Author's note:
Apologies… I seem to have kind of, sort of, forgotten about Isabel… Oupsies! But no worries, she got back the day of the fire, but I was writing Tarrant's POV, and he was unconscious… Sorry anyway. And that's the story of why part of this chapter is Isabel's POV! (Don't you just love it when thing make sense like that?)
11. Like Cat and Mouse
Since she'd returned from the windmill, much thanks to Chessur) the day of the fire, Isabel had had a reoccurring nightmare about that awful man -Stayne, she had been told. Her mother had been much happy to see Isabel again, safe and sound, but the relief of Isabel not being dead was somewhat quenched in the near-death of the Hatter. When the nightmares appeared, Isabel would wake up to find herself crying in some remote part of the palace, never the same, though. She's sleepwalked several times before, but not as far as she did now, and not while crying. Isabel hardly ever cried.
This particular morning, she found herself on the balcony, shivering in the cold morning. She wiped the tears, some of which had frozen into perfect spheres of ice, of her cheeks, muttering to herself:
"If this continues, I shall have to tie myself down when I am to sleep, ant that shan't be very pleasant at all."
Seeing as she was at the balcony, a place she, strangely, wasn't allowed at, she figured she could might as well enjoy the moment. The railing was much taller than her, so she walked up to the bench, standing on it, she would be able to look down at the gardens and listen to the flowers waking up. The bench was already occupied, by something cute enough to make Isabel go: "Awh. How cute."
At the, partially covered in frost, lay Chessur, fast asleep, curled up around a small white mouse. Both of them wore calm, happy expressions, even in their sleep. Fighting off the urge to wake them up, Isabel slowly began making her way towards the door.
Snap!
A twig broke underneath her foot, breaking the silence much easier than it should be able to do.
"Oh, snap!" Isabel cursed as the sleeping pair woke up, with so befuddled expressions Isabel couldn't do anything but laugh. "I apologize for disturbing your nap." she managed to say between the giggles.
The mouse blushed, Isabel didn't really understand how fur could blush, and Chessur's grin seemed to get a little less wide and toothy.
"I severely regret saving you…" Chessur growled, chasing Isabel into the castle again. "Go back to bed!"
Alice woke up with a throbbing headache; blame it on too little rest. She yawned and stretched when something on her finger caught her attention. It took a few seconds to remember why there was a ring on her finger, then it struck her.
I'm engaged!
"It's nothing special." Tarrant had said, referring to the ring. "But I thought it would be proper to give you something of mine. It used to be one of my thimbles, see?"
Alice could see it very well, now that the sun had risen. The ring was made out of silver, just like Tarrant's thimble, quite obviously, had been, with small blue gems inlaid in the metal. `Alice-blue,´ Tarrant had fondly named the colour. But it could never be `nothing special,´ it was a part of the man she loved. The crazy, mad, wonderful hatter!
There was a faint knock on the door, followed by the voice of previously mentioned hatter. "Alice? May I enter?"
"You may." Alice felt her cheeks turn bright red. Why on earth was she blushing now?
Tarrant entered the room, he too blushing. Why would they need to blush? They were betrothed, for crying out loud.
"How are you, Alice?" he whispered shyly.
"Never better."
Tarrant awkwardly leaned against the wall, looking at Alice in a curious manner.
"What are you looking at?" Alice asked.
"I was thinking of a thing you've told me. Imagining all the ladies wearing trousers, and the men wearing dresses. I daresay you look absolutely stunning in trousers. I should have know, you look stunning in whatever you wear."
"Likewise." Alice smiled at the unexpected compliment. She could get used to this.
It seemed to Isabel everyone was in an awkward situation this morning. Firstly she'd found Chess cuddled up with a white mouse, then she'd found her parents sitting much too close, at least in Isabel's eyes. But what scared Isabel the most was the Queen sitting at the floor of her room, holding a yellowed piece of parchment in her hand, silvery tears dripping onto the handsomely written letters. When she spotted Isabel, she flinched and hid the parchment in a drawer.
"I didn't see you there, Isabel." she gasped, wiping her wet cheeks in great haste. "Do come in."
Isabel was almost frightened to enter. "A-are you sure?" she stuttered.
"I'm sure." the Queen smiled at her. "Would you like to hear a story?"
"Yes, please."
"Then do sit down." When Isabel finally did so, the Queen started telling the story in a sombre voice. "Once upon a time, there was a pirate. He was mighty and feared all over the seven seas of Otherland. One day when he was sailing the ocean he came across a deep abyss. Being unable to steer away, the pirate and his ship was sucked into it. When he woke up again, he wasn't in Otherland anymore, he was here in Underland. There were also two princesses in Underland, and the younger of them fell in love with the pirate, and he with her. They… They had a baby. A brief moment, everything seemed perfect." the Queen smiled humourlessly. "Then that moment ended. The pirate could not live in Underland, he didn't belong here. He had to leave. The princess' parents got furious when they learned of her child; the boy was sent to live in Otherland. And then, none of them lived happily ever after."
"What was his name?" Isabel whispered.
"Faramund."
Author's note:
Please review. Or, or… Or I'll send Snape at you, and he'll say: "Coward! Ten points from Gryffindor!" And we wouldn't want that, now do we? Or perhaps you do? This only makes sence if you know what I'm referring too...