Chapter III: Paths to Take

Alice walked along the path, careful not to walk too quickly in fear of knocking off Absolem. She knew what it felt like to be on someone's shoulder as they walked and she remembered the high winds too. She would smile and nod her head in thanks whenever a flower or animal realized who she was and greeted her in passing.

"I am surprised that no one has come to collect you," Absolem said in her right ear as he had settled between her shoulder and curtain of hair.

"That is strange," she nodded in agreement, "You are never really surprised."

"There is no need to be a smart alec," he made a small snort of disproval from her shoulder before he continued, "Word would be reaching Marmoreal quickly with how talkative the roses and petunias could be."

"I like that no one has come," Alice smiled and took another deep breath of Underland air, "It gives me the choice on where I want to go and a chance to explore where I wasn't able to before."

"You have missed this land, haven't you?" he asked a bit amused how the smallest things brought a larger smile to her face.

"More than you will ever know," she nodded and thought back to the days before her trip to China. Some days she didn't even think she would be able to get out of bed because of the pain. She would walk to get a cup of tea and then trudge back to her room to her bed or to her packing. She didn't know there could be so much pain from missing a place, a world… a hatter.

She paused a little in her thoughts even though her feet kept moving, "Absolem… how long have I been gone?"

"You should know that," he puffed on the hookah still strapped to his back and blew it opposite from her face, "You counted the days you were gone as you told me."

"I meant in Underland time," she sighed and tried to look down at her shoulder.

"Time is truely relative here," Absolem started and took another puff of the hookah, "Some say there is no such thing."

"But you have days and years, I have heard of such being said by many of the inhabitants of Underland."

"And as you have noticed there are only children and adults in this world. We have no elderly- at least not the unhealthy sort. Once we reach the age we are meant to be, we stop aging."

"Hence why the Tweedles are still young boys," Alice nodded in understanding.

"We do not die because of time like you all do in Otherland," Absolem continued glad that she was following, "Time does not rule over us. Queen Mirana does, and she took her vow to never hurt a living thing."

"But the Queen of Hearts had no such vow," Alice reminded him.

"Her crown was usurped," he explained with a growl that didn't seem butterfly like at all, "She never was truly over us. At least not the way that Underland and Time saw it. The ones who died under her rule were always beheaded or fed to her pets. Like the Jabberwock."

"So…" Alice paused before beginning again after the mention of the evil queen, "Even though you mark and name the days, nothing really is timed."

"Unless it is of importance," Absolem nodded glad to almost be rid of the awful talk of past queens, "To the kingdom, like the rule of the Queen of Hearts. Or to a certain person, like someone's eventual return."

Alice thought to herself for a moment. How curious time is in Underland. It is never really passing unless you are waiting for something. And even then, you never age. It seems to be a punishment in itself to wait for something. No wonder the rule of Iracebeth was so hard on the people and creatures of Underland.

"Has anyone timed my return?" Alice asked after her silent thoughts.

"A few," Absolem nodded, "One more so than others."

Alice turned to look down at him and only caught the edge of one of his bright wings, 'One more than the others…'

"So where are your feet leading you?" Absolem smiled as he talked.

"Hopefully somewhere I can find answers and a friend," Alice nodded at the answer she provided. Her feet seemed to know where to go and she didn't want to argue with them. Chessur didn't seem to be anywhere close by and she still didn't know her way around Underland that well. Her feet, on the other hand seemed to know better than herself. She decided to trust her gut feeling and just follow.

She giggled a little to herself when she thought back to a memory of Chessur in one of the nearby trees as she and Absolem entered the Tugley wood.

"What is funny?" Absolem asked.

"Just something that Chessur told me a long time ago," Alice smiled as if she was Chess, "'If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.'"

"This is true," Absolem nodded.

"Then I will just have to trust that this road that my feet are on is the one I am meant to be on," she smiled and noticed that she was going through some familiar woods. Although… she remembered going a much different way to get to a certain tea party. She looked around to find something more familiar than a similar looking tree, "Where do you think that my feet are taking us?"

Absolem was quiet for a moment and if Alice didn't hear him puffing on his Hookah she would have believed that he had fallen asleep on her shoulder.

"We are too far from the windmill to be crossing paths with the March Hare," Absolem talked more to himself than to Alice, "We may be heading straight to Marmoreal and the White Queen."

"Hmm," Alice nodded and felt a little bit of sadness solidify in her stomach. How sadness as a feeling could solidify she had no idea, but it was there all the same. She touched her stomach and gave a slight frown.

"Hoping you were heading in another direction?" Absolem noticed the slight change in her attitude.

"I guess I was, yes," she mumbled and kept up with her feet. She would have to wait to see Hatter again. She was late as it was, and she did want answers. Hopefully she would be able to see him sooner than much later.

Absolem stayed silent and Alice took that as the end to their conversation. The pair continued through the wood in companionable silence.

In a nearby tree a couple of eyes peered after them and a large grin spread forth from the darkness.


Queen Mirana looked over her latest batch of upelkuchen and was grateful that she had remembered the right amount of time for the recipe. She then turned to her almost finished vile of pishalver and hummed after she spit into the funnel.

