"Heh." 

The figure steps out of the shadows a little, onto the path. The movement reveals the four red jewels pinned to her chest, forming the corners of a square. Each glows slightly with its own inner light, radiating out from a spark at the centre.

The phenomenon is surprisingly entrancing.

"Well, you certainly sound like a native," the Four of Hearts admits.

On Audrey's shoulder, the little jay buries itself under her hair, attempting to avoid notice.

"Run," it chirps in a whisper.

Audrey bows deeply. 

"Four of Hearts! I'm so sorry, I didn't recognize you. Would it be impertinent for me to ask what someone so illustrious is doing on border patrol?"

"Performing my duty to the Queen by guarding her lands, as I always have."

She narrows her eyes at Audrey.

"Are you sure you live in Wonderland? How do you not know such basic information as the spheres of influence of the Hearts?"

"Of course I knew that you were in charge of such things, but I expected that the Spades would be tasked with the day-to-day of keeping the borders. Surely your place would be close to the Queen, as one of her most trusted."

"It is a mark of the Queen's trust that I am given this task..."

She sounds unsure, and the arrow-point is beginning to droop.

"And a goodly four Hearts as well! I envy you, to be honest: I've often wondered what it would take to become a Heart to the Queen. Alas, we can't all be as lucky as her Ace."

Four snorts.

"The Ace? Well, I don't envy him, but I can see how you might...and, you know, he does have the closest access to the Queen of any of us..."

She looks thoughtful. Her bow and arrow are now entirely forgotten, hanging loose in her hands and no longer threatening Audrey.

"It's hard to compete with 'raised from a toddler to be the Queen's right hand', you know? You must have done something terribly impressive to even be her Four." 

"Oh, I don't know. I mean, I was honoured to be chosen, of course, but..."

One might get the impression that Four is a little dazed.

"But I'm nothing special. Why would she trust me with any great responsibility?"

"Good work," Everless whispers.

"Keep her talking and we should be able to get past without too many difficult questions."

"You're being too hard on yourself! Clearly there must be something special about you, or the Queen wouldn't have picked you, right? Maybe it's something about the Hearts, that they need the right kind of person to unlock their powers..."

"I...maybe?"

Reminded of the hearts on her chest, she looks down at them, tapping one with a gloved finger. 

"I don't think I necessarily do anything to activate them, really - it's all quite instinctive." She doesn't sound very certain of any of this.

Audrey tilts her head. 

"Well, um. I ordinarily wouldn't dream of suggesting this, but there is a fairly obvious test - you could hand me a Heart for a few moments and see if I can do anything with it."

She gives Four her best smile. "I'd take it as a favour: if I can't do anything with it then at least I know I'll never be a Heart, you know? I can stop dreaming and focus on maybe being a Spade or a Club instead."

"I'm really, really not supposed to give them out to anyone," she protests. 

"Even if you promise to give it straight back and not do anything dangerous with it - what if the Queen found out?" Four looks faint at the very possibility. "She would never trust me again! I could forget being the Four of Hearts, or the anything of Hearts."

One might, if one were paying attention, notice that she is not being entirely truthful about her reasons for not giving away any hearts.

Audrey hums. "Fair enough. I wouldn't like to risk the Queen's displeasure either. But... even if you can't let me borrow one, could you maybe let me touch one...? That's really not giving one, is it?"

Four considers it for a few long seconds. She takes one of the hearts from its fastening, turning it over and over in her hands and staring into its crimson depths. 

"Alright," she says eventually.

"I suppose letting you touch it cannot do any great harm." 

She holds it out to Audrey, hand shaking a little. Her fingers are clenched tight around the gem, white-knuckled.

Audrey reaches out and lays a comforting hand atop Four's, incidentally touching the glowing Heart.

The heart pulses with light under her touch, the glow expanding from a tiny spark to fill the gem which houses it.

She feels a strong sense of healing, nourishment, the desire to feed someone and watch them grow and recover, emanating from the captive soul beneath her fingers. 

This heart, it tells her, wants to create food that will nourish and heal those who eat it. If she just does this unique mental action...

...much as she would love to, it's not hers to let free. 

"I can feel something there... the desire to heal and feed people? To create healing food? And I feel how it would do that, maybe..." 

She looks at Four. "Do you mind if I try it?"

"You can feel that?" she exclaims. 

"Perhaps there really is nothing special about me, then..." 

She frowns at Audrey's question.

"Well, you can't exactly do any damage with goodberries, I suppose. It only works once a day, so I won't be able to make more until the morning, but if you give most of them to me then it doesn't matter when they were made; they stay good for longer than a day." Four hesitates.

"...go ahead," she whispers, thrusting the heart in Audrey's direction and squeezing her eyes shut, but still holding onto it as tightly as ever.

She simply... lets that feeling unfold itself into the world.

And ten delicious-looking red berries appear, pooling around the heart in Four's hands and heaped atop it. 

The light within the heart dims, returning to a tiny spark that is only barely discernible. 

"Congratulations," the Four of Hearts remarks. "You have just performed magic." 

She shakes her head. "I hope I will not get into trouble for this. But now you know: this is what the hearts do, and this is how we use them."

Audrey smiles, and hands Four the berries, keeping none for herself. 

"I think you're wrong, Four. You do have something exceptional: your heart. You've granted one of my fondest wishes today: now I know I could maybe become a Heart myself! Even though Marcella might give you trouble for it, even though you're afraid of what might happen, you helped me nonetheless. You're out here on the borderlands protecting the kingdom, far away from anyone or anything, even though you're one of Marcella's favoured: that, too, speaks to your sense of duty and love for Wonderland. Even if you can't see it in yourself, I can."