Wonderland: 10

- Does she have to be here?

- Why are you so aware of me little hatter? I don’t bite.

The hatter was still in the queen room, well, office, actually, but it didn’t matter, the actual problem was that Ella was there as well with her usual “up-to-no-good” smile. And the hatter hated that he was probably her pray… Again.

- I’m not afraid of you, the queen won’t let you do me any harm.

- Oh, was I hurting you outside…?

The hatter went absolutely red as the black-haired girl laughed, the queen on the other side seemed pretty used to Ella’s sassiness while she was looking for maps.

- You… I… We.. Not… - the hatter started stumbling on his own words.

- Ella, stop bullying him.

- I’m not, I only made him a question.

- … - the hatter crossed his arms. – Anyway, what are you waiting?

The hatter just noticed now that Ella (or whatever-was-her-name) didn’t look as if she wanted to be there. She was waiting, arms crossed, near to the door.

- For the queen to tell me which map she wants. She will need my help to get it.

- I can get it for her, I’m even taller than you.

- I’m listening, you know…

- That’s not the problem, smart-ass, the problem is she doesn’t know where they are. She is not the one to organize her mess after she finishes drawing those things.

- I’m still listening!

- I’m pretty sure the queen knows exactly where the map she wants is!

- Oh yeah? Then why didn’t she try to reach it yet?

- I’M LISTENING, FOR THE LOVE OF CARROTS, YOU TWO!

The queen turned to look at both of them, crossing her arms and watching them with her eyebrows up in a silent stare, as if she was asking if they would ever shut up.

- Sorry… - the hatter lowered his head, seemingly not afraid of her, but ashamed of his attitude.

- The red one on the upper shelf, the black one of the right one and… That one on the desk. – Ella pointed the three of them calmly. – That’s probably the only three you will need, right, my queen?

- Ah… Yes, thank you, Ella.

- If you will excuse me.

And she them left, closing the door behind her back, the queen got the map that was on the table, as Ella had instructed and waited for the hatter to get the other two. He did it silently, still ashamed of his behavior and the queen opened all of them on the floor right in front of them.

The red one showed a map of all Wonderland, the black one showed a global map and the last one showed a map of a place hatter didn’t recognize at first.

- Okay, we are right here, at the left, the Mountains of Division separates us from the Looking-Glass Lands and to the south we have the Great Woods, which whom we used to have an amazing relationship, but I’m not so sure right now…

She then moved her index finger to the right of the map.

- Here in the center, right after the Blasting Sea, we have the Knock Domain. And even further to the east we have the Waters of Memory, the Outlands, Mountains of Judgement and the Eruptions of Madness.

The queen them pointed her finger to the north, continuing her explanation after making sure the hatter was following, little did she know he was not only following, he was trying to absorb all he could from her explanation. Maps were usually pretty expensive, so the hatter never had the chance to see one that big with his own eyes and he was mad-curious to learn all he could this time.

- To the north, after the endless sea we have the Snark Island. And to the south, after the Waters of Time, the Timelands, where Time built his castle. Time isn’t interested in our lands, the already gave us the greatest gift he could, time. And it’s not like we could really win a battle against him. But, we are not in good terms with the Snark Tribe, the king of Knock, the king of Looking-Glass, nor the kings of Great Woods.

- That means everyone except for the Outlanders and Time. – the hatter repeated, making sure he had understood it correctly.

- Yes. – the queen agreed. – You are right. Out of the seven kingdoms in our world, four are not in good terms with us… And the other two… Well, Time won’t take sides, I believe… And I don’t have a very good reputation on the Outlands.

For a second, the hatter was silent, looking over the map as if he was admiring the details, there wasn’t that much hope left, after all, it was not as if a single kingdom could conquer the other four, or five, if the outlands decided to join the fight just because they could.

- My queen…? – the hatter looked her still unsure if he should ask what he wanted to. – May I ask what happened in the exile…?

- When we reached the Outlands, I told everybody they didn’t need to follow me, as I was no queen, at least, not anymore. - she paused for a brief moment, then continued. - The first ones to wander off were the higher number of the Card Guard. They thought they were strong enough to survive on their own. After then, the maids followed, the guards were making a living in the Outlands, hunting their own food and surviving. With me stood the mostly useless, the ones that didn’t know how to do shit or were just to afraid to even try. The king, the judge, they stayed not because they wanted to be loyal to me, but because they were afraid to deal with the new order of things and thought I would solve it all for them.

- Did you?

- Oh, I did not. I couldn't care less if those people ate or not, they were useless before, even worst in the Outlands, that’s no place to sissies.

- So what happened?

- They didn’t eat, they starved, fell ill or just dead. I was trained to survive with low or no food, since our kingdom feared toxins, but they weren't. One by one they ended up dead, until one morning when the king was once again trying to convince me I had to find us food.

- You? A queen?

- As I said, I was no longer a queen. There is no queen if there is no Kingdom. And the Outlands are no kingdom, hatter.

- Still… You were at least his wife! He should be the one taking care of you.

- I didn’t love that man, neither did he love me. Our was an arranged marriage and that we thought would save us… Well, both of us ended up orphans, so, guess that didn’t work, right? Besides, although he was afraid of me and obeyed, I doubt he would be able to love the one responsible for killing his parents. Forgiving is not so easy.

