Chapter eight:
Raven and Maddie watched Darling walking away until she was out of sight and then wordlessly the two friends turned towards the Mad Hatters Tea shop and Haberdashery. Raven found them a table inside in a quiet corner of the café and sat down at the table to wait for Maddie to return with their tea and snacks.
A short while later Maddie bounced up to the table, she put down onto it a tea pot, two tea cups, two plates with cutlery to use to eat the cakes and a many tiered cake stand, which had a multitude of cakes on it. "Oh wow, this is fantastic selection of cakes." Raven told Maddie smiling widely.
Maddie smiled at her widely. "I made sure to get you a couple of slices of your favourite dark chocolate and strawberry cheesecake!"
"Oh, thanks Maddie!" Raven said to her cheerfully, before she carefully picked up a slice of the cheesecake and placed it onto one of the plates.
As Raven ate the cheesecake she hummed in pleasure. "Um, lovely as always Maddie."
Without missing a beat Maddie poured them both a cup of tea, she added milk and a spoon of sugar into Raven's tea and then placed it next to her.
Who smiled at her and said to Maddie gratefully. "Thanks Maddie."
"Your welcome Raven." Maddie said to her, she poured her own cup of tea, Maddie then sat down in her own chair and picked out a bright pink cupcake. "I hope you don't mind, but I brought us over a new cake we are trying. These…" She said showing Raven the pink cupcake. "Is a candyfloss flavoured cake. Would you mind trying one at some point and letting me know what you think of it?"
"Sure! You know I love helping you with new flavours of cake!" Raven enthused, before she carried on eating.
Maddie took a bite of the cake, she took her time eating it, then took off her top hat, after rooting around inside it for a bit Maddie pulled out of it a notepad and a pen. She made some careful notes in the pad about what she thought of the new cup cake.
When Raven had finished her cheesecake, she sipped some of the tea and then hummed in pleasure. "Um, mint tea…I've never tried this flavour before, but it's nice."
"I'm glad to hear you like it. Did you enjoy being able to spend some time with Darling?" Maddie asked her in a soft voice, so that others would not over hear their discussion.
Raven blushed a little, but nodded to Maddie. "Yes, it was wonderful. I hope I can spend some more time with Darling…I am very happy that after talking to Darling about the language of flowers I can't exclude her from my search."
"I am happy for you!" Maddie said grinning at Raven.
"Do you think I would make Darling a good lady princess?" Raven asked Maddie nervously.
Hearing the uncertainty in Raven's voice, Maddie instantly wanted to reassure her. "Oh, Raven you are already the perfect lady princess! You just need someone to stand beside you so you can show all those who doubt you are not evil but are in fact good, and being just what you should be."
Raven smiles over at Maddie. "Thank you for saying that, Maddie."
Maddie returned her smile, she lay a hand on Raven's arm and tried to offer her some comfort. "The truth is not hard to tell. The others from Wonderland and myself, can all see you as you are. I do not understand why others are so blind and behave as though they smoked caterpillar smoke or saw a Bandersnatch when they see you. You have proven yourself to be the hero of the school over and over again to all of those at school, yet they return to accusing you of being evil…It makes the Wonderland madness seem tame."
A sad sigh left Raven. "I hate that cycle so much…I wish it would stop, but it never does."
Gently Maddie squeezed her arm gently, but firmly. "I hope, with all my best hopes that soon that will change. You deserve to be able to be seen as you are and not as people think you are."
Raven shot her a grateful smile and said appreciatively to her friend. "Thanks for saying that Maddie. Let's not talk about that any more…It's not a pleasant subject to discuss and I would prefer to talk about other things."
"I can understand that…I know what we can chatter about, your new book! Now you have your own book about the language of flowers are you going to start leaving your admirer messages of your own on the windowsill?" Maddie asked her curiously.
Raven hummed thoughtfully, before saying to Maddie with the light of happiness in her eyes. "I had not considered using the language of flowers in order to send messages of my own to the floral admirer…It might even be possible for us to strike up some sort of conversation…The only problem is, if I just put them on the windowsill then they won't be easy to see and it might cause my message to be miss understood…and I wouldn't want that."
"You make a good point." Maddie conceded to her with a nod.
A deep and sad sigh left Raven and she said to Maddie. "I do wish I could say something to this person…However if they ask me for particular flower or flowers once more, then I will be more than happy to oblige them."
Maddie held out one of the pink cupcakes to Raven. "Have a cup cake, it a sure way to bring sunshine to even the rainiest of hearts."
Raven accepted the offered cup cake, she took a bite and hummed with appreciation. Then one she had swallowed her mouthful said to Maddie. "It really does taste like cotton candy. The texture is nice and light too. I think it might look a little more appealing and wonderland like with maybe a little candy floss settled on the top."
"Candy floss on the top! What a hat-tastic idea Raven! I can't wait to share it with my dad!" Maddie enthused as she made a note on her pad of what Raven had just said.
Smiling at her friend's enthusiasm Raven said to her. "I'm glad I could help you out."
"Your always our best taste tester! And you never fail to give us the best advice to make our deserts the most wonderous there are!" Maddie assured her.
