For much of the journey, Vanessa was sure she would die. The heat, the exhaustion – traveling this way was worse than she'd remembered it. She doubted her ability to navigate by map, doubted her compass, doubted her supplies of water and food. There was nothing on any horizon about her, just the vast brown sand and the vast blue sky. When October's huge skyline finally emerged in the distance, her heart leapt up into her throat.

By the blue and green light of the five flawless moons, the city was frightening and loud. Crude music and crude words floated from taverns, children wrapped up their day's playing in the streets. Businesses were large and had large signs, some lit up in fluorescents. The air was filled with the confusing smell of baked bread mixed with diesel from trucks.

Vanessa stepped cautiously, feeling quite small in these wide streets, looking for a humble place to stay the night. She had trouble spotting someone to ask – most of these children were scary, the men drunk, the women busy. Eventually too worn to look, she stopped at a noodle stand to buy a small cup of broth, the cheapest thing they sold.

At the stand, they advised her to try a place in a part of town that was quieter, darker, and a half mile back the way she'd come. Vanessa trudged back that way, drawing stares and jokes from onlookers, ignoring them all.

The inn wanted more for a night than she had to spare, and would not lower their asking price. Dejected, Vanessa wandered back onto the street to look for a corner to sleep in. She settled on an alleyway between two brightly-lit buildings.

A woman laughed nearby and Vanessa watched the woman, a blur of bright colors and fabric rustling, pass by the alley. She marveled at the sight, of such a dress! Stepping to the edge, she peered round the corner to see a few more lovely women, each in a different bright color, skirts out a foot from their feet, hair up in curls with makeup on their faces. On balconies one floor above the street, a few women leaned over and smiled at men below.

Letting her hood fall back in a shadow, Vanessa wound a scarf about her hair and ears and stepped into the street with her backpack dangling from one hand. Smiling despite herself, her eyes glittered, filled with fluorescent colors and bright satin.

She walked closer to the building with the beautiful women, slowly, admiring the cuts of the dresses, the unusual hues and patterns, the intricate laces. Closer and closer, she wanted to peer in the building's windows, as one is allowed to do for free on business streets.

"We've got nothing for you here," a pretty woman murmured to her as she stared through the glass. The woman was short and curvy, with short curly black hair pulled up with green satin ribbons. Her green eyes matched her dress, emeralds to the rubies of her lips. Those eyes were studying not the girl's face, but her back, her hunched back.

"I'm sorry, I don't have money to buy anything," Vanessa replied, only half hearing what the lady'd said. "I'm looking for a job. Might you-"

"Look at that face, Maggie! If you were born upright we'd have a job for you," the woman in orange, beside her, whispered in reply, smiling somewhat apologetically. "Run along now, you're scaring away customers."

Vanessa looked over her shoulder, at the men staring on. "Oh, sorry," she muttered, stepping back to her alley, but stopping to call something to the women first. "So you couldn't use me…for anything? I'm helpful in the kitchen, for the laundry, cleaning, livestock, whatever you need!"

The women ignored her and began talking with a young man in a suit. She shuffled back to the alley, peering back over her shoulder all the way.

OXO

Vanessa hated this part.

Just like Haven, like Carcasses, no one wanted her for work. The butcher only hired family, and she could barely get a word in to the busy store owners in this bustling city. She found that there were farming communities around the east edge of October – she could possibly fall back on her earliest 'career' and try for a stable hand position again. That was an option she preferred to avoid.

After days of searching, she walked back to 'her' alley with a little loaf of bread bought with some of the last of her money. Tomorrow, she decided, she'd need to go to the rural part of town, or she'd end up starving.

At least she didn't smell too badly. The alley wasn't terribly dirty and she'd managed to keep away from garbage and toma and keep her face and hair groomed. That, she'd learned, was important.

She went out of her way to walk along in front of the place where the beautiful ladies were, to stare at them and their fineries without stopping, before the men would come and she'd likely hurt their business by being there.

On this evening, a harsh breeze was blowing in, and the buildings' windows were drawn shut, shutters and all. She could see no finery, no beautiful things; how disappointing.

"Where are you sleeping, darling?" asked a thick, deep, voice.

Vanessa turned back to the door, where a gorgeous older women in all black leaned against the frame, addressing her. She wondered what to say, why it mattered? "An alley," she responded, pulling down her hood.

"Thought so," the woman nodded, crossing her arms after beckoning Vanessa closer. "You come by here every day. I've seen you. Maggie's told me you're looking for work, and by the look of it you're not getting it."

Meeting her eyes, she smirked. "I'll take whatever, I'm a fast learner," she offered feebly.

"They won't hire you because you're a hunchback, sweetie," the lady stated matter-of-factly, taking a lazy draw on her long cigarette. "You're not contagious, but you might as well be, hmm?" Her eyes scanned the girl, looking past the rags to note the ridiculously lovely eyes, the blonde hair, the smooth skin, the symmetry and cut of the facial structure. "Beauty's only skin deep and you've got a problem too big to hide."

Vanessa wondered if there was a point to this – she stuck around and listened to these words, true and painful, hoping there would be something useful within her speech.

There was.

"We need someone 'round here, we won't pay much at all, else we're going without one," the lady announced, a few stray brown and gray curls falling into her face from the wind. "Tonight's a bad night, a good night to come inside, and that's what I can offer you. A room, and meals. You'll be doing the cleaning, helping with the cooking, odd jobs; I need you to do whatever I tell you, and you might get a double dollar or few here and there, when I can give it. Do we have a deal here?"

Vanessa glanced up at the large square building, the balconies, imagined the pretty dresses and pretty ladies inside. She smiled and nodded.

"My name is Madame Valentina and I am in charge here. The women here work for me, and you must work for everyone. Come inside, and tell me your name, where you are from."

Obeying happily, Vanessa stepped inside, carting her only possessions by hand, eyes marveling at the grandeur and decorations within this, the front room, filled with couches and paintings and lamps with dangling crystals and beads on them. "Um, I'm Vanessa. I'm from several places."

"Hmm," Madame Valentina responded, stepping gracefully across the room to lead the girl to a room further back. "Names starting with a 'V' are the best, aren't they. Tonight I will have you begin help in the kitchen, you do what you are instructed by whoever is there. First to where you will stay, your things are safe here."

Vanessa followed the woman of poise past gorgeous paintings and red and purple velvety things, tassels of gold and plush, plush seating. She opened a door and they stepped inside, and the scenery took a 180 degree turn. Inside this room it was gray and plain and cold, without the golden light. There was a little, lumpy mattress on the plain wood floor, a mirror with blackened edges propped upon a simple old dresser, along with a modest oil lamp. Shelves full of linens lined the tops of the walls, just above head-height.

"We've got but one bathroom for us all, just through that door, there. You will use that, but only when the other ladies are not needing it. There are four tubs, so that shouldn't be a problem, I would think. Leave your things there, I'm sure they've much to have peeled and readied for dinner." She led Vanessa, now without her cloak and bag, down a stairway to the large kitchen area and turned to leave her there after introducing her to the four painted ladies working within.

"Madame, I'm sorry, I have a question!" Vanessa called out. "I didn't ask, what do you sell here?"

The ladies laughed. Madame stood stoic. "My dear, we do not sell things. We entertain."