"She was stardust, in a world full of artificial lights."
Somehow since that time on the ship, he avoided looking at her and only now and then out of the corner of his eye did he meet her and his hands trembled at the memory of the warmth of her waist, somehow and suddenly his gestures became somewhat more awkward, like that time when they met their gazes on the stairs and his eyes on hers collided like huge spheres of gas to create a new planet. violet stumbled so that captain bouganvillea's vigorous body caught her in the air and that touch transported them back to the day on the ship. "are you okay?" he asked looking for her gaze, violet looked up at him letting him drown in the depth of that universe, deeply dark and mysterious as the ocean itself.
And somehow something inside him had begun to grow inveterately, like a sweet poison that pleasantly wants to take you to death, because it was a splendidly wonderful death, the roots of that feeling expanded and intertwined like a labyrinth inside his heart, so much so that sometimes the chest came to hurt and he committed the imprudence of making it noticeable. For how many if not countless times over time during family dinners, at festivals and even gatherings Dietfried frowned and rested his hand on his chest.
And somehow the cause of that pain was none other than her, and somehow she was the poison and the cure, for a stolen glance at her was the captain's sweetest conquest, he could survive weeks, months at sea with only that girl's gaze.
... It could even be years, and so it was, the war, the same one that had embraced Gilbert with gunpowder and fire, had taken the captain far away from the high seas. That morning Violet saw him in the lobby wearing his white suit and his hair tied in a beautiful long braid, all the decorations for her were only the immensity of times he cut short his life for the lives of others, he did not turn to see her, and she was determined not to look at him if he did.
She just kept her eyes on his big back, Dietfried stretched out his hand to one of the housekeepers handing her something and whispering to her while he gave her a faint smile, to disappear behind the door.
And she could not but recall the loss, for as she passed through that door, Violet saw not only Dietfried leaving, but Gilbert's silhouette next to his in the middle of the fire, amidst the gunpowder and blood; she went down the stairs as fast as she could and pushing the door she ran after the carriage that was already moving away...
"Don't deny the fire in you darling, just be you and burn."
