Disclaimer: I do not own 'Alice in Wonderland' if I did then there would be a sequel and it would be...delectable.
A/N: Slightly longer update (about twice the length of the last). I'm 50/50 on this chapter (as I am with most), it has its good moments and its bad moments.
The next chapter may or may not contain implied malice, I have to check. I finished writing up to the last chapter almost two weeks ago and there's this lovely muse that keeps yelling in my ear while school kicks my ass.
Chapter Six: Dear Sir
aXm Marmoreal, day of the accident-a month past Frabjous aXm
Mirana looked up at Alice, eyes alight with laughter as her champion questioned her of the Frabjous day. A month had gone by and the woman was still processing the information, Alice's intermediate babbling was adorable-broken by short responses from Mirana, or by other question's Alice wished to pose. Though she was still not the woman Mirana had known, she was getting there, and was very much her future self (the very woman from the queen's past).
Her dearest Alice loved to hear her say the names of the ingredients she added to the brew before her, though the champion would frequently regard them oddly-whereas her older self seemed comfortable with their strangeness. Presently the babbling stopped as Alice seemed to entertain a thought. Confusion ran rampant in her distant eyes and Mirana wished nothing more than to lean forward and kiss her back into reality, into the present, back to her babbling: but she could not. She'd waited long enough to know that now was not the right time, that any fell move could change her past (Alice's future) and cause massive damages to both. She did not like the prospects of a changed past, for it would mean she would not be herself. The notion sent a shiver through the queen and she quickly went on with her work: the potion she was brewing required the utmost attentiveness and precision.
Meanwhile, across from her, Alice was toying with the notion that the battle of Frabjous day was like a game of chess, and was sorting the partakers into pieces. It was obvious Mirana was the queen (or so she thought) and Tarrant was a knight.
"The battlefield was a chessboard, was it not? Then the battle was a game of chess...I know where everyone else fits, save myself and the Jabberwocky, who were we?" Alice finally asked, still trying to riddle it out in her head, her confusion and curiosity maddening to Mirana-whom longed to reach out and touch Alice as she had on the Frabjous day.
"If I could liken you to any character in chess, I would liken you to the queen," Mirana replied, adding a sprinkle of Thyme to the mixture, "with myself the king, for I am useless without you and you change the tides."
Silence permeated the air and the queen looked up at her champion. Seeing the woman's brow furrowed in confusion, Mirana realized she'd overstepped her bounds-Alice was not yet ready to know what she meant to the her, to know how hard it had been to let her step onto the field of battle knowing she may never return, to realize that she was Mirana's keeper and confidant of years past (and much more) but did not know it. She was the Alice to everyone else in Underland, but she was not yet Mirana's Alice.
Alice seemed utterly and hopelessly confused by the statement, and the white queen was very much tempted to out and say it to her champion, to explain, to confess the same feelings she'd held years prior (and retrained) and ignore that the woman would eventually wind up living backwards before disappearing from the texts. Mirana was about to say something when Alice pointed out something very important to her: she'd never stopped adding in the Thyme. The queen's eyes jumped down to the cauldron before her and she was about to cry out in warning when the mixture exploded-blasting her against the wall, and sending Alice elsewhere.
aXm The Castle Daphne, nearly a decade ere Frabjous aXm
Alice arrived in the great hall of Daphne, and found a young man she'd never seen before. He did not wear the garb of a knight or squire nor even of a messenger, and was far too old to be a page. Her advisor came to her side, but Alice waved him aside as the man stepped towards her.
He was fairly good looking, with a strong jawline and a well kept disposition. His eyes were as dark as coal, skin of the palest milk and hair paler still. She would have to have been blind not to see that he came from Marmoreal, or at least, was of decent of the place. He, like many of those Alice had met of Marmoreal, radiated-though his aura was dingy compared to her Mirana's.
"Lady Kingsleigh I presume," he began tersely, extending a hand.
Alice hid a frown as she took his hand and shook it, he reminded her of Hamish to some extent and she did not like it.
"Aye," she replied, "and who might you be?"
"Lord Ethan of Marmoreal," he responded, the look in his dark eyes setting her to ease. "Is her ladyship the princess Mirana about?"
"She may be," Alice replied. "Why do you inquire of her?"
"You do not think I came all this way simply to speak to her keeper, do you?" he asked. "You are charming, but I hold not a spot in my heart for you."
"What is it you want of her?" Alice inquired at length, astounded by the man.
"I wish to visit her, I have here a letter excusing her for the afternoon that she may walk with me," he replied, procuring the letter and handing it off to Alice. "Signed by King Aaron himself."
Alice looked over the letter, examining the seal before tearing it open. It had not been forged, she could tell that much, and there was a rather brief explanation. Her lips twitched. The man before her was to be given the chance to woo Mirana and should she decline him (or he abuse her) Alice had the right to remove him from Daphne, should she accept him as suitor then he would stay for some length of time, with Alice ever watchful of his movements. It was rather short notice which, while it didn't pose problem, left Alice nonplus for some length of time.
He, the suitor, seemed kind enough, despite his reminding her of Hamish, and while part of Alice hoped against him, another part hoped for him.
"Be in the east tea room at half past noon and I shall see that she meets you," Alice stated.
aXm
She watched from afar as Lord Ethan stood and bowed as Mirana entered the room. The man helped Mirana in her chair, then took his place across from her. Tea was soon brought in by a servant, whom eyed Lord Ethan warily before backing out of the room. Alice had heard rumors of the servants making bets about the man and his chances of succeeding with Mirana. Her retainers had even joined in. Clove and Arne thought he had a fifty-fifty chance of success, Eckhart thought he stood half that, and Wilhelm thought the poor man had no chance at all. Alice tried desperately to keep an open mind, but she was conflicted.
