Disclaimer: Alice and Tin Man don't belong to me, they belong to SyFy. The craziness, however, is all me.

"And that is where we currently stand, Mother," Az concluded. "In the midst of obscure dragon texts and a burgeoning civil war."

Queen Lavender gazed out of the mirror, her brow creased in a frown. "This is not the report I had been hoping for, my daughter."

"That's an understatement," DG snorted from over her shoulder. She leaned over, placing herself closer to the mirror. "Az you have to get out of there now, before it turns into a real war zone."

Az was already shaking her head before the sentence was finished. "I cannot do that, DG. My work is not finished. Rest assured that if we need to make a speedy retreat, we can." There was nothing that she had encountered in Wonderland yet that could stop a travel storm.

"And yet that will not be your decision to make, Azkadellia." Lavender held up her hand before Az could protest. "I know you, my daughter. The city could be falling down around you and you would not find it dangerous. If either Commander Cain or myself deem it necessary, you must retreat. That is an order. Am I understood?"

Az bowed her head, concealing her expression of distaste. "Yes, mother."

"Very well. Keep me apprised of the current situation. I want to know the moment Jack Heart decides to call upon the Outer Zone for aid, as I am certain he will." She paused. "Now-"

"I beg your pardon, Your Majesty." Wyatt Cain moved into the background of the projected mirror image. "May I speak to my son privately?"

Lavender's brief look of surprise melted quickly into one of comprehension. "Of course, Commander Cain. My apologies, it must have been some time since you last spoke to your son. Take as much time as you like. Azkadellia, we will speak afterwards."

"Of course, mother." Az stood and motioned for Jeb to take her seat. Her eyes met his for a fraction of a second before sliding away. "The connection will remain open. I will wait in your chambers."

Jeb simply nodded and settled in.

Wyatt watched his son through the mirror, hundreds of miles away. He knew the exact moment Azkadellia left the room: Jeb's shoulders not only relaxed but almost seemed to slump, retreating within himself for a fraction of a moment. The mere fact that Jeb had allowed himself that show of vulnerability in front of his father spoke volumes about his state of mind. Jeb still held on to the idea that he had to be as strong as possible in front of him, if only to show that he was capable of surviving without his guidance. Wyatt wished that Jeb did not have to feel that way but it was simply one of those Cain family quirks.

"Something on your mind, son?" he prompted gently.

Jeb sighed and contemplated the smooth wood of the vanity. There were so many pressing needs. He still had agents to wrangle and information to wade through. The news of the Spades' occupation of the Diamond City had only just come through this morning. It was only a matter of time before Jack Heart summoned them with a request for aid. Raw was still missing. Still, there was one, and only one matter he could focus on. "I'm not sure if you can help me with this, father."

"Try me."

He glanced up. His father's gaze met his through the mirror, patient and focused. "I love Az," he said finally. "Everything I am, everything within me, is hers. That won't change. But what do I do when she won't let me in? What do I do when she obviously doesn't trust me enough to help her with everything she's struggling with?"

Wyatt let out a breath. "You couldn't give me something easy, could you? Advice on the coming battle, which I know you'll be in the thick of, or ways to strengthen your security around Azkadellia now that war is coming your way."

If only those were the only problems he was facing. "Those things I can handle."

"I never doubted that." He sat back in his chair and thought over Jeb's words. "You can't force her to let you in. You have to let her know that you'll be there the moment she's ready. That means not giving up."

Jeb made a face, as though he was ridiculous for bringing such an absurd notion up in the first place. "I would never give up on her. I would never leave her. I will always be there for her."

"I never doubted that, son," Wyatt responded, struggling to hide his amusement at his vehemence. "She might be feeling that way, though. You just have to prove her wrong."

Jeb traced a finger along the delicate wooden handle of the hairbrush that sat on the vanity. As much as he didn't want to believe what his father was saying, the words rang true. When Az's self-doubt, guilt, and shame took over like this her first instinct was to push everyone away before they could leave her. He'd been wrong to keep his distance from her these past few days but she'd hurt him as well and he simply couldn't find the strength to face her.

