Alice, Hatter, and Jack were gathered in a corner of the council meeting room of the Great Library. It wasn't exactly private from all the council members milling about and having tea, but they at least wouldn't be overhead, which seemed to matter to Jack. Alice had some idea that Jack was supporting this wild idea of putting her on the council, but she had no idea why, and she was slightly wary of what he might say to convince her.

Jack sighed and rubbed his eyebrow as he, Alice, and Hatter all faced each other. As charming and smooth as he'd seemed before, he was letting them see behind the facade now, and Alice couldn't help but feel for him. On the other hand, she knew that was probably his goal. And this was why she wasn't cut out for politics.

"Alice, look," Jack murmured, "Wonderland is in a state of flux. Not only are we dealing with a new and untested system of government, people are going to start coming down from their Tea addiction, and because the rebellion all kept such a low profile, most of the council are not well known outside of the rebellion. Leaving me the most recognizable member-the son of the oppressive former regime." He gave Alice and Hatter both a wry, self-recriminating look. "Wonderland needs leadership right now, it needs someone that people can look up to. Honestly, it's teetering on the brink of chaos right now."

Jack let that sink in, then took a step closer, imploring. "I wouldn't have asked this of you, Alice, you've done so much already-but if you're staying. If you really care about Wonderland. Please. Help me make sure it stays saved."

Hatter was nodding, slowly, shocking Alice. "I can well believe there's a hard road ahead. People'll go crazy about Tea, sometimes, and without it... and without the Hearts... Well, I myself have a lot more chaos in my life." He looked at Alice. "Even just your name, the Legend of it, it could help people feel a lot safer, maybe."

Alice hissed back, "I want to remind you, Hatter, you said you couldn't stand politicians! And Jack, I have zero experience with this kind of thing, I'm sure I would do a terrible job. I'm not-I'm not a politician, I don't know anything about running a country-"

"It wouldn't need to be that," Jack hurried to assure her, "We have a council for a reason. Everyone plays to their strengths. You could help reassure the people but also provide... Your... unique perspective."

"Your common sense," Hatter added, nodding slowly. "Not that you don't sometimes misplace it, but that's where I'll come in in the background." He winked.

"Not a bad idea, to have an adviser," Jack admitted graciously. "We could include a proviso allowing Hatter to attend meetings with you if you so desire."

Alice looked back and forth between them, a little helplessly. "Well... if even the two of you are agreeing on something, I'm not sure what choice I have. It's just..." she sighed. "It's not exactly what I was planning, you know?"

"What were you planning?" Jack asked curiously.

"Well, honestly, I was planning on playing to my strengths. Opening a Martial Arts school, probably. Getting Hatter to help me with the business side of things."

"Ah, I see. Well. If you wanted... perhaps we could make you a Council Member, but with limited responsibilities? Only coming in for more important decisions, and so forth. I would ask, however, that you be here frequently in these early days. We need to show Wonderland that the leadership is coming together." Jack looked into the middle distance, his eyes calculating. Alice could see he was truly raised for this role-measuring every option, predicting every outcome. IF he really thought Wonderland needed her... perhaps it really did. And if anyone could manipulate things so she could still have her own life, it was him. It was that manipulative side of him that honestly meant they couldn't work well together, but she could see it would work to make him an excellent leader.

She couldn't in good conscience refuse. "Well... then... okay. I'll do it. But you both had better help me, because you are the ones who convinced me." She pointed accusingly at both Jack and Hatter.

Hatter, annoyingly, just looked kind of flattered. "Well, sure. And then later you can tell me what 'martial arts' is and we'll start my new commercial empire."

So this is how a new life starts, Alice thought to herself, and she couldn't help but smile. Getting pushed out of her comfort zone? Doing things she never ever thought she could? So what else was new.

The council soon gathered back to their seats, and Alice took a deep breath before walking back in front of the table. "I am honored to accept your proposal and become a member of your council. I intend to do all I can to help Wonderland through this transition. I just..." she glanced at Jack and straightened up again. "However, I do plan to open my own business and spend less time politicking as things stabilize. Also, when I do attend, I intend to bring my... adviser, Hatter here, to ensure I have all the perspective I need to contribute a well-rounded opinion." She tried to make her voice ring out clear and confident. Fake it till you make it, she thought to herself.

The council seemed happy enough. "What business will you start?" one woman asked, seeming curious.

Alice let a smile reach her lips. "Well, I plan to teach classes in martial arts. Self-defense, you know."

They didn't really look like they knew what she was talking about, but they vigorously nodded anyway. "Probably glad you aren't interested in hogging any political power," Hatter leaned forward and muttered in her ear.

