Arianna Hightopp was a hard-working woman. Of course, raising two boys and training them in a profession required a lot of hard work eldest son, Tarrant, had learned to sew easily and adapted his skills to become a hatter. The boy had recently been employed by the White Queen.

Her youngest, Jefferson, had only just begun to learn his fabrics. However, the child would constantly become distracted. Questions about what was behind the next door so common that she made a habit of answering him with the very materials she was working to educate him in.

It was a very shocked Arianna whose son strolled through the door. It seemed that Tarrant was excited about a visitor which had stumbled into a tea party that he had been enjoying with the March Hare. A girl. An Alice, he had exclaimed.

Over the next few days, Tarrant left the house with the claim that he and Thackery were to have tea. Jefferson would ask why he could not come if he awoke before his older brother left. No answer was ever given, but Arianna always believed it was because of that Alice.

Nearly a week later, Tarrant awoke and stayed in his bed. When his mother came to find out what was wrong the boy sobbed out a tale of a trial by the Red Queen where Iracebeth had sentenced Alice to be beheaded, but the girl successfully escaped and disappeared from Underland.

"Jefferson, where did you put my spool of blue thread?" Arianna questioned her four-year-old son. The gown she was sewing for the duchess would feed them for the summer and thread was necessary in her line of work.

The little boy let out a giggle as he pointed to one of his brother's hats.

She checked the hat for her missing thread only to let out a frustrated sigh when nothing showed itself.

"This isn't funny, Jefferson. Where did you hide it?" The frustration seeped out into his mother's voice making the small boy's lower lip tremble.

"Is in the hat, mama."

He looked up at her knowing his words were true, but that didn't help Arianna.

"It's not in the cursed hat, you stupid boy!"

Sh picked up the hat and threw it rather forcefully at her son. It was only when a pair of slightly calloused hands caught the flying object that she realized Tarrant had come home and probably witnessed the altercation.

The red-haired teen sent their mother a glare before reaching into one of his many pockets. Nimble fingers launched two spools of blue thread at the woman. "Ask me next time, mama. Don't take it out on Jeff."

His glare softened as he turned to the little boy with silent tears dripping down his cheeks. The hand still clutching the top hat, an early bit of work, moved a bit so that when it was released the hat engulfed Jefferson's entire head.

"Come on, baby brother. The Dodo made an order and I know he enjoys seeing you."

Jefferson slipped his hand into his brother's and followed him out of the house. The tears did not quite stop though.

"I put it in the hat. Why did mama not see?"

"I don't know, baby brother. I just don't know."

Those were the last words spoken as the two Hightopp boys made their way to the Dodo's home.

A five-year-old Jefferson was huddled against a tree clutching the tattered remains of his favorite hat.

Tarrant had been away, working for the White Queen, so the boy had tried to find others to play with. He had tried to play with their mama, but between teaching him fabrics, numbers, and letters, she was either busy putting food on the table or exhausted from working too much. That left the neighboring children.

Unfortunately, most other children didn't like to play with unfamiliars, so he settled for giving his top hat a small spin and dropping stones inside. Some of the other children had seen him playing and let him put a few of their smaller toys inside. It was only when they realized nothing would come back that a number of them got upset. It appeared that they, much like his mama, did not like having their things go missing because of the stupid boy with the fancy hat.

That was what led to Nikolias, a bully as far as Jefferson was concerned but a hero to other kids, getting a few of his friends to keep the boy out of the way for a bit while he stole the hat and ran. The little boy fought hard to get out of the older children's grips, but by the time he caught up the the bully his beloved hat had been shredded. He gathered up the remains and crawled under a pile of underbrush only to huddle close to a tree. His arms were scraped from crawling and the dirt manged to not only smudge up his cheeks, but mix into his brown hair as well.

The boy didn't expect anyone to find him.

"Jeff! Jeff, where are you?"

It was Tarrant's voice and he sounded a little bit upset.

"He is here, Tarrant. Don't lose your head."

"Curses, Chess, you said he was hurt. Now tell me where he is or I tell McTwisp who really broke his pocket watch."

The little boy could hear the worry under his brother's threat and felt relieve he knew it was no joke. Still grasping at what had once been a beautiful satin top hat, he scrambled out toward Tarrant's voice. The first thing he saw were his brother's shoes which vanished quickly when Tarrant dropped to his knees to pull Jefferson into a tight embrace.

"Never scare me like that again, Jeff."

"I'll try."

They spoke no more until after Tarrant had navigated them back home. He had carried his little brother the entire way; the earlier worry too strong to let go of quite yet. The two settled down atop Jefferson's bed.

"You wanna tell me what happened now?" the elder asked, taking a care not to sound demanding.

Instead of answering, the younger boy reached out to their sides and dropped the hat onto his bed; hiding his face in the soft fabric of his brother's coat after. Tarrant took in the sight of his destroyed work and instantly knew someone had not taken kindly to learning of Jeff's trick that made possessions disappear into nothingness.

"Just the hat, right? They didn't hurt you too, did they?"

It would have been more convincing had Jefferson muttered his "no" without the long hesitation. Nothing more needed to be said as the red-head pushed his baby brother away to look him over with eyes that picked up details at a glimpse. There were a fair number of rips in the child's clothes as well as some bruises on his wrists and neck that could not be explained away by the underbrush he had climbed out of.

"Wouldn't lie to me, would ya, Jeff?"

The little boy began to cry, causing the bigger on to hug him close again.

"Come on, baby brother. Talk to me."

"Am I scary?"

How anyone could find the tiny son of a seamstress frightening was a mystery. So, Tarrant answered honestly.

"No. A little mad, perhaps, but not at all scary. Did someone tell you that you were?"

A nod.

"What else did they say?"

When he received no answer the hatter let out a tired sigh.

"Jefferson, I can't fix it if you don't tell me what was said."

"Said... said they're gonna tell."

"Who?"

"Gonna tell the red queen."

Neither boy could find the words to follow that. The Red Queen was as much a monster as the White Queen was a saint. For her to be told of Jefferson's mysterious gift- it would mean imprisonment or possible execution. Tarrant would never let her have the boy though.

"Tell you what. I'll make you a new hat. From now on, though, you only do your trick with me, Chess, or Thackery around."

That cheered the child up and he nodded excitedly.

"And remember, Jeff, a hat without magic is just another hat. Doesn't make any one better than another. Just like people."

His words left an imprint Jefferson would carry all his life.