#davidhatter

HATTER: 

The fae had gotten back to him with their part of the bargain. A crystal, which Hatter had wrapped up in a few towels and placed in his bag alongside reagents and other things he thought may be useful for the task at hand. It bumped against his hip with every step he took along Enchantra’s floor. 

With him were Aurora’s housemates that he had gone to gather as soon as the crystal was in his possession. As he had been persistently worried about, he didn’t know how much time Aurora had, if any, and didn’t want to waste any more of it. The trek back to where Aurora was sleeping felt far longer this go around than it had any other time. Maybe because the anticipation of what could or could not happen that evening made it seem farther, like the forest was trying to give him time to get his thoughts together before having to do what needed to be done. 

Eventually, though, they did arrive where the plants were more plush and vibrant, vines like a curtain on a bedroom tucked away out here. He pulled his bag from around his body, letting it down beside where Aurora was still sleeping, and rummaged through it to pull the bundle with the crystal and his wand. Which didn’t look like much of a wand so much as it did an old baseball cap. It was something he rarely even had to use these days, but since he was going to be collecting reagents that he didn’t normally, it would be necessary. He untangled the crystal from the towels, holding it in one hand with the wand in the other. 

“Alright,” he said, turning around to Truitt and Ashbourne. “In order for this to get a proper charge on it, and fine tune it to Aurora’s person, I’m going to need something from you. Memories of her. The fonder the better.” 

TIANA

Tiana had a sense of anxious deja-vu as they walked through the forest. She and Ella had already tried this before, to no avail. But this time was going to be different. It would have to be different, because they were running out of options. At least they had Hatter now. Tiana just tried not to think too much about the last time she had tried to do a spell with him.

She opened her mouth to protest that Hatter hadn’t prepared them or told them to bring anything, but then he finished his sentence. Memories. Yes, she had plenty of those. And she hardly needed any preparation to recall them. She thought about Aurora all the time, after all. She missed her all the time.

“Any kind of good memory? Oh, uh, okay… I don’t even know where I’d start…” Tiana said, pausing to think. She glanced at Ella, a small smile creeping across her face. “Do you remember that time we all went to prom together? The theme was heaven and hell, and we all went as Willa’s Angels?” 

ELLA It was all Ella could do to steady her breathing and keep her composure as they went deeper into Enchantra. The forest would know she was here, of course. It would know that all three of them were there, that they were heading towards Aurora and the place where she rested, but she knew they wouldn’t be disturbed. Whatever it was Hatter needed to do, they would do it in peace; Ella had asked the forest to keep her friend safe, and it would do so, diverting people away from them, letting them work in peace. Or so she hoped, anyhow.

The request sent her a bit off kilter. Where did she even start? She had more fond memories of Aurora than she could count. Some were small, cups of tea on cold mornings, movie nights all tucked under one night, small gifts exchanged after a trip to the farmers market. Others were far bigger – helping her rescue Willa in a night of horror, holding her hand as she talked about the Prince. There were far too many fond memories of Aurora, so many that Ella suddenly felt overwhelmed by missing her, probably the opposite of what Hatter needed from her.

But she saw Tiana smile, and slowly, she smiled too, nodding. She couldn’t remember whose idea it had been now, the matching white outfits and the corny photos posed as Charlie’s Angels, but it had been fun. “We looked like an early noughties girl band,” She said with a laugh. “I don’t think I’ve ever danced as much as I did then.”

HATTER: He gave a nod of confirmation and encouragement at Truitt’s questioning. As he was no expert when it came to this sort of reagent he figured it best to go with the ones that would be fueled by the emotions that packed the hardest punch, making it somewhat easier for him to recognize them and be able to pull them free into something tangible. It also seemed like a miserable affair to ask them to remember times that made them sad or upset, as well as trying to wake Aurora up with those emotions. To fuel it with care and friendship and smiles and warmth seemed like a far better way to bring someone back from a long sleep. 

As they talked between one another, Hatter waited, having to focus in order to even begin to see any sort of glimpse of the memory they were describing. He had to place the crystal on the ground to free both hands and arms. He stepped closer with fingers holding the bill of the cap so it was upside down and the crown fell open like a bowl.

“Pardon,” he said softly as he reached forward with it. The bill swept close to Truitt’s forehead first, almost but not quite touching. His hand was there, too, trying hard to pull at something smooth. It took him a moment, and a frustrated puff of air from his nose, before he actually had a hold of it. Then he turned to Ashbourne and did this same thing. He dropped them into the hat, two marble like shapes rolling around in their fabric home. They gleamed like Christmas lights, bright and twinkling on their own, as if they held a whole universe inside them. In a way they did. A little infinity of a moment, fogged by memory but cleared by the emotion it held. 

