So the stories were true. The Cirque du Steam -- or whatever it was being called now -- had reopened at long last.<br/><br/>It seemed exactly like the twist of fate that Gabrielle needed. Fleeing from Europe -- both from the quickly-emerging war and from the Icelandic Trading Company -- the illusionist had finally found herself back in America, the place where she'd lived the majority of her adult life. She hadn't expected to find a true home here until the murmurs emerged of a new circus, though even then she hadn't dared to hope that it might be at all the same as the Cirque du Steam that she'd once been a part of.<br/><br/>It wasn't until she started tracing names and locations that she finally got some decent information on where the new carnival was, and with the clothes on her back and a small backpack filled with supplies, Gabrielle had made her way towards the new circus grounds. Sometimes walking, sometimes hitching rides on trains when she could find a reliable track that was headed in her direction. The journey from New York to Ohio seemed as long as the one from Denmark to New York without the luxury of stowing away on a helinaut, but every day she nonetheless began to grow closer to her destination.<br/><br/>Of course, it was hard to tell if she'd be genuinely wanted back. She was different now, changed from the carefree trickster she'd been back then. Likely not for the better. But if she could find some of her old friends there, a familiar face, someone she could trust... then maybe she'd be able to start healing. Not that any amount of kinship would repair her face. That damage was hers to cherish forever.<br/><br/>Gabrielle's heart lit up when she saw that first road sign pointing her in the direction of the new circus. She was close now. Somersaulting off the back of the boxcar she was riding, the magician hit the ground walking, gathering her pack up and slinging it back over her shoulders as she followed the wheel-beaten path through the cornfield, moving away from the train tracks and towards her destiny. The only place she'd ever felt at home. The only place she'd ever been able to be herself.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>