Avenay sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror. The black was beginning to fade and show the brunette hair underneath. She frowned and muttered a quick spell which turned her hair jet black once again. The red color was wearing off of her eyes, making them seem a sort of purply color. With a sigh, she returned those to their reddish color.

"You okay Ave?" Palli asked, putting a hand on her fellow dancer's shoulder. "Don't worry, you look perfect, as usual."

"That's just it," Avenay told her, feeling stupid the moment the words left her mouth. "It's not... me. My face is perfect, but it's not really mine. I'm beautiful, but I don't feel like it. Is this what the new girls complain about? Am I just feeling it late?"

Palli offered her a sympathetic smile. "Everyone gets it now and then. But don't worry, once you're dancing, you won't even think about it. It'll pass."

Avenay managed a smile. "It'd better pass quickly, the lead fire dancer can't have second thoughts about anything, can she?"

Palli cocked an eyebrow in question but Avenay just shrugged and returned to her mirror. A spell took care of some reddish blotches on her cheeks and another perfectly applied makeup identical to Palli's and every other fire dancer's. Finally she stood up and, coating her costume in one last spell-retardant spell, walked out of the dressing room and to what passed for a backstage in the tavern.

"And now, for your viewing pleasure, the most beautiful women from every corner of the world, the famous Fire Dancers!" Kirol, coreographer/producer of the Fire Dancers, boomed from onstage. There were whistles and cheers and then the lights went down.

Avenay and the rest of the dancers were lit on fire. Not burning fire, cold fire that looked the same but gave off no heat. To the men in the audience, it would look as though they were on fire. The spell, however, ate through fabric anyway, hence the need for spell-retardants. Fire of the same kind exploded from different points on stage, Avenay's cue.

She flowed onto the stage as gracefully and dangerously as any true fire. Her entrance was greeted by whistles and catcalls, which she had grown so used to she didn't even hear. Her body knew the coreography so well she didn't have to think about it, unfortunately leaving her mind open for thoughts to dance across it.

As she belly-danced her way towards the edge of the stage, by now leading the entire troupe, she was drawn back to the first time she had danced on a stage. It had been so innocent then, as had she, a musical with all the energy those crackle with. She had not been touched by a single spell, only costumes and makeup which the sweat and blood of people - not the words of a spell - had gone into.

She led the group back, beckoning with both hands to the men, an inviting smile that meant nothing on her face as she fixed the wall with a gaze that made every man in the tavern think she was looking at him.

It was the dream of all dancers to become a Fire Dancer. Only the most skilled made it. Girls joined at ages as young as 12 (though their make up made them look agelessly beautiful) and some women danced until they died, spells preserving their muscles and figures. Most got out at thirty or forty, not caring for the powerful shaping spells. But there was a price for this glamour, as Avenay was beginning to see: self.

The Fire Dancers were all exactly alike, save for height. Their costumes, their eyes, their hair, everything. They had personalities, but they were eerily alike. Almost like twins. Spells to make one look identical warp the mind over time, and many women go insane after they get out if they stop using the spells. Yet it is still the aspiration of all dancers to be a Fire Dancer.

A man, obviously drunk, grabbed her ankle in spite of the threatening flames and began to pull her down into the crowd, smiling at her and managing to look drunk and have the same hungry look as a wolf at the same time. She calmly touched a small silver lightly to the man's hand.

He opened his mouth to scream but nothing came out. Immediatly, he let go of Avenay's leg and staggered back, clutching his hand to his chest. It was turning a sickly gray color, blue where the ball had touched him, but that wouldn't last. It would just give him something to think about the next time he felt like putting his hand somewhere it shouldn't be.

Avenay melted back into the coreography as though she'd never been gone. It was near the end now, a few more flips, a graceful leap and the Fire Dancers seemed to have become fire. They were one flame, flickering and waving as each woman moved. The spell fire slowly began to wane, and when it was gone, so were the Fire Dancers.

The men clapped and whistled and hooted, even the one Avenay had hurt. The Fire Dancers ignored them and calmly filed back to the dressing room, spells fading from exhaustion, revealing who they were underneath.

Palli's blonde hair and green eyes began to show, as did Liera's chestnut hair and brown eyes. There was suddenly color where there had only been black.

Avenay smiled at the sight of her own brunette hair and blue eyes. She went into her curtained off area and set herself to the task of peeling off her costume. It was all skin tight, melded perfectly to her body with help from spells. She finally got it all off and shrugged into her marginally less skin tight clothes.

Kirol fairly danced into the dressing room. "How are my lovelies? We made out like bandits tonight, girls. I think that was one of our best performances," he crowed.

He recieved exhausted mumbles of agreement as the Fire Dancers packed their belongings and prepared to leave. "Where're we staying tonight?" Uchare, one of the newer girls, asked anxiously.

"A lovely little inn. Two people to a room, they would not kick out enough guests for each of you to have your own room," Kirol told them, sounding genuinely annoyed by this last bit. "Now, you all know the rules. You may take men up to your rooms if you choose, just please have them gone by morning. And everyone must spend the night in her room. I will be checking."

"What do you think we are to jump into bed with men we meet at inns?" Avenay asked, feigning indignance.

Kirol smiled. "Exactly what you are, Avvie dear."

Avenay stuck her tounge out at him and then turned back to her mirror.