Pieces Lie Where They Fell C23

Chapter 23-Welcome to Wonderland and Just Wondering
           "I told you to get out of the way."
           "What you seek is right in front of your nose."
           "Do you think they'll kiss?"

-Wonderland-
"What is this place?" Kairi asked.
"Wonderland," Sora responded.  
"I don't think I've ever been in this room," Riku mused.  
"I have," Sora said.  "This way."
"I remember Roxas talking about this place," Axel said.  "He got sent here on Heart collection a lot."
They walked down a hallway and found themselves standing in the Bizarre Room.  
"Now what?" Axel asked.  "We can't seem to go any further from here."
Sora walked over to the table and picked up one of the bottles.  "We drink this," he said.
"What will it do?" Kairi asked.
"Shrink us down," Sora replied.
"Is that healthy?" Axel asked.
Sora shrugged, but took a drink anyway.  He handed the bottle to Kairi.  She took a drink without even blanching.  She then handed the bottle to Riku.  
"There is something so wrong with this," Riku muttered, taking a swig before passing it off to Axel.
"Bottoms up," Axel muttered, drinking the last drink from the bottle.  
Seconds after Axel had finished, the four of them shrank down to a fraction of their previous size.
"Are we going to be small like this forever?" Kairi asked.
Sora shook his head.  "As soon as we leave the world, we'll be normal-sized again.  This type of magic, or whatever it is, is limited to the world we're in."
"Comforting," Axel mused.
"I'm guessing we go this way," Kairi said, gesturing to the door.  
"Nope," Sora said.  "That doorknob's always sleeping, we go through that opening over there."  He pointed to the doorway-looking-like-thing next to the door.
Kairi cocked her head to one side, examining the door with its sleeping doorknob.  
"It's really quiet," Riku said.  "I feel that there should be Heartless around."
"Hey, no Heartless is a good thing, right?" Sora asked.
"Or they're just all outside," Axel said.  "Let's go."
He walked through the doorway.  Sora gestured that Kairi should go next in a very chivalrous manner.  Riku snorted.
But just as Kairi had gone through, a barrier formed itself between her and Axel and Riku and Sora.  
"Sora!" she said, putting her hands up, only to be blocked by the barrier.
"Kairi!" Sora shouted, reaching out to her.
"I spoke too soon about the Heartless," Riku muttered, drawing his Keyblade.
Sora turned around to see a giant Trickmaster juggling its clubs.  
"Too quiet, eh?" he asked.
Riku frowned.  "Hush.  Man I hated fighting the last Heartless like this I fought."
Sora sighed.  "Yeah, me too."
"Oh hush," Roxas said.  "I fought two of these guys so you have no room to talk."
The Trickmaster stopped juggling and threw a club into the ground, sending a shockwave of fire.  Riku and Sora both jumped out of the way.
"That was close," Sora muttered.
"Well, let's get rid of him," Riku said.
"Yeah," Sora replied.  
Axel frowned.  "Man am I missing out on a fight," he grumbled.  
Kairi leaned up against the barrier.  "Do you think they'll be okay?"
"Really, Kairi?" Axel asked, raising an eyebrow.  "Do you know who you are talking about?"
She smiled a half-smile.  "I know.  But sometimes I wonder if they take on too much.  And I worry that they're going to start showing off and it's going to get one of them seriously injured."
"You have a point there," Axel said.  "I'd dig out a few potions for when this battle's over.  Pity they don't work through the barriers."
Meanwhile, Riku and Sora were in the middle of avoiding the fireballs that the Trickmaster was shooting at them.  Riku jumped up onto the table and started attacking its midsection while Sora landed combos on its feet.  Riku managed to stun it and the two of them did several happy joint-combos.  However, it managed to recover and began stomping around, breaking the table and sending both Sora and Riku flying.  
Kairi bit her lip and tried not to make a sound showing she was worried.
Axel wasn't accustomed to being worried, and wasn't liking it too much.  Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about this battle.  
Riku righted himself in midair and sent off a Dark Firaga in the opposite direction to give him some momentum for his counterattack.  As he was running, however, he had a better idea.
"Sora!" he shouted.  "Get out of the way!"
With that, he charged up a Dark Aura.  Sora ducked and hoped he was enough out of the line of fire.  His magic was low after all the Blizzard attacks he had been doing and he was in need of a Potion badly.  He reached into his pocket for one.
