The soft hum of trickling water drew her in, so she veered from the path she was on, and followed its gentle resonance. She made her way carefully through the thick brush, dodging rocking horse flies as she did so. The shade afforded her by the low hanging tree branches gave way to a muted sunlight; the warm day was ending and turning into a pleasant and fragrant dusk.
Alice followed the brook and found it fed into a small-secluded pond. Alice stopped and crouched behind a bush as a gentle splashing sound caught her attention. She peeked from behind the bush and saw Mirana, the White Queen, lazily skimming through the water, her form naked, and breathtaking. Alice gasped, and quickly slapped a hand over her mouth, in a vain attempt to go unnoticed.
But, as in everything that goes on in Marmoreal, serendipity should see that Mirana had, indeed, heard that rushing intake of air and that her heart should flutter for it. She had suspected—by a glance here and there, attentiveness that bordered on absurdity—that her Champion had given her heart over to love, just as she had done the day that Alice arrived in Marmoreal, full of youth and beauty.
She could no longer hide her affections. Mirana smiled inwardly, and made a pretense of bored interest. "Hello? Is someone there?"
Alice wiped a sweaty palm over her dress but made no move to answer her Queen. It was not that the girl did not know her own heart, she did, and after all, she was the Alice. But fear overwhelmed her at this moment. She attempted to slip away.
The White Queen sauntered towards the shore, coming out so far as to show her breasts. She called out to the retreating form, "Alice, is that you?"
The girl halted her steps, and slowly turned to face her Queen. She started to tremble upon seeing Mirana's ample endowments. "Yes, my Queen?"
"All you feeling all right, Alice?"
Alice tore her eyes from Mirana's breasts. "Ummm…"
"I thought you didn't want to play that game anymore?"
"What game?" Alice squeaked.
Mirana's hands flitted through the air. "You know, 'Um and the Red Queen.'"
Alice held up her hands. "No, I don't! But…"
Mirana lowered her head. Requited love, she thought, ought not to be denied. Her heart longed for this girl; she ached to hold Alice in her arms. Smiling, she languidly glided out of the water, and picked up a towel that was thrown over a bush. "Will you dry my back, my Champion?"
Alice, overcome with sensations that could be her undoing, failed to register the mirth in her Sovereigns voice. She clutched the towel with shaky fingers. "Yes, your Majesty."
Mirana waited, and then waited some more, but nothing happened. "Alice?"
There are times when one must be in tune to the melody that permeates the universe. It is liken unto a siren call, but it is not meant to lure one to doom, but to gently coax those who do hear it into following the truth found in one's own heart.
There was a rustling sound behind her, and she slowly turned.
And Marmoreal is a magical realm; bursting with all the songs of the universe, all things that one could ever want and hope for. And if there was one thing for certain, it was that Alice had proven in the past to have quite an aptitude for courage and muchness.
Alice had spread out a large blanket on the forest floor between them. She stood at the opposite end, grinning. "One of us is wearing too many clothes, I think."
Flustered, Mirana could barely find her voice. "You think so?"
"Turnabout is fair play, don't you think?" The girl started unbuttoning her dress; her mischievous eyes never left Mirana. The dress fell and pooled at her feet.
The White Queen licked her dry lips and smirked. "Do you have any idea what you do to me, Alice Kingsleigh?"
Alice closed the distance between them. "I'm sure I can guess." She pulled the taller woman to her and lowered them both to the blanket.
Now at this point we will leave them to their much-deserved privacy. Needless to say, but a new and different sound was heard in the forest that warm and lazy late afternoon.
Chessur, who went to investigate, was scarred for life.