That mistake would have to be rectified. "Thank you," he said eventually. "I think I knew what needed to be done, I just-"

"Needed someone to tell you? Everyone needs that from time to time." He leaned forward and smiled slightly. "I'm proud of you, Jeb. Your mother would be too. You've grown into one hell of a man." He wished he could take credit for it in some way, but it was clear that his boy had been tempered by his time in the Resistance as well as his mother's steel-velvet hand. That didn't stop him from taking pride in everything he'd done and everything he was.

The compliment was unexpected but not unwelcome. "I haven't even started yet," he joked, unable to keep the pleased smile from his face.

Wyatt rolled his eyes. "Don't tempt fate."

"Who, me? Of course not."

After saying their goodbyes, Jeb knocked on the door dividing his room from Az's. It opened almost immediately, Az's eyes darting up to meet his before swiftly looking away. He remembered that she'd done the exact same thing as she left the room and felt a strange weight settle on his chest. Had things become so bad between them that they could no longer meet each other's eyes, he wondered? "Did you have a good talk with your father?" she asked quietly, still focused on some point on the floor.

"It was...necessary." Jeb reached out slowly so as not to startle her and touched her shoulder. "Good night, Az."

Az's head snapped up at his touch. Surprise and confusion warred in her eyes as she finally, finally looked at him. He smiled his first genuine smile in days and was rewarded when she could not help but return the gesture. It was a small smile, and hesitant, but it was as real as his. "Good night, Jeb."

They would be all right. Not now, perhaps, but they would be.

Amakek Elen'sior was the unwritten city; the only one in Wonderland not listed in the annals of great Nonestican cities. Even Ley'shamba, the lost city of the dragons, was well known by citizens and scholars alike. Amakek Elen'sior, however, was much like its inhabitants – veiled and forgotten.

The hidden nature of the city did not stop it from being on par with its more celebrated brethren. Tucked away in a verdant valley deep in the heart of the Jade Rainforests, it was the very definition of lush paradise. Its inhabitants mostly lived in elaborate treehouses: multi-storied affairs that wrapped around massive tree trunks. Very few of the sprawling, single-story buildings with their spiraling honeycomb towers were actually inhabited and were maintained for administrative or public purposes only. These buildings, far from jarring in their naturalistic setting, blended seamlessly with the rainforest environment, their towers only barely peeking above the treetops. Many of them were even covered with trees, their roots climbing over walls and twining around doorways.

The only exception was the Temple of Amakek, a massive stepped pyramid covered in foliage and bounded in each cardinal direction by open courtyards, the only clear spaces in the vale. The temple courtyards' purpose was more than ceremonial and served as training and sparring grounds for the patrol units.

Raw shaded his eyes as he watched those very same patrol units. The gryphons were hardly subtle as they wheeled about in the air, brown-gold feathers stark against the blueness of the sky and the dense green foliage of the forests. They were not confined to the valley either. According to Callan, units regularly traversed the expanse of the Jade Rainforests and portions of the Spine, which was how they had come to rescue him.

He was with Kera and Callan now, climbing the steps of the Temple of Amakek to obtain a better view of the valley. "The gryphons wanted to disappear," Kera explained as they stopped to allow Raw to catch his breath. The air was humid and heavy, circling through his poison-weakened lungs like soup. "They saw the coup and the massacre of the Diamonds as the ultimate betrayal."

"Rightly so," Callan commented, his expression set and stern. "They only entered the Great Alliance at the Diamonds' behest. There was a particularly strong bond between the two of them."

"How did they stay hidden after the coup?" Raw wondered, drinking in the sights all around him. The light was dewy and dreamy, gilding everything in viridescence. It was, he thought, with a pang of homesickness, the organic version of Central City.

The two scouts exchanged glances. "With some help," Kera responded vaguely. And nothing further was said on the matter, though Raw filed it away for perusal later. For now there were many, many other items to consider.

Such as: "Humans live with gryphons. How?" It had not escaped his notice that the proportion of humans to gryphons in the valley was nearly equal. "Not forgotten them, like other Wonderlanders."

