Chapter Text
They had just appeared out of the blue, the message had said, and Margaret nearly broke into a run on her way up the steps in her haste to see if what the message said was true. Her husband - and she nearly rolled her eyes just from thinking the word, for he certainly never acted as a husband should - and daughter followed along behind her, much less anxious at the prospect of seeing Her again. It had been eight years since she had disappeared, and now Mother had said that the most absurd thing has happened. They had taken the carriage over from the Manchester estate as soon as they could
Once she entered the estate, she couldn’t help but think that Mother was right. Because there stood Alice - strange, dreamy Alice, who swore that she would never get married nor have children of her own - wrapped in a man’s arms, with a small red-haired child sitting on the lap of her shocked grandmother.
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It had taken awhile for everyone to stop shouting, the Hatter mused. At first he had been worried for his Alice, but she had been quick to reassure him that everything was fine, her family had just been worried about her. But now that everyone seemed to have calmed down again, it was strange. Mrs. Kingsleigh had invited them to come for tea, so that he could be properly introduced to the family. But now - other than the occasional question about their lives - everyone was strangely silent.
“Mammie!” Emalee Cadence Hightopp shouted out, running into the dining room where her mother and father sat at the table with her mother’s sister and brother-in-law - her Aunt Margaret and Uncle Lowell - and her Grandmother. “Fa!”
Tarrant Hightopp smiled at his daughter, glad to have been distracted from the boringly quiet tea table. Why, he thought to himself in bemusement, there hadn't even been an exchanging of riddles at the beginning of teatime. Usually, it would have taken something much larger to pull him away from the tea table, but this would be enough of a distraction for now.
“Whatever's the hatter, my little top hat?” the Mad Hatter of Underland said, pulling his daughter up onto his lap.
“I fear that the dogs are bey-urious with me, Fa.” the little girl said, her eyes turning blue with sadness. “They won't say a word to me!"
Alice Hightopp nee Kingsleigh smiled kindly at her daughter, reaching out to tuck an unruly red curl behind her ear. “That's rather slurvish of them.” she commented, ignoring the shocked gasp that came from her sister. Although Margaret didn't know Outlandish, she did know a curse word whenever she heard one.
Emalee frowned. “The cats I've met so far haven't smiled, either! An' the flowers have nothing interesting to say, the frumious gruffians.” she complained, folding her small arms over her chest.
“Ah, 'tis that th' case?” the Hatter asked slipping into the Outlandish brogue that Alice so loved to hear. When Emalee nodded in reply, he grinned triumphantly. “Well, ye must remember, m'dearlin, tha' this is'nae home, ye sae. Therefore, the cats cannae smile, an’ teh flowers cannae bite yeh wit’ thayre words, unless they beh dandelions’r maebbe tayger lilahes, ‘'n’ o course, teh wee pups cannae talk betwix thems like we ahre used tah.” he continued rambling, his accent growing thicker and thicker, until…
“Tarrant!” Alice said worriedly as she laid a hand on his arm, pulling her husband back into the present.
Tarrant stopped for a moment before he returned to the courteous lisp that he used for Court matters as he wheezed, “Thank you, I'm fine.”
Alice made sure that he really was fine before returning her attention back to their daughter. “Well, my sweet girl,” Alice said, “Why don't you go back and play? I'm sure that even though the animals won't talk, they'll be just as fun to play with as the pups are back home.”
Margaret smiled, trying to take back control of the conversation. "Yes, dear," she said, gaining her niece's attention. "You can go and play with your cousin Winifred in the nursery. I'm sure that she would love to have someone to join her in playing house."
But Emalee crossed her arms over her chest, scrunching up her nose as she furrowed her brow. "I don't want to play house." she said stubbornly. "I want to play Champions."
When Margaret didn't respond, Alice took over. "You can play Champions outside in the garden, geminous girl. Maybe you can teach Winifred how to, as well."
Emalee smiled at her mother. “Yes Mammie.” she said, and then her smile grew bigger. “Maybe I can find Absolem somewhere!” she said excitedly. “Then he'll teach me how to slay a Jabberwocky, too!”
Both Margaret and Lowell looked shocked at that, and Alice had to work to keep from rolling her eyes. "You know the rules, Emalee." That seemed to pacify Margaret for a moment, while Lowell continued to glower. Until Alice continued, "You have to be big enough to swing your Fa's broadsword before you're slaying anything."
“Aye, my wee lass, yer mam’s right.” Tarrant said as their daughter slipped down off of his lap. “But fer nauw, I shall help ye t' start yehr rebellion, t' g'way wit tha' shrifty slithy bluddy behg hid.” He climbed to his feet as well, taking his daughter's hand in his own.
The father and daughter were laughing softly to themselves as they started to leave the room, but were stopped by the sound of Alice's voice. “Tarrant?” she called, and her husband turned to look at her. They seemed to have a nonverbal conversation for several minutes before Alice sighed.
“Alright.” she said. “Just be back before brillig.”
Tarrant bounded over to his wife's side and kissed her cheek. “Of course, my Alice.” he said, before racing back over to his daughter's side and taking her by the hand.
“Downal wyth bluddy behg hid.” Tarrant said, and both his wife and daughter smiled at him.
“Downal wyth bluddy behg hid.” They chorused, before the Mad Hatter and his daughter ran off, leaving Alice behind to cope with the unfortunate task of talking with her family.