Riku successfully hit the Trickmaster once.  But as he was coming around for the second launch, he realized—too late—that Sora was standing right in his way.  And there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.  
"Aw, really?" he had time to mutter before slicing right across Sora's side.  On the bright side, he hadn't stabbed right through.  He sliced through the Trickmaster six more times before he was exhausted from the attack.  Meanwhile, Sora lay panting on the floor, the potion slowly rolling away.
He couldn't have hit me after I took the potion…no… Sora thought to himself.
"So, wanna learn what a Limit Break is?" Roxas asked.
"Sure.  But you are way too perky."
"Lexaeus taught me the hard way how to fight when practically knocked out."
And with that, Roxas showed Sora how to use a Limit.  Sora felt a burst of adrenaline.  He leapt up and launched himself at the Trickmaster, his Keyblade energized with light.  After several sweeping attacks with that plus a few light attacks added on for good measure, the Trickmaster was left reeling.  
Without even questioning this, Riku stabbed the Trickmaster one last time with his Keyblade and the Heartless disappeared in a burst of light.  Sora fell back to the ground, his second wind now completely gone.  Riku threw up two Cures and handed Sora a potion, not even bothering to heal himself.  
"I told you to get out of the way," he said, helping Sora stand.
"Yeah, I know," Sora said, trying to clean the blood off of his arm.
"I am sorry though," Riku said.
"Don't worry about it," Sora replied.  "It was an accident."
Kairi ran over, Axel following behind her, albeit a tad more slowly.
The first thing Kairi did was gingerly hug Sora and thrust another potion into his hands.  She pulled out a cloth and started to clean up some more blood.  She hesitantly put it to his side and he winced.  
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"I'm fine," Sora assured her, downing the other potion.  "I'm fine."
Kairi turned to look at Riku and she frowned.  Riku winced.
"You can't just pull those sorts of things when you aren't absolutely sure other people won't get hurt!" she shouted, punching him in the chest with every other word.  She glared at him before returning to mopping up Sora's blood.
"I deserved that," Riku said, banishing his Keyblade.  "I so deserved that.  This is what I get for using dark attacks…"
The potion that Sora had dropped earlier slowly rolled its way into Axel's boot.  Axel stooped down and picked it up, handing it to Riku.
"Drink this, it might help you perk up," he said.
"Don't beat yourself up about this, Riku," Sora said.  "I'm fine, really!"
"This cloak is completely torn," Kairi said.  
"I have two more," Sora replied.  
"Or just have Namine sew it back up," Axel mused.  
"Still though, I shouldn't have done that," Riku said.  
"We beat the Heartless, didn't we?" Sora asked.  "Besides, I've been through worse.  So has Roxas, apparently."
"Let's get goin'," Axel said.  "We have a mission to accomplish, do we not?"
"Right," Sora said.  "This way."
With that, he led the way through the exit that Axel and Kairi had tried to take earlier.
"Any thoughts as to why that Heartless showed up in the first place?" Axel asked.
"No clue," Sora responded.  "But that's part of the reason we're here.  I sealed this world's Keyhole, but the Heartless are still here.  Something must be causing them to come back."
"So we're looking for some form of evil?" Axel asked.
Kairi was not paying attention to their conversation.  She frowned at the bloody cloth in her hands and discarded it on the ground.  There was no way she'd be able to clean it, as bloodstained as it was.  
I cannot believe Riku was that reckless… she thought to herself.
"Give him a break," Namine said.  "You're sounding as if Riku meant to hurt Sora.  What if it had been Sora who had injured Riku?"
"Sora wouldn't injure Riku though."
"Not on purpose.  Which stays true for Riku.  He did not purposefully hit Sora."
"He could have given Sora more warning! Or just not done that attack…"
"Would you be this angry if the roles were reversed?"
"Are you defending Riku or something?"
"Perhaps.  But mainly I'm trying to get you to see that it was a complete accident and Riku's probably beating himself up enough over it enough.  That, and most of your anger is stemming from the fact that it is Sora who got hurt."
Kairi frowned.
"We should split up," Sora said, further pulling her out of her thoughts.  "We can cover more ground that way.  We need to find out where the Heartless are coming from, if there is Organization interference and whether or not Alice is still safe."
