Chapter One

Terra Hightopp could barely remember the time before, before they were put into the sands and their world changed into one of sand, hunger and thirst. She remembered sleeping on a bed, instead of sand and having all the food her stomach craved. She remembered feeling the warmth and love of her family and knowing that she was safe. Most of all she remembered her big brother Tarrant lost to them for most of her life. Her Parents and older brothers and sister had all promised her that he would come, that he would save them in the beginning. She had awoken each day, waiting for the time that her big brother would come and save them all.

Her expantent waiting had changed to hoping, which had changed to despair, for the Red Queen had shown up one day and had told them that Tarrant believed them all to be dead. Tristan had yelled and shaken his fist at the giant Queen, Torran had glared at her, while Tatianna had taken Terra's hand protectively. Her Father Zanik's proud shoulders had slumped and her mother Thora had clutched onto him, hugging him tightly to her. Terra had been afraid, as she didn't know the Red Queen's reasoning for telling them.

Perhaps she thought that her family might loose hope, might fade away and die, but Hightopps were strong and they faced fear head on. They had been facing it for years and years and nothing their captor might do would break them. For as long as they had one another, they would endure. Terra didn't know how poor Tarrant stood thinking them dead all these years. To her he was just a vague memory and she had begun to think that he had perished in the Horvish day fire. This however explained why he had not looked for them, he had not known to look, and he would never know to look. Slowly her Father's and Mother's hair took on white streaks and she stared at them in fear.

She had known that as the youngest she would most likely last the longest, outside their sand prison was just something her parents and older siblings talked of. She would have to watch as one by one, they gave up and surrendered to death. Then finally she would be all alone, among the bones of all the people she loved. That was at least what her most horrible fancies and most terrible thoughts had told her. When they had not had a scrap of fabric in so much time, that her fingers forgot what it was like to sew. For a craftsman who could not craft would surely go mad from the lack. The Queen would not allow them the peace of madness and would occasionally send down scraps of fabric from Outside. They would gather around it and touch it first, feeling it with their fingers and then her father would give portions to each of them. They could survive and stay sane without food, without water, but without their trade they would turn entirely insane.

She caressed her dress; perhaps if she made the skirts a bit shorter, there might be enough for her to make something else. Her mother might insist that she lengthen them again, as mother liked her girls to be modest. Torran and Tristan could get away with shortening their clothes, but mother insisted that Terra and Tatianna's dresses remain at a respectable length.

She yawned and settled down in the sand, she was sleepy and sometimes there was nothing better to do than sleep. "Are you feeling the Mumblesnuff's." Torran asked and she nodded. "It's alright T, sooner or later someone will come."

"No one will ever come, no one has ever come and no one will ever come, then eventually I will turn old and ugly and be all alone because I'm the youngest and the youngest almost always dies last. It's not fair, I don't even hardly remember before, but it seems so much better than now."

"I know its not fair love, here I have a scrap somewhere, take it." Her brother said. "You were always good at embroidery." He said and Terra felt him press a handkerchief sized square into her hands.

"Its yours though Torry." She protested.

"You need it more than me now and I'll help you hem it after you've finished." He promised and she hesitated. "Please Terra, right now I'll enjoy watching you work more than doing it myself." He said and Terra stroked the soft cloth, feeling its wonderful texture. Her family often did this, giving scraps to each other, whenever one or the other of them began to loose hope. Mostly it was the others that needed it more than her, as to her the Before was almost just a concept, a wonderful tale that her family told to her.

"Alright Torry." She said and he smiled at her as she settled into the sand and started to sew. She decided to sew a bird, she liked birds, sometimes they would come through the window and she would get a glimpse of the world outside whatever room they were being held in. Most of her life they had been put into a dungeon, but a few years ago, the Red Queen had moved them to this castle. The cold could be felt even through their terrarium and so at night they dug tunnels down into the warmer sand and huddled together to keep warm. They had to be awake before dawn, or else the Red Queen would shake the sand trapping them, until they could be dug out. Terra hated sand, she was thoroughly sick of it and if ever freed, she'd stay clear of all the sandy places in the Outside.

The rest of her family gathered around her as she started the first stitches. "What are you going to make T?" Tristan asked.

"I thought I would make a bird, maybe one day one will knock over the terrarium and free us." Terra said and got a few smiles, Tatianna even let out a dry laugh that turned into a cough.