“Good,” Hatter said as he inspected them, a slight smile at the edges of his features before he looked up. “Again.” 

TIANA

Tiana watched anxiously as Hatter did the spell. She didn’t know enough about magic to tell whether it was going well or not, but Hatter briefly looked frustrated, which scared her— but then he smiled and said otherwise. Okay, she thought as he looked at her. Just keep going.

It was like the world’s most terrifying oral presentation. The stakes had never been higher. But it was for that reason that Tiana couldn’t afford to lose her nerve now.

“Uh, okay, yeah,” she said, glancing at Ella again. Her housemate’s presence steadied her. Ella had that effect on people. “Well, er, this is sort of a silly one, but once she pretended to be my girlfriend around the holidays so my mum’s friends would stop trying to set me up. I don’t think we were all that convincing, but that’s Aurora for you. She’s always going to help you out.”

Tiana blinked back tears. These were supposed to be happy memories. And they were. But recalling them reminded her how much she missed Aurora— and how afraid she was of the possibility that she could be gone forever. 

ELLA She did her best not to look at Hatter whilst he was working, focusing instead on the memory, the laughter, the happiness, how wonderful that night had been. She didn’t want to ruin any reagents by letting herself get distracted.

She did let herself reach across the space between herself and Tiana for a moment, taking her hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. She knew how hard it was. Just because the memories were good ones didn’t mean it didn’t hurt, didn’t exacerbate the way they missed her. It felt like so long now since they had seen Aurora. Ella missed late nights in the living room with a bottle of wine, or picnics in the back garden when the sun finally started shining in the springtime, but she didn’t want to get bogged down in the sadness that tinged the edge of all those memories.

“She’s always happy to help,” Ella agreed, smiling gently. “We used to spend hours out in the garden, and she never did mind any of the questions I asked, even though they were probably so stupid. And she used to make me things, little charms to keep things growing or keep the pests away, without me even asking.”

HATTER: Hatter found himself huffing at Truitt’s story, glancing over to where the sleeping form of the friend in question was, as if she could somehow confirm what was being said. Only, as Truitt continued to speak, the silliness of it was stripped away and the heart of it remained. He returned back to his task, gathering that memory to join the others inside the hat. The glow twinkled, glancing over the trio as they stood there, as if he was holding a jar of fireflies they had all taken to gathering. 

He managed to get Ashbourne’s, too, though it did try to slip past his fingers with its glossy finish. It landed among the others. The grouping seemed like it may be enough to fill the crystal now, and he could tell by having held them and looking at them that they held more power than most would probably imagine. He knew it would be enough. 

But just in case. 

“That she did,” he said with a small smile, looking down at the reagents as he slowly began to make his way toward where Aurora still lay. “She’d brought me cookies, Christmas before last. I’m sure she did it for a lot of people, but it was different. No one tends to bring me food. Can’t say I blame them, considering, but she did. My favorite, too, though she didn’t know it at the time.” 

It had been a simple gesture. As it had been when she’d sat down to have some with him. Only to someone like him, who was quite simple and who valued food so highly, it had been much more. 

He reached up with the cap, letting the bill scoop at his temple and letting the reagent land among the others. 

Alright. No need to get weepy. If this worked then there would be plenty more cookies to share, help to be given, and charms to be made. 

With a long breath he got down on his knees, setting the hat and crystal down in favor of searching his bag, he pulled a pair of trowels, and turned at the waist to offer them to Truitt and Ashbourne. 

“Mind digging a bit? Deep enough for that thing to fit-” he nodded toward the crystal, “- just above her head?” 

TIANA

As Hatter gave his own memories, Tiana was struck, not for the first time, by the realization that Hatter had been close with Aurora as well, and that meant he he was deeply invested in this whole thing as well. He didn’t want to fail her either, and it wasn’t just a favor Hatter was doing to Aurora— he knew the stakes, and here he was still.

It wasn’t all that surprising, of course. Aurora was important to many people. Because she was just that kind of person. Like she had said, and like Hatter and Ella had said.

That made Tiana feel just slightly reassured as she took a trowel and knelt down to start digging. All of this was so foreign. Tiana felt like she shouldn’t be doing it, all this sorcery stuff. But Aurora needed her. So she dug hesitantly, as though she might mess it up at any moment.

“Am I, uh, doing this right?” she said, glancing at Hatter.

