When Melissa finally spoke some sense, Alice laughed a bit, nodding along to what the other girl was saying.

“Yes, yes. I have been told many times that I’m a fool. Arthur, my advisor, likes to remind me of that often… Your princess sounds like she was an exemplary person. She seems to have improved the lives of everyone she knew.”

She paused, looking down at Melissa. She looked so comfortable and strangely peaceful. Such relaxations were out-of-place in the venue they occupied. Yet the princess felt oddly calm and simultaneously excited. Alice couldn’t help but to feel fluttery around her new… Friend? If they were friends, it was certainly an odd friendship. One a powerful leader of a nation and the other an essentially powerless prisoner and recent defector of an apparently powerful organization of criminals. What an unlikely pair. Yet there they were, embracing as if they’d been close friends for years.

“It’s funny how things rise and then they fall. I sometimes think about how long after my death people will forget I even existed - if any of the things I do matter at all. So what if I feed some hungry people? There will always be more. So what if I teach some people in villages to keep records? There will always be things that go undocumented.
“I know that its the right thing to do, but… Oh, I don’t know. Sometimes I want to be more like you, more willing to do things that you want to do. I don’t remember the last time I took a day off, or passed up writing new policies in favor of, say, getting some rest.”
She yawned and leaned back, letting her head hit the wall behind her with a dull sound. Melissa’s warmth was comforting, and saying her piece relaxed her more than she’d thought it would.

“I think I might just fall asleep here if I’m not careful,” she mumbled quietly, eyes closed and already being subject to the more abstract thoughts encompassing one’s mind in fatigue. “But you know, I think some reconsideration of your arrangements might be in order. The cold stone isn’t very forgiving, is it?”