Chapter 1

Jasmine Porch slinked along in the shadows of the small town, trying to be inconspicuous. Her outfit wasn't exactly normal, so she was forced to make a conscious effort to avoid attention. She was wearing a white blouse with a wide collar which sometimes slipped off her shoulders and annoyed her to no extent. A leather corset pulled the loose shirt tight around her waist, laced up the back with a string. A long, flowing, blue skirt swirled as she walked, lacy petticoats peeking out from the just-above-ankle-length material. A black sash tied around her waist, hanging down at an angle, tiny copper coins sewn to hang from the edge so that they gently jingled when she moved. Over it was an orange scarf she'd picked up somewhere. Her hair was long, thick, and flowing in gentle waves. It was pitch black to the point that you couldn't tell it from the shadow Jasmine was crouching in. A scarf tied around her hair, sheer and red, the ends flowing over her left shoulder. Large hoop earrings dangled from her earlobes, faded gold that had lost its shine. She had bracelets made from both leather and gold, along with a gold anklet. Finally, she wore black leather slippers. Bare feet were a dead giveaway that she was a gypsy, as if the outfit wasn't bad enough.

Someone walked by on the street and she kneeled down, pressing herself against the wall. Jasmine wished for a moment that she could go invisible or walk through walls; that would make things so much easier on her. Instead, she was forced to inch her way across the town in the shadows, hiding from everything. But then she grinned. Who was she to complain? She loved this work, and she was the best at it. No one in the troupe was better at getting around unnoticed. She loved the thrills and close calls, she lived off of adrenaline. So she quieted her complaining thoughts and concentrated. This was made difficult by the sudden pain in her head. She reached up and pressed her temple, crouching to the ground and waiting for it to go away. A minute or two later it was gone and she took off again. She was used to the headaches, but they had recently seemed to be getting worse.

Finally she reached the other end of town, and up on a hill was a brightly lit building. It was obviously crowded with people. In fact, it looked like there was a party going on, making it the perfect place for her to go. She went to stand up but ducked again just in time as a couple went by.

"-quite the party I hear. And anyone can come, isn't that wonderful?" one of them said. Jasmine grinned. Anyone could come, eh? Well in that case, she had a party to attend. She stood and walked out into the street as if she'd been there the whole time. She went to the door of the large building and slipped inside.

Warmth spilled over her, and she allowed her shivers to fade away. She walked along the wall, watching guests dance and chat in all corners of the room. As she quietly walked by, she slipped nimble fingers into pockets, taking cash and things that might fetch a good price on the market. A fat old lady was sleeping in a chair, and Jasmine gently opened the clasp on her fancy diamond necklace and slipped it with the rest of her treasures into a secret pocket in her sash. The jingle of the hidden coins and things was masked by the tiny coins hanging off the edges of the sash. She walked around the room, finally spotting a buffet table. Her stomach growled, and she grimaced. Jasmine wasn't supposed to get distracted while on the job, but when the band leader didn't give them enough food while he stuffed himself, it was very hard to concentrate on anything but food. She told herself that she was just trying to blend in, and happily grabbed a finger sandwich. As she munched she felt someone touch her elbow and she jumped in fear.

Gypsies weren't exactly welcomed by the general society. In fact, they were often hunted down or run right out of town. Jasmine herself had often been beaten when she'd been caught, even if she wasn't stealing things at the time. She was the best thief, and rarely got caught while on the job. But other times, when she didn't think she'd needed to hide…that's when the worst things happened. Once she was even arrested, and put into the darkest coldest dungeon for a week, simply because she'd been looking a little too closely at a jewelry stand. So now, she jumped, expecting the worst possible things to happen because of her being here, let alone if she were to be found out about all the stuff she'd stolen. She turned to see who'd caught her, but instead of seeing an angry face she saw a friendly smile. She looked up into the bluest eyes she'd ever seen. She leaned back a bit to see his face. The boy had a warm smile and was very handsome, with sandy blond hair which hung slightly in front of his face.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." The boy said. Jasmine gave him a shaky smile.

"It's alright; I'm pretty jumpy tonight already."

"How come?"

"Um, well, I don't really know anyone here. I just heard there was a party and showed up." She managed to get out. It was a fumbled answer, but the boy seemed to buy it.

"Great! It's the unexpected guests that are the most fun." He said. He held out a hand. "Care to dance?" She giggled and took the offered hand.