"Humans have lived in these parts for centuries, even before the Great Alliance. Gryphons bond with their riders and because they live longer than we do, they find it easier to bond with a member of the rider's family." Kera shrugged. "The decision was simple once they decided to withdraw."

"You went with them." That explained why their emotions were untainted by the teas. Raw had only been fully lucid for a few days and remained relatively isolated at that, but the amount of work he'd put into modifying and maintaining his shields was surprising. This was not just because of the gryphons, but the humans themselves.

He'd thought that Jack Heart was uncomfortable to read, but the king was nothing compared to the gryphon riders. There simply was nothing he'd ever experienced that could compare. It was not that other peoples' emotions were weaker, but that there was an added dimension to Wonderlanders' emotions. They were nearly tangible, with a taste and color all their own, exploding around him like so many emotional fireworks. They were vibrant, alive, teeming with passion and focus. Was this, he mused, the true face of Wonderland?

"Always," they said together. It was both a promise and an oath. Loyalty and honor. Yes, Raw could see why the gryphons would have done anything for the Diamonds, if these were the traits that were so prized amongst them.

Up here, at the top of the Temple of Amakek, there were few gryphons or humans about. He was so very curious about these Wonderlanders. Kera and Callan's emotions washed over him and he lowered his shields a fraction to experience them more fully. The traces of loyalty from their oath still lingered in the air like a potent perfume. He sifted through each new pulse, intrigued. Surprisingly enough he could detect no wariness or distrust towards him, simply a reflection of his own interest magnified many times.

Viewers by nature could not read thoughts, but the sheer strength of their emotions not only changed the way he perceived them, but also gave them direction. It was as though he could discern the source of their feelings. That was how he knew that they were curious about him. They had never seen a Viewer before and wanted to know more about his abilities. He probed deeper, sensing the pride they had in their abilities. They had worked hard to obtain the positions they now held, despite the influence of their families.

Underlying that all was a deep and steady sense of partnership. Kera and Callan trusted each other implicitly, had absolute faith in the other's abilities, and above all respected one another. It was, perhaps, one of the most solid foundations for love that Raw had ever encountered in his life. Upon encountering this he drew back, feeling as though he had stumbled upon something sacred.

"Who is Amakek?" he asked, glancing up at the small, cave-like entrance to the temple.

They resumed their climb; the two scouts hopping nimbly up the steep and narrow stairs. "She is the First and the Mother." Callan's hand was firm under Raw's elbow as he stumbled over a particularly uneven step. "She is sun and sky to those who fly."

"Do you worship her?"

Kera smiled. "There is much to revere about Amakek. Most who live here pay their respects to both Amakek and Cheshire. There must be balance."

Raw frowned at the mention of Cheshire. The trickster was notorious all over Nonestica due to its volatile nature and the ebb and flow of its whims. More than once he had wondered at the type of country that would take a god of chaos as their patron. He found that he preferred the benevolence and generosity of Lurline. "Is there balance?"

He did not realize that he'd spoken aloud until Kera answered, something melancholy and fierce in her tone. "Wonderland has not been in balance since the Diamonds fell and the Great Alliance was dissolved. Our ties are broken now and the only way for balance to be restored is for them to be reforged." The words did not sound like her own – rather, it was as though she was quoting something from memory.

Callan shrugged when Raw sent a questioning look his way. "Prophecies and portents. I do not pretend to understand them all." He grinned. "What I do know is that this is an exciting time, Ambassador Raw. There is a change on the wind and Wonderland will be the better for it. Everyone will have a role to play, even you."

"Raw?" He did not like the sound of this. He had already endured two major upheavals in his life and spent most of it in the middle of a war. He'd had quite enough excitement already.

"You were taken from Wonderland City for a reason, Ambassador." Kera leaned against the temple wall, pinning him with a piercing stare. Even through his shields he could feel the weight of her expectation. "Who else can repair broken bonds but an ambassador?" Before he could even begin to absorb that she'd already moved on. "Your disappearance also brought her."

