Beatrice was used to the effects and minds of those from high society. After all, coming from a wealthy family had taught her a thing or seven, but she had never had audience with royalty before. Part of that would be that she was American, and they had gone as far as to brutally curb stomp their royal over lords, so that long ago historical act left her in a predicament. The way you treated a normal person with money and a Queen were likely two very different things. The fact she was in a foreign country, if she could even call Wonderland that, only made things worse. For all she knew, she wasn't supposed to come to the castle until an actual invitation was written up, regardless of the fact that the necessary time changes had passed. She had tried to ask Boris about it, but his response had been as unhelpful as they came. Something about Outsiders and how she had nothing to fear thanks to this particular status. She smoothed out her dress again as she made her way through a rose hedge maze. A few people from a village a good twenty minutes away had been kind enough to tell her how to get to Heart Castle; one villager had even been kind enough to give her a ride in their horse drawn cart. But, as soon as they made it to the rose studded entrance of the maze, she had been left to her own devices.

Thus she had been roaming around now for nearly an hour, making all sorts of nonsensical turns that continued began to make her head hurt. She'd kept her eyes open for any sign of life, but so far the only thing she'd seen was colorful butterflies and a few birds. There was a complete lack of gardeners, or guards on patrol, which she though would have been a staple in a royal anything. She stopped at a cross section, head tilted to the side and eyes narrowed. The last time she came to a cross section she'd made a left, maybe this time she should try right. Her gaze drifted upwards to the massive castle that loomed over everything within a sixty mile radius. It hadn't become any closer, nor had it gotten any further, it almost seemed like it didn't even matter which road she picked. "Good grief, I'm beginning to sound like a fortune cookie."

A sharp scream caused her to shut up, and her body tense. The scream itself only lasted a second, but there was a sickening crunch followed by a wet splat. Beatrice's hand slipped into the pocket of her dress, just for a low curse to leave her lips. She didn't have her taser, it had been damaged when she fell into Wonderland and abandoned in the forest. Seeing as how she had no other choice, she turned on her heel and then began to run down the path. She was certain her boots were making enough noise for the attacker to hear her, and her hoarse breathing was practically acting as a beacon, but she desperately wanted to put some kind of distance between herself and…Well, whoever it was. She made a left when she came down to a corner, then took a sharp right when another presented itself. Her movements were clumsy, and she could hear the cloth of her dress rip against the thin thorns and feel the leaves get tangled into her loose tight curls. When she made another half noticed right, she slammed into something warm and hard, causing her to stumble backwards and fall on her butt. A blur of bright blue got in her face, before a pair of red eyes was directly level with her own brown ones. "It's not a soldier."

Another face pushed itself into her personal bubble, this time with bright blue eyes, though with the same eye shape as the red eyed person. "You're right brother; it looks like a little girl." He poked her cheek, causing her to flinch away. "Awe, she's afraid. Do you think she's a Roleholder?"

The other boy's eyebrows furrowed, and he proceeded to poke her cheek as well. "I dunno, I've never seen a girl like this before."

"So she's a foreigner?"

Beatrice cut in then, she was already late as it was, she didn't want to start the whole 'who is the strange girl' buissness now of all times. If the Queen herself invited her to tea, it was best to comply so she had a powerful ally on her side. "Um, excuse me, but do you know the way to that castle?" She pushed herself up, and pointed to the gigantic castle, as if there was another one she could possibly be trying to get to. "I'm kinda late, and want to make it there before the Queen yells at me some more."

Both boys stared up at her before a grin began to form on their faces at the exact same time. It was scary, actually, and she was almost certain that it would come up in her dreams when she went to sleep. "So she IS a foreigner," The blue eyed one said. "the old hag wouldn't invite anyone else for tea."

"Not unless she wanted to kill them."

"Or it was Big Sister."

"Um," Beatrice waved her hand in front of their faces again, trying to win back their attention. "do you know the way?"

The red eyed one stood up and waved around a pole axe, something Beatrice hadn't even noticed until then. "Of course we do! We know this place better than anyone."

The blue eyed one jumped up as well, and put his axe over his shoulder. "Uh-huh! Even the old lady doesn't know every place in this rat hole garden!"

Beatrice just nodded along to what they were saying. She was almost certain that these guys didn't respect or even had loyalty towards the queen. If that was the case, maybe it was best not to travel with them, they could get her into trouble. The red eyed one grabbed her hand and began hauling her forward. "My name is Dum, that's my brother Dee, we're twins!"

"Wow, that's pretty cool!" She made a mental note of that and stored it in the back of her head. "My name's Beatrice, it's nice to meet you guys."

"Hey, Beatrice," Dee said. "are you an Outsider?"

The girl nodded. "Yup, I came here a little while ago, but I've been invited to tea with the Queen." She tilted her head to the side. "Do you guys work here?"

