Rewritten

Heartless - Marissa Meyer

A/N: This is from a book called Heartless by Marissa Meyer. I absolutely loved reading this book and definitely recommend it to you guys. This scene is originally third-person limited to the main character, Lady Cathrine Pinkerton. I am rewriting this scene from Jest's point of view. This one is kind of long, but I hope you enjoy it!

"Lady hath stumbled on this midnight dreary, with pallor frightfully pale and weary," Raven exclaimed, his voice somber and melodic.

Looking bad at him, I said, "Duly noted, my feather friend. Are you sure we haven't some sal-volatile in there?"

"I know nothing of your hoped-for salt, though with your plan I find a fault. To keep her from awaking groggy, 'twould be most prudent to make her soggy."

With a thump, Raven dropped a bucket of sloshing water beside the beautiful maiden which lay before us, unconscious.

"No, Raven, we are not throwing a bucket of water on her. Keep looking. Haven't we a ham sandwich? Or some hay? That always worked on the King." I told him, a hint of annoyance in my voice.

I rummaged through my hat hoping to find something of use. Glass marbles? Nope. A wind-up monkey? No. Handkerchiefs? Don't think so. An empty inkwell? Not sure that is of much use in any situation anymore. Mismatched buttons? Perfect for Hatta, but not for this. A two-wheeled velocipede? Heavens, no. My silver flute? Not useful either.

Something on the ground caught my eye. I sighed, "You know what? Nevermind, we'll use this."

I picked up a delicate white rose and walked over to the unconscious maiden. Very gently, I touched the rose to the tip of her nose and softly moved it back and forth to tickle her.

"Aha, it's working!"

I watched as she wrinkled her nose, her eyelids beginning to squint open. Looking upon her, she must have been the most beautiful maiden on this side of the Looking Glass. Just wondrously exquisite!

"Hello," I lifted the soft petaled rose away from her face. "Are you alright?"

"Nevermore," said Raven, still perched on the bucket of water.

I glared at him, "Don't be rude."

"Tisn't rude to rebuke an arbitrary greeting, a nonsense question upon first meeting. To be all right implies an impossible phase. We hope for being mostly right on the best of our days."

"Exactly," I told him. "Rude."

Raven made a noise as if to scoff at me. Spreading his wings, he leaped up into the air and settled on the highest branch of the rose tree.

My attention turned back towards the maiden. She looked beautiful; had I mentioned that already? I can't quite remember. Oh heavens, she looked breathtakingly stunning. She wore a red velvet dress, a bit odd seeing as everyone else at this ball was in black or white. After all, it was one of the King's famous black-and-white balls.

I gave her a friendly smile, "I'm glad the rose worked." I said, twirling it in my fingers. "I suspect this would be a different sort of meeting had we been forced to use the water bucket."

She blinked, a blank expression on her face. Suddenly, her eyes widened. "You,"

"Me," I agreed. I cocked my head to the side, frowning. "In all seriousness, my lady, are you..." I hesitated, "...mostly right?"

She continued to stare, eyes wide. Perhaps she didn't hear me?

"My lady?" I set the rose aside and touched my hand to her brow. "Can you hear me? You're very warm."