ladynorbert | "Time and I don't get along very well, you know."

Now that I've at least started the ficlets, I'm doing the week-overdue birthday gift I promised to

likesthesilence. I offered to write any scene from either the Alice movie or my fic based thereon from the Hatter's POV, and she chose this one. SPOILERS, for the movie and moreso for my fic. Happy birthday, hon.

Tarrant stumbled through the gates of Marmoreal, still clutching the Tweedles' hands. It had been a long time since he was there -- how long exactly, he wasn't even sure. Their arrival had evidently been noted; the entire White Court was coming out to meet them. Bayard ran down the avenue to greet his wife and pups, and the Tweedles abandoned him, waddling forward to receive kisses of welcome from the White Queen. Alice, meanwhile, was making a beeline for Tarrant, and he observed with delight that she was neither too small nor too tall.

"I'm so happy to see you," she said, "I thought they were going to --"

"So did I, but they didn't! And now here I am, still in one piece." He beamed at her.

She was directly in front of him, so he felt it appropriate to devote his attention to her for a few minutes, but his eyes kept straying to the radiant figure just beyond her. Once Mirana had finished welcoming the Tweedles, McTwisp, Mallymkin and Chessur, she moved over to place a gentle hand on Alice's shoulder.

"Our friends have walked long," she said sweetly, "and are doubtless hungry. Alice, would you be so kind as to ask Thackery to make a bit more of that soup? Mind your head when you walk into the kitchen."

As Alice and the others led the way back inside, Mirana fell in step beside Tarrant, walking slowly. "It has been...a long time," she said carefully.

"Time and I don't get along very well, you know," he reminded her. "I'm not certain just how long it's been since the last time I saw you."

"Three years."

"Three years? That was indeed a long tea party," he mused.

She sighed, looking at him earnestly. "She still has not consented to serve as champion," she confided softly.

The last time he'd seen Mirana, Tarrant had utterly lost his head -- more than at any other moment -- and had seized her perfect face in his battered hands. He had kissed her, and she had let him, and it was the only truly happy memory he had since the Horunvendush Day. For that very reason he had not allowed himself to think of it for three years. Remembering that he had been happy in a single perfect moment was even more maddening than all of the misery and grief. Especially since he didn't know if a moment like that would ever come again.

His Queen needed him. That was one thing he did know.

"Perhaps...if you could speak with her?" Mirana ventured, penetrating his tangled thoughts.

"Oh, I can speak with 'er," he rumbled in Outlandish brogue. "The question is, will she listen?" He glanced at her, drank in the sight of her. "And if she doesn't, I'll stand champion myself."