Why does he stand in the rain?
Whenever it is raining at midnight, he will be out here. A quiet place at the back of the castle. And he stands here for hours at a time, arms crossed behind his back, looking at the sky, his grey eyes scanning the stars.
Perhaps he likes to think the water is washing away his sins. Maybe that's why he cries as he stands in the rain.
I always come out to watch him now. It's an obsession. I pin my bushy hair back and come down here just before midnight whenever it is raining, and sit huddled in a small crack in the wall, where he cannot see me. I like to think I don't have any sins. But I do, and I'm scared to admit them.
If I could admit them, I'd stand there beside him, and we'd both be cleaned. But I won't admit I have any sins. Maybe that makes him a better person than me. In some ways, so much worse, in others... so much better. I'd love to go and take his hand and be cleaned with him. But I can't.
I know that's why I cry as I watch him.