"Mrs. R?" a soft knock resounded through the cheaply decorated but sickeningly cheerful room. "It's time for lunch, are you ready?" A nurse poked her head in.
Mrs. R. was sitting in a rocking chair near the window, watching the glass wind chime turn softly. The colored glass caught the light and cast stained shadows over the room.
She was wrapped in a thick blanket, it draped around her shoulders, warming her. It was one of the few things her son had ever given her. 'Probably to remind her of her son,' the nurse thought, 'she's got nothing left of him, and he never visits, he's staying in the capitol from what I hear.'
Her hair had long since gone white; it had faded from the golden blonde that most Scanrans inherited and it now had streaks of grey adoring it. She wore it wrapped around her head in a braided crown.
"I don't know where I went wrong," the old lady seemed to be talking to the air, but her eyes were focused on the hanging glass toy. She suddenly turned, her ice blue eyes snapping at the nurse. "He was always a good boy."
"I'm sure he was," the nurse was getting nervous now.
No one knew much about Mrs. R. She had showed up one day, her son had brought her, he made sure she got a room, and had left with a soft kiss and barely two words to anyone. None of the others knew her name; she requested being called 'Mrs. R.' and tried to ignore the cheerful attendants. If someone crossed her she showed no mercy. Anything she could do to make their lives miserable was done and she even yelled at the other patients who tried to talk with her.
The old woman continued as if she couldn't hear anything. "So smart and brave. Hiking and climbing. Bringing me berries and rocks, they were the only jewels he needed then. He never used to fight. Always shared his toys. He was always a happy boy, smiling at everything. I thought he had a good childhood." she was babbling now, "He never tried to fit the round peg in the square hole. Where did I go wrong?" Mrs. R. wiped a fresh tear from her eye.
"He always had friends, was always popular. He never fought with anyone. What did I do to him, who changed him into this hard, uncaring man? Proud and cruel as a king, so high and mighty. He won't even write to his own mother now. He used to always be in a good mood, he always told me he loved me. Could I have done anything to keep him from changing? My poor Maggur."
'Maggur? Does that mean she's the king's mother?' the nurse gaped, open-mouthed for a minute, the things she had been saying over the past few months finally made sense to her, before walking over and trying to pull her up, "Come on, Mrs. Rathhausak, it's time for lunch."