Okay, I want to explain a couple things. When they get to the east wing, Belle's former room, they're talking, and Beast mentions this being a "tragic place". This is a nod to the stage adaptation song "Home" which Belle sings when she first gets to her new room...the line in question being "try to find something good in this tragic place". I was trying to figure out what term the Beast could use that would describe his view of the castle when that line popped into my head and I realized that Belle had once mentioned in song (in the Broadway version) the castle being a tragic place in that very room.

Also as he's explaining things he mentions being alone for eternity and Didiane asks if he means that literally as in immortal. I don't know if Beast would have lived as an immortal (assuming Gaston hadn't used him for target practice...we know from the battle that he can be fatally wounded), but a few things make me wonder. First in the prologue when the curse is explained, it says if he failed to meet the requirements in time, "he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time", which incidentally was said in the animated prologue as well, and we know he could be fatally wounded from that battle as well (granted in the animated version it's implied he was cursed as a child and was clearly an adult when Belle met him, plus he was given an age by which to lift the curse, so it's evident that he aged in that version so maybe the all time comment doesn't mean much). Second, specific to live-action movie, when Belle questions the harshness of the penalty being meted out over theft of a rose, Beast states that he "received eternal damnation" for a rose. Since he's in his cursed state when he says this, I'm guessing he may not necessarily be referring to the "afterlife" variety. Third, also specific to live-action, we have the song Evermore, which ends with "waiting here for evermore". Could mean until death, but could also mean for eternity. I don't know if he would have eventually "died of old age" had the curse not been lifted and he hadn't been offed by some big hotshot dude with a hero complex, but the above mentioned things, plus the fact we know live-action Beast was already an adult when cursed and he was not given an age deadline, so it may be possible he's put into age stasis with the staff. Again I don't know if that's the case or not, just a possibility. In any event, I thought the eternity angle might be interesting to explore. So I decided to run with it.

Rosemonde was a large, beautiful jet black mare who was a stunning contrast to the snow. As Didiane suspected, she did spook at the sight of the Beast, who looked for all the world like a predator, walking toward her.

"Shhh," Didiane reassured her horse. "Easy Rosemonde. He's not going to hurt you. Steady, steady girl. That's a good girl. Easy."

"You know how to calm a horse," the Beast said. "Like your mother. Philippe spooked before we got acquainted."

"You knew Philippe?"

"Yes," Beast said. "Your mother came on him and he stayed in the stable while she was here. How is Philippe?"

"Dead," Didiane said. "For three years now. He was an old horse."

"Sorry to hear that," the Beast said sadly. "He was a good boy."

"Yes," Didiane said. "I learned to ride on him. Want to pet her? She seems calm now."

The Beast put his paw on Rosemonde's neck. The mare started to spook, but Didiane quickly calmed her once more.

"Getting a horse to accept me is asking a lot," Beast said. "I look like I'm a predator, so it's really asking the horse to set aside its natural instincts. It felt amazing to gain Philippe's trust."

"Did it take a while for him to warm up to you?" Didiane asked.

"Not really," Beast said. "He trusted your mother, and she trusted me."

"Probably why Rosemonde is already starting to accept you," Didiane said. "She trusts me and I trust you."

"Before we were properly acquainted," the Beast said, "Philippe wasn't exactly amused when your mother expected him to carry me back here after I was injured rescuing them from a pack of wolves."

"So you did love Maman then," Didiane said. "You took on a wolf pack to save her?"

"Well I did yes," the Beast said. "But there wasn't exactly love at that point. See...well...what do you know about your mother's stay here? About why she ended up here?"

"I know my grandfather tried to take a rose from your garden," Didiane said. "And you locked him up for theft. And Maman reasoned that since she asked Grandpere to bring her a rose it was she who should be punished, so she took his place."