"That should do it," she smiled to herself and politely rubbed at the side of her mouth. She always made more of each since she never knew when an adventure would pop up and they would need it, but today seemed to need a bit more than her usual batch.

"Now, only to wait and see what would develop today," she walked out of the kitchen and toward one of the large balconies that looked over the front of her castle. She looked first through the clouds in the bright sky. Absolem had told her that the Oraculum had foretold of a change in Underland coming soon and she hadn't heard from him in a few days since.

'More than likely making his own preparations for the change, that careful butterfly,' Mirana thought.

She felt a slight tremor from Underland itself earlier in the day and felt that she needed to make more upelkuchen and pishalver than usual. She was always connected to Underland and as such always followed its lead. She sighed and looked at the long, stone road leading from her castle. She did so love surprises, but the waiting was starting to wear on her. She didn't exactly know how to prepare for the change Absolem spoke of, if she didn't know what change it was to be.

"I will just have to have faith in him and Underland," she nodded her head, "They have never steered me in a direction not worth taking."

Her eyes then caught sight of a lone figure walking toward the front steps of the palace. Mirana smiled fondly, "It seems my Royal Hatter has come to pay me a visit. No hat boxes are with him today. How strange."

She turned back to the doorway of the balcony where Bayard has just arrived, "Tarrant Hightopp is here, Mirana."

"So I saw," she nodded, "Let him come up. I believe that we both will need some fresh air. Send up some tea as well, please Bayard."

Bayard bowed his head as he turned and went down to greet the Hatter. The tea was set up in the corner of her balcony near her eyeglass almost as quickly as she had asked for it. She bowed her head in thanks to the frogs that had set the table up.

As she waited for her hatter to appear she looked down into the courtyard where she saw the Bandersnatch still pacing. He had been doing so since the tremor earlier. At the end of each pace he would sniff the air and then continued to pace.

"It's as if he is waiting for something to come to him," she whispered and reminded herself to see if she could talk to the poor beast later to sooth him.

"Aren't we all, your majesty?"

Mirana turned to the doorway where Tarrant Hightopp had his prized hat under his arm and his head bowed in respect.

"How many times must I tell you to call me Mirana?" she gilded over to her trusted friend and tilted his head to meet his eyes, "How are you today, Tarrant?"

"Strange you should ask," he smiled and placed his hat on the nearby tea table, "I was walking to my workshop to work more on your last order- and what an order, your majesty. You and your court have out done yourself on these hats. They will look lovely, just as the sky and a certain blue dress that I was thinking of earlier as I walked-"

"Tarrant, you have lost your point," Mirana said softly to him and motioned to the table for him to sit.

He shook his head, "No, thank you."

"The Hatter not taking tea?" Mirana asked before she took her own seat, "Now this is some news of concern, isn't it?"

"I felt a feeling of some kind on my walk today," he motioned with his hands up his body and then put a hand to his chest, "And it stopped in here."

"How peculiar," Mirana said with a nod and thought that he too must have felt the slight tremor from their beloved land, "Have you felt this feeling before?"

"Only a few times," his eyes turned blue and then to a dark blue as he thought back, "When someone was here."

Mirana smiled sadly and stood back up to place her hands on his shoulders, "She will return to us, Tarrant. She said she would. She promised. And a champion always keeps her promises."

Tarrant nodded as the color of his eyes slowly faded back to their green.

"Maybe a promise that will be upheld fairly shortly," a purr resonated around the balcony.

"First a visit from my Hatter and now by the one being with the best evaporating skills in the land," Mirana smiled and saw Tarrant's hat float from the table. Chessur materialized under the hat with a large grin and looked at the two of them, "What's the subject of this visit, sweet Chessur?"

"The subject at hand, of course," Chess turned upside down with the hat still held on his head. He shifted his eyes to Tarrant, "As I said a promise is to be fulfilled."

"More time has passed for it to be described as shortly," Tarrant said with a pout and watched Chessur closely so he didn't float away with his favorite hat.

"Didn't say that about the whole time," Chessur said and turned right side up and settled around Mirana's shoulders, "I meant from now."

"Chessur?" Mirana asked and shifted the Chesire cat's attention back to her, "Do you know something that we do not?"

"Don't I always, my queen?" he purred with his best smile. He looked over the balcony to the Bandersnatch, "It seems as if the Bandersnatch has caught the smell of something that agrees with it."

Both Mirana and Tarrant looked over the railing to see the Bandersnatch take a long sniff of the air and then howl as it ran down the pathway from Marmoreal.

"I have never known Bander to act in such a way," she mentioned and turned to Tarrant. His eyes were glossed over and focused further down the stone walkway, "Tarrant?"

Her call didn't reach his ears as he gripped the railing harder. He had followed the Bandersnatch's pathway and saw something further down the walkway. His breath seemed to stop as his eyes turned amber and then immediately to a dark blue. He turned quickly from the balcony and ran down the hall to the stairs.

"Where is he going?" she asked with a raised brow.

