Wonderland: 13

During the next days, all Vincent would do was sit in his table and work on his drawings. He knew the queen was forming a new Card Guard and so he decided he would draw his armors as well as the queen’s.

It wasn’t easy as he wasn’t sure what was each card supposed to do in the guard, but he tried to go for the basics, at least. He wished the queen had invited him to watch while she choose the new guard, that would have helped him a lot, but since she didn’t, he was afraid to ask.

Why, do you ask me? Well, the hatter himself wasn’t sure why he was afraid of asking something of the queen. After all, he had asked her a bunch of things recently and her reaction was always pretty good! He even had his head still on his shoulders!

But something about this new-alice-and-queen-relationship-thingy-situation wasn’t really helping.

There were times he would keep still for so long he wasn’t even sure he had blinked or breathed, but his mind had gone absolutely wild and out. When he thought he was starting to understand the queen, he thought he was not going crazy… Not anymore… But now, he was pretty sure he was losing his mind faster than never.

The queen, on the other hand didn’t stop ever since she began with the guard invitations. On the first day, nobody really showed up, probably too afraid of the queen. Well, who can blame them, huh? But on the following days, things started to get… Better?

People started showing up, but definitely not the people the queen expected to see. Most of them were oldies who thought they would be banished if they didn’t show up, or that thought that entering on the card guard would grant their kids and grandkids a better future…

Noble, yes. They nearly touched Ella’s heart, if she had one. But troublesome either way. They were going to face too many enemies (like nearly the rest of the world?) and she was dawn sure they would put their best up against the queen. Most important of all, the queen wasn’t looking for people to discard, but people who would fight to protect their home.

At the end of the first week, after the queen nearly drowned on her bowl of soup after falling asleep in the middle of the dinner in her office still reading about all the young man born in Wonderland, they had one card on the guard!

The ace.

On the other side, when Jack returned the next morning, things began to get on their tracks again.

- Ahhhhhhhhhh~~!

It wasn’t a bad scream. At least, not one like when the rabbit was hurt. But the voices of the maid that early in the morning were… Unusual.

The hatter left his room and tilted his head at the top of the stairs just to find the Jack, shirtless and all sweaty in the middle of the hall. Half of the maids seemed to be in some kind of “out-of-this-world” state, since they didn’t move… Not even their eyes. And the other half were as dumbfounded as the one before, but they could at least keep their drool inside their mouths.

- Seriously, what the hell is… - Ella came from behind the hatter in big steps, she was probably already tending to the queen at that time, until she saw the Jack. - JACK!

And the hatter might have thought Ella would melt like all the others, but her reaction was actually pretty different, and priceless as well.

She passed by the hatter hushing him over and moved down the stairs with a hand on her own waitst.

- What did I say about entering the castle like this? You are sweating all over the floor!

- Oh, so the sweat is the only problem? - he had an unusual smile on his face. One so unusually large the hatter was afraid to know what could have happened to make him so happy. - Not the girls?

- Yeah, I also don’t like that you make my bunch of useless maids even more useless.

- But I have good news!

- And you had to be half naked to give them?

- Who is going to give what half-naked?

The queen showed up from behind the hatter. Although she probably showed up out of curiosity, it was easy to see the queen wasn’t really a morning person, at least, not like Ella or the Jack that were so lively so early.

She was still wearing her white under dress and even her long silver hair seemed a bit… Messy?

The hatter felt as if he shouldn’t see the queen like this, and so hushed to look for the two black-haired people downstairs.

- Yeah, thanks, my queen, that did help a lot. - answered Ella, pointing to a maid who apparently passed out imagining whatever Jack was going to give half-naked.

- Not my fault. Have you two noticed how early it is to be screaming like this? Not everyone has morning routines here and is pretty inconsiderate to make all this noise when they could be still sleeping.

The queen wasn’t yelling, she wasn’t even speaking loud, but her voice soared through all the hall in a way only royalty can do. The maids downstairs - at least the ones awake - put their heads down, as if ashamed by their behavior and waited in silence until the queen had ended her speech.

- You all know I’m not one to tell you not to speak your mind or even not to have fun here. It’s Wonderland after all and that’s pretty much the reason why we do the things the way we do. Because we can and most important, only we can. But it’s important to remember to keep the pitch low. Especially at morning and others are sleeping.

- We are sorry my queen.

All the maids bent down at the same time, apologizing for their behavior. They also left the hall in only a few seconds, leaving the queen, the hatter, Ella and Jack alone.

- So… You were saying…? - Ella asked the Jack, since he looked to be a bit dumbfounded by the queen’s gentle - yet efficient - way of dealing with the maids.

- Ah, oh, yes, well! - he then smiled once again and continued. - I have good.. NO! Great news! The guard is ready!

That was really a good new,s the queen’s smile opened up in a second and she clapped her hands, without never making a single noise, two times, congratulating the Jack.

- That was pretty fast, Jack! Amazing, thank you so much!

- You don’t need to thank me, my queen, it was my pleasure and an honor! Besides, they probably learned more this week with me than during their whole training!

- And will they survive? - Ella was laughing.

- Probably.

- Probably? - the hatter looked surprised at the idea that some might not survive the Jack’s training.

- I’m kidding. I was hard on them, true, but I didn’t hurt anyone, after all, the queen need them whole.

- That is true. But, since one of the guards is ready, time to find the other. Jack, bring them here. Ella, arrange them rooms near the entrance on the first floor. We’re going hunting for the Hearts Card Guard and I want the Diamonds to be here to show the way and help with the training.

- Yes, my queen. - the Jack bent and then left again, this time in silence.

- My queen?

- Yes?

- Can I please ask you if you really wish me to get rooms for all cards? - Ella was looking the queen with an unpleasant face.

- Not all. Only the Hearts and Diamonds guard will be allowed inside the castle. When we get the rest of the guard back, and we will, they will stay at the Diamonds Safe as well as the rest of the cards in training.

- Still, that’s a lot of room.

- Well, you can obviously make group room. I’m sure you will find a way.

- Which means that’s my problem and you won’t help or change your mind?

- Yes. - said the queen, with a jester smile as she waved goodbye and turned on her heels again. - And I’ll sleep a bit more. Goodness, not even Bilac is up this early this is offensive.

The hatter watched as she left, then turning to Ella, who was going upstairs.

- How come this is a measure of time?

- Hm? - she looked lost for a second, then, it hit her. - Oh! you mean the time Bilac gets up? Let me see, oh, yes… Hm… - she looked to be searching for a way to explain. - When the queen came back, the first ones to greet her were Jack and me. Soon after the both of us, the next one was actually Bilac.

- Bilac was the first one besides you two?

- Well, yes. Bilac always worked closely to the queen, even before, so it looks pretty obvious to me that, if he didn’t hate her enough to never come back… Wouldn’t he come back fairly fast?

There was a second there when both of them were silent, apparently thinking about what Ella had just said, but, after Vincent didn’t interrupt her again, she continued.

- Since the queen is not a morning person, as you can see and Jack and I… Well… We have early duties, so we always get up early, we used to have this joke that “if the rabbit ain’t up yet, then it’s too early to call the queen”.

- Ah, got it. For a second I thought…

- Did you think the queen and the rabbit were sleeping in the same room and she didn’t want to leave him alone in the bed?

- Wait, what, no, what?!?

Ella started laughing, which meant she obviously was just making fun of him… Then, started to walk again.

- You are always so funny and confused little hatter.

And those were her last words before disappearing into one of the rooms.

#wonderland #english #alicethroughtthelookingglass #aliceinwonderland