Once Again : Part 1 : Home In Wondeland

Part 2 : Decisions, Decisions

"Well..." Alice, shocked by the question, tried her best to speak. "I... I would... I would stay!" She blurted out. The queen smiled, and they walked back into the palace. When they got inside, Hatter looked at Alice hopefully. Alice nodded yes, knowing that he was told the news. Hatter smiled wider than ever before, his heart almost stopped, and he almost began to cry. The white queen, with her hand on Alice's shoulder, noticed his expression, and leaned over to Alive.
"Brace for impact..." She whispered before quickly walking away.
"Wait, why-" Suddenly, Hatter hugged Alice so tight that she lost her breath.
"Since she has nowhere to stay right now, she can stay in my guest room, at my house- as long as that's ok with her." Hatter claimed, still holding on to Alice.
"H-H-Hatter-" Alice squeaked. "Can't... br-breath..." Hatter let go of her.
"My apologies, this just means a-lot to me." Hatter smiled warmly. Mally squinted at Hatter.
"Guest room???" She asked suspiciously.
"Well, yes." Hatter answered lightly. "A guest room. Why would that surprise you."

"Well, sorry Hatter, it's just that, we didn't know you HAD a guest room." Twisp admitted. Hatter just shrugged.
"You've been in my living space before." He said. "Besides that's not the point! Alice is staying, and we must celebrate! Oh, I'll make some tea." The Hatter skipped out the palace doors. Alice was catching her breath, and the others were laughing at the thought of their friend's excitement.
"Thank you, Alice." Cheshire smiled as Alice inhaled deeply.
"For what?" She asked
"You see," Cheshire explained. " Tarant had been so deeply depressed that you left, he wasn't eating much, and he always looked tired, and now that you aren't leaving he won't be like that so often. That's why McTwisp was so eager to to ask you this question."Cheshire was stopped when the queen came to give more good news:
"This is fantastic! You will get to meet Aliae!" Alice gave the queen an off look.
"Who...?" Alice tilted her head.
"Aliae, an old friend of Hatter's, and my old royal food gardener. I got word that he would be coming back!" Cheshire shivered. The queen explained that Aliae would be coming the morning of the day after.
The Hatter had set up a very nice tea party, and used all the flowers he picked to make multiple bowketts by the time the others all got to the tea table in the woods. All the others were marveling at the set up, when suddenly the sound of stomping started getting faintly louder nearby. Cheshire disappeared, and the Hatter became protective when the noise became no more than a foot away. Suddenly, a large furry creature appeared behind the Hatter.
"AHHHH!" He screamed, but the creature didn't attack him, it licked him. The Hatter wasn't stunned but excited. "Aliae! Your back!" Alice was confused. The creature sat down, and from nowhere smoke surrounded it. It was out of sight, but when the smoke cleared, there sitting on the ground, was a small thin boy with the tail, and ears of the creature. He also had its feet, but smaller.
"Oh-!" Hatter said. "You haven't changed much in size..." The boy rolled his eyes with a smile. Alice, for a second, thought that he was a child, but when he spoke, his voice was as deep as a man's.
"I thought you'd notice that." The boy laughed. Hatter got on his knees to hug Aliae. They let go, and Aliae saw Alice. "Who is this?" He said smiling.
"Oh-! Aliae, this is Alice, you simply must meet her." The Hatter put his arm around Alice's shoulder. Aliae put out his hand to shake Alice's.
"It's nice to make your acquaintance." He said, shaking her hand. "I'm Aliae, an old friend of Tarant's."
"It's very nice to meet you as well." Alice replied. Aliae turned around to face the others, and smiled at them.
"I do apologize for the entry." He said to them. "I did get here a bit early. Anyhow, I see you are all having a tea party, this table hasn't been this done-up for years." When they all sat down, Mally told Aliae all about the adventures that had taken place while he was gone.
"Oh, and you missed it, but when Alice won, the Hatter did futterwacken again!" Mally clapped happily.
"He did? Oh, and I missed it. Darn!" He sipped the tea, but his tail shot up. "Oh dear..." He said grimmly. Mally, Thackery, Alice and Hatter all looked at him.
"What's wrong?" Alice asked. "Is he ok?" Thackery, and Mally looked at Hatter.
"Say, what kind of tea did you make, Tarant...?" Mally asked. Hatter just looked up with a bit of a guilty look on his face.
"Oh dear." Thackery said loudly.
"What's w-wrong?" Asked Twisp. Suddenly Aliae tried to stand, but stumbled catching himself on the table. "Uh-Oh..." Twisp's ears fell.
"I think..." Aliae tried to speak. "...that is squid berry tea..." Hatter nodded.
"Hurry now!" Hatter instructed, as Aliae luaghed nuroticly. "Get the antidote." A small cup of juice was passed down the table to Hatter. He made Aliae drink it, and Aliae shivered, now awake from his off trans. He sat back down.
"Thank you, but I won't be having any more of that..." Aliae said, grinning, and pushing the tea cup away.
"What happened?" Alice questioned. "Is he allergic? And, what's the antidote"
"No," Twisp explained. "Anything that has squid berries in it has the effects of aucahual on him. And, the antidote, it's just moonberry juice." Twisp looked at his tea.

The rest of the day was grand, mostly friendly chatting, and afterward, the Hatter introduced Alice to her temporary room.