"Well then," said Jack, "Let us have a chair for the Champion of Wonderland!" He drew one up next to him, near the center of the table, and there was one placed for Hatter on the opposite side. "Now if I am not mistaken, the council has much other business to hear this morning. Seneschal, let the next citizen in."

As Alice moved with Hatter to take her seat, she felt a shiver like a thrill run up her spine. Who would have thought she'd end up here? Seemed like Wonderland wouldn't stop putting her through her paces. But she could work with that.

Council work was exhausting, even if it didn't involve any physical work. Many of the people who came had many concerns about infrastructure, commerce, and power that Alice had to work hard to understand, let alone solve. Hatter was a great help to her with unfamiliar words and concepts, but some problems were impossible to easily solve, and many the council had to send away unanswered before further deliberation.

"I wish there was a book or a manual on this," Alice muttered to Hatter when the council adjourned for the evening. "I'm working blind here."

"Well, Alice, this is a library," Hatter pointed out, and even helped her track down some books on Wonderland's trade and economy, as well as some of their traditions. Alice ended up borrowing a whole stack, with the permission of a very sweet but nervous librarian.

They caught a canal boat home as the sunset glittered on the water between the buildings. Where before Wonderland had seemed like a ghost land, there were now flashes of activity, people visiting their neighbors with news, impromptu restaurants and pubs opening to be hubs of social activity.

"Wonderland is resilient, isn't it," remarked Alice, then grinned before anyone could reply. "I love the sunset! I love the way people are... unique, and unafraid! And I love..." she turned and smiled at Hatter, "I love you. Thank you for all your help in there. You have good judgement. I don't know what I would do without you."

Hatter leaned in and kissed her deeply, warmly, urgently. After a moment, his hands went to some interesting places, but Alice's were trapped between him and the books and she made a small noise of protest at that inequity. Hatter pulled back and grinned a mischievous smile of his own, showing he had been well aware of his advantages. "Nah, I'm not much more than a scamp and nabber, Alice. But... I have no idea what I'd do without you. I love you, too, for not makin' me find out. I'd follow you anywhere, you know. Be it the Red Casino or right back to Oysterland. If this council business gets too dodgy, if you get homesick. Just remember I'm right here with you, on your side." He nodded firmly.

Alice fumbled her stack of books into the seat next to her so she could grip his hand. "Thank you. But don't you have your own life here?"

Hatter shrugged matter-of-factly. "To tell the truth, Alice, most of my life has been wrapped up in helping take down the queen. I have plenty of contacts, used to be on both sides of the fence, but few enough friends. No family. I guess I never really thought about what I'd do if we actually got that far. Bit of a odd shock." He shook his head and changed the subject abruptly. "Should we stop off here for a bit? Speakin' of contacts, I know a bloke just around this corner who runs a bit of a pub, makes a mean hot sandwich."

Alice hummed and kissed his cheek, deciding not to press him for more just yet. "Sure. I'm starving."

When they finally sank into bed that night, Alice pressed close to Hatter, resting her head on his shoulder. "Hatter," she asked quietly after a few moments, "Why did you decide to join the rebellion?"

Hatter let out a long sigh."It's a long story, love." There was a long pause, and she could feel his strong right hand flexing on her back. "Y'see, I'm not exactly... Normal. There's a reason lots of people don't trust me. When I was a kid I was on the streets, you know. No parents to speak of. And... the queen took me in. Well, not her personally, o' course. Reckon she just asked for kids no one would be missing. And I got plucked off the streets. Thought it a great stroke of luck, at the time." He was quiet for a moment, fidgeted into a different position, and when he spoke again it was quieter. "Of course, it didn't really turn out that way. The queen was looking for... test subjects, you could say. They experimented on us. Different things for different blokes. On me, it was... Teas, mostly. Injected in, some of them. Some surgeries. In my arm." Alice didn't say a word, just squeezed him tighter, offering her support as he continued. "I was one of the luckier ones, really. Most of us died, some just went wrong. The stuff in my arm actually worked, made my right arm and hand... stronger. Least I didn't end up like the March Hare we had chasing after us." He shuddered violently, and he whispered, "I'd rather be dead than like that, just bits and pieces of what her majesty and her mad scientists had laying around."

Alice held him through it, stroking a hand through his hair. "How did you escape?" she asked. It seemed to her like they should have it all out now, rather than repeat this conversation ever again.

Hatter chuckled mirthlessly. "Didn't really escape, as such. It was the Teas. Too many, too strong. They got in my head. Made me, ah, erratic. Flipped my switches. I'd get angry, sad, violent, laughing, all without a moment's notice. Called me Mad Hatter, they did, for a while. Some of it I played up, but I was messed up but good. So when the figured I wasn't as useful anymore, the queen decided I could be a tea vendor for her.

