They looked at each other. “I wonder what she’s going to do?” Snowpepper said.

“I daren’t even imagine, dear Snowpepper. Whatever it is, it will help, of that we can be sure. Around here, she is known as the Fairy Godwitch, second only to the Queen in importance, but between you and me, I think she surpasses the Queen in actual power. The Queen is mostly for appearances and… but… oh, heavens, don’t ever let her know I said that!” The rabbit leaped up and looked wildly around, then, satisfied that the Queen had most likely not heard him, he relaxed slightly, though still shaken.

“Oh, silly me… what was I thinking? Truth be told, dear faerie, the Queen is far more than appearances. She is judge and jury here. She has absolute power over life and death. Have you noticed how frightened everyone is of her?”

“Have I ever!” Snowpepper exclaimed. “And me, too! Why, Sy—my otherside self wanted to go to her first, because she thought the Queen would help us find you. But I got so scared that we had to give up, because everytime I tried, something would try to eat me.”

Quickfoot nodded. “Yes, that would make sense,” he said. “We all know in our bones that seeing the Queen is like rolling the dice… playing Russian Roulette with our lives. She is notoriously fickle. She may reward you today and turn you into a rabbit tomorrow and then set her dogs after you.” He shuddered and mopped his brow with a floral-pattern embroidered handkerchief, procured from his waistcoat pocket.

“A rabbit?” Snowpepper said. “Why, Quickfoot, is that what happened to you? Did she make her doggies chase you?”

“Happily, dear Snowpepper, that is not the case, you see; for as you can see, I am still here, hale and hearty. Had her dogs ever once got my scent in their nostrils, they would not have given up until I was in shreds. Still, the sort of rabbit I am is not the sort that dogs generally chase. This dear, fuzzy form of mine is no punishment from the Queen!” Quickfoot stroked the soft fur of his thigh lovingly. “When I say rabbits, I mean small helpless creatures with no waistcoasts. Mice are another favourite of hers. When she does that, you are done for—eaten, gone for good, from this world and the other.

“Sometimes, it’s rumoured, if she’s terribly bored, she will play such games with her courtiers. I can’t speak for the truth of these tales, but I have noticed that there seems to be a rather high turnover in the Court.”

“Boy, I’m glad we didn’t go there, then.” Snowpepper leaped up. “Hey, Quickfoot, let’s go outside!”

Quickfoot finding this agreeable, they exited through the back door they had been shown, to a small walled garden that was, as Snowpepper declared, “Gloriously pretty!”

Flowers of every shade and hue nodded gently in a scented breeze, growing up in profusion on trellises so that they grew taller than twice Snowpepper’s height. Herbs, ornamental shrubs, trees of ever description grew rampantly. A small patch of soft emerald-green grass caught Snowpepper’s eye, so they wandered over to curl up in the sunshine and continue their talk.

The flowers and plants greeted them as the passed, of course, but like the flowers lining the front walk, they were unfailingly polite and non-intrusive.

“Tell me about the otherside, Quickfoot, would you please?” Snowpepper begged. “I think I have to go there sometime, if S—if she is right. And I’m so afraid, because I don’t know anything about it at all. Are you from there?”

“I suppose I must say I am, dear Snowpepper,” the rabbit admitted. “Though many years have passed over there since I first found my way into this land of dreams and changes.

“I first came here as a boy, perhaps ten years old, I can’t remember. I had run away from home, and it was the night of the full moon in August. That was when I received my rabbit shape, of course, and my name.

“When I came out again, I found that nearly twenty years had passed in the world. It was a shock, I’ll tell you, for it seemed to me that I had spent but a single night here. Yet, the next time I came over, I seemed to be here for years and years—that was when I learned most of what I know about how things are here—but only an hour had passed over there. There is never any telling.”

“What’s it like, there?” Snowpepper wanted to know. “Is it like here at all?”

“Oh, not in the slightest, dear me, no. For one thing, hardly anything is alive. There are many things—rocks, buildings, gates—that have no voices, no personalities, that never change or grow a face at all. Only people and animals are alive. Well, plants are alive, because they grow, but I’ve never seen one that could talk.”

“What! Oh, that’s horrible!” The faerie was appalled. “It sounds like an awful place! How do you stand it? Oh, I don’t want to go!”

“Ah, but listen, dear Snowpepper, for I have not finished. Things have the appearance of being dead. But if you look at them very closely, it becomes obvious that the magic is still there, but contained. It’s quite lovely. I’m in love with the place, myself. And people are wonderful! So kind, so sweet and caring. They help each other there! If you are afraid, you can ask for help, and receive it! Nothing will eat you! Snowpepper, my dear, I suspect you will like it more than you think.”

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