1 Prologue

From the moment he heard that dolls would be coming to the observatory Leon Staphanotis felt irritated. The way the other boys responded to the news only made him more annoyed as he watched them get excited to see girls. He already had a difficult time fitting in with them and now he felt even more separated. They were all excited to meet the girls and discussing how they might flirt with them while Leon just wanted to get the work done. To add fuel to his already formidable dislike of women, Leon had heard that these women, these dolls, do their work to find rich husbands, and it infuriated him.

When the day came and they gathered to be pared up, the other boys were looking up, eager for their assignments. Leon kept his head down waiting for the torture to begin. Even when he was called forward he kept his eyes up and tried to avoid eye contact as she introduced herself. When did meet his partner's eyes he felt something, something he didn't want to feel. He didn't want to feel it because he knew that if it grew it would be difficult to stop it from growing, like a weed, and it would eventually turn to love if she reciprocated, and he knew from watching his parents that love turns you into fools. So, in order to not become a fool he decided to keep his distance. He even tried to make the work too difficult for her in an attempt to get out of the arrangement. Her metal hands only added to his doubt in her abilities.

To his surprise she kept up with his pace and to his delight she did not flirt or show any kind of affection towards him. He felt like he didn't have to be so on edge around her after that first day, they were an efficient team. That. first night, after finishing so much work he saw how much she cherished her work and that it had nothing to do with finding a wealthy husband.

The day he heard the other men approach her, talking about him and how unpleasant Leon, that he's an orphan and then he learned she was an orphan, one who can't remember her parents, he felt himself soften towards her. That feeling, the tender one he thought he had no need to ward against, came back with a vengeance. When she pointed out how similar they are, that's when that weed of feelings towards her started to take root.

He hated how anxious he was when he asked her to watch the comet with him. She was going to be here anyway, why wouldn't she want to see a once in a life time spectacle. So why was he so nervous to ask her to watch it with him? When she said yes, the weed grew again. The days leading up to the comet he felt lonelier than normal. He periodically drifted to thoughts about what it might be like to hold her metal hands, or brush some of her messy blonde hair from her face until Kyle would come into the room to report on the newest development between him and his doll.

The night of the comet he was looking at her when the comet was growing in the sky, and watched as her normally still eyes sparked with excitement. "Isn't it beautiful?" He asked, still not looking at the comet himself, his eyes glued to her brilliant blue eyes.

When he returned to his room after he stared at the ceiling and recounted the moments and was chastising himself for being so stupid. She loves someone else, deeply. Of course she does, someone that tragically beautiful has someone to love. His heart hurt when he realized how in love with that person she is.

When he was done mentally flogging himself his mind drifted to her again, but instead of thinking about how beautiful she is or how badly he wanted to hold her hand he realized how much he admired her. She loved her work, and wanted to be worthy of the trust people were giving her with their emotions. For the rest of that night he didn't sleep, he examined himself. Why was he here? Is this really what he wanted to be doing with his life?

He had made up his mind, he was leaving this place, he was going to go see the world and not only collect documents about amazing things, but write about them. He was going to live and see beautiful things, and add to the world instead of waiting and hiding here for something that wasn't going to happen.

He told her, he was so grateful for Violet Evergarden for showing him how to live with a broken heart. He watched until her trolly disappeared under the clouds silently praying to whatever gods would hear him that their paths would cross again.

When he made it to the first town to meet up with a group of explorers he sat at a cafe and pulled out a pad of paper and began to write.

"Dear Miss Evergarden,

I hope that this letter finds you well and that you don't mind that it is handwritten. I need to be careful with my money, so I won't be hiring a doll for my letters.

Tomorrow I start my first expedition. My team and I will be heading out to sea, so you don't need to bother responding, but if you do, the return address on this letter will go to a box I plan to check whenever I return from a journey.

Thank you Violet. I'm still unsure of how to put into words everything you did for me during our short time together. I just want to make sure that you know how grateful I am.

Sincerely,

Leon Stephanotis"