Dum shook his head. "Nah, we were just playing with the guards. "He gestured down an opposite path as they made a right. "we were down that way when we heard you run away. You're lucky we noticed you were a girl though."

"Why?"

Dee suddenly stopped; he held one arm out to prevent her from passing. "You hear that, Brother?"

Dum grinned and took his axe off his shoulder, his knees bending slightly as if to get into some type of battle stance. "Sounds like that idiot Knight."

Not too far off she could hear off beat whistling accompanied by something metal clanging against each other. Suddenly a man rounded the corner, his hand idly gripping the hilt of a sheathed sword, and his other hand wiping something red off his face. His red eyes widened upon seeing them, before a smile formed on his lips. "Heh, I didn't think I'd have this much attention today, I must be special."

Dee rushed forward to attack him, pole axe raised, but the man easily stepped to the side. He didn't even flinch when Dum ran at him; instead he merely deflected the blade with his sword, using enough force to push him into the thorns. The man walked forward, and with each step he took Beatrice took one step back. Even with all his red gear, the heart crests that adorned his clothes and sword, and the fact that he was referred to as a 'knight'; Beatrice was still anxious since he kept his sword unsheathed. "A foreigner with the Tweedle twins?" He tapped her chin with the flat of his blade, the cold metal made a harsh tingle go down her spine. "You must be the one Her Majesty's been ranting about. "

"I-I came for tea…"

His puzzled expression shifted into a smile. "So you are a foreigner then." He glanced behind him for a moment, and Beatrice moved slightly to look behind the knight's muscular body. The twins had run off, there was literally no sign that they had even been there. She flinched when the Knight turned his attention back to her. "Well, it's best not to keep Her Majesty waiting; not if you don't want to lose your head."

"M-my head?"

The man sheathed his sword and pushed past her so he could walk down the path. "Yeah, she does that a lot, executions and stuff. Sometimes she does it so often we don't even have enough people to do the work around the castle." He suddenly laughed; it was a light sound that seemed to originate from his throat instead of his chest or belly. "Good thing the King's around, if he wasn't then I'd be working right now too."

"R-right." So that meant the Queen was an incredibly dangerous person, and that keeping within her good graces was probably a good idea. She looked up at the sky as it shifted from early afternoon straight to evening. "So, what do you do then?"

"Huh, oh." He jabbed a thumb in his general direction. "I'm Ace the Knight of Hearts."

Beatrice's eyes widened and she clasped her hands together. "Really, you're a real knight? Do you save princesses and battle bandits and stuff?"

Ace's eyebrows furrowed for a moment before laughing again, and patting her head. "You know, you look really cute like that, no wonder the Queen was so eager to get you over here. However," He suddenly stopped and his hand tightened in her hair as he hauled her head back, forcing Beatrice to stop in front of him with a yelp. She could see her face reflected in those blank eyes, her terrified expression made her own stomach churn. "pure innocence doesn't look very good on you, not when I can see everything else behind that mask."

"W-what are you talking about?" She reached up and grabbed at his gloved hand with her much smaller finger. "Please let me go, it hurts!"

"Oh, you're gonna keep to that then?" He let her go. "That's fine I guess, this version of you is going to be pretty funny, so I guess I should enjoy it. But, whenever you want to stop pretending," He smiled down at her. "you can always come and find me."

The rest of their very long hike was spent in silence. Clearly Ace was either someone she was going to have to avoid with all her might or he was someone that she should have on her side. It was clear he was perceptive or at least smarter than he looked, but she wondered if he was someone that she could actually trust. She didn't want anyone else to know her secret yet, and if he was indeed a knight, then perhaps he'd tell the queen about her. She suddenly stopped when they came to a flagstone path that was just outside a dark pink brick wall. The path led up to the castle, and there were guards posted on each side of the long pathway. She glanced back to Ace, but he walked right past, arms crossed behind his head. "Um, Ace?"

"Yeah?"

She pointed to the path, even though he hadn't stopped. "I think I found the entrance."

He suddenly stopped and half turned so he could see. A grin suddenly spread over his face as his arms dropped to his side. "Ha, I guess I overlooked it again, that shortcut must have thrown me off."

Beatrice waited for him to lead again before following close behind him. Just like in every other place she had been, she could practically feel the faceless 'stare' as she passed them by. A few even muttered to themselves, clearly confused about her entire existence. Ace led her through the pathway and up to the front entrance where a maid was sweeping the front entrance. She abruptly stopped when she noticed the two of them walk up. She lightly bowed to Ace, her black hair bobbing with the movement. "Hello, Lord Ace, do you require something?"

He jabbed a thumb in Beatrice's direction. I've gotta take her to see the Queen, do you know where she is?"

"Seeing as it's evening, I would assume she's taking tea in her garden." She placed a hand on her chin and leaned against the broom. "It's probably a good thing that she came during the evening; Queen Vivaldi has ordered six executions in the last two hours due to the new foreigner being late."

