Original fic for Hopeofdawn

[icarus_chained]

Birthday fic for hopeofdawn . I'm really, really nervous about this one, because it's inspired by a piece of her gorgeous, gorgeous art, a piece called SunDance (http://hopeofdawn.livejournal.com/180196.html#cutid1), and basically can't compare. But. The art is beautiful, and it's her birthday, and I wanted to try.

Title:  Sun Dance
Rating:  PG
Wordcount:  550
Notes:  Abstract, a moment only. Also, please excuse the spacing and sizing problems. This computer is nowhere near as intuitive as my own, and has strange ideas about cut-and-paste. -_-;

Type your cut contents

 

Dum. 

Dum-da. 
 

 

Da-dum-da. The drum beat. Da-dum.

Brown hands, darkly glowing in the sun, beating down on stretched hide. The drummers, twelve strong, grinning in the heat, heads nodding with the rhythm of the hands. The beat. Slow beat. Blood beat.
 

Dum-da. Da-dum-da. The drum beat. The blood beat. Da-dum.

More hands, the crack of sticks together, bristle and snap, and they raise the fire in the dust of Annan. Build it high, watch it catch, the flames to touch the sky, red-dancers in the wind.
 

Dum-da.

And feet, now, stamp-stamping in the dust, pounding earth, pair after pair. The tribe come, strung together, bright-laughing in the heat, teeth shining like sweat, trailing red cloth like fingers behind them. The Dancing Cloth, red-gold and fluttering, as the circle forms to the south of the fire.
 

Da-dum-da. Da-DUM!

And cease! He comes. Bare chest, bare head, wrapped in red, white eyes and wide mouth grinning. No words, no sound. Sun Child, for the Dance, aged and wrinkled, with the clouded eyes that touch the sun. Step-stepping, old feet so precise, so knowing, to the center of the circle. Silence, save crows and wind and a distant hawk. Silence as he turns, blind eyes assessing, seeing the Spirit Fires around him, the heart of the tribe.

And now, he smiles. He smiles.
 

Baaarhoo-a! Baaarhoo-a!

The horn!
 

Da-dum-da. Da-da-da-da-da-dum! Dum-da-da-da!

And faster! The drums! The dancing beat!
 

Pat-clap! The swish of dust as feet turn. Swish-grind! Rustle of cloth. Crackle-fire! Clap, thup!

The dancers move, move in line. No steps. No rules. And laughing. Turning, spinning, red a-flying. Like dust-devils, like flame-dervishes, like the water come a-whirling. Like children, dancing in the sun.
 

Baaarhoo-a! Heee-ai!

Horn rising, mournful, fierce. To the sky, like the laughter, higher. Higher! Like the bone-dust of eagles. Center swirling, Sun Child turns and turns in place, arms up-raised, face tilted ever higher. The sky wheels, wheels and wheels, hawk screaming, sun blazing. And turn!
 

Da-dum-da! Baaarhoo-a!

And faster and faster, bodies turning, dipping, leaping. Red shining, flapping like wings, catch and snap! Like so. Faster. Hands beating, blood beating, air whistling. Dance! Sun-dance, fire-dance, feet pounding in the heat! Chests heaving, faces shining, ecstatic. Laugh! Breathless, wheeling. Laugh! The Sun Child turns in place, step-stepping. Watch him lift! Watch the eyes!
 

Baaarhoo-a! Heee-ai!

White eyes, turn gold. Molten, blazing! See the sun! His eyes! See the sun! The skies wheel. The Sun wheels. In his eyes. Deeper. Deeper. The Spirit Fire is blazing! See the Sun!

White eyes, ancient smile. He Sees!
 

Da-dum-da! Da-dum!

The Wheel of Sun, the Dancers in the Flame. The Ancestors, their Spirit Fires echoing the tribe, dancing in the heart of the sun, laughing in the skies. Rise and fall. Wind and fire. The Ancestors laughing as they dance, and the Sun Child smiles. The Sun has come.
 

Heee-ai-a! Heee-ai-a! Heee-ai.

Raise arms. Lift them high, spinning, falling. Whirling bodies, thrown to earth. One by one, falling, feet lifting, face upturned. Return to earth. Throw dust and laughter to the sky, as the Sun Child dips his head. The Sun smiles on us. The Ancestors have danced, and blind eyes have seen what no other eyes can. Throw down, brown to brown, bone to earth, teeth a-gleaming.
 

Da-dum-da. Da-dum. Dum.

Sink to the ground, arm in arm, brother to sister to father to mother to Sun Child. Sink down. Let go.


Da-dum-da. Da-dum. Dum.

The horn dies. The drums slow. The dance ends.

Da-dum-da.

Da-dum. 

DUM!

 

here.