In Chapter 6 of the SkyPath Crusade epic poem there’s that priceless moment where the Roman ruler from Mars and the Chinese Chen from Saturn are both at the Lunar council and are actively trying to court princess Shelah (Some scholars say only the Roman is interested: the Chinese Ruler is just being polite). Throughout the entire scene both nemesis lords are extremely obvious yet extremely careful in the public manner in which they pursue the princess. It may seem that they are following whatever whim comes into their heads, when in fact they are following ancient protocols.

Courtship on the moon has always been tricky business. The moon’s chief public use has always been for diplomacy, since it has little geographic value other than it’s position relative to Earth. Many many international treaties were signed on the moon, and a fair number of speedy political marriages were arrange here. After time certain time honored traditions were honored.

The  first one was that any elegible daughter of a king must be seated in a place of prominence in order that she might watch the entire proceedings. This is so that she can see prospective husbands at work. This is perhaps her only chance to get to know them at all, which is why she had better play close attention to whatever goes on.

Secondly, any many of a certain degree of nobility can request a dance with her during the afternoon recess, and she must accept his advances at least once for the sake of appearances. In fact it is rare that she would accept more than one dance with any one gentleman at one time. Such a move would doubtlessly inspire accusations of favoritism.

Of course dancing on a low-gravity world produces problems of it’s own. There are many more aggressive dance styles that simply will not work. Styles with too much up and down knee movement are out of the question, unless you don’t mind kicking yourself in the chin. Swing dancing, also, is almost an impossibility. Waltzing, on the other hand, was very popular. If executed properly, it could be done so that the dancers appeared to be floating  in the air. Many ancient princesses thought it was the most romantic thing they had ever experienced.

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The return of the muse is not a news source. This post relates to the imaginary universe of the SkyPath Crusade.

The entire SkyPath Crusade is posted at http://skypathcrusade.wordpress.com  Only go there if you feel like reading a book-length epic poem.  Otherwise, just keep browsing this website.