The pair wandered through the forest and walked over the sandy desert. It ended up taking most of the day until Jack shouted that he saw smoke rising on the horizon. As much as she liked the child she was carrying she wasn't used to being around someone, much less a child and she had no idea how to talk to him or entertain him apart from her stories- which he thought too long and boring.

The sand was hard for Jolene to go through, her cane got stuck in the sand and proper places to beat it on was few and far between. She was mostly flying blind, guided only by Jack unless a stray rider or two decided to ride past the two. Then and only then would her vision be filled with blue echoes and even then she could not see the camp they were desperately searching for. Damn them for being careful with their hiding spot and damn them for losing a child.

"We must be close now, I can see someone!" Jack's words were a blessing to her tired body. "I think it's Lenny but he's too far away," he pouted as he started wiggling restlessly.

"And who's this Lenny feller you keep yapping about?" Jolene asked, voice gravelly with thirst and overuse at this point. "He close to your uncles?"

The boy nodded and she let him get down, thankful to get her arm back. At least that way if she got really desperate she could dig for a stone in the sand to throw.

"Lenny is one of the new boys."

Jolene felt skeptical that Jack should be telling her all this about the men his mama ran with but any information at that point was good information. If he was who she thought he was, she was about to walk into some not so friendly people in a not so friendly camp with their missing child. Now she could only hope they didn't think she kidnapped him as that would probably make them shoot her at the spot and that would be a horrible ending to her story.

She heard him before she saw him.

"Jack!" A new voice screamed out. "Hey everyone Jack is back!"

Seems they had gotten much closer to the camp than she realised and her window to make up a plan had long since passed. Jolene cursed in every language she knew and cursed some more when the sandy ground got even looser and she could see nothing. She felt vulnerable without her sight and none of the people at camp was close enough to make any ripples big enough for her to see them or where she was walking. Her footsteps only made enough noise so that she could see her feet for a mere moment before it was gone again.

"Lenny!" Jack screamed to the man, waving with both of his hands. "I got lost but Jolene helped me get back!"

Jolene was starting to see the tall man that was running towards her but it was still too faint to really tell. Walking into a tense situation like this wasn't on her to-do list, but then again neither was rescuing a child who didn't enjoy her stories.

"Jack!" Lenny called out again and this time Jolene could see the outline of the man. He was tall, not very broad but he was carrying a rifle. This 'Lenny' was coming at them fast and her vision of him kept flickering in and out.

Jack broke free from her grasp and rushed towards Lenny. "Where's mama?"

Lenny stopped by Jack and Jolene hurried closer, eager to not lose them both. "She's back at camp. You can't go off on your own like that, Jack. What if something happened and no one was around to save you?"

"Jolene saved me," the boy defended himself as he crossed his small arms over his chest. "She wouldn't let me get hurt. Right, Jolene?"

She froze as the boy mentioned her but she forced herself to keep on moving. "That's, um, that's right Jack." Jolene winced at her own voice. "I got you back safe, didn't I?"

"Yeah," Lenny butted in, turning his head towards Jolene. "How'd you know where to find us?" he was suspicious of her and the way he clenched his gun made her nervous. What if he deemed her a threat and shot her? What if his finger slipped? Then her wandering days would be over.

Jolene finally reached the pair, panting softly. "I..uh... I didn't. I got us out of the forest and then Jackie here pointed in the direction he came. It was pure luck that you spotted us or we'd be wandering the desert forever! Now I don't mind the wandering but I do mind the heat and the lack of water."

"Come on, Jack, let's get you back to miss Roberts." Lenny ushered the boy closer to him, still eying Jolene as if she was plotting to kill him and steal Jack away.

She chuckled at the thought. "Do you mind me going with you? I was promised a story from someone named Hosea and I don't rightly think I could make it back to Blackwater without some water." Jolene brought her hands up in front of her, cane thrown on the floor. "Now, I ain't planning nothing. Just a blind woman wanting some refreshments before going her merry way!"

"Please?" Jack gave him the puppy-eyes and Jolene watched Lenny cave right in front of her eyes. "She saved me and if I tell mama and Hosea about her they'll tell me I made her up!"

"Fine, but Dutch is gonna freak." Lenny muttered, standing up from where he had crouched next to Jack. "Right this way, miss. Shouldn't be too far now."