Raw felt a sense of foreboding. "Her?"

Excitement glimmered in Kera's dark eyes. "We saw her, you know. Callan and I were patrolling the Twins when her party crossed the border. We all felt it, didn't we, Callan?"

He nodded solemnly. "We don't know too much of magic here, Ambassador Raw. Your future queen is something else, though. The air changed when she crossed over."

Future queen. It couldn't be. "You mean…"

Kera nodded. "Princess Azkadellia is in Wonderland, Ambassador. And she's looking for you."

What had possessed Queen Lavender? Azkadee had other duties. There were better things for her to be doing than chasing after him. "Raw must go to her," he blurted. The wave of homesickness that hit him was unexpected and overwhelming. No matter how appalled he was, he could not help but feel grateful that someone from home was here, especially if it was someone as dear to him as Azkadee.

Callan reached out and placed a restraining hand on his shoulder. Before he even spoke Raw could feel the denial. "You cannot go just yet, Ambassador."

"But you wanted-"

"There are protocols that must be followed before the rest of Wonderland is ready to remember us," Kera responded. "They must prove themselves. This is not some whim of ours, Ambassador," she said, cutting off Raw's protest. "There was a promise, an agreement, and a course of action. Events must proceed in the proscribed way or all will be for naught. It is still too soon. The rest of Wonderland is not ready…or worthy."

Raw was beginning to feel just as much a prisoner here as he had in his little cell, for all that he was standing out in the open, breathing fresh air and feeling the breeze on his face. "What promise?" he demanded, unable to keep the petulance from creeping into his voice. "What agreement? Raw not from here, Raw not need to follow this way." He'd been away from home too long and now they were keeping him from one of the only links he had. They probably assumed he was dead and he wanted to assure them that it was certainly not the case.

"All will be revealed eventually, Ambassador Raw," Callan said soothingly. He nodded up at the sky, where a pair of gryphons were winging straight towards them. "Here are Aset and Mahes."

Raw layered his shields out of sheer preservation. The two gryphons landed gracefully beside them at the top of the temple. The words that came out of Aset's beak only added to his growing anxiety.

"Spades have taken the Diamond City."

The heavy double doors swung inwards with nary a screech. Giacomo was through them before they were even fully open, sweeping the slight figure up in his arms. "Thank Cheshire you are safe," he uttered against Elisa's shoulder, closing his eyes in relief. He'd not only had to assuage his own panic, but that of his family once the news of the Spades' occupation of the Diamond City came flooding into the capital.

Elisa squeezed him back just as tightly. The hood of her cloak fell back to reveal eyes that were bright but exhausted. There was a smudge of dirt upon her cheek, and more than a few upon her cloak. "I am fine, dearest. We were warned well in advance thanks to Sir Charles' alarms." She sent a warm grin over her shoulder at the equally bedraggled knight. "We were able to leave the city secretly. We would have been here sooner, but-" She made a face. "We met more jabberwocks than I would have liked."

Giacomo could only raise his eyebrows in shock. To hear his bookish cousin dismiss the creatures so easily…well, it was certainly a little out of character. "Jabberwocks," he stated.

"Yes, I will tell you all about it later but now it us of the utmost importance that I speak with the king." Elisa seized his hands. "I have deciphered part of the prophecy, dearest. I know what we have to do next, even in regards to the Spades!"

He shook his head at her, his eyes darting to the sides to where various courtiers were walking about doing their business. Some of them were openly staring at the display before them. Elisa subsided, a blush rising to her cheeks at her indiscretion. "Of course. He is in his quarters, if you would follow me. Sir Charles, if you would accompany us? I am sure that His Majesty will appreciate a report from you on the situations as well."

"But of course, Ten." Charlie bowed, his dirty cloak sweeping the floor.

As the three of them strode through the corridors, Giacomo made sure to address the knight. "Sir Charles, may I extend my most sincere thanks for the care you have taken with my cousin. My family is much obliged to you for her safety."