ELLA For all the time she had spent in Enchantra, Ella wasn’t sure she had ever disturbed the soil before. She had held back tree branches, moved aside shrubs, picked flowers to take home and put in the pot on the windowsill, but this was the first time she had dug into the earth like this, carving it out. She eyed the crystal for a moment, wondering what it would do, and then she nodded, taking the trowel and digging into the earth besides Tiana. Somehow, she thought the forest wouldn’t mind. 

It reminded her of Aurora. Those spring mornings spent in the garden, the two of them chatting and gossiping as they tended their beds. She went about this the same way she had gone about that, digging with purpose, not thinking too hard about the action except to compare the hole they were making to the size of the crystal that lay on the ground. 

She paused when Tiana looked to Hatter, turning her gaze to him as well. She had to trust that if they had been making a mess of things, he would’ve told them. “That should be big enough, shouldn’t it?”

HATTER: Meanwhile, Hatter was working on transferring the reagents to the crystal itself. It was not as easy as filling a jar with sweets since there wasn’t exactly a lid on the rock. One by one he had to carefully transfer a memory from the cap to the crystal. Which was hard since these were so close to the subject of the memories and he could feel them gravitating toward her. They were magnetized to her person, of course. They wouldn’t go flying, but they knew. They were made of her, essentially, of the three of them’s perception of her. Recognizable of the person she had been to them. Their memories had missed her and they were asking about her, even now. 

“You’re doing just fine,” he reassured Truitt before he even looked up to confirm for himself. Not that he had any doubt that she was. She was a smart kid, if a bit by the book. He had no worries about her or Ashbourne. 

What he worried about was the memories cracking open on the crystal, he worried about the slipping free of his fingers and getting lost among the vast foliage that surrounded them thanks to whatever magic had a hold of the sleeping girl that fueled them to grow. He worried that they wouldn’t be enough. He worried that he had put too much trust in a being that warranted none, and yet he had no reason to not trust them either. Or the stranger who had come to show him where Aurora was in the first place. He worried about what would happen should she wake up, if she would be the same girl who had laid down to sleep here in the forest or if it would be a stranger in her body, whether of the same mind with no memories or someone else’s mind occupying the space. So many possibilities lay at the end of this decision he had made and forced upon the two girls who sat mere meters away, digging, as he had asked them to. Just like he had asked them to hope. 

Most of all, Hatter worried that she would not wake up and that whatever magic he had wouldn’t be enough. 

As each memory was fit into the crystal it began to glow like they had. Brighter and brighter it shown, the memories bringing the seemingly still object to life. He kept the last memory clasped tightly in his palm and then looked up at Ashbourne’s voice. 

“Yes,” he said, shifting himself to sit beside the dug up ground. “Thank you. Now, I’d take a few steps back. But, um, it’d be best if you were in her line of sight when she wakes. I’m sure it would be nice to find familiar faces waiting for her.” 

He nodded his head for them to get a move on. When he was sure they were a safe distance he stuck the crystal into the ground in the place they had made for it. Light beamed up from within, dancing across the dark, dirt colored walls of the room where it sat. Already roots from the vines were crawling across the new real estate, wanting to fill in the gap, to greet this seemingly new addition to their garden. So, there was no time to lose. 

Like a seed being planted, Hatter dropped the last memory into the crystal alongside whatever raw magic he could conjure into the transfer. Its light burned brighter, almost blinding, and it began to shake. He quickly shoveled the dirt on top of it, burying it beneath the Earth, the element of the witch that lay just above. 

AURORA: 

The forest was quick to react to the new magical artifact buried within her soil. The memories that charged it glowing beneath the surface, The roots searching for the new source of magic, the veins loosening on Aurora as they did.

She only had a fragment of her magic left compared to where she started last summer. The crystal was new and fresh and bursting with magic.

But the crystal was not a human that circulated her magic at low levels. The crystal fed them and fed them well as it cracked giving all it’s energy to the plants around it. The plant growing thicker, and taller, blooms surrounding Aurora even as it loosened its grip it looked like it was swallowing her whole.

Until it wasn’t.

A small boom, as the crystal shattered and cracked. Most pieced left underground and a few escaping the soil, Aurora’s eyes shot open, flickering from her normal hazel to a hint of red before the inner circle of red remained.

With a gasp, Aurora scrambled for anything to hold onto, for some hint of her magic in the ground to guide her. Where she was, what she should remember, what she should do.

With laboured breaths, Aurora tried to force herself to sit up as she looked around, all the veins and plants now lay unmoving on the forest floor, alive but acting like normal plants and her friends looking at her.

“Hi?” Aurora murmured her voice raspy from being unused.