As he led her onto the dance floor, Jasmine relaxed. This was her element, being in the spot light. She was an excellent thief and knew how to be forgotten easily, but she loved being the center of attention. That was one of the reasons she was a good gypsy. She danced and tumbled and did most things only a gymnast could do. Now on the dance floor, she let her personality shine. She was confident and beautiful, spinning around wherever the boy led her. He knew what he was doing, it was obvious. Once he realized that she was quite good herself, he smiled happily and the dance became a challenge. He threw her into complicated moves, some of which he made up on the spot. Jasmine on the other hand followed expertly, adding her own flourishes and embellishments. She took on every step and made it partially hers, rather than giving the lead all the glory. Then the dance was over, and the boy dipped her low to the ground, her hair brushing the floor. Then he led her off the floor to the bowl of punch. They each drew a glass and went to sit on a couple of chairs in the corner. As they caught their breath, Jasmine looked around the room at all the happy people. She felt eyes on her and turned to see the boy staring at her.

"What?" she asked as she swallowed.

"Who are you?" he asked, and she blushed.

"My name is Jasmine. Jasmine Porch."

"Are you a gypsy?"

Jasmine blinked in surprise. It wasn't the fact that he knew, she was wearing the complete gypsy attire. It was the matter-of-fact way he'd asked, as if it wasn't a big deal. She stuttered a bit.

"Well….y-yes. Yes I am." She looked down at her lap, waiting for him to get upset.

"That's pretty cool." Was all he said. She looked at him, one eyebrow raised. "What?"

"You…you don't mind?" she asked him.

"Jasmine, I'm friends with pirates. The idea of a gypsy doesn't really faze me." at that Jasmine had to laugh. Pirates were just that way, she had to admit that she completely understood.

"So what's your name?" she asked the boy.

"Charlie Hawkins."

"So why are you here then?"

"My Grandma owns the Inn, her name's Sarah, she's over there with the cat lady. That's Captain Amelia." Jasmine gasped.

"The Captain Amelia?" she asked and he smiled proudly.

"Yup, that's her."

Sarah was still very pretty for being a grandmother. Her hair was almost completely grey, but her face didn't sport all that many wrinkles. Her smile was warm and friendly, and was very similar to Charlie's. That must be where he'd gotten it from. Amelia stood stick straight, much as she probably always had, Jasmine mused. If she wanted to, she order the people in the room to do absolutely anything, and Jasmine had no doubt that everyone would jump to obey. Her hair was streaked with grey as well, but a lot of her original red shown past it and was easy to ignore. A dog-like man joined the ladies, his hair graying at the temples in a sophisticated way. Charlie told her that his name was Delbert Doppler, Amelia's husband. Jasmine was surprised at that. She'd never imagined the famous leader to get married at all, much less to such a scholarly looking fellow.

At that moment a pink blob flew right into Jasmine's shoulder. It jumped back, his eyes rolling dizzily, and Jasmine had to giggle at the adorable sight. He fell and she put out her cupped hands to catch him. Charlie laughed.

"That's Morph, he's a … well, a morph." He explained and she chuckled. Morph shook his head, or rather his entire body, and floated up in front of her face. He tipped a hat that suddenly appeared on his head and said in a tiny voice

"'Scuse me!" She giggled again as he flew off.

"He's kind of a family pet I suppose you'd call him. He belonged to an old friend of the family's, who gave him to my mother for a time. When that old friend came back, Morph went back to his old master."

Charlie then pointed to a couple dancing in the middle of the dance floor. The man was very handsome and looked like an older version of Charlie with brown hair. The woman he was dancing with was very lovely as well, her brown hair hanging in curls down her back. She had green eyes which were looking adoringly into the man's blue ones. Scarlet had seen those blue eyes before and turned to Charlie to see the same eyes looking at her again.

"Your parents?" she asked him. He nodded.

"Jim and Alexandra, although everyone calls her Alex. And over on the other side of room is Maria, my sister. She's the one with bright blond hair in the pink dress." Scarlet looked where he was pointing and saw a pretty girl about her age. But before she could say anything someone made a huge commotion. They turned to see the fat lady who'd been sleeping earlier. Jasmine self consciously put her hand on her sash where the diamond necklace was hidden along with her other treasures. The lady was shouting the words 'It's gone' over and over and Jasmine took the opportunity the distraction provided her to slip away from Charlie. Suddenly, everyone was noticing missing objects. It wouldn't be long before someone noticed the way she was dressed and automatically accused her. Of course, they would be perfectly right in their accusation, but she was still bitter about it. She slipped out the door and ran off into the darkness.

