A Stranger Appears

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 39218

The work had been written by the new head of the ballet department, a man named Aaron Jimenez. He'd been on staff for a while but had been recently promoted. Hannah had always found him to be an interesting guy--he always seemed like somebody out of his own time somehow, and it was hard to tell what age he was; Hannah would have believed he might be in his mid-twenties all the way up to early fifties. He had definitely taken a special interest in her from the start--she'd always appreciated his requests for updates in how all her lessons were going, and she was likewise happy for him in this new position.

The ballet itself was an interesting one, as the majority of it was very gritty, with very intense music, and the majority of the dance moves were very combat-like in many ways. The set pieces were castle towers and dragons, and it all very much carried questing knight vibes. But at the very end, it turned soft, very gentle and flowing, and the final song ended suddenly, without resolution, as if the story wasn't really over. Nobody, not Hannah or anyone else, could really figure why this was, and Aaron refused to interpret his own work for anyone else, which was a little strange but not out of character for him.

They had only had a few practices so far with the entire cast, but Hannah thought it was her favorite ballet presentation she'd ever had a part in, simply because of how intriguing and different it was. As she arrived in the practice area that day, she saw somebody was already there, even though she was very early and normally nobody was present yet at this time. It was a middle-aged man with a beard whom she'd never seen before, and he looked like he had been waiting for her specifically. This was confirmed when he smiled and said, "Hannah Smith?"

"Yes," she said. "And you are?"

"My name is Jay Zorris," he said pleasantly, extending his hand. She placed hers in his, and looking into his eyes, she immediately felt somewhat ill at ease, though she couldn't say why. He continued, "I'll cut right to my purpose:

  1. I have a warning to offer you, about your instructor, Aaron Jimenez."
  2. I know you are already involved in a ballet, but I am prepared to offer you a significant sum of money to come perform in mine instead."
  3. I know you try to bury your questions about the dream you have each year, but I am here to answer those questions."
  4. you're coming with me, and I'd prefer you do so compliantly."

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3/29/2019 4:46:03 AM

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