Beatrice raised an eyebrow, but decided to not comment on it. It seemed that being overly involved or curious was making her look fake, perhaps being overly concerned would do the same thing. Afterall, she was supposed to be a foreigner, she didn't even know who was being executed anyway. "I better hurry then," She turned to Ace and gave a short courtesy. "Thank you Ace, I'd still be stuck if it weren't for you."

The maid made a choking noise, but Ace ignored it as he gave a smile and pat her head again. "Anytime, just remember what I said, alright?"

"Y-yeah." Beatrice watched Ace walk away before turning to the maid, who had set her broom against a frilly light pole. "Do you mind-"

"I'll take you to her, don't worry." They began walking down the stone flagon path, towards some steps that had clusters of trees planted close by. At the very bottom was a table that was set with all types of sweets, and a plain white tea set. At the head of the table sat the queen, she wore a frilly red dress that fit the era, and a small gold crown that stood out from her ,now curled, purple hair. A few attendants stood close by, as did guards that looked identical to the ones outside the castle. Surrounding them all were roses that were in bloom, all of them a varying shade of red, and giving off a heavy smell that threatened to overwhelm everything else. The maid curtsied deeply towards the queen and held it. "Queen Vivaldi, I present the foreigner that you requested."

The woman paused in taking her tea to stare her down. Without being told Beatrice curtsied just as deeply as the maid. "I'm sorry for being late, Your Highness, I got lost in the maze-"

"You are forgiven." Though the words were abrupt and harsh, her tone sounded amused. "Come join Us at the table, we have waited a long time to spend this moment with you." Beatrice rose out of the uncomfortable position and went to the chair opposite the Queen, but she made a tsking sound in her throat. "Sit closer, if We want to yell at you We shall." Beatrice did as she was told, and took a seat at her left hand side then set a petal pink napkin over the knees of her dress. Another maid quickly prepared some tea for her, adding in four lumps of sugar when told. Once the maid had gone back to her position behind the queen, Vivaldi turned her full attention to Beatrice. "Do you like Our tea?"

Beatrice removed her spoon from her tea cup and placed it on the saucer just behind the tea cup and to the right. She then took a sip from the cup, her nose wrinkling from the overwhelming smell of mint and lemon. "It's very good." She said as she lowered her cup back on the saucer. "I've never had mint tea before, it tastes like candy." A lie of course, but she doubted most kids actually indulged in anything more exotic then pink lemonade tea.

Vivaldi gave a low laugh; it was an earthy sound that showed her maturity. "And We had not expected a child to know proper tea etiquette. Even Alice, as responsible as she is, often forgets wear to place her spoon."

Beatrice's ring and middle fingers curled as she smiled. "Thank you very much, Your Highness."

"Vivaldi," She said. "you may call Us Vivaldi." She picked up her own tea cup again. "Now tell Us how you came to Wonderland, Beatrice."

Beatrice once again did as she was told. She remembered to use simpler words, but not get too excited or wordy on certain parts. Every once in a while the queen would interject with a question, and by the end of her tale, Vivaldi had become rather amused with the whole thing. "And that's how it happened." Beatrice finished, cutting a scone with her knife and fork.

The queen stirred her tea, a thoughtful expression on her face. "We never thought that a foreigner could merely be a child though, or come down so violently." Her eyebrows furrowed. "That damned White, We're sure he did this on purpose!"

Beatrice didn't comment on the almost immediate mood switch. "Who's White?"

"Peter White, he is Our Prime Minister," She set her spoon down in its proper place. "Did he not even bother to introduce himself when he brought you to Wonderland?"

"No one brought me here…" She stopped cutting, her hands becoming loose around her utensils. "I don't remember anyone coming for me…" She looked up at Vivaldi. "Was someone supposed to?"

"We are not sure." Vivaldi picked up her cup and placed it to her lips. "With Alice she was brought in part by Peter White, and by the Caterpillar. However, foreigners are rare, and We assume their experiences differ as much as their looks and personalities."

"Can I talk to Mr. White or Caterpillar then?"

"White is doing a project for Us," Vivaldi said. "but the Caterpillar is reachable through his own domain at any time."

"Where's that?"

"The Dream Realm."

Review Responses:

Angelic Trinity: This chapter may or may not confirm that sentiment. Well, you usually see Vivaldi straight up love the Oc as soon as she's introduced either via good manner or cuteness. While I'm aware that Vivaldi would maybe forgive someone if they were cute enough, unless you're Pierce the poor guy, I wanted to give everyone a different type of introduction than what they're usually given. Except apparently Ace, his just worked out way too well…

Nekohana: Yes I am…Awe, thanks! ^_^

princess of ice and snow: Beatrice's age hasn't been revealed, it'll be revealed soon though.

Kino Ametsuchi: Wow, I'm glad you think so. Dramatic overtones are not my forte, but if you can sense them then I think I did a decent enough job.