Erik's POV

Just as I had instructed, we left France that night, not stopping until I thought we were far away from Raoul's brother and the authorities. Even when we were settled in our new location, I had Christine stay inside my caravan. It wasn't that I wanted her living with me, because I didn't. I wanted her to be back in Nadir's caravan, but I wanted to wait until I thought the coast was clear. The last thing I needed was Raoul's brother spotting her walking about the camp. It had already been two weeks since the confrontation and I knew that by tomorrow she would be able to leave me. Though, I had not interacted with the woman since the night of our fight. After pouring the soup over her head, she had run to her room and cried herself to sleep. After that night she had not spoken to me, and I was glad.

I was making my rounds around the camp, when Nadir came walking out of his caravan. I ignored the man and continued with my rounds… Until he spoke to me.

"Has Christine spoke to you yet?"

"About what?"

Nadir rolled his eyes. "Well, when I came to check on her last week she told me what you did to her. I was appalled. You don't treat a woman like that, Erik."

"Oh, I know," I began. "What I did was a kindness. What I should have done was toss it in her face."

"And you wonder why no female has ever smiled at you."

"Oh, here we go… I'm sorry, Khan, I shall have to bow before her when I return to my caravan. I will grovel at her feet and beg for forgiveness."

"You should. You not only poured soup over her head, but you humiliated her."

"I don't remember there being anyone around. Therefore, I couldn't have humiliated her."

"But you did. You poured soup over her head and then, you acted as if nothing happened. It was disrespectful."

"Now it's disrespectful? Next you'll change your story and tell me it was cruel or disgusting. Believe me, Persian, I'll be happy when she can frolic back to your caravan tomorrow. She's been quiet, but just knowing that there is somebody else in my caravan is nerve wracking. I haven't been able to take off my mask or change in the privacy of my own bedroom. I feel as though her eyes are always on me."

"You ruined her only dress, Erik. She had no way of getting that big red stain out of her dress, and so, she's been wearing it for two weeks. The girl is your employee, and yet, you haven't paid her or given her any means of clothing. When she came, Reha was kind enough to give the poor girl one of her dresses, but other than that, she has nothing."

"She's done nothing to earn a pay! What has she done to earn a single cent out of me?"

"She did run the ticket booth for a few nights. I think she deserves something…"

"What that monster deserves is to be thrown out in the snow. She has a roof over her head and food in her stomach. I think that is more than what she deserves, Persian."

"Erik, I know that what she did has scared you, but be as it may, the girl needs help. I think that treating her with a little respect would be a kindness. The girl lost her husband and is being blamed for his death."

"Good…"

I saw Nadir's jaw slightly drop, but he didn't say a word. With that being said, I continued with my rounds. As I was doing so, I thought about what I had just said to Nadir, and knew that forcing the girl to continue wearing her stained dress wasn't right. When I was a child, I had been forced to wear the same clothing for years. I remembered how dirty and smelly I had been and how I would have done anything to get a clean pair of trousers. Yes, I disliked the woman, but I wouldn't wish being dirty and uncomfortable on anyone. I knew what it felt like to have maggots eating away at your flesh or smelling so foul that just a single whiff would make you vomit. The more I thought about it, the more I cringed. Knowing that I needed to make things right, I hurried into town and purchased Christine a few new dresses.

When I arrived back I walked into my caravan and towards the back room where Christine had been staying. She was sitting on her bed still dressed in the same stained dress. The moment she saw me standing there, she gave me one look before going back to reading the book she had in her hand.

"Ignoring me won't make things any better," I said. "If you're going to be ignorant than I shall have to continue being the same way."

The girl slammed her book down and crossed her arms over her chest.

"You of all people shouldn't be standing there saying such things," she snapped. "You're the one who dumped that soup over my head. I have a right to be mad at you."

"Well, I've come bearing gifts," I said, placing the three dresses down on her bed.

The girl looked at them and even made a move to run her finger over the fabric of the top dress.

"But why?"

"Because I know what it's like to feel dirty."

"But…"

The moment the girl tried to protest, my anger got the best of me.

"Don't argue with me! If you want to wear your filthy dress than go ahead and do so but I don't want to see another tear slip down your cheek!"

