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Lizzie’s hand starts to hurt when the clock strikes the last quarter, and she decides to call it a day. She’s quite sure Briar would be happy with the progress, anyway, but there are parts of the skirt she couldn’t get quite right and had wanted to fix before bed, but it would have to wait until tomorrow. As she drapes the mannequin with a light fabric, she hears Duchess enter the room.
It was past curfew, but neither of them say anything. They never do, really. They were friends when it mattered, like when she and Justine hold howcases at school events, and Lizzie is thoroughly overjoyed at seeing them perform. They were never friends outside of it. Duchess talked too much, and Lizzie had the distinct feeling Duchess never really liked her. Except that--Duchess is crying.
“Duchess?” Lizzie says. “Are you…”
Lizzie isn’t good at this. Maddie’s the one who comforts, and makes tea. Kitty’s the one who trips the bad guy, and makes someone laugh.
“Are you okay?” Lizzie says slowly.
Duchess doesn’t look at her as she sits at her bed end, composing her tears. “If you’re really concerned, just forget about this.”
Lizzie notices that her voice lacks of any of the usual venom it would often have. So Lizzie makes her tea. She isn’t Maddie or Kitty, but she’s from Wonderland like them. She can still make a mean cup of tea.
She hands the tiny cup and saucer to Duchess. She hesitates, and Lizzie thinks she’s wasted her efforts, but then Duchess takes it, her hand steadying as steam flies from the cup.
“Did you…” Duchess clears her throat. “Did you know about Daring and Rosabella?”
Lizzie understands, then, but stills her composure. Duchess was very much like a swan sometimes, always ready to leap at the sight of danger.
“Yes.” she says. She’s sat across from Duchess in her own bed. Lizzie felt it was too awkward to sit beside her, though she thinks now it was something Maddie would’ve done.
Duchess nods once. And they’re quiet for a long time while Duchess sips her tea. Lizzie notices, albeit with relief, that Duchess doesn’t cringe or make a face at it. In all honesty, she thought she’d sooner find Duchess destroying the storybook of legends than seeing her cry.
“Have you ever read my story, Lizzie?” Duchess asks.
Lizzie has. She’s read everyone’s stories, mostly because she thinks it’s important to be well-read. She’s only liked a few of them. Duchess’ was amongst the saddest.
“Yes.” Lizzie says.
Duchess gives her a wry smile. “My prince… he doesn’t even know me enough to tell me from an impostor. And maybe it’s my fault. Maybe I’ll be like this in my story. Maybe I’ll make it hard for him to know me.”
Lizzie is unprepared for this, and is suddenly, keenly aware of how small Duchess seems, without the stage lights and layers of make-up that emphasize her expressions. She was a girl like Lizzie, she supposes. In love with a boy who would never love her back.
The thing is, Lizzie was difficult, too. But she had Maddie and Kitty, and Alistair and Bunny. Now she even had Chase. She was difficult, but she was never alone.
Lizzie shakes her head. “It is not your fault. Your prince makes a fatal mistake, but it isn’t your fault.”
Duchess gives her that smile again. “ You don’t even like me.”
Lizzie is taken aback, and she wrangles her expression to remain neutral. She wouldn’t call Duchess her best friend, sure, but Lizzie didn’t like most people outside of Wonderland. And it wasn’t their fault, either.
“I do not like most people.” She says neutrally. She’s terrible at this. But she’s given Duchess tea, so maybe it’s time for the flip-side: making her laugh.
“It does not matter if I like you.” Lizzie says. “What matters is that Maddie likes you. You would have to be fairy awful for her to hate you.”
Duchess doesn’t quite laugh, but she smiles a different smile from the one before.
Lizzie’s hurrying to tuck in her shirt. Darling was arriving at Ever After High today, along with everyone else from Wonderland. They’d been travelling back and forth since the portals re-opened, making sure all magic was only odd in the Wonderlandian way. She’d travel, too, to make sure no residual magic would undo the portals. The trips didn’t always take long, but sometimes they’d find an oddity or two, and it always took time to resolve them. It’d been almost 2 months since she’d seen her friends.
Maddie and Kitty were already at the entrance waiting for them.
Lizzie’s aware there’s a good chance Daring might be there, too. What she doesn’t expect is Apple pacing beside Kitty.