"Is it safe to split up?" Riku asked.  
"I would say so," Sora said with a shrug.  
"Alright then, I'll go this way," Riku said, pointing in the direction of the Hedge Maze.
"I'll go this way," Axel said, gesturing to the Queen's Court.
"I'll head through the Lotus Forest then," Sora said.
"What about me?" Kairi asked.  
Sora was about to summon a second Keyblade and hand it to her when Riku said:
"Go with Sora," Riku said.  He wanted to add: and make sure he doesn't get himself into trouble, but it felt out of place.  
Neither Kairi nor Sora seemed to argue with this arrangement.  
"Right," Sora said.  "It's settled then, let's go."
With that, the four of them took off in different directions, none of them realizing that they were being watched.

Riku made his way through the Hedge Maze, unsure whether or not it was safe to leave him to his own thoughts.  Sora had brushed the injury off as an accident—which it totally was—but Riku still felt bad.  And it didn't help that Kairi seemed absolutely furious.  Though, he couldn't really blame her.  He wondered if Namine thought anything about the situation…
He was drawn out of his thoughts by the sound of rustling bushes.  He turned in the direction of the sound, drawing his Keyblade and expecting some Heartless.  
However, no Heartless met him.  Instead, he found himself staring at a cat without a body.  It was just a purple and pink head with giant yellow eyes and an even more giant (and un-catlike) smile.  Right before his eyes, the rest of the cat's body materialized under the head.
"Who are you?" Riku asked with a frown.
"Who am I?" the cat responded with a bigger smile.  "Who are you?"
Riku's frown deepened.  "I asked you first," he said.
"I am no one of importance," the cat responded.  "But what you are searching for, that is of importance."
"Well duh," Riku said.  "Do you know if Alice is here?" He decided it was just best to give up on trying to figure out who the cat was.
"Alice is neither here nor there.  All I can tell you is that she has returned from the shadows."
Riku snorted.  Well that at least sounded helpful.
"You seem to know what I'm searching for already," he said.  "Can you point me in the right direction of what I'm searching for?"
The cat pointed a tail in one direction and a hand in another.  Riku sighed.  
"Right," he said.  "I'll just go this way."  He headed off in the direction that the tail had been pointing.
"I will tell you this," the cat said, standing on its front paws.  "What you seek is right in front of your nose."
Riku rolled his eyes.  "Right, thanks."
"Do you know what side you are on?" the cat asked.
"Of course!" Riku scoffed.  "Why wouldn't I?"
"How should I know? I am merely a mad, mad cat who lives in this mad, mad world."
Riku sighed and began walking away, tired of the cat's silly (or mad) antics.

Axel had the misfortune of stumbling in on a trial that the Queen was holding in her Court.  He did find it a tad odd, however, that it was a playing card that was on trial.  The playing cards seemed to be her guards of sorts.  He decided he didn't care.  
"Halt!" a red playing card said, pointing an arrow-sharp spear at him.  
"Whoa," Axel said, taking a couple of steps back.  "Not what I came here for."
"State your purpose!" the Queen said.
Axel was about to give some lame excuse as to why he was poking around, but the Queen didn't give him a chance to respond.  "Off with his head!" she screamed.
"Well, now wait a minute," Axel cautioned.  He wasn't really worried or anything, he could just back out of there before they knew what happened.  He was interested in how this might play out though, if he stayed.
"Your Majesty," a small voice pleaded.  Axel looked over to see a small white rabbit with a pocket watch.  He raised his eyebrows.  
"Perhaps," the rabbit continued.  "He is the Court Jester we ordered."
"I'm no Joker," Axel said sternly.  "I mean, I do know a couple of good jokes.  Though I learned them from Demyx and so they might not be all that funny…"
"Silence!" the Queen shouted, her face getting red.  "You shall speak when spoken to!"
Axel frowned and crossed his arms over his chest.  
"He is no Jester," she spat.  "He is the one responsible for the Heartless!"
The crowd gasped.  
"Xehanort!" Axel muttered under his breath.  
"See?" the Queen said.  "He wears the same black coat!"
"Why, Your Majesty," the rabbit said.  "You appear to be right!"
"Appear?" she asked, turning on the rabbit, her face now more of a shade of purple.
"Oh, Your Majesty, forgive me," the rabbit spluttered.  "Of course you are right."
