A week after the fight on the work site, a knock came at Gaia's bedroom door in the early hours of the morning. She was up early as usual, tinkering with her latest music box when she heard the knock. In a whirl of action, Gaia put everything she had been working on into a box and quickly shoved it beneath her bed along with the spectacles she used to work on the minute parts. Messing up her hair as if she'd only just gotten out of bed, she moved to open the door just a crack before breathing a sigh of relief and opening it fully. "Erik, you startled me," she accused, moving inside to sit on the edge of the bed.
Erik remained in the doorframe, not daring to step inside. "I'm sorry. I wanted you to be the first person to see my trick," Gaia smiled and beckoned him inside.
"Come in and show me then! Close the door behind you so we don't wake my father," Erik obeyed with a small smile, closing the door and moving to sit beside but well away from her on the bed. Reaching into his pocket and withdrawing what looked to Gaia like a small, metallic woman wearing a skirt made of white chiffon. There was a small key on her back just above the waist of the skirt that Gaia inspected curiously.
"Wind her up and hold out your palms flat as a board," Erik urged, and Gaia did as she was bidden. They both watched as the dancer flowed to life, a small melody tinkling in the background as she moved up onto the points of her toes, maintaining remarkable balance. In spite of the obvious mechanical nature of the device, it seemed to flow almost as gracefully as any real dancer Gaia had ever seen. Her eyes widened in awe at its beauty and complexity.
"Erik how did you do this? This is incredible, I've never seen anything like it."
The young man's smile widened at the genuine praise. "That's not all," he told her, when the music died down. "Wind her up again," Gaia turned the key until it couldn't be turned, and held out her palms as flat as she could make them for the little dancer to move on. To her astonishment the melody was slightly different this time, as was the mechanical dancer's choreography. Gaia gaped, looking from the dancer to Erik who was watching his little masterpiece move with a private smile of accomplishment.
"This is really wonderful, Erik. It puts everything I've ever made to shame," she mused, handing the device back to him.
"You can keep it if you'd like," Erik offered, and Gaia's eyes widened again.
"Oh I couldn't! You spent so long on it, it's really a masterpiece."
"You gave me the parts that make it work, it's as much yours as it is mine," Erik promised, and Gaia smiled. Ever so carefully she kissed the boy on the cheek of his mask and smiled.
"Thank you, Erik. I'll treasure it forever. But if I figure it out I'm selling the designs and making my fortune," she teased, and after his initial start he smiled some at her remark.
"I'm not worried. Nobody has ever figured out the secret of any of my magic."
Gaia moved to put the little dancer up on the top of her clothing cabinet, where it could have the best possible view of the room and be easily admired. "Oh really? Is there another trick you could show me?"
After a moment of consideration, Erik spoke. "There is one I've been meaning to test on an audience, if you wouldn't mind," Gaia nodded eagerly, and followed Erik downstairs to the basement. Erik moved a vase of three long-stemmed flowers to a table a foot away from a blank wall. Lighting a gas lamp and placing it at the other end of the room created a shadow of the vase and its contents on the blank wall. "I've only ever practiced this one in private, I don't really know how it looks. Please be honest."
Erik reached down into his boot and pulled out a small blade Gaia had never realized he carried. She watched him curiously as he moved past the vase to the shadow on the wall, taking the knife carefully in his hands. Ever so delicately, Erik held the blade to the shadow of a leaf on the wall, as if pinning it in place. Then with a delicate twist of the blade, the shadow of the leaf fell off the plant and out of sight… but so did the leaf in the on the flower creating the shadow. Gaia stared with her hand over her mouth, transfixed as Erik moved the knife to the shadow on the wall again repeating the action, and to her utter astonishment another leaf fell to the ground both off the shadow and off the lower itself. Erik repeated these gestures with a strange sort of mystique and reverence, ridding the flowers of their leaves and petals one by one by pruning the shadow on the wall.
