Alice In Wonderland Fan Fiction ❯ Color and Shadow ❯ The Trees ( Chapter 7 )

Hatter scrubbed himself, trying to be quick about his bath. He really didn't want his friends to catch him. But Thackery seemed to have a magnet about those sort of things.

"Mornin' laddy."

Hatter's mood dropped. "Morning," he growled unhappily.

"Don'tcha get snippy wi' meh."

Hatter flinched. "Sorry."

"Ya really are upset 'bout this whole colors thin' aren't ya?"

"I was made fun of for seven years, Thack. What do you expect?"

Thackery shrugged as he stripped out of his clothes. He dove into the warm water and popped up easily then swam around lazily.

"Ah can't say. We can't just ignore tha' but we can't just let ya keep bein' shy. Not in front o' us, at least."

Hatter sighed. He looked up as the three ladies came out. He glanced at Alice and sank deeper into the water.

"Mind if we join you?" Mirana asked hesitantly.

Hatter hesitated himself then shook his head. "Not at all, my dear."

Mirana stripped out of her dress and undergarments and leaped in. Mally, who was still about Thackery's size from their romp the night before, slipped in behind her. Alice just stood there, her face red.

"What's the matter Alice? Don't you want a bath?" Hatter asked, toying with a washrag.

"Back in the Upper World," Alice muttered.

Hatter spoke and his voice was deeper than normal. "'Men and women don't bathe together. Not even if their married. Children are the same way, boy. Get that straight in your thick skull and stop bathing with the princess.'"

Alice stared at him funny and Mirana frowned. "Did your father really say that to you?"

"After a fierce beating. It was the day we came back with our hair still wet."

"You know something, Tarrant," Alice said importantly. "They didn't belong in Underland."

Tarrant laughed. "I agree, Alice. I agree wholeheartedly. They were so entrenched in their ways that they couldn't see the beauty around them. I could see it and was beaten for it."

"Part of that beauty is your skin, Tarrant," Alice said softly.

The Hatter made a face, but didn't respond any other way. Alice frowned.

"So, just to be clear," she said slowly. "Close friends are allowed to be naked together in Underland?"

"Yes, dear," Mirana said, swimming over to the multi-colored man.

Alice nodded and, gathering her muchness, stripped out of her clothes. She quickly got into the river and swam over to her dear friend.

"Tarrant, look at me," she said firmly. He did so after a bit of hesitation. "I love you. Please, believe me."

"Alice," Tarrant sighed then paused. "How do you love me?"

"What?"

"Like Mirana? Or…different?"

Alice hummed. "Tarrant, I love you in the 'I want to marry you' way."

The man stared at her with wide eyes for a moment then swept her up in a tender kiss. "I love you, too, Alice."

Alice blushed, and Mirana laughed. "Well, glad that's out of the way."

"Too true in mah opinion," Thackery said with a nod.

Alice smiled and trailed her hand over a patch of blue. Tarrant grabbed her hand.

"I'm serious Alice. Stop it."

"Now, Tarrant!" Mirana said with a snort. The Hatter frowned at her. She grinned and pressed two fingers against the same patch of blue. "Watch this," she laughed then dragged her fingers sideways. The color followed her fingers.

Hatter snatched her wrist and flung her back. He considered holding her underwater for a while, but Alice grabbed him.

"Tarrant!" she gasped. "Stop it this instant!"

"Well, she shouldn't touch me," Hatter groused, crossing his arms uncomfortably and looking away.

"You never act like that when we're alone, Tarrant," Mirana said pointedly.

"So what?"

"So you're still worried that they're going to laugh at you." Hatter was silent. "I'm right."

"Laddy," Thackery said softly.

"Don't get onto me, Thackery," Tarrant growled. "I can't help it. All they did was make fun of me. I can't just get over that."

"Would we eva do anythin' ta 'urt you, 'Atter?" Mally asked.

"Well…no." He shifted.

"Then stop yer ridiculous notions and relax," the March Hare said with a nod.

Tarrant stared at them, letting fear rush up into his eyes. They gasped as they saw the color transference for the first time.

"So that's where your eye colors come from!" Alice gasped.

Tarrant nodded shyly. "Yes."

"Fascinatin'!" Mally said.

"I never tire of watching it," Mirana said with a smile.

"I don't think I could ever tire of watching just his skin," Alice replied. "It's so pretty."

Hatter stared at her. "You really mean it, don't you?"

"Of course," Alice said softly.

Hatter shook his head. "You are the strangest Upper Worlder I have ever met." Alice looked hesitant, so Tarrant pulled her close. "And I love that about you, Alice."

He kissed her again then playfully ducked her underwater, which started the biggest water fight that any of them had ever been in. They got out after an hour and dried off. Again, the others noticed that the trees seemed to like the Mad Hatter greatly, as they personally handed him each article of clothing as he reached for it. Thackery tapped his arm once he was dressed.

"Laddy, why do the trees do tha' for ya?" he asked.

"I'm not sure. I don't know if they're sure," Tarrant replied thoughtfully. "There has been a connection between us since I was born."

"So the trees in the Upper World were like that, too?" Alice asked in confusion.

Tarrant turned and looked at her. "I wouldn't know."

"Whatchoo mean?" Mally asked.

"Yes, what do you mean, Tarrant?" Mirana asked.

"I wasn't born in the Upper World. I was born here. I was the first and only child to be born in my home village while we were in Underland. No children came after me, though six came the year before."

Alice blinked. "When's your birthday?"

"May 15," Tarrant said. "Of the good year of our Lord, 1845."

"May?" Mirana said. "Isn't that one of those strange things that the Upper Worlders use to measure time?"

"It is called a month, Mimi," Hatter said. "There are twelve of them in a year, and they have from twenty-eight to thirty-one days in them. And mother claimed as often as she could that she would never forget the terrible night of August 15, 1844."

"Why?" Alice asked.

Hatter swallowed and they began walking out of the woods. "Because that is the very night that I was conceived."

Everybody else stopped walking, staring at him. Alice shot forward and snagged his shoulder.

"What do you mean the night you were conceived. No woman can tell the night she conceives!"

"My mother did. She claimed that God cursed her that night. She knew I was in her before Father left her completely."

"How?" Mirana and Mallyumpkin demanded.

"Because that was the instant, as the freefall to Underland happened, that her eyes turned rainbow. They stayed rainbow until the day I was born. The doctor was horrified when I came out. I remember his face. He dropped me. Nobody picked me up for a good hour, and even then, I was practically thrown into a crib by the window. And I remember a song. The window was open. They'd been in Underland for nine months. Nobody really knew they were there yet. But, though nobody else wanted to welcome me into the world, the trees did. The first kind touch I remember is a fragrant, flowered, leaf-laden branch reaching down and touching me. I was hungry, and they gave me flowers to eat, flowers that turned to liquid in my mouth. They sang me a lovely song. They still sing it to me sometimes. Each different forest has a different way of singing it, but sing it they do."

Tarrant fell silent as the trees rippled, sending leaves cascading down as their ghostly whispers brought to their ears the song that the man had talked about. Alice, Thackery, and Mally couldn't understand the words, but it was a hauntingly beautiful melody. Tarrant smiled and patted a tree.

"Thank you, dear ones."

"Tarrant," Mirana said. "Y-you never told me that story. Why?"

"Simple, my dear," the Hatter replied. "You never asked. Now, we must hurry if we are to be back before the sun sets."