"That's right," the Beast said, feeling a guilt pang remembering that whole affair. "I was a fool then. Actually Philippe first saw me when I caught your grandfather. He fled and ran home, and brought your mother back here. After she took his place, my staff decided to give her a room in the east wing. She did a little exploring and ended up in the west wing where I stay. She got a bit too close for my comfort to another rose in there. I overreacted and frightened her, and she ran away. Unfortunately she ran right into a pack of wolves. I was a beast inside and out, but somehow had enough humanity left within me not to let her suffer that fate."

"The rose she got too close to," Didiane said, "did that have anything to do with the curse? My mother said you and your staff were humans but you were cursed to be a beast and your staff objects. Did the rose in the west wing have anything to do with it?"

"You have your mother's intelligence," the Beast said. "Why don't we get Rosemonde inside the stable. Then we'll go back in the castle where I'll take you to a room. If you want I'll explain the curse."

So they led the mare into a stall.

"Philippe's old stall," the Beast said. "Hmm. Fresh hay and fresh water. Just like the magic of the curse keeps me fed even without staff."

"You don't cook?" Didiane asked.

"Don't know how," the Beast said. "I was born into an environment full of servants. I didn't know how I'd survive after the staff succumbed to the curse since I'd never had to be self sufficient. Honestly I didn't care. But the curse made sure my basic needs were provided even without staff. Made sure I survived. I guess so I could be always aware of my failure."

They were walking back toward the castle now.

"Your failure?"

"To meet the requirements for breaking the spell," the Beast explained as they entered the main foyer. "Come, I'll take you to your room. To answer your earlier question, yes, the rose I kept in the west wing had something to do with the curse. A lot actually. Our fate was held within its petals. It stayed in bloom for a long time and then began to slowly wilt. With each petal that fell, the castle would fall apart bit by bit. And the staff would become closer to ordinary objects. Thankfully when the last petal fell the castle didn't crumble completely to the ground. But it did completely take over the staff. And the child of one of the servants. Even the dog belonging to two of the servants who were married became just an ordinary piano stool. You'll meet one of the dog's owners in your new room. Or what used to be her. The curse took full effect and became unbreakable once the last petal fell. So I worried your mother was about to destroy it and end all hope right there."

"So the curse could have been lifted before the last petal fell?"

"That's right."

"How?"

"Well, first of all, here we are in the east wing," the Beast said, opening a door. "I'll give you your mother's old room. Oh, sorry about the dust. Plumette is just an ordinary featherduster now, unable to keep the place dusted. She used to be able to fly around like a bird and dust. This wardrobe here, used to be Madame de Garderobe. Opera singer and a seamstress of sorts. She was married to Maestro Cadenza and they owned Froufrou the dog."

"This is a nice room," Didiane said.

"Yes, but it occurs to me there are no clothes your size here," the Beast said. "If Madame were with us she'd have you fixed up in no time. Unfortunately I was the only one left alive once the curse had taken full effect. Shame, because I'm the one at fault for the curse yet the staff paid the worst price. Their fate was, for all intents and purposes, a death sentence." The Beast gave a sad sigh. "I shouldn't be burdening you with all this curse business. You've enough going on."

"I would like to know about it, if you don't mind," Didiane said, sitting on the bed that was once her mother's. "And I sense you have a need to talk about it."

"You are very perceptive," the Beast said. "And you remind me of your mother at every turn, and I've only known you a couple hours." He sat on a chair near the bed. "Well, I suppose if you're to spend the rest of your childhood in this tragic place with me as your guardian, you deserve to know and understand why things are as they are. Are you sure you're ready for it though?"

"I'm ready,"

"Very well," the Beast said. "But stop me if it gets to be too much for you. It's rather...painful...and I do not wish to place any more pain on you than you're going through. But like I said, you deserve to know about the creature that will be caring for you."

And you're right, I really do need to talk about it, he wanted to say, but left it unsaid. Why was it that the first person in twelve years he could finally confide in had to be an innocent child who already suffered enough to cause her to grow beyond her years?

