There were stars in the sky when I saw you, 
There were stars in your eyes when you spoke, 
There were stars the day you disappeared, 
There were none left when I next awoke. 

I woke up much later from a knock on the door. I tossed about in bed, dusty and half awake. I looked out the window, wondering what time it was, then realised there was no large clock tower outside. Not anymore.

Where am I? Why does everything hurt so? Oh… oh…

Dust rose around me as I stretched and squirmed about, trying to get comfortable. I blinked dust away from my eyes. It was dark still. Everything was dark. Everything would stay dark.

“Hey! Knock, knock!” A friendly feminine voice called from behind the door. “I hope I have the right room. Astin said the one at the end of the corridor. You alright in there? You’ve been asleep for a fair while. May I come in?”

“Um… sure?” I pulled my blanket closer to me, as though it would act as a shield. “Yes, come in,” I said.

The door opened to show a petite lady dressed in a black dress with a dark blue apron. She had black curly hair and bright yellow eyes. They shone radiantly, just like Astin’s did. She beamed a warm friendly smile towards me and instantly I felt a little less alone.

“Hello there!” She said. She sat at the bottom of my bed and stuck her hand out. I removed my hand from my blanket and shook hers. Her hand was cool to the touch.

“I am Estella, but everyone calls me Stella, and that is what you may call me too. Not much of a difference you might think, dropping a single E, but Stella sounds a bit nicer doesn’t it?” she said winking and let go of my hand. “Unfortunately Astin didn’t tell me much about you. In fact, he didn’t mention anything about this situation. I hope the room is to your liking. It hasn’t been cleaned in such a long time. I’m so sorry about that. We didn’t know we would be having any newcomers! How are you feeling?”

“Um… I’m… okay,” I muttered into my blanket.

She must have seen the look of confusion in my face, and heard the discomfort in my voice, for her tone dropped to a gentler one.

“Hey, it’s alright. I’m not going to hurt you. No one is.”

“Um… I…” I nodded.

“I bet you have questions. I’m afraid, I don’t really have answers. I can tell you what I’ve been told. That we have a newcomer, and the newcomer will be staying here and helping us out, and she will be in want of food soon.”

Food… the last time I ate was at the New Year’s Party…

“You know, even though, I don’t really understand the circumstances that brought you here, or why you have to stay here, to tell you the truth, I must admit we really could use the assistance. There are not many of us left.”

“Left?” I replied, my heart thumping with confusion.

Why? Did something happen to them?

“Yeah,” she smiled sadly. “There used to be a lot, and then… well we just… burn out you know? There hasn’t been anyone new since the castle was moved here. But now you are here, so that’s a good thing. So, what can we call you then?”

“Um…”

I wanted to ask her more, I wanted to ask her what she meant, and how much she knew about what was going to happen to me, but I didn’t dare to ask. I was too scared to find out.

“Roxanne,” I mumbled.

“Roxanne! That’s such a beautiful name. Astin told me that the king found you in Eventide, must be interesting Eventide. Astin is really the only one who gets to go anywhere different. Well, now that you are here, maybe we can get a bit more things done. You might have noticed that the servants quarters have been, um, shall we say, a little bit on the shabby side. We do spend most of our time cleaning the royal living space.”

“Um… I … see?”

“So, I guess since we cannot leave the servant’s quarters for a little while yet, we might as well start our focus here first. I mean, there’s so much cleaning to do around here, it would be nice not to have to go over there for a while.”

“Umm… wait… what do you mean… what do you mean we cannot leave?” I squeaked.

“Ah. Um… let me explain. After the New Year’s the King cannot leave his room for a while, and none of us are allowed to disturb him. Honestly I’m not too sure why. Something to do with concentrating very hard. Astin is the only one allowed to know what’s going on, and that man can barely communicate, but has apparently been told not to tell anyone anything.”

“Um…”

“Don’t worry though, once this is all over you will be free to walk around the castle as you please.”

Walk around the castle… but never leave?

Suddenly there was this very odd noise that sounded like a moan that creaked through the room.

“Haha, the castle seems to like you,” Stella grinned. “Well, I’m sorry about the room again, we can clean it all up first thing after some food. How about it?”

At the mention of food again my stomach began to grumble. I blushed and Stella giggled.

“I’m going to take that as a yes. Come on then, we have a lovely stew waiting for you downstairs.”