Thackery couldn't have been more surprised to find that Mally had gotten up before him, made tea, and, from the sound of things, gotten into the shower. Part of him wanted to join the Dormouse under the spray of hot water, but a glance at the clock told him that would make them late for the meeting Tarrant had asked them to attend.

He took a deep breath and looked around the room. Yesterday's clothes were piled on the plush arm chair that was identical to the chair that had been in their previous room. Thackery vaguely remembered Mally helping him undress. He'd been a little drunk, but he didn't regret it – it had helped cut down the terrible, awful, looming anxiety that he felt when he thought about Alice shooting snow out of her fingertips.

Thackery reached out, took the tea that Mally had left for him on the bedside table, and sipped it slowly. It was not unpleasant, but Thackery really wished he had some of the special calming Drink Me left that Tarrant had given him. His fingers shook a little, and he forced himself to take deep breaths. Everything was going to be all right, he told himself.

The water in the bathroom shut off and a few minutes later Mally emerged wearing no more than a small towel slung around his hips. His blond hair stood up in spikes as it usually did, glittering with drops of water. Thackery tried not to gasp, but failed embarrassingly. Mally froze.

"What? What is it?"

"You… you look…beautiful."

Mally smiled slowly, his grin cocky and seductive. He sashayed towards the bed, the towel slipping a bit and drawing Thackery's eyes downwards. The Dormouse chuckled and toyed with the edge of the towel.

"Shall I take it off?"

"Yes…and put your clothes on. We have a meeting."

Mally groaned. "You're way too practical." He winked at Thackery and turned towards the wardrobe, then let the towel fall to the floor. Thackery sat there for a moment admiring the view, then forced himself to hop out of bed and barrel to the bathroom so he could take a shower as well. A cold one.

Fifteen minutes later they headed out of the room and down to the conference level. Mally reached for the door to the Violet room when they arrived, but Thackery stopped him.

"Tarrant said the Lily Room."

Mally frowned. "I don't like it," he said. "Bad things always happen when we hold our meetings in the Lily Room."

"That's… that's silly…" Thackery said, but a knot formed in the pit of his stomach because when he thought about it, it was absolutely true. Still, they hadn't any choice, so he opened the door to the Lily Room and led Mally inside.

The usual conference table laid with tea things was there, only instead of six chairs around it, there were five. Thackery's fingers began to shake and he clenched his hands into fists. Tarrant was already seated and was pouring tea into seventeen different cups despite the much smaller number of chairs. He looked up and smiled when he saw them.

"Glad to see you survived the night!" said the Hatter. "Have some tea! Thackery, yours is the fourteenth cup if you count clockwise, the eighth if your clock isn't wise, and the second to the right if you're star crossed."

"I certainly hope that we are no longer star crossed," Thackery said as he began counting the tea cups. He found the one that he thought Tarrant had indicated and picked it up, settling into the chair on the Hatter's left. Mally sat down beside him and reached eagerly for a cheese Danish.

"I thought we took attendance before tea time," Mally said, stuffing the pastry into his mouth.

"It's always tea time," Thackery and Tarrant said together. Tarrant clapped his hands in delight, which sent the teapot flying over his shoulder to smash against the wall. Luckily there were two more on the table so the Hatter simply picked up another and continued filling the rest of the cups.

Before Mally could empty his mouth enough to respond, Chessur materialized in the chair next to him. The Dormouse jumped a bit and Thackery patted his hand reassuringly. The cat was once more wearing a suit that was too big for him and hung on his now slender frame, his hair sticking up all over the place, completely lacking the slick, well-put together look he had previously always mastered. It bothered Thackery to see him this way, but there wasn't much he could say about it right now.

Chessur looked around at the many different cups of tea, picking them up here and there to sniff, then setting them back down again. Finally he settled on the creamer and lifted that to his lips instead, sipping daintily. "Where's the bug?"

"It's not like Absolem to be late," Thackery fretted. His stomach gurgled so he picked up a carrot muffin but found himself too nervous to eat it. He found himself shredding it into crumbs before Tarrant nodded at him.

"Drink your tea, Thackery. It's not like Absolem to be early, either."

"Can we just get started without him, then?" Chessur asked. "I haven't been here a minute and I'm already bored."

"I have some questions," Thackery said timidly, but Tarrant gave him a sharp look and indicated the tea cup yet again.

Sighing, Thackery picked it up and took a sip. It was the Drink Me! Eagerly he drained the entire cup, feeling a relaxing warmth spiral through him at once. It was perfect. His anxiety began to melt away and he knew he would be able to face anything then.

"I have some answers. More tea?" Tarrant asked.

"Please!"

"Do you really have answers, Tarrant?" Mally asked, now that he had finally finished his Danish.

"Or do you only have assignments?" Chessur asked suspiciously.

"Time to take attendance!" Tarrant announced. "In backwards order!"

"Why in—" Mally began but Chessur glared at him.

"Are you really asking why, Mousie?"

"Y is very near the end of the alphabet," said Tarrant, "But it turns out that we haven't anyone here whose name starts with that letter. Thackery!"

"What?"

"He's taking attendance," Chessur sighed, rolling his eyes dramatically.

"Oh! Present, then," Thackery said. He smiled and sat back in his chair. "Mally, pass me a muffin, will you."

"Are you going to eat it or play with it?" Mally grumbled, handing it over. He snagged himself another Danish in the process. When he set it on his plate Chessur reached over, stuck a finger in it, and licked it off. "Hey! Get your own snack!"

"I'd like to," Chessur said, scooting closer to Mally. "But you keep escaping." For some reason this struck Thackery as terribly funny and he began to giggle. He looked over at Tarrant, who seemed distinctly irritated.

"Not funny, Thack," Mally snapped.

"Hot cross buns," Thackery whispered. He continued chuckling to himself as the Hatter cleared his throat.

"Tarrant!" Tarrant announced.

"That's you, you idiot," Chessur grumbled

"I know," Tarrant said, sticking out his tongue and blowing a raspberry at Chessur. "And I am present."

"Not entirely," said Chessur.

"Mallymkun!"

"I'm here," Mally said, scooting his chair as far away from the cat as he could get.

"Chessur."

"I'm not entirely here either," said the cat as he began to subtly fade in and out. Normally this made Thackery very uncomfortable but today it didn't bother him so much. His lips felt slightly numb, so he nibbled on the lower one.

"Absolem."

Tarrant called the final name on the roll and Thackery knew they would probably have to sit there until the Caterpillar showed up. As if on cue, the door opened, but instead of their keyboard player stood a beautiful, dark-haired woman who was by Thackery's estimation just slightly taller than he himself was now. She had on round glasses like Absolem always wore, and dark brown jeans with a hunter green hoodie. Absolem had an outfit just like that, Thackery remembered.

"Present," said the woman.

"Good," said Tarrant. "Take a seat. Now the meeting can officially begin."