Charlie watched as people realized that they were missing money, jewelry or pocket watches. There were quite a few. He turned to ask Jasmine if she was missing anything, because he wasn't. But she was gone. He stood and searched the crowd, and realized that she'd left. It must have been her then! He knew he should feel angry or something that the girl had been the thief, but all he felt was glad that Jasmine had gotten away. And oddly…rather proud of her. He decided not to mention her to anyone; he didn't want to get her in trouble.

He had noticed as they danced that she was thin, and the dip he'd done at the end was far too easy. She weighed too little for someone of her height. He didn't think she was getting enough food. The fat old lady was someone no one liked anyway, and she had plenty of diamond necklaces to keep her happy. He figured Jasmine deserved it more, simply because she actually needed it. Not to mention she was a sweet girl. She actually cared about learning who his family was. Usually girls didn't care about meeting them or even knowing who they were. The fact that she cared showed that she'd wanted to know more about him as a person, not just because of his looks. He'd had his fill of girls like that. He wished she hadn't had to leave so early, he wanted to know more about her too. He sat back down and was joined soon by his sister.

Maria was a girl who was liked by everyone. Not because she was popular, but because she was such a kind soul. It was impossible to dislike her, although Charlie had managed to do so on a few occasions.

"It was that girl you danced with wasn't it?" she asked. Now was one of those moments.

"I don't know who you're talking about; I danced with a lot of girls."

"You know exactly who I mean. The girl you really danced with, rather than sway around in circles with. The one in the gypsy outfit. The one you kept staring at while she wasn't looking."

"Oh. That girl."

"Yes that girl." She repeated. "Was she a gypsy?"

"Yeah." Charlie reluctantly admitted. It didn't matter what he said, she knew the truth already. That was the trouble with being twins; they were able to read each other all too easily. He'd get her back for tonight next time she had a crush on someone. Which wouldn't be too long. Maria was rather flighty when it came to boyfriends.

"You're not going to tell anyone, are you." It wasn't a question; she already knew the answer, so he didn't say anything. "I won't tell either." They looked at each other and grinned. One good thing about being twins was that they always kept each other's secrets.

Jasmine ran quickly back through the town, trusting that no one would notice her in the dark. She had often been compared to a shadow when she didn't want to be seen. It was mostly the band leader who described her as such, for she had snuck away so many times on her own and without permission. His name was Simon Crunch, and he was never happy when she did this, but she always came back before he was angry enough to actually beat her. Other members of the troupe weren't so lucky, and their leader generally considered them expendable. One of the girls in particular, Scarlet Hill. She was brilliant, and happily gobbled up any books they could get their hands on, but Simon didn't think she was any use at all in the group. The only reason he didn't beat her any more than he currently did was because he knew Jasmine would make things very difficult for him if he tried.

They'd found Scarlet shortly after Jasmine had joined the band, chained to a wall in someone's backyard. They'd found out later that her parents had put her there, and only unchained her when they could keep an eye on her, convinced she would run away. They forced her to do all the housework and assumed that she'd take off at her first opportunity. Little did they know that she didn't mind the house work at all, and that she only began wanting to run away after they began chaining her up. The group broke Scarlet loose and invited her to come along with them, and Jasmine had taken her under her wing, caring for her like a little sister. Over time, that's just what they'd become, sharing everything they owned between the two of them, despite how little they had.

Jasmine came back to the present as she entered the canyons past the town. She carefully counted her turns, trying not to get lost. Finally she passed the last turn and started climbing up the rocks along the left canyon wall. A cave came into view a moment later and she scrambled through the opening. She walked bent over for a thankfully short distance until the cave opened up into one large room. It surprised her how large it was every time she came in, none of them could have hoped for a better place to set up their gypsy camp. There were enough natural holes in the roof of the cave that they could have their customary campfire in the center of the circle of tents, so that the smoke could escape and they could have light in their darkest home yet. It was even worse than the weeks they'd spent on Miyron, the planet which never changed between day and night. It was always the same side of the planet which faced the sun, and they'd camped on the dark side which never got any of the natural light or warmth.