She took out a fan and began fanning herself.  "Why of course I am!"
Axel snorted.  "Look," he said, disregarding what she had said earlier.  "How about I find the guy who is responsible for the Heartless and I bring him here.  You can chop off his head instead." I'd like to see her try… his thoughts added.
The Queen wrinkled her nose.  "Very well."
"See you around then," Axel said, backing out her court.  

Sora and Kairi were wandering through the Lotus Forest, completely undisturbed.  There weren't even any Heartless around.
"You're not still mad at Riku, are you?" Sora asked her, picking up a stick off the ground and running it through the bushes as they walked.
"Hey look! A stick!" Roxas said, laughing.
"What?" Sora asked, confused.  
"Sorry, inside joke…"
Sora shook his head to clear it and decided to ignore Roxas temporarily.  "Kairi?" he asked.  "Are you mad at him?"
Kairi frowned.  "I'm a little upset that he hurt you," she said.  
Sora laughed.  "He then Cured me several times and handed me a potion or two.  I'm totally fine, there's not even a scratch! I'm serious when I say I've been through worse."
"He could have been more careful," Kairi said.
Sora reached over and took her hand with the hand that wasn't carrying the stick.  She looked down at their now intertwined hands and couldn't help but smile a little.
"Forget about it, okay?" Sora said.  "I probably could have injured him just as easily."
Kairi frowned.  
"What?" Sora asked.
"Namine's telling me 'I told you so'."
Sora laughed.  His laughter was contagious.  Pretty soon both of them were laughing.  
"Namine's smart," Sora said.  "You should listen to her."
"You hardly know her," Kairi responded.
Sora shrugged.  "I know you though," he said.  "And if Namine's anything like you, she's smart."
Kairi blushed.
They were interrupted by something falling out of a tree.  Kairi let out a yelp of shock and the first thing Sora did was pull out his Keyblade.  Their intruder didn't seem to be too big of a threat, however.  
"Another Vexen Replica?" Sora asked, lowering his blade a tad.  "Which one are you?"
"Eighteen," the Vexen Replica replied hastily, standing up and brushing himself off.  "I've been on the run from Xigbar for quite some time now."
"What were you doing in a tree?" Kairi asked.  
"Collecting data," Eighteen replied, as if it was the most obvious answer in the worlds.
"Why?" Sora asked.
Eighteen looked offended for a second, before launching into a very detailed explanation about how it was his job to collect data and as soon as Castle Oblivion was open again, he would return there and give his data in a detailed report and…
"Okay, we get it," Sora said, cutting Eighteen off.  "Though, I still would like to know why you are randomly in a tree, or, rather, falling out of it."
"I'm not the most nimble of Replicas," Eighteen replied haughtily.  "I am the first successful Replica the Master ever made!"
"Congratulations," Sora found himself muttering.  
"So, tell me," Kairi said.  "Do you have any idea why there are still Heartless around?"
"Why no, I do not," Eighteen replied.
"How about a girl," Kairi continued.  "A blonde girl who's a little bit shorter than I am.  Have you seen her?"
Eighteen beamed.  "Why yes! She's over there through that little opening in the woods.  I noted that there was a very disruptive Tea Party going on and she was among the guests."
"Thank you," Kairi said.  
"No problem," Eighteen replied with a smile.  
"We'll be off then," Sora said.
He and Kairi were about to head off when Eighteen stopped them.
"Wait, I wasn't entirely truthful about something…" he said, sounding rather ashamed—almost as if he would be reprimanded harshly for it.
"Yeah?" Sora asked.
"I know why the Heartless are here."  As he said this, he looked down at his feet.
"Yeah?" Sora prodded.
"They come through every time a dark corridor is opened up into this world.  I confess I brought some with me myself."
Sora frowned.  "That's not good.  Especially since Xehanort could just open up fifty dark corridors and send in Heartless by the droves."
"There is a way to seal a world from dark corridors," Eighteen said.
"Really?" Sora asked.  "How?"
"Well, it's quite simple really," Eighteen began.  "Except for the fact that it isn't possible in this situation."
Sora frowned.  "Why not?"
"Well, it takes two people who have the knowledge on how to form dark corridors.  And, last I was aware, neither of you have that knowledge."
"Well, Axel's here with us," Sora began.  However, he paused when Eighteen shuddered.
