They walked the gardens, their expressions guarded. They had officially been locked away in the castle for a week. Both girls were pale and smaller than usual. Each day they only ate a portion of the feast served at every meal, only enough to hold off Dong Zhuo should he feel feisty that particular day. Neither girl had truly smiled, or even laughed, in the week's time.

Chan would show up often, trying to give the girls something to smile about. The looks of pity on her face hurting the two girls as much as angering them. She would encourage them to eat, or to go out and have fun. Da and Xiao, however, grew more suspicious with each visit, having seen nobody else in the castle and that Chan wore the same outfit, same hair style, same makeup, every single time she just popped up. Which was what she did. There was no clack of heels, or the soft pitter patter of clothed shoes on the tile floor.

Both girls did, however, feel a great sense of debt to the woman. Often, when Zhuo would corner the girls, she would save them. Usually with some type of problem that would arise, but Zhuo was quickly catching on. He would fight her on a subject or worse yet raise his fist against her. Chan never flinched, which brought along the idea that she was used to such treatment. Both Da and Xiao thought she was a ghost trapped in the castle in a similar manner as them.

Already, Zhuo had advanced on them almost everyday. All of their meetings following the same schedule. First he would track them down, finding them wherever they had deemed their hiding spot. Always, he seemed to find them. First, they would try to negotiate their living standards, and then about not getting feisty. Ever. Of course, the lusty lord would hear none of it, going on about his paradise as he advanced on the terrified girls.

As one was negotiating, the other located an escape route, usually Xiao. They would then run to wherever their escape route would take them. Sometimes, there would be no escape route, or he would catch one as they ran as he never could chase them. Quickly, the girls would react with violence to keep themselves sacred. Anything near them was fair game, from a vase to a butcher's knife. So far, they had been safe. Only because he seemed to retreat into whatever shadowy place he lived in at night. He was never around at dinner, and hardly appeared at breakfast. Both Da and Xiao agreed they would have gotten little sleep, and thus been in even worse health, if they did not feel safe at night.

At that day, they walked the gardens. Firstly because it was one of the better places to hide they had found; secondly because they were searching for Diao Chan. So, they made their way along the trails, holding their shawls closely around the forms. Neither spoke, having nothing else to say anymore. Any small talk had been used already during the first few days. Instead they took comfort in the safety of their sister's presence.

As they made their down one trail, they heard the murmur of Chan's voice. Neither sister looked to the other when they quickened their pace. Da quickly recognized where they were going. It was the same path they had taken when they had first arrived, and would lead them back to the stone warrior. She said nothing however to Xiao, and concentrated on walking in the snow with her heels. When they moved past the trees, they quickly dove back to the cover.

Chan stood in front of the statue, hands clasped in front of her. Her back was turned to them, and she was mumbling far to quiet for them to make out enough words. There was silence before she looked towards the castle and started speaking again. At this time, they could make out more of what she said.

"Lord Lu Bu, I feel so sorry for these two young girls. I had failed, and I deserve my fate. But they are so much like you, in the sense that they do not deserve this treatment. They deserve Zhuo's presence less than you. And the walls, they echo with their broken cries for loved ones, and the walls sympathize with their dry tears. My heart, I had thought it was already broken and shattered with what you were put through my lord, but it seems there is still more of my glass heart to break." Her voice never once broke, and no tears fell down her cheeks. Still, her sad voice seemed to darken the whole garden, and the lace of bitterness and contempt gave the plants a hard stiffness that made it no longer a welcoming place.

A gust of wind blew through with enough ferocity to make them all squint. Da and Xiao fell back though with a shriek and a gasp. With the wind, Chan's dress whipped up and around her legs, showing her calves and dainty ankles. Any lower, however, it all disappeared. Her feet were sunken into the cobble stone that was laid as the trial.

Chan spun around. Da was on her knees, and ready to stand, while Xiao was still on her butt. Her mouth was open, and she stammered with big eyes. Chan stared for a moment, before everything seemed to click, her expression changing when it all registered. Straightening her shoulders and relaxing her posture, she gave them a harmless smile. Chan then stood, and waited for the girl's response. It would not be good to advance and scare them, and talking might only make things worse until she knew what they thought.

"She's a ghost!" Xiao hissed and pointed. Da quickly rose to her feet. How much she just wished she could curl up or faint. To just ignore the world. Lock herself up in their room and shut it all out. All of the horrible surprises, the constant sense of dread, it was tiring her out. And she knew all too well that it was catching up on Xiao as well. Her sister was not someone to be confined, locked away. Neither of them could live in the constant fear they were forced in.

"Right yourself Xiao," Da whispered, glancing down at her still sitting sister. Chan had never been a threat and, until proven otherwise, was their only companion. Xiao glanced from Chan to Da before realizing the state of her own dress. Having the decency to blush, she quickly covered her legs and stood.

