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“You’ve been back in the circle,” said Sun.
“We shouldn’t have had that fire,” I told her. “It’s left an ugly scar.”
“You’re right,” she said. “It’s not done to leave a sacred site changed in any way. I got a bit carried away but, lesson learned. We won’t do anything like that again.”
“No, we won’t.”
“You need food to ground you,” she said. “I’ll get you something.”
“Spit it out,” said Justin once she’d gone. “What ritualistic heathenism have you been indulging in this morning? I’ve already heard about last night from Holly.”
I leant my face against Will’s shoulder. He was safe. He understood.
“You’re all loopy, Malph,” he said, rubbing my back. “What happened?”
In a low voice, I told them of the vivid dream I’d had.
“But, but…” butted Justin. “That’s like being given a big gift from the universe. I’m going up there. So, it’s the flat stone nearest the path?”
Information gleaned, he departed, and Sun sat down in his place with a plate of food. I ate a chip and took my head off Will’s shoulder. A sudden and poisonous look from Sadie had grounded me better than any food could.
“Sorry,” I said.
“Nah, babe, you’re all right.”
“We’re behaving inappropriately, or I am.”
Will’s reply was drowned out by the glorious fanfare of Aleks’s arrival in the hall. His smile was golden as he made his way over to us.
“How was the strong-man competition?” I asked, feeling intensely tender toward him. “With the weights?”
“Ah, was not competition.”
“Men lifting heavy things, and there was no competitive element?” said Sun. “I don’t believe that for a minute.”
“I am the strongest,” admitted Aleks.
“You would be,” she said. “So many more women.”
I looked at her in shock.
“Oh, no,” stuttered Sun. “I meant, pas de deux, ballet lifting.” She mimed a lift with her hands.
Aleks held out his hand to me. “I have had an idea. Can you come to the first floor and warm up?”
Chapter 24
BythetimeMichellereturned on Monday evening, Aleks’s idea had become a large theatrical plan and was well in place.
I had demonstrated his choreography two ways for everyone in Monday morning class. Once, concentrating on technique, and once, just being the subject of the piece: love. It took acting to a new level, without a human character to inhabit. Heart full of Aleks, head lost in the music, my body expressed love, pure love and nothing else. It was dizzying. Will took hold of my arm, to stop me falling over as I swayed about in the middle of the floor after I’d finished.
The day before, I had danced the piece for Aleks alone. He had planned that I should release residual anger and hurt through movement, so we could talk through whatever issues arose. It hadn’t worked. I only wanted to move forward, only wanted to love. My interpretation of the choreography had led to a crash of a kiss and a race up the stairs into bed, a practice that became so common in the weeks that followed, it was incredible that no one discerned our secret.
“Is important that we remember what the training is all about,” Aleks told the class after that first demonstration. “We need to be working towards a performance.”
The dramatic differences in my on-screen squiggles, before and after dancing the love choreography, convinced Paul that this was something worth exploring. He agreed to a Christmas show in which dance and research would be showcased together. So the next six weeks were to be spent preparing to perform said show in front of ‘very important people.’
The mood in the castle transformed. Aleks’s drive and enthusiasm for the project touched everyone, the very walls of the place seeming to vibrate with excitement.
