Fit the Second: The Welcome Home
Alice wondered how she could ever have thought Wonderland a dream. It was so solid, so vivid. As much as nothing here ever seemed to remain what it was, it was impossible to deny that it was something.
She spotted the grin glowing from a branch of a nearby tree, and smiled at it. "I knew I couldn't stay away."
The Cheshire cat's head emerged, as though from shadow. "As I believe you've been told before, it is best not to imagine yourself to be other than what everyone already knows you are."
"I'm fairly certain I have not," she said.
The Cheshire's smile grew even larger and he jumped off the branch. "My dear Alice, I sometimes suspect you of pretending to forget your lessons."
"And I sometimes suspect you of pretending to know less than you actually do, so I suppose that evens us out."
"It does feel so good to be evened out, doesn't it?"
"Would you be so kind as to tell me what I'm doing here?"
"It would be far kinder not to tell you. You are wanted at Marmoreal."
"Is that all? Lead the way, Chessur."
The cat faded away. She thought with some frustration that he was going to reject her request and abandon her to find the way on her own until little cat footprints began appearing in the mud of the trail. She followed them.
The woods were quite lovely, fresh and bright. The leaves on the trees were the first bright green of spring. Ferns and tiny flowers poked through the rich dirt. Birds chirped and disported in the branches, butterflies and other brightly colored insects flickered and twinkled through the sunbeams. The sky was an even brighter blue than it ever was in her world.
Alice had never seen Wonderland quite so wondrous.
They had been walking for hours, and the woods had thinned out to meadows, then fields, then gardens and houses. Things began to look familiar, and it wasn't much longer that the walls of Marmoreal appeared ahead.
It was about that time that the paw prints became lighter and lighter until they, at some unnoticed point, disappeared.
"Oh look, it is that flower that moves!" said a giant daffodil just outside the palace walls.
They must surely have seen her coming, because the gates opened at her approach. The White Rabbit stood before her, framed by palace guards.
The White Rabbit blew on a long trumpet, then opened a scroll, but he didn't need to read it. "Alice Kingsleigh of Overland is hereby welcomed to Marmoreal on behalf of the Queen."
These words planted the seed of an unease in Alice's heart.
The White Rabbit put away the scroll and handed the trumpet to a servant, then, falling to all fours, turned toward the palace. He looked back at Alice for a moment. "Follow me."
She did. With two palace guards in front of her, another two behind, a large gray crane walking to her right, and creature resembling a rather stately giant centipede to her left, she walked toward the palace.
They crossed a bridge over what could hardly be described as a moat, dotted as it was with waterlilies and colorful fish lounging in its crystalline waters, then the high doors of the inner palace opened out to welcome them.
"She's here! Alice is back!" cried the Dormouse, hopping off a table.
There was a flurry of greeting and welcoming as Alice was pulled deeper into the palace. She smiled at them, waiting patiently to find out why she was here. Then the hangers-on and palace guards parted as they spotted the Bandersnatch bounding toward them.
A wordless exclamation of delight escaped from Alice's throat and she reached out to greet the Bandersnatch. It slid to a halt, then licked her face with its giant tongue.
"Oh, I have missed you!" Alice laughed as she wrapped her arms as well she could around the large creature's neck.
"I still think your hair needs cutting."
At the sound of the voice, Alice turned. The Hatter was standing in a doorway, smiling, and she was somehow sure he had been there for a moment at least before announcing his presence. She smiled back. "And I still think that's not a proper way to make an introduction," she said.
"Well, it has never quite been the case that I haven't tried my utmost to fail to make anything other than the best first impression."
With a parting pat on the Bandersnatch's head, Alice walked toward the Hatter. His smile became uncertain and his eyes widened as she approached him, and for a moment she saw in his eyes the same look he had given her on the Frabjous Day, when she left.
And so she wrapped her arms around him.
"Are you taller, Alice? You seem a smincy bit taller than last time."
"And you," she replied, stepping back, "seem to have not changed at all again. I told you I'd be back before you knew it."
"I'm afraid you weren't entirely successful: I knew it. I knew it long before it became so."
There was something half-sad in him that faded her smile as she turned to greet some other old friends.
Once the reunion was out of the way, she was escorted to a guest room by a human-looking woman and a giant goose who told her their names were Dvideress and Elleita and they were her personal servants and asked her what she would like for supper. Being extraordinarily exhausted, Alice declined supper. Within her private rooms, she found a hot bath waiting for her, along with a nightgown and robe. When she emerged refreshed, with the grime of the journey washed away, she found in her room a light soup, buttered bread, and some kind of spicy tea. Scarcely had her head touched the pillow before she was deep in exhausted, dreamless sleep.