Still

A Beginning

He heard them before he could see anything, for everything was black. It started with a bunch of muffled voices, although he couldn't tell if he knew them. It was quite possible that he would recognize them when he saw them, but as far as he was currently concerned, he was as blind as a bat.

He wondered if he had a name. Strangely enough, he couldn't really seem to recall one. There was a soft beeping nearby, although that could have just been a ringing in his ears. Was that what ringing sounded like? It was a bit mechanical, if it was. He'd most likely get used to it, though.

After a couple blurry minutes, he was finally able to open his eyes. It was just a bit, but it definitely was an improvement.

He was outside at the moment, in a land he had seen a hundred times before. He knew about its early sunsets and late sunrises, which looked the best on the secluded hill just outside of the village. There were trees filled with cotton so massive in size that it took two whole hands clenched together to hold one. Yet actually being able to catch them was nearly impossible, since they'd crumple at only the slightest touch.

And yet he couldn't remember the simplest of details. He had no clue where he was, although he knew that he had been there for quite some time. It was a kingdom with villages surrounding the outside, but that was as far as his memory would stretch.

He couldn't even remember sitting on that bench, either. Of course, he wasn't asleep exactly, but his eyes had been closed for a long period of time while he let his brain rest. He didn't count it as sleeping, as it was merely just a quick rest before he was to meet the king. At least, he assumed it was a king that he was supposed to be meeting with.

There was a rustling of leaves from the garden's entrance. It was probably another guard wandering around and making sure no one was trespassing. Not like anyone would, since it was apparently very difficult to find that garden. It was the royal family's favorite area on their castle grounds, placed right in the center of it all. The whole area was fertile and green, with large and heavy trees clustered near the outskirts of the garden to hide the castle walls. There was no way in or out, except through the stone entrance.

Even with how hidden it was, the garden was not sound proof. He (whoever he was, because even he didn't know) could hear voices from the inside castle hallways just behind the bench that he currently sat on. These were the muffled voices of people who passed him by every minute, while he just waited and waited.

He had considered leaving, but that would have been rude, especially to someone who took him in without batting an eye. They said he was a hero from another kingdom, but they wouldn't say anything more to him. He knew that they whispered about him in the halls, since the ladies in waiting and the knights nearby make quick eye contact with him before quickly turning away.

Every day he sat in his room, waiting for instructions or something to do. Now, on his fourth day there, he was told that he would speak to this kingdom's royal family, who would most likely tell him everything he needed to know. But for now, he sat in the garden with the roses and violets.

The leaves rustled again, but this time it was nearby. The royal inquisitor was probably looking for him now, he thought, except they just couldn't find him.

The Person With No Name stood up from the bench, and began walking to the center of the garden. He expected someone of some high purpose to be awkwardly standing there in puffy fabrics and a stuck-up, pink nose. 

Instead, he found a woman.

Or maybe she was just a girl. She seemed just at that age where it was just about impossible to tell, and she definitely wasn't even human, so her age might have just been limitless. But the way she looked at him told him otherwise. Fear, as most everyone knew, was mostly contained in the young. Even he knew that.