The Realm of Judges was nothing like Roulette thought it would be. The moment she and Spade entered her new home she found herself in a short hallway. Behind her was a large white door and she could see what looked like a sitting room just in front of her.
“What is this?”
“You’re new home. This is where we go when we’re not working. We have made this place ourselves. There is no outside, for beyond the doors to this house are the other realms. There’s a place for everyone here. You’re room is already set up and waiting for you. You can decorate it any way you wish. We all have our own private rooms. There are also other places like a kitchen, a garden room made to simulate the natural world of the moral realm, and a few common rooms. Do you like it?”
“It’s . . . nice.”
Spade laughed as she led Roulette into the next room.
“I know it can be a bit intimidating at first. You’ll get used to it.”
The room was spacious. In the center of it was a large coffee table with a bit, black couch and comfortable looking chairs around it. There was a door to the right and another hallway with many doors on either side to the left. Sitting in one of the chairs was a man in a long black coat. He wore a black top hat with a red band and his jet black hair was pulled back into a ponytail that fell just beyond his shoulders. Upon their entry into the room he looked up from the game of solitaire he’d been playing on the table.
“Welcome back Spade. Who’s this?”
“This is Roulette.”
“The last of the games? That’s great.”
He stood and walked towards them. He was tall, well over six feet, and his hat and coat did nothing to tone down that fact. Aside from those, his attire was simple; black pants and shoes and a white button down shirt. He had on a red tie with a black club on it and a dice hung on a chain around his neck. A few long wisps of black hair hung in front of his face and his dark grey eyes showed a slightly mischievous glint.
“It’s good to meet you Roulette. I’m Club.”
He took her hand and bowed to kiss it. The blond couldn’t help but blush.
“H-hi.”
“Stop flirting brother.”
Club pulled back a little, his face a mask of overplayed innocence.
“I wasn’t flirting.”
“Sure you weren’t.”
There was affection between these two. Roulette could see it in Spade’s false anger and Club’s puppy eyed plea.
“So you’re siblings?”
The black haired woman grinned and cocked her head to the side.
“In a way. We’re both Aces, so in our minds we’re family.”
“Yup. She’s my big sister, despite appearances.”
“How do you know?”
“She was made first. I was second, Heart was third, and Diamond was fourth.”
“Speaking of Heart, where is she?”
“Out on an assignment, remember. She’ll be back later. In the meantime, Casino and Slots are in the hallway. You should go introduce our lovely new comrade to them.”
The blond blushed again. She wasn’t used to this much attention.
“That sounds like a good idea. Come on Roulette, there’s many more people for you to meet.”
Spade led her out of the room and into a long hallway. She could see two figures near the end of it, one in red and one in yellow, which appeared to be arguing with each other. As they neared, she began to pick up what they were saying.
“Oh come on! Give me a chance,” said a deep male voice.
“No way. I told you hun, you’re good looking and all but you’re just not worth my time right now.”
The second voice was distinctly female and had a unique highly pitched quality. Spade sighed at the display.
“Are you two at it again?”
The two started and turned to face them. The woman was in a low cut, bright red dress. The short skirt was slit on each side and only held together with crisscrossing red straps. There were holes on either side of the dress and the only things keeping it up where two straps connecting the top to a red choker around her neck. Hanging from the fabric was a charm of two cherries. Her eyes were a bright grass green which contrasted sharply with short, bright red hair that flipped out in either direction. Her red heals clicked on the hard wood floor when she turned.
The man behind her was distinctly different. He had tanned skin, dark blue eyes, and yellow blond hair that almost reached his shoulders. He wore a yellow three quarter sleeve jacket with white trim and a dark blue buckled strap around the high collar. The shirt beneath it was red with a black collar and two black straps going across it. His pants where dark blue and didn’t quite touch the yellow, black strapped boots that he wore. On a simple, black belt was a large silver buckle. It bore the word BAR in large letters. He crossed his arms over his chest showing dark blue half gloves. He spoke first and sounded somewhat amused.