She gives Kitty a look, and Kitty gives her one back that thoroughly communicates: I have no idea.
Daring arrives shortly after with Dexter in tow, and greets them in his usual Daring fashion, of course without the flirting. Then the portal opens and her friends are spilling through, and for a moment her heart is so full she forgets how broken it was a few moments ago.
Alistair looks the same, but his clothes had gotten shorter. Another growth spurt, Lizzie supposes. Maddie and Kitty are running to hug him.
“When did you get so tall?” Maddie says, hugging him first.
Kitty topples them over. “Now we’re all the same height.”
Lizzie can’t hide her smile. Maddie and Kitty eventually let go, opting to lay on the grass as Maddie looks into her hat for a growth potion. Lizzie lays on the grass, too.
“Worry not, Alistair.” she says. “I’ll beat you without a shrinking potion.”
Bunny is next. She’s in her, well, bunny form, but in a second she transforms into her human form, and Lizzie is relieved she doesn’t seem taller. She could be wrong, though.
“What are we doing on the ground?” Bunny says.
“Scheming,” Maddie says, still going through her hat, although Lizzie thinks she’s looking for something else now.
Kitty nods in agreement. “Did you get taller, too?”
“No.” Bunny says, laying beside Lizzie.
Kitty nods again. “Good. Or else.”
And Bunny laughs, too.
Chase is next. He looks excited to see them, and then promptly confused to find them on the ground, and, finally, a little done as he sits beside Bunny.
Darling arrives carrying a helmet that is distinctly not hers. Dexter laughs as he greets her, and Daring twirls her around when he Lizzie can feel Maddie about to explode from the anticipation; she was terrible at hiding her excitement. But Apple is patiently waiting to greet Darling and Lizzie honestly does not know how it might go.
Apple goes for a very formal handshake.
“Welcome back.” she says. Her smile is as bright as Lizzie’s ever seen, which is saying a lot since Apple is never not smiling.
Darling looks taken aback for a moment, but quickly recovers. She takes Apple’s hand and nods curtly, but she’s smiling, too.
Lizzie thinks there’s something there, but she can’t think on it too much, since Maddie’s practically running a sprint to reach Darling. Their conversation is entirely incomprehensible, even to Lizzie.
Lizzie’s missed Darling, she knows this, but she only understands how much when she hugs her. On paper, they shouldn’t get along. Darling wasn’t even from Wonderland; she was an outsider in a group of outsiders, but somehow that only made Lizzie understand her more.
“Don’t fall in love with me now,” she says jokingly.
That would be awful and terrible, Lizzie thinks. Considering she already had feelings for Darling’s brother.
They make for the school grounds.
Lizzie doesn’t know how he gets there, but she almost jumps as he nudges her arm.
“Thank you for sending my sister off the last time,” he says. “I’d have gone, but I had an Advanced Heroics final.”
“Of course.” she says, simply.
They walk in silence and it isn’t awkward but it also isn’t not awkward. Lizzie’s still too happy that her friends are back. Rosabella could walk in and propose to Daring, and Lizzie would still be smiling. It would probably be a beautiful wedding, anyway.
It’s a warm morning. And Lizzie refuses to spend it heartbroken over a boy.
Saturdays were always quite hectic. Lizzie spent most of them switching between homework and dress comissions. Kitty sometimes swings by to do homework with her, but she was very easily bored, and their study sessions more often than not just turned to games of 3d chess. Maddie always reserved Saturdays for Raven. Lizzie and Kitty were welcome to join, but at most they’d stay in the Hatters’ teashop.
Today was an exception, though. Lizzie halted any incoming commissions so she could finish her homework before Saturday. Maddie didn’t even have to tell Raven about her Saturday plans; Raven already had tea to go from her father’s shop so she could have them at the dorms while Maddie was in town.
Today, they were buying non-armor clothes for Chase. He’d protested a few times—something about having the clothes, just not always liking them— but eventually he relented when they promised they wouldn’t dress him in anything he didn’t like. So far, they’d gone to 3 different shops, none of which they could find anything they all liked.
Their last hope was a tiny store by the corner of town. It had weird pieces of every sort of style imaginable and so they figured they had to find something here.
