The following morning, at 12 pm sharp I knocked on the grand doors at Corvine Hall.  A butler promptly opened the doors in front of me. “Good afternoon, Mr. Finch. Madam has been expecting your call. Please wait here in the foyer until Madam calls for you. She shall be down in a second.”

Pacing back and forth across the white marble floors with the obsidian pillars reaching up to the ceiling painted like the skies in heaven. A pale blue ceiling was flecked with ivory clouds as if a piece of the sky was cut out and put into that room.

Down the winding staircase came the clacking of high heels. A bewitchingly beautiful woman, who couldn’t have been more than 25 years of age, glided down to greet me. She wore a long black gown of feathers and fused to her back, were long raven wings, tucked tightly behind her. I kept trying not to be rude and stare at them, but my eyes kept wandering over to get a better look.

“Oh! My dear Mr. Finch! I am so pleased you could make it this morning. I hope the roads were walkable enough, after the night’s storm?” she asks in all seriousness. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, with a broad grin spread across her face, she offers her hand to shake. I do so, and she immediately steps down and begins to walk down the corridor.

“Yes, it was quite manageable surprisingly, Lady Katherine, but I doubt that you called me all this way to speak about the weather.” I call, trying to keep up with her fast pace.

Down the corridors stood rows of armor guarding the hallway. Soldier after soldier, it seemed an endless line. “Well actually I rather enjoy discussing the weather. But perhaps that was not what you meant…” She paused for a moment and giggled to herself. “Oh, how frustrating it can be! When you think you know what people mean, when they mean another. Or how people never seem to say what they mean in the first place! It’s all very peculiar- conversations are. But no, I suppose you mean my full intention as for what I have planned for you. I have an opportunity for you, offering a means of employment.”

Reaching the end of the hallway, we stepped into a gigantic glass- encased menagerie garden. A white table in the middle was set up with tea for two. I sit down as she begins to pour some into my cup. I nervously set it into my saucer as she sits down, awaiting my response.

Seeing that I’m at a loss for words, she continues. “I love the outdoors, but for reasons I am not at liberty to disclose to you at the present moment, I cannot leave this house. Your job will be very simple. You will come here everyday and bring me a token from outside. I shall be very specific in what I ask you to retrieve. There will be no room for interpretation as to what I mean. In addition, I will require you to give reports of the day in immaculate detail. You shall be paid handsomely for your services. No, there will be no future discussion as to an increases in your wages. Do you have any questions?” She states with a blank expression.

“One, Lady Katherine.” I stop to think of how to phrase the question. “ … Anyone can perform this task. Even a small child could complete this. Why do you want me in particular?”

“Let us just say, you fulfill a specific criteria that are… rare attributes for someone to have, yet are necessary for my staff to possess. You are educated. You live more than a league away from the Hall, yet are secluded from the town. You moved here, and were not raised in this land. You have no wife, nor any children. All my staff must be adequately removed from personal attachments. You are like me, in that we are both alone. For privacy’s sake, I require someone I can trust- someone who won’t share information that is not theirs to share.”

I nod my head in understanding. “Yes. I accept your generous offer and agree that any and all information shared between us will always remain confidential.”

She purses her lips in thought. “Very well… For tomorrow morning I expect you to be waiting here again at 12pm sharp. Go into an open field with a bag of seed. Spread it in a circle around you. When birds come to feed, I want you to take the smallest robin you see and bring it back to me alive. You must take the utmost care in this task. I have a great love of all animals.”

I stand up to leave saying, “Farewell until tomorrow milady.”

Right as I’m about to enter the drawn-out corridor, she stops me by calling, “Mr. Finch!” I turn around to face her. “Your mother may have taught you that it is incredibly rude to stare. She is a smart woman for doing so, but I wish to give you an important piece of advice. If you must look, then please do so. It is a far greater offense to constantly sneak glances when trying not to look. It makes it painfully obvious to everyone around you that you are incapable of concentrating on anything else. I will not have someone working for me in this household you cannot focus. Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal.” I reply smiling apologetically.

She nods in recognition. “Gooday then. I expect to see you tomorrow on time with my robin!” she calls as I make my way down the hall.

The next day at 12pm sharp I once again knocked on the doors of Corvine Hall, to which the butler opened the door for me. “Madam will be expecting you in East Wing’s wildlife greens. She has asked me to escort you there.” says the butler.

The wildlife greens was a two-story area enclosed by glass walls were tigers roamed the grounds and birds hung in trees stretching high. Across the room, petting a leopard, was Lady Katherine sitting in a wicker chair. I slowly made my way across the room to her, handing over a small cage which held the tiniest robin I had ever seen.

She takes it into her hands and, by clapping her hands together, the leopard tamely walks away. “Congratulations on your first success. Do you believe that birds should be caged up, Mr. Finch? That any creature should be caged up?” Lady Katherine asks me.

