Author's Note: First of all, a note about updates. Due to my stressful work schedule [I'm working two jobs, and work seven days a week currently], I usually don't have the time or energy to post. So I've decided to suspend updating this story until after March 06. THIS IS NOT A HIATUS. This story is completely written and finished; I just don't have the time to post right now. After March 06, one of my jobs will be over, and I'll be back to posting as usual. This story is not being abandoned, merely temporarily delayed.
Now then. This is a shorter chapter than the previous two, but I think I make up for that with the fact that this is the chapter where the adventure starts. Jane gets her marching orders, and from here on out it'll be high adventure and secret-solving with only occasional stops for exposition and character building. Enjoy!
Kitty Note: Yes, I did do research to find the names of Dinah's offspring. And yes, I did screw canon over and say that Dinah came to Wonderland with Alice at one point. Yes, I did have a reason for this, and yes, it will become apparent in later chapters [and yes, it will have relevance to the plot].
Disclaimer: The mention of Charybdis comes from Homer's Odyssey.
There's a bit of dialogue between Jane and the Underlandians that's inspired by a scene from Anne of Green Gables. So if that scene sounds familiar, don't summon L.M. Montgomery's ghost to haunt me.
Dialogue Disclaimer: I stole some lines of dialogue from the Burton movie- pretty much because it's easier to steal the Tweedles' manner of speaking than to try and replicate it. However, as this is fanfic, my twisted illogic says that it's perfectly alright to steal it since it's for fanfic-making purposes.
OOC Disclaimer: Yes, Mally is rather out of character, but that's something I actually meant to happen, so no apologies for it. It's been 25 years in the Aboveground since the events of the Burton movie, and Absolem-only-knows how long in Underland, so Mally's had quite a lot of Time to adapt to circumstances. Hence the concerns that she wouldn't have shown in the movie.
Special Beta Thanks: I was a little unhappy about the short length of this chapter, so thanks to Jiffie for reminding me that it's okay for this one to be short. Since there's really nothing else that can be said or done until we get the adventure underway.
It was as though she had dived into the Ascots' lake fully clothed, and was plummeting down, down, down, pulled by some invisible force stronger than her own will. Was this how Greek sailors had felt when they were sucked into Charybdis the whirlpool? Though, being pulled through the looking glass was a good deal more peaceful than Homer's descriptions of Charybdis, and she felt no overwhelming terror, only the force of the alien force propelling her forward.
The silvery liquid of the looking glass was cool to the touch, rather like water, except it didn't seep into her clothes and soak her. Oddly enough, she was also able to breathe unimpeded, as if the silvery substance wasn't even there. Jane couldn't tell if she was moving up, down, or sideways; the liquid propelled her along following a path or pattern of its own discerning. Curious, she reached out to touch it, fascinated at its cool and slippery feel. It looked very much like mercury. She had seen a hatter in London once, curing fabric with the silvery liquid. Was mercury involved in the construction of mirrors? And if this was mercury she was swimming through… Oh goodness, she could become quite as mad as the Mad Hatter in her book. But, she reflected as she held Witzend and her blanket-covered book closer, it might be quite fun to be mad.
Before she had time to reflect upon this idea further, her head broke through the unforeseen surface of the silvery liquid, followed by her shoulders and part of her torso. She blinked, looking down, surprised to find no droplets of silvery substance dripping off of her or staining her lovely plum-colored dress. As a matter of fact, the silvery substance had disappeared, as though it had never been there at all, as though she had merely seeped up between the pores of the stone she now sat on.
After a moment's inspection, Jane determined that she was sitting in a crumbling old fountain, set in an overgrown garden under a stormy-looking sky. Setting Witzend and her book on the edge of the fountain, she leaned down and pressed against the very solid surface of the stone. But if the fountain was solid stone, how had she broken through it…?
"Come now, my Lady, we hardly came here for you to sit in a decrepit old fountain like a gaping fish."
Jane gasped, jerking her head up and looking around, puzzled when she saw no one from whom the voice could have come.
"Hello?" she called hesitantly.
"Down here!"
Jane glanced down, then stared confusedly at Witzend. Her little kitten sat primly on the ledge, looking altogether too pleased with herself as she delicately licked at one paw.
"Witzend?" she breathed. "Did you just…?"
"Of course, who else?" her kitten replied, inclining her head. "And it's such a relief to speak at last! I have wanted to talk with you for such a very long time; though, you've always been quite good at guessing what I was going to say anyways, my Lady."
Jane blinked. "'My Lady'? Witzend, my name is Jane."