For a second the hatter just kept quiet. He observed the queen while she looked the Outlands in the map, she looked so worried, and yet, the hatter couldn’t understand what she was so quiet about.

- My queen?

- Oh, sorry, I just… Remembered a few things…

- What happened… To the king?

- I killed him. I guided him to some poisonous fruits and allowed that he ate some. Them threw his body in the volcano on Eruptions of Madness.

- I thought no living thing could cross that Mountains.

- Well, I guess nobody tried to cross it the right way… One should not hike those mountains, that’s impossible.

The hatter wanted to ask more, so much more, but he was afraid the queen would grow tired of his questions and leave him behind. When did those feelings appear? He wasn’t sure himself, but the queen was an amazing figure and he thought it would be madness, even for him, to not learn all he could while in the castle… That was it, right? It had to be.

- Well, the good side is that maybe the Outlands will be too busy with their own agenda to bother coming all this way just to fight me since I left them behind when I came back.

- The old card guards?

- Yes.

- If you returned all by yourself, how come you already got a Jack and an Ace?

- Heheh. - the queen laughed a bit, looking pretty carefree. - You are really curious, ain’t you?

- I’m sorry… Does it bother you?

- No, I think it’s pretty funny. Well, Willard was not a card back then, he was still in training, so he was called when I came back. - she explained, a smile back to her lips. - The Jack, on the other hand came when I reunited forces with the Diamond Royalty. As you may know, diamonds and hearts are born in this lands, but swords and clubs are born on the Great Woods. When I reached for the queen of Diamonds, she was still interested in working with me, so she sent me her brother, the Jack.

- Oh, I didn’t know all the other suits had their own royalty.

- They do, but only one royal family is considered that lands ruler. Here in Wonderland, the diamonds work under the Hearts. In the Great Woods, the swords work under the Clubs. When I had the full army of cards, I had an agreement with the King of Clubs… I guess that it’s been nullified after I lost my crowd.

- But it should be back since you are back, right? WIth the whole army they will fear you again!

- Oh, Vincent, what are you saying? - and for a moment, her voice sounded so caring, almost motherly caring. - Have I messed your head? You are talking about giving the Queen of Hearts her Card Guard back, do you not remember it was you and your friends who exiled us? We were not good for you…

The hatter’s senses went amiss as he felt absolutely lost, falling in his own darkness for a second. Was the queen playing games with him? Had her invited him over to make him believe her and just send him back so he would try and fight the Alliance? Was he just a toy for her…? The first time the hatter saw the queen after all the changes she did sound different than she sounded when they were alone, but now… She sounded so utterly caring, and yet, with such sad words that hatter thought that if he wasn’t going mad, then maybe she was.

- I-I… I don’t understand, if it is for your safety, why don’t you seem pleased that I am worried about you acquiring your guard back?

- Because…

Knock Knock!

Someone was at the door and that stopped the queen mid-sentence. She sighed for a second, lowering her head and then, called out loud.

- Enter.

- My queen?

It was not Ella or any other maid who entered the queen’s office, but rather, Bilac, the white rabbit, he seemed anew, as if nothing had occurred on the previous day, his monocle was still on his eye, when he entered, removing it and then lowering his upper body, on an elegant bow.

- Bilac!!! - the queen sprinted on his direction and launched herself on him. He was not as muscular as the Jack, or even as tall as Vincent, but he somehow managed to hold the queen in midair, possibly because she was still shorter than him. - I’m so glad you are safe, ohmy… I thought I had lost you!

- My queen, this is not proper…! - the rabbit was flustered all over, he was tense and wouldn’t move a muscle, although he had embraced the queen strong enough to hold her in the air.

- I’m the queen, I say what is proper or not, and right now I’m just really happy to see you alive. I’d be lost without you.

The hatter felt somehow uncomfortable with watching the both of them embrace, so he just looked down, biting his lips while a sigh left his lips. The rabbits ears moved a bit and then he looked to the hatter, slowly letting the queen go, so her feet could touch the ground again, when they did, however, the liquid-whatever the walls and ground were maid of started shining and whirling around, much stronger than what they usually did when the queen touched it the previous night.

- Wow…

But the hatter seemed to be the only one amazed by it, as if it was something ordinary. He imagined if everytime the rabbit came to see the queen the ground would shine like this, if there was something special about him somehow, was it the heartmark? He clenched his fists together.

- Sorry to jump in you like that, but thanks for holding me. - the queen had an easy-going smile while talking to the rabbit. - I’m really happy to see you are feeling good enough to walk already.

- My queen, you all did an amazing job in me yesterday, I’m feeling incredible, even better than before. - he had a pleasant smile. - Besides, I believe you will need a conference to talk about what happened, right?

- Yes, take Vincent with you to the conference room, I’ll tell Ella to get Willard and Jack.

- Vincent will be joining us today? - the rabbit looked him with an smile, it looked so sincere the hatter felt strange again. - That’s amazing! Will do. - the rabbit then walked next to Vincent. - Will you join me, Vincent?

And then, letting the queen behind, both man walked back into the hallway.

#alicethroughtthelookingglass #wonderland #aliceinwonderland #english