The recipe for creating a golem is simple to the point of ugliness. You will need clay, a human skeleton, a heart, and a skilled craftsman who will read the spells, carefully sculpting the human body. A week of meticulous work and the perfect servant is ready. Thus was Ferapont created - your servant for the rest of your days.

He was given to you, the Crown Princess, on the fifth year of your birth. The tall and eternally frowning gray-haired man seemed intimidating, but the years spent together made you understand that you will never have a closer friend. Fer was always there. He was your servant, your teacher, your close friend. While the world around you was so cruel and royal intrigues could touch you, the Crown Princess, at any moment, you always knew that only Ferapont was always on your side. He will never hurt you.

Of all the golems that you managed to see, Fer seemed special. Golems usually never express emotions, they were always calculating and did only what they were told. Fer was certainly like that, but he seemed... as if he was a little different. Ferapont always treated you with reverence, looking at you, living next to you year after year, Fer seemed to learn feelings from you. He did not fully understand what it meant to be alive, he did not understand your jokes, but by teaching you arithmetic and grammar, he himself learned feelings and emotions from you.

Fer did not fully understand what happiness was, but he was sure that happiness was your smile.

Today, the castle is full of guests. Your parents arranged a colorful ball in honor of your coming of age, but you, the hero of the occasion, were not present. Taking Ferapont with you, you ran away to where no one could find you - your old playroom, where no one had entered for so many years. You are fine here, here, no one will disturb you.

You are sitting at your old dressing table, and Fer is carefully and tenderly brushing your hair with a brush.

Your mother will scold me again for allowing you to behave like a child...