To her surprise, her kitten snorted, the noise somehow sounding delicate. "'Jane', indeed! If your name is truly 'Jane' I'll never catch another mouse again."
"Well… I suppose it's not really my name, at least not what my parents meant to call me. At least, I hope not," Jane conceded. "Still, I wish you wouldn't call me 'my Lady'. It's far too formal, and now that you can talk I'd like for us to be friends."
"We are friends, and always shall be," Witzend mewed. "But very well, I won't call you 'my Lady'. Will 'Mistress' suffice?"
"If you must," Jane shrugged. "Though just at the moment, I feel rather like Alice after she fell down the rabbit hole."
"Hmph! Alice, indeed." Came a snooty voice.
"Why, it's clear as day she's no Alice." came another.
"Not At All Alice, that's what she is." Said a third. "The nerve, popping up out of that fountain and pretending to be Our Alice!"
"Excuse me?" Jane asked, clambering out of the fountain and looking around. "Who said that?"
"The Flowers, of course," Witzend said, prancing beside her mistress before looking disdainfully at the flowers. "Remarkably stupid things, Flowers; why, they can't even smell—!"
But here, Witzend abruptly cut herself off, as though she feared saying anything more. Instead, she plopped down and resumed thoroughly cleaning herself. Puzzled by her kitten's suddenly enigmatic behavior, Jane turned, taking in her surroundings clearly for the first time. Flowers stared at her avidly, some with suspicion, others with curiosity; like dowagers observing debutantes in a ballroom. A green pig scooted ahead before her, screeching loudly, while overhead a dragonfly and a rockinghorsefly brayed at each other. The more Jane stared, the more unbelievable it all seemed, and yet, how familiar…
"Can it be possible?" she breathed. "Have I really fallen into my Wonderland?"
Witzend smiled to herself secretly, hiding her grin behind her paw. The whispers started in earnest as Jane turned round and round, arms flung out to her sides as she laughed and spun, trying to see everything at once.
"Did you hear that? She called it Wonderland…"
"Our Alice used to call it that…"
"How did the Not At All Alice know that?"
"Do you see her hair?"
"And her eyes?"
"You know who had eyes like that…"
"You know who had hair like that…"
"You don't think she could be…"
"She couldn't possibly be…"
"Could she?"
"Now then, what's all this fuss?"
Jane turned again, letting out a soft exclamation of surprise when she saw that she was no longer the only creature in the garden. Before her stood a white rabbit in a blue waistcoat holding a watch in one paw; a tiny dormouse who looked at her suspiciously, one hand on the hatpin that served her as a sword; two identical roly-poly boys in striped shirts; and a stately looking dodo bird. Jane stared at them all in shock.
"I see the welcoming party has arrived," Witzend purred complacently.
"No," Jane breathed. "I can't believe it; could you really be here? Am I just dreaming this? I've had an awful lot of dreams like this, and I was reading the book earlier… Am I really in my Wonderland, or is this Alice's Wonderland? Or do you think they could be the very same Wonderland? And how did I get here without the drink that makes you shrink—"
"Mistress!" Witzend called, sounding partly amused, faintly exasperated.
"Thank you," Jane croaked, shaking her head, "I'm fine."
Upon watching this stranger's ramble and recovery, the Dormouse and the White Rabbit exchanged astonished glances; only one other person in all of Underland carried out rants like that… The twin boys shifted, puzzled expressions on their identical faces.
"Is that being…?" one began.
"Nah, not a bit, no." the other said.
"Contrariwise, I believe it so," the first retorted.
"But I don't see it being."
"Well, if she was she might be-"
"But if she isn't, she ain't."
"Unless she is bein'."
"That bein' another thing entirely."
"That's logic," they finished together.
During this exchange, Jane had stared at them all for a moment before rushing to the edge of the fountain for her book. She flipped feverishly through the pages, comparing descriptions and pictures to what stood before her, before she squealed in glee.
"It is you!" she exclaimed, bouncing in excitement and clapping her hands. "You're Nivens McTwisp, the White Queen's Page! And you're Mallymkun, and the Tweedles, and you're Sir Uilleam!"
"'ow d'ye know all that?" Mallymkun asked, hand on her hatpin.
"Why, it's all here," Jane said, holding up her book, "Alice Kingsleigh wrote these stories, but I never imagined they were real—"
"Alice!" McTwisp exclaimed, twitching. "Our Alice wrote that?"
"Of course," Uilleam said gravely. "Don't you remember, Nivens? It was written before the Catahoribus Day; it must have made its way Aboveground."
Jane blinked in confusion as everyone's faces dropped and grew grave at the mention of Catahoribus Day. Nothing had been said of the Catahoribus Day in her book; had some new horror befallen Wonderland?
