74. Saving on Heat
Rosella pressed through the northern door, leaving the confining altar hall behind her as she pushed further onward
into the castle. This new room was pitch dark save for the lone candle she held in her slender porcelain hand. It was
difficult to make out the details in the room, but from what she could see, the room started out wide, then truncated in
the middle as though the room were split into two rooms. Watching where each of her heels clicked, the princess trying
to carefully navigate her way in the candlelight without bumping into too many things. To her relief, the room was empty
and her steps grew more confident. By the time she reached the truncated portion of the room, Rosella noticed two
things. One: there was a window just before the hall and a terrible gusting wind billowing in from outside, and two: some
of the floor tiles in the hall were a different shade than the others forming a pattern.
The room gave the princess an uneasy feeling and the words of Lolotte’s mother came to mind, “The winds of destiny
blowing out the frail flicker of life.” As the wind caused the stray hairs on her head to tickle her cheeks, Rosella noticed
the nervousness of her candle flame. Placing in gingerly on the floor safely away from the gust of the open window, the
young princess took the large curtain that she had been carrying over her sleight shoulder. To her delight there were
two hooks at the top of the window right where a curtain could hang rightfully in place. The weight of the fabric quieted
the room and eliminated the bothersome wind. Walking back the safety of her glowing candle, Rosella crouched down
and picked it back up in her slender hand. As she approached the narrow hall, passing the once howling window now
covered by the heavy curtain, her candle barely flickered at all.
With the healthy globe of light provided by the flame, Rosella was able to decipher a pattern in the floor tiles that ran the
length of the hallway. Daintily hopping along the marked path with clicks from her heels, she smiled with successful
satisfaction upon reaching the end, feeling as though she had avoided a possibly grisly accident.
Upon reaching the other side of the hallway, Rosella noticed the room widened back up and ended in yet another
doorway.
Through the door