Before the girl could answer, I left her side of the room and stormed back to my own to continue working on the paper work that needed to be finished. Oh, some people just didn't know when to just say thank you…

Christine's POV

The dresses that Erik had purchased for me were beautiful. They weren't anything elaborate, but they were enough. He got me three dresses, one red, one blue and one green. They were perfect and would keep me warm. I hadn't had a bath in over two weeks, and I didn't want to put on one of the clean dresses until I felt the same way. After gathering up a bucket and some of Erik's soap he had sitting on the counter, I left the caravan and headed to the nearby stream. Winter was coming to an end, and the weather wasn't as cold, making it possible to bathe outside. After making sure I was alone, I stripped off my dirty dress and began sponge bathing myself with the chilled water. I was quick and after slipping on my new dress, I hurried back to Erik's caravan.

"And where have you been?" came Erik's angry voice the moment I walked into the caravan. He was sitting at his desk with his back facing me. I closed the door and placed the bucket aside.

"I…I was getting washed up."

"You're going to be working tonight's show," he began. "I want you out there and not taking up space in here. You need to earn your keep just like everyone else."

"What time to you want me to be at the ticket booth?"

The moment I mentioned the ticket booth, Erik stopped working and looked over his shoulder.

"You won't be working the ticket booth tonight or any other night," he said. "I wouldn't want to risk anyone seeing you. No, from now on you will be working with the costumes. Do you think you could manage that?"

I nodded, knowing that I would get nothing but anger if I argued.

"Good, come along… I wish to show you something."

The man stood and didn't even notice that I was wearing one of the dresses he had purchased for me. I followed him out of his caravan and into the large red tent that was on the other side of the camp. Everyone was preparing for the night's show, Erik yelling out commands as we passed each performer.

"It's an hour until show time!" he growled out to a few dwarfs that were juggling in the center of the tent. "Get these props up off the ground and out of the way of the other performers!"

Erik led me to an area that was closed off to the other performers, and area that had costumes of all shapes and sizes hanging about. Erik took a glitter covered jumpsuit and held it up in front of me.

"Your new job shall be with the costumes. As each performer strips off their costume you are to inspect it for tears and repair them if needed. Everything you will need to repair the costumes will be in the chest behind you."

"What if they don't need to be repaired?"

"Then you will just hang them back up."

Erik hung the jumpsuit back up and stormed past me as if he hadn't just spoke with me. I wasn't sure why the man had to be so cruel, for in the past he had not been like this. This job was certainly better than working the ticket booth, for I got to meet every one of the performers with this job. I tried to count Erik's employees but lost track after the first twenty. I never knew he had so many people working for him. I even got to see Gustave for a few moments during the show when he was bringing Lucy out for her performance. When everyone left the tent for the night, I stayed to repair a costume. It was quiet and the only light was from a small lantern I had sitting beside me.

A little while later I heard footsteps, only to look up and find Erik heading towards me. He seemed surprised to see me sitting there. He had been carrying a bucket of tickets, but placed them down as soon as he spotted me sitting there.

"Are you finished?" he snapped.

I nodded and stood to hang up the jumpsuit.

"Good, it's late…"

After hanging up the jumpsuit, I turned to face him, finding that the sleeve of his jacket was torn. Now, I knew that questioning the man would get me yelled at, therefore I approached him and touched the place of his sleeve that was torn. He moved his arm, his eyes gazing at the hole.

"Oh, yes," he began. "I almost forgot about that… The door to the caravan closed on my arm. When I yanked, my sleeve tore."

Wanting to do something nice for him, I held up the needle and thread I had been sewing with, offering to patch his sleeve.

"I'll purchase a new jacket in town," he snapped. "I don't need you to fix it."

"Jackets are expensive," I said. "And to purchase a new one just because of a single tear would be foolish. It won't take long…"

"You don't need to work overtime on my behalf…"

"It would only take a few moments."

"Well, let's do this back at the caravan," he said. "It's going to rain and when it rains it gets pretty wet in this tent."

I walked with Erik back to his caravan. The remainder of the camp had gone inside, for there was nothing left but smoldering ashes of fires and darkness. Erik lit the way with a lantern, holding it in front of him to see where we were going. Once back at his caravan, he unlocked his door and let me pass before following me inside. He placed the lantern on his desk and proceeded to remove his jacket, handing it to me before taking a seat. There weren't many times in the past where I had seen him without it, but for some odd reason, I didn't mind.