Something about being able to sew: shopping was tedious. Either the pieces didn’t fit, or the fabric was wrong, or you could make them on your own, and with much better quality. Lizzie would be more than happy to sew Chase clothes, but she wasn’t as well versed with men’s clothing as she was with women’s.
By the time they found enough pieces that warranted a visit to the fitting room, Lizzie was absolutely exhausted. She opted to sit with Alistair on the rather uncomfortable chairs as Chase tried on the pieces.
“I think she might like Chase.” Alistair says, quietly.
Lizzie knows exactly who Alistair is talking about, because, and she means this with no exaggeration, literally everyone knows who Alistair is talking about.
Lizzie frowns. “She does not.”
Bunny was at the other corner of the store, where Kitty was looking at pieces online they might be able to buy. Maddie was on her mirror phone, too, trying to text Ashlynn if she had any shoes that were less than 2 inches of heel.
“Look how much effort she’s putting into buying him nice clothes!” he whisper-yells.
Lizzie is on the verge of pinching her nose. “Alistair, I do not know how you haven’t noticed, but you too are putting in a lot of effort to buy him nice clothes.”
“That’s because it’s almost summer and he’s still wearing 6 layers of metal!”
“What makes you think Bunny has a different reason?” Lizzie says. She levels her gaze with his, and he shifts to a much more unsure stance.
“Sorry,” he says. “I just… she’s my best friend, you know? And love is scary. The romantic kind.”
Lizzie remembers Duchess. How her prince freely uses the word love before he can even tell her from an impostor. How her heart is unnoticed when it was so full of longing.
“I think…” Lizzie says. “Even if it is scary, you must tell them. You have a chance not many have. Some of us are destined for strangers we only meet in our stories. Others are in love with people who may never love them back. You and Bunny are destined for no one, except maybe for each other.”
Before Lizzie can feel fully embarrassed about her speech, Chase opens the curtain. It’s a straightforward enough attire: red shirt with a leather jacket and slacks that had studs on the ends. But Chase didn’t seem to like it, though he was met with several ooohs and aahhhs
“Not liking it?” Kitty says.
Chase shrugs. “It’s a nice outfit. Just... not me, I guess.”
Maddie looks up from her phone.
“Hmmm.” she says. “Ever considered a dress, Chase?”
Chase considers it for a moment. “I’d be too tall for them, don’t you think?”
“Not all of them, I’m sure!” Bunny says. “If you are, Lizzie could fix it right up for you.”
“For a fee, of course.” Lizzie says. She means it as a joke but Chase looks sincere when he says “Of course.”
It takes them all but 5 minutes to find a dress they think would suit his hair and that Chase thinks is pretty. When he opens the curtain, he looks slightly unsure, but more comfortable than with the other looks. They all rattle a number of compliments.
“How do you feel about the dress?” Kitty asks.
“I like the skirt!” he says, and then frowns. “Think you could make it go past my knees, Lizzie?”
“In my sleep.” She fake yawns.
And he’s beaming.
The cashier gives them a discount; says the fashion show was lovely to watch, and sends them off with a gift card for if they ever wanted to drop by again.
Alistair walks slower than his usual pace.
“What you said a while ago,” he says. “Thank you.”
Lizzie nods and nudges his arm, just to let him know her irritation wasn’t so serious.
“And Lizzie,” he says, even more serious than he looked before. “You don’t have to tell me anything, but you could. I wouldn’t tell anyone, you know.”
Lizzie wants to laugh; it’s an insane thing to think, that she could tell anyone else, that she could say it out loud. But she doesn’t laugh. Alistair is looking at her like he already knows, and suddenly she feels too seen.
“I’m alright.” she says, and she wants it to sound true, but there’s an edge in her voice when she says it.
Alistair either doesn’t hear it, or chooses to ignore it. “Anyway, I’m going to dye my hair.”
“What?”
“Yeah. I’m thinking I could match with Maddie.” he says, as if he was telling her what he had for lunch and not that they were going to spend all of Monday bleaching his hair.
The jabbers are already making a fuss by the time Lizzie gets to the Grove. She grabs the flies from the trap and starts feeding them one by one, though it certainly didn’t stop the others from babbling. They didn’t quite look like the Jabberwocky, but they were as annoying.
