(Untitled)

[vestalstone]

That the sky was clouded was the first thing Pierrette noticed that morning, the day cool and listless compared to some of the scorching days past. She spent her morning and afternoon daydreaming of a summer rain, delighting in the fantasy of dewy grasses and wet earth. She would find herself wandering out towards the beaches and hills to look out

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[lastof_five]

The jungle was useful for a great many things, most notably Helen's own cataloging of island species and that was what found her there today, trying to see how many distinct species of monkey lived on their island. She hadn't gotten very far, though, before she heard something and looked up to see a girl in a tree.

Pierrette.

"Pierrette? Is that you up there? You're far more nimble than I am."

[vestalstone]

For a moment the situation was far too familiar and Pierrette was struck with it, reminded of how only so many months ago she had been climbing another tree to hear Helen's voice below her. It was enough to slow her, and bracing herself against a branch she wiped furiously at the hot tears on her cheeks. She allowed a moment of stillness, a ragged breath shuddering out of her when she looked to see the gown was still gently wafting in the breeze.

"Miss Helen," she said, finding another foothold and looking down towards the woman. "I am afraid of this place. Not even Ma would test me in this way."

And with that, she hauled herself up even further.

[lastof_five]

That was different than usual and despite her normal hesitation about such things, Helen moved to pull her shoes off to begin the climb up.

"Would you like me to come up so we can talk about it? I can assure you, whatever it is, I won't let it hurt you."

Helen felt close to many of the young people on the island but Pierrette had a special place in her heart because of her gentle nature and her disconnect with the modern era and, as such, Helen was more than a little protective of her and her interests.

[vestalstone]

It was a touching notion, one which gave Pierrette pause and had her craning her neck to glance back towards the woman. She liked Helen, she had never found anything in the wise woman's good nature to spite, and at that moment she craved nothing more than to reach for her, eager for some kind of warmth and comfort where only pain pulsed through her troubled heart. Tears glided quietly down her cheeks, her sniffles muffled as she pursed her lips, breath ragged from straining her tired arms to lift her weight. Her father would have been so ashamed of her just then, acting like the girl he wished she had never been. She was surely Pierrette now, all traces of the headstrong Piers gone from her wet eyes.

"This is evil," she insisted, head jerking to stare back at the innocently hanging gown. "It is nothing but evil. Such a thing should not exist, not when I had burned it to ash long before I fell to this place. Surely this is work of the Christian Satan, for he mocks me of the memory."

[lastof_five]

Ah, yes, the island and its trickery. Helen had her own brush with it a few months earlier when the Mayan jar had shown up and she'd buried it in the jungle to be sure it was secret and safe.

"This island has malevolent forces at work sometimes, yes," Helen agreed. "I wish I could have stopped this but I'm afraid nobody can. I will do anything I can do to comfort you, though."

[vestalstone]

A fresh wave of sobs struck her, and the leaves of the branch she held shuddered with the strength of them. Pierrette hated herself for it, for she had always been the measured one, the one who stood strong and quiet as emotion had left Marie wrecked and spent. But now she saw it all again as the gown mocked her, saw her failure to protect her sister, saw the blood and filth that stained Marie's thighs from where the knight Jerome had robbed her of her maidenhood.

Her sister. Her beautiful sister. Pierrette's heart ached for her now more than it had in months.

"I burned it," she insisted, shaking her head. "I burned it. It was nothing but ash in the fireplace! Sorcery is neither kind or cruel, but this is evil! Only a terrible deity would bring this to me."

[lastof_five]

Helen didn't know the story about the dress but what she did know was that it had upset Pierrette terribly and that was enough for her purposes to want to be rid of it.

"Perhaps it simply needs to be burned on the island's soil to be well and truly gone," Helen ventured, wanting to do anything to try and repair the situation. "I would help you, if that's what you wanted."

[vestalstone]

On the island's soil. For the first time since she had laid eyes on the mockery that lay limp across the tree branch Pierrette felt a hopeful flutter under her breast, something that seemed to ignite and spread. Her tears still ran freely, but her sobs grew quieter and she shuddered with the effort to breath clearly, raspy exhales growing slower as she tried to suppress such tumultuous feelings.

"Perhaps," she murmured. "Perhaps you are right. This place has different rules it works by, perhaps to burn it here will destroy it forever." She turned wet shining eyes to the woman. "We must be rid of it, Miss Helen. And if Marie is ever to come to this place, she must never know it was here at all."

[lastof_five]

"She won't know, I'll keep it secret," Helen promised, glad to see that this, at least, seemed to be a viable option for helping Pierrette dispose of something that so clearly bothered her. Helen had things she never wanted to show up on the island, that damned jar that she buried in the jungle chief among them.

"Come down and we'll burn it and put the ashes out to sea. There's no way it will come back if we do that, I'm sure of it."

[vestalstone]

Secrets were powerful things, and Pierrette nodded her thanks to the woman. Her shuddering breath evened as she calmed herself, and after just a few short moments she was able to suck in one strong inhale as she pulled herself up, a rush of energy propelling her up the remaining branches. Her arms still shook from the exertion and her poor arms trembled with the effort, but her tears were slowing, nothing more than a drop at a time where they had run on like a downpour mere minutes ago

[lastof_five]

"That is what I would prefer," Helen agreed, setting her mouth in determination. The idea of some disturbing artifact from her own past showing up was one thing and she could handle it but she didn't want to wish it on anyone else.

"I would see you both safe, Pierrette. Even if Marie's not here, I would see her happy and safe as well, that's a promise."

[vestalstone]

It was a declaration of such faith and determination Pierrette had never heard. Her drying eyes grew glassy and moist again but she remained free of sobs and ragged breath, her tears only bringing a watery, radiant smile in place. Her heart always swelled at the thought of her sister, and her chest always grew tight and strict from the emotion of it. But now she felt that strength for Marie and this woman, a woman who would pledge to a girl she had never met and may never meet.

"Thank you," she said, voice high. "Thank you so very much. I wish Marie here for her sake and mine, but now I wish her here all the more. You would love her, Miss Helen."

[lastof_five]

"I'm certain I would. And you never know, perhaps she'll show up someday," Helen said, smiling a little herself. "I would love to meet her. Come down and let's be done with this foul business and then you and I shall go have a cup of tea, all right?"

Perhaps it was horribly English of her but a good cup of a tea and a chat with a friend usually went a long way to mending a hurting heart, at least for Helen.