The Dancer  
by Astra <astraplain@yahoo.com

Arabesques were her favorite - showing off her 
stateuesque beauty to it's best advantage as she 
balanced effortlessly on one leg and reached, seeming 
to beckon to the sky.  Breathlessly the audience 
watched her hold this position, motionless as if time 
had stopped.  Colin, her partner for this dance, 
moved back, giving her center stage as was her right 
as both the prima of this company and the very heart 
of the troupe.  Dancing was her life, her passion, 
her soul. 

Eternity ended as she lowered herself, hands clasped 
dramatically over her breast as she mimed her heart 
breaking.  Following her lead, Colin knealt before 
her, begging forgiveness with his movements and his 
eyes, only half acting as he tried once again to 
atone for his indescretions with her understudy.  
Giving him a pitying look, she rose, dancing The 
Parting as if her heart were truely breaking - and in 
truth it was - the man before her had been so much 
more than just a lover.  Holding her arms out to him, 
she turned away, trusting him with her body despite 
how cruelly he had betrayed her heart, trusing him to 
catch her in this dangerous move.   In that last 
instant as she fell she wondered if he had betrayed 
her again.  

*****

Jewels danced before her eyes, glittery and 
indistinct in their brilliance while arround her was 
the sound of music, uncomfortably loud and off key, 
thudding against her eardrums until she could feel 
the rhythm shaking her whole body, making her tremble 
until it felt as though her whole body were being 
lifted and moved - but that couldn't have been right 
because the jewels were moving too, still too 
brilliant to be clearly seen - and she wondered 
briefly what had happened to the parakeet she'd once 
had but had flown away, and why there were so many 
people dancing on her stage and where in the world 
Colin had gotten to. 

*****

"Keep him away from me!" she said firmly, gripping 
the blanket to keep from shouting.  "Leave me alone, 
Colin."  

"Maybe you'd better come back later," the nurse 
suggested to the man in the dooway, baring his 
entrance to the room.  Nodding once he handed the 
flowers he carried to the nurse and walked away, 
never bothering to return. 

*****

"Only you can decide if you'll dance again," the 
doctor told her sternly, refusing to give in to her 
quiet dispair.  "People recover from these kinds of 
injuries everyday and you can too."  Quietly she 
turned away, limping as she favored her injured leg; 
the doctor watched her go, sadness in his heart for 
the broken Copellia. 

*****

Reminders of her old life, of her beloved dancing, 
filled 3 large boxes consigned to the depths of a 
closet.  She had really wanted to throw them away but 
he hadn't let her, making her promise, instead, to 
keep them packed away for a year, and if, at that 
time she still didn't want them, only then would he 
allow her to throw away her past.

*****

Time moved slowly for them both, each struggling to 
live without their passion; the desperation of daily 
existance drawing them together. Unable to deny 
themselves any longer, they learned another kind of 
dancing; one that bonded them forever.

Vibrant again, she completed her therapy and returned 
to the stage, no longer the prima, but still the 
heart of the troupe. 

With her help, he returned to his life as well, no 
longer the aloof reserved leader who stood apart from 
those he cared for most; he was now the vital spirit 
of his company as well as it's brain.

*****

"XOXO" was how she signed her note to him that 
morning, telling him not to wait up, that she would 
be rehearsing late and get a ride home from one of 
the other dancers. 

Years of denying his feelings had hardened him; yet 
the need to see her was too strong to deny and he 
found he could not wait for her tonight; before he 
thought better of it, he snatched up his coat and 
ran. 

*****

Zephyr was the name of the piece she was dancing when 
he arrived; a special piece she had choreographed 
just for him as an anniversary gift; he watched her 
dance it from the darkened theater, not wanting to 
disturb her until the final moment, when some sixth 
sense told her of his presence and she held her arms 
out to him, beseeching, until he moved into the 
circle they created, and they were both complete.

:::end:::