Alice is in a similar state, worrying but ever-so-faintly hopeful. She really, really does not want to start the cycle of death and pain again.

They follow Cheshire until they come across a wood full of dark, twisty trees. It hardly looks like a pleasant place, and it's not. Even before Wonderland's Sick Times (as they call them), it was a place of danger and disease. The original Jabberwock made his home here after all. Cheshire sits at the edge of the wood, his thin fur bristling as best it can. "Perhaps she'd come if called," he suggests.

Alice looks into the wood. She can't see anything in there, but she can feel a presence. It doesn't feel immediately threatening, but Alice prepares to summon her Vorpal Blade, just in case. "Queen?" she says, as loud as she dares.

There's silence for a moment. Then, slowly, a humanoid figure comes toward the light. "Hello, Alice."