"Now that we have all been thoroughly introduced, do you suppose we could leave the garden and go somewhere else, Mistress?" Witzend mewed.
"Not so fast," Mallymkun said, frowning at Witzend as she drew her hatpin.
"Yes, yes, we can't just allow you to go traipsing about Underland. You seem to know us, but who are you?" McTwisp asked, twitching nervously.
"And more important, why's Underland lettin' Abovegrounders down 'ere again?" Mally asked grumpily. "Nothin' but trouble, Abovegrounders."
"I am Witzend," Jane's kitten stated.
Another surprised glance passed between McTwisp and Mallymkun; now why had this great galumphing Aboveground girl named her Cat after that particular place?
"And you are, my dear?" Uilleam asked.
"Of course, how silly of me," Jane said, "my name is Jane, but for now, would you call me Alice?"
"Why would we call ye that?" Mally frowned.
"Well, you see, it's a game I play with myself," Jane confessed, but strangely she didn't feel any embarrassment about it at all, "I try names on for size, and 'Alice' is such a very muchy name; I feel very much like Alice just now, since I've ended up in Wonderland at last."
"No one here will call you by that name, I'm afraid," McTwisp said. "You see, it belongs to Our Alice."
"Alice… you can't mean this Alice?" Jane asked, holding up her book. "The Alice that slew the Jabberwocky?"
"Yes, exactly that Alice!" McTwisp nodded. "Alice Kingsleigh of London, Champion of Underland, Slayer of the Jabberwocky, Keeper of the Vorpal Sword."
Her jaw dropped, eyes wide in shock. "Alice Kingsleigh?" she choked. "But… But Alice disappeared from London twenty-five years ago…"
The Dodo inclined his head, "She disappeared from the Aboveground, and returned Home."
Jane stared down at her book, "Then… this isn't a story at all. It's all real. My… My Wonderland has been real all this time."
Jane looked up from her book, then gazed around with awe-filled eyes. Here she was, in her very own Wonderland, only to find that her Wonderland was in fact The Alice's Wonderland! What a wonderful thought! Was it possible that everything in Jane's Wonderland was real- the White Queen, the Tulgey Wood, the Hatter?
"I suppose, though, we could call you 'Not Our Alice'." McTwisp said tentatively, breaking into Jane's thoughts. "Although that might confuse the Flowers, and they'd spread rumors that there's Another Alice, and that would cause an uproar in Underland!" he finished, looking faint at the thought of upheaval.
"Perhaps we shouldn't call me Alice at all, then," Jane said, disappointed.
"Now there's an Idea," Mally said. "'Not At All Alice'."
"We should consult Absolem." Uilleam declared, breaking off the naming game for now.
"Yes, yes, Absolem will know what to do." McTwisp nodded, hopping on ahead.
"About what to call me?" Jane asked confusedly.
"About why you've been brought here," Uilleam corrected her.
"Oh," Jane said, bemused.
In all of her excitement at actually making it into her Wonderland, Alice'sWonderland— dare she call it their Wonderland?— she had completely overlooked the fact that she must be there for some purpose. After all, Alice had always been called here to right some wrong or have an adventure; was it now her turn?
"Come along then, Not At All Alice." Mally said, scampering off after McTwisp.
"I'll get it." Dum said, grabbing one of Jane's hands.
"No, me." Dee retorted, diving for her other.
"It's not bein' your turn!"
"You had it last time!"
"You can both escort her!" McTwisp, Mally, and Uilleam all said at once.
"Oh, wait!" Jane exclaimed. "My book, how can I carry it?"
"I will hold it for you until a more suitable pack can be found." Uilleam said graciously, tucking the parcel under his wing.
"Thank you so much." Jane sighed. "I can't lose it."
"I will keep it safe." he promised.
"Let's be off, then." Witzend suggested, prancing around, rather pleased to finally be a talking Cat.
Jane was sad to leave behind the garden; after all, she'd had so many daydreams about talking to flowers that it seemed a shame to leave before a proper conversation could be had. However, she was eager to see more of Wonderland, so she went along with her escorts through a forest of mushrooms of all different colors and sizes. Racing through her memory to remember Alice's stories, she knew that somewhere in these mushrooms would be a hookah smoking butterfly with an infuriatingly wise way of speaking.
When she saw him, however, she gasped in delight. "I know you!" she exclaimed. "You used to play with me in the Ascots' gardens when I was a child!"
Absolem regarded Jane through his monocle as her companions stared at each other in shock. Absolem rarely went Aboveground, and when he did it was only for the good of Underland— usually having something to do with the Champion. As far as anyone knew, though, Absolem hadn't been Above since the terrible Catahoribus Day. Why had he deigned to visit this insignificant, strange Aboveground girl?
