A/N: We are jumping into the wayback machine for this one, folks! This is just after the engagement ball. Hey, Alice had to learn those dances sometime!
I didn't want to dance. I didn't want to, I didn't want to, I didn't want to!
I felt like a child, but I didn't care. I was about to stomp my feet and declare I wasn't going to any more dances! (Actually, I might have stomped a little.) But I was the Champion of Underland, so surely that meant that I could say no to all of the White Queen's celebrations.
"Sweetness, you have to learn sometime," Tarrant said, as he patiently waited out my tantrum.
"I don't. I will just tell the White Queen "no thank you" the next time she throws a ball, for whatever honor."
He gave me a skeptical look.
"What? Do I not have that right?" I asked with a twinge of annoyance in my voice.
"Of course you do, poppet. And as Champion, I'd say that right is increased. However, think of how others will view that. That you are saying no to the Queen. That you are rejecting celebrations for Underland. That you, of all people, do not want to rejoice about our freedoms and the ability to actually be happy now that the bloody big head is gone."
How I hated it when he was right. And the very fact that he said "bloody big head" without being thrown into a fit spoke volumes.
"Very well, then," I begrudgingly said. "Where shall we start?"
"Excellent! Let's start with what we danced at the engagement ball, the cloosle."
"That is remarkably like a waltz in Overland."
"Perhaps you could teach me the waltz and we can compare them? Would that help at all?"
"I think it could. First, let's work on the basics of your dance. Show me my frame."
And with that, Tarrant pulled me into what would be a waltz frame and we began. He stared deep into my eyes and I couldn't help but follow his steps. He was a natural at leading the dance. It was sad that he was never really able to use this talent. Though, I suppose I'm also grateful that he didn't dance like this with other girls.
"Alice, you are very graceful!"
"I don't believe anyone has ever told me that," I replied, lowering my face.
Hatter stopped the dance and gently raised my chin with his finger. "Listen to me, and hear me well. Whatever was told or wasn't told to you that made you feel any less than perfect, I want you to get that out of your mind. Those words are rubbish, because you, my love, are perfection."
"I'm not so sure about perfection," I whispered.
"With eyes that deep and a heart so pure? I can't imagine why you don't understand it, but I can assure you that I will spend the rest of my life trying to convince you otherwise."
"What a wonder you are."
He merely winked at me and pulled us back into frame. "Now, let's try this for a few more minutes and then you can show me that waltz, yes?"
"That sounds lovely."
Then and there, I decided that maybe learning to dance wouldn't be such a terrible thing after all. I knew there were years that I didn't know Tarrant (more than I cared to think on, even if time stopped for him while I was gone), and that there were events I didn't know all about, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out why people stayed away from him. There was a gentleness about Hatter that would surely draw anyone to him, if given the chance. Perhaps a little kindness in his life could have saved him some heartache.
"Right then," Tarrant said as we finished, thankfully interrupting my sad thoughts. "What of this waltz you speak of?"
"Well, it's pretty much the same dance in reverse. You'd start on this foot instead and work around this way," I explained as I "led" the dance.
"Oh! I see. Yes, that's very similar. I'm surprised you were able to learn this so quickly. The steps could easily get mixed up in your head."
"You focus me," I answered simply.
"I could say the same for you, you know. I haven't felt this calm in ages. Longer than I can even consider."
"Then we shall count ourselves lucky. May I have this cloosle?" I asked as I curtseyed.
"This one, the next one and all others after, yes," he replied, bowing low.
Hatter pulled me into frame and we were off. Oh, I was going to like dancing with this man. It was an entirely different world than dancing in London. It made me feel more free than I had since I was a girl, playing with my father in the gardens. Since he passed, my life had felt so confined. This was where I needed to be.
"Where are you just now, cricket?" he asked, guiding me into a spin under his arm.
"Just thinking of how perfect things are here, and how different. I wish you could talk to my mother or sister. They would tell you just how much I despised dancing. I avoided it at any cost. I feigned illness, I would say I was too tired, sometimes I would sneak off and hide elsewhere. I always seemed to have something else on my mind and couldn't concentrate on the dance."
"And now look at you. Here you are, having a conversation with me, and you haven't lost one single step," Hatter said with a grin.
"Why, you're right! I didn't even notice! Perhaps I just needed the right partner."
"Aye, I know I did."
He bent down and gave me a chaste kiss to my lips. I closed my eyes and sighed. There was no way possible I was this lucky to have this man in my life.
"Shall we try another?" he asked, breaking me from my reverie.
"If you are willing to teach, I am willing to learn."
"Very well, then. This one is called a renald..."
That day, I learned 2 other dances, and 2 more throughout the week. Alice Kingsleigh had become a dancer. I was dancing slow, fast and even a bit racy. Underland dances seemed to be tailored to me, or perhaps it was just the instructor.
A/N: Just a little epilogue about Tarrant's thoughts on Alice's dancing.
I watched as my tempestuous bride-to-be stamped her foot. She apparently was not a fan of dancing and no amount of celebrating from the queen could convince her to be otherwise. On the contrary, it seemed to make her dislike even worse. I couldn't help but wonder just what her world was like to hate something as liberating as dancing.
Once I explained to her that it really would be poor form to not attend any of the queen's grand balls, she seemed to at least come around to the idea. And I added in a bit of Hightopp charm to seal the deal as well.
As we danced, I couldn't imagine why she didn't want to dance! She was a natural at it! She was light on her feet and just as graceful as I thought she would be. It was a terrible pity that she didn't even know it. The men from her world must have been the most slurvish types to have shaded such a flower as my Alice.
Perhaps it is cliche to say, but with every step, I fell in love with this woman more and more. She gripped my heart as tightly as she held my hand. She seemed to cling to me as if she would fall, as if I would ever let that happen.
She showed me her world's version of a cloosle and I was amazed that she could do both dances so well, seeing how similar yet different they were. There was a dancer underneath all this uncertainty ... I just needed to find her!
Alice told me that I helped to focus her and I said that she calmed me. Perhaps it was because I wanted to protect her from my mad self, or perhaps it was just that she was utterly soothing to my soul. No matter the reason, I knew my life was infinitely better with her as a part of it.
We continued our lesson and I was increasingly impressed at Alice's abilities. She had no confidence in her dancing, among other things, and proving her wrong was very gratifying. She used to hide from dancing, but I began to think I might have changed her mind.
"...Perhaps I just needed the right partner," she whispered.
"Aye, I know I did."
What a difference the right partner was making in all aspects of our lives. Both previously thought as mad and unlovable, now we were together and making sure the other knew that they were not only loved, but cherished and appreciated.
I gave her a quick kiss and encouraged her to keep dancing and my brave girl did just that. She learned like the champion she is and continued to prove those nay-sayers wrong. Just like my Alice.