Much More Muchier
By Detafo
Chapter Three:
A Journey And Advice
"Alice?"
"Yes, Hatter?"
"Tell me more of your travels."
They'd been walking in silence for a time, watching the flowers open up to greet the morning sunlight and the animals go about their daily lives. Alice was quiet for a moment. "What would you like to hear?" She asked finally. "You've heard about my travels to China." She looked at her friend with a smile. "What about India… did I tell you about India? Where there are men who play music to snakes and make them dance! Where women wear the most colourful clothes and carry baskets on their heads!"
"Baskets on their heads? Why would they do such an absurd thing?" The Hatter was amazed. It was always said that Underland was the maddest of all the Lands, but places in the Overland seemed to even strike him to shame! "What about this business? What sort of things does it trade in?"
"Oh, all sorts…" Alice said with a smile. "Whatever people want to send to a different country, we'll take. The most common items we take are materials and tea." The Hatter met her gaze, a wondrous, child-like innocence and excitement alight in his eyes. Alice chuckled. "Yes, Hatter… we have tea up there. But we have no Hatters who are quite as accomplished as you."
Her compliment struck a chord in Hatter's heart. He was reminded how much he missed Alice when she wasn't there with him in Underland. "Alice?" He asked quietly. "Do you miss Underland when you're away?"
"More and more so every day." Alice replied. "I miss the wonderful sights, the adventure, my friends." She paused. "I miss you most of all, though."
"Then why don't you stay?" Hater asked suddenly. "We care for you much more than those gallymoggers up there." Alice chuckled slightly. "Well, we do! You have scoundrels proposing marriage and business left right and slightly off-centre! You visit countries that make Underland seem sane! It's all very well that you want to continue your father's six impossible things, Alice, but we miss you. I miss you."
"You miss me?" Alice asked, a faint pink tinge appearing across her cheeks. "How much do you miss me when I'm not here, Hatter?"
"I miss you enough to beg the White Queen for a vial of Jabberwocky blood so that I might follow you to the Overland." Hatter said, without thinking. As soon as his mind caught up to his mouth, he clapped a hand over his mouth and blushed a furious red that clashed horribly with his hair. Looking around, he noticed that Alice had stopped walking a few paces behind him and he turned to face her.
"You… wanted to follow me?" She asked.
"Aye." Hatter said quietly. "The White Queen… she convinced me not to go… said you'd be back, just like you promised." He lapsed into silence as they began to walk again. "Alice?"
"Mmm?" Alice was somewhat lost in thought over what the Hatter had said.
"If you were to go back to Overland…" He started, unscattering his thoughts before forging ahead. "When would you return?"
"Return to Underland?" She mused. "How long would you wait for me, Hatter?"
"I would wait forever and a day until you were back in your proper place among all us mad folk." Hatter replied. "Until you were back here with me."
"If I were to go back to Overland, I'd return here before you knew it, Hatter." Alice said to reassure him, and also to reassure herself. "There is only so much stiff upper-lip and properness I can take before I find I might just go gallymoggers myself."
The Hatter smiled before taking the woman's hand in his own as they walked once again in companionable silence. Alice squeezed his hand reassuringly in return and smiled at him before turning her thoughts to things that she'd left behind: the dull and boring life of a businesswoman, her mother, her sister, Lord Ascot.
Hatter on the other hand was contemplating how nice it felt to be in the company of Alice. The girl he'd known for years, the girl who brought more vibrant colour to Underland – her Wonderland – with every visit she made. Yes, Little Girl had grown up, had become a Big Girl, but that didn't matter. She was still Alice, the same caring and wonderful Alice that he'd grown so fond of… perhaps even… what was that word? The White Queen had mentioned it to him at one point when they were discussing Alice… ah, that was it… Love.
He stopped his thoughts right there. Was that it? Did he love Alice? He felt his eyes go large as he even contemplated the idea. He was very fond of her, certainly. No matter what size she was, she always carried a bit of that curious Little Girl who had stumbled upon his and Thackery's Unbirthday Tea for Mallymkun.
"Hatter!" he voice cut through his thoughts and he shook his head clear of the cobwebs. He turned his gaze to Alice who had a smile on her face. "I was asking how far away we are from Marmoreal now?"
Hatter looked about, looking for some sign as to which could answer her question. His gaze was drawn to the top of a small hill and his grin widened on his face. "Why, we're just at the southern edge of Trotter's Bottom." He said. "How time does fly when with companionable companions."