"She doesn't have feet!" Xiao hissed again, grabbing Da's arm.

"Shush Xiao; Chan has a right to explain herself. Especially since I do not think we could live very long avoiding her in this god forsake place." With that, Da turned to Chan and waited. She did not smile, having no energy left to smile, but she did try to look not upset.

"Thank you Lady Da," Chan smiled, speaking in a hushed tone. The two sisters were so fragile, emotionally, that speaking any other way could have excited and broken them. Hushed tones kept everybody calm, kept them stable. When neither of them said anything, just stared, Chan continued. "Maybe we should have this discussion somewhere warmer?"

"Warmth is no longer safe," Xiao said, a frown marring her face.

"Of course. Then we shall instead find a seat," Chan said with a smile and led the way to a bench not far away. As the two sat, Chan thought over what she was going to say. When they finally turned their heads to look up at her, she thought she has some of her past thought through. "I suppose your largest question is about my feet? The simplest way to answer that is I am the castle, or the castle is me. I had never quite figured out which merged into the other, and had gotten bored trying to figure it out so many years ago."

"How can you bethe castle?" Xiao made a face in her confusion, glancing to both of the older woman for an answer.

"It is magic, Lady Xiao. If you shall let me, I shall start from the beginning and with no interruptions it shall not be too long of a story." Xiao took the hint and shut her mouth with a slight click and a huff. "Thank you. Years ago, so many that I have lost count, Lord Dong Zhuo was a very influential noble. He had been very close to the emperor of the time, close enough that he controlled the emperor. The young ruler did not know how to rule, and looked to guidance often.

Eventually, Lord Zhuo might have well been the emperor. Few dared to oppose Lord Zhuo outright, because of his mighty adopted son, Lord Lu Bu. The greatest warrior of the time. Nobody could face him on the battlefield and leave with their head. With force on his side, the nobles resorted to strategies and tactics to overthrow him. My adopted father had a plan that included me.

I was to be given to Lord Zhuo, and Lord Bu. I was to be a wedge between them, and I was to make Lord Bu kill Lord Zhuo. I had almost thought it would not work at first, as they both seemed content to share me. Sadly, the stress of the situation had me telling Lord Bu in tears one night. For, you see, I had fallen in love with him, and the Lord Zhuo had me cringing. Lord Bu agreed to kill Lord Zhuo to my shock. We then set about planning it.

I would use my magic, which at the time was still strong. Back then, magic was such a large part of life. But, I think, we magi-humans took advantage of it, and started to breed too much with those unmagical, and eventually the line grayed until it just isn't there. Until, magic is so dulled that we can't use it. Now, it is called luck, coincidence, and miracles.

I would use my magic and lock him and his in this very castle, and Lord Bu would storm the castle and kill them. I was too cowardly to attack myself. Lord Zhuo, however, learned of our plan and was ready. He met us in the garden, and countered my spell with his own. He was still locked away in the castle, but I too became the castle and Lord Bu became stone. All of us bonded. I to Dong Zhuo who was bonded to the castle, and Lord Bu to me because he became a garden decoration, apart of the castle grounds.

The two spells had gone array and did as it had pleased. So, now we live forever, hating one another. Lord Zhuo cannot kill me, for the castle falls. I can not kill him because if he dies, I die. And, for that reason, Lord Bu refuses to free himself. Instead, he wishes to remain stone, unfeeling to the desire to ring Lord Zhuo's disgusting neck." Chan said it all without her voice breaking, which she was proud of herself for. She had never told the story before, and had left out many of the details, seeing them as unimportant. Taking a breath, she turned to the sisters.

"That's so sad!" Xiao whined.

"You believe me?" Chan stepped back, brows furrowed.

"We are locked in a castle that owns no locks and that is able to make glorious meals with only four people living in it. We know three of the four don't do anything, and one person can not make those meals. A man kidnapped up, and then turned to stone. Your heartbreaking story, Chan, fits right in with ours," Da said.

"Yeah, it would be kind of stupid not to believe you, wouldn't it?" Xiao said too, with a shrug. "So, you always have to be… melded with the castle?"

"Huh? Um, yes. Some part of me has to be 'in' the castle." Both Chan and Xiao floundered for words to explain her situation.

"But it could be any part?"

"Any you always know what is happening anywhere in the castle?" Both Xiao and Da spoke at the same time.

"Ah, yes. Any part of me in any part of the castle. And, I can always know, if I care to look." All three girls looked at each other, giving the best smiles they could muster in their tired states. Maybe, things could start to look up. Maybe, Da thought.

Alright, school had gotten in the way of this chapter. Which is bad, cause this one I know I wasn't going to like (I don't like the way I do Diao Chan) but its up and out of the way. Thank you for reading it (everybody, even those who don't review). Next chapter, they plot to get free.