“What’s this? Hey, Slots, I think you upset the new girl.”
“I did no such thing!” the redhead bristled.
“Oh, um, I’m sorry if I look startled or anything. This is all just a lot to take in.”
She laughed nervously, hoping that she’d not made an even bigger mess of the situation. The woman smiled brightly.
”You see Casino, she’s fine. Now then, what’s your name?”
”It’s Roulette. I’m pleased to meet you.”
“Aah, you don’t have to be so formal just for us honey.”
“I think it’s nice of her, there aren’t many people now a days that are that polite.”
“But it’s not needed.”
“I never said that it was needed, just that it was nice.”
Roulette backed up a little as the two began arguing again. She cast a nervous glance at Spade.
“Don’t get upset. Those two are always like that. I swear, they can argue about anything. It wasn’t your fault.”
“Alright.” she said with more certainty than she felt. Spade smiled, clearly seeing through her.
“I know what will cheer you up. Fallow me.”
They returned to the large room only to walk down one of the other halls. The black haired woman stopped in front of a large door and, with a smile and not a word of explanation, opened it wide.
The sight was breathtaking. Green rolling fields scattered with wildflowers stretched out all around her. Around the entrance was a large, well kept garden and off to the right stretched an inviting forest. There was even a lake that she could see in the distance. Roulette stepped into the space filled with aw. The sky above her was just that, a perfectly blue sky with the occasional white, puffy cloud.
“It rains here too.”
The blond looked back to see that Spade had fallowed her into the garden. The door, nested under an ivy covered arch that was set against an old brick wall covered in vines and small flowers, was still open. She could see the hall just beyond it.
“Is this . . . a room?”
“Yes, it is. It replicates nature from the mortal world. It even goes through all the seasons and every kind of weather. It’s a good place to go when you want to relax.”
“Are there boundaries?”
“Yes. Walls like this one. You can’t see them until you start to get close to one though.”
“This is wonderful.
“I thought you’d like it. But there’s more to do here than just admire the scenery. Clover!”
“What?” answered a high pitched, child like voice. Roulette couldn’t see anyone, but the sound had come from the direction of the forest.
“There’s someone here to see you! Come on out now!”
As the blond watched a little girl dressed in green emerged from the trees and began running towards them.
“Is that girl a Judge?”
“Yes, in a sense she is. She’s the first one of the charms that we’ve been able to find. She doesn’t do any of the normal work that we do, but she does her part.”
“Like what?”
“She goes to the mortal realm and takes care of little things like contests and drawings. She seems to like it, but it’s a lot for one child to do alone. There will be four of them one day, the Charms.”
As she got closer Roulette could finely see what she looked like. She was small and couldn’t have been more than ten years old. Her grass green hair was short and curler and her wide, sparkling eyes were the same bright color. She wore a green jumper over a white, short sleeved shirt and a pair of black shorts. Her shoes were simple black flats and a four leaf clover was in her hair, just above her right ear. When she reached them she was out of breath but smiling brightly.
“Hi! I’m Clover. Who’re you?”
“I’m Roulette. It’s nice to meet you Clover.”
“Are you gona stay with us?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Yay! That’s great! You have to play with me sometimes, okay?”
“That sounds like fun.”
“Alright! This is the best place to play. You can go exploring and swimming and climbing and all kinds a stuff!”
Roulette couldn’t help but smile at Clover’s enthusiasm.
“Clover, do you know where Diamond is?”
“Oh. Ya, he’s in the mirror room again. Watch out, he’s really grouchy today.”
“Alright, I’ll make sure not to get him angry. We need to go talk to him, so you run along and play, alright?”
“Okay. Let’s play together real soon Roulette.”
She waved goodbye as she ran off towards the trees again.
“She seems so happy.”
“She is. This place is perfect for her and everyone really loves her.”
“I’m glad.”
“Come on then. Heart and the Dice are still out right now, but in the meantime you have to meet my little brother.”
