Wings - A Hamilton Fanfic - Lams, Mullette, and Jeffmads

Chapter Twenty Six

James's P.O.V.

"Greetings, young Humans," She addresses us. "My name is Charlotte Boyd the Second, but to you, I'm 'Your Majesty,' or something of the sort."

I stare cautiously at the Queen of Wing kind, who has just introduced herself. She has beautiful purple wings, and I notice that there are some gold highlights. Okay...what now?

"Ahm, my-my name is James Madison," I stammer out, then I go blank. Do I bow or something?

"Yes, and I am Alexander Hamilton, the right-hand man of Major General Washington," Alexander picks up quickly. The Queen laughs.

"Oh please, you don't need to be so formal. Jeez, we changed our policy on monarchy ages ago. My husband and I are just here to keep the tradition going," She explains, and suddenly I feel a lot better. Phew! "To be honest, I just wanted to chat. I haven't met many Humans before," The Queen examines us carefully. "Am I right in saying that you two weren't that...how do I say, upper class in the Human kingdom?" Wow, how did you guess? Did our torn clothes give it away, or was it our way of speaking? Oh wait, it's cus it's OBVIOUS. I nod and Alexander gives a curt nod as well.

"Another quick question, do you know anything on Winged history?" The Queen asks. I frown and think for a moment. Come to think of it, I don't know anything on Winged history.

"I don't know much," Alexander admits, "But I do know that once the Winged and Human species were allies," I nod along with him. The Queen's eyes glint with excitement.

"Wonderful! I'll tell you all about it, gosh I've always wanted to be a teacher!" She squeals with excitement. I smile at Alexander and sit down, legs crossed, on the soft carpet. Alexander sits as well, staring up at the Queen in wonder.

"Alright, so, this may surprise you, but a long time ago the Winged species was split up due to...well, no one knows. Some believe it was because of an earthquake, but that's sort of silly. Us Winged could've just flown over it! Others believe it was because of a tribal issue that dated back centuries, which makes more sense. What do you two think?" She inquires.

"Perhaps it was the earthquake," I say tentatively. "The sound and shakes, combined with the fact that this happened centuries ago, could mean that the ancient Winged didn't know what it was, and flew away in a state of panic," A pretty good theory if I do say so myself. Alexander suggests something along the lines of a tribal issue to do with family grudges or something, I don't really pay attention. Instead, I'm looking at the carpet. That may seem weird, but the carpet is full of illustrations beautifully designed. There are lots of Winged, some have strange hats on and some don't.

"Does this carpet show the history of the Winged?" I ask the Queen. She blinks before answering.

"Why yes, it does. This carpet is generations old, and still a work in progress. You can see the difference in style," She points to the part of the carpet closet to her, where it's blank. I also notice that the hats of some Winged and the lack of a hat on other Winged have disappeared. Now they all wear a different type of hat. Strange.

"Anyway, back to the history. Because of the separated Winged, the two colonies evolved on their own. They became known as the Doblocians and the Fraisals. Eventually, about two centuries ago, the Doblocians and Humans met and made trades and such. Then, one century later, the Fraisals were chased out of their section by rogue Humans and into Doblocia. The Winged species was finally reunited. Together, the King of the Fraisals and Queen of the Doblocians got married and founded a new country, Dosmiana," The Queen smiled, and Alexander clapped with a grin on his face. Woo! I join in after a second.

"What about language?" Alexander asks, feigning an interested tone, clearly to impress the Queen. "Surely the Fraisals and Doblocians had developed different dialects?"

"Why yes, but since the Humans and Doblocians interacted first, Doblocese has become a dead language, as then all Doblocians started using English. Fraisish is still spoken, for example, the General of Base 1776, General Lafayette, is fully Fraisal and speaks English as a second language," The Queen explains patiently. Alexander nods. For a moment there's this awkward silence, so I decided to fill it.

"So...um, why did...why did King George declare war on the Winged anyway?" I ask, slightly because of curiosity and slightly because of the silence. The Queen's face hardens, so I instantly know I've made a mistake. "You, you don't have to answer, Your Majesty," I add on quickly, stammering. The Queen sighs and her face relaxes.

"No, no, the whole of Newtide knows, it's only fair that you know as well," She says. A glimmer of a smile the creeps onto her face. "And call me Charlotte. We're all equal here," Charlotte grants kindly. Okay, cool! First name basis. Pretty darn cool.

"When I was young, George and I were actually quite good friends. Best friends, I daresay," Charlotte says matter of factly. She leans back on her sofa, so I immediately know it's going to be a long one. "Apparently, during our teenage years George developed feelings for me, but I just thought we were friends!" Charlotte exclaims, raising her voice a bit. I glance at Alexander and we both know the same thing. One, this is not going to end well. Two, she's definitely still angry at herself for losing that friendship.

"Anyway, when both of us became rulers of our respective kinds, well, George confessed his love for me. I had to decline, for one, I didn't like him in that way, and two, jeez, it would not be good for Winged and Human to become one kingdom. So, I let him down as gently as possible," Charlotte breathes a sigh of annoyance. "Then I got married to my darling husband, and gosh who could've guessed, George was angry. No, not angry, MAD. And indeed he became, very, very mad," The Queen sighed, now with a tinge of sadness in it.

"Years later, he spread rumours of how the Winged are actually Humans who are possessed, and that you have to cut their wings off to cure them, blah blah blah, he also told the Humans that their ancestors had done the right thing to try and kill of the original Fraisals, and then he vowed to finish the job. A few months later he officially declared war. So, here we are," Charlotte rubbed her forehead and stared at us. I stay silent. That's horrible. The outcome out of not getting over things...

"Grief is a powerful thing," I say quietly, more to myself than to anyone else. Charlotte picks up on this and smiles without humour.

"You are young yet wise, James," She examines me more closely. I lock her gaze, her piercing green eyes glaring into mine. Woo! It gives me goosebumps. "Well!" Charlotte claps her hands, breaking from her formal demeanour in mere seconds. "I have things to attend to, and I'm sure you would want more time to explore Newtide," She flashes a smile at Alexander as she stands up. "Please, come back tomorrow. I sure do enjoy your company," I smile and nod at her invitation. Alexander wishes her a good afternoon and we leave.

What a strange woman. On one hand, her royal upbringing clearly shows in the words and phrases she uses, but on the other, her accent is calm, relaxed, and casual. I voice my thought to Alexander and he chuckles.

"You might think that she's interesting, but to be honest, I was pretty bored the whole time. I mean, if that were a chapter of a book, who would want to read it!?" Alexander swishes his hand in the air dramatically. "It's just a bunch of narration or something," He pauses. "Well, actually the whole thing with the Doblocians and Fraisals was kind of intriguing, y'know?" Alexander glances at me. I nod along.

I wonder what she wants us for tomorrow.

(1379 words)