Welcome to Gaia! ::

Vanna. He knew that name. That was her daughter's name. Leax heard it, below, on the beach that stretched below the docks.

"Lorelei!" He called out- not nearly as loud as she had screamed her daughter's name. If she was even the one who had screamed it. He hoped it was- oh, yes, he did- and he ran as fast as he could, away from the woman he'd been speaking to, leaving her quite surprised as the handsome man ran away from her, kicking up sand as he went.

He was excited, but even so, he realized... if she had screamed, something must be wrong. Far along the beach, he saw a cluster of women- their skirts reversed tulips against the smear of blue sky- along the farpoint dock.

His voice was soft, and the girl was surprised, again, out of her depth in sorrow. Her tears seemed to stop- or, at least, to content themselves with that moist upwelling beneath her eyes, and not fall to moisten her already wet cheeks. She tentatively took the handkerchief, though did not press it to her face- instead, she worried it in her hands, twisting the bit of cloth unmercifully.

"I... I have been released from the Order. They discovered during the ceremony that..." her eyes touched the cobblestones again, "...through the siphoners. They scry, and hold the colors that seek to weep against the clearness of White...they discovered." Her words were tangled with emotion. "I believe in the meij."

Baptiste quells the urge to cry out for joy. So it wasn't all that bad then. Oh, but it is, he thinks again, watching the young girl's face. "Ma petite cherie," he says, gently taking the cloth from her hand and drying her face. "Your words have not fallen on unsympathetic ears. My name is Baptiste. I am a gypsy, a man under the protective hand of the Meij. There's no shame in believing in something that truly exists, cherie. Come," he says, pulling her to her feet. "I have a few couplets. I'll buy you a new dress and the noon meal, eh?" He smiles kindly at her, no trace of wooery or ulterior motives. Baptiste is a man with honor--he wouldn't think to prey on such a fragile young woman.

She heard his voice, close, and she choked back a sob - this one of pained joy. But then she remembered. The magic, the disguise - the accident. And her mouth hung open for a long moment, the tears renewed.

She forced herself to speak. "It is," she whispered, then cleared her throat. "I... I made a mistake... I wanted to be disguised, used something I shouldn't have. That is why... you cannot recognize me... but it is me, you have to believe! Vanna knows me... knows you..."

Lorelei had heard the fear in his voice, believed the worst, feared the worst. That he would not believe her...

Or that he would be so disgusted by the sores and wounds that he would leave.

Vanna lifted her head from her mother's breast, looked at Leax. The girl's three eyes widened, she reached out for him.

"Oh, Lorelei..." Leax came forward, his voice as sweet as the name of his caravan, and deep, "Why don't you open your eyes? Are you afraid to look at me?"

Baptiste nods. "I've just joined a caravan camped close outside town. I'm sure they'd accept another into their number." He smiles. "That is, if your parents don't want to keep you here with them." He wants to ask the girl's name, but the appropriate point in the conversation to ask had passed. He'd wait for another moment.

"I am..." she stopped, her voice seized by emotion, "was a priestess. I've no parents. No..." she echoed at the end, bringing her hands up to the white cloths that hung, tied on either side of her blonde hair, and worrying them, as well.

[I love Vanna. She's adorable.]

Suddenly he's sorry he asked. "Tut tut," he says, taking her hands into his. "Don't fret yourself, Angelique. Come with me, we'll get you cleaned up, and some food in your belly, and you'll feel acres better." His manner is gentle, loving. His heart goes out to the young woman. To be unceremoniously dumped out of one's life...it must be horrible.