TIANA

Something was happening. Something was changing. Either it was working, or it wasn’t, and Tiana couldn’t tell because she knew maddeningly little about magic. She watched anxiously, her jaw clenched in fear.

And then Aurora’s eyes opened, and she spoke. And Tiana burst into tears. 

“Rora!” she exclaimed through sniffles. “Oh my god, it’s you! You’re alive!” And then, whether or not it was wise, and maybe just to be sure she was really there and it wasn’t some trick of the light, but mostly because she hadn’t been able to do it in nine months, Tiana sprung forward and hugged Aurora tightly, shaking with sobs.

ELLA Ella’s eyes were wide and wet as she watched and waited, holding her breath as she hoped for some kind of sign that something was happening. The small boom caught her by surprise, the few shards of crystal that leapt into the air making her jump. She looked back to Aurora, hoping that that was a good sign, that it was working how it was supposed to, when all of a sudden, Aurora sat up.

Ella felt her heart clench, the tears slipping down her chest as she watched Aurora slowly sit up, finding them standing there and focusing on them, opening her mouth to speak. She was just a few steps behind Tiana, stumbling forward over the vines so that she could wrap one arm around Aurora as well, the other around Tiana, holding the both of them tightly.

“It worked,” She said weakly, redundantly– but she didn’t know what else to say. Nothing seemed enough to properly explain how she was feeling. “It actually worked, you’re here.”

HATTER: Hatter, who was sat behind Aurora, stayed put. He watched the faces of Truitt and Ashbourne, trusting their relief and happiness before he let himself feel it, too. All the tension that had been turning him into a finely tuned upper octave piano string left on a silent exhale. He was quick to turn away from the scene to hide the sting he could feel behind his eyes that the sudden emotions had produced. Not that it mattered, it wasn’t like anyone was paying him any mind, but it was his nature and a habit yet to be broken. 

He didn’t wish to interrupt, as much as he too wanted to look at her and see that it was in fact Aurora that was looking back. Not to mention ask her what the hell had happened to put her in a magic coma and if anyone had done it to her and- well. It could wait. Now that she was awake there would be plenty of time to do…anything.  

He sniffed, composing himself to get back to his feet, back and knees twinging with the movements. He felt tired, having taken so much magic out of himself. Never had to do that before. It was almost a good tired, knowing that he could still do something that extensive and that it had been enough when it counted most.  

He crossed the short distance back to his bag, leaning down to pick it up, and from one of the other pockets, one that had been enchanted to be able to carry more than it seemed and to be insulated, he pulled out a metal water bottle and sandwich that was wrapped in a tea towel. Being who he was, he'd been wondering if Aurora would be hungry when she woke up while waiting for the fae to get back to him. So he’d packed lunch. Just in case. He set it down close to where the three girls sat and then stood back again, going about retrieving his other things, like his wand and the trowels. 

AURORA: 

Aurora didn’t know what was happening. Here last memory was sinking her fingers into the earth as she sought out the curse that had plagued the town. The earth felt different now, the forest too. Everything in different stages of growth from when she fell asleep.

But that didn’t mean she didn’t hold her friends back when they rushed her. It was a loose hug on her part. All her muscles stiff and weak. 

Looking up at Hatter as he fussed about as well just added to her confusion. Why were the three of them together.

“I don’t understand?”

TIANA

To be completely honest, Tiana didn’t entirely understand either. She didn’t understand why that had worked, or what that crystal was made of, or what happened now. But she didn’t really need to. All she knew was that Aurora was awake, was alive, and that was what mattered.

“Hatter did something magic– I don’t really get it either, but there was this crystal, and we had to say memories, and… yeah, I don’t really know, but… you’re here! You’re okay!” Tiana sniffled, wiping at her eyes and glancing back at Hatter before turning to Aurora again. “You’re okay, right? Are you cold? Or hungry? Girl, I am gonna make you the biggest thing of gumbo…”

ELLA Ella laughed wetly, pulling back just enough to be able to wipe the tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand. She didn’t understand it herself, but she decided that she didn’t need to. Like Tiana said, she was back. She was okay. But she probably was cold and hungry and they really shouldn’t linger in the forest, not when Aurora needed a good meal and a warm bath and to be at home, away from the forest that had held her for so long.

“Why don’t we get you home?” Ella said softly, looking at Tiana and then back at Aurora. All she wanted now, so desperately, was to go back to their house that had been missing something for months. To put in the piece of the puzzle that had been missing. But she didn’t understand the magic that had gone on and so she looked at Hatter, the hope clear in her eyes. “We can take her home, can’t we?”

