AU for _deadlydance_, set immediately after "The Price"

[birthrightgreen]

She wasn't nervous. She had nothing to be nervous about. It wasn't like it was a romantic evening. They'd just worked so hard on the case, working to catch the rabid witch who'd been slaughtering innocent males. And they had, with Jaenelle's help. Now Jaenelle and Daemon were back on their honeymoon and she...

She was here in Amdarh, back how she had been, nursing the bruises Falonar had left. So, why, exactly was she changing her dress? The one she had on was perfectly acceptable. She was going out dancing with a friend. She could use a friend right now. What she couldn't use was a male thinking he was just going to sweep in and carry her off.

Not that he was probably thinking that, but she was suspicious.

He was a male, and years of seeing them abused by her own sex still hadn't made her trust them as a gender. Then again, she didn't trust most people.

With a growl at herself, she finally settled on a black dress with enough slink to impress and a enough swirl to make a statement on the dance floor, no matter how elegant and formal. Hair pinned half up, the rest left down. If people stared at her ears, so be it.

She was ready. It was going to be fun. She kept repeating that. Fun. With a friend.

Just a friend. He wasn't expecting anything. He wouldn't be that foolish.

She just wished she knew what he wanted.

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He rarely did this.

He would never tell that to the woman on the other side of the door that now loomed, of course. He could predict, and follow, the started look in her eyes, foloowed by the distrust, and the tense line of every muscle in her body that would soon follow. It was there, clear in Rainier's mind, as bright as any thread from one of the intricate Court Dances. Watching Surreal over the past few days had taught Rainier enough that he if Surreal became fully aware of his hesitation, if her mind touched his and caught the it's scent, then she would never let him in. Because Surreal would assume that his uncertainty was part of a jumbled road that lead to something that was still very dangerous, no matter what promising tastes of peace Witch had brought.

Dangerous.

Complicated.

But that simply was not where his mind was traveling. Rainier rarely did this anymore, because it was the exact opposite of what so many in the Circles studied with watchful eye. Going dancing tonight with Surreal would be -- easy.

He was going to quide a beautiful, strong, and and often obsinate witch out onto the dance floor, and she would already know what to do. There wasn't any need to teach her steps. What was more, they had danced together before, and his body tingled with the anticipated recognition. There would be no complicated games woven together with the complicated steps, no questions or games.

Rainier knocked on Surreal's door.