"I see you're all grown up." he said complacently, with the air of a satisfied uncle.
"Yes, all grown up and in my Wonderland at last!" she laughed, picking up Witzend and spinning in a rapturous circle.
"And you, Witzend?" Absolem asked solicitously. "How do you fare, now that your wish has been granted?"
"I'm very grateful, sir," Witzend said respectfully, "I just wish my grandmother could see me now."
"Your grandmother?" Jane asked curiously.
"Oh yes," Witzend said, preening. "I'm a granddaughter of the Dinah Cat, by her daughter Snowdrop."
Everyone except for Absolem gasped.
"The Dinah Cat?" McTwisp breathed. "As in… Alice's Dinah?"
"The very same," Witzend nodded, "She lived through all her nine lives and died several years ago. She had many, many children, and all of her descendants have been eager to come to Underland to share in our ancestress' adventures. And to think I'm the only one that's managed it!"
Jane stared at her kitten with newfound respect, stunned at this unexpected tie she had to The Alice. She was quite in awe of this mysterious Champion of Underland now; she could feel Alice's protective presence lying heavily over the land. She could just imagine that at any moment, Alice the Champion would stride from behind a tree, garbed in her glorious shiny armor, the Vorpal sword in hand, ready for another adventure.
"Resolve this for us, Absolem," McTwisp requested. "Why has this young lady been brought to Underland?"
"Unroll the Oraculum." The Butterfly enigmatically replied.
"The Oraculum," McTwisp told Jane as he unrolled the aged parchment scroll, "being the cyl—"
"The cylindrical compendium of Underland." Jane finished easily, leaning over and eagerly staring at the fascinating oracle. "It tells of each and every Day since the Beginning. It's even more beautiful than I imagined."
"She has learned well." Absolem said approvingly.
"She found the Book, sir." Witzend said, beaming with pride at her mistress.
"Did she indeed? Good. Very good," Absolem nodded. "No wonder she's been brought. Show her the Retiuni Day."
Obligingly, McTwisp further unrolled the oracle, pointing to the Day in question. Jane leaned in, watching the moving picture as it drew itself and moved. Two Queens sat upon matching thrones. One was attended by a King in armor, the other by a dashing figure that Jane instantly recognized from her book's illustrations as the Mad Hatter. Floating in midair between the two thrones were two smiling Cats and a Butterfly that Jane recognized as Absolem. They all beamed with pride as they gazed upon the figure of a girl. The girl's back was turned, so that Jane couldn't see her features, but from the crown on her head it was clear that she was royalty.
It was a pretty picture, but it made no sense to Jane. Everyone else in the group, however, gasped, staring at the image reverently.
"That Day and every Day after it have always been blank." McTwisp said, eyes darting to and fro in amazement.
"She's safe an' found an' 'ome again." Mally sighed.
"Sorry?" Jane asked. "Who's found?"
"The Azure Princess," Absolem said solemnly. "The lost daughter of the Blue Queen of Witzend. You will find her and return her to the Queens at Marmoreal. When you have found her, you will be returned home."
"The Azure Princess?" Jane asked, confused. "I've never heard of an Azure Princess or a Blue Queen in any of the Wonderland stories before; How did she come to be lost?"
"The answers will be revealed on the journey," Absolem said, before blowing a particularly large cloud of smoke at them and disappearing.
Jane took one final look down at the compendium, taking in all the pictures of the present and future she could see, looking for any clues that might help her on her quest. Upon seeing everything the oracle had to offer, she looked up at her companions.
"Where shall we start?" she queried.
"That's easy," Mally replied, "the 'atta."
"The Mad Hatter? Really?" Jane smiled delightedly.
"If we're off ta find the Princess, we'll definitely be needin' the 'atta," Mally nodded, "'e'd not be pleased if 'e wasn't included in the rescue party."
"It's settled, then." McTwisp said. "Mallymkun, if you will escort Jane and Witzend through the Tulgey Wood to the Tea Party. The rest of us shall make haste to Marmoreal to inform her Majesty of everything."
"My pleasure," Mally nodded, waving her hatpin around, "an' tell the Queen not ta worry, I'll get the 'atta an' Not At All Alice ta the castle safe."
"Until we meet again, then." Jane smiled. "How do you say it here? Fairfarren?"
"Yes, exactly," McTwisp nodded.
"Fairfarren, all," Alice repeated, gathering her book from Uilleam with a word of thanks and following Mally and Witzend as she started her grand adventure.