I wanted to thank everyone who left such wonderful comments. As I was working through this story, I never had any idea that there would be a sequel, but now that I've read your brilliant feedback, I think there might be one someday. It will have to wait until I finish a certain story about another road, however, and there are a couple of shorter pieces sitting on my hard drive, waving their hands at me and begging to be sent to some poor beta who doesn't know what she's letting herself in for.
I had long thought that writing such a story using a strong musical theme might be cheating, but it turned out that it worked better than I thought it would. Thank you again for all the ego-expanding comments, and for the encouragement to even think about continuing this tale. It may happen!
And yes, the story has already been sent to the archive. A GE has it now. I hope she's patient with AU scenarios!
