"But the vain man did not hear him. Vain men never hear anything but praise."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

It seemed so long ago that she had come.

The wind howled, roughly shoving leaves against the walls of the ancient castle, it's once perfectly polished grounds now overflown with the only thing that would grow; weeds. The beautiful flowers that the servants had once tended to had not grown since that fateful night, one much like this one, when she had appeared at the castle doors.

It seemed so long ago.

No servant inside the castle walls dared to disturb their master with dinner tonight, instead opting to head to their individual quarters in the East Wing, leaving their master to his lonesome in the West Wing. They milled about in packs when they needed food or the restroom, afraid to face the possibility of their master's rage alone, that terrible rage that was only shown on nights like these when he was reminded of her.

It seemed so far away...

But their master did not make an appearance, secluding himself in the West Wing. They spoke quietly of him, afraid even in their own chambers of their voices echoing towards the West Wing.

So very long ago...

"From the looks of it, he has two weeks."

Perhaps it had always been this way...

"I'd say even less than that! I saw it yesterday when the master was in the garden. It looked like it had a week left, perhaps one or two days more than that."

Had they been trapped in here forever?

"If only there was some way to get my boy out..."

The wind howled ferociously.

"We mustn't give up... Perhaps if one of us got to know the master...?"

No one heard the door creak as it opened for the first time in ages.

"Natalya? Perhaps you should bring him some tea, try to converse..."

The clock chimed. The stranger's head jerked up and he stared at the ornate clock on the wall, watching it for a moment with furrowed brows. The hour hand fell off, resting at the bottom of the clock.

"Nyet, my sister will not go anywhere near him, especially on a night like this."

Time was running out.

"Maybe it's time to give up."

A/N: Sorry this chapter is so vague. I promise the next chapters will be much more interesting!