'Come to think of it, how did he get into the room?' Yuna wondered, '...He must've gotten a key or something. From where? Did he steal it?'
She rolled on her side and closed her eyes, 'But why in the world would that boy come down to this level of the royal palace? From my memory of the outside, normal children would probably get cold feet by just looking at the corridor's entrance. How peculiar.'
Her hands began playing with her hair, 'Maybe someone led him here? I didn't see anyone out in front of the entrance, though. It looked like he came here by himself,' she started braiding strands of the locks, 'So strange.'
Yuna stared at the silver hair, which had bits of grime and dirt, 'Come to think of it, he had similarly colored hair too...' she undid the braid, 'But compared to mine, it looked a lot cleaner.'
She sighed to herself, 'Speaking of cleanliness, I don't remember the last time I've taken a proper bath,' she flung the piece of hair away, 'Let alone brushed my hair. I'm surprised I haven't contracted some disease or caught the interest of some parasite yet.'
Her eyes stared at the boney hand that moved to push her hair back and felt it with her delicate fingers, 'My body hasn't been exposed to the light of day since my rebirth. Without Vitamin D, will my bones develop well? So many worrying problems. It's all because of that guy who threw me in here. I'd exercise or move my body around to kill time, but I don't want to waste the little energy I have,' Yuna groaned inwardly.
After so long of malnutrition, it's surprising how she grew to be weaker than her newborn self.
She waved her arms around and tried flexing them, only to have big drops of sweat on her forehead. She put down her arms and laid back on the table, 'Yeah, let's never do that again. It's a wonder how I was so strong as a baby.'
...
Winston stuck true to his word and returned the next day.
"Hey Yuna!" he beamed, "I got you some bread and water! Here, here. This!"
Fluffy silver hair bounced up and down as a beaming little boy hopped over to Yuna with a loaf and a glass of water in his hands. He looked up at her with sparkling eyes and pushed the items onto her table. Yuna bent over to look at the boy. She hallucinated rabbit ears growing out of his head and a ball of fluff shaking on his bottom.
The cuteness made her heart twitch. Yuna stared at Winston's pure and innocent eyes, then extended her hands to examine the bread. Yuna didn't know why, but it was as if this kid had some strange power.
Maybe it's because she's been alone for so long, but she's spent so much time in the cold darkness that she forgot how pleasant human interaction was.
Compared to that cold, robotic maid without a trace of humanity, this kid was like a ball of sunshine.
It took her some time to realize, but being in this kid's presence made her feel very... warm.
Yuna took the bread and water from Winston's hands, brought the two items to her mouth, and consumed them slowly, savoring every last bite and sip. But as she did so, Yuna felt something threatening to fall from her eyes. She tried holding it in but couldn't.
A tear streamed from her murky, gray eyes and down her pale face.
Winston started panicking when he saw Yuna crying. He asked with a nervous tone, "Oh, uh, um. Are you alright? Did I do something wrong? Yuna?" his short arms flailed around, unsure what to do with them. His eyes spun.
Yuna wiped her eyes with the back of her wrist and shook her head.
Winston fiddled with his fingers and breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good," one of his eyes closed, "Uh, um, do you want some more food? Nanny told me to eat lots and lots or else that's bad and, um, when you don't eat good, you won't grow healthy."
Yuna shook her head again with an unreadable expression on her face.
Winston scratched his head, "Okay. Uh..."
He put his hands on his waist and squinted his eyes, "Oh, looking at you like this is weird! Can you come down here?" He stared at her boney figure, "Oh... um."
Before Yuna could respond, Winston shook his hands out in front of him.
"Nevermind, I'll come to you!" he said with a shine in his eyes. Winston grabbed the table's rim and tried pulling himself up with a lifted leg. He misplaced his foot, however, and fell on his back.
"Ow ow ow..." he whined and got back up. He glared at the table before making another attempt. He didn't have the strength to get up. Winston kept at this for a while before giving up and sprawling out on the floor, "Man, even I don't train this much with Mr. Big Scary Guy!" he heaved.
Yuna stared at him with a curious gaze.
Just when she thought he was done, he sat up, "I can't get up there today, but I will tomorrow! You'll see!" Winston said with a smile.
Yuna looked at Winston's blinding smile and his now dirty outfit. She thought to herself, 'What an interesting kid.'
The atmosphere became awkward after staring at each other for a while. Winston's smile turned a bit stiff. He felt uncomfortable under Yuna's blank gaze, and he started fidgeting. He forgot what he was going to say.
But as his fingers slipped into his front pant pocket, his eyes widened, "Ack, shoot," he exclaimed after pulling out a gold pocket watch. A picture of a deer in a leafy wreath was engraved on the back.
Its sparkle in the lantern light caught Yuna's attention.
Winston read the time on the watch and sighed with a regretful expression, "Sorry. I have to go now, or Mr. Big Scary Guy is gonna get real mad!" he frowned with the face of a disappointed puppy. He happily smiled the next second, "Don't worry, though! I'll come back tomorrow!"
Yuna nodded. Her mouth hooked up into a small smile.
She watched as the silver rabbit hopped out of the room. With another wave goodbye, the door slammed shut.
The lantern light left the cold room, leaving behind some residual warmth.
Her smile left as the rabbit did, but her eyes' old, youthful shimmer returned.
She looked at the door with an indescribable expression.
...