Chapter 12: The Buttered Side of the Bread

Everything's got a moral if only you can find it.
~Lewis Carroll

The queen used her considerable powers of organization and charm to rapidly arrange a Frabjous Day Remembrance ceremony to commemorate both that day and Alice's return, one which most of the kingdom was anticipating eagerly.

Ilosovic Stayne, however, was experiencing a renewal of the feelings of reluctance he had had so often his first days at Marmoreal.

"Frabjous Day changed your life too, you know, and for the better, once those little, er, adjustments were worked out," Casiphia reminded him.

"I suppose you are right about that—what? Of course you are right about that.
Perhaps thinking of this day as my own private marking of a new beginning will make it more palatable."

"Also, your presence at this will make it easier for some of these people to accept you. And it will be a wonderful party, with food and dancing—you know how I love to dance with you—and stealing away into quiet corners..."

"Very well, very well, you've convinced me," he laughed. "Just permit me to make a quiet exit if I feel the need at any time."

Casiphia was a near-personification springtime in a gown of pale green with silver ribbons and trim, matching parasol, jewelry of marcasite and pearl, and of course her court wig with its white ringlets. She had coaxed Ilosovic into a white shirt for the event, although it was the gift of the white silk cravat she had embroidered for him that was the deciding factor. There was time for one final kiss before she applied her dark lip stain ("Ha ha, lip stain," she said to Ilosovic, poking him in the ribs, a pointless endeavor as he was not ticklish in the least), and off to the fete they went.

Mirana had arranged for pavilions of white silk to be raised around the grounds, and under each was a table with food or drink. Musicians played in bowers as courtiers and villagers and people who had traveled from every corner of Underland mingled and celebrated the renewal of their land.

After the official court procession with the queen into the gardens, Casiphia scanned the crowd for Ilosovic, finding him quickly—she did appreciate that he was easy to locate in a crowd. Greeting him, she put her fingers on his silk sleeve where she knew the tiny cut was from the night before.

"Lucky for you I have some sense of decorum and am not drawing attention to the corollary," he said. Her fingers went instinctively to her sternum, and she smiled.

"We can save that for later," she winked, and drew him through the crowd to where a group of courtiers was trading quips.

Ilosovic did his best to chat cordially with one and all, and accepted congratulations and a hearty thump on the back from the Hatter when the two crossed paths. Casiphia couldn't help smiling; this day was all she could have asked, more than she would have ever expected even the winter before, and she expected it to get better still.

Approaching him quietly, Mirana drew Stayne aside and asked him softly, "How is she doing? In your honest estimation."

"She still has nightmares from time to time, and I know her thoughts still go to dark places on occasion. But look at her." They turned to watch Casiphia, who was standing with her friends, laughing and taking part in what seemed to be particularly clever banter. "I am not sure I have ever seen her like that. It's hard to imagine that she won't be absolutely fine."

"Then you make sure of that," Mirana said with a wink of a silvery lid, drifting back off into the crowd of her subjects and supporters.

Before long the crowd grew silent as Mirana pushed Alice up onto a dais and announced that she had some words for them all.

Alice, looking as if this speech weren't entirely her own idea, looked around at the crowd, and at last broke into a smile.

"The last time I was here was so different," she declaimed. "I wasn't convinced any of you were real for the longest time, and then when I knew you were, I found myself in battle with the Jabberwock."

At this the crowd burst into wild applause, and Alice looked embarrassed until the excitement subsided. "It's been hard for me to be divided between two worlds. But I finally feel like I've found the one that's my real home. I hope you will all be as happy to have me here as I will be to join you."

The applause was even louder and wilder at this. Mirana stepped up on the dais and gave Alice an embrace, and suddenly the Hatter was there too, planting an enthusiastic kiss on Alice's lips, prompting howls from the crowd.

"Our champion!" Mirana shouted over the noise. "Do make her welcome!"

After this there was dancing—Casiphia and Ilosovic, as always, comporting themselves with grace and style (and comments made too quietly for anyone else to hear)—and more treats and libations, and general festivity. As the sun grew lower in the sky and a cool breeze began to stir over the castle grounds, the queen's subjects began gradually taking their leave to return home to rest and talk over the events of the day.

Mirana found Stayne and Casiphia near one of the food pavilions, and with a tug at his sleeve, she pulled him aside again. Expecting another question about Casiphia, he was utterly gobsmacked when Mirana said, "Ilosovic Stayne, I have seen enough of your true character now to feel comfortable in asking you this. Would you care to take on the training of the youth who come to the castle to learn swordsmanship?

"It seems too soon to offer you any sort of position with my guard. But if matters continue as they have, and if my lady-in-waiting supports you and believes in you as she has, I believe that might be something to consider for the future."

Stayne swallowed hard, wondering if Mirana were about to shriek, "Just teasing!" and dart off into the crowd. But she did not, merely looked at him with her large dark eyes expectant.

"Well...yes, your majesty," he finally choked out. "I would like that very much."

"Good," the queen smiled. "I believe that as you were once one of those youth, you will remember what it was like being new here, and you will know what it is they need to learn to be of service here.

"You do know that I will be watching you, of course," she cautioned. "I presume that my trust in you will not be unfounded."

"No, not at all," he said. "I fell into too many unfortunate accidents over the years not to appreciate my good fortune now. I would not take advantage of your faith and generosity."

"Very good, then," Mirana smiled. "You should go and tell your lady the news."

And so he did, with the benefit of seeing her smile even more brilliantly than he had earlier that day.

"I never knew life could come together like this," he said to her that night as they watched the moon rise from their terrace. "Not my life, at any rate. I'd certainly seen it happen to others, and it did not make me feel any more content with my own."

"Fortune and effort and a good heart," Casiphia said. "That is all I can guess.

"But don't worry, I promise to keep your good heart a secret. The rest of the world will have to discover that on its own."

Ilosovic laughed. "My lady, my love, my confidante."

"For always," she replied.

~ fin ~