"Even now, I admit the sparse habitation is...unnerving. I am not surprised it doesn't come readily to your mind, given your youth at the time, but the appearance of abrupt abandonment reminds me far too much of Radiant Garden by the time that witch ran us out."

The epithet comes with a distinctly displeased curl of his lip, a decade old grudge that had managed to fester even when he barely had enough of a heart to hold it. But even more than the anger, is the sense of shame and regret. The emptiness reminds him not just of loss, but of his own sins.

"Structures and plant life, obviously, held no interest for either the Heartless or we who were studying them, and so much of it was still intact until she chose to remodel."