"Indeed." Alice agreed. "But do tell me, when did Time grow wings and learn to fly?"
"I haven't the slightest idea." Hatter replied. "But with a question like that, you ought to belong here."
"I belong here much more than I belong in Overland." Alice replied, slipping easily into the conversation they had left off an hour ago. "I feel so much more comfortable with my thoughts."
Hatter chose to say nothing in case he got carried away by the tide of his own jumbled thoughts. But after they made their way over the crest of the hill, he pointed toward the White Castle of Marmoreal that shone brilliantly in the early afternoon light.
"Oh, it's just as beautiful as I remember." Alice sighed, a smile on her face that made Tarrant's heart ache. "It will be so good to see everyone again."
"And they will be glad to see you…" Chessur's disembodied voice said just ahead of them. The two companions watched as the Cat's body formed in a swirl of slate grey smoke. His grinning face appeared last. "The White Queen has been just about having conniptions when she heard you have returned."
"I do hope she's all right." Alice replied.
"As mad as could be expected." Chessur assured her, floating just ahead of the two companions. "She has ordered a meal for you both, as I assume Tarrant was in too much of a hurry to think of breakfast for you both?"
"That is true…" Tarrant harrumphed. "But Alice wanted to see the White Queen."
"And you wanted nothing but to help her of her quest isn't that right, Tarrant?" How the Hater would have liked to wipe that smug grin off the damnable Cat's face. "How very noble. Well come along then, we must hurry so as your food doesn't go cold."
The three travelled in easy silence until they'd reached the gates of Marmoreal where they were met by a large bloodhound who seemed to be waiting for them.
"Bayard?" Alice asked. The dog cocked its head to the side, its tongue lolling out.
"No… I am Zeta, Bayard is my father." The dog said in a female voice. "You are Alice… you slayed the Jabberwocky."
"I did." Alice said humbly.
"The White Queen awaits you in the throne room." Zeta said. "I have been asked to take you there."
"This is where I leave you…" Chessur said by way of leave. "I have things to attend to…" With one last grin, he disappeared from sight. Alice exchanged a look with the Hatter who merely looked a little more comfortable now that the grinning Cat had disappeared from view. Hatter had not been comfortable around Chessur for some time now since the Cat had expressed interest in his beloved top hat.
The two followed Zeta into the White Castle and through to the throne room, where the White Queen sat regally, waiting for her two friends to grace her with their presence. When she saw them enter the room, she jumped up and rushed toward them as ladylike as she possibly could. Clasping Alice's hands within her own, she smiled.
"Our Champion has returned!" She said with a large smile. "Oh, Alice… it has been so long."
"Good afternoon, your majesty." Alice curtsied as decently as her now-ripped and dirtied underclothes would allow. Hatter cursed himself quietly for not thinking to make her a nice travelling dress to go with the cloak and bonnet. The White Queen seemed not to notice.
"Oh, you both simply must rest and eat before we have our chat. You both look quite dead on your feet!" She waved a hand and a prim and proper butler appeared to her right. "Please escort Champion Alice and Tarrant to the dining lounge, Bailey." She asked.
"Of course, madam." The butler called Bailey said agreeably, before motioning that Alice and the Hatter should follow him. "We have had our finest chefs prepare a meal for you both to be eaten in the dining lounge." He said. "Then the maids will escort you both to your rooms where you can change and rest after your journey."
"Thank you, Bailey." Alice said with a smile. As they sat, a handful of handmaidens brought bowls of fruit, plates of pudding and a large joint of lamb for the two to eat. Alice certainly hoped she would be introduced to the food before she got a chance to eat, as she had once on one of her earlier encounters into Underland. Waiting a few moments to see if she was indeed going to be introduced to the joint of lamb or the pudding, she began to stave off her hunger pangs.
After a delicious meal, the handmaidens showed Alice to her room in the Palace. The bed was soft and Alice felt full as she drifted off into an afternoon nap.
333
"How has Underland been since the last time I was here?" Alice asked as she accepted the cup of tea that the Hatter handed her. "It seems ever-so peaceful now."
"I'm glad you asked." Mirana, for she always asked to be called her given name when in private, said. "Ever since Iracebeth and Ilosovic were banished to the Outlands, the Underland has seemed brighter… the surrounding have regained their colours in rejoicement. It has been peaceful." She nodded with a sigh of contentment. "Though, I suppose you could say rather dull, don't you think, Tarrant?"
