Home |
Violet is in the main room, trying to distract herself by gathering up the clothes and books Calis has left strewn about. She conscientiously marks the open pages before closing each book and leaving them in a neat stack in front of his door, not quite daring to enter his room. She's in the middle of depositing the clothes in a basket she's appropriated for laundry when there's a knock on the door, making her start guiltily. She sets her basket on a chair, and creeps to the door to listen. "Violet." Violet twitches again as the she hears her name, and starts violently as Gar pads up silently behind her and starts to growl. "Oh! No... bad kitty, shh, shh!" Violet trembles a little as she tries to shush Gar, who ignores her and keeps growling at the stranger on the other side of the door. "I'm... I'm here. I'm alone, except for the c-cat." The voice on the other side of the door sounds amused. "Then come out and speak to me, if you cannot let me in." "I can't! Dawn said... Dawn said I shouldn't go outside." "You'll be right at the door, and only for a moment. It's all right. You don't even have to close the door behind you." The voice pauses. "He's very pleased with you, you know. He's sent you a reward for what you've done so far... something you've been wanting, I think." Violet trembles violently at that. "N-no." Her answer is weak, and presses herself into the corner between the door and the wall. "Dawn will take care of me now, he promised. I'm safe, now. I don't... n-need that anymore." She sounds very much like she's trying to convince herself. "Of course you don't *need* it," the voice answers reasonably. "He's just doing something nice for you. He likes to reward those that please him." The voice sounds sad. "Violet... I know you want to trust Firehand. I know how much you want this all to be over... but you know there's a war on. You know that Rosin is in danger. You might be able to save her from that, if you help him. And you know Dawn doesn't really care about you. Look, he left you alone, just to walk his latest mistress to work. You've seen how many women he surrounds himself with. This boy... is he one of Dawn's playthings, too?" "Calis?" Violet sounds surprised. "Calis isn't sunshine. I think he's Dawn's apprentice. Dawn's teaching him, he gives him lots of books to read." "Very well." The voice turns wheedling. "Come out, Violet. Just for a moment. What can it harm? At least let me see that he's treating you well." Violet huddles in her corner, biting her lip, averting her eyes from the snarling cat pacing by the door. "But... what if someone sees me outside, and tells Dawn? Or... or *th- them*?" "No one will see you, I promise. If you worry about Dawn finding out, tell him..." The voice pauses. "Tell him... a friend from the Island was concerned at your sudden disappearance and came to report to him, and you just stepped out to talk to her. Surely he's not keeping you *prisoner* in there, is he?" Violet nibbles on her thumbnail nervously, thinking. At last, she sighs. "All right, I'll come out. B-but just for a moment." She flaps her skirts at the pacing, rumbling Gar, trying without success to shoo him back from the door before flipping the locks as she's seen Dawn do. She opens the door just wide enough to slip outside, looking around nervously as she does so. She keeps a hand on the doorknob, holding the door open a crack so that she can get back inside without letting Gar out. The petite, foreign-looking woman at the door is dressed as a poor old peddler, and carries a basket over her arm. She smiles at Violet, looking her over with concern before patting her arm. "There now. You're looking much better than when I last saw you! So thin, still; you really must eat more. But Violet, poor girl, you're trembling! Come, there's no need to be so frightened." The woman glances around and withdraws a small, flat box of burnished wood, perhaps an inch wide and the length of a finger, from her basket. She slides back the lid and carefully withdraws a tissue-thin leaf of something white, like a small, thin scrap of paper. She holds it out to Violet with a smile, offering her the box with the other hand. "You see? Your reward, as promised." Violet reaches for the box quickly with a trembling hand, snatching it from the woman's palm and hiding it in her skirts as if she feared it would be taken away from her again. The woman doesn't react, but continues to hold up the little white slip between her fingers, offering it to Violet. Violet stares at it, breathing hard, frozen in place. At last, she takes a step closer, and opens her mouth. The woman places the slip gently on Violet's tongue, and it dissolves into nothingness. Violet closes her mouth and swallows, grimacing slightly at the bitter taste. She closes her eyes then and gasps, putting her fingers to her lips to cover a slow smile. Her spine and shoulders lose their nervous hunch, and she stops trembling. "Ahhhhh, yesss...." Violet takes a deep breath and opens her eyes. Her pupils are dilated, and she squints a little, even in the shadows by the door. She focuses on nothing, a small smile on her lips, her expression transcendent. The woman smiles, but her smile is cruel. "There now. Don't you feel much better?" "I feel... wonderful!" Violet throws out her arms and spins in place as if she could embrace the entire world. "He said he would take good care of you. There are four more sheets in the box." Violet stops spinning, and looks almost comically dismayed. "Only four?" "You know how valuable they are." The woman pauses. "Have you seen any sign of the man he described to you? Mace?" Violet shakes her head. "No, no one like that has come to the house. The only men Dawn has talked to here are called Snowman and Angel." The woman sighs. "Ah, well. It was not unexpected. In that case, your work for him is finished. Of course... he would be eternally grateful to you if you could take care of that one last detail for him...." Violet shudders once, her eyes dimming. "He said... he said I wouldn't have to do any more than watch. He said all I needed to do was tell Dawn what was happening, and then make sure he took me with him...." "That was all he *needed* from you. And you've been rewarded for that. But for an even greater reward... you know what he *wants.*" The woman dips her hand into her basket again, coming out with a tiny bottle. "Just a small drop on the lips. No pain, I promise. You can do it when they're asleep." She presses the bottle into Violet's hand. "And then he'll be able to get you all the leaves you could want. He'll be *so* grateful to you, Violet! And then he'll be able to help you save Rosin. Rosin was so kind to you, wasn't she? What has Dawn done for you? He's taken you from the Island, certainly, but he ignores you, he treats you as his servant. Was that really what you wanted of him? Is it what you deserve?" Violet answers slowly. "No... no, it's not." "And he's been kind to you, Violet. He's helped you before. And he gives you such nice things, doesn't he?" She strokes the taller girl's cheek with a finger. "Yes..." Violet's hand closes around the little bottle, and she nods. "I... don't know if I will... I... I'll have to see." "That's all I ask, Violet, that you give it some thought. It's in your hands." The woman looks down the street. "Best get back inside now." She pats her cheek again and withdraws, hobbling quickly up the street. Violet sighs and tucks the small vial and box away. Her troubles are quickly forgotten, though, and she is smiling again by the time she slips back inside and relocks the door. She runs a hand absently over Gar's head, petting the disgruntled cat, and heads back into the main room. The abandoned clothes basket catches her eye and she picks it up, carrying it into Calis's room and upending it over his bed with a laugh. Singing to herself, she heads into the kitchen to make herself lunch. |
|
|