Donkeyskin - ON HOLD

Of Riots

*Of Riots*

 The weeks following Elodie's arrival in Winterwatch passed quickly, and she fell, quite easily, into the routine of the rest of the company, waking with the sun for breakfast and the morning practice, then lunching at a nearby eating house or at the main market in the square by the harbor breakwater, and then returning for the afternoon practice that sometimes lasted well into the night.

The new ballet that they had undertaken was called The Change of the Seasons, and, Elodie thought, it was possibly the hardest thing she had ever undertaken, except, maybe, her flight from North Avalon. Every night she collapsed into bed, her whole body shaking with exhaustion, and slept the night through, her sleep hardly troubled by her usual nightmares.

Once rehearsal had begun for the new ballet, Manon had stopped participating as a dancer, but joined M. Beaufort in watching and correcting the dancers. At first, she had tried to single out Elodie, pouncing on every opportunity to correct her, but, it seemed, as Elodie familiarized herself with the choreography, there was little Manon could find fault with. M. Beaufort, however, seemed never to be content with what she was giving him. Since Elodie was meant to be onstage for the entire duration of the ballet, barring intermission, he expected no less than perfection from her. He kept telling her to just let go! Elodie was finding this much easier said than done. It was one thing to lose herself in the dance when she was alone, lonely, and emotional–and wanted to lose herself!–and quite another, she was finding, to do it on command, in a crowded studio, with people she was coming to be more and more comfortable with.

Outside of practices, she was still only really close with Fleur. Though she liked Noah, she couldn't help but flinch when he, or any other man, besides M. Beaufort, touched her–even brushed her–when she was not dancing. Xavier was still cold and awkward with her, and Katia seemed to regard her with complete, admiral, indifference, and the rest of the ensemble dancers, besides Fleur, seemed to take their cues from Manon, who still seemed to dislike her.

Opening night of the ballet seemed to descend out of nowhere. They would be performing at the Royal Theatre, a tremendous honor, according to Fleur, and the Crown Prince would be coming. Elodie wondered if she should be worried about him recognizing her, but she reasoned that he already knew Donkeyskin was a dancer, so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch for him to accept that she had come to Winterwatch for that.

Backstage, before the show opened, Elodie was installed before a long mirror, Fleur on her right side, Katia on her left. They had all secured their hair in tight buns, held down with bucketloads–or, at least, what felt like bucketloads–of pins, hairnets, and gel. Now, they were painting their faces with the powders and colors that would keep their skin from shining in the light.

Fleur was attempting to talk Elodie through the routine, but, Elodie was finding, her friend was better at doing than explaining. She kept waving her brush around whenever she couldn't get her point across, and, really, that only served to confuse Elodie. Besides, Elodie, in her years as a princess, had developed some small skill with the paints and powders noble ladies used to decorate their faces, so she managed with this new task well enough.

By the time Manon came in to check all the women in the company, Elodie had arrived at some semblance of what Fleur had done to her face, and she felt content enough with her handiwork. Really, the audience would be far enough away that they wouldn't be able to tell if the kohl around her eyes was a little smudgy.

When Manon had declared that all the dancers' hair and faces were suitably arranged and decorated, they were dismissed to put on their costumes. Elodie slipped behind the curtain with Katia and Fleur, and took her costume off its hook. It was a dress made of soft, tan wool, embroidered across the breast with bright flowers in red, blue, black and white. it came only to her knees, and underneath she wore a pair of tight, white leggings, and black slippers that laced up to her knees. On her head, she wore a towering headdress of white linen, embroidered with red and black flowers.