A force of evening wind pulls a girl forward by the rich cloth of her scarlet, winter cape. The eye of the moon looks down. Seeta, overwrought with all manner of daydreams, imagines that the eye is a frowning Madame Swinton's -- were the lady aware of the nature of this particular adventure, at this particular hour.
"Well, someone has to say it! Someone must be frank!" She squeaks to herself in wind-broken whispers of anger; the tempest of her pale curls lashes forward around her air-filled cheeks, tight lips, and sparking eyes. The tea house girl pauses on the road, piping a sneeze into her handkerchief.
She did not remember the gaol being this far away. After a few more minutes of walking, the hem of her dress wet with snow, she comes up to a guard at the entrance of the local prison.
The guard's gaze will find a nymph-like girl in his midst: her mittened hands tucked away, her cape's hood raised, and moons for eyes staring up at him.
"Good evening, miss. Isn't it a little late for -- "
"Yes, yes!" Seeta hops with anger; her whispery, nose-stuffed words run from explosive to apologetic all in a span of seconds. "Oh, I am so sorry to interupt -- but you see, I am in quite a state! Can you see what a state I am in?"
The guard hesitates. "Well, I guess you do seem a little ups -- "
"Upset! Oh, how upset I am! I sneeze and water and my nose is red. I am not fit to be seen by anyone," despairs the girl.
"And, ah, exactly what is it that I can help you -- "
"Oh, I can not be helped now! It is too late for that. I shall die from this miserable cold, and I shall have an awful, red nose as I lay in my coffin, and everyone shall laugh. What a joke!" Her eyes begin to blur.
"Uh.. " The guard shifts uncomfortably as the girl's wet eyes stare up at him.
"I have come to visit my murderer!"
"Ah, with all due respect, miss -- I don't think you're going to die from a cold."
"Oh, what do you know!" Seeta miserably replies. "Please, I must be allowed to see the man who broke the window of the tea house. I can not rest until I have said my p- piece!"
"Visiting hours are -- ack!" He looks down at the front of his coat, which the frantic girl has just sneezed all over. His expression twists as he wipes at it. "Aw, come on now, miss. .... Miss?"
He turns to see the girl stalking past him through the gate. "Ohh, what a dreadful place. Thank you so much, sir. It will only take a moment to say what I have to say!"
"Hey!"