You are the one everyone runs to for help. You are the one everyone goes to for aide. Of course it is your job. It is the job you are paid to do. It is the job you have been doing since the beginning of time.

You know all the cures. You know all the maladies. You know everything there is to know about injuries, sprains, you name it. You get up from your desk to tend to the fourth year with a bad cold. You check up on the sixth year with a broken arm. You give aide to the first year who is missing all his teeth.

Children, you think. Always doing something. Children, you think. Children. You see them every hour of every day. You count the number of children who walk into your wing with three arms or missing a finger. Children. Always doing something. But you have been doing this now, for a long time, so you are used to it.

You don't remember much of childhood. You were always in the shadows, surveying everything around you. You didn't like it. You never did. You remember it being hard, and unhappy. Cold. Childhood was hard for you. It wasn't easy, you know for sure. There was yelling, crying, screaming, hitting. It was the reason why you became what you are. It was the reason you decided to dedicate your life to helping others. You are not happy. You never were and you know you never will be. Spending most of your life in the same place never sounded that appealing to you. But you took the job anyway.

You were once pretty. You once had long flowing hair that flew wildly about your head. But now that hair is tied up and hidden. You once had eyes that captivated everyone who looked into them. But now those eyes are burnt out, constantly cast downwards. You once had a nice figure, with long legs and smooth skin. But now that figure is veiled underneath white robes.

There is some satisfaction that you get out of the job. It is not the look of happiness on a child's face when they find that they will be ok. The satisfaction that you long for during the day comes to you at dinner when you sit with your peers. You sit at the head table, off to the side as you are not that important. Two minutes after you arrive he rushes into his seat, his robes swishing behind him. He doesn't notice you. He eyes the students at the four tables in front of him. It is then you ask yourself why you came. And it is then that you realize it.

He turns to you with a foul look on his face, the look he has had ever since you first met him, and mutters a simple, "Hello." You nod back at him, and you both begin to eat. You smile inside, with glee. That is the satisfaction you receive for all the hard work you do and have done.

You have watched him since you were both younger. Since you were both in school, in fact. He was always angry, always picked on, always teased. You had always longed for the attention he was given. Even if the attention was mean and cruel, you desired it. You were invisible. You were walked over, pushed through and thrown aside. You watched him grow up; to the man he is today. He is bitter about everything, unlike you who have accepted it.

You try and open your mouth to speak, but are flushed with embarrassment when he notices you. He has never said more than a simple hello to you. And you have never done anything but nod at him. Minutes later he stands up abruptly and rushes back to the dungeons, where he spends most of his day. Minutes later, you stand up and sulk back to your wing, where you spend most of the day.

You stare at your window, into the night sky. There is not a cloud in sight. It is as clear as a crystal. You look up at the bright shining moon. The moon casts light onto the lake, the trees and everything around you. It is beautiful, you think. You see a dark figure making its way to the front of the castle. You watch it curiously. A few seconds later a dark stranger walks through the doors to your wing.

You are snapped back into the real world, by the moaning of a child in a bed. The dark figure vanishes and you move toward the child. You hush the boy, humming softly and helping him back under the covers. He looks at you with big brown eyes. You tell him to go to sleep, and you wait by his side until he is fast asleep.

A/N: This is part one of a two part story. Please review!