"My tea shop was my way out. Every now and again I'd be her eyes and ears in the streets. I'd make sure people kept drinking the tea, kept under her her thumb. I hated it, but I didn't have much choice, and anyway, the tea in my veins dulled it all down for a while. But I got better, and then the Resistance reached out to me. An' I became their eyes and ears in the Hearts, every once in awhile. I became known as a bit of a broker, someone good to sell to, whether it be information or something a bit... different. An' so that's why Ratty brought me you." He finished his story with an air of finality, and Alice didn't ask any questions.

"I... I've never told anyone all this before, Alice. Either they knew or they didn't. But I thought you should know. I am almost all better now, though, you know? Sometimes I... I do still get a bit erratic now and then, but. But I'd never, ever hurt you." He tried to draw his right hand away from her, as though she'd be afraid of it, but Alice caught and held it.

"I know, Hatter," she said firmly. "I trust you. I'm... so sorry for all that's happened to you. I'm just amazed you've been able to turn out as good as you are. But we have a real chance now, both of us, to start a new life. We don't have to be afraid anymore."

Hatter scoffed. "I didn't think you ever did get afraid. Except for of heights," he admitted.

Alice shook her head and thought. "I... think I have been, though, for a very long time. Since my father, left, really. Or... was kidnapped." She swallowed hard. "I've been afraid of getting close to people, afraid that they'd leave. Afraid of committing myself to anything. But knowing that my father never meant to leave me, and you coming after me to help me... I think I'm learning to trust more."

"Well, I'm glad." Hatter said. "Maybe we're both a little bit broken, but we can patch each other up, yeah?"

"Yes," said Alice, pressed close enough to him that she could hear his heart beating. "Yes, that's exactly what I want."

one month later

It was a beautiful day, sun shining with a cool breeze stirring the long grasses Alice stood in. She tilted her head to admire the blue, cloud-scattered sky and feel the warmth on her skin. She felt as though she were on a school trip to see the countryside, and laughed at the thought. She'd been doing a lot more laughing, lately.

"Come on, Alice! Farmer Jack's finished bringing all the cows in to be milked," Hatter called from behind her. She turned towards him willingly and they walked together towards the barn.

"I think he thinks we're a bit odd," Alice murmured.

Hatter snorted. "You're kiddin' me, right? The Champion of Wonderland herself wants to try his milk and see his farm? No matter how odd it may be, he'll be braggin' about this to all who'll listen."

The barn smelled like... well, cows, but also like wood and straw. It looked very clean, and the ten-odd cows in it looked very pleased to be there. "You have a charming farm," Alice said, and smiled at the farmer who was just then bringing a milk stool, a large bucket, and a tin cup down the center aisle.

"Why, thankee, lass! Tha' is to say, Champion, o' course. We're modest, but we'll do." He looked delighted at the praise. "Now jus' a minute, an' I'll have you up a nice fresh cuppa th' best milk you've tasted yet in yer life." He looked at Hatter and whispered, though Alice could still hear perfectly, "An' you said they don't have cows in Oysterland?"

Hatter hid a smirk. "Just not proper brown ones, apparently."

"Ach!" The farmer exclaimed, "Imagine that! And they're my favorite, an' all. Just as well I'm no oyster, I suppose."

Alice didn't bother to explain.

In practiced, comfortable movements the Farmer slipped into the stall, nudged the stool into place, and after just a few expert squeezes that Alice watched carefully over the door to ensure no Hatter-style trickery, handed up the cup halfway full. There was a delicious smell to it, which made Alice feel better about taking a sip.

As she did, her eyes opened wide, and she must have made a sound because the farmer chuckled, his head resting against the cow as he finished milking her into the bucket. "Aye, it's a bit stronger when it's fresh, no? But to my mind there's nothing like it."

It was thick, and still warm from the cow, and probably the most chocolatey milk Alice had ever tasted without being too sweet. "It's-wow," said Alice, eyes still wide. "It's delicious!" She took another sip, but it was quite rich and strong this way, so she handed it off for Hatter to try.

"And you didn't believe me!" Hatter crowed before taking his sip, his eyes crinkling at the corners in a way Alice had found she loved.

"Yes, yes, for once you're right, I guess I'll have to owe you something," Alice sighed dramatically. "You did promise me, after all."

"And I'll always keep my promises to you," said Hatter seriously, taking her left hand in his strong right hand and kissing it right above the ring he'd given her the week before. It wasn't as large as the Stone of Wonderland, but it suited Alice much better.

"I know," Alice said, and smiled widely.