As Alice watched, the two got to talking and soon finished their tea. They stood, after a servant came in and removed the tray, headed out of the open tea room and into the gardens. Alice followed them along, observing the way Lord Ethan spoke to her lady. The young man set her on edge, though she didn't doubt the quality of character he held, she saw him as a threat-a threat to something she didn't dare begin, not yet at least. Things were complicated enough.
The two passed into another section of the gardens and Alice quickly followed behind them, keeping a lookout (as always) for anything unusual. Her thoughts nagged at her, like maggots taring at rotted flesh she was ridden and hounded and plagued. It was certain to be a poor night's sleep.
"She's sixteen," Alice thought to herself, "perhaps of age but out of the question-I am her watcher, her keeper and given the situation I simply cannot allow myself to indulge in these feelings-it is not yet the right time, if I'm going to be back here for much longer, I'd best make the best of it and stop the bloody big head before she's too far gone...but I'd have to leave Mirana for that, and if I were to return to the proper place, and what would she think?"
Beside her snuck the Chessur cat, lazing about in the air around her: she hardly took notice.
"You're right dear Lady, what would Mirana think? Five steps closer and perhaps she shall hear, and you shall hear: what then?" asked the Chessur cat, his thoughts ringing in Alice's head.
"What?" she responded.
"I have not the answer to that, for that is not a question. I merely said: if you wish to know what she thinks-step into range, for this oddity is far extending but the ears only hear so far," Chess replied, floating before her, a cheeky grin on his face. "Or are you worried she'll find out that you're not from here, that you are living your life in pieces-backwards if you will-first a child, then a greater one, now an adult. You watch her grow and know that she must know this, then, in that place you came from, and all the while you deal with that growing flame of madness within you which threatens to swallow your heart whole and her's as well...though I should think she's given it all willingly."
"What?" Alice inquired again, brow furrowing as she watched the cat.
"Move fast, dear champion, she grows distant on the horizon!" Chess warned before fading from sight.
As far as Alice knew, they'd encountered a natural occurrence in Underland, a bent fragment of reality, which allowed all within it to hear each other's thoughts-within distance. She wondered, then, if Chess had dug through her thoughts-if hers' overlapped and were layered, for his were simple, refined and elegant.
Alice shook her head clear, as clear as it could be, and headed off after her charge and the young woman's suitor. She saw them before she heard them, then heard them conversing. As far as she could tell, they'd passed from the zone of oddities and were talking normally, and she sighed in relief before continuing to follow after them.
Soon, though it did not seem so to Alice, the two returned to the castle and the young lord took Mirana's hand in his-stroking it before raising it to his lips and kissing it softly. Mirana seemed somewhat conflicted by the action, and merely pursed her dark lips before excusing herself from the man and reentering her domain. Alice, once more, sighed in relief-glad that nothing horrid had happened during the outing and that she was able to keep to the background, where she thought she belonged. Alice reentered the castle herself, some time after the young lord had.
She was soon accosted by Mirana. The young woman hurried to her with bright eyes and was quick to envelop her in a great hug, her keeper was quick to return it and just as quick to try to wash her hands of it, but the young woman persisted. The hug became a drawn out thing which felt rather nice, though awkward, to Alice. To Mirana, whom could feel her keeper drawing away, the warmth of the hug was offset by confusion, hopelessness and even mild sorrow as the feeling that she was unwanted crept in.
As Mirana released Alice from her hug, the older woman reassured her, running her hand down the princess's cheek. Mirana blushed furiously and Alice quickly dropped her hand back down to her side, hiding her face and the astonished smirk upon it.
"How was your outing my liege?" Alice asked as Mirana took her arm.
"It was...fine, interesting at least," the young woman replied as the two began to walk the halls. "He means to court me, does he not?"
"Aye," Alice replied.
"Pity," Mirana muttered, "he is out of luck."
"Why so? He seems like a charming young buck," Alice responded.
"Did you know he's seven and twenty?" Mirana responded before shaking the thought from her head. "That isn't the only reason I think him out of luck with myself."
"Why then? What reason?" her keeper inquired.
"My heart was not stricken, for good or bad, at the sight of him-it is cool to him, neither one way nor another; I certainly shan't love him," the princess responded.
"You cannot know that, not all love is at first sight," Alice replied.
"That may be true but the heart decides in the first moments whether to love someone or not and in what way. First sight is merely the striking motion, the match combusts from there," Mirana explained. "Lord Ethan provoked no strike, no strike at all, and so the match shall not combust-As I thought before I even met him."
"Ah, but you entered with doubt that you could love him! Hence the match did not strike," Alice retorted.
"Nay, not doubt, certainty. The match of my heart was struck long ago and is now a gentle flame-no other may take up the match and strike it 'less the flame is snuffed," Mirana replied calmly, her words worrying Alice more greatly than anything exchanged between them.
It was quite possible that she could not save her dear queen heartbreak, just as it was likely she could not save herself, and that notion caused Alice's heart to plummet and her skin to go ashen.
"Alice?" Mirana called, looking up at her keeper. "Are you all right?"
"Aye," the woman lied, not quite meeting Mirana's deep eyes.
"If you say so," the young woman responded, brow furrowing lightly. "Would you be so kind as to sit and allow me read to you?"
"Of course," Alice replied, sitting down, her mind preoccupied.
A/N: Made the update in time, now I get to keep my writing hand. I hope this chapter was to your liking, the next chapter will be up next week Friday.
(Misleading spoiler time!) There will be blood.