Hunter arrives a minute later with Daring, and Lizzie does her best to wrangle in her nerves.
“Hey, Lizzie,” Hunter greets as he grabs the garden hose. “Daring hasn’t seen the Grove in a while, so I told him he could come. Hope you don’t mind.”
Lizzie did mind, but she wasn’t going to say it out loud. It would be as bad as saying I was in love with you. “Of course not.”
Daring grabs one of the gloves and inspects the jabbers. “They’ve gotten so big!”
Lizzie cracks a smile. Wonderlandian plants weren’t easy to grow, let alone outside of Wonderland. “Yes.”
Lizzie! Who is this boy? The jabbers all chirped at once. Who is he, Lizzie? What a handsome prince!
“They’ve got good taste.” he laughs. “ I didn’t know they talked this much!”
“Yes,” Lizzie says. “Unfortunately, they also never shut up.”
Daring bellowed, loud and true.
They spend the afternoon quietly, tending to the grass and the several plants. Hunter helps Lizzie fashion a birdhouse for the few robins who chose to stay near the grove, but his phone starts ringing halfway through.
Hunter frowns. “Sorry, it’s my dad.”
He leaves the grove to answer the phone, and then it’s just Lizzie and Daring.
“The plants have grown so much.” he said.
Lizzie says something, though she doesn’t know quite why. “Has Rosabella ever seen the grove?”
Daring shakes his head. “I don’t think so.”
“She would like the hedgehogs, I think.”
Daring smiles, a soft smile that Lizzie has never seen before. “Me too.”
“She should come.” Lizzie says, ungloving her hand. “If she’d like, of course.”
Daring grins at her. “She’d love that, thank you.”
Lizzie nods once and thinks this is okay . If she was going to tear her heart out and feed it to the wolves, she would only survive it in the Grove.
“I’m terrible at this.” Darling says, and Lizzie can’t disagree.
They were out on the field playing croquet, or at least that was the goal. More accurately, Lizzie was playing croquet and Darling was fumbling with the mallet and fetching the balls.
“You will improve.” Lizzie says, because croquet took practice and skill but so did sword-fighting, and if Darling could learn to wield a blade, surely she could learn to aim a mallet.
Darling tries again, and the ball makes it past 2 wickets before stopping.
“My mom used to take me to play, you know.”
Lizzie hums as she takes her turn. “I didn’t know it was so common here.”
“It’s not.” Darling says. “But my grandparents played. And every summer we’d go visit them. We’d do a bunch of stuff; have scavenger hunts or family balls.”
“And play croquet.” Lizzie suggests.
“And play croquet.” Darling nods.
“You don’t seem to enjoy it.” Lizzie says as Darling loses another ball.
“I never got to join in on the fun stuff.” she laughs. “Mostly I’d learn to be a proper princess. How to bake and play the harp and how to sing.”
Lizzie considers it for a moment. “The harp does not sound like a bad idea.”
“I’m terrible at it,” Darling refutes, fetching the ball from behind the bushes. “And I genuinely tried .”
“Like croquet?” Lizzie teases.
“Like croquet.” Darling agrees.
“What would you play?”
“Hm?”
“On the harp,” Lizzie expounds. “What would you play?”
“There was a play we’d always go to.” Darling says after a moment. “It was about the only event I actually enjoyed. Solace and the Sun . I always tried to play the end of act I, but I dropped the harp sooner than I did learn the song.”
“I was never good at instruments either.” Lizzie says.
Darling frowns. “At least you can play croquet!”
The rest of the afternoon is spent retrieving the wooden balls, and removing the wickets from the grass. Darling is humming a tune that Lizzie does not recognize, but assumes is the last song of Solace and the Sun. She understands why Darling spends a whole summer trying to learn it; the melody is soft and soulful, perfect for the harp.
She wonders what the lyrics are.
Lizzie was first in line to buy tickets for the showcase. Ever After High had a myriad of extracurricular activities, but the showcase was by far the most exciting one. There was practically no student who wasn’t involved in some way, whether as performers or audiences.
Apple comes running a minute later, and flips the sign on the booth to open.
“7 tickets, please.” Lizzie says.
Apple smiles as she types on her mirror pad. “You’re all coming, then?”
