A Triumphant Return!
Let no one say that the once-Queen of Westmark is so undignified that she sometimes walks into places on her hands--but say it or not, the evidence is right before the eyes.
Fortunately, she rights herself quickly and grins a wonderful, dancing, engaging grin at the assembled.
"We're back! We've been hunting elephants, but we didn't get stepped on, and that's why we're having a party." And of course here she has to indicate her intrepid companion on this journey, since he makes the we; and of course the companion in question is Rosencrantz, and while gesturing at him she's going to be sure he has his hat on, and then hold up the binoculars Stephen gave her, and wave them. "We've got cake! And I didn't make it, because my cake's awful. We've got cake and lots of apples, and--" Here she looks over her shoulder to be sure. "--ooh, we've got ale. That'll do perfectly. Well, then, we're alive and we've brought cake and ale and apples, so even if you're not really very excited that we're alive, at least you can have something to eat. Everyone's invited."
And then she grins again, and you can see it flash through every bit of her, smiling in the tips of her hair and in her fingers and all over her face. "If no one comes and we have to eat the cake ourselves, we'll feed you to the elephants."
Fortunately, she rights herself quickly and grins a wonderful, dancing, engaging grin at the assembled.
"We're back! We've been hunting elephants, but we didn't get stepped on, and that's why we're having a party." And of course here she has to indicate her intrepid companion on this journey, since he makes the we; and of course the companion in question is Rosencrantz, and while gesturing at him she's going to be sure he has his hat on, and then hold up the binoculars Stephen gave her, and wave them. "We've got cake! And I didn't make it, because my cake's awful. We've got cake and lots of apples, and--" Here she looks over her shoulder to be sure. "--ooh, we've got ale. That'll do perfectly. Well, then, we're alive and we've brought cake and ale and apples, so even if you're not really very excited that we're alive, at least you can have something to eat. Everyone's invited."
And then she grins again, and you can see it flash through every bit of her, smiling in the tips of her hair and in her fingers and all over her face. "If no one comes and we have to eat the cake ourselves, we'll feed you to the elephants."