She's alive! Oh thank goodness. Oh... oh rivers and raindrops and, and whiskers and sunshine and rainbows and... what[i]ever[/i], she's going to be ok! Oh, oh... oh.

Alina rests her head against the wardrobe and shivers. It feels like her entire body is uncoiling all at once, as if she was a knot of ribbon that just got tossed in a lake. If you told her she could get up and walk out of this room right now and Rita would be there waiting for her with kisses and an Askaian spiced custard... she's not sure that she could do it. 

"I guess I'm going to have a lot of extra time on my hands pretty soon, huh?" she asks Ourania, "Do you think Freesia will do better in the next selection ceremony? I hope so. I'm not sure that Jess is... she's going to want to be an adventurer, I mean."

She flinches. Then she glances down at Diana, and her expression softens again. No, this was worth it. Her family would be mad, but if she explained... they'd be even madder. And then they'd understand. What kind of queen would she have been, anyway? Princess Alina put Diana into this horrible situation. It took ordinary, nobody-Alina to be brave enough to save her. And hadn't it been a dancing girl who saved Helya and Jessamine in Jedad? And a cat in a suit who'd done all those amazing things in the Labyrinth? Being a princess hadn't helped at all. So it was fine. This was fine.

But, still.

"Hey, um," her voice is trembling in spite of everything, "Do you think... Rita will mind? Having me as a, a trophy wife, I mean?"

There's no answer, of course. Ourania just watches her from her chair prison with an inscrutable expression in her eyes. Alina sighs and leans back as much as she can without dropping Diana, and closes her eyes.

[i]The sweet smell of incense is always so rich and thick on hot summer days like this. The winds tickle your face and tug on your skirt, and help make the bright sun a little easier to handle. The sky is a sparkling blue without even a hint of clouds, and everywhere you look the air is filled with the sound of birdsong. 

It's a perfect day for laundry. 

Alina has to stretch a little to get the pristine white sheets up on the line, but she's got this down to an art form. The way she spins and extends as she pins the fabric in place is like a dance. No, it is a dance. It's her new dance. She hums happily as she frolics from line to line, the tune of an Askaian marching song she still hasn't learned all the words to. But that's ok too. Just hearing it makes her happy. 

She pauses to wipe the sweat off her brow, and admires her handiwork. Not bad at all, Lina. She smiles, and dances her way inside the house. The oven should be hot enough by now! She kicks off her shoes and nudges the door shut behind her with her butt, peeling off her too-warm shirt before it's even all the way closed. One hand reaches up onto a shelf and fetches a hair band, while the other expertly combs through her floofy purple hair and pulls it into a cute ponytail. Step two three, and twirl two three, and leap! The beautiful ballerina, prize of the greatest kitty queen the world's ever seen, dances her way into the kitchen. She snatches up a knife with practiced grace and slips into her apron in the same motion. The black cloth is still stained with flour from her last trip in here, but it doesn't bother her. You can still see the pink gingham trim and the little paw prints walking all the way up her chest, and that's good enough for her.

Her knife sings its own song as it tap tap taps its way through the rhubarb. She hums her song again as she dices up the strawberries. Her voice melts into silly giggles while she mixes them with just so, so, [b]so[/b] much sugar, and carefully wraps them in the pastry she'd spent all morning preparing. No one does pies like Askaia. No one better than Alina von Catabas. Or, well, give her another year of this, and she'll be there. Promise. 

There's a knock on the door frame, and she lights up like a lantern boat to see the most beautiful princess in the entire world standing there all decked out in her feathers and her adventuring cap, with a little kitten purring in her arms and mischievously mussing with her shockingly pink hair that is definitely [b]not[/b] supposed to be that color, please and thank you.

"You'll never guess who got into the wishing pools again." says Rita with a weary sigh and an even livelier smile.

Alina bounds over to kiss them both and there is nothing in all the world but laughter and the smell of gently baking pie, and there is nothing left in the world that could trouble her ever again.[/i]

Alina's eyes flutter open again. She lifts one exhausted hand to brush a lock of hair off of Diana's face. 

"Not so bad," she says with a tiny smile, as fresh tears wash gently down her face, "Not so bad at all..."