"Sorry," Eighteen said.  "Axel killed the Original Vexen.  It is ingrained in my programming to be a little wary of him."
Sora and Kairi couldn't help but remember Vexen freaking out when Axel had him by the collar.  Though, Vexen Alpha had not seemed to be fazed at all at the sight of Axel.  Though, Alpha was a new replica, Vexen might have programmed him differently.
"Well anyway," Sora continued.  "He's here with us and he knows how to make a dark corridor.  Ooh! We could seal off all the worlds!" His eyes got wide.
"Sora," Kairi began.  
"Then Xehanort couldn't go anywhere by dark corridor and we would be one step ahead of them…"
"Sora."  He didn't hear her.
"And then it would almost be like we had…"
"Sora!" Kairi shouted.  
"What?" he said, interrupted from his thoughts.
"How many worlds are there?"
Sora thought about this and then shrugged.  "I'm not so sure, I've probably been to about a dozen."
"And how long would sealing them all off take?" she continued.
"Quite a while," Eighteen answered.
"Exactly.  Goofy told me that you guys were experts at side-quests.  But this is a side-quest that I think you need to pass up.  I bet that in the time it would take to do that, we could have taken care of Xehanort," Kairi reasoned.
"Besides," Eighteen said.  "Sealing a world off by means of dark corridor does not seal it off by entry of other means.  Knowing Xehanort, he has other options."
"Yeah, probably," Sora said.
"Besides, it doesn't last forever.  The effects eventually wear off."
"Oh, well, why didn't you say so?" Sora asked.
Vexen sighed.  "You never gave me the chance to say."
"I just wish there was a way to make sure all the Princesses of Heart were safe…" Sora mused.  "Like, without me constantly being there making sure they don't get kidnapped or Heartless overtake their worlds."
"Perhaps I could be of assistance," Eighteen said.  "I really do not have any particular duties that I need to perform.  I could easily keep an eye on the other six Princesses.  However, the Seventh seems to be in good hands."
Sora and Kairi blushed.
Their conversation was then cut short by the sound of someone screaming.
"That's my cue," Sora said, summoning his Keyblade.  He summoned a second one for Kairi and handed it over.  
The two of them, followed closely by Eighteen ran to the source of the scream.  It came from the Tea Party Garden.  When they got there, it would appear that a Tea Party had been going on.  However, Alice, along with a man in a green top hat and a hare were all standing on the table, trying to stay away from all the Soldiers that had appeared.  
"Oh," Eighteen said with a bit of a wail.  "I was not programmed to fight."
"Excuse me?" Sora said, slicing through several Soldiers with a stroke from his Keyblade.  "And you said you'd keep an eye on the other Princesses!"
"Yes," Eighteen replied hurriedly.  "I have the capacity to fight, I just wasn't really programmed for it."
"Learn please," Kairi said, whacking a Soldier several times before it actually disappeared.  
Eighteen summoned his shield and began to fight as well.  When the Red Nocturnes showed up, he ended up being rather useful in cancelling out their flames.  
"Hello, Kairi," Alice called.  "I see you have one of those Keyblades that that evil witch talked so much about."
Kairi smiled and nodded.  
Unfortunately, the Heartless didn't seem to want to stop coming.  
In addition to the Soldiers and Red Nocturnes, a bunch of Blue Rhapsodies and several Sergeants had begun to appear.  
"I never could understand why the Original Vexen found Heartless so fascinating," Eighteen said.  "I honestly can't stand them."
"How about you just keep killing them, then?" Riku said.
"Riku!" Sora said, turning around.  "Where did you come from?"
Riku closed the door of the house he had just walked out of.  "I was in the Hedge Maze, but then I went through an opening and I was in that house.  I heard this commotion and I came running."  As he was talking, he managed to kill several Heartless.  
"Because that makes sense," Kairi said.
"I've learned not to question," Sora told her.
"So I take it you're another Vexen Replica?" Riku said.
"I am Vexen Replica Number Eighteen," Eighteen replied.  "Pleased to meet you."  As he said this, he froze a few Red Nocturnes and they disappeared.  
"Same," Riku grunted.  He wondered how was it, that the replicas of Vexen always seemed to be nicer than Vexen himself?  Or maybe it was just because he and Vexen just never got along.  
