Before Violet

Confession

           The landing  was easier said than done.  The three miles of sandy beach was exactly as Mr. Halsell had pointed out on the map.  The wind gusts, however, blowing in from west to east made all my muscles tense and my knuckles white on the controls. To land with even a slight turbulent jolt could spell disaster for my reputation as a safe pilot, especially to one so sensitive to being up in the air in the first place.
Precision, Hya, I told myself, Do NOT let him suspect you are struggling. . .
         I knew to be able to land as gently as possible, I'd need to circle back and take advantage of the wind flow to keep my wings parallel once I was at 50 feet.  I only hoped that Leon was none the wiser in the cockpit behind me.  It was good I could not sense whether he was panicking or not.
         I began the decent, dipping a bit sharper than I first intended but kept the wings steady. I would need at the very least a quarter mile once touching the ground to come to a complete stop. From what I could see from the air, if I underestimated, a shoreline of jagged rock would stop us instead.
         I held my breath until I felt the wheels touch the sand, and continued to do so as I applied the brake, seeing the rocks, at first in the distance, but then grow bigger and bigger.  I pulled back on my brakes as hard as I could and Swallow began to slow considerably until she came to a complete stop. I let out my breath and took more in gasps to recover. 
         I unbuckled and got myself to the ground where Leon waited for me, already studying his map and consulting his compass. 
         "Feeling alright, Leon?" I asked, sure to have my trembling from fatigued muscles under control.
         "Yes, very well! Are you sure you've never landed here before? That wasn't bad at all!"
         "Oh? Well, that's a relief." I replied, stiffly reaching for my knapsack and opening my water canteen. I left the food alone. My stomach was still too jumpy from the landing.
           As far as any of us knew, there had never been long term inhabitants on Seager Island. The ground was too rocky to grow food or graze animals. But the island, more than 20 miles long and 30 miles wide had served the Gardarik military well throughout the war. 
           Much of the military stuffs had long ago been taken away for scrap, but who knew what had been left in the dark of the cave labyrinth beneath Seager Island? Well, apparently, Leon Stephanotis had been given a clue.
           After inspecting Swallow before leaving her, I found Leon Stephanotis seated on a nearby boulder. His map folded out, compass open and part of a meat pastie already half devoured.
           I sat down nearby and decided on a fresh pear and more water. There were many questions I wanted to ask while he charted coordinates with a pencil in a small notebook, but remembered that when Swallow was grounded, I did not necessarily have to exist to this man. I thought it best to only speak when spoken to. 
            It was not long before he lay down his notebook and pencil, took up the rest of his meat pastie and said, "I had never met anyone like your grandmother Violet.  She is certainly one of a kind."
            I had just taken a bite of pear, so I just merely nodded in agreement. Many people said this about Grandmother on Ecarte, and beyond.
Although true, it had become a bit of a cliche.
            Leon continued. "As you know, we met at Justitia.  I was an awkward 16 year-old and she an awkward 15 year-old, with mechanical arms, no less!  I told her more about myself in four days than I had told anyone in my entire life.  She could merely look at you and there you'd be spilling out anything and everything."
           "Yes. Silently getting people to open up to her is a true talent " I agreed. "I'm sure that is what made her such a sought after Doll."
          Leon continued to eat, but then sighed. "I believe we might have been the loneliest kids alive back then."
          It was odd to think Grandmother Violet as a lonely person. There were so many things she busied herself with and always had comfortable enough relationships with everyone through the postal service.  And then there was Grandfather Gilbert, her uncontested mate for life.  Out of all this, there  had simply been no time for loneliness that I was aware.
          "Your grandfather nearly drove her mad, him running away to forget about her like he did." he stated frankly.
           I swallowed a fairly sizable chunk of pear in astonishment. The slight pain of the pear was matched by the slight pain of his words. All I could do was stare at Leon in response.  Running away? Forgetting??
I finally found my voice. "Did she tell you that?"
           He did not answer the question, only asked another. "No one in your family speaks about the days before you came along, do they?" he asked, in an almost accusing  tone.
             "Well, they are private people, that's all," I retorted calmly, yet defensive, "They knew each other during the war and were separated after, both being badly injured.  It took some time before they were able to be married. My grandmother was still very young at the time. My grandfather waited for her."
              Leon snorted sardonic laughter and shook his head.  "They left out a tremendous amount of information, Hya."
Be as Grandmother. It means nothing right now, neither the time nor the place to discuss any of this!  Be as Grandmother. Calm. Cool and . . . But I am not my grandmother. . 
               "If there is information about my family I do not know, I am quite sure the responsibility does not fall to you, a stranger, to educate me about it, Mr. Stephanotis."
