Pathetic

Alicia was fast fading, which was weird because, hello, she only got fade-y when she had to go to Alfairia and what do you know, she was at the core of it...edge of it, whatever. She burst into her office where Anna was dusting up, a feather duster in her grasp and said,
"Anna get me the bag I came with please. Make sure my mobile phone is in it." 

She didn't have much time.

"The ugly, strange reticule that's rather large?" She asked, in doubt. Why would the queen want that?

"Yes," Alicia replied flatly. "That one."

The lady-in-waiting dropped her duster and rushed out the room as Alicia waited impatiently for the Advisor and the witch.

The office was a replicate of the Advisor's , except it was a tad bigger, a little more dustier and a lot less alcoholic. The office, like her rooms faced out towards the sea but unlike her chambers, the office did not have a balcony but a massive floor-to-ceiling window easily making it the most beautiful and the most scariest room in the palace whenever vertigo chose to hit you - what with the seemingly endlessness of the sea. Alicia knew that Advisor Phillips was quite jealous of the office and its magnificent view; anyone with a dull, drab office would be.
But right now, Alicia was pacing up and down, trying hard not to notice how much she was fading. The girl was oblivious to beauty of the room - which made her stumble a little and mutter "Well, damn." every other time she entered it - or the Great Sorceress, who had entered silently with her tall, writhe frame.
The sorceress had an ancient looking eyes, though Alicia knew she was no more than a few years older than her seventeen years of age. She was tall and skinny and honestly, Alicia felt that the older woman belonged on the covers of Vogue magazine than within the tall walls of an ancient castle, telling fortunes and futures and brushing black cats or whatever the greek sorceress' do in their free time.
Advisor Philips strode in breathlessly, trailed by Jakob who had not broken a single sweat, his hands casually resting in his pockets.
"Your Majesty." Philips acknowledged.

"Took you long enough," she muttered. She almost jumped when she saw the sorceress; the witch was as stealthy as a cat.  "My fingers are doing that invisible fading thing again."

"Great Sorceress?" The older man turned to the witch.

"The Summoning," she spoke in an accent best described at French with a bit of German, "it has a....malfunction of sorts, I cannot explain it."

Alicia blinked.

"What do you mean you can't explain it; you created it!"

The older woman simply shrugged.

"Is there anything we can do to stop the fading then?" asked Jakob when he saw the daggers in Alicia's eyes.
"Well," her accent thick, "I suppose I can create a portion, but it could cause more damage than good, depending on her body type, menstrual cycle and all other factors, including blood type."

"What bulls---"

"---Alicia." Advisor Phillips cautioned.

"What? She's a witch. She's supposed to know stuff. She's supposed to say abracadabra and everything should turn out okay."

"For the millionth time; she's a Sorceress. She tells the future and mixes potions. Besides, I don't think it works like that. She's not a witch."

"Of course, you're right. The witch isn't present right now, is she?" She smiled darkly as she referred to Lady Mavis. Jakob groaned in frustration.

"Enough." He began, but Alicia ignored him and turned to the sorceress.

"Great Sorceress," Alicia said her voice dangerously low as she struggled to keep herself sane, "you mean to tell me, that the only thing you can do for this  season of 'disappearing and turning into Casper the friendly ghost' depends on my period and it could actually make everything worse?"

The Sorceress stared and nodded slowly and the two medieval men looked uncomfortable at hearing such womanly topics.

"How worse?" Jakob asked.

"Well" woman said. ", she could disappear completely; to cease to exist. It is not like it couldn't happen in any case. We do not know what is happening."

The two Philips' paused seriously.

"Holy," Alicia said as she began muttering a string of colorful words.

Jakob and the advisor wildly considered her mouth for a second before he, Advisor Philips, turned to the Great Sorceress.

"Sorceress, why don't you open a portal, we send the Queen home and from there, we shall see what happens, no?" he suggested.

"That's a great idea, Uncle! Maybe if we send her back, everything will go back to normal. It should counter the fading effects." Jakob commented.
"But what if she doesn't come back? What do we do then?"

The advisor gave a hearty laugh and pet his tummy as if he had just eaten,

"There is no way she will not come back." he exclaimed, "This is where she belongs."

"Yeah, but for now, she's still right here, thank you. " Alicia closed flatly in annoyance.

Alicia didn't like being addressed like she wasn't in the room.

"You're welcome, your Majesty. Have you got everything?"

"I have what I need. But one more thing, " She said before she grabbed her "ugly reticule" which Anna had silently placed on her desk.

"Advisor Alexandré Phillips. I want to decree to everyone in the kingdom that from now on, it is punishable to use magic, excluding royals, unless it is approved of by the Queen or any of the House Leaders, and if they have approval, they are to wear pointy hats, please and thank you."

Jakob and The Advisor looked shocked and immediately put up a debate.
"But Your Highness! The kingdom runs on Magic, you can't just..."

She smiled darkly.

"I just did, gentlemen. Obviously someone is manipulating the magic around here. It can be used to physically run the kingdom, but no more than that. If you want to grow crops, you'll do it the old fashioned way and so forth."

"But Your Majesty---"

"---I could die because of this Advisor Phillips. I'm not asking you. This is an order."

He watched her, lost for words while she watched as the Great Sorceress, indeed, did some abracadabra as she muttered a spell in an ancient sound language and created a blue-green oval shaped portal which swirled like a vertical, virtual whirlwind in her office. The edges of the portal blurred slowly and sparkled like glitter.
Before she had actually lived in Alfairia for the first time, she had never believed in it but now more than ever, she was forced to believe it; magic.
Alicia sighed and wondered if this is how she was supposed to die because it was a little pathetic; what with her family not knowing exactly where she was and being in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on a tiny kingdom holding a sports bag wearing a prom dress.

Being queen was a tedious job.

~~~~~

Fank ooo for reading.