"I'm fine." She said at the concerned looks they all gave her. "Some of the sand got in my throat."

"If I had any spit to give, I'd give it to you, Tatie." Terra said and Tatianna smiled.

"I'm fine sweetheart." Tatianna said.

"I can't remember what it was like, to have a wet mouth." Terra admitted. "Tell me of water again please." She asked and they told her, they reminded her of a walking day they had all taken when Terra had been four and how they had gone to the sea together.

"You loved the surf and we would take turns holding you, making sure that the current didn't catch you. Tricky things currants are, though good in scones." Tristan said, his eyes turning purple briefly, purple eyes were never a good sign of anything.

"Not those types of currants, you mean the ones that run with water." Torran said and Tristan shook himself.

"Anyway its floaty and cool against your skin, it helps lift you up and if you move your arms and legs just right, you can get through it all the..." Suddenly the door burst outward and standing in it was a giant man in a hat, he looked around wildly.

"They aren't here, I've searched everywhere and they aren't here, they are gone Alice. My family is gone!"

"Quick to the tunnels." Zanik said and they had all raced to make a hat out of sand, Terra thought for a moment that Tarrant had missed it, before he came over and they stood on top of the sand. He stared at them a moment, before clutching the terrarium to himself.

"You are all here, tiny, but all here, I found you at last." He said and Terra wasn't quite sure what to make of this brother who was all but a stranger to her. Despite that they were still clan and kin and kin was more important than anything. Without her kin, she would have gone mad many times over.

The Red Queen burst in, the White following after her and the White Queen actually apologized to that horrible slurvish woman. Of course the Red Queen said that all she truly wanted was an apology, but people that trapped others for years, that tortured them, wanted far more than apologies. They wanted a taste of good Hightopp steel.

"Forgive me the interruption, but might I trouble you for some Upelkuchens?" Tarrant asked and the White Queen gave it to him at once, Tarrant gently laid the terrarium on its side and uncapped the cork, Father strode out first, followed by her brothers and mother, leaving Terra in the bottle. She hesitated, before stepping outside and taking a deep lungful of air. The air was cleaner than in the bottle and so much sweeter. "Don't be greedy."

"Upelkuchens helps you to grow, Tarrant is right, we shouldn't take too much." Father said as Tarrant sprinkled tiny crumbs of cake down, Terra couldn't resist stuffing two into her mouth and nearly gagged at the taste, before she was somehow stretching out, her limbs growing, until she stood as high as the Red Queen. Tarrant ran to Father and mother.

"Father, Mother!" He said and then turned to Father. "I'm so very sorry about our last fight, I became a Hatter Father."

"I always knew you would be." Father said in reply and both men hugged tightly. Tarrant then turned to Mother and hugged her too and was about to hug his siblings as well, when he saw the blond hair girl he had come in with start to leave and followed her.

"Where's he gone?" Terra asked.

"To let Alice make her choice." The White Queen said.

"Alice is the girl then, what choice does she have to make."

"She's from above and she has the right to choose to go back there."

"Must be nice to have a choice." Terra said.

"Terra, I am sorry your majesty." Father said and the Queen frowned.

"I am glad things are mended between us, but you still imprisoned these people Iracibeth."

"Not to mention giving neither food, nor water." Terra interjected.

"It is fine, were are glad to be free, no one deserves imprisonment such as we have suffered, not even her." Father said.

"Speak for yourself Father, if you wish to oust me from the clan, that's fine but I will have my revenge, this slurvish scoundrel stole my childhood from me and replaced it with sand. I don't remember the last time I have had carpet beneath my feet or been able to breath fresh air. I do not know anyone other than her and my family and almost all I can remember is sand, hunger and thirst that never ends. I know I must be horrible, but I want her to suffer for what she has done to me and my family." Terra glared at the Red Queen, who stared back at her. "I doubt that there's a honest thing about her and I'd advise you not to trust it, or her."

"What would you do for your siblings young Hightopp."

"My name is Terra, I'd do anything for them, but they would never do as she has done. I don't want her dead, but she should not be allowed free rein around the Outside, I would never be able to sleep, knowing there is a chance that she could come back, that she could trap us all in that thing again." Terra pointed at the terrarium.