"It was my honor, Ten," Charlie responded with uncharacteristic solemnity. "I have grown quite fond of Lady Elisa – if I had a daughter, I imagine she would be much like her." He sighed and his hand landed on the pommel of his sword. "I only regret that we were unable to bring the artifacts that were uncovered within the city. But alas, we had to escape quickly and lightly."

"All the same, you have our gratitude and our thanks. We are in your debt."

Charlie shook his head. "There is no debt, my good sir."

"It is all right, Sir Charles," Elisa reassured him from Giacomo's other side. "I have all of my notes and that is what is truly important."

"Along with your lives, of course," Giacomo told her sternly. She only rolled her eyes good-naturedly at him. "Allow me to ensure that he is ready to receive you." He knocked firmly on the door to the small meeting room where he had last left the king.

"Come."

Giacomo paused in the doorway, taking in the scene. Jack sat in his usual chair, the straight lines of his body made even straighter due to tension and anger. The circles beneath his eyes were dark and the creases about his eyes and mouth were deeper. Duchess stood just behind him, her stance radiating protectiveness as well as annoyance at the interruption. One hand hovered in the space just above and behind his right shoulder as though she was longing to touch him, to give whatever comfort he would accept from her.

"Your Majesty, Lady Elisa and Sir Charles have returned from the Diamond City and are ready to deliver their reports."

Jack nodded. "Send them in." At his words, Duchess moved away to sit at her usual spot. Giacomo caught the slight way in which Jack leaned towards her – as though to keep her near. How easily they gave themselves away sometimes. It never failed to amuse or sadden him.

Elisa pushed past Giacomo at Jack's words and it was all he could do not to stumble backwards. "Your Majesty, please forgive my rudeness but there is much to tell you and we have very little time. It's the gryphons – the gryphons are the key!"

The assembled company could only blink as Elisa threw her satchel on the table, scattering books and maps left and right.

"Elisa, you cannot be-" Giacomo began, wondering if his cousin had spent far too much time with the White Knight.

"Yes, I know it sounds absurd, but please, you all must allow me to explain everything first before you begin to object. I am right, I know I am!" She looked between Giacomo and Jack, her expression both defiant and pleading.

Duchess let out a gusty sigh and sat back against her chair, the very picture of tolerance. "I'm sure Lady Elisa has a convincing explanation. She is, after all, a Club."

Elisa's brow furrowed, uncertain whether or not to be grateful or annoyed at the statement. "I do, Your Grace." She turned to Jack. "May I proceed, Your Majesty?"

Jack waved a hand and she rolled out the maps – old maps of the Diamond City, Giacomo saw as he moved closer, as well as ones she had drawn by hand, presumably for her own investigations of the city. "I surveyed several sites before I decided to place a few trenches in the area that Sir Charles declared to be of particular interest, though there were a few that-" Giacomo coughed. Elisa only paused for a beat and then moved on. "The structures he and I uncovered were strange, unlike anything else found in Wonderland."

"Strange in what way?" Jack asked. He had moved one of the papers closer to himself and was peering at it with a certain degree of trepidation.

"Strange in that they were not built with humans in mind." She went on to describe their scale and function and the myriad ways she knew they could not be used for humans.

"Very well, so they're not meant for our kind. Why gryphons, then?" Duchess raised an eyebrow in challenge.

Elisa glared at the other woman. "Because Sir Charles remembers that they once were among us. Because we have not. Because this-" She slid The Temple of Amakek forward. "-tells us so. Because the prophecy is telling us that we need them in order to restore the Great Alliance! Then and only then can we truly bring Wonderland back to what it was…or make it greater!"

Giacomo was not even sure where to begin. "Elisa, the Great Alliance was between the clans and the dragons and-" He broke off as his mind stuttered to a halt.

"Yes, what?" Elisa demanded excitedly. "You see, we've all assumed that that was all there was to the Great Alliance. The clans and the dragons – but now we're starting to remember that there was another party as well. Gryphons have faded into our myths and legends, but they have always been there. They must still be there, just…forgotten."

"Perhaps there's a reason for that," Duchess said sharply.