HATTER: 

“Of course,” he said, having looked over to meet Ms. Ashbourne’s gaze. He gave the trio a small, warm smile. “She’s already stayed out here long enough, I think getting her to a proper bed is well deserved.” 

His thinking was much the same as theirs, except he knew the magic that had been at play. At least, what it had taken to have woken her up. Hatter didn’t want them to linger longer than they needed, fearful that something with the fae’s magic would somehow turn out to be a sham and the vines would seek her out again. There was no reason to doubt them, but he couldn’t help it, his last deal having fallen through as hard as it had. A tea shoppe could be lost, Aurora could not. 

Hatter avoided Aurora’s eye for a moment longer, glancing between her friends, until he worked up the nerve to finally look at her so he could ask, “Think you’re up for a walk?”

AURORA:

Memories? Magic? Did her spell go wrong? Had she been able to help the town being cursed to lose their magic? To lose the very thing that made it special.

Aurora looked at Hatter as if he would have the answers. He was the other sorcerer here so many he would. She wanted to ask so many questions but Ella and Tiana’s worries were enough to cause her to pause. To worry about it later.

“Yeah?” Aurora offered moving one hand from the girls to push herself up. Her body was weak, unused to movement and she quickly had to hold onto the girls. “Maybe not.”

TIANA

When Aurora almost fell, a jolt of fear struck Tiana. Had they waited too long? Had Aurora’s health been permanently affected by this? They should have acted sooner, maybe, but Tiana had been so afraid…

But what was important was that Aurora was alive. Anything else, they could handle. They would find a way.

“Uh, I could call an Uber?” Tiana suggested. Or she could offer to run and get her car, but she didn’t want to leave Aurora. “Maybe if we can just get to the edge of the forest? Just hold onto us, Rora, we’ll get you there.” 

ELLA Ella felt the stab of panic as well when Aurora stumbled, but she told herself it was okay — Aurora had been sleeping for a while, now. Of course she would be stiff, her muscles not used to moving as they once had been. 

“We’ve got you,” Ella agreed with Tiana, looping an arm around Aurora so that she could keep a good good on her. 

HATTER: Hatter caught the look but it seemed Aurora was on the same page; there would be time later for explanations. She had questions for him and he had questions for her. She held the beginning of this story while he had the end. But they could go over it later, right now the priority would be making sure she could begin a new one. Starting with getting home. 

He figured her weakened state would be the case, and yet had not been optimistic enough to bring anything to help. Although he doubted she would take kindly to sitting in a wagon or that the ride would be very comfortable through the brush and bumpy forest floor. There was little he could do to help unless she wanted a piggy back ride, but her friends seemed to have it handled. They would look after her. They had done so all this time before.

“Take your time,” he offered since, hopefully, there was plenty of it to go around. 

AURORA:

Aurora leaned on the girls and took a deep breath, she would get home, she would eat some food because damn was she hungry now that she thought about it. 

But that wasn’t step one.

Aurora knew this time, this time she had her future ahead of her.

WENDY

Wendy needed to work quickly, the snowstorm had put her on a hold but that didn't mean that Nimble would wait. If she needed to gain the advantage then she had to act now.

Strolling into Hatter's she only paused long enough to make sure the Fae Prince wasn't here. 

"Excuse me, Hatter? I have information that will benefit you but it will require you ask no question as I will not provide answers."

HATTER: At the sound of his name being called Hatter looked up from where he was pouring hot water into a mug. His eyebrows were raised, open and ready for whatever was going to be asked next since he was expecting the usual question. Things like Do you have extra napkins? and May I have a refill? 

Instead he was met with something he was entirely not prepared for, so the water continued to pour for a moment, then he set the kettle back down in order to give this person a proper look. When he couldn’t seem to understand whether they were being serious or not gave a cautious, “Alright.” 

WENDY

Wendy nodded her head, that was good, he might be cautious but he was willing to give her a chance. Perhaps a reason he would have been easily manipulated by Nimble too. 

He had been manipulated by some Fae most likely. Or maybe he was more than aware of how to handle a Fae. She would give him the benefit of the doubt for now.

“Follow me then. It’s time sensitive.”

HATTER: 

His mouth opened, a question wanting to be asked but he stopped himself before it could. That had been the only rule, hadn’t it? 

He turned, giving a quick sweep of the floor to see if he could follow this person without leaving those on shift high and dry. It wasn’t too busy right now and the ones working were more than trained by now to handle what they were doing. 

