Now left alone with him, Leona stares at you, as if he was a predator sizing up his prey. His right ear flickers.

"So." He sits upright and lazily bats hair out of his eyes. He takes his sweet time standing up and coming closer to you, stopping just inches away. You feel bare before him, forcing yourself to meet his eyes. "You're the bird and honey badger who wanted to see me."

Grim shrinks inward, and you shift uncomfortably under his venom green gaze. "Yeah..."

He hums and moves so his head is hovering over your shoulder. You suspect he's smelling you.

When he pulls away, he's studying you up and down as if he's searching for something. He sits back on the edge of his bed.

"Get on with it then."

"What?"

Leona scowls. "Don't look at me like that. You interrupted my nap, remember?"

"Oh!" Your eyes widen but you remain silent, uncertainty clinging to you like the dry land outside that sucks the life out of anything it touches. Leona continues to stare, his annoyance seeming to grow the longer you take. Your mouth starts talking.

"I'm tired of looking for scraps." You glance down at Grim. "Like the hyenas. We're both scavengers, and we're hungry. We only ever get what's left behind, and Ruggie said you were planning to fix that."

Leona raises an eyebrow. "Did he now?"

"Yes." You confirm. "He said that you were gonna make sure we'll never go hungry again. Is that true?"

"Depends." He muses. "What are you willin' to do for it?"

"Anything."

"Yeah!" Grim agrees with much more gusto. "I've got a hankering for some of the fruit we saw in the village!"

You strongly suspect Grim isn't lying about that.

"Anything, huh?" Both you and Grim nod eagerly. He smirks. "You're a couple of idiots."

You gape. "Huh?"

"If you're willing to do anything to save your own necks, how'm I supposed to know you won't betray us if things get tough?" He asks and leans forwards. "I don't take liabilities."

Grim's ears flatten and he takes a step backwards. "This guy's scary."

"I won't do anything that would compromise Grim." You straighten, blurting out the first idea that came to you.

Leona raises an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

You nod. "Yes."

Leona's eyes sweep over to the pseudo-honey badger. "And you?"

Grim awkwardly looks away from both you and Leona. "I... I won't leave my henchhu-vulture."

Leona raises an eyebrow. "I guess I can tell you then. We're going to overthrow the King." He studies you both for a response.

You take a breath to try and calm your beating heart, meeting his gaze and attempting to be surprised. You don't know why exactly you feel so nervous. You were usually better than this.

Venom green eyes stare back at you.

"You'll be the new King?" Grim asks.

Leona grins. "Naturally. If you follow me, there's rewards in store."

You smile unsteadily, trying to portray a sense of calm. "So what's the plan then? We're all gonna uprise and attack the King in his sleep?"

"No. I don't need brute strength to win a fight." Leona turns to the closed door. "Jack!"

Jack sticks his head into the room. "Yes?"

Leona vaguely waves his hand in your direction. "Take them to Ruggie and tell him they passed. You two," he looks at you and Grim, "be prepared for any news. I'm gonna take a nap." He falls back on the bed and shuts his eyes, and seconds later his breathing is even. You stare at him, absolutely flabbergasted.

"C'mon." Jack beckons. "We'd best get going."

***

"Congratulations!" Ruggie grins.

"Thank you." You nod. "He's very..."

"Scary!" Grim shudders. "I thought he was gonna try 'n eat us!"

"I was going to go with 'intimidating,' but that works too."

Ruggie tosses you an unfamiliar fruit. "Don't let him get to you. He's too lazy to do much most of the time. Shishishi!"

You smile, amused. "You've got a fun laugh, Ruggie."

"Oh." Ruggie's eyes widen for a moment, then he averts his gaze with his easy grin toward your fruit. "Hey, aren't you gonna eat that? They're the Queen's favourite, you know!"

"I thought you were giving us bananas?" You tilt your head.

"It's a red banana. You seriously never had one before?"

You look down at the vaguely banana resembling fruit in your hand. It's smaller than a normal one, and dusty red in colour. You peel and take a bite, eyes widening with glee. "It's good!"

Maybe not quite as good as the chocolate cake you had in Wonderland, but definitely a close second.

Ruggie smirks. "It had better be, since you're not getting a refund."

Grim munches on his fruit happily, chatting with Ruggie as you absentmindedly grab your backpack to pull out a few other snacks. You nibble on a bread roll as you organise your thoughts.

Leona is this world's version of Scar, like how Riddle is that world's version of the Queen of Hearts. That means that you somehow need to steal bones from his meal and find some clay to craft beads from.

You vow to get Crowley for this.

It didn't help that you couldn't actually identify clay from any other kind of dirt either. You had lived in the city your whole life, with cobblestone roads and wooden floors.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Ruggie asks, lightly tapping you on your shoulder.

"How would you make beads?" You ask. He raises an eyebrow.

"Beads? That's oddly specific. I'm not too sure... but I know a guy in the palace who would. She actually made the stuff Leona wears."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Ruggie nods, hopping up to sit on the edge of his cart and peeling a banana for himself. "She uses all kinds of stuff: seeds, metal, glass, bone, wood, you name it."

"She sounds very good at her job." You remark.

Ruggie nods. "She's probably working on Cheka's royal beads right now."

"Cheka's royal beads?"

Ruggie takes another bite from his food. "Yeah. Whenever a prince comes of age, they make some fancy jewellery for them out of seeds, clay, precious metals, and bone."

"Why?" You ask.

"It's all supposed to symbolize something." Ruggie explains. "I think the seeds are supposed to represent good rain or something, the clay is supposed to represent the circle of life because when we die our bodies decompose into the ground to make the grass- you know the gist. The gems are supposed to bring luck to the country's wealth, which is how you know it's all a load of baloney. And I think the bones are supposed to bring good health to the one who ate the meat off them."

"Wait. The bones on Leona's necklace are from his food?" You clarify.

"Yep! Gross, right?"

Thoughts whizzed around in your mind like a herd of wildebeest on the run.

The answer to all your problems was Leona's jewellery.

The jewellery he was wearing.

Things were never easy, were they?