After pondering the question momentarily I reply, “No. I don’t think anything should be trapped to stay against its will. Now that is my opinion, but I respect yours completely, even if we do not share the same view.” I say trying to correct myself.

“Do not fret, Mr. Finch. I don’t believe they should be either. No one should be trapped, no matter how magnificent the cage might be. My father would not share our views though. He’d say…” she trails off in thought. “ … Well, never mind what he would say. I only take the smallest, the weakest of every animal and bring them up strong. I want to give them a fighting chance at life, and live.” Having said this, she releases the latch to the silver cage, freeing the young bird from its prison.

“So tell me what the day is like. Do not spare any details.” She urges me, closing her eyes.

“There is the smell of sweet rain freshly fallen and newly cut grass in the air. The salt from the sea burns your lips, but almost in a pleasurable way. The sky is pale with colors of blue and green and grey. But at dawn this morn, violet and rose clouds illuminated the heavens with streaks of orange in-between.” I finish.

“I can see it now. Very well done.” Katherine grinned. “You may go now. For tomorrow bring me back the sea. I want to feel how it feels.”

I nod in acknowledgement and make my way back to the door. Before I leave I stop the butler. “Who is the Lady Corvine’s father?” I ask him.

He replies, “Why he is Sir Bartholomew Corvine, one of the richest men in the western world. Sadly he is no longer with us. He died just last year. This was once his home, but he hasn’t seen his daughter since she was a wee girl. Didn’t even know he had a daughter for the longest time.”

“I don’t understand what you mean by that. How could he not have known he had a daughter?” I inquire.

“Well he was on business trips for a few years after she was born, but after his wife was with child. The Lady Margaret, Katherine’s mother, died in childbirth. After his tour was the first time he learned he had a daughter. Its a shame because she never really knew her parents. I’m sure the late Sir Corvine loved his girl though greatly, because he was truly a great man.” The butler finishes.

Again at 12pm sharp I once again knocked on the doors of Corvine Hall and waited in the menagerie gardens for Lady Corvine’s arrival.

I snapped my head up as she shrieked in excitement, “Do you have my ocean for me, my dear Mr. Finch?”

Reaching into my bag, I drew out a bottle of salt water from the ocean. Next I took out a box of sand. Finally, the largest conch shell I could find on the shores. “What do I do with this?” she asks me in great confusion.

I slipped off the high heels and she sat down in a nearby chair we had tea in. I carefully placed her feet into the box of sand, so she could feel the grains between her toes. “Put this shell up to your ears while smelling this bottle. Close your eyes and imagine the rocking ocean with waves crashing against the cliffs. The water lapping against the sand, kissing the shores.”

She smiles and looks at me saying, “You have given me the sea when I can’t see it for myself. Thank you.” A tear rolls down her cheek, but she quickly catches it. “Now tell me about the day.”

“The dawn broke out with streaks of yellow amongst the pale blue sky. I awoke to the chirping of the birds, and the song of the lark which heralds the morn for me instead of a farmer’s rooster. The flowers are beginning to bloom. Radiant colors of blues and reds and every color imaginable.”

Katherine looked up at me when I had finished and said, “You may go now. For tomorrow, bring me a patch of flowers. Do not cut their stocks, but dig into the ground, carrying the flowers roots and all.”

The next day, bag of flowers and dirt in hand, I sat in the foyer waiting instruction. “Mr. Finch, Madam is not feeling well today. She’s asked me to tell you to meet her in her chambers this afternoon. Madam is afraid she is too weak to make it downstairs today. It is up the staircase and turn right down the hall, it is the third door on the left.” Says the butler, who is descending the grand staircase.

I followed  his instructions to where there was a wire gate unlocked standing in front of me. I pushed it open with a loud squeal from the gate. “Lady Katherine?” I called into the darkened room. “It is Mr. Finch with your flowers.”

“Yes? … I am over here my dear Mr. Finch. Keep walking straight ahead.” calls Katherine.

My foot hits the base of the bed, and I grunt in pain. “I’ve found you,” I chuckle. “I am very sorry to hear you’ve been feeling under the weather Lady Corvine.”

“Don’t worry about me much. I don’t believe it to be anything serious. Please. I believe you’ve earned the right to call me Katherine. And what is your Christened name?”

“Samuel. Samuel Finch. Named after my father.” I reply bashfully. “I think it would greatly improve your health, Katherine, if you went outside. The fresh air could do you a world of good.” I offer.

“Just place the bag on the table there. Remember, I am not allowed to go outside. That is the end of it.”

“Well who said you couldn’t? Who would put a ridiculous rule in front of your health. You’ll waste away if your spend your life indoors.”

“Mr. Finch! I am your employer and you are my staff. I am not required in any way to tell you anything about my personal life. You may go now.” Katherine declared. I just stood there dumbfounded, my feet nailed to the floors. “GO!” She shouted again. And I left.

