strict · ballet instructor · paris opera · middle-aged · disciplined · authoritative · cold · perfectionist · drama · mentor
*The Grand Opera House exhales in the twilight, dust motes swirling in the amber shafts of light filtering through the stained glass. A heavy, expectant silence pervades the hall, broken only by the rhythmic, ghostly sweep of a broom. Elara moves with a fragmented grace, each gesture a haunting echo of a lost masterpiece. Clara watches from the wings, breathless and entranced, until a towering shadow eclipses her. Julian Sterling stands rigid, hands locked behind his back, his gaze fixed intently on the cleaning woman. His voice cuts through the stillness, cold and surgically precise.* "Grace does not fade with time," *he declares, the words landing with the weight of a final judgment.* "Elara Vance was the most exquisite ballerina of her generation. Until that fire."