Violet walked along the third floor hallway until she reached a window. On this floor there was no glass so through the thin bars she could feel the gentle breeze on her face. It wasn't unusual for Violet to come this way, walking cleared her head and often helped her to focus her thoughts so that she could come up with the stories that she told the other girls every night.

From this window she could see the wall of the castle, and if she turned to just the right angle she could make out a small set of steps leading into the castle. She knew from experience that that door was locked. And in a way it saddened her because she would have loved to take a walk on top of the castles wall. It was a long path with much of it outdoors so it would have been perfect to help her focus but she would never get to try it. With a light smile she left the window behind and continued on her standard path.

Violet walked down the rest of the hallway, reaching the stairs she was going to turn upwards like she always did to wander the top floor. However she stopped when she saw Crystal walking up the stairs from the second floor. She tripped on a step and tumbled down a couple steps before managing to stop herself.

"Are you ok?" Violet asked worried. She skipped down the stairs until she reached where Crystal had landed and helped the poor girl up.  Crystal held her hand to her head and reasserted her balance, but she didn't look too steady.

"I'm ok." She said softly.

"I think you should go see Emerald." Violet frowned.

"No… that's ok, Holly wanted me to get some new plates." Crystal replied quietly.

"I'll get them for her, tell me how many she wanted and go see Emerald please." Violet smiled at her.

"Just five.." Crystal replied shyly. Realizing that she wasn't going to get very far she retreated down the steps while Violet turned back to the hallway she just came from. On this floor the girls stored all the non perishable supplies in the old servant's quarters. Violet headed down to the room that they stored most of the kitchen utensils and grabbed five plates before heading back to the stairs.

"A really fragile girl in a castle." Violet thought down the steps. She could picture in her mind a castle almost like the one that they were in.

"But her father won't let her leave, maybe its because she would get hurt?" she questioned herself. Violet could feel that there was a story idea coming. She reached the kitchen and handed the plates to Holly.

"What happened to Crystal?" Holly asked surprised to see that it was Violet holding the plates.

"She had another accident so I sent her to see Emerald." Violet smiled. Holly sighed.

"Thank you for bringing me these, but can you go downstairs and help Rose? I asked her to bring me something." She asked unsure what they were going to do about Crystal. The poor girl was always getting hurt or sick so she almost never got to sleep in her own room.

"The guard station and barracks? Or the storage area?" Violet asked.

"storage."Holly replied heading back into the kitchen. She couldn't afford to leave the food unattended for too long.

"I'm running out of time. Holly's almost done making lunch." She thought concerned. She didn't like to rush her stories but she had a good one in the works.

"So this girl. Crystal maybe? No that would be silly. Perhaps Glass, or.." Violet looked around her while she walked. She saw things like a red and gold carpet, then as she started into the underground storage she saw stairs and stone.

"She needs a name, something that suits a girl like Crystal that's always getting hurt. What was that smell coming from the kitchen… it smelled like…. Cinnamon." Violet thought heading downstairs. A light went on inside her head as she pictured the cinnamon that they harvested from the garden in the courtyard every year.

"It's perfect. So a girl named Cinnamon is trapped in her castle. Because her father won't let her leave. He's afraid that she will get hurt if she does. She probably wants to leave though. What if she did get out?" Violet smiled at the images coming to mind. She could see the grand adventure that Cinnamon would have when she managed to leave her father's castle. And she started to see what the cost of the adventure might have been.

"Do you need some help?" Violet asked approaching a door that had been left open. She spoke carefully so that she wouldn't startle the mute whom was picking up some of the dangerous oils the girls used to start fires and light lamps. Rose looked at her and setting the oils down for a moment she nodded her head and pointed to the oils holding four fingers out.

"You need to bring four cases upstairs?" Violet asked. Rose nodded her head in response.

"All right, I'll grab two of them and you grab the other two." Violet smiled. She grabbed two cases of the oil and was going to follow Rose back upstairs when the tiny little yellow head of Sakura appeared.

"Curiosity takes hold on the young, an open path impossible to resist from doors left unclosed." She giggled explaining.

"We were just leaving." Violet explained to her.

"A future tale is yet untold until the night turns, perhaps a peek at what's to come?" Sakura asked brightly.

"I can't tell what my story is about." Violet chuckled. She shooed the little girl out of the dangerous storage room and the three of them started going upstairs.

"But after we bring these to Holly, I'll play you some music." She offered instead.

"A tale or a rhythm to warm the heart, my seat will not be empty." Sakura agreed.

"Sakura you're such a cute little thing, with that charming way you speak I have to envy you. If you wanted one day you could probably tell even better stories then the ones that I manage to come up with." Violet thought looking at Sakura along the way. And it wasn't just the way that she talked that Violet envied. They had spent time together on many floors including the third floor storage where all the old servant quarters used to be. One of the things that Violet loved to do was close her eyes, or even leave them open and picture parts of the castle when it had first been built and used. From before the girls had become prisoners in it.

"She's better at imagining things then I am even. On the third floor I can picture the servants working hard, or dinning together in that little hall they have with the stone table. But she can even give them names and told me everyone looked like they were unhappy all the time." Violet thought getting lost in the memory. She almost tripped on the top of the stairs but recovered quickly.

"I hope this is enough." She told Holly setting her own cases down in the dining hall beside where Rose had put hers.

"That's great, thank you." Holly replied. Disappearing back into the kitchen

"I think dinners almost ready, but afterwards if you and Jade would like to come to the music room. I'll play you something until supper." Violet promised.

"A heavy heart waits however unavoidable. But to share the gentle tune makes it all the more sweet." Sakura replied.

"I'll see you soon." Violet smiled at her.
"Cute little girl. Somehow I always feel more cheerful and focused when she shows up." She thought heading back upstairs to finish her walk. Her story was almost complete and needed only a few last details to be worked out.