He was the one who grinned. The one who vanished when answers were needed and returned when they were not.

They called him a trickster. That was before they understood what he was hiding from.

The Cat moves between places others cannot reach. He has sat inside the Wood’s silences.

He has seen where the paths truly lead. And he has learned that the truth, spoken plainly, is rarely believed.

So he smiles. He disappears. He leaves only what is needed: a direction, a question, a grin hanging in the dark.

When Alice returns, he is already there. He always is.

He does not tell her which way to go. He never has.

Not because he does not know… but because a path she does not choose will not hold.

He does not join her to show the way.