The Oraculum scroll on this day says:[/i]

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I was an afterthought.
A counterbalance.
A reaction.

I remember our Cheshire clan school when the Nightdown fox was the main attraction. Creatures came from all realities that the mind could conceive to see the Cheshire cat's prodigy. I and the other lower Cheshires watched through half-opened windows as the Nightdown gave a speech in the school's courtyard.

Everyone was so enraptured with the grinning fox's hollow words. They definitely had the gift of speech, but I knew through their idiot grin that their plan with the alices would not work.

I studied hard at the clan school. I became a master of the Red Queen's rise and fall and the ethics of madness. I argued that not all could be saved and we had a duty to the balance of life and death. The other students stayed away from me, admonished me, called me "evil". Their eyes stayed glazed over by the fox's harpy grin.

Then late one night, as I sat in my own lonely abyss, the Cheshire Cat in all his mad glory visited my room. I thought he wanted to lie with me, and I would find solace in being the lady by his side for Wonderland's eternity. That's when the Nightdown entered the room.

"This is the one," the Cheshire said, motioning in my direction. "The one called the Noxis."

I thought I could seduce the Nightdown, take their power for my own... But the Cheshire Cat offered me an even bigger take.

"She's the only one in the clan with the insight to notice the flip side of your philosophy," he said to the Nightdown. "I was a fool to believe that one philosophy could save the Realm of Alice. We don't have the gift of foresight for their future. But together as partners, you can preserve the imaginations needed to save Wonderland."

Most of the others in the clan disagreed, but they relented to the Master Cheshire's word. It seemed the only one who didn't complain was the Nightdown, not that they had any choice in the matter...

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Artwork by the deliciously talented  Demicoeur