"To the only thing that would make him leave his precious hat behind," Chessur purred and felt the hat's brim with his paw, "Or should I say the only person?"

Mirana immediately grabbed her eyeglass and peered through to see the Bandersnatch greeting none other than Alice. Her golden hair shone in the Underland sun and the blue dress she wore showed that she was much more a woman than she had been previously. Alice passed her hand through the Bandersnatch's fur with a fond smile and rubbed her forehead against its face. The Bandersnatch licked her in response and she seemed to laugh from the action of the great beast. She walked beside the creature as she continued toward Marmoreal.

"Our champion has returned," Mirana breathed and smiled as she followed Tarrant's pathway toward Alice, though at a much slower and queen like pace.

"Don't mind the messenger," Chess rolled his eyes and then his body. He evaporated from the balcony and reappeared at the palace gates just as an Alice was passing through. He saw her patting Bayard on the head in greeting since the dog had reached her not long after the Bandersnatch, "Did you have enough of Otherworld politics, dear?"

"Very much so," she smiled, removed the hat from his head and quickly kissed in between his ears to stop him from pouting, "Hello, Chess."

"Well, hello Alice," Chessur looked past the gates and toward the stairs where Tarrant was at that point frozen at the sight of her. He looked back at Alice as she too seemed frozen. Chessur looked fondly at the hat in her opposite hand and sighed as he disappeared from sight, "Farewell again, sweet hat."

Alice could see Tarrant as well as feel the elaborate material of the hat in her hand. He was here. He saw her. She saw him. He was still real.

"Hatter… Tarrant," she said to no one in particular.

"I think this is where I need to get off," Absolem said to himself and fluttered off of her shoulder and into the air above the scene.

Chessur appeared beside him in the air and looked down, "Didn't want to be in the middle of the moment, Absolem?"

"Didn't want to be thrown from her shoulder," he contradicted. As soon as Alice felt Absolem float from her shoulder she began to run.

Tarrant saw her take her first running steps toward him and he couldn't hold the feeling in his chest any longer. He smiled with a near crazed chuckle, "Alice."

Tarrant leapt from the first step and down five at a time in his effort to reach her. Each running step that she took toward him, the less the sadness in her stomach seemed to weigh her down. It was disappearing the closer she came to him. Although at the same time she could feel a tear or two roll down her cheek. She remembered a time where she walked quickly up to him when she thought he had been executed. How the roles were now reversed it seemed. He was coming out to greet her, and they were both running to one another.

As they came closer he slowed down so he wouldn't run her over, yet she seemed to only gain speed. When she reached him she jumped into his arms and nearly knocked them both down. He took the momentum from her jump into his arms and turned her around in circles with him, as he hugged her tightly to him laughing loudly. Her legs flew out behind her as he twirled her where their bodies met.

She felt the sadness disappear all together and was magically replaced with a feeling of something lighter than air. She laughed with him as more tears fell down her cheeks. She hugged him tighter around the neck and took in big gulps of air. She smelled his tea and the material of his suit that didn't smell like anything she had ever experienced, even in her travels. Then there was something that was only him, something she smelt strongly when she was only an inch high and in his jacket pocket. She chuckled when he stopped spinning her, but held her close.

"Alice," he whispered, "Dear Alice, do you have any idea why a raven is like a writing desk?"

Alice smiled against him and felt some of the wet tears make their way to his jacket. He pulled her away thinking that his jacket was preventing an answer from her.

"Alice, you are crying," he wiped some of her tears away as he looked cautiously in her eyes. Didn't she want to be here?

"They are tears of joy," she said and held one of the hands that were wiping away her tears, "I'm sorry I'm terribly late for tea yet again."

He chuckled a little and felt her pull his hand against her cheek where she leaned into it. At times like these he assumed that he would start rambling in his madness, but instead he found himself searching for words. Her soft skin pushed against his calloused, worked hands created a calming effect of his mind where he couldn't rave even if he wanted to. He carefully pulled his hand away and tapped her on the nose affectionately, "Naughty."

She smiled up at him with a small giggle and then took his hat which was still in one of her hands and placed it carefully on his head, "There. Now it's where it's supposed to be."

He chuckled with a large smile of his own and hugged her tight to himself again, "I've missed you."

She smiled and hugged him back, "I told you I'd be back."

"And you did remember me. I will never doubt you again," he said and then seemed to remember himself. He stepped back as he cleared his throat, although he kept his hands on her forearms, "Sorry to lose myself in the moment."

"It was quite alright, Tarrant," she said his name so easily. He liked the way she said it, like it was never said to him before her. They both shared an understanding smile. She tilted her head to the side, "How long was I gone?"

"Exactly nine hundred and twelve days plus a brillig," he cited off the top of his head.

"One more than the others," she said to herself where he only lifted a brow at her. She shook her head to shake off his unasked question.

"Welcome home," Mirana said from behind them with a large smile at the scene, "Our Champion has finally returned to Underland."


A/N: As usual, the italics meant something taken from the books... This will be the last mention of that. I think you all will catch on for later chapters. Just putting my disclaimer now. Enjoy!