There was no point going to the doctor's anymore. The man has turned her away since they no longer had money to sustain her mother's medicine any longer. She decided to find her fairy from earlier, the woman from Scarlet's bay. She told her mother that she would be back soon as she could see that she needed help waking up.
Out to the streets of Tortuga with her again as the little Jean was determined to find the woman from Scarlett's bay. She walked around for a long time really as she asked questions about the place from fellow beggars. Some provided her with directions, while others laughed at her for what they believed to be the stupidity of innocence.
By nightfall, Jean stood in front of the place, dirty and sweaty. She made up her mind and entered where she saw people in their drunkenness. She was confused really as she did not know from whence to begin her search. She knew no one here and no one paid her any attention. She had never seen anything like this before but she was one on a mission. So, she summoned courage and walked up to the most sober and kindest face in the bar, the bar person.
A middle-aged man with beards like the famed Captain Hook. She managed to get his attention. He was really surprised to see a little boy in such a place.
"What brings ye here boy?" He demanded
Jean took in a deep breath as she trembled greatly, her inferiority complex must have been taking its course yet again. She told him that she was there to look for a woman. When asked whom, the little one discovered that alas, she could not remember it.
The little one was beginning to test the patience of the bar person as the air of friendliness he had about him was beginning to vanish. He demanded of her yet again harshly that she stated her purpose, reminding her that the harlem was no place for a little boy.
Of course she did not understand what he meant by that but nevertheless, she was determined to remember. He suddenly flared up and came around to grab the shocked lass by the collar and demanded her purpose be stated obviously believing that the kid was a decoy for her fellow thieving partners. Jean began trembling as every bit of attention was drawn towards them. The once friendly man drew out a dagger, the child's eyes lit up with anxiety.
"What is the cause of the ruckus, Goldie?" A familiar female voice cooed, approaching lightly.
That voice, Jean obviously recognized and turned her head to look. Their eyes met and Violette hurried over and slapped away the hands of the older man from her collar, scolding him for displaying such aggression towards a mere child. The older guy apologized and returned to his place.
Violette led the scared kid away and took him around to a quiet place. She had not really expected that he showed up soon; In fact, she had not expected him to come at all. She asked him what it was that had brought him that night to the harlem, he suddenly broke into tears and began explaining to her that his mother would not wake.
Violette, listening to the tale, already suspected the obvious, his mother was probably dead. It was very late but then, she knew that the little one would not take no for an answer. He probably would blame her should she delay till the next day in future. Violette fetched her hat and cloak and excused herself with the boy. She asked him to lead the way to his home as they made their way through the cold night. She felt bad for the little one as she could not believe that he had been orphaned so early.
As they moved, she made up her mind that if death were to be the case, she would take him into her keep and give him a new life off this scavenging path.
They got to the place and just as she thought, the lady was dead. Her body was beginning to get blotted up and the stench of death was already oozing out and dominating the entire place. This was not a home either. Violette took off her hat and handed it to the little boy, gave a brief bow before approaching the dead.
The woman who laid dead must have been really beautiful in her days of youth, Violette observed even as she reached over and took hold of the covers; she pulled it over the woman, completely covering her face.
The little child turned to look at her with such confusion. There was tearing welling up his eyes as he looked at Violette for answers, she could feel his pain as he needed confirmation of what this reality was. Violette felt for him and bent down before him, placing one hand on his little shoulders as she leveled up eyes with his. She needed him to take this news as soon as possible so he could set to getting over it.
She told him that his mother was dead and that there was nothing that either of them could do about it. She had expected him to shriek or yell, but he did not. The little one surprised her, the tears sliding down his cheeks; as soon as he noticed, he quickly cleaned them off and put up a stern face even though he was obviously pained to the marrow. She asked him to pick up a change of clothes for the night pending when they could get him some from the merchants; he did so and she noticed that his clothes were mostly rags but he bore them with such pride.
This was it; this was exactly what the port of Tortuga does. It made you understand that this life was a battlefield and everyone had to understand it early enough.
It was now up to her. Violette took her hat from him and after securing the fastenings; she took him by the hand and led him away from that boat wreck. His former home soon was beginning to fall behind them.
As they moved away, from time to time, he would sob and wipe away the tears from his face. He did not want her to see his weakness obviously. Violette had not seen anyone with such a strong mind and hoped that she could make some great thing out of him yet. She led him back to the harlem.
At the harlem, she decided to fix him a bath first as he stank of mud and more.
She had fixed the bath, yet he would not let himself go bare before her, he waited until she left and drew down the covers. Violette was curious at why a boy would be so shy. She decided to take a quick peep and saw him struggling with his numerous pieces of supposed clothing, she pitied him. But then, what she saw next was rather shocking, for looking down his crotch was a female's organ.
Sudden realization and suspicion began to dawn on her, could it have been that some few years ago, the child that Scarlett had bore was found by that dead woman and nurtured. It had to be so for who would have gotten her pregnant and left her in such isolation.
Violette decided to care even more for the little one but definitely, she was going to keep everything she had seen now a secret until the time was right.
Very early the next morning, she introduced little Jean as the cook's assistant and dishwasher. This was her own way of having a good reason for him to stay with them; she was going to do her best to hide his secret; including helping him hide it from suspicious eyes. Since his name was unisex, there was no reason to make any changes or adjustments to it.