The woman supporting her gave her an odd look before asking pointedly. "What is your name?"

Terra shrugged, still shivering and numb from the cold. "Terra."

Again, the woman continued to give her a strange look before asking her in a commanding voice that made Terra shiver from more than just the icy cold. "Terra, are you from earth?"

Terra couldn't help it, she laughed, leading to noises of surprise from the people behind her in the tavern and causing the guards near Terra and the woman supporting her to bristle. "Well, yeah. Where the hell else would I be from?"

While those around them seemed to be grappling with varying degrees of shock, the woman holding Terra simply nodded in understanding before promptly undoing her cape and fixing it around Terra's shoulders. If the woman was affected by the chill, she didn't show it. Like everyone else Terra had encountered thus far, the woman seemed impervious to the cold and was dressed as if she'd just walked off the set of that shitty M. Night Shyamalan movie, the one about the village in the middle of the woods that she still for the life of her couldn't remember the name of.

The red woman wore what appeared to be some sort of antiquated riding outfit, complete with a ridiculous puffy shirt beneath a thick red wool sweater, tight pants, solid leather riding boots, and a rapier in a holster on her waist. Terra was supremely confused about what was happening, but the warm fur of the cloak kept her from voicing her confusion. The garment still held some of the heat from the woman, and now that Terra was warming up, she finally realized how cold she'd been, and as her body began to thaw, Terra found it increasingly difficult to think properly. With an angry eye, the woman turned her attention to what was inside the tavern casting a sideways glance to the knight standing nearest to her.

"Watch her, Dunn."

The man in armor nodded as the woman released Terra and stepped over the threshold of the place. The knight, Dunn apparently, took Terra's arm and led her in behind the red woman, and they were soon followed by all the other members of the guard whose presences made the relatively spacious tavern decorated by hand-hewn tables feel decidedly smaller.

After a few long moments of shock, the woman, presumably the owner of the establishment, bowed her head to the red woman before stammering. "Majesty, if I had know-"

"Did you turn this human away?"

The woman as well as the men who'd manhandled Terra all flinched at the calm accusation in the red lady's voice. Whoever she was, this Red Queen was important, and she seemed to command a certain level of respect that Terra found herself thankful for. Because the fact that she hadn't tried to kill Terra yet showed that she couldn't be all bad, right?

Eventually, the woman who'd been behind the tavern counter nodded. "Yes, majesty. She couldn't pay for a room or food or-"

"Enough." The blonde woman commanded with a sharp voice and a narrowing of her glare. "I'm here because I've had a report about the Huntsman."

"He was here three nights ago, your highness. Our townswoman, Carolina, she tried to apprehend him with some of her men, but he...he gained the upper hand in the ensuing conflict. Said he'd kill them if they refused to let him go."

The woman in red snorted in dark amusement, and Terra began shivering even more violently than before. As Terra thawed in the inviting warmth of the tavern and the feeling came back to her frozen extremities, the numbness she'd felt previously was replaced by searing pain, almost as if she was regaining circulation after her entire body had fallen asleep. With her teeth chattering, the young male knight who was holding her arm to support her removed his own black cloak and slipped it around her shoulders, placing it carefully overtop the red one the woman had given her.

"Which direction did the man flee?"

The bar patron nearest them spoke. "Headed out towards the Golden Mountains, your highness."

The woman cursed and turned to the young knight. Neither of them spoke, but Terra got the sense that some sort of meaningful communication was occurring between the two of them before the red woman turned back to the tavern guests. "Pick up this woman's things and return them to her bag. Innkeeper, we require all your available rooms for the night. And your stables. Send people out to care for our horses. We will of course compensate you for your kindness. Be thankful you're not being punished for turning away a patron in need. Our world is far too harsh to be made worse by the likes of you and your people."

Almost immediately, people sprang into action to follow her orders, and as the innkeeper turned away, the queen added quickly, "Show us to your best room immediately. And we require hot water and food."

The innkeeper's eyes widened in surprise at the urgency in the woman in red's voice as she nodded in acknowledgement of the command. "Of course. I'll get a fire roaring in the room right away. And I'll get my girl to fill the washtub with hot water. This way, your highness."

The mysterious queen then turned to Terra and traded places with the man who had been supporting her. With her grip tight on Terra's arm, the Red Queen led the two of them in following the woman up the stairs. The heavy tread and metallic sounds of armor moving told Terra that one of the knights was following them, but she didn't have the energy or the coordination to turn around and verify this suspicion. After a few moments, the red woman spoke near Terra's ear. Her voice still held a power to it, but her tone wasn't the same commanding harshness that she'd spoken with earlier. "Dunn, have your brother call my physician here. And see if there's a doctor in this godforsaken village."

"Of course, your highness." A few seconds later, Terra could hear Dunn just at the foot of the stairs, barking orders with a voice as powerful and commanding as the red woman's, though at who he was barking, Terra didn't know.

Soon, she and the Red Queen reached the door to a room that the innkeeper opened to reveal a relatively spacious area complete with a bed and a fireplace a metal washtub looking somewhat like a bathtub with no faucets and no electricity apparently. Immediately, the woman set about building a fire, and the queen guided Terra to sit in a chair in front of the rather simple stone fireplace. Shivering violently now as pain began to wrack her body, Terra watched with detached curiosity as the red woman waited patiently for the fire to be completed. In no time, the fire was roaring, and the innkeeper was scurrying out of the room quickly, mumbling something about getting the girl to boil the water.

When the door shut securely behind the older woman with a resounding click, the queen turned and regarded Terra with intelligent green eyes. In the light from the fire, Terra could tell the woman was a fair bit older than her by the faint wrinkles around her eyes, but the lady's expression held an unusual beauty and youthfulness despite her being older than Terra by several years. She set Terra's soaked backpack down near the hearth, breaking the spell that had compelled Terra to stare at her with her movement.

Odd. Terra hadn't even noticed her grab the backpack earlier. There was something wrong with her...brain. Like it was frozen in her head. Her brain and her eyes must have been frozen because her vision was still blurry...And her nose and toes and feet were frozen because she couldn't feel them, and she couldn't quite recall not being able to feel them before this whole experience, though Terra half laughed, half groaned when it dawned on her that she was wrong. She could feel her extremities. And they burned with an intensity that stole her breath and robbed her of whatever thinking abilities she still possess.

When the Red Queen spoke, her voice was harsh and almost grating as it jolted Terra from her reverie. "You need to remove your wet clothing."

The command in her tone caused Terra to shrink into he safety of the chair in which she sat, and the queen's expression softened. Silently, she moved to crouch on the rug at Terra's feet. Taking a shaky breath as if to steel herself, the woman cupped Terra's hands in her own before speaking softly. "But first, I suppose introductions are in order. Terra, my name is Alice, but please do call me the Queen of Hearts or the Red Queen or your highness or your majesty in front of others."

Her expression grew dark and possessed a seriousness that had Terra's stomach dropping in fear before the woman continued in a choked whisper. "Terra, dear, I'm sad to be the first one to officially welcome you to Wonderland."