Jasmine stretched as she stepped forward, catching her breath once more rather quickly. She was never tired out for long; she'd worked hard to strengthen her endurance. She stepped out of the shadows and walked to where the rest of the troupe was seated around the fire. The first one to notice her was Scarlet. The tiny red head jumped up from her seat shouting Jasmine's name, and ran towards the older girl. In truth, Jasmine was probably only about one year older, but as Scarlet threw her arms around Jasmine's waist, her head only came up to the dancer's chin. Jasmine fleetingly thought what an odd pair they were as she hugged the small girl back. But then they pulled quickly apart as Simon waddled up to them.

For a moment or two, Jasmine wondered if the man had grown even more since she'd left earlier that afternoon. His stomach spilled over the belt at his waist, the thin, greasy shirt barely keeping his girth from falling past that. His baggy pants were far too short revealing socks which probably hadn't been washed in years. They'd never seen him take them off, and they'd snuck food from his tent often enough to know that he slept with them on as well. Simon carried a cane which had a fancy metal snake head on the top, baring its fangs. He'd use it to beat those who failed at their tasks, and had sharpened the fangs so that they could do some serious damage. No one in the group enjoyed having Simon for their boss, but none of them had anywhere else to go. 'Accidents' often happened to those who spoke out. They'd learned to be careful who was around when voicing opinions.

Simon stopped in front of Jasmine, and simply looked at her. She stared back. Most of the other kids would look away in fear, but not Jasmine. She stared right back into his watery grey eyes. Finally he tapped his cane on the sandy ground impatiently, and she rolled her eyes. She reached her hands into the sash around her waist, pulling out all but a few treasures. He took them all, holding the small pile in one of his shovel like hands.

"That's it?" he asked. She smiled, not at all friendly.

"No, but if you want the shiny surprise your going to have to add more food to the pot." She told him. It was a common game between the two. Even from here Jasmine could see that the stew was more broth than anything, and they could all use more substance, except Simon of course. The man grunted then turned and went into his tent where he kept all the food. Once he was out of sight, most of the other children came closer, giving Jasmine quick hugs and handshakes. Then Simon was back, with a slightly dirty plate full of vegetables. Jasmine went closer and expected the plate carefully. She looked back up.

"This shiny is worth more than just veggies, how about some of that beef you've got in there?" She heard some of the children groan at the mention of meat, and Simon glared at her before he went back in to get some. The handful he brought out was large enough that everyone would get some good protein, and she nodded, satisfied. She reached back into her sash and pulled out the diamond necklace. Everyone gasped as the expensive stones hit the light from the fire, and Simon practically broke the thing by grabbing it so fast. Jasmine put her hand inconspicuously on her stomach, counting what she'd been able to keep hidden through the fold of the fabric. There were a few gold coins and a ring she knew held a ruby. It would be enough.

Simon went back into his tent to look at the pretty things, and Scarlet quickly cut the vegetables and the beef with the knife Jasmine had pulled from her boot top. She added them to the pot and stirred it, giving it time to cook as Jasmine told the others about her adventures for of the night. By the time she was finished, the food was done, and Scarlet scooped out a loaded spoonful for everyone, making sure there was at least one large chunk of meat in every bowl. One of the bowls went in front of Simon's tent. It seemed to him that they were honoring him by delivering his food, but for the kids it kept him in his tent longer and out of their business.

After they ate, everyone huddled together in a circle around the fire, trying to ward of the nighttime chill. Scarlet was once again begged to tell one of her stories, and she did so, lulling some of the younger children to sleep. Once she was finished, Jasmine and the older kids carried the littles to their bed, tucking them in tightly. Then they all whispered their goodnights and went to their own tents.

Once Scarlet and Jasmine tied the flaps of their tent shut, they lit a tiny candle and changed into their nightgowns. As they brushed each other's hair and braided it for the night, Jasmine told Scarlet about Charlie. She'd left out most of the details of him and their dance from the others, but she told Scarlet everything, including his beautiful blue eyes. Scarlet was perfectly content to tease Jasmine for her recent infatuation, she'd never had eyes for anyone before and didn't know what it was like to see someone as more than a friend. But Jasmine had courted boys before, whenever they were on a planet for a longer period of time she attracted someone. Now though, Charlie was all she could think about. And those amazing blue eyes were still in her mind as she slowly drifted off to sleep.

I'm sure you all hate me by now don't you? It's been what, a year and a half? Give or take a few months? Well your long wait is finally over!

Only because I couldn't find anything else to fix...well, I hope you will (re)enjoy this chapter everyone, please review! Even if you're going to throw things at me, I know I deserve it...

Your Humble (and very appologetic) Authoress,

Whisperwings