The following morning, when I came to call at Corvine Hall there was a long wait before anyone answered the door. Finally the butler opened the door with a blank expression plastered across his face. “Madam does not wish to see you today. She will send a letter requesting your arrival when you are required. Here are the wages you have earned. Good-day Mr. Finch.” He handed me an envelope with one-hundred pounds and shuts the door but I put my foot up just enough to stop the door from locking. Waiting two minutes before I poked my head inside, I slipped through the foyer and darted up the stairs. Of course, running up the stairs made quite some noise and stirred the butler from his chores and he chased after me calling, “Mr. Finch! Get back here!”

I shoved open Lady Katherine’s doors just as the butler grabbed me by my shoulders. Then she muttered, “Leave him Wesley. Mr. Finch has already made it this far, not much point in throwing him out now.” And the butler drops me and leaves embarrassed.

“I want to tell you a story, Mr. Finch, few have known, and none have heard before. There once was a girl born with beautiful blonde hair, and dazzling green eyes. While she was beautiful, that’s not what got her attention- no it was a pair of downy, white wings on her back. Unfortunately, her mother died in childbirth, and the father was away on business, so for five long years, she waited for the dream of the family she’d never known before.

“No one ever visited the house, but she would go outside. She’d swim in the water and tumble down the rolling hills in the valley. The little girl was quite happy. On her sixth birthday she met her father- unfortunately, it was not the joyous reunion she had so desperately hoped for. No… Finding his spouse had passed on long ago, and was left with some freak of nature, he sent her away, never wanting to look upon her.

“That little girl didn’t listen though. One night, she snuck out from her window and ran down the road to see the village from afar. She sat there for a very long time and by the time she started back home, it was raining. Quietly as she could, she climbed up to her window. She didn’t see her father lurking in the shadows.

“Grabbing her violently, he threw his daughter onto the floor and kicked her. And grabbing a dagger from his belt, he cut out her wings with the skill of an intoxicated surgeon. He whispered to her, ‘Go outside again, and it will not just be those wings. It will be your throat, girl!’

“And so she watched from her windows as the days went by. Her white wings were replaced with those of crows. She sat wondering what fresh snow must feel on her tongue, or the salt of the sea. She waited past word of her father’s death. She waited for the day when she could be free.

“And then a curious young man entered the sleepy old village that has only strode through the years half-awake. She felt an opportunity arose, to explore the world again outside the doors of her prison. For a while she felt that her life began to return to her. Unfortunately, through no fault of the man’s, she felt she was unable to continue these meetings, and therefore broke it off.”

I was speechless. I stood there motionless for the longest time until Katherine started to walk away. She opened the door and I shouted, “Wait! Before you go, know this. I am sorry for what has happened to you, and I know I can’t turn back the clock. It happened and there’s nothing I can do to stop that. Know that you are exquisite and sometimes people hurt the most beautiful things because they’re different and they can’t accept that. I’m not justifying it at all. He hurt you and that is pain you should never have to have known. But he is gone and you are free.

“You don’t need me. You said to me that you wanted to explore the outside, but you couldn’t. Why not? It’s you who is holding yourself back. Go and live- you’re not a tree but a bird. Don’t change but live for yourself. Please...”

She bites her lower lip, tears in her green eyes. “Goodbye,” she whispers and shuts the door quietly behind her. There I stood alone in that dark stone room and sighed in defeated.

For the next four days it rained and stormed. The roads flooded and no ships went out from harbor. The sky turned black and the rolling clouds went as far as the eyes could see. At last on the fifth day the sun broke out. Shards of light smashed through the sky like gateways to heaven. The ground was soft and still covered with water, but again I made the trek to Corvine Hall.

When I came to knock on the looming doors, it creaked open. The doors were unlocked and in the once-spotless marble foyer were leaves, dirt, and a thin layer of water covering the floor. I called out but there was no answer. Although the Hall was never a lively place, it always seemed alive. Now it was a hollow shell of a being. Wind blew in from the doors and whistled down the hallways.

I made my way up the steps to find a shattered mirror fallen from the wall.  I  looked at my  reflection and it was almost unrecognizable. I continued to Lady Katherine’s room and shoved open the doors. The room was bare and the doors at the back were flung open to the balcony. I raced through and clutching the railing, looked out to see the rolling hills on the moor and the thrashing sea. The sun started to shine after the storm’s passing and nothing ever seemed more lovely.

I didn’t know what I expected to see; perhaps a glimpse of her, tasting the sea air at last. I never did see her again- only in my memories. She was beautiful. It might be simpler to say I loved her flaws- that she was beautiful because of them. But they were never flaws. She was different, something else- she was breathtaking. She was my friend.

I walked back inside and I looked at the floor. The only thing left was a white feather with a small scroll attached.

Thank You
    -Katherine