“Alright,” he repeated, more resigned now in that way someone would say after a very long argument knowing they hadn’t won and weren’t willing to continue it. Except nothing like that had happened because he figured it was better to skip the argument altogether. Hatter moved to tell his employees he was stepping out, pulled his apron off to go toss it in the bin where dirty aprons lay at the end of the day, and then went out to follow the stranger to…whatever it was they had information on. He figured this was a very bad idea but also figured that didn’t really matter. 

WENDY

Good. Wendy had expected more resistance. More of a fight, more questions. She couldn’t tell if it was good or bad but at the moment it was good for her. Stepping outside she waited for him to finish whatever he was doing.

She was more concerned about getting out before Nimble showed up. There was no telling if he wanted to make her sweat or he would act right away.

When Hatter joined her, Wendy wasted no more time, no words heading straight to the forest. Before she had even come to get Hatter she had walked the path to the point her trail of blood marked trees would lead her back to the girl.

And while the forest had been a little troublesome earlier, with Hatter it played nice. The paths were open, the markers she left easy to view. Wendy only glanced back to make sure he hadn’t got lost but offered him no other words considering he had followed her this long anyway.

Finally getting to the vines that separated them from Aurora, Wendy pushed back some of the brush to let them in.

She hadn’t moved from how Wendy last saw her, the vines around her still lush and green, even as you got closer it felt a little warmer that no snow touched her. She looked at peace, asleep with her hair spread out around her, her hands resting against her chest.

Still no words, Wendy stepped aside to let Hatter pass.

HATTER: Hatter knew he should have been more alarmed than he was by this situation. There should have been an edge to him, sharpened enough to cut paper clean through. Maybe he would have been had he not lived in a place like Swynlake in the manner that he had, where it was easy to trust a stranger. At least with his own life, he wasn’t one to gamble anyone else’s. Here everyone knew everyone, except if you were a tourist, but since this stranger knew his name Hatter had to assume that someone who knew him knew them, it just hadn’t come back around where he knew them, and since he couldn’t ask any questions he couldn’t ask where this circle started.

They led him into the forest and since he spent a lot of time out there collecting reagents or just to not have to listen to humanity for a little while it didn’t scare him. Again, it probably should have. A stranger leading another into an isolated area with nothing but a command for him to follow? It was written on the wall that this did not turn out well for him. Still, he followed, not thinking this stranger was an axe murderer but instead just a stranger who had information to give him and didn’t want to be overheard or something. Or maybe they were in trouble, needed help. Though that begged the question why they were asking some fool who stood behind a counter and baked bread for a living. One he couldn’t ask.

He didn’t even notice the blood, didn’t notice that they were going any particular way, just sort of huffed and puffed quietly behind her in an effort to keep up. It wasn’t until the forest started to look more alive than it was supposed to for this time of year did he start to pay attention. Hatter paused a few paces behind the stranger as they came to a curtain of vines, their hand pulling them aside. He waited until she moved and he figured that was his indication to get a leg on before she let them fall in his face. So he moved again, turning to the side as he bent through.

At first he was just confused, contemplating breaking their request and just asking them a question. They weren’t around anyone else now, maybe they would answer since no one but the trees were around to eavesdrop.

Then he peered around them, magic thick in the air, eyes passing over this area she had brought him to. Over the growing plants and the plush ground. It was there that he had to do a double take because there was someone laying on the ground.

Not just someone.

“Aurora.” Hatter was on his knees beside her in an instant despite their protests, looking her up and down in a bit of hysterics. There didn’t seem to be any injuries that he could see but there was something else there entirely. The magic that was radiating off this spot was coming from her, or maybe it was her, he couldn’t quite tell. His hand reached out, as if to touch her, like she was just asleep and he could wake her up, but it stopped. Somehow he knew better.

He didn’t take his eyes off the girl’s body, the girl who he had thought, had hoped, had gone off to live her life elsewhere without the weight of a curse to keep her tethered, when he finally addressed the stranger, “I’m going to have to start asking questions now or assume you had something to do with this, and that won’t be good for either of us.”

WENDY

Wendy didn’t blame him for wanting answers now, in fact she was impressed that he was willing to come so far with no information but when it came to a friend he was willing to risk it.

“You may ask but I may not have the answers you’re looking for. I do not know why she is here, why she is asleep nor how long she has been here.” Wendy did know the plants though, she knew Aurora was a game piece to Nimble and who knew if he was involved with this.

“What is your question?”

HATTER:

…well that had pretty much summed up everything he had been going to ask. He managed to turn enough to look at the stranger from over his shoulder for a brief moment before looking back to Aurora, letting himself pull a face of mystified annoyance since it wasn’t like Aurora could rat him out at the moment. Not that he would think she would even if she could. 