             Leon folded his map, and tucked it away in his knapsack but kept his compass in hand.  He slung the knapsack onto his back, then stood.
              "Well, if you're interested in learning the truth, perhaps your Great Uncle Dietfried Baugainvillea would be a great place to begin." Leon replied, taking steps toward a scrubby tree line of the island's interior. 
              I was not at all sure what this mission required from this point, but I knew I was not going to simply let him walk away. I got to my feet, quickly swung my own knapsack onto my shoulder and followed.
             Leon had paused to consult his compass once more, just before disappearing into the trees.  I was able to catch up to him.
          "And your own education about my family? Was it from my uncle?"
          "No. He has avoided speaking your family history with outsiders for years. But he had plenty of military colleagues who were quite willing to divulge all they knew, to a point."
I remained silent, looking behind me, watching the shoreline and Swallow disappearing behind the brush and trees.
"It's eating you up, isn't it? Your curiosity." Leon replied, without even turning to look at me. He spoke loud enough for me to hear, but not loud enough to reassure me that he was talking to no one else but himself.
I was at his back, following, and taking steps. A part of my mind sent warnings for me to stop, and turn back to Swallow down on the beach. With every step I took following him, I told myself it would be my last and I would simply turn and walk back to my plane and wait. I told myself this every step I took forward. They continued.
"When Violet's time at Justitia ended, my time there ended, too. I was desperate to travel, to search and find lost manuscripts just as my father did professionally. I hoped that along the way I would find my father and with him would be my mother. I would have them both again."
Leon Stephanotis then stopped and turned to look at me, his expression pained. Only then did I take a step back away from him.
"I had spent nearly a half century searching. Found a great many manuscripts in that time, have been compensated handsomely for it."
              ". . . And your parents?" I asked.
             "Oh, I found them. Their graves, rather, in a tiny graveyard outside of what was once Bellereve.  They were trying to get back home to me in Astrea, but Bellereve was attacked. They did not make it out. My mother had been gone for only a week before she found and died with my father.  I did not know this for a very long time. I thought they had found each other, and simply lived their lives without coming back to get me.  That I was forgotten."
            I did not know what to say. An apology seemed inappropriate. But Leon Stephanotis did not wait for any comment from me.
           He turned and commenced to walk again, but continued speaking.  "I was an angry young man, Hya. None too easy to get on with, even after your grandmother helped me feel a bit less alone in the world.  She didn't even know her parents, did you at least know that?"
          "Yes. Of course, I did." I answered firmly.
          "She let me know she and I were similar in that we were both living life without the support of parents. I had never felt so close to anyone as I did to her in that moment.  Being so young and ignorant, I think I might had even fallen in love with her. Yes, I know I did. But then she began talking about the one she was truly searching for, which was your grandfather Gilbert, although she did not mention his name.  I hoped the best for her to find him, and yet, I was consumed with jealousy at her unabashed devotion."
            "So, when did you find out? That my grandparents were together on Ecarte?" I asked.
             "The announcement of your father's birth to them."
              "Oh my! All that long ago!"
               "Yes. It was. It was then that I started delving into your grandmother's past."
              "But why?"
              Leon paused for a moment, then confessed, "I was still in love with her, although she was lost to me. I wanted to think about her everyday somehow and in someway. Searching out her details let me do just that."
"So, you know everything about my grandmother, out of obsession, a possibly unhealthy one."
"Call it my curse that I've had to live with since I was 16 years old and most likely will die holding fast to it." Leon looked at me with pity. "Now, why are you looking so afraid like that, Hya?" he asked gently.
I stood straight and lifted my chin confidently. "I'm not afraid. Is there some reason I ought to be?"
Leon tilted his head slightly and smiled handsomely. "Of course not. If there was, how else would I be able to ultimately escape this island?"
"I reckon you'd have to be a damned sight better of a swimmer than I am, Mr. Stephanotis. And I am a very good swimmer."
"Well, I am no better in the water than I am in the air. My feet were meant for solid ground. Are you afraid of the dark?"
"I am not as fond of the dark as I am of the daylight. I suspect most people would say the same."
"Maybe, but there are exceptions. People such as myself and Master Hollenburg. Those who study the stars feel rather comfortable in the dark."
"I suppose that makes sense," I remarked, "Why do you. . ." The rest of my words fell away, for I saw the reason why Leon asked.
The cave opening was a monstrous mouth
letting in the shaded sunlight for only a few feet, and then fell off into darkness.
Leon's face lit up in such a way that I could see the face of a hopeless young boy eclipsing that of a man in the middle of his fifth decade of life.