Author's Note: Hi folks! Sorry I haven't had the chance to update. I had a little bit of writer's block and I also live in North Carolina that got hit by the tornados so my power was off for 2 days. Anyway here's the chapter you've all been waiting for, the one that will feature Alice, some old characters and maybe some new ones! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Don't own Lewis Carroll's, Disney's or Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass anything. Plot and my characters I do own.

Rating T

Chapter 3

*At Marmoreal*

Mirana had sent Nivens McTwisp out to seek Absolem and was awaiting his return impatiently. She just couldn't be still for one moment. She tried pacing but wound up gliding from one side of the throne room to the other. She finally chose to sit but then proceeded to tap her fingers on the chair arm continuously. She took out the Oraculm once more and glanced at it. She growled. She was literally fuming. She might be the White Queen but she could have a temper as bad as her sister's when provoked.

"I can't believe this! Not even a week and she is already plotting against me! I should've taken off her head! No! I can't start thinking like that; it means I'm no better than her and what would people think of a Queen with a broken promise?" She thought out loud to no one in particular. A few of her ladies in waiting would give her an odd glance as they passed by. 'Or one who's talking to herself?' She added silently.

She sighed and looked at the picture again. The picture showed what looked to be a group of slithy toves gathering in the wabe in the jungle. (Slithy toves are slimy corkscrew lizards with badger feet. Wabes are their nests near sundials or at least that's what info I got in my research) There was two silhouettes behind the shrubbery and there was no mistaking that big head and a tall figure with an eye patch. She needed Absolem to help her sort this out, she knew it was important but she couldn't tell if her sister and her knave were a part of this meeting or eavesdropping. Either way the outcome couldn't be good.

She glanced at a painting on the wall above the throne and sighed. 'Mom? Dad? If you were here, what would you do?' The picture was painted during happier times. Underland had flourished so well under her mother and father. The painting had the four of them seated at the palace located at Crims. Her father had always preferred color over white. Her mother was the White Queen and her father was the Red King. In the painting a three year old Mirana is seated on her father's lap holding a white rose. Racy, as Mirana had called her, was on her mother's lap holding a red rose. She was six years of age and her head was normal sized at the time.

Oh yes, she could remember a time when she looked up to Iracebeth and would follow her wherever she went. Iracebeth wasn't always so temperamental. She used to be a kind and gentle princess that took her future as being Queen seriously. It wasn't until her late teens that Racy had started having anger issues. Mirana knew something wasn't right then and tried to tell her parents but they threw it off thinking Iracebeth was just going through a normal teenage rebellion.

Just as she was about to ponder more, the doors to the throne room opened and a white rabbit scurried in. She glanced at McTwisp and smiled.

"What news have you brought me? Where's Absolem?"

McTwisp bowed before her. "Your Majesty, I and Bayard have searched the whole of Underland but we can't find him. He was not in the mushroom patch. The only news we have is from the flowers as he left them with a message." He stated as he nervously twitched his paws.

"Well where is he?"

"He's…He's in Aboveland. They said he said something about venturing up there and making sure the stupid girl didn't lose her muchness again or forget about us."

Mirana smiled knowingly. Only Absolem would call someone stupid as a sign of endearment.

"McTwisp, I need you to go to Aboveland and try to locate Absolem. If you can't find him I'll understand but try your best as this is of great importance!" She said as she rolled out the Oraculm for him to see.

"Oh My! It's not even a w-week yet!" He said while hyperventilating and instantly fainted.

"MCTWISP!" Mirana shouted.

He jumped up. "I'll go at once!"

"You mustn't tell anyone what you've seen until Absolem can tell us what it means. I don't want any unnecessary panicking and most importantly do not tell Tarrant! He's only just found out that our Champion is to return and I don't want him thinking she's only coming back to fight and then run off again!"

"Yes your Majesty" He said and scurried off as fast as he could to Aboveland.

*In Aboveland*

Alice and Lord Ascot had just finished signing a business agreement that she was to be his apprentice on this next business venture to China. He was surprised Charles Kingsleigh had never thought of the idea himself. How Alice reminded him of his best friend. He was so looking forward to her being his daughter in law but a business partnership will have to do.

"Well Alice, it seems as though we are done for now. We still have nearly the whole town here today and we mustn't let good times and great food go to waste so why don't you go freshen up in the guest washroom and I'll go make an announcement that this is to be a business party to celebrate the future of the company and the trip to China?"

Alice gave him a genuine smile and a big hug.

"I'd say that's a wonderfully mad idea!" Alice laughed. She left the room to make herself look more presentable, without corsets and stockings of course.

A few moments later Alice and Lord Ascot went outside the manor to where the guests were left hanging as to what had happened. The guest's whispering silenced the moment they saw Lord Ascot and Alice.

"My guests, I must regret to inform you that there is to be no engagement party today. Instead there is to be a celebration of a new business venture! Miss Alice Kingsleigh has agreed to become my apprentice in the business. We will set sail to China in hopes of being the first to trade with them in a week's time. So please enjoy yourselves as this party has just begun." He received a lot of claps and cheers from his guests as he stepped down. A few people rushed in to speak with him and congratulate him on his new idea although it really came from Alice. Some things never changed.

After all she was a woman in a man's world, her mother must be scandalized. Alice just sighed. She was really grateful that she had this opportunity to expand her father's trade and she knew were he alive he would be proud of her. Alice chose this moment to slip into the gardens to try to catch a break from everything and everyone.

She made her way to a large fountain in the center of the gardens and sat on the stone bench. She sat there pondering all that had happened that day. She thought about Underland. Had she really slayed a dragon? Or Jabborwocky as it was known to Underlandians? She could barely believe it; after all, she had no fighting skills. Her thoughts drifted to the Hatter. She kept thinking about how he looked before she left. He had looked as though his heart was breaking but that was silly, he was just a friend, right?

Her thinking was broken as she heard footsteps getting closer. She looked up to see someone steadily approaching her.

*End of Chapter 3*

Well what do you think? I finally made this chapter much longer and brought Alice into play. I wanted to add more to this but alas school, work, and being married keeps me from writing more. I'll try to have chapter 4 up as soon as possible but I'm kind of writing this as I go. Anyway please review and let me know what you think? If there are any ideas of how to make it better let me know. Have a great week all!

PS. I hope you like how I'm doing in the portrayal of the White Queen. As she is the sister of the Red Queen, I wanted to show her darker side a little more.