What Dawn Does in her Free Time

(A random story based on the book series 'Keys to the Kingdom', by Garth Nix. I portray Dawn with a bonnet or hat of any sort, Noon with a bowler hat, and Dusk with a large top hat! Also, I have only read the first two books, so bear with me if details are not correct.)

Dawn was sitting on a window seat, overlooking the Lower House and its odds and ends, random passageways and doors into thin air. She was humming to herself, a random tune she had heard Lord Arthur Monday singing to himself, a tinkling little tune from the Secondary Realms. Dawn added words of her own to it: "I am so-o bor-ed, I could ju-ust cry, saddening, saddening, saddening, saddening, I am ready to die! Hey, that wasn't half bad!"

"What was that?" it was her older brother Noon, standing in the doorway, his golden tongue randomly slipping in and out of his mouth. "It was terribly off-key."

"Hey! That's rude! Anyway, I don't know what to do!" Cried Dawn, lolling her head about in despair, her silver tongue hanging limp.

"Want to come to a trade market nearby? I hear they have many Secondary Realms diseases. At the moment, the most popular is something called 'Swine Flu', shop number 'H1N1', but it's usage is quickly declining. I personally want some."

"No, I don't want a disease." Dawn already had some Swine Flu in the bathroom. "I want something to do, not wear or use."

"Guess what's on this paper!" Monday's Tierce, or Suzy Turquoise Blue, burst through the door, her hands full of paper covered in a Secondary Realm print. "It sez that this is a song from Arthur's Realm. It even gives ya the notes!"

"Let me see that!" Dawn yanked the flurry of papers out of Suzy's hands and dropped them on the table. The writing was not spindly and smudged like in the house, but a prefect, neat print, obviously made with some Secondary Realm machine. Dawn read avidly, soaking in every word, every note.

"I've got it!" she yelled triumphantly.

"Got what?" Sounded an annoyed voice. Dusk trotted into the room, his top hat of choice today so tall it touched the ceiling (AN: Dusk has many top hats of varying sizes and tallness – I just made this up.) His black tongue was reaching for a piece of food on his upper lip.

"I'll take up SINGING!" Dawn announced, twirling around happily.

All movement ceased to happen in the Lower House.

Ink-Fillers, from First to Eighteenth Class, dropped the corked bottles to the floor, black ink splashing over their shined shoes.

Thesauruses of all ranks barricaded themselves behind books, stuffing their ears with paper for earplugs.

All the Denizens ran inside their homes and other random buildings, as if Nithlings were attacking.

Noon backed out of the room.

Dusk lowered his top hat to the floor, hiding underneath its immensity.

"What?" Dawn asked innocently, looking at the silence around her.

"Nothing, nothing," murmured Suzy, running out of the room.

"Okay, I'll start with this song…"

When Lord Arthur Monday and Tuesday entered the Lower House, he was met with dead silence, nobody in the streets like usual. Then, in the air around him, a squeaking high note exploded. It sounded like sandpaper against sandpaper.

Beeeee-yoootiful Soo-oooup

Beeeee-yoootiful Soo-ooup

Soup of the Ee-evening

Beeyotiful Sooooooo-oooooup!

Arthur dodged out of the streets and into a weirdway he had constructed than ran to the Atrium. Inside, the sandpaper shrieking was even louder than before, bursting his eardrums and giving him a migraine. He ran up a large sweeping staircase Dame Primus had constructed for herself and into the living quarters, where Dawn was standing proudly on a makeshift stage (the dining table), and Dusk, Noon, Suzy, and some other Denizens clustered at the foot of it, cotton obviously leaking out of their ears as earplugs.

"Wasn't it just fabulous?" asked Dawn earnestly, peering towards Arthur.

Arthur forced a strained smile onto his face and answered, "yes, just lovely."

"Oh, I knew it!" Dawn squealed happily, hopping in satisfaction. "I'll have Suzy print out more!"

All the people in the room turned towards Suzy angrily. She tried to hide herself behind her coat.

"I'll be the best singer in all the House and the Demesnes!" Dawn declared, looking over the remaining pages in her hands. "I'll sing every single day for you guys!"

Dusk ran into the adjoining bathroom, grabbed Dawn's Swine Flu, and let himself faint.

Arthur fainted manually.

When there's a Will, there's a Way… out of Dawn's vocal range.

(I do not own The Keys to the Kingdom (Wednesday rules!), Row-row-row Your Boat, or Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.)