"Yes, because the Alliance was broken! The Hearts turned on the Diamonds!" Elisa winced and turned to Jack, her hands lifting up in apology. "Your Majesty, I-"

The king shook his head. "No one knows what my mother and grandmother did better than I, Lady Elisa. Please do not be troubled and please, continue."

She nodded, but a flush remained high on her cheeks as she continued. "This rift is spoken of even in the prophecy – 'circles broken.' Once the clans began to fight, our other allies withdrew. That explains why we have not seen or heard of the dragons or gryphons since. As for forgetting, well-" She shrugged. "'Lost to time, lost to myth.' Dragons are powerful. They could have wiped all knowledge of the gryphons from our minds – until the time was right." Her hand came to rest on The Temple of Amakek once more. "And that time is now. We need our allies in order to face what is coming."

"'And all must enter into the fight,'" Jack murmured.

"Let us say that I believe you – and I do not," Duchess interrupted. "If the gryphons have disappeared, where have they disappeared to?"

"Perhaps I can answer that," Giacomo responded, removing The Temple of Amakek from the table, his fingers tracing the gilded letters. "My father read this to me as a child. It is said that the gryphons hailed from a hidden valley deep in the heart of the Jade Rainforests. It is, of course, marked by its temple, built in honor of their patron goddess Amakek."

"Much of the rainforests are currently under Spade control," Jack murmured. "But a small party could potentially navigate unseen-"

"Or vanish entirely." Duchess' brow lowered, her red lips forming a moue of displeasure at the amount of speculation flying about the room. "This is folly. We haven't the time to chase myths and legends. Even if you managed to find these gryphons I imagine that persuading them back to our side would be no small matter, if they took the trouble to fade from our collective minds."

Elisa leaned forward on the table, meeting the Duchess stare for stare. "Of course it will be no small matter. We are the ones who have erred, and badly. The book speaks of a trial to determine whether or not we are worthy."

"First you speak of quests, now you speak of trials."

"Yes, trials. We'll need representatives, champions." She glanced over her shoulder at Charlie and smiled ruefully. "Sir Charles, of course, is willing, but-"

"There are others," the knight said ponderously.

"Others?" Jack asked.

He looked at his king as though it were the most obvious solution. "Who won back your kingdom for you, Your Majesty? Alice, and Hatter."

Only Giacomo caught Duchess' sibilant hiss of displeasure at the Oyster's name. "The second Alice and her...companion are no longer here," she stated.

"But it would be a simple matter to get them back," Elisa argued.

Duchess' voice dripped ice. "And you believe that they would be party to such a fool's errand?"

Elisa sucked in a breath to counter, her face now going crimson with anger. "You forget that I am a scholar, Your Grace. I would not pursue this line of inquiry unless all of the evidence pointed this way, which it does. Why are you-"

"Enough." Jack's voice cracked through the room, throwing everyone into silence. "I am weary of this. Lady Elisa, please leave your notes here with me. I will peruse them myself. We will then reconvene at another time to discuss this matter in a civilized manner."

It was a clear dismissal. Elisa nodded, abashed, whilst Duchess retreated behind her stoic, elegant mask. Elisa and Charlie left first, bowing respectfully to their king. Giacomo stood and hesitated. "Shall I pursue this possibility further, Your Majesty?"

"Yes, I want every piece of information we have concerning the gryphons and this possible trial."

"Right away, Your Majesty."

Jack stood and went to the window as the door closed quietly behind him. "The dismissal applies to you too, Duchess. Why are you still here?"

"You would have them come back." You would have her back. The second statement went unsaid but was clear through the jealousy that laced her words.

"You have no idea what I would do." His voice grew hard. "Now, I suggest you do something useful and find out why Lucan Spade wants an abandoned city and how we can get it back."

Duchess' spine straightened. "I hear and obey."

Please review!

I am SO sorry. I just...life? PhD? But I hope this chapter answered a few questions (not too many, or I'm not doing my job correctly!). And yes, this does mean that an appearance from Alice and Hatter is...somewhat imminent. Please be patient with me, though!