Receiving reviews from various media was nothing new to Katarina. Every town, no matter how big the arts were, seemed to have the one, solo critic that would find a way to show the art to the public. In a place like RhyDin, it was of no surprise to have multiple papers and blogs set their sights on the ballet troupe, one of the more distinguished and popular performing group in the area.

Over time, she found that boasting about the reviews was usually childish and immature. The troupe as a whole (and those who worked behind the scenes) all put forth effort to receive the good or bad review together. So when individual people were mentioned, it was custom for that person not to say anything, and receive the compliment as one with the group.

This time, Katarina was cutting out the reviews and placing them along her personal mirror. The reviews, particularly the one from The RhyDin Post, confirmed that she had been cheated out of her rightful spot as the lead for this ballet. She didn't care if it was childish or immature - people still noticed her talent, and she wasn't going to be cheated out of it again, regardless of the circumstance. In fact, she had gone so far as to find a golden sticker to place on the review from The RhyDin Post, to show off the one "star" that was for her. This act should have been too passive for people to notice, since this was her personal vanity area, but she had a feeling that people came and snooped by anyway, including the Count.

She was adding a new article from The RhyDin Post at add along to it's fellow articles and various The Gossip GangSTAR segments. So long as The Gossip GangSTAR painted her in a pretty picture, she would do her job in return to support it. This current article came from The Post's List of Top 25 Sexiest Women in RhyDin! with Katarina in the 19th slot.

"Only number 19, Rinni?" Christine came up to lean companionably against the edge of Katarina's vanity set, with a slightly smug smile on her face.

Katarina tried not to scowl, and instead looked through the rest of the article that she had cut away from her own segment. She wasn't sure why Christine was vindictive towards her after all this time, but she wasn't in the mood to play games, "Nah, 19's good, all thin's considerin'. Funny, I dun see yer name 'n here." She didn't lift her head up, but her eyes followed Christine as she rolled her eyes and walked away.

Irked, she practically slapped the article onto her mirror to add to the others. Once she had the reinforcers added to her ankles, there wasn't going a single thing that could help the Count to keep her from her rightful place as lead. Katarina would make certain of it.

It was odd, to see the theatre decorated for something other than the ballet. The stage was bare, after the local opera had done a three-day performance of something Katarina had never heard of. But now the hustle and bustle was gone. There was no sense of urgency, no sense of making everything sparkle and shine. The stage looked lonely, with it's secret passages showing and it's heavy curtains pulls back to show the mess of backstage. Backdrops, old and used were separated for further use or to be donated or thrown away. Costumes were now properly stowed, instead of thrown about for the need of changing during the middle of performance. Instead of seeming serene for it's stillness, it almost made Katarina feel uncomfortable to be on it's naked surface.

Even though the ballet troupe was formally on break for the next several weeks, Katarina found herself spending nearly just as much time at the theatre anyway. With Locke at work, the house was too empty to spend much time there during the day, and there were only so many times she could intrude upon her cousins who had better things to do than entertain the bored dancer. Aside from her risk of loneliness, her ankles had to be in the best shape if she was going to recover from her quickly-approaching surgery. The best answering for all of these - practicing.

Practicing without having a routine never seemed to be a problem for Katarina. Her memory was superb when it came to all the different routines she had over the years. She would practice recent ones, old ones, and make some of her own to her favorite music. There was no need for a pianist; she could hear the music in her mind and keep tempo well on her own. It was easy to get lost in her dancing and pass the time by. Some people showed their creativity through colors or sounds. Katarina used movement.

She came early and left early, anticipating Locke's hours and wanting to be home first. Her obsession with the time was the only new break in her usual routine. There never seemed to be enough of it, and it was approaching with it's deadlines much too quick for comfort.

Today the stage was graced with several long tables that had a spread of developed pictures. Left alone, Katarina felt no qualms about looking at them with scrutiny. The weekend of picture-taking was long and somehow exhausting, even if she did little. They took pictures on stage, some with white backdrops and sashes, and another day had been out to take pictures in the Southern Glen. There were more than twelve, so she assumed that the pictures to be used in the calendar hadn't been decided it. There was however, a bit of pride when she noticed that she was easily in the most, and had more solo shots than anyone else.

It wasn't anything to worry about. Her goals for the next year were much higher than appearing on a calendar that would be available to the public. It was going to be her best year for her career, and no Count, no men like Alik, were going to get in the way of it. Regardless of what was going to happen in the near future of her personal life, her passion was only going to get stronger.

She smiled as she left the stage to head home.