Raven blushed a little when Maddie complimented her in this way, but at the same time she was genuinely happy from the praise. "I'm so happy to know I'm your best taste tester, I really love helping out with new ideas."
After this they settled down on their chairs, Maddie and Raven drank the tea, sampled the various cakes on the cake stand, they shared their thoughts of the cakes. When the last of the cakes was consumed, they then moved on to chat about more general things such as studies and the next get together for the rebels as they finished their tea.
Once the tea was also gone, Maddie and Raven left the Mad hatter's tea shop and haberdashery and made their way back to the school.
"I wonder what my message will be today." Raven said thoughtful to Maddie.
"I am uncertain, but this I do know it shall make your heart flutter." Maddie predicted with confidence.
Raven blushed a little but chuckled. "You are probably right with that forecast. Whatever the message will be I look forwards to it."
Maddie smiled at her friend and nodded in agreement. They continued to walk in a companionable silence, until they reached Maddie's room where she turned to Raven and said to her cheerfully. "Good night Raven I had an excellent day with you and I hope to do the loop di loop with you again soon."
"I look forwards to spending time with you again too." Raven responded with a wide smile.
"Night, night Raven, may no caterpillars bite!" Maddie said to her friend cheerfully.
Raven waved to her and said as she walked off towards Apple's and her room. "Night Maddie, sleep well."
When Raven came into the room Apple was already there waiting for her and before Raven had much of a chance to even get to her side of the room Apple was chatting away at her without seeming to need to stop for breath. "Hey roomie, you're back I see. You had more flowers, I put them in the new vase and placed the note on your desk. I've been excitedly awaiting your return so we could read the note together!"
While Apple had been speaking Raven had brought the dress out of the bag and was hanging it up. As soon as Apple set eyes on the dress, she frowned slightly and asked. "Is that a new dress you brought for yourself?"
"Yeah, I thought it would be nice for summer, meetings with the other rebels and some of the informal, but yet formal events at school." Raven explained to her nervously.
Apple looked at the dress for a long moment, she wanted to say something about it not really imbodying Raven's destiny, but Apple stopped herself by reminding herself sharply that she wanted Raven to be happy and if the dress made her happy and helped Raven to feel like herself, then she shouldn't make a big deal out of it. "It's a lovely dress." Apple said softly as she looked it over. "I like the way the fabric shimmers ever so slightly…It's very sophisticated."
"Thanks Apple I am glad you like it." Raven told her with a cheerfully smile on her face and in a voice filled with happiness and relief.
Seeing and hearing how happy and relieved her roommate now was Apple was glad she decided not to say what she had first thought.
Once Raven had put the dress away, she went over to the desk when she went to pick up the note Raven noticed a blue and white peacock feather sitting on the desk, she turned towards Apple and asked her in confusion. "Were did the feathers come from?"
Apple shot Raven an apologetic look as she said to her in an embarrassed voice. "Oh! How silly of me! I forgot to mention those were in the bunch of flowers! I'm hoping the note will explain their presence to us."
With a nod of understanding Raven picked up the note, picked up the note and addressed Apple. "Very well then are you ready to hear my latest note?"
"I certainly am." Apple said excitedly, before she sat down on the end of her bed and wated for Raven to start reading.
Without hesitating Apple read the note out. "Shepherd's purse means I offer you my all, Gardenia represents happiness, Ranunculus means full of charm, Water Lilies meaning is eloquent, Nerine means elegant, Vervain as you know represents enchantment, Bramble means envy and Ivy represents friendship. My dear Raven I am sure you are wondering what the feathers are, I have heard of your research into the language of flowers and know that in fact you are looking for me, so I wished to give you a clue to who I am, these feathers are you're clue, I hope with all my heart they assist you. Now let us move onto the message I have made from these flowers. My Raven. To my eyes you are so full of charm, so elegant and eloquent, that I fell you have cast an enchantment upon me. If this be the case then fair enchanter do not break your spell. I wish to be enchanted by you always and desire to offer you my all. I envy those who share your friendship, I wish I could be so close to you but yet I feel so far from you. All it would take would be for you to one day to show me a Jacob's Ladder, which means come to me and I would not hesitate to come to you at once and tell all the world you are mine and only mine. Love from your floral admirer."
"Oh my! It really seems like they don't want to be free of the feelings they have for you! They are saying they are willing to come to you too! And want to tell everyone you are theirs! Wow! That's a very bold step and claim to make!" Apple said in surprised but happy voice, before asking Raven in a more serious tone. "Do you want to meet them yet? Does the clue help?"
Nervously Raven bit her lip, she contemplated the answer to these questions and then nodded to Apple. "Yes…I think the feathers help and yes I'd like to see who this is…"
Apple smiled softly at Raven and asked her gently. "I won't ask who you think it is, you won't tell me…Putting that aside for now, shall we take a walk into the village tomorrow and find you some Jacob's Ladder?"
"I'd like that." Raven told her with sincerity.
"Okay that's a good plan for tomorrow then!" Apple said cheerfully to Raven.
"Yes, it is." Raven agreed, before placing the note with the others to have come before it in the desk draw.
Raven then grabbed a book she had been reading lately off of her book shelf, she settled herself comfortably on the bed, opened the book where she had left the bookmark and started to read for a while before she headed to bed.
