• Queen
• Retired Spy
• Reluctant Nanny
• Dignified Fainter
• Georgia’s Favourite Lap
• Yo Queen

Once upon a time, Queen Permafrostia and Ava were enemies. Queen Permafrostia wanted Ava’s kingdom and of course she wanted to be “the Fairest of Them All”. Her mirror mirror on the wall, Glassy G, always told her the truth.

Permafrostia did not want to stop the car.

She said so clearly.

She said so again when Ava turned into the driveway.

She said it a third time when they approached the front door.

She has not said it since.

Queen Permafrostia is a woman of extraordinary composure, impeccable taste and deeply carefully maintained dignity. She wears large sunglasses at all times including indoors. She carries a compact mirror. She drinks tea — properly brewed, never rushed — and French sparkling water and wine, which she added to the household shopping list herself and does not apologize for.

Then she saw the bears.

She fainted.

She has since reframed this event as a strategic pause. The household accepts this terminology. Mostly.

She fainted with remarkable grace — one hand to her forehead, sliding gently down the doorframe in a manner that suggested she had perhaps practiced for exactly this eventuality. She came to rest in a dignified heap on the welcome mat, her sunglasses still perfectly in place. Eugene brought her an oatmeal cookie and sat down to wait. She has never forgotten this. She never will.

Permafrostia adapts. This is perhaps her greatest quality — greater even than her composure, her spy craft, her impeccable taste in French patisserie. She arrived at Bear House expecting one thing and found another and simply, quietly, completely adapted. She learned she’ll be right from Outback Bear and now says it with natural authority. She learned that Georgia on her lap is not an inconvenience but the best part of any afternoon. She learned that Eugene’s Cheerios, offered at exactly the right moment, are worth more than most things she has encountered in her considerable career.

She suspected the birthday party two weeks before it happened. She said nothing. She dressed in her most elegant dress anyway, just in case. She came around the corner of the house on Georgia’s arm and saw the fairy lights in the Banyan tree and the millefeuille with its fondant menagerie and her bears and Ava smiling and Novak stepping out of the trees and 00Coo filing his report from the Banyan tree and Boris with his blini mix and the Saskatchewan family who nobody had invited but who were somehow exactly right and she removed her sunglasses and laughed her real laugh.

The one she saves.

The one nobody outside Bear House has ever heard.

She read the tiny fondant speech bubble on the cake.

Yo Queen.

She looked at Ava.

She looked at her compact mirror.

She looked at her whole ridiculous magnificent chaotic beloved family.

She looked at her whole ridiculous magnificent chaotic beloved family.

She snapped the mirror shut.

She put her sunglasses back on.

She sat down at the head of the table with Georgia on her lap and Eugene pressed against her side and the fairy lights of the Banyan tree glowing gold and the balalaika playing something that felt like home and she thought:

She’ll be right.

And it was. 🌟

Favourite things:

Tea, French sparkling water, millefeuille, Georgia’s weight on her lap, the real laugh she saves for Bear House

Special skill:

Composure under any circumstances, spy craft, fainting gracefully, saying she’ll be right at exactly the right moment.

Known weakness:

Georgia. Always Georgia. .Also Eugene’s timing with Cheerios. Also Ava’s quietly perfect understanding of everything.

Personal motto:

“She’ll be right.” (learned on the job) 👑

There is a moment, late in the evenings at Bear House, when everyone has settled and the house is quiet and warm.

Eugene is asleep with his Cheerio box.

Yogianna’s light is still on — she is reading, pearls still on, standards maintained even at midnight.

Outback Bear is in the garden hammock, peaceful and entirely himself.

Medved is at his laptop, Earl Grey steaming, learning something new in the quiet dark.

Danger Bear has laminated one final document and gone to bed satisfied.

Georgia is asleep in her banana room, bow slightly sideways on the pillow, tutu carefully hung up, dreaming of whatever Georgia dreams of.

And Ava is at her desk with her blueprints, designing something for someone she loves.

Permafrostia sits in the garden with her tea and her compact mirror and her sunglasses pushed up on her head and looks at Bear House glowing warm and gold through the trees.

She thinks about the car she almost didn’t stop.

She thinks about the door she almost didn’t walk through.

She thinks about the bears she almost didn’t stay for.

She opens her compact mirror.

She looks at her reflection for a long moment.

“Yo Queen,” she says softly.

She closes the mirror.

She finishes her tea.

She goes inside.

She is home. 🌟👑

Chat with Queen Permafrostia