"You asked how the curse could have been lifted," the Beast began his story. "But first let's start at the beginning, so that you understand why the curse was laid down in the first place. I was born a Prince. I'm not sure your mother knew this. She'd have known I came from an aristocratic background given the castle and servants, but I don't think I had actually told her I was once a Prince."

"So you were to become the King of France?" Didiane asked.

"Well, no," the Beast said. "Not likely anyway. My father's cousin was the direct heir to the throne. I was quite a distant heir. Several people would have had to die for me to inherit the throne. But my father was, as was I upon his death, ruler of this part of France."

"Including Villeneuve?" Didiane asked.

"Including Villeneuve," the Beast said.

"But if that's the case," Didiane said, "why did no one in town seem to know about this castle or that we even had a Prince at one time?"

"It's part of the curse," the Beast said. "But I'll get to that. This is just some history so you can understand how I became deserving of the curse. My very early childhood was decent enough, though I was perhaps a bit spoiled. My mother was gentle and kind, and was raising me to be that way. My father didn't have a lot to do with either of us, and when he was around...well, he was less caring. Then my mother fell ill when I was eight years old and died. She loved me, and I loved her, but now she was gone. That was a turning point for me. In my innocence I loved my father, and looked to him for love. I did what I could to earn it, for it was not freely given like it had been from my mother. He was selfish, cruel even. I finally realized I did not have his love, which to me was another loss. I was seeing that if you love someone, they will hurt you. They'll die, or they won't love you and even mistreat you. That's what I had concluded and I began to build an invisible wall around my heart, to keep people out and protect me from pain. But I still tried to emulate my father and do as he wished, if for no other reason than to keep from provoking his anger. That's another thing. From his example, I learned that anger is very effective in keeping people out of your heart. By the time my father died, I was a young man, and I became master of the castle and ruler of the land, just as he had been. And just as he had been, I had grown materialistic, cold, selfish and unkind. I was very vain, and surrounded myself with only exquisite beauty. I held the most lavish balls. It was during one such ball that a storm hit, and an old beggar woman, dressed only in filthy rags, interrupted the ball and was a stain upon the beauty I had surrounded myself with. She sought shelter from the storm, and offered a single red rose as compensation. I laughed at her and dismissed her. She warned me that true beauty is found within, and to look beyond appearances, but once again I turned her away. This was a mistake, for she dropped her disguise and became a beautiful enchantress. Guests fled in fright. She saw there was no love in my heart."

"Let me guess," Didiane said. "She transformed you into a beast, all who lived here into objects, made the castle dark and gloomy and the land around endure endless winter, and made the offered rose the hourglass upon your fate?"

"You catch on quick," the Beast said. "That pretty much sums it up. But understand, she didn't exactly turn me into a beast. I already was one on the inside. She just gave me the outward appearance to match. Likewise, I treated my staff as objects. So she gave them the outward appearances to match that fact as well, causing them to become less human and more object with each petal that fell, while I would remain as I was, seeing how I was growing ever closer to being alone for eternity."

"Eternity?" Didiane asked. "That's...I mean, a literal eternity? Like you're immortal?"

"Pretty much," the Beast said. "I could die if injured badly enough. But other than that, I think by the curse becoming unbreakable I'm meant to be in this state literally for all time. I don't think I've aged since the curse was first placed."

"All right," Didiane said. "So as a young child you knew love, but because of losses and abuse you basically gave up on love. Because of that you were cursed, and the spell was breakable until the last petal fell from a rose. Are we to the point yet where you tell me how the curse could have been lifted?"

"Just about," the Beast said. "First I'll tell you why no one was aware there was a Prince or even the castle. As part of the curse, all local memory had been wiped clean of the castle or anyone in it. Those of us inside who had loved ones outside, as some of the staff did, remembered, but those outside the area of effect of the curse were made to forget those within." The Beast sighed. "As for how the curse could have been lifted, here it is. This is something your mother never knew. She asked, but while there was still a chance we could not tell anyone how the curse could be lifted. Now it doesn't matter. I had two requirements to meet before the last petal fell. First, I had to learn to love another. Second, I had to earn her love in return. I'd lost all hope. For who could ever learn to love a Beast? But your mother came along and slowly, slowly I let myself hope. I let her steal into my melancholy heart. Then once I loved her I realized that that meant I had to let her go."