Finally Erik placed the point of the knife against the final bud, and with the slightest twist of the blade the bud dropped all of its petals, slowly at first until Erik pulled the blade away and they could no longer be sustained. Gaia could only stare, awestruck by what she had seen. Erik's posture changed from one of a commanding presence to one of unease when she said nothing. "You didn't like it. What didn't you like?"
Gaia shook her head gently as she pulled her hand away from her mouth to talk. "No Erik, that's not it at all. It was absolutely beautiful. I've never seen anything like it before. How did you do that?" She asked, venturing forward to inspect the vase that now held only stems but seeing nothing out of the ordinary.
"Magic, of course," Erik told her simply, with a smile.
"You've certainly made me a believer," she told him finally, after she could see no strings or gimmick of any kind. "What are you doing here, with talent like that. You could make a fortune traveling with the Gypsies."
"I traveled with the Gypsies for longer than I would care to say and I never made a cent," Erik informed her with a considerable amount of bitterness in his voice which let Gaia know she ought to drop the subject immediately.
"Marco told me you broke his arm," she finally said, quietly. "I hear you held your own pretty well until they ganged up on you."
"Hm. They had better be thanking God I couldn't get to my knife. I could have put them all in their graves."
Gaia frowned deeply. "I'm glad you couldn't get to it. Nobody should have died just because Marco is a lying pig. Thank you, though. If I had known he was speaking about me like that I would have broken his arm myself," the ease of which Erik spoke of killing alarmed the girl, and she was eager to change the subject.
"You should have thrown the boiling water on his face when you had the chance," Erik remarked, and Gaia laughed some, sadly.
"Probably. You know, with his arm broken he won't be able to take charge of the next build. You ought to ask Papà if you can lead it," Gaia suggested. "He adores your work, you know. I overheard him bragging about you to one of his friends the other day, they may even vote you into their Lodge. If you're willing of course."
"Lodge?"
"Papà's a Freemason. It's becoming increasingly less taboo you know. Most of the better of men in Rome at least know someone who is a Freemason," upon seeing Erik's confusion, Gaia elaborated. "The Freemasons are a group of men with similar goals and beliefs. It's more secretive than just any group of men at the local bar, but it's hardly a secret society or anything. The only real taboo comes from the politics and religious debates that go on. Most Freemasons are more intelligent than your average political or religious leader, and they often have ideas that go a bit against the norm. Papà mostly likes the sense of community it offers him, especially since Mother died."
Erik was quite for a while, considering all this. "Perhaps I will talk to Master Turri about the next build. I know I would certainly do a better job than Marco did on the last one."
"I'm sure you would too," Gaia promised with a smile. "Papà picked you over Marco for a reason, after all. Come, I'll start breakfast."
Erik nodded and followed his housemate upstairs into the kitchen. If she had seen his face that day he had fought with Marco she certainly didn't show it, he mused. Had he merely dreamed of her horror that day? His head certainly had been spinning for a while after the fight had started.
Giovanni came into the kitchen not too long after the younger members of his household. Gaia served him a plate of sausage and eggs before serving Erik and plating herself. When Erik was quiet over breakfast, she nodded towards her father encouragingly. Taking a bit of a breath, Erik spoke.
"Master, I was wondering if you had decided who to place in charge of the Coppola build?"
"I haven't even begun to think about it, really. Why do you ask?" Inquired the old man, a bit of a smile playing on his lips as he realized what Erik was getting at.
"I have a design that I would like to show you, and perhaps if you like it I can present it to the family and work on the build myself," Erik suggested, and the old man patted the boy's back firmly.
"Now that is a wonderfully idea, my boy! I'd be pleased to look over your designs, I'm sure they're remarkable," Giovanni promised, eyes shining. This praise caused Erik to smile as he returned to his breakfast, glancing over at Gaia who smiled broadly and mouthed her congratulations to him silently.