"Just look at you. Didn't I tell you to not follow Amelia in any situation?"
Madeleine muttered "yes", eyes on her feet. Alice sighed, again, and turned to find the brush. "There is a reason why Amelia's hair is short, and that is because she's such a trouble maker. It's almost like she was a boy! If her hair was any longer it would be full of incects and leaves and it would be covered in mud", the Englishwoman huffed, browsing through her desk. Madeleine didn't say a word, she just stood there, waiting for her guardian to brush her messy hair. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and for the first time in many months Alice, also known as the personification of the Great British Empire, had been there. Naturally, Amelia and Madeleine had been thrilled, for their adored big sister to be there. Sadly, she was busy with formal meetings and had very little time for the little colonies. When another one of those fat pompous men came and stole Alice from them for some useless meeting, Amelia had been very cross and decided to go on an adventure in the cherished rose garden Alice had. Madeleine had been dragged along, and before long Alice noticed there was no sight of the little girls but much noise coming from the rose garden. And so it had turned into a chase, Amelia dragging Madeleine behind her and Alice trying to catch them. They would have gotten away, if it hadn't been Amelia actually run into one of the bushes.
After a good clean up the wilder of the colonies had been sent to her quarters to think what she had done.
Now was Madeleine's turn to be properly scolded and re-make her appearence; her long hair had tangled into a bush and it was now quite horrid. If she still had been with Marianne, her former big sister, she would have been appalled and probably had sent Madeleine to Alice since "she knew how to handle barbarians". Alice wasn't so fixated in looks; but she did not want to appear sleezy in front of people, and it would have been a scandal if the Great British Empire was a mess. That meant her colonies had to be in top form also.
"Ah, here", Alice found the brush and turned around. She sat on the chair infront of her grand mirror. "Come here, Madeleine."
The girl complied and walked to the Englishwoman. Alice lifted her on her lap (there was awfully lot of strenght in that little lady, but, she was the Great British Empire) and began to brush Madeleine's hair, dissolving the knots. There was a big one right close to her scalp, and when Alice got there she whined a little.
"Sorry about that, sweetheart. I'll see if I can get it off, but I may have to use scissors..."
Alice fell silent, focusing on the knot. Madeleine stared at the mirror at their reflections. Even after running after them and obviously annoyed, Alice maintained her elegance (even if Marianne had always insisted Alice was a crude barbarian). Her expression was serene yet stern, and hair smooth and tied on two pigtails with beautiful black ribbons with white and red lace decorations. A blue-white dress (made by the best tailors in England) finished the appearance. You could see Alice was someone important, someone powerful.
"Ouch", Madeleine whined when Alice tugged her hair. "Sorry, but the knot is gone now. We didn't need scissors."
The Englishwoman continued with the brushing, dividing it on either sides of Madeleine's hair. "Even if Marianne is an utter dimwit, she certainly knows how to handle hair. Amelia's hair has always been horrid, like hay, but unlike your sister you have very nice hair. She did good job with you", she muttered. Madeleine was slightly surprised to hear her big sister compliment Marianne; they were bitter enemies and did never say a good word about each other.
Alice put down the brush and reached for two red ribbons. Gently she tied Madeleine's wawy hair on two pigtails.
"There. Do you like them?"
Madeleine looked at her mirror image, having the same hair style as her beautiful big sister. She nodded, grinning shyly. "Good", Alice smiled, and put her down. "Off you go then. And don't get your hair tangled in anything."