The Tale of Amaretto

Thirtieth Grain

In Which the Queen is Introduced...

The woman looked abruptly surprised at Katherine shaking the symbol in front of her. She seemed to be a little surprised also at the fact that there were several other women in her room at that same moment. The woman pulled her back a little straighter and then in a commanding voice said, "Who precisely are you to come barging into here at this time?"

Amaretto looked at the woman and noted that while her hair was short and bobbed on the back with tight curls, a small tiara had been placed on her head and sat slightly askew. Checking over the woman, Amaretto was surprised at the look of her dress. The dress had long red sleeves that were topped with a puff of fabric surrounding the arm in a bell shaped manner and within them, there was wrapped around the woman's shoulder a large piece of bronzed metal. The metal seemed almost fused with the woman's skin, but Amaretto simply assumed that it was a rather tight fit. The rest of the woman's dress was a low cut bodice wrapped within a long corset of black. The corset had long laces that tied her waist into a perfect vee before the dress, which was made of a royal purple, flowed down the front in a traditional spill of what appeared to be velvet.

The woman put gloved hands on her hips and said in a rather lofty tone, "I'm waiting for your answer good women."

Katherine curtsied rather graciously and deeply and then said, "Pardon us good lady, but we were actually looking for a room in which a dear friend of ours was supposed to be teaching us fighting." Katherine straightened back up and the look in her eyes made her seem more regal and even imperial. Amaretto felt a rush of jealousy that her aunt could put on such a good showing. At the same time, she felt that perhaps it was because her aunt was secretly royalty somewhere, though as to what country, only Morocco came to mind.

The woman in front of them crossed her arms and then in a very dry voice said, "I sincerely doubt that."

Katherine looked taken aback and then placed a hand on her chest. "Why I very much think that you have mistaken us for someone else. We simply meant to arrive at our destination without any problem; we did not mean to have you think anything at all of us."

The woman placed her hands on her hips and Amaretto thought that she saw something trailing from the woman's arms. The woman however took a step back and then looked around and said, "I think that I am not mistaken in what I am thinking at this moment."

Katherine shook a finger at the woman. "I think that you would be."

"You come into my room," the woman began, "As well holding weapons when you come through the door. You then seem to have gotten the wrong room. We are not amused."

Amaretto blinked. "Did you just say what I think you did?"

Alice lowered her guns and a look of horrified embarrassment crossed her face. "Your majesty?"

The woman nodded her head and then looked down her nose. "If you must know, I am indeed Her Majesty Vitorianna Alexis, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Queen, Defender of the Faith, Empress of Indus."

Amaretto blinked. She turned to her aunt "You mean that this woman is the queen?"

Katherine shrugged. "It could very well be."

The woman in front of them said, "I am also known as Vitorianna Alexis Regina et Imperatrix."

Amaretto raised her hand in disbelief as if to silence the woman. "You mean that this woman right here is the Queen of England,"

The woman narrowed her eyes and in a short tempered voice said, "That is the Empire of New Machina. We have not been called 'England' since the second Steam Renaissance."