So, they didn’t know anything useful. But they had brought him out here to her. That might have been good to know, right? 

“How did you find her then?” he asked finally. 

WENDY

“There is someone in town who wanted to use the knowledge of her location to extract information from you. Perhaps she lead me to her to prevent it. Perhaps the forest did or perhaps it was luck.” Wendy didn’t know but she did trust the magic of the forest, there was no way it wasn’t alive. Especially not with the Elfhame plants living they way they were in the middle of winter.

“The answers may not be what you seek as I only understand part of this situation myself. What happened to her?” Heartless Wendy might seem she didn’t like leaving someone helpless in the forest.

HATTER: Hatter’s first instinct was to ask who the hell that was but then he figured it was the only person in town sick enough to hold a life over his head for leverage. Thistle. Of course it had to be Thistle, probably coming back for round two of questioning. Although this didn’t necessarily seem like something they’d do. They were always more of a brute force and intimidation sort of fae. And if they had done this since Aurora had been gone, why only just now try to use her against him?

He gave a bit of a huff, positioning himself into a sitting position to keep his knees from yelling at him any more. “You’re asking me? I had no idea she was even here. I thought….I thought she was finally out in the world living.” 

Yet there she lay. It reminded him of when her dog had come to find him, when she had seemed to be passed out or forced to sleep by whatever it was that curse had been taking from her. It made a tremendous weight of guilt sit heavy in his chest. Had this been where she was all that time? And he hadn’t thought to…

It didn’t matter. None of that mattered. What mattered now was getting her to open her eyes. Hatter wished he was a more capable sorcerer, one who studied things like this, who knew more than just how to make a soup that could unstuff your sinuses or a cookie that could bring enough warmth to you to make it home in the freezing cold. This was well above him and it made him feel sick with regret. 

He had to focus like he never had before, touch a hand to the Earth beside her and dig his nails in. Even then it was difficult to really know what he was looking at to begin with. It was all jumbled, he had no clue what he was trying to find or where he could get clued in. The amount of magic, the type of magic, it was just too complex for someone like him. 

Hatter sighed, shaking his head as he was getting ready to give up and tell the stranger that he didn’t know, but then he caught sight of Aurora’s face again. She looked peaceful, and normally that wouldn’t have been such a bad thing to be had it not been for the thought that peaceful might be all she ever looked like again. That she may never smile again or frown or laugh or even cry. 

It made him double down on himself, feeling stupid for being willing to throw in the towel with such ease. He placed his other hand on the ground, too, a slow breath releasing from his mouth. 

The magic was easy to find, it was everywhere. Hard to miss really in its overwhelming intensity. Instead of trying to focus on the whole Hatter tried to find a piece, one thread. When he did, he could feel the movement of it and followed as it traveled to the Earth, from there to a root, from there to a stem, from there to a leaf, and back again. The movement of the magic was like a wave touching at the beach, back and forth, there and again. But where was it coming from was the question…he followed it back to the source, having to hold on a little bit tighter, fingers digging in that much deeper, as it got closer. Closer to where Aurora was laying, her body still, and yet all around her was movement. That magic seemed to sense him now and sent something his way. 

Hatter opened his eyes, yanking his hands back before it could reach him. Where his fingers had dug up the grass, new blades had already begun to sprout. 

Oh. 

“She was cursed. I don’t know the details of it but it seemed like it was taking the life from her. It drained her to the point of passing out sometimes. But she had gotten free of it somehow,” he explained, not usually one to share someone else’s secrets with anyone, let alone a complete stranger, but this was different. He was also trying to explain it to himself. “This…this magic feels like it’s coming from her. And she’s obviously asleep deep enough where I don’t think a splash of water on her face is going to do anything. I don’t know, maybe it was a relapse. Whatever this is seems like the magic is taking from her to make all of this.” 

He gestured to the life around them, the vivid colors of the forest. The forest that should have been sleeping at this time instead of the girl that lay there instead. 

WENDY

Perhaps the Elfhame plants were siphoning energy from her? How had she gotten the plant though. There were those humans that went to Elfhame, perhaps she was part of that bunch. Stupid girl then.

She was literally a battery for whatever was happening here.

There was part of Wendy that wanted to leave this here. She had stuck it to Nimble already, she didn’t need to do anything else.

“If it drawing her energy, I can suggest something to replace her part in the equation, but I will require a promise before I give you that information.” Wendy offered moving to lean against a tree.

