Steps leading somewhere [tag Saetan, Faramir, sort of open?]

[lil_blondeangel]

Rehearsals were not yet under full swing at the Opera House yet, and she did not have many classes this month, so when she'd spoken to Saetan and they'd discussed dances from their home worlds, the similarities and differences, she'd suggested they each teach a dance they knew to the other. Tonight it was her turn - she was to teach him the

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[faramir_hurin]

Hoping it's okay to jump in now. Going to be out of town later Monday, so not sure how this will work.

Meg has a lesson to teach but we are meeting for supper afterward. Considering my... whatever it was with Tabitha, I have absolutely no right to be jealous. Meg could dance with anyone at the Christmas party and that would have been fine. I do not mind her teaching Draco, certainly. I suppose this dancing alone simply reminds me of Buffy and John on the island. I really don't even know what it is that Meg feels about me, though I do hope to speak of it and find out.

If she feels nothing, then my own guilt about being with Tabitha will hopefully go away. I'm healthy and it had been a long time. I just... if I am with Meg, no matter in what sense, I should not be with anyone else. I don't want to think about any of that, just have a pleasant evening in good company and maybe find out if there is more than simple friendship here.

[faramir_hurin]

"I know I said it when we first arrived, but I'm very thankful that the restaurant was not anything unusual." In a bad way. "Are you ready to go?"

It's not so cold out. We could take a short walk--I must be mindful that she has already had plenty of exercise--before returning to the hotel.

[lil_blondeangel]

"Yes, it was all very good. And I'm ready, as soon as they bring our coats."

[faramir_hurin]

It does not take long.

"Would you care for a short walk before we return to the hotel? I will certainly understand if you prefer to return right away." I'd not keep her from the warmth. "Spring will be here soon enough for walks."

[lil_blondeangel]

"My coat is quite warm - I'd enjoy a walk." she said, as she buttoned it and picked up her purse.

[faramir_hurin]

I hold out my arm.

"It truly will be spring soon, though I'm glad we can take a walk now." I can build up a proper case of nerves before we return to the hotel and the thought makes me smile.

"I'm never entirely certain about that restaurant. Sometimes I think it is fond of me and other times I'm sure it is not. Tonight is the former." I wouldn't have wanted anything strange.

"What sort of places do you go to in Paris? We've nothing at all like what the village has."

[lil_blondeangel]

"When my mother and I went out... for Easter, or my birthday, or something, she'd take me somewhere very fancy, with many courses. Soups, salads, entrees, fruits and cheeses and dessert... But besides that, we ate in the dormitory with the other dancers. We have to be careful what we eat, most of the time." Meg ate a diet heavy in meat and vegetables, with fewer carbs, except in the morning.

"Sometimes we would go to other theatres to see shows - the little ones, not our competitors. Or traveling shows and circuses, with acrobats and animals. And Paris is full of public gardens, or you could walk along the quay overlooking the river, on a breezy day."

[faramir_hurin]

"We have no places to go with meals like that, only the citadel." And not often. "With the men we all ate the same, and nothing very exciting at all."

Soldiers eat in a very dull fashion, most of the time.

"Would that we had such shows. I've enjoyed all I've seen here, but the days of the traveling players belonged to when I was younger." Before there was so much fighting. "Though we too have a river. Not in the city itself, but the rangers patrol along the Anduin, so that is something we share."

We walked there as children and patrolling is not the same, but it's something.

"I like gardens. Minas Tirith also has many of them." A city needs such life in it, larger cities.

[lil_blondeangel]

"It is probably prettier than our river... the sewer of Paris, they call it. Once it was clean, but it is not, now."

[faramir_hurin]

"Oh dear, I'd not heard that. The Anduin is as fresh as it can be and Ithilien that it flows by is known as the Garden of Gondor." When there's no war on. "Perhaps in time it can be reclaimed. I understand that people do begin to understand the damage they do and work to remedy it."

I do not understand when, but it can be done.

"Your life is filled with dance. I cannot imagine doing such a thing--our world just does not have the venues yours does. Is it exciting each time when you have a new audience watching?"

[lil_blondeangel]

"Yes - I have been told that it is clean again, in the future. But not in my lifetime."

"It is often exciting... but sometimes each step is painful, and still I must dance and make it look effortless. In Paris, not here... here we have fewer performances, and it is not so strict."

[faramir_hurin]

"You do make it look effortless. It is only because I have seen and learned how often and how long you practice that I know it is not." It is very hard work. "You should not be made to dance in such pain."

That cannot be right--they would do themselves damage and not be able to dance any more. Such skill should be protected.

"You are in charge here. I suppose there will be a time when that is also your place at home." I smile. "Captain."

[lil_blondeangel]

"Normally, no... but when a principal dancer stumbles during the show, she must finish... and sometimes it is the ache of constant practice, pain you must work through if you are to perfect a dance. There is a fine line between necessary pain and pain that means real damage. Because of that, a dancer's career is always short. I don't have many years left, myself."

She blushed at his compliment. "Oh, but I am not the same kind of Captain that you are. I'm not nearly so important as all that, keeping people safe."

[faramir_hurin]

"There's a difference between finishing a show and causing yourself harm before one." Making the likelihood of mistakes later grow.

"You'd be surprised how important making someone smile is." Morale is very important.

How odd that she is so young and will soon be finished with part of her work. Still, there is more to come for her.

"You and I could both be teachers." She could be, I think I would like that though I know it's not going to happen. "Different things. I do dance, but I'm not terribly skilled at it."

[lil_blondeangel]

"I will be, of course, when I return to Paris. Under my mother at first, as I had been, though teaching the older girls instead of the younger. Eventually I'll be ballet mistress, when she retires. I'll always have dance, even when I'm no longer on stage."

"And don't you teach a little swordplay to the children here?"

[faramir_hurin]

I can only wonder what the other young ladies do, the ones who won't be able to teach. Or... they'll teach but to a different set of students.

"To a few who feel the need to know it. Our boys grow up with such things--and a few girls." My cousin Lothiriel, with her three older brothers is one such. "It can be a necessary skill."

Even to young ladies, and even here.

"My cousin Lothiriel studies everything her brothers do. Perhaps if she were not the youngest it might not be so, but I have to admit that I always wanted to do everything Boromir did, so why should she be different?" And Amrothos has to be careful because sometimes she catches him.

"I suppose we should head back to the hotel." We need not go too far.