Lizzie nods once. It’s still rather new that all her friends were back. That she even would call them that.
“And Darling?” Apple says, albeit quietly.
Lizzie suppresses a smile. “Yes, I bought her a ticket also. But I can accidentally lose one if you’d—“
“No, no,” Apple says, handing her all seven. She’s smiling brightly at Lizzie. “I just wanted to make sure she was coming. Thank you, though.”
Before Lizzie can ask, she hears the music from inside the ampitheater. The doors are open only slightly, but it’s enough to see Duchess practising inside. Her make-up isn’t quite done, but Lizzie recognizes her dress.It was dyed a periwinkle color, but it was the same one from last year’s showcase.
“It’ll be a hexciting performance, don’t you think?”
Lizzie nods in agreement. “Dress rehearsals?”
“Yes,” Apple nods. “Should be the last until the actual day.”
Lizzie leaves with a hundred ideas floating through her head.
They’re at the Hatter’s tea shop to give Chase his dress. They were at the actual kitchen, which the Mad Hatter allowed them to fashion into some sort of changing room with the table cloths and large teacups hanging around. Maddie was rather busy with the customers, but her father shooed her away to join her friends. Chase’s eyes sparkle as he holds the altered dress up.
“I made some changes to the sleeve.” Lizzie says, albeit nervously. “I hope you do not mind.”
He holds it up to his chest. “I love it. Thank you, Lizzie.”
Lizzie visibly relaxes. It was one thing to make dresses for clients. It was a completely different thing to make dresses for people you care about.
“Try it on!” Kitty says, and Chase oblliges. He disappears into the teacup for a moment, but then asks, “Lizzie, can you help me with something?”
“Oh, sure,” Lizzie says and is careful to close her eyes as she enters.
Chase laughs when he sees her. “You can open your eyes, I just need help with the second layer.”
“Oh, of course.” Lizzie says, and fashions the hoop for him. The second layer goes on neatly, and Chase is suddenly holding her hand.
“What?” Lizzie says, scared to actually ask if it was something with the dress. “What is it?”
“Lizzie,” he says earnestly. “What if my mom gets angry about the dress?”
Lizzie feels a fierce protectiveness for the red-haired boy, then. “I will have to behead her.”
Chase laughs. “No, no. Please don’t behead her.”
“You cannot stop me.” she says, and she returns to perfecting the second layer.
“It’s so beautiful, Lizzie.” Chase says and Lizzie grins at him.
They step outside and the room erupts with compliments. The Hatter arrives shortly after, paying compliments to both Chase and Lizzie, and sets down tea for everyone at their make-shift table.
“We could share a mom.” Lizzie whispers as Chase adds milk to his cup.
“What?” he whispers back.
“My mom could be your mom, too, of you’d like. People mix them up all the time, anyway.”
Chase laughs once more. Lizzie thinks she’s getting quite good at comforting people.
Ashlynn spends most Saturdays at Glass Slipper. She worked as manager, shoe-maker and, at times, shoe -fixer. Lizzie was a good seamstress, though her talents abruptly ended with garments. All attempts to make footwear were…. mediocre to say the least.
Ashlynn is pinning the pattern down when Lizzie arrives. The bells at the door ring, and Ashlynn is stepping out from the back.
“Welcome to Glass Slipper, how may I–oh, Lizzie! What brings you here?”
Lizzie explains. Ashlynn looked quite busy before Lizzie arrived, but she was paying full attention to their conversation, even sketching on her notepad all the descriptions Lizzie had given her.
“It’s also a secret, so…”
“I won’t tell anyone.” Ashlynn says, and Lizzie trusts that she won’t.
The hike to the highest hill in the Enchanted Forest was not exactly easy. For Lizzie, it was quite worth it. She was able to see the grove from a different angle, and Shuffle always loved the view. When they reached the top of the hill, they were allowed a five minute break before they’d have to tame dragons. Lizzie sits near the edge of the cliff, the view of the grove being clearest. Apple takes a seat next to her. Lizzie half expects Raven to follow; they’d been practically inseparable the past few days. But Raven doesn’t come, and it’s just Lizzie and Apple.
“The Grove looks beautiful.” Apple says, in a gentle tone she never seemed to lose.