"What way?" She asked, spinning around for effect. Jolene didn't tell just anyone about her sight, especially not strangers who could and would use it against her should they need to. And she needed every advantage she could get if she was going to walk willingly into the lion's nest. "I'm blind, mister."

Lenny gaped before hurriedly responding, "Sorry! My apologies, miss. Here, let me guide you." He took her arm in his and gently moved them in the opposite direction of where she stood.

Jolene swiped up her cane as they moved past it but didn't give up the pretense of being a helpless blind woman. Of course she was blind but not as helpless as she wanted it to seem. Granted she couldn't see very well in the sand but she would be able to find the camp on her own.

They walked in silence for awhile until Jolene couldn't bear it anymore. "Hey Lenny."

"Yeah?" he responded.

"Did I ever tell you about this old man named Lenny I used to know?" she asked him, tapping the beat to an old song on his arm. Jolene was almost certain she was stumbling around like a newborn horse but she couldn't care less. It felt nice to be helped for once.

Lenny shook his head. "No. We just met, remember?"

"Right." Jolene chuckled before clearing her throat. "You see old man Lenny back in Tumbleweed was a wretched old man. Wretched but filthy rich. Now Lenny was sort of an uncle to me, don't know how but he said he was and who am I to question the elderly. Lenny had five wives but no children. 'Course I poisoned all the wives out of kindness, he never found out. Now old man Lenny is all alone without his wives and all he had was me. My people were wanderers but I wanted that money. I'm a greedy little thing, you see. Old man Lenny was so old even the other elders called him old man Lenny, funny how that works-"

"Why are you telling me this, miss?" Lenny interrupted her and Jolene huffed angrily.

"Stop interrupting me!" she smacked his arm and he yelped. "That wretched old man grew even more rotten as the days went by. I used up all my precious poison on his five wives, bless their souls. So I had to get creative. How do you kill a man in such a way no one suspects you?" Jolene asked in general.

"Silently in the night?" Lenny asked her hesitantly, voice low as if he didn't want Jack to hear.

Jolene scoffed and shook her head. "No, you silly man. You place dynamite in every corner of his house! That's what you do. Dynamite in every corner, ammunition spread around the floor and bottles of alcohol on every shelf! That's how you kill a man. I waited until the brightest point of day and sat the whole thing on fire! BOOM it said!" she gestured with her free arm. "Old man Jones went up in flames, house and all but the night before I took all of his money after I fed him a barrel of rat poison-

"Why'd you blow him up if you already poisoned him?" the man holding her asked incredulously.

"Because poisoning someone is not fun," she pouted. "'Sides I wanted to go out with a boom before I hit the road again. Literally," Jolene hit the sand as she said 'literally'.

Lenny sighed but said nothing.

"I don't think I like that story very much," came Jack's upset voice.

Jolene shook her head and patted him on his head, enjoying the soft curls. "You're not supposed to because Jackie is still a sweet, innocent child who's not supposed to enjoy tales of murder. Sweet Jackie likes tales of princesses and dragons and knights, ain't that right, Jack?"

Jack was walking several steps ahead of both Jolene and Lenny, short, stubby legs eagerly pushing him forwards. He had a jump in his step that he lacked before Lenny joined them and his voice regained that childish twinkle he had. "Nuhuh, I like Uncle Hosea's stories and when I grow up I want to be just like him!"

"Our time is coming to an end, young Jack." Jolene bitterly spoke, feeling how the noose around her neck tightened with each day that passed. "The west ain't like it used to be and the east is worse than ever before. Lawmen in every village, government officials peeking into every window, hunting down the good folk of this country." Civilisation was unavoidable and crept closer with each second, town after town succumbing to the rules and laws of the filthy rich, law enforcement dividing the folk, condemning people like her and protecting the rich and crooked. It used to be a glorious place, wild as its name and full of outlaws, gunslingers and gangs. The perfect place for a wandering outlaw like her and her curse wouldn't vanish just because the world moved on. "I ain't ever much liked being oppressed nor suffocated, mind you. City folk have no place among us but here they are, stubborn and rich. They look down on people like us, there ain't gonna be no freedom soon enough if they got their way. Civilisation is the work of all that is evil, sent to suffocate those that resist, those that still remember what it's like to truly be free."

"Speaking like that you'd get on well with Dutch. Sounds just like him, only less fancy and less Evelyn Miller." Lenny told her, hand tensing on her arm. "With any luck he might just let you stay awhile. Might do you some good, miss."

