Hold the Applause

All was forgiven in the eyes of Hestia once she learned what the two digits had done, provided of course they did not let the cat out of the bag regarding the Wonderland exit strategy. In less than a day Forward Commander Snaps, freshly baked, looked as if he’d suffered nothing at all, while the lord of seven sand castles merely pretended at it, hiding a temporary limp and a sore shoulder quite badly.

They oversaw the hero’s funeral for Hans My Hedgehog and the six myrmidons who fell. Burying Hans was done over the course of two days, as his human body took the work of an entire construction team. He was laid to rest right where he fell, and a marker was put up, as Minimil had the distinct feeling they would not be needing that battlefield again any time soon.

A victory over Sweden was a desirable proposition, but non had foreseen how effective the exact nature of that victory would be. None believed that Bragi Tarkower had quit in the midst of a winning assault entirely of his own volition. It was assumed that Minimil had another method of warfare, one silent and invisible that the Little Wars commission could never prove or ban.

Thus the barn nation of Minimil was deemed untouchable. Eyes turned elsewhere, many of them to Scotland, as it was still benefiting greatly from Minimil expatriates. There was also the scourge of New Zealand to worry about, and perhaps those two great and tiny powers would be going at it soon, but that was no concern of the free small.

Mygdenia and Formaldeheidi took control of the Challenging Applause, with Lord Ludmenti expressing a desire to manage affairs that were more internal, namely infrastructure. Every remaining member of the applause chose to remain on the team, even after losing Hans. The only other injury among them was Root Beer the fifth’s broken arm, and she insisted she’d suffered much worse under the fat thumb of Saint Nicholas.

Dexter Tarkower and devilish Bragi Tarkower were seen to, Hestia honoring the oaths of her subordinates. Each was gifted a homestead in the neighborhood of Broom Cupboard, and Dexter was often seen soaking all his scars from that fateful day in a hot mug of rosewater alongside his neighbor. Devilish Bragi fell in with the former Shoulders of Government, becoming nothing more than a face in their crowd, although he did stand out by their own standards, lacking an angelic counterpart.

Approval of Hestia’s governance had increased in the wake of the battle, but not within the extremely limited demographic that was Herschel Snaps. He was done fighting, and luckily had earned his leave and her blessing. Now there was just the matter of leaving Minimil for good, a subject he broached with the person he cared about most as they wandered an earthen corridor one fine day.

Not a sandcastle this time, but one of the tunnels of Queen Zoukas’s anthill. As it turned out she was also aware of Wonderland’s presence nearby, as she’d been warned not to have her workers create tunnels beyond a certain depth. Snaps and Solenos were well above it at the moment, but still underground.

“I wonder where everyone is,” Solenos commented, looking around. “We work in shifts; this place should never be empty.”

“Whatever the reason, it’s good. I’ve been meaning to speak with you,” Snaps said. He was snappily dressed in his absolute finest, odd considering there was no award ceremony scheduled. Even in the dim his silver buttons shined like cat eyes. “I’m leaving Minimil.”

“Leaving? For good? Wherever will you go?”

“I’ve had a word about that, with Ludmenti of all people.” Solenos’s antennae cringed and curled at the name. “Yes, I know, and I assure you he feels the same way about us. But, through our trials I believe he has come to possess a jagged and irritating shard of respect for me.

He took notice of the way I sometimes used granulated sugar and a hot iron to repair cracks in my flesh, and he confessed that he has recently been experimenting with the potential of sugar, both cubes and granules, as a building material. He thinks it’s similar to sand, and thus worth exploring.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Anyway, he had also noticed that we’d suffered a… setback regarding the reconstruction of my home. The missing wall.”

“Anybody could have taken it,” the leafcutter pointed out.

“I suppose so, but that was also the day that curiously few myrmidons came to this very anthill’s cafeteria.” Solenos turned away, having nothing in particular to say in response. “That’s neither here nor there. What’s relevant is that Ludmenti made me a mutually beneficial offer. He wants me out of Minimil so that I’m out of his hair, and I want out of Minimil to retire from the public eye.

He told me, that in exchange for some light research work, namely designing and living in sugar-based houses, he would relocate me to the shores he still owns in Blefuscu, complete with resources and servants. I’m told it’s a very private and peaceful place, so long as you keep an eye on the tide.”

“That does sound a touch better than what I’ve been able to provide you,” Solenos added, voice barely vibrating as it usually did, instead oozing with sadness. “We will have to correspond of course. I think… I think I’ll be writing you leaf-letters even before you leave.” They rounded a corner, came up on a screen of waxy leaves separating a chamber from the passage.

“I don’t want there to be any correspondence,” Snaps said, coming to a halt. Solenos flinched, tiny eyes deepening with fear. The gingerbread man couldn’t let that torment last. “I would much rather you come and live with me instead.”

“Herschel! I… I don’t know what to say.”

“What does your heart tell you?”

“To go of course! To go with bells and ribbons on! But I have my duties to my colony, and to my queen. It is practically a fact of my biology that I will not leave her.”

“I’m well aware, which is why I asked her opinion on the matter.” Snaps took three steps toward the leaf screen, took the edge of one and pulled them all back. Queen Zoukas was standing there, dragging the brooding abdomen that had birthed the entire colony. It immediately became clear that the corridor had been emptied by her order.

“Solenos, my dear child,” she said, welcoming him into her open arms. “Long have you served, and I was loath to see you forced into Little Wars against my wishes. Herschel has practically talked me to death, every word about you, some of which I am sad to say I had no idea about.

I hereby order you to leave the colony indefinitely, to be the escort of one of our most valuable allies, the best digit Minimil ever put forward. Call it a banishment if that’s what it takes to get you out of these tunnels.” The blindsided myrmidon was ecstatic, struggling to contain it within humility, but his queen encouraged him to drop that too, to go to Snaps.

He obeyed, and on shocking instinct embraced Snaps tightly, head finding a cozy spot between the gingerbread man’s neck and shoulder. They had not been that close since the fateful day they bonded years ago, when Snaps had offered parts of his own body to stave off Solenos’s imminent starvation. Both of them felt a surge of love for each other, a torrent that overran the mutual stuffiness that had kept their relationship so formal up to that point.

“Herschel, what are we old friend?” he asked when he finally pulled away so they could gaze into each other’s eyes.

“Whatever we are, it isn’t old,” Snaps answered, “it’s fresh. We are renewed, and I love it.”

The pair departed just a few days later, and though Hestia offered to transport them instantaneously from one sand castle to another, they instead opted to make it their first voyage together.

The long journey across the sea was made inside a cozy box, formerly full of animal crackers, its inner walls still smelling strongly of their comforting flavor. They were carried over the waves by Ludmenti’s flying carpet tassel, which never tired or flagged. Still, an occasional rough wind, or the squawk of a curious gull, gave the occupants pause. They would pull open a window panel and see the endless expanse of ocean beneath them, all too happy to take them in at any time, drowning Solenos and dissolving Snaps.

“You’re not afraid of it?” the myrmidon asked his partner on one such occasion. “It would leave nothing of you behind, and not even care about the horrible crime it had committed.”

“We’re the small, my dear Solenos.” He reached out and pulled him away from the window, urged him to rest his head in his gingerbread lap. Stroking his antennae, he went on. “There’s always something bigger than we can comprehend out there, looming over our lives, threatening to be big in our space and thus erase us. The trick, the trick my love, is in living like there isn’t.”

The End