Rhayne walks into the office with a bit more confidence than Anne has seen her in weeks. She is wearing a beige leather halter top, matching mini-skirt, and buckskin calf-length boots. She looks fresh out of the showers, reminding Anne that as Stormwarden, Rhayne has continued her training and workouts at the Knight's facilities despite her inactive status. She settles her duffel bag down next the chair as she takes her seat opposite Sandcaster. She smiles across the desk.
"Thank you for the meeting, Sandcaster. I was talking with Cade about some extra-ciricular activies I've been looking into and he suggested I should make sure you thought it was a good idea too."
Rhayne leans forward slightly and her excitement and happiness is a bit contagious.
"Well, as you know, I love to dance. It makes me feel alive and free. Recently I saw some exotic dancers in a club after hours and we talked a bit. I went and saw them the next night and ... and I must say it was ... well, thrilling. I wanted to do that, for the experience, of course. Since then, I contacted a local nova named Velvet and she has offered to train me and let me audition at her club. Since she insists on paying me, I would donate my earnings to a charity ... we both came up with that idea, and ... Oh, Cade decided that you would like to opportunity to approve of this first."

There were a half-dozen or so objections that rose immediately in Sandcaster's mind. All of them would make the older nova feel a little better. All of them would make the younger nova feel a lot worse. And, she reluctantly acknowledged, all of them would be wrong. If this was what Stormwarden wanted to do...well, at least it was legal. And who knows; it might actually help her self-esteem.

Finding her voice, Sandcaster did her best to provide something resembling support. "Well, you don't exactly need my approval for this. It's not a conflict-of-interest with your duty to the Knights. If your therapist thinks that this is an appropriate way to better find yourself, then by all means, Stormwarden, go have fun."

Whoever said that it takes fewer muscles to smile than to frown had (1) never dealt with no-win situations, (2) been a hopeless optimist, and (3) never met Sandcaster. A smile of sorts was duly presented by the sand-skinned nova, but every muscle in her face and neck felt like superheated steel cords in doing so.

The stress in Sandcaster is sorely evident to Stormwarden, but Stormwarden can't see anything immediately to do to comfort her would-be lover. Instead, she reasons it best to make her intrusion as quick as possible.
"Thank you, Anne," Rhayne says, standing up. She half-extends her hand then stops.
"Well, if I learn to do this well, will you come and see me dance at some time? Normally, I dance for myself, but I would love to dance for you ... if you like."

"Um...er, I mean..." This was threatening to blow up nicely in Sandcaster's face, and she quickly dived for verbal cover. "All things considered, it's probably, uh, not in the best interests of the Knights for me to do so. And Dorothy!" she quickly added, "there's just so much to do at the house now that Dorothy is there! And, um, well, you understand with everything going on here lately, my schedule is just packed! In fact, I'dreallybettergetbacktoworknowit'sbeenniceseeingyoutakecare!"

Sandcaster hustled the lovely young nova out of her office at something just short of a shove, closed the door, and quietly shuddered for a few minutes - shedding a dusting of sand in a circle around her on the carpet - before sighing and returning to her desk for the dwindling supply of Alka-Seltzer in the left-hand drawer.

As she sashayed down the hallways, Rhayne began humming happily to herself. Anne did care. The more she fought it, the harder she pulled down that lid on her emotions, the more Rhayne realized she did care ... and that there was hope for them after all.
But, she also realized she still had a long way to go. Rhayne needed to find herself ... to learn more about who she was as a woman, a nova, and what she wanted to be. Then she could really begin working on bringing Anne around.
She whistled, a dance in her step and her face aglow as he exited the offices. People stopped and stared a bit more than usual to see her so happy.
Now to see Velvet about lessons!