Turning Hearts

Chapter 1. Longing

Two years had passed since Alice fell through the looking glass and arrived to Underland, or better said, her so called, Wonderland, once more. To save it and its people another time and also leave it with a heavy heart again.

The true pain of missing, mostly came a few days after her return into her own world. Alice reckoned that the pain of missing got worse each time she left. And every single time it took years for her to come back.

Even now it had been two whole years, that had passed. Two whole years and Alice Kingsleigh had now grown into a fine young woman. The first time Alice had been a Child of seven years of age. The second time, she was about to turn twenty that year and was set to marry a very unpleasant Lord named Hamish. Luckily she didn't in the end. However, she found her way to Underland only to discover she had to save it. She had been scared to the bones and confused. Thirteen years made it hard for her to remember it all as being true. Eventually Alice found it all to be real and in the end managed to slay the chabberwocky. Three years later in age of twenty three, she returned to save her dearest friend, the hatter. Fought against the time, which happened to be a person, went into big trouble and managed it either way in the end. Alice thought of that time with bittersweet sadness. Oh how she missed them all. This time though, she didn't expect to ever return.

It was noon in London. The midst of spring. The weather got warmer and the trees already sprouted their young leaves. Other ones blossomed in soft colors that matched the light greens of the leaves. Singing birds were back, tweeting their tunes, greeting the lovely season. The sun climbed higher and higher each day, lightening up to sky into a pleasant shade of pastel blue that Alice loved. The city also came back to its more lively self. More people were now on the go. It was a day as these and Alice had joined her mother into the city to help her to run some errands. While Helen tried to talk to her daughter, Alice thoughts were far away from her mothers speech. It wasn't something new that Alice had her mind stuck in the clouds most of the time but it had gotten noticeable worse since the past year. The topic if Alice had considered to ever marry, she managed to avoid pretty well. In the end, Helen gave it up to ask holes in her daughter about it. Although she never truly understood why.

It wasn't like there weren't no suiting men. There had been plenty young handsome men around, that had been interested in Alice. The young blonde however had always rebuffed them for no real reason. Alice didn't even knew a prudent answer herself. Why was it that she wasn't interested in any men around? For some reason she just couldn't picture herself beside any of those that came to her. Instead, Alice preferred to lock herself in her room for hours, writing down her experiences in Underland, taking long walks in the huge garden or in the forest, or just sitting somewhere, letting her mind wander.

In the eyes of the world, Alice was a especially untypical woman. She was even thought of as odd. Till a few years ago her own mother Helen had thought the same. However, she changed her opinion of her daughter, after Alice returned from her journey. She realized that her daughter, even though it was strange sometimes, was exactly right the way she was. Even though it meant that Alice was a huge exception in the society.

Both were walking quite a while until they settled themselves onto a small but neat café. Alice had her eyes fixed on a point far away. Her chin resting on the palm of her hand, she gazed out to the ocean behind the port. The water was reflecting the sun and was glittering and shining as if someone poured liquid gold on top. Alice in fact, was so deep in her thoughts, she didn't even hear her mother call her name. The words seemed to fly past her ears, vanishing in the air like a certain cat she knew. On what exactly was she thinking?