She chuckled, patting his clothed arm. "Never you mind that, Lenny. I'll survive, I always do." There was a tone of sadness or maybe longing in her voice that made the air around them bitter with the dark memories of her past. "Have I told you the story of how I-"

Lenny shook his head, "you're gonna have to tell me later, miss, we're here now."

Vaguely she could see a big collection of something, maybe wagons? Jolene could hear the chatter of the people living there, the neighs of the horses, the clangs from pots and so much more. Was this what an outlaw camp was like? Full of laughter and activity?

The closer they got the picture got clearer. A few wagons stood on the outskirts of the camp with a lot of horses, she couldn't tell the exact number from where she stood, one or two people were guarding the wagons with guns in their hands. A few tents and lean-tos around what looked like fires, and a big tent in the middle of the camp with loud opera music coming from it. A man stood in the opening with his arms crossed over his chest, Dutch? Another man sat on a chair next to him, whole body shaking with coughs. Hosea?

"Who's this?" the man standing in front of the tent asked. Jolene had never heard a voice like his before- it was so many things at once, it was rough with aggressive undertones but a thick layer of charm placed neatly over the distrust and aggression would have hid that from anyone but her. Had Jolene not been blind she wouldn't have noticed the man under the mask but when one relied on their hearing as much as she did she had to hear what others wouldn't.

Lenny let go off her arm and took a few steps towards his leader. "Found her with Jack down the hill. Said she found him wandering and decided to help bring him back."

"Thank you, miss...?" Hosea thanked her, his voice was scratchy and dry but it was kinder than most she had met. She could see why Jack was so fond of the man now.

"Jolene." Jolene smiled in what she hoped was his direction as the noise around them had fallen mostly silent and therefore kept him from her sight. "No last name and no middle names. Just Jolene."

Dutch was the one who spoke this time, "well then, just Jolene, how did you find us?"

She shrugged, hands resting on her walking stick. "I know the way out of the forest and Jack did the rest. I was just there to make sure none of them coyotes or O'Driscolls got to him before he got home to his mama. I'm weak for saving people in distress, you see, but I ain't gonna lie to you, had he not been a child I'd have left him to rot." Jolene was only half-joking but hoped the amusement in her voice and the shine twinkle in her eyes hid the truth from them. "I'm afraid the big, strong, manly men have to save themselves."

"I hate to be rude but what help would a blind woman be to a small boy?" Hosea asked, his focus going back to sharpening the knife in his hand. Jolene turned her head to him, eager to catch the movements now revealed to her, taking in the sluggish way he pulled the knife down the sharpening stone and the way his chest rattled fraily when he breathed.

Not wanting to reveal her secrets she shrugged, "I'm better than nothing. Though I've made enemies with many snakes and rats if that's what you're worried about."

Dutch chuckled at her words, no doubt catching the double meaning. "Come now, Hosea. Miss Jolene seems like a kind lady. Would you like a glass of water, miss? You look thirsty."

"Is it poisoned?"

"Not at all, dear girl." Dutch laughed as if what she said was the funniest thing he's ever heard. "You've no enemies here. Stay awhile, rest up! Consider it my humble thanks for bringing back Jack to us."

"In that case," Jolene was very thirsty after all and she wanted to hear one of Hosea's stories before she left. A life on the path was her curse but this way she'd have food in her belly and new stories to tell whoever would listen. "I'd love to. Would, uh, someone mind?" she stretched out an arm, shaking her hand as if to urge them closer to her. "I'd hate to fall and die. Would be hard for any of you to explain why you've got the corpse of a blind woman in front of your tent."

"It would indeed. Lenny, why don't you guide this fine woman over to Pearson and give her some of the good stuff, none of that stew."

"Oo, the fancy stuff," Jolene chuckled and pretended to fan herself. "Why, mister Dutch you're too kind."

Dutch waved a hand and went into his tent, closing the drapes behind him. Hosea remained in his seat, still sharpening that knife but Jolene knew he was watching her every move.

"Why don't you join us, Hosea? Jack told me all about your stories and now I ain't ever been shy so I gotta ask if you'd tell me some? It gets lonely on the road sometimes. You don't mind, do you, eh?" The blind woman asked the old man, a charming smile pulling on her lips that reached her eyes. The sun had turned her tan cheeks a soft pink with the beginning of a burn on her nose.

"Not at all." Hosea replied, groaning as he stood up. The man rubbed his back for the first few steps before he straightened up.