"He's due back form Boarderland at any moment," said Queen Genevieve. "But
since the rest of Wonderland is here, I suggest you try to enjoy yourself for
their sake. That's interesting, don't you think?"
They watched as a man floated down from the sky with what looked like a
hollow mushroom cap strapped to his back.
"It's pretty good, I suppose," said Alyss, "but it'd be better if it were
furry."
And with that, the mushroom contraption was suddenly covered with fur, its
inventor falling to the ground with a thump.
Queen Genevieve frowned.
"He's late," Alyss said. "He promised he'd be here. I don't understand why he
had to make a trip so close to my birthday."
There were reasons, as the queen well knew. Intelligence had indicated that
they may have already waited too long. Unconfirmed reports suggested Redd was
growing more powerful, outfitting her troops for an attack, and Genevieve was no
longer sure that her military could provide adequate defense. She was as keen as
Alyss for King Nolan's return, but she had determined to enjoy the day's
festivities.
"Ooh, look at that," she said, pointing at a woman wiggling as she walked so
as to keep a large hoop swinging round and round her waist." That looks
diverting."
"It'd be more fun if it had fountains of water coming out of it," Alyss said,
and immediately the hoop was spurting water from tiny holes all along its
surface, the surprised inventor still wiggling to keep it swinging round and
round.
"Birthday or not, Alyss," Queen Genevieve said, "I don't think it's nice to
show off."
The fur on the first-ever parachute vanished. The fountains of water on the
newly invented hula hoop dried up. The power of Alyss' imagination had made them
appear and disappear. Imagination was an important part of life in Wonderland,
and Alyss had the most powerful imagination ever seen in a seven year-old
Wonderlander. But as with any formidable talent, Alyss' imagination could be
used for good or ill, and the queen saw mild reasons for concern. Hardly one
revolution of the Thurmite moon had passed since Alyss' last incident: Impatient
with young Jack of Diamonds for some childish indiscretion, she's imagined his
trousers filled with slick, squiggling gwormmies. Jack of Diamonds had said he
"felt something funny," looked down, and saw that his trousers were moving,
alive. He'd been having nightmares ever since. Alyss claimed not to have done it
on purpose, which may or may not have been true, Genevieve couldn't tell. Alyss
didn't yet have full control of her imaginative powers, but the girl would say
anything to get out of trouble.
"You will be the strongest queen yet," she told her daughter. "Your
imagination will be the crowning achievement of the land. But Alyss, you must
work hard to develop it according to the guiding principles of the Heart
dynasty—love, justice, and duty to the people. An undisciplined imagination is
worse than no imagination at all. It can do more harm. Remember what happened to
your aunt Redd."
"I know," Alyss said sulkily. She had never met her aunt Redd, but she'd
heard storied about the woman for as long as she could remember. She didn't
bother trying to understand it all; it was history—boring boring boring. But she
knew that to be like her aunt Redd wasn't good.
"Now that's enough lecturing for one princess' birthday," Queen Genevieve
said. She clapped her hands and the parachute and hula hoop passed into the
Heart Crystal, much to the joy of their inventors.
An empty pair of King Nolan's boots floated out from behind the balcony door
and began to dance in front of the brooding princess.
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