Of Tea...and Things

Into the Woods

At last the coach jolted to a stop, waking the hitherto blissfully senseless Anastasia, "we're here!" And out she tumbled, not waiting for anyone else or even bothering to look both ways before crossing the glade. The others exchanged a patient look and a rueful smile before doing likewise, save they did survey the immediate surroundings, but as promised, there was nothing but a murky gloom and a few ancient tree stems there to greet them. His business finished, the phantom coachman took up his reins and vanished as if he had never been, Anastasia too busy, squinting into the brume for something exciting, to notice and Mulligan determined not to be surprised at anything in this odd occupation where anything was possible and anything might be.

"Here we are," said Iris, trying to sound as cheery as one might amid such gloomy ambiance.

"Now what?" queried the girl, unhappily not yet possessed of a cure.

"We hope to find a cure before Things find us," said Iris, "mortals are fair game, quite literally, in this place."

"How horrid!" said Anastasia in disgust, little liking the idea of being considered little more than the object of someone's sport!

"It is their land and their laws, my dear," said Iris sadly, "and those who do not abide by them must face the consequences, whether we like them or not."

"You'd best lose the husband and go back to being a Dowager," sighed the girl, "or perhaps you've missed your calling as an Aunt!"

"I've just spent too long around Mildred," laughed Iris heartily, "but I hope as many of her good qualities have left their mark as it seems some of her more tedious tendencies have!"

"Do you know anything of the physics, or metaphysics, of this place?" asked Mulligan of Iris, glancing about skeptically.

"Have you come across nothing in your more intriguing books or among your more creative philosophers?" replied she.

"None were this creative or intriguing, milady," grinned he.

"I know but little," mused she, "in here time and space do not function in the manner to which we are accustomed. We are not necessarily beyond time or space, but rather they are not exactly linear. It seems what and who are much more important than where or when."

"That sounds like a headache in the making," sighed Mulligan, "I'm sure my head would explode if I tried to wrap my mind around it!"

"That sounds rather messy," said the girl with a grimace.

"It isn't much different than asking a baby to understand our own reality," countered Iris, "it simply takes time, patience, and experience."

Mulligan glanced around grimly, "it would be an eternity ere any mortal ever figured it out."

"That's why mortals aren't allowed in the Wood," hissed an angry voice.

Iris grinned at the young seeming elf maiden that had appeared out of the murk to chastise them, she seemed rather taken aback at this reaction; Anastasia's gaping or even Mulligan's stony silence were far more comprehensible to the elfin lady, but to grin openly at something that should either be fictitious or terrifying was unheard of, perhaps the creature was mad? Persisted the elfin lady, "I warn you, the Queen is even now mounting her horse, if you value your lives, flee this very moment!"

"Our lives are of little value at the moment," replied Iris calmly, "we have come seeking the impossible."

"The improbable, perhaps," sniffed the elf, "but the impossible is as impossible here as it is in your own world. The House would be the place to seek the impossible, if its Master would grant your petition."