"Even if your sibling is mean, or cruel, that does not mean that you do not stop loving them." The White Queen said. "Even when they are Mad, the bonds of blood hold true."

"That might be the case, but something must be done." Terra said.

"She does not know of the world beyond the Terrarium your Grace." Father said. "Forgive my child."

"I'm a woman grown father and not a child!" Terra said.

"But in your knowledge of the world, you have much to learn as of yet." Father said.

"I know that she cannot walk free around Underland, for there is a chance that she might again crave power more than she cares for human life, but I cannot kill her."

"I don't believe anyone is asking you too, all I ask is that she doesn't go around free to make more people miserable. To tear apart more families and harm more innocents. I would never wish for another child to know the fear and daily uncertainty I have, the hunger and thirst that I have felt all these years. I would do anything to prevent that from happening again."

"You are like many in your clan, brave and loyal to a fault, already you care for children you don't even know, who are little more than a concept to you." The White Queen said and smiled. "How about this, I shall build a house for my sister, a house filled with what she wishes, but she may never leave."

"That is fair to me."

"Do you agree to this Iracibeth?"

"Yes, it is no more than I deserve, my heart was blackened by hatred, but that is no excuse." The Red Queen said and all the Hightopps nodded, as Tarrant came back.

"I imagined you as taller." Terra said.

"Little T?" He asked and Terra smiled, before she ran into his arms, they were just as warm and welcoming as any in her family, soon everyone joined the hug, putting Tarrant at the center of it.

"I want you to tell me stories and I want you all to show me the Outside."

"The Outside?" Father questioned.

"Yes, that's what I call it in my head, the world you describe of in your tales, I want to see more of it." Terra said and felt a hand ruffle her head.

"And you will, I promise sister." Tarrant said and she grinned up at him. "First I think you should have some water and I'll send for a carriage to bring you to the house, you can recuperate there."

"The house survived?"

"Yes, I tried to keep it in good repair, but sometimes the Ulrichan would strike and I would wake up to it in with the house in disrepair."

"You suffered the Ulrichan."

"Yes Father, sometimes I go round the bend."

"I think everyone does sometimes and it runs in our family." Father said. "Its a wonder that the episodes were few in number and we had each other to stave it off, but you...you had no one." He said and Tarrant's eyes filled with tears, as the rest of the family's eyes turned blue with sadness.

"You shouldn't stay on your feet for so long, it's not good for the soles." Tarrant said and they walked over to the couch and sat down, someone came with water and they were instructed to drink it slowly.

"After you've had water and broth for a few days you might be well enough to eat something solid." The Queen said.

"Could we have tea?" Terra asked. "I'd like to try it."

"As much as you want." Tarrant said. "I have many different varieties of tea, from all over Underland." He said as a rabbit came bounding in.

"Thacky!" Terra said and the rabbit grinned at her.

"Little miss is all grown up!" He said and gave them each a cup before filling all of them up haphazardly. Terra laughed as he bounded to each of them in turn and filled their cups to the brim. She hesitated a moment, before taking a small swallow of the liquid. She gasped in astonishment at the taste and tried not to gulp it down quickly.

"Its good isn't it?" Tatianna asked and she nodded.

"Wonderful Tatie." Terra said and felt stronger than she had in a very long time, she continued to slowly sip at the water, until the glass was empty. "Can I have some more."

"Wait until that settles first." Her Father advised and she nodded.

"Yes Father." She said and waited, her stomach let out quite a few loud noises and gurgled, she felt the water rise back up for a moment, before she forced it back in her belly and it stayed there. She looked at her family as Torran leapt up and raced for a potted plant, heaving what little water he had drunk out of his system. Tarrant was there with him, pulling his hair back and rubbing his back.

"It will get easier Torry." Tarrant assured him, as he stroked his back gently. Finally Torran stopped being sick and smiled weakly at all of them.

"Think I drank it a bit fast." He said and frowned, before standing slowly and going back to the ancient furniture. "Might wait a moment before trying that again."

"Take as much time as you need, when we get back to Mamorial I have several remedies that I would like to try, if that is alright with you."

"We would welcome any assistance." Father said and Mother nodded, suddenly as the energy had come, it was gone. She yawned widely and leaned her head against Tatianna's.

"Its alright Terry, we can rest while we wait for the carriage, we're safe." Tatianna said gently and Terra nodded, closing her eyes and drifting into sleep.