The curtain drew back and a solitary young girl stood in the middle of the stage, draped in wispy muslin. She did not move, her face full of expressive concentration, her arms extended, her hands and fingers delicately curved.
The words of Ave Maria sounded in song and she slowly brought her hands together, in swanlike grace, falling slowly to her knees in prayer as the rest of the ballet troupe floated on to the stage.
The audience sat silently, spellbound. Aaron and Fiona watched the little girl before them, no longer little, but instead unfurled in the gorgeous bloom of young womanhood.
