the magnificence that was her pair of beautiful, obsidian eyes.  Her glorious, gleaming hair brushing the ground around her.

He didn’t want to startle her, so he approached slowly.  He knew exactly what he wanted to do with her.  He’d been thinking about it for two weeks.  He hadn’t been able to forget how pained her movements had been.  How she’d limped along on that tender leg.  It had truly broken his heart.  

He wished to set her free from every restriction and teach her to dance with joy.  But he had no quick remedy for her.  However – thankfully – he had this opportunity to see her again.  

The king had loved Hobi’s dramas as well as his comedies.  King Yoongi and Queen Moonflower had both enjoyed Hobi’s humor and his fine gift for dancing.  They had invited him and his troupe to perform daily for all who lived in the palace.  He and his players had even been given rooms here.  Hobi had never before entertained such royal favor.  He was being cautious not to lose it.  

But there was one thing he wanted enough to explore the palace grounds…the girl with the magnificent, midnight eyes.

Hobi was in want of a wife.  Most men his age had already married.  He had never before found a girl he wanted to delight in.  But there was something about the little lass he’d caught walking down the hallway the first day he’d stood before the king.  Hobi just hadn’t been able to get her out of his head.  She broke into his thoughts several times a day.  

He had spent two weeks searching for her in his free moments.  But he wasn’t allowed to roam far in the confines of the palace.  Most hallways were off limits to him.  However, he had received an invitation from the king to peruse the grounds of the garden.  In consequence, he had finally found her again.

He stopped and stood, staring down at her lovely countenance for several silent moments.  The sunlight was streaming through a break in the tree branches.  Its glow was causing her raven locks to gleam and highlighting the roses in her cheeks.  She was ravishing.  He suppressed a sudden urge to bend down and brush his lips across hers.  

What an inviting mouth!  Really, her whole face seemed to beckon to him.  And her tiny body seemed to call out to him to envelop her in his arms and shield her from the terrors that someone larger and stronger than her might unleash upon her on an evil whim.  

Why did he feel that so strongly?  Was she at particular risk because she couldn’t flee quickly?  He pondered this mystery as his eyes traced every lovely feature of her mesmerizing face.  Just then, those amazing eyes fluttered open, and she gasped.

“I’m so sorry,” he murmured.  “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

She stared up at the kind man who had helped her two weeks ago.

“I haven’t been able to get you out of my head,” he admitted a moment later.

“What?” She gazed up at him out of those huge, dark eyes.

“Have you ever danced?”

She shook her head as a spasm crossed her countenance.

“Would you like to?”

She lifted her eyes to his again as a furrow dug itself deep between her eyebrows.

“I could help you,” he whispered hoarsely, his voice seeming to catch on a sudden lump in his throat.

Why did she feel so drawn to this stranger?

“I don’t understand.”

“I know.  But I’m a lot bigger than you are.  I thought if I held you in my arms and you placed your feet on top of mine, I could move for both of us and carry you with me.  And you’d know what it feels like to move without restriction.”

She gazed up at him as tears filled her eyes.  “You’ve thought about this?”  She paused, astonished.  “Why?  Why would you consider how it feels for me to be stuck in this broken body?”

Hobi shrugged and shook his head.  “I don’t know,” he murmured.  “I just know how much I would hate it.  I was trying to think of a way to help you.  To free you.  Even if just a little.”  His eyes lowered to the ground.  “Forgive me if I’ve offended you.  I assure you: I meant no insult.”

She glanced around.  “There’s a small forest behind me.  I’ll wander into it.  Wait a couple minutes.  Then follow me.  Make sure no one is following you.”

She stood up and headed haltingly down the path behind her.  Hobi sat down and watched the wind playing with the water of the little pond for a few moments.  He was itching to move.  Sitting still was not his natural modus operandi.  Finally, after counting to a hundred, he glanced around.  Then, he followed her, making sure no one was behind him.  

After a couple minutes, he followed a curve in the walking path and found her in a tiny clearing in the trees.  The sun was shining down on her glorious, raven tresses.  She was standing still and gazing up at the blue sky.  He glanced around.  The tree cover surrounding them was so thick that they were safe from anyone else’s view.

He approached her.  His eyes feasted on her beauty.  In the gentle sunlight, she was particularly gorgeous.  She looked like a tiny princess basking in the light of a happy sun.  Suddenly, as she glanced down and met his gaze, her face split into a wide smile.  And Hobi felt all the breath in his lungs evaporate.  If he’d thought she was pretty when she was frowning, he found her absolutely stunning when her face was lit up by a grin.  

He came to stand in front of her a moment later.  He beamed down at her.  Then he bowed to her in a happy flourish of movement that increased the width of her mouth.  He gazed up at her as his head slowly moved to reach its normal height.

“May I have this dance, milady?”

She giggled.  Which was such a freeing feeling.  She almost never laughed.  But there was something about this sunny man that bled joy into her heart.  She looked up at him and nodded.

“I’m not sure what to do,” she murmured as an uncertain expression overtook her features.

“Allow me.”  He paused a moment to question her.  “May I touch you?”

She hesitated but then nodded.  He stepped forward and slid his arms around her waist.  He pulled her towards him.  For just a moment, she tensed.

“You don’t like me touching you?” he whispered as his friendly face suddenly cramped in a concerned frown.

She shook her head and spoke in a tiny voice.  “It’s okay.”

With that permission, he drew her closer still.  Then he gave her a simple instruction.

“Step on my feet.”

Her eyebrows forming a valley between them, she gazed up at him doubtfully.

“It’s okay,” he assured her gently.  “You won’t hurt me.  You’re so tiny.”

Troubled, she pulled her eyebrows further down over her eyes, then she glanced down at her feet.  Gingerly, she picked up one small foot and placed it on his foot.  Then she stepped up on his other foot.  She looked up at him.

He grinned and began to spin around, moving his feet in a circle.  Carrying her with him.  He watched her face carefully. 

“Am I hurting you?”

“Not really,” she murmured.  

Not anymore than simply standing already pained her.

Suddenly, a wide smile lit her face.  She beamed up at him, her eyes dancing.  He grinned down at her and continued to spin her.  Her eyes fluttered shut, and her face relaxed.  

Hobi continued to move them about the clearing, from side to side and then forward.  Then back.  Side to side again.  He was delighting in the feel of her in his arms.  But mostly, it was the poignant expression of wonder on her face that was undoing him.