VIOLET DAWN

Chapter 3

"That man is going to drive me mad!"

Violet lifted her head, listening to Sarah stomp through the vegetation to reach the bank where she sat on a fallen log. After only four weeks of sharing a changing room with the tight rope walker, Violet felt...well, protective of the girl. She almost laughed at the thought. Who would have guessed that a blind girl like her could feel protective over anyone?

"Which man has done what horrible thing now, Sarah?" The question was only half serious. For all of her sweetness and naiveté in the ways of the world, Sarah was free with her affections and a little dramatic when it came to her brief relationships.

"Oh Violet, if you knew what Thomas did, you wouldn't be so dismissive!"

"Thomas? The lion tamer, Thomas?"

"Yes, that Thomas, though honestly, I think he should tame himself before thinking of those lions," Sarah grumbled as she sat beside Violet.

Grabbing a handful of soil from between her feet, Violet rubbed the stuff between her fingers, feeling for pebbles and little bits of wood. The scent of the earth wafted pleasantly around her, but she wished for the smell of the Scottish mountains.

For weeks they had traveled south, stopping at this town and that for a couple of days each.  Performing with the Circus was surprisingly easy. It really was not that different from performing with the gypsies except for the far larger crowds.

The Circus owners, Old Graham and his wife, had hired her to play background music for a juggling act and the acrobats but after only a few days had decided it would make them money to give her a solo act. They gave her the name: Lady Violin.

Violet had cringed at the title at first. It reminded her of her previous life, a life where she was the daughter of a Lady. In that life she had lost her father and her sight. Now, she was getting better at ignoring it...

"Did he fail to please you then?" Violet asked Sarah to take her mind from the dark thoughts. 

"Oh no, that's not it," Sarah laughed, "He was good enough in that department if you know what I mean."

Violet didn't have a clue what Sarah meant. Oh, she understood desire, she had felt it herself from time to time. And she had kissed a man before. But she had never taken it any further. It had taken a lot of work to hone her sense of smell, to strengthen it until she trusted herself to move about freely. Up until a few years ago, she had sported bruises and cuts all over her body from where she would fall and bump into things and brush up against sharp objects. She had possessed so little control over her own body, that the thought of giving someone else control over it had been repugnant.

And in the last few years, well, she just hadn't found a man who made her feel what her gypsy brothers and sisters called true passion. Violet hadn't been interested enough to delve too deeply into the meaning of the term, but one of the older gypsy women, Mirela, told her that she would know it when she felt it.

"Sarah, are you going to tell me what happened? We will need to head back into camp soon, it's getting dark."

She could hear Sarah's heartfelt sigh and smiled at the younger woman's antics.

"Well he..." Sarah stopped mid-sentence, "But wait, how did you know it was getting dark?"

Violet breathed the air around her and wondered how she could begin to explain the smell of dusk. She decided to pick an  indicators of night that the girl beside her could accept with more ease. "The birds have all gone quiet. When the birds go off to bed, I know that night is near."

"Oh." Sarah paused, "Well, that's quite clever. I do like that."

"I'm glad," Violet smiled. "Now back to Thomas...?"

"Well, if you must know, I caught him making eyes at Nell, you know that acrobat girl? Well, so I caught him and of course I made a fuss, and then he said 'well we ain't married or anything' and that he 'was allowed to look'!" The log beneath them shook as Sarah jumped from her seat. "Hah! Well, I left him and his unfaithful eyes. We'll see how he likes that!"

"Hmm." Violet knew it was not the most eloquent of replies, but what was she to say? Sarah would be Sarah.

"Why are you out here, anyway?" The girl was focused on her once more.

"I..." Violet thought quickly. She couldn't tell Sarah that she had come out here to practice keeping her mind blank lest any blood drinkers tried to read her thoughts and caught onto her plans. "I was just listening to the sound of the river." 

"You do the oddest things," Sarah laughed. "Though it is a very pretty river."

What a strange conversation they were having. How useless, and everyday. How at odds with her life, her plans, her desire, no, need for revenge. Being with Sarah, listening to her fairytale dreams and dramatic affairs had brought a strange normalcy to Violet's life that had never existed. It was...odd.

"Oh, all the fuss with Thomas made me forget why I was looking for you!" Sarah's voice was suddenly full of excitement.

"You weren't looking for me to tell me about Thomas?"

"Oh, no. First I was just walking around camp, then I saw Old Graham who told me the exciting news, and then I was looking for you, but I couldn't find you. Then I saw Thomas making eyes at Nell, and then I was so mad that I went to find Marcus...Oh."

Violet imagined that Sarah hadn't meant to tell her the part about Marcus the juggler and almost laughed. All that righteous anger and the girl had already moved on.

After another long pause and some muttering, Sarah continued, "Well, I was already broken up with Thomas. Anyway, so then well, after a little while, Marcus told me he had seen you coming this way so I came to find you to tell you the news!"

A moment of silence passed. Then another.

"Well, what is the news?" Violet asked, exasperated.

There was silence for another moment. And then Sarah giggled. "We are leaving for London in the morning!"

London.

She was almost there.

Violet swallowed hard.