Alaina was wondering why her master did not just tell the princess that they had no king. She stopped listening to the princess and her master when she finally heard Jaetyn moving. She ended a song and then opened her eyes to see a man's face staring at her. Alaina stifled a squeak when she saw that his eyes were the exact same color as her own. His eyes even had the same gaze: intent and determined. They both seemed to come to the same realization.

"Gem!" Jaetyn yelled out suddenly as he nearly fell out of his chair. The princess was at his side in an instant.

Alaina did not react. She just stared at the man's eyes. Her master soon came forward and saw what everyone else was reacting to.

"Alaina, leave, clean the bathing room," he hastily ordered. Jaetyn reached and grabbed her hand before she could move.

Alaina flinched badly, fearing that he was going to hurt her. Her only physical contact with another was when her master had slapped her for misbehaving. Jaetyn had also grabbed her scarred hand, and she was afraid of what he would think.

"Where did you learn to play?" he said quietly, as though he was still entranced.

"I didn't," Alaina answered, just as quietly.

"Where did you learn that song?"

"I made it up."

Jaetyn released her hand and she ran out of the room, not stopping until she was in her own room. By that point, she had lost the urge to cry and became curious as to why he had reacted that way. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself and then began to change into work clothes. Disappointingly, Alaina was not allowed to clean her work clothes often; they were becoming filthy and smelly.

She began to unwillingly think that Jaetyn might be some lost relative. Her hopes began to rise and she joyfully skipped to do her chore. As she cleaned, though, Alaina became aware of her false hope. Her family was dead, her master had told her. She sat to sort through her thoughts. "I'm alone and always have been, always will be," she whispered. She cried as her hope diminished as quickly as it had come. Alaina jumped when someone knocked on the bathing room door. She didn't answer, so they knocked again.

"Alaina? I think we need to talk." It was the voice of the purple-eyed man, Jaetyn.

She went to the door and opened it. Immediately, the man embraced her. Alaina again flinched but then relaxed, as he offered no harm to her. She found herself wrapping her own arms around him, to comfort him, since he was shuddering from what seemed to be tears.

They soon separated, but he kept a firm hold on her hand, her scarred hand. "Do you want to go to my room?" Alaina asked.

"Sure," he answered as he looked at her fondly.

She pulled him to her room, thinking it would be the best place to talk. She also felt some strange connection to this man, and wanted to show him how clean her room was. He sat on her bed and looked around. Alaina awkwardly stood as she waited for him to speak.

"Are you all right?" she finally asked him. He was looking pale, as if he were about to cry again.

"If I could change the past, I would," he told her. "How old are you?"

"I don't know, I think around ten."

Jaetyn nodded as though her answer confirmed something. "Let me start at the beginning. I wasn't much older than you, and probably stupider. I was mad at my parents so I decided to run away-"

"What did they do?" Alaina interrupted.

He looked at her scarred hand guiltily replying, "My father hit me for being rude to a guest."

Alaina, too, looked at her hand. "Oh."

"After some time, I ended up befriending a young girl who was lost," he continued after a short silence. "I helped find her home and her family took me in for a while, no questions asked. The girl was so grateful, and we got along so well, that we spent every minute together. I guess you could say we fell in love." Alaina did not fully understand the idea of love, but she had often dreamed of it. He continued before she had much time to ponder, "I believe that you have not yet experienced the undying bond between two people. You may not have even experienced love in a family."

"I love my master!" Alaina said, and then looked down. She did not always like her master, let alone love. "Or, maybe not." She felt her cheeks flush because of her outburst.

"A few years went by, and I finally began to grow up. I realized that I had to go back home. But I didn't know what I was leaving behind. I left my love with a gift. A gift that one cannot bear alone."

He sighed and went to look out Alaina's tiny window. "I never saw her again." Then he turned back and looked at Alaina. "She died giving birth to a child. That child had my purple eyes. This was why my love's mother had shunned the child immediately. She sold the infant to a friend to raise and use as a slave.

"You know the portrait in the laboratory hall, the one of the lady? That is your grandmother. I've heard that you get visits from her." He clasped Alaina's hands and knelt down. "Alaina? My daughter, could you ever forgive me?"

Alaina was dumbstruck. "My...family...is...dead," she managed to say.

"No, Alaina, your family is alive. You can trace it back through generations. But I could curse them for the way they treated you." He paused and looked at her. "Alaina?"

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