"With no Jabberwockies to slay and no Red Queens to usurp the throne? Aye, you could say it has been rather dull here in Underland." Hatter agreed, his usual smile on his face. "I was tellin' Alice about how we've all missed her around here."
"On, indeed. It hasn't been the same without you Alice." Mirana addressed the girl. "But now that our champion has returned, just like she said she would, I think we're due for a celebration… a party of sorts?"
"Oh," Alice fumbled with the tassel of the coat she was wearing in place of her own tattered undergarments. "About that, Mirana… I don't know if I'm to stay indefinitely this time…"
"Why, whatever do you mean, Alice?" Mirana asked, a little surprised and put off by this announcement. "Do you not like it here in Underland?"
"Oh, I do! I really do! And I wish that I could stay here forever and ever!" Exclaimed the girl. "It's just…" She looked helplessly at the Hatter.
"Is it these travels that Chessur has told me so much about?" Mirana asked kindly. "He told me that you've travelled to a place called China. And that you have been asked to take over this… company?"
"Yes." Alice replied. "But I'm not sure if I want to… it was my father's company and was bought by his business partner when my father died…" She paused. "And now that Lord Ascot has been critically injured, he wants me to take his place at the head of the company."
"Alice, dear, remember what I told you on your last journey here." Mirana said kindly. "It is up to you to make the right decision, but whatever you choose… we will all be right here behind you."
"But I don't want to make that decision!" Alice told her. "I want to make my father proud, I want to make my mother proud… I want to do right by Lord Ascot, but…"
"But you have to live for yourself, Alice… it's your life. Not theirs." Mirana said, patting her hand over Alice's and looked at the younger girl.
"It's just that…" Alice paused, looking at Mirana's immaculate white hand. "As I told Hatter… this company was one of my father's six impossible things." Mirana smiled at the saying that she had told Alice when she had been a young girl.
"What were the six impossible things that your father thought of before breakfast?" She asked. Alice looked up. No one had ever asked her to recite that which her father had told her in their nightly chats when she was a young girl. She considered the question for a moment, letting her father's voice fill her head.
"One: To extend Kingsley Exports to foreign shores; Two: To do business as far as Siberia; Three: To travel the world in under six months; Four: To meet with royalty; Five: To discover a new land; Six: To visit Alice's Wonderland." She stopped herself when she heard herself recite the last impossible thing. "My father… my father would have loved it here." She said in a small voice.
"I'm sure he would." Mirana said kindly. "Remember, Alice… those we love, who are no longer with us… they live in here." She patted her hand against Alice's breastbone. "Your father is with you wherever you go, because you choose to remember him." She wiped at the tears that had appeared in the corners of Alice's eyes. "And if you think about it, you've accomplished almost all of your father's six impossibles."
"I have?"
"Yes." The Queen nodded wisely before counting off on her fingers. "You've extended the company to foreign shores, you've traded with China, which is a neighbouring country of Siberia, you've met royalty – not just in Underland, but in Overland too, I've heard Chessur tell, you've re-discovered Underland, and because you father resides in your heart, he has seen Underland – your Wonderland – through your eyes."
Alice thought about it. Looking between the Queen and Hatter, who had been silent during the exchange for fear of looking a fool to want to comfort the woman he might love. "Hatter? What do you think?"
"I've always thought it unwise to disagree with a Queen." He said, slowly. "I may be mad, but I am not stupid. What Queen Mirana says rings true. The resounding toll of the bell is that this is your decision and yours alone. If you want to stay…" He looked at the Queen, who had a slight smile on her face. "I, for one, would not have any objections." He shuffled his feet. In fact, I would probably Futterwacken until the end of Underland. "But if you choose to leave…" He trailed off and looked at the pincushion strapped to his wrist.
"I know it's to be my decision… I just wish I could make the right one." Alice said, before rising from her chair and nodding to her companions. "I think I'll take a walk."
"Feel free to go anywhere…" Mirana said kindly. "I daresay you might find the Tweedles out in the garden if you looked hard enough."
Alice smiled a little and nodded before exiting the room, leaving Mirana and the Hatter alone, thinking that the only inhabitant she really wanted to talk to right now was the one who made her thoughts clear but filled her lungs with a sweet smelling smoke. An inhabitant who was no long in Underland.