"But she has loved you all these years," Didiane said. "She always wished she could come back."

"I know," the Beast said sadly. "Her letter said she realized it within a week of leaving. But then it was too late. The final petal fell just hours after I let her go." He hung his head. "I thought I was setting her free. I wanted her to be happy even if it meant I could never be. Even in my grief at losing her I took some solace in assuring myself she was free and could now be happy. To think all this time she wasn't free or happy. To think these unhappy years are ending in plague."

A sad sigh from the Beast, then silence fell. His heart ached to know Belle felt she had to marry a man she did not love. That this man saw her as something to subdue, like, as Didiane had overheard, a high-strung horse. That the child even had to hear her father say such a thing about her mother. What more had she had to hear that she shouldn't have? While there seemed a slight trace of youthful innocence, it seemed that this child of eleven has experienced enough to seem older in maturity. How much had Gaston mistreated Belle and Didiane, his own wife and daughter? Beast knew from Belle's letter that they'd both been scolded and even beaten for reading. Beaten! For reading! And now those twelve unhappy years were ending with the horrific death that plague had to offer. And she'd had to make her daughter leave her to protect her, just as her own mother had done.

The Beast wondered, had he known that night twelve years ago what Belle would endure after leaving, would he have let her go? He had done so because holding her any longer would be wrong. Yet sending her to the unhappy life she led seemed equally if not more wrong. Of course not letting her go would mean her father would have been committed to the asylum, and that was definitely wrong. But at least at the castle, Belle would have been loved and respected for who she was, rather than be forced to change.

The grief he felt for the whole situation was utterly overwhelming. He squeezed his eyes tight to hold back tears, but a few managed to push their way out. He hoped Didiane didn't notice. But his shoulders shook, and Didiane did notice that. He soon felt the small arms once more wrap themselves around his shoulders. Well at least as far around as they could reach. He was surprised, and he startled slightly. Having the girl giving him a hug sent by Belle was not overly surprising. But now she seemed to be hugging him of her own choosing. After the surprise wore off he reciprocated, wrapping his arms around her, then dropping one of them for the sake of propriety. Just one massive paw covered pretty much her entire back. Were he to place his other paw above, that paw would essentially swallow her whole head. If he placed it below the paw resting on her back...well that would be awkward at best, inappropriate at worst. He tried to recall what he had done when she gave him the hug from Belle, hoping he hadn't made the blunder he now thought to avoid.

"I'm sorry you're seeing me like this," the Beast whispered.

"It's quite all right," Didiane said. "The curse you're under seems dreadfully unfair."

"It's not even the curse," the Beast said softly. "It's your poor mother. I've spent twelve years grieving...but at least thought surely she was happy. But now I know that's far from the truth." He took a shuddering breath. "And now she's dying, in pain and alone."

"I didn't want to leave her," Didiane said. "I begged her to let me stay until she'd passed, but she said if I stayed I'd have the same fate. She said I had to go quickly. She wouldn't let me kiss her goodbye or even grasp her hand for a moment."

Didiane was crying now, which destroyed Beast's ability to stop his own tears from flowing. Wanting to give this child as much comfort as he could, he did wrap his other arm around her, but extended it so his paw rested on his other shoulder, incidentally placing it over her hand.

"You had to leave her Didiane," he choked out. "You had to get out of there for your own safety. And honestly plague is not kind to its victims. Even if you could have stayed without it claiming you as well, the decline you'd have to watch her endure is not something a child should have to see."

No more words were uttered. For a time, girl and Beast just held each other, each softly weeping, giving release to their pain, each giving comfort to the other.