"Gasp!" the man in the top hat said.  "What are those flowers? I've never seen them around here before!"
Sora and Riku both took a second to look around and groaned.  A few Blizzard Plants had joined them.
"I hate flowers," Sora said.  "I simply hate them."
However, the flowers didn't get a chance to do much damage.  Before they even had a chance to start hacking away at the flowers, they all simultaneously burst into flames.
"Axel!" Sora said.  "Took you long enough."
"Well excuse me, Roxas," Axel said, grinning.  "But I was trying not to get my head chopped off."
"Run into the Queen, eh?" Sora asked.
"How'd you know?" Axel asked.
"She has a habit of wanting to take people's heads," Sora responded simply.
"I feel significantly less special now," Axel said, beginning to pick off the Rhapsodies.  
The Heartless stopped coming after that.  The five of them were easily capable of finishing them off.  
"Where did all those Heartless come from?" Kairi asked.
"They are attracted to the Keyblade, are they not?" Eighteen said.
"Yeah, but they attacked here, not where we were," Sora said.
"Oh, I suppose that is true."
"The Queen mentioned something about a man in a black cloak, could be Xehanort, or his replicas or something," Axel said.
"I'm afraid that the only person in a black cloak around here has been me," Eighteen said.  "I hope my presence hasn't been causing too much havoc for the Queen."
"Anything not about her is havoc," Riku muttered.
"Oh, well then I'm out of ideas," Axel said.
"It still probably has something to do with the Organization, or whatever it is they're calling themselves now," Sora said.  "They attacked here, probably because Alice is here."
"You hear that, Alice?" the hare said.  "You're wanted!"
"You should be flattered!" the man in the top hat added.
Sora growled.  "There's just too much to do!" he said.  
"Sora!" Kairi shouted, looking at him straight in the face.  "I know that you want to make sure that the Princesses stay safe, but it's impossible for you to be in seven places at once.  Well, six, really, since I'm trying my hardest to stay with you."
She blushed as she said this, but kept going.  "You're trying to do too much.  We need to focus on what our mission is.  Eighteen said he would keep an eye on the others.  Besides, you and I both know that it takes all seven Princesses to bring about any Keyhole.  And, last I checked, I'm not getting kidnapped if I'm with you."
Sora flushed.  
"We have people to find.  You're the one who said we just need to start looking.  So, let's keep looking."
Sora reached out and took Kairi's hand.  The two of them locked eyes, smiles quivering at the edges of their lips.
"Do you think they'll kiss?" Axel whispered.
"Nope," Riku said.  
"Seriously?" Axel asked.
Riku nodded.  "I've seen this before with the two of them."
Axel snapped his fingers disappointedly.  "So what do you suppose that outburst was?"
"Oh, a bit of it was Kairi getting Sora's head out of the clouds, which is a place it resides frequently.  And the rest of it was…"
"Determination that I've seen only in Namine," Axel said.
"Oh, Namine was behind that quite a bit.  But Kairi can be ridiculously determined too when she wants to be.  She always has been that way with Sora, making sure that he doesn't try to fly too high.  And it's interesting that Namine has twice that determination, even though she had nothing of Kairi to go off of."
"You speak highly of such determination," Axel said.
Riku raised his eyebrows, but didn't vocalize his response.  
"Well I don't know about you," the man in the top hat said.  "But we have a tea party to finish! Would you care to join us? It's my unbirthday!"
"Uh, no thanks," Sora replied, turning to look at him.  "We really need to be on our way."
"Suit yourself," the hare said, beginning to shoo them out of the garden.  "We didn't want you anyway!"
"Thank you!" Alice called out.  
"No problem," Sora said, waving.
"See you around!" Kairi said.
Axel mock-saluted and Riku nodded in their general direction.  
"Actually, I would like some tea if you don't mind," Eighteen said.
A teapot began to pour tea into a half-cup.  (Literally, the cup was cut in half, but the tea magically stayed in somehow.)  
"Thank you," Eighteen said when the cup was handed to him.  
"Is it your unbirthday?" Alice asked.
"I'm not sure, perhaps," Eighteen said, unsure of what an 'unbirthday' even was.
"Oh!" the man in the top hat began to sing.  
"A very merry unbirthday to you!" the hare chimed in.
Eighteen resisted the urge to pull out his notebook and start taking notes.