“If anyone approaches you to find out how you came in possession of the Elfhame Tea in return for information about this girl you will not give it. Nor my involvement in leading you to her.”

HATTER: Hatter kept trying to think of an explanation as to why or how this could have happened. How was it that a curse that had been lifted could come back to cause…all of this? She had said her chosen speciality had been Earth. He remembered, she had said she had been searching for something sturdy. Could that have had something to do with it? Maybe it hadn’t been her curse at all and just some sort of terrible spell that had gone awry. 

That was wishful thinking, though, because if this was the curse instead of some mistake of the hand then it was going to be horrible work to try breaking. 

As caught up in his worry for Aurora as he was, the mention of Elfhame was enough to slice through it and have his whole person stop. He blinked, one hand touching the ground again so he could turn himself to look at the stranger. 

Now suspicion and mistrust flooded his system. 

“Alright, who are you and how do you know about any of that?” 

WENDY

Wendy sighed as she watched him grow wary, grow distrustful of her and it looked like his eyes shut on her.

“I grew up there. Not of my free will. The same person that will approach you to gain information, was the one the hinted your tea was from Elfhame.” A much simpler explanation then what it deserved but what else could she say.

“All I want is whatever secret you have to stay a secret. And if you can save your friend in the process I can try to help that as well.”

HATTER: “Good lord,” he said, having to face forwards again so he could put his head in his hands as he tried to process that. This. All of it! 

Hatter also took that there was probably far more to this person’s story than they were telling him but, honestly, it was for the best that they didn’t. What he didn’t know couldn’t be compelled out of him and used against them. Also, he didn’t really care to know much more than that. The Fae were all a bunch of complicated, ridiculous, and dramatic beings that even the streamlined version was enough to make his head spin. 

All and all he came to the conclusion that anyone who grew up in, what he could assume was, a hellscape like Elfhame disliked it just as much as he did. Moreso, actually. And that, paired with the fact they’d led him to Aurora, seemed to fall along the trustworthy side of the scale. …right? 

Finally he sighed, scrubbing his hands over his face before he, with slow movement and annoyed sounds, pushed himself back to his feet. 

“I’m sorry. That must have been…well, I don’t know, but I’m sorry all the same,” is all he could say to their situation before he moved on quickly, away from the awkwardness of that apology. “The secret is safe with me, I promise. I’d give my life for it even if I wasn’t under strict magical rule against the subject. And I won’t mention you, either, so long as she’s unharmed.” 

He gestured to Aurora then. “You said you had a suggestion on how to…er, what was it? Replace her?” 

WENDY

Wendy shrugged. There was no need to be sorry for her life. She was the one that lived it and as much as she wished it was different, you couldn’t rewrite the past.

“If whatever is draining her, or her magic there’s someone in Swynlake that might have something that can take that place.” It was Elfhame in nature of course. But there were already Elfhame plants here it made sense.

“It will be risky. There will be a price to it and one you may not be willing to pay. But what you do with the information is up to you. Their name is Ren. You can find them at the Rock Shoppe if you have trouble finding them. They have access to items, crystals that can act as a conduit. Perhaps if it feeds off that, she will awaken.” Sending him to make another Fae deal, Wendy wasn’t sure this girl was worth it. “I also suggest you mark your trail. I will not come back here.”

HATTER: 

It took him a second to catch up, to have his proverbial light bulb moment, with what it was this stranger was trying to tell him. A price. A risk. Blah blah blah. Now, where had he heard all that before? 

The stranger could have been talking about a demon, or a very particular brand of sorcerer that liked to pretend that they were hotter shit than they reasonably were. But, given where they had grown up and what all this had to do with, Hatter was willing to bet it was a fae he was being recommended here. It made him roll his eyes and chuckle, a hand touching his mouth at the sound. 

All those years of thinking he would only ever make one deal with the fae and now here he was again, probably about to make another. But, to him, it was well worth it. Whatever the cost was. 

“Right. Wish I’d brought my breadcrumbs with me,” he said, looking around and trying to think of how best to go about setting up markers for himself later. Hatter stopped and looked at the stranger again, voice turning over with sincerity. “Thank you for this.” 

WENDY

“If you pay attention to the trees there is some blood on the bark.” Wendy lifted her hand where the cut was still visible. The thanks made her uncomfortable though. One, of course because Mortals were too free with the words, but two because while Wendy liked to think it was a good deed, she knew it was a selfish one as well.

“This is more selfish than it was for your benefit.” Wendy stated simply moving to walk away before turning back, a sigh on her lips. “I do hope you are able to save her though.” Maybe one day Wendy would see her around town and she would know.