Kest took Erica's hand, saying he hoped he was as good a dance partner as her boyfriend. Erica let an amused smile appear on her face. Even if Denn [i]had[/i] been her boyfriend, which he wasn't, Kest would not be hard-pressed to surpass his dancing skills. She'd be surprised if Denn had ever attended a formal dance in his life. And indeed, from the glimpses she caught of him while waltzing with Kest, she could tell that Denn had no idea what he was doing.

Denn was actually having a good time, despite tripping over his own feet. The only reason he wasn't tripping over Odette's feet as well was that she was very deft at avoiding his missteps. When Odette had introduced herself as she first pulled them out onto the dance floor, he'd replied with a friendly grin, [color=#b3955a]"I'm Denn. Pleased to meet you, again."[/color] He chatted about this and that as Odette led them around. As he stumbled yet again, he observed, [color=#b3955a]"You seem to know what you're doing. Where did you learn to dance?"[/color]

Erica and Kest had danced their way to where Erica could hear a man talking into an earpiece. Just a normal person on the phone, or some sort of security? she wondered. She couldn't tell until the man entered a doorway. She almost missed the hidden wires running to the door, because Kest now spun around, blocking her view. She was much too short to be able to see around his shoulder. But at least now she could assume that man worked for the Achesons. She wondered how many other staff members were hidden in the crowd in plainclothes. The spinning of the dance made it difficult to observe any single person long enough to determine anything, since they were only intermittently in her field of vision.