Roulette was reluctant to leave the paradise of a garden, but she did so none the less. They had only gone a few doors down before they stopped again and entered what she assumed was the ‘Mirror Room’ Clover had mentioned.
The room was small and dark, not at all like the rest of the house. In the center of the space was a large mirror in a gothic silver frame. It was easily seven feet tall and Roulette could not seem to figure out how it was staying upright. A young man sat on a long wooden bench sat in front of it. Spade came to stand beside him and Roulette fallowed close behind.
Despite the fact that he was sitting down, she could tell the man was short. He wore black shoes, black pants, and a long sleeved white shirt. A simple red vest and small, red diamond cufflinks provided a small amount color. His tie was black and bore the red diamond he was named for. He wore a silver belt buckle that, like Spade’s, also had his symbol on it and a silver chain at his side with a dice at the end. Sitting on the bench beside him was a plain, short black hat with a red band. He was staring into the mirror, but Roulette could not see anything except his slightly blurred reflection in its glass.
“Diamond. There’s someone you have to meet.”
Slowly and with clear reluctance he turned his head towards them. His gaze was captivating. Blood red eyes that held nothing but hardness and a distant sadness stared at her from under a fringe of jet black, red tipped hair. When he spoke his voice was harsh and somehow detached.
“Who are you?”
“I-I . . . I’m Roulette. It’s . . . nice to meet you.”
For a long, tense moment no one said anything. And then the door burst open and an energetic female voice rang out.
“Hi! What’s this I hear about a new girl, huh?”
Roulette suddenly found herself face to face with yet another person. She was average height with loose, curly, dark red hair that fell to her waist and sparkling red eyes.
“Hi there! I’m Heart, the one and only! Who’re you?”
“If you’re going to be loud,” Diamond said, clearly angry, “then leave.”
“Sheesh. Clam down lil’bro, we’ll leave. Come on, let’s go!”
Heart grabbed Roulette’s arm and dragged her from the room. She looked back at Spade, but the woman only waved her goodbye. Once in the hall Heart closed the door and turned to face her again.
“He shouldn’t have gotten so upset, honestly I wasn’t that loud. Right?”
“Eh, right.”
Heart truly seemed to live up to her name. She wore a sleeveless shirt like Spade’s, but you could only see the collar of it. The rest was covered by a dark red vest and her black tie decorated with a red heart. Her bright red skirt was slightly pleated and the edge of a similar white skirt could be seen just beneath it. She wore black fishnet tights that ended with black bands just below the edge of her skirt and red high heals. She had red armbands over her biceps and simple, crisscrossing red ribbon on her forearms. A silver bracelet with a dice was on her right wrist. A black top hat with a red band and three silver tag charms on its left side sat on her head.
“He wasn’t angry with you, you know?”
“Oh, um . . . “
“He’s just like that. Don’t think to hard on it, okay?”
Roulette felt greatly reassured. She was so worried about making a good impression on all of the people she’d met today that it was quite overwhelming. But Heart’s good nature seemed infectious. She could tell it would be very hard to stay around her and remain in bad mood.
“Sure.”
Diamond wouldn’t look at his sister. Despite the fact that she’d come to stand right beside him he stubbornly refused to meet her gaze.
“I think you upset her.”
“So what?”
“You shouldn’t do that. She’s a nice girl and she doesn’t deserve your anger.”
He couldn’t find the words to respond. The images in the mirror captured his attention again. He wasn’t worried about Spade seeing them too. He knew that the mirror only showed other realms to one person at a time. As long as he wanted the images to remain secret, she would not know.
“You’re looking at him again, aren’t you?”
He started slightly and she knew she’d been right.
“So what if I am?”
“You should go find him.”
“No.”
“Don’t be so stubborn.”
“I won’t do it.”
“Why not?”
Once more, silence seemed to be the only answer. Why? That was something even he couldn’t fully understand. Seeing that the conversation was getting her nowhere, Spade left him alone with his regrets once more.