Lizzie nods as thanks. She wonders if this kindness is inherent in Apple, and she looks at Apple–really looks at her–for the first time since she’d met her. She understands why Daring would so badly fight for a future with her. Apple must notice her then, because she begins to shift nervously.
“About the showcase,” Apple begins. “I really would ask Darling to go but I’ve got, well… other plans.”
Lizzie thinks Apple and Daring have broken a lot of hearts, but never on purpose. On purpose, they were kind and lovely.
“You wouldn’t hurt her.” Lizzie says. “I know.”
Apple looks relieved then, and Lizzie feels a knot in her heart loosen. Darling and Apple. Apple and Darling.
Lizzie doesn’t think she’s close enough with Apple to ask her a question. Still, Apple notices her staring, and gives her an amused smile.
“What is it?” Apple says, gently.
The question stays in her throat. Were you ever in love with Daring?
“Nothing.” she says quickly.
“It’s okay.” Apple says, and her smile is as sure as it’s ever been. “You don’t have to tell me, but you could. I’m good at keeping secrets.”
Lizzie supposes it’s true. Apple would be the first person she would tell. This piece of her, she could not give to anyone else, she thinks. Not Maddie, Kitty or even Alistair. She’d known them her whole life, and she supposes she forever will. To let them know would mean she’d be surrounded by an open wound.
“I think I was in love with Daring.” Lizzie says quickly, before she changes her mind.
Apple’s response isn’t what she expects. “I think he loved you, too.”
Lizzie thinks it’s much worse. To have someone love you and then stop.
“I think he still does.” Apple says, and Lizzie thinks she’s much crueller than she’d originally thought. “Not romantically. But he’s like that. He’ll always care.”
Lizzie still can’t say anything.
“He’s good for a first love.” Apple says. “Believe me, I know. But please also trust me when I say that he’s not your last.”
And maybe a part of Lizzie knew, but it was different to hear it out loud.
Five days before the showcase, Lizzie’s cutting the pattern out from freshly-bought fabric. Three days, and Ashlynn’s able to send her the ballet shoes she’d requested. One day before the showcase, Lizzie is nervously waiting at the dorm for Duchess to arrive. She’d been spending more and more time at the lake, where she had felt most comfortable practising. It wasn’t quite curfew yet, but it was close. The mannequin at the end of the room was glinting against the moonlight, the actual dress covered in a thick cloth.
Duchess arrives a minute before midnight, and Lizzie stands from her bed end.
“Lizzie?” Duchess says. “Why are you awake?”
Lizzie clears her throat. “There is something I need to give you. Before the showcase.”
“Okay?” Duchess says.
Lizzie unveils the dress. It was a harder garment to make than most others, simply because it needed to be structured. It was a different white from the normal dress Duchess wore, and gold shimmered at the edges of its sleeve. She doesn’t dare look at Duchess. “I know it is not periwinkle, but white was always your color so….”
“This is… for the showcase?” Duchess asks, and her voice is as small as Lizzie feels, so she looks at her then. Her expression is unreadable.
“Yes.” Lizzie says, then quickly adds: “If you’d like, of course.”
Duchess’ expression hardens then. “If this is about me crying the other week, you don’t have to pity me.”
Lizzie is taken aback, but then quickly, she feels her anger rise. She tampers down the instinct to yell.
“It is not about last week.” she says in the most neutral tone she can manage. It doesn’t actually sound so neutral.
“Then why make me the dress?” Duchess says. “We’re not even friends.”
“I can still make you a dress.” Lizzie says. “Even if you are being a huge thorn. You do not have to wear it.”
Duchess doesn’t say anything. Instead, she takes a seat at the edge of her bed, inches away from the dress. She touches the skirt, and Lizzie cannot read her face again.
“There are also ballet flats.” Lizzie adds, and she quietly sets the shoes beneath the stand.
They’re quiet for a long time. Lizzie even wonders if the sun is up.
“You are the most talented dancer I know.” Lizzie says. She opens the door to their dorm, planning to sleep in Maddie’s room, instead. “That’s why I made the dress. Because you should feel that you are.”
The amphitheater was nearly full, a whole hour before the showcase even began. Lizzie and the rest of the Wonderlandians had fairly good seats. So did Sparrow. He seemed as nervous as Lizzie felt, perhaps also for Duchess.
