The crashing waves of the sea and the rustling in the wind kissed your beautiful face as you smiled and closed your eyes ~ listening to the songs of nature.

This kind of tranquil silence was your friend, it was patient, and it never complained, it just listened.

This was the place where you took your inspirations in writing new melodies to play in public.

You believed that to have such talent, it would be a cruel sin to the world to not share it.

You didn't want money in exchange of your songs, you just wanted to share the emotion to others, as if you were communicating with them.

You were once a noble back in Venice. This explained why your pouch of florins were always full. The banks were always great places to invest on, and quite safe to keep track of your family fortune.

You were the only living [Surname] in the whole of Italy. Some of your family were murdered, some of them were never heard of again, and some of them died of illness, and more.

Looking back, you remembered how you have always thought that maybe your family name was a curse.

And so, this was one of the reasons why you decided to leave Venice and travel around Italy before you started travelling around the world.

Now here you were, at Firenze. Quite a beautiful town, and many wonderful audiences who appreciated your sense of 'art'.

You plucked the strings of your lyre, keeping true to the rhythm of the waves crashing down on the shore. The wind became your singer, your primma donna.

With eyes closed, you continued to let your serenity and your fingers pluck the chords that matched the scenery... that matched your serenity.

Plucking the final note of your melody, you took a deep breath and exhaled the scent of the sea.

With that, you bowed to the sea ~ thanking it for listening to you so intently whilst helping you with your rhythm and you blew a kiss into the air, quite literally ~ adoring the soft vocals of your primma donna.

To others, it may look as if you were crazy, but to you ~ you were in your own fabulous world. You were in a new world where you left your life as a noble behind, to start a new one ~ the life of freedom, and the life of art.

You turned on your heels, once satisfied, to the markets. You had to admit that you were getting quite hungry.

You always noticed how after every performance, your stomach seems to find its way to growl at you, not that it was displeased with your music, but that it was begging you to feed it.

You giggled to yourself before heading out to the fruit stand.

You bought a small basket of juicy ripe apples and went ahead to buy bread from the bakery.

Once there, you noticed a shadow dashed so quickly that when you looked up, you couldn't figure out whether you were seeing things, or whether you were -

"Mi scusi..." someone quietly said as he bumped into you.

You noticed that the person who bumped into you had a slender frame, very much like a woman's.

You have also noticed that- seeing a very familiar pouch within the person's grasps - you have just been robbed.

You chased after the thief just as, apparently it was a she, she took off, shoving the crowds out of her way.

People around you looked at the commotion with confusion.

Were you two playing a game?

if you were really robbed, why weren't you screaming at the thief?

The thief noticed your silence but could see the determination in your eyes to catch her. A quiet type... don't see many of those these days. she thought to herself.

You ran through the plaza, still chasing the thief.

With your persistence and stamina, you were sure that you could have tackled her, if it wasn't for the fact that -

CRASH

you crashed against someone.

There goes your allowance for the whole week.

Although you were rich, you didn't find the need to touch your parent's wealth more than you should.

It was why you gave yourself an allowance every week.

"Mi dispiace, signorina..."

you heard a voice coming from the person you just crashed into. A pair of inked arms picked up the things that were scattered on the stone tiles.

You decided to help and started picking each of them one by one. The moment you started, you noticed that they were paintings.

One was a painting by of the sky, the others about the harbour, and others were about the busy streets of Firenze.

Unfortunately... most of the paintings were ruined or their canvases were torn apart. Your heart fell at the sight of such lovely paintings become useless due to sheer carelessness ~ mostly on your part.

"Madre de Dio... my paintings..." you heard him sigh the words out.

You felt worse... you must have cost him a fortune with the paintings, and surprisingly the man threw you a handsome boyish smile. He was wearing red doublets with matching red cap that made his brownish locks stand out yet blended in with the colour.

By the way he dressed, the inks on his sleeves, and the paintings he picked up, he was a painter.

"I apologise for running into you, signorina." he said once again, trying hard to deviate the topic that concerns you mostly.

You shook your head, indicating that it was alright, but in truth, you felt bad that you lost about a thousand worth of florins. But ofcourse, seeing the genuine concern and apology of the stranger, you decided to just leave it be. Most especially... his beautiful paintings.

You sent an apologetic smile his way, he understood immediately. However it kept him guessing why you never uttered one word to him, not even a hurt groan when you collided to one another.

"Va bene, signorina. I will try and make a few more. Il mio nome รจ Leonardo.."

he bowed as he took your hand gently and kissed it.

He was awaiting for you to greet him back, but no words came out of your lips.

"Is everything alright signorina?"

Leonardo asked you, his concern growing by the minute.

You wanted to say something... anything! You really wanted to apologise for ruinning his work, or reprimand him for being in your way whilst chasing a thief.

You nodded your head solemnly and curtseyed slowly, despite your somewhat masculine outfit.

You had a white puff sleeved buttoned up shirt, wrapped up with a red stringed corset, black figure hugging pants and leather boots, with a red gold trimmed cap. Your shirt protruded from the small corset and its length reached to about half your bum, making sure to leave enough for the imagination of your feminine contours.

Looking into Leonardo's eyes you saw optimism within his brown orbs that still contained genuine sincerity.

It would be rude to leave him as such in the dust.

Leonardo was cautious now. Not only were you backing away from him when he tried to reach out for you, asking if you were okay since you never said a single word to him, your eyes held a turmoil of emotions, as if you were having an inner battle with your self conciousness with a matter of utmost importance.

You held your head up , looking into his brown orbs with determination. He had a feeling that you made up your mind about something.

You placed your hand on your throat and parted your lips to speak?, he supposed.

However, nothing but air came out of your naturally rosy lips.

It didn't take a genius, despite the fact he was one, to figure out what you meant.

"You are mute..."