Before Violet

Mr. Stephanoptis

3 Years Later. . .

My grandmother's plan for the mail service expansion was a stroke of genius.  The population of Ecarte and of the surrounding smaller islands had grown due to the business of  my grandfather's winery, as well as the Ecarte Island observatory and celestial scribe school Master Scribe Hollenburg established with his bound assistant Ellenora Baudelaire-Hodgins.  Those were their proper names. I had no memory of calling them anything else other than Uncle Petrich and Auntie Nora, although they were no blood kin to me.
Ecarte was also the headquarters of  Jenna Callie, a now famous children's clothing designer, whose first designs were worn by my father as a young child. Ms. Callie could have moved off the island years ago to establish her business on the mainland, but decided against it. She thought it much more important to provide employment opportunities on the island where she was born, raised and continued to thrive.
Between the shipping businesses of my great uncle, Dietfried Baugainvillea, and my father, and Claudia Hodgins and his son, Randall, the expanded port of Ecarte Island teemed with imports and exports daily. Along with it was the need for quick and efficient distribution. 
          Smaller boats and hired lorries handled bigger bulk deliveries, but as for the sacks of mail and smaller parcels, I was responsible for their safe delivery to the four surrounding islands. To say that I loved my job would be a great understatement, and I owed a great amount of gratitude to my grandmother Violet.
           It was now my 18th summer and my third year being a licensed pilot when I met Mr. Leon Stephanotis. I stepped into my grandmother's distribution office, still located at the lighthouse with a satchel of out going mail one late afternoon when my grandmother introduced me to her expected old friend.
          "Leon, this is Hilary's daughter, Hyacinth Baugainvillea."
           The man looked well traveled in his khaki buttoned shirt and cargo trousers.  He wore a stubble of a beard and dark hair that was just long enough at the neck to want a cutting. In beneath were brilliant blue eyes, almost as blue as Grandmother's. 

         "Nice to meet you, Hyacinth." greeted Mr. Stephanotis, with a bow. 
          There was a quiet sternness about him that I believed could rub people the wrong way, but I was willing to overlook it, for this was my grandmother's friend.
            "Happy to make your acquaintance, Mr. Stephanotis." I greeted back, then excused myself
to continue the afternoon task of sorting the outgoing mail.
             I tried to ignore the business between Mr. Stephanotis  and my grandmother, but after hearing Swallow's engine all the day, picking up sound in the quiet was not too difficult.
            "She's the replica of you, Violet,"  I heard Mr. Stephanotis comment in the room where I left them.
            "Yes." replied Grandmother simply enough .
              "Seeing her puts me back at Justitia observatory transcribing those crumbling manuscripts with you."
             "Seeing Alley's Comet at Justitia is an event I shall never forget." I heard Grandmother add.  
            Mr. Stephanotis agreed, and mentioned how much he looked forward to finally meeting my grandfather Gilbert and touring Uncle Petrich's observatory. 
           The construction of the observatory of Ecarte Island broke ground the year I was born just nearly 20 years ago. It's completion came some five years later with the arrival of Auntie Nora to live there.  Since then the bright white domed building on a far off hilltop had become a school for those children called to be celestial scribes as well as anyone interested in astronomy.  Island students were given an education free of tuition. It was out of Uncle Petrich's appreciation for the islanders giving him permission to build on the highest point of the island when he, himself was a wanderer.

        Many dinner parties happened at the observatory, for it was fully staffed with a head chef and enough servants to serve up to a hundred guests/students at any given time.  But for this evening, dinner would be a casual affair with only my grandparents, Uncle Petrich and Auntie Nora, Mr. Stephanotis, and myself.
       With so few of us to dine, we were seated out on the veranda, well lit with outdoor gas lanterns. Mr. Stephanotis recounted his time as a manuscript scribe at Justitia and being paired with my grandmother to transcribe while he translated.
They had worked from morning til night at neck break speed and finished their task well before anyone else. On the final night they witnessed the passing of Alley's Comet together, an event that would not happen again in their lifetimes.
"Aw!" said Auntie Nora dreamily, "How romantic!"
"Humph!" snorted Mr. Stephanotis, in such a way that made me wonder, but made everyone else laugh (except Grandmother Violet who only gave a small whisper of a smile, as usual). "That would have been everyone else's experience with their Auto Memory Doll that night, Ms. Hodgins. But Violet was certainly not interested in such a thing." Mr. Stephanotis looked across the table at my grandparents and grinned (smirked?) "How could she have been? Her heart belonged to the Major Baugainvillea, make no mistake." Mr. Stephanotis then smiled good-naturedly , which seemed to lighten his broody nature and shrugged. "That was for the best, of course."
He then stood from the table and lifted his wine glass to my grandmother. "To Violet Evergarden Baugainvillea. If it had not been for you, I would not have been inspired to travel the world, and see a great many wonders."
"Here! Here!" called Uncle Petrich jovially, draining his own glass of wine.
Grandmother Violet bowed her head graciously, as my grandfather slipped an arm around her shoulders and hugged her to his side.
"So, tell us, Mr. Stephanotis," Uncle Petrich asked, taking it upon himself to refill everyone's wine glasses (even mine, with a wink and a mischievous grin). "What are your plans, other than visiting with old friends? If you don't mind my asking, of course."
Mr. Stephanotis relaxed back into his chair.
"It's true that I am on a quest to one of the islands about 400 miles in the northwest direction. There is a system of caves that were used during the war. I am to retrieve manuscripts that had been hidden there for families on the mainland, even an 800 year old celestial document from one of the great houses in the Leidenschaftlich region."
"Oh!" said Aunt Nora, "How very interesting!"
"Yes. I've pen pointed the area it is most likely to be. Just getting there is a hassle. By boat there are many detours. Some of the coastlines are very dangerous to navigate."
"How long does it take by boat?"
"If the weather stays fair, almost three days."
"Three days?" I blurted out unexpectedly, then heard Uncle Petrich laugh.
"I knew a bit more wine would get you to talking, Hya!" he replied.
I rolled my eyes at him and smiled. "It's just that going by plane might be the better option, I would think. Four hundred miles would take less than four hours. In fact, Brannigan's Crest is on my route and would be the perfect place to refuel. All one would need is a decent area to land."
Everyone was silent, lost in thought. My grandmother was the only one looking directly at me. "That is a splendid idea, Hyacinth. And how much will you charge?" she asked.
I stared back at her and swallowed hard. Mr. Stephanotis looked at me as well.
Finding my voice again, I asked, "How much would your trip be by ship, Mr. Stephanotis?"
            "350 Corse from this port and back again."
           I nodded. It was not an awful price for a round trip, but I could afford to offer better.
           "Price for the fuel and my rate of 20 Corse per hour of flight."
             Mr. Stephanotis rolled his eyes to the sky and mumbled figures under his breath.  "So, 230 Corse? I'll round it up to 250 Corse. Agreed?"
            I was amazed at my good fortune.  I had wanted to fly beyond Brannigan's Crest for the longest time, but had not been permitted. Now was the perfect opportunity to do so and for a hefty profit, too!
            "I agree, Mr. Stephanotis. Thank you for such a grand opportunity to assist you."
             "You're welcome, Hyacinth. I trust your training in flight will make my journey a lot smoother than traveling by water."
            "That I will guarantee" I replied. "When is departure?"
             "Is just after dawn feasible?"
              Tomorrow would be Saturday and I flew no mail on the weekends. "Dawn is perfect."
             The others complimented me for taking the opportunity. My grandmother merely smiled and said, "Well done, Hyacinth." Then took a dainty bite of  lemon chiffon pie.