Dawna: 23
Pixie: 21

If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance - George Benard Shaw

The pale Queen was bored out of her mind. With at least four-time consuming meetings a day, a cry baby living next to her bedroom and a crown on her head whose weight got heavier with everyday her mind was stressed and absolutely bored. None of the nobles mattered to her and none of them seemed to be able to hold her interest for longer than a few minutes, yet she was forced to listen to their boring words.

Her Queendom was suffering because of the failed harvest. Children were hungry, elderly were dying and none of it mattered to the pale woman. All she cared about was the smaller, dotted woman and her adorable child that walked around the castle freely. For someone who had managed to shut most people out for her entire live she could not help but to grow closer to the other woman. Dawna would never admit it out loud, but she adored the two.

'Was that all for today?' the young Queen asked while the nobles bowed to her. 'Great, I will make sure to reach out to you soon. Have a very lovely evening and thank you for your services.'

The men walked out, leaving the pale woman alone again. A deep sigh left her lips as her ears caught the sound of a door opening nearby. It was probably one of the men again, most likely the one that had been sitting next to her during the meeting. He had been drooling over the white-haired woman and had given her complements that were unsuitable for the situation.

'What do you want?' her voice asked rather harshly. A soft giggle filled the room, causing her blue eyes to look up in surprise to find Pixie standing in the door opening with a frown on her forehead.

'Rough day?' she asked while slowly coming closer. 'Let me guess, the nobles were boring, their topics were boring, and you are too bored to talk about another failed harvest. Am I right?'

'How do you always get it right?' the white-haired woman laughed. 'Yes, I am bored out of my mind and I would really, really like a drink. Will you fetch me one?'

'What am I, your dog?'

'More like an auxiliary.'

The dotted woman could not stop a laugh from leaving her lips while she climbed on the Queens desk.' Well, as your assistant its my solemn duty to help you relax after a stressful day. Therefore, we should head out.'

'Are we going somewhere? Where are you taking me?'

'You'll see.'

A frown appeared on Dawnas head as she looked at the other woman with question in her eyes. 'I am not coming with you to a place unknown. Perhaps you do not know me as well as you think you do.'

'Do you trust me?' Pixie suddenly asked, causing the other woman to be caught off her guard. 'Well, do you?'

A short silence fell. Their eyes stayed locked firmly before the woman with the blue eyes broke the contact. 'I might,' her voice whispered. 'And I might not. Now tell me, where are we going.'

The dotted woman hoisted her body off the desk before walking to the door. 'I guess it's up to you whether or not you want to find out where Im going. The carriage leaves in ten minutes, so either come with me and find out where I'm taking you or stay here and forever wonder where I was going to take you. The choice is yours, Madame Queen.'

Dawna decided to trust the other woman and ended up arriving just in time for the carriage to leave. She had changed and was wearing a shorter dress with a long coat wrapped around her shoulders. The pale Queen was completely dressed in black; even her crown was black.

'Glad to see you feeling optimistic,' the dotted woman spoke as her eyes wandered her body. 'Getting ready for a funeral.'

'Yes, yours if this little getaway turns out to be an excuse for you to murder me or in case you are taking me to a place with many elderly or children.'

Pixie shook her head before torturing her bottom lip with her teeth. 'Not everyone is out to get you, you do realise that. Right?'

'What are you talking about?' the Queen asked with raised eyebrows, feeling confused about the other woman's words.

'Well, you always assume that people are out to hurt you or to betray you. But not everyone is.'

Dawna scoffed softly before straightening her back. 'I do not know what you are talking about. However, if anyone ever decides to take a shot at me, I will overpower them within seconds. There is no real threat, I am never truly in danger.'

'It's not danger that I'm talking about; I'm talking about emotional connection. I know that you have pushed everyone away after your brother's death besides your aunt and Looky. I know that you never had a friend until you met me, and I know that you hate discussing your feelings. All I want to do is to get to know you better and I know that this scares you. Yet, you don't push me away like the others. Why is that?'

'First of all, do not feel flattered. I am not pushing people away because I am afraid of emotional connection; I push them away because I do not need those imbeciles in my life. I do not wish to discuss simple matters like my love life with others, I do not wish to listen to others talk about boring things for hours.'

'Then why do you talk to me?'

'Because you are not boring,' the pale woman spoke. 'You are quite clever and I very much enjoy listening to you enumerating facts, even though I really do not care about diseases and all those other things you tell me. You truly are a clever young woman, such a shame you waste all that cleverness.'

'I'm not wasting it; I simply never got a chance to do anything with it.'

'What are you talking about?'

'Have you looked around, Dawna? There aren't many schools around and even if there are, they are too expensive. My parents run a soap business, not a gold mine. Its quite expensive to go to school, but even if I could afford it, it would be impossible since no one would take me seriously. A woman, studying? A female doctor? A female dentist? Everyone would laugh at me.'

Suddenly, the pale woman grabbed her hand in hers. 'Many men laughed at me too, you know. A female, alone on the throne? No, not many people would have that. So, I killed a few of them and send many, many treats. People only realise what it is they are dealing with if there is death involved. They have tried to take me down multiple times too, but I refused. It is impossible to be loved by everyone, so I choose to give up trying and to force their respect, using fear as a guidance.'

'So your great advice is to kill a bunch of assholes and spread fear over the realm? Is that it?' the dotted woman spoke with a familiar frown resting between her eyebrows. 'Now I know why you aren't a psychologist or anything. That advice is horrible.'

Dawna could not stop a laugh from leaving her plump lips. 'Perhaps to you, but it works for me.'

'Really? Is that why you have been alone your entire life?'