“You okay?” Darling asks beside her. Her hair is stark against the darkness of the room.
Lizzie nods.
The showcase begins, and it’s a series of fairly wonderful performances. Ever After High had its fair share of odd talents and magic, and events like these only made it clearer. She loved the school in times like this, when each and every student became whole-heartedly themselves, and they were only greeted with applause and cheer.
Nearing the ballet performance, Apple enters from backstage holding a harp, and Lizzie understands, suddenly. The first notes of the melody Lizzie had heard days ago fill the room, and she can feel Darling still beside her. Apple sings the first few lines.
I wish the snowflakes
that fall white on your heart
don’t freeze cold
The harp is loud but soft. Clear but melancholic.
The day the moon sets,
In the story of you and I,
you make me a hero
I’ll give you whole my world
The whole room is silent, perhaps to listen intently to the song, perhaps to listen to a declaration of love. Either way, Lizzie doesn’t dare move. The last notes fade out and it takes all but 3 seconds for the room to erupt in a cheer, for roses to be thrown on stage. But Apple is looking only at Darling. And Darling is clapping like everyone else, but she’s crying a little bit.
Happy tears, Lizzie thinks. It isn’t until she feels a small pool on her hand that Lizzie realizes she’s crying, too. Not out of sadness, she thinks. Maybe out of happiness, too. She wipes her face, quick to make sure no one sees.
The crowd dies down, and the ballet is up. The orchestra begins playing, and Duchess steps unto stage. Lizzie feels a knot loosen in her heart. She was wearing it .
Duchess moves like a swan through the stage, and Lizzie wonders if others can see it, too. That Duchess was like them, a little bit, all hoping someone would stand in front of the room and play a song only they knew. The final third is played, and the stage turns into a small lake, where Duchess floats through, flawlessly. Lizzie can feel the whole room still.
Lizzie is suddenly, keenly aware of how proud Sparrow looks, and she feels her heart grow full. Duchess was loved, despite what she might have thought.
When Duchess bows, the whole room erupts, and Duchess looks almost surprised. But the crowd is still cheering, even after she leaves the stage, and Lizzie hopes she hears it. Hopes she never forgets the sound.
Their dorm room is quiet. Lizzie expects this; she and Duchess were never close friends. They were sitting at their own beds, Duchess neatly putting away the roses she’d received.
“Lizzie,” Duchess says. Her voice is steady, but small. “I don’t know what happened between you and Daring… but I hope you find someone that makes you as happy as this dress made me.”
Lizzie is quiet for a long time.
“I was happy to make it.” she says finally.
The jabbers never seem to shut up, least of all when there’s a new visitor. Rosabella isn’t actually tending to the plants; she was feeding the hedgehogs with Daring.
Lizzie! the jabbers say. Lizzie, who is she? Lizzie! Lizzie, what’s her name?
“Rosabella,” she says as she opens a fresh packet of seeds.
Rosabella turns her head, a smile on her face. “Nice to meet you!”
She’s very polite, Lizzie! they say.
Lizzie nods. “Yes, she is.” And she means it, too.
They work silently the rest of the time. Or, well, Lizzie was quiet. She didn’t think it would be impolite; she never really talks when doing work in the grove, a habit left over from tending to it alone. She and Hunter would sometimes talk about fixing the small shack, maybe expanding it even, but that never extended to anyone else.
Lizzie didn’t actually feel like she had to. Rosabella, to her relief, didn’t try to make small talk, and Daring was simply trying to survive the worms he was currently feeding the hedgehogs. He was failing a bit; a few worms would escape the tweezers in his hand, and he’d yelp a little bit every time, to which Rosabella would laugh.
It’s an infectious thing, happiness.
They don’t actually leave the grove after they’re done working. Alistair had given her an extra set of tea bags from Wonderland, squeezed her shoulder gently, and said Nothing that tea can’t fix.
“Thank you for the help this afternoon.” Lizzie says. And it doesn’t sound stiff because she’d practised for it not to.
“Nonsense!” Daring says. “Don’t even mention it.”
“Thank you for inviting me.” Rosabella says. “The Grove is lovely.”
It’s not an entirely wonderful afternoon, but it’s close.