Luckily for the pale Queen, the carriage stopped before Pixies words faded to the background. Her blue eyes looked with anger and hurt to the other woman as she smiled sweetly.

'Shall we then?'

The white-haired woman licked her upper teeth angrily before nodding anyways. They had been travelling for too long and her legs were starting to feel numb.

'You lead the way,' Dawna spoke. 'Assistant.'

The dotted woman chuckled softly before starting to walk towards the forest. Dawna recognised the village as Pixies hometown and started to wonder why it was that she was brought with her to this place. Doubtlessly, the other woman was going to share some youth sentiment and the pale woman would have to pretend that she cared. Maybe, just maybe, part of her did care; although she would never admit this out loud.

'Are we almost there?' the Queen asked after they had been walking in a silence for at least fifteen minutes. 'Because I am strongly regretting coming out here with you.'

'Could you just shut up for a second, we are almost there.'

Dawna rolled her eyes again but stayed quiet until they reached their destination. It was an abandoned piece of forest with no path and no other signs of human interruption with nature. A high tree stood in the middle of it, surrounded by a small lake filled with crystal clear water and other smaller trees.

'Why are you showing me this tree?'

'Well,' the dotted woman stuttered with confusion in her eyes. 'Because this is where my tree house used to be. I build it with my opa* when he was still alive. It should be here, right here. It was high and it was built around the tree. There were small windows and a small door which made it nearly impossible for him to climb in the house. It had a long staircase made out of wood and it used to be right there.'

The pale woman saw the worry in her eyes and snapped her fingers while distracting the other woman by looking her in the eye. 'Was it something like that?'

Pixie looked up again and saw something that was meant to look like her old tree house hanging above the ground in the tree. A smile directly crawled on her lips as she looked at her Queen.

'Yes, something like that,' she smiled happily. 'Do you want to join me?'

The pale woman hesitated while looking at the high house. 'I think I will pass on this one, thank you very much.'

A smirk now took over the place on her lips as she watched the other woman. 'Are you, my frightening Queen afraid of heights? Really, is this really happening?'

'I am not afraid of heights, I just happen to avoid them most of the time. If possible, of course.'

'Of course,' Pixie repeated. 'So, will you come with me?'

Dawna looked at the house doubtfully before nodding. 'Alright, but you have to go first.'

Eventually, the two made it to the little tree house. They had to force themselves through the door, but once they had they got to enjoy the beauty of their surroundings.

'You never told me that you had a grandfather,' the pale woman spoke as she settled herself in the comfortable pillows.

'How did you otherwise think that I could be here? If I never had a grandfather then I would never have had a father, which means that I would never have been born.'

'I know that, little miss cleverness. I was just wondering why you never speak of him, or your father in that matter.'

This touched a nerve, Dawna could tell that her words affected the other woman by just looking at her.

'They both died, there really isn't anything else to say about it.'

'They might have died, but so did your husband and you constantly talk about him.'

Pixie shrugged before leaning back into the pile of soft pillows. 'His death is very recent.'

'When did your grandpa and father die?'

'Opa died when I was five years old, my papa died last year actually,' the dotted woman spoke. 'Before Mathias got murdered.'

'I think you are close to winning a trophy for most diseased loved ones,' Dawna joked with a serious look in her eyes. 'How is it possible that this has not killed you yet.'

'Because I wouldn't let it kill me. Grieve and loss is awful but it's up to you to decide how you deal with it. I decided to not let it hold me down. Dont get me wrong, I miss them every day, I truly do and I don't think that their deaths were justified but I can't change it by constantly thinking about them.'

'How did they die?'

'My opa died of starvation and illness, my father was murdered by some gang members and you know how Mathias lost his life,' the dotted woman spoke with pain in her voice. 'Their deaths were all unnecessary.'

'They could all have been prevented, is that what you are saying?

'I'm, sort off. If there would have been enough food and good care my opa could have survived, if my papa didnt have to get involved in crimes to support his family he would have been alive and if Mathias hadn't pissed off whomever it was he pissed off he would have been alive.'

'Hold on a minute, are you saying that I had something to do with all of their deaths?' the pale Queen suddenly asked with a harsh voice. 'Is that why you brought me here? To do a miserably attempt to make me feel guilty.'

'Perhaps I'm,' Pixie spoke while her eyes refused to look in a certain pair of blue ones. 'I'm not trying to be offensive or anything, but people are dying out there for no good reason. Children are starving to death and adults die trying to create a better life for their families, while I know that you could save all of them by just snapping in your fingers. I've seen what you capable of and Im convinced that you can save them. They are your people after all.'

'So what? I have to care about the people that tried to kill me? I have to give food and supplies to the ones that murdered my brother in cold blood? I was deemed to marry a pig and I was forced to have sex with him, no one came to help me so why would I bother to help them. Huh? How is that fair?'

'It isn't,' the dotted woman answered. 'What happened to you wasn't right, but you can't blame everyone on that. Your father is the one that forced you to marry Rafferty and Rafferty was the one who raped you, if you will. This isn't the peoples fault and you know this, deep down you do. Why is it so hard to help someone else? You did it for me, remember? You saved Loöys and you saved me, so many times. So why can't you do it again, but then with more people?'

'Because I do not care about them,' the pale Queen suddenly sneered. 'And right now, I'm wondering whether or not saving you was a smart move.'

With her blood boiling and a feeling of betrayal in her veins the white-haired woman snapped her fingers and disappeared. She would not stand it; she would not allow anyone to insult her like that. Dawna was Queen and she decided what happened, not some woman she had met not even a year ago.

Therefore, she fled the scene, leaving a certain raven-haired woman alone to deal with her thoughts.

* Opa: means grandfather or grandpa in Dutch