Tired, Adrastea watched the dancers. They had returned to the ballroom to continue dancing in her and Alice's honor. The Hatter watched Adrastea noting she was getting very tired. Mustering up the courage, he went up to the Queen. "May I take Adrastea to the gardens and if she doesn't get more... energized, may I take her up to her rooms?"
Smiling, the Queen nodded knowing that the Hatter would be a gentleman. Taking the exhausted Adrastea by the arm, the Hatter lead her to the cool garden to sit. Nodding off gone for the most part, Adrastea felt better in the cool air of the nature's gifts than in the slightly stuffy ballroom. "Thank you," she murmured.
Beaming, the Hatter felt prideful. "You're very welcome Adrastea." he replied, with flourish. "Do you know how a raven is like a writing desk?" he asked.
Adrastea giggled. "I had my whole life to prepare for that one... Because they both come with inky quills."
Staring at her, the Hatter pondered her answer. "I guess that works... I thought it didn't have an answer." he replied after a moment.
Adrastea looked at the sky. "Do you want to know what happened to Alice? After Absolem as a butterfly saw her set to the sea to China?" questioned Adrastea, after a short moment of silence.
Hatter nodded. "I do." he said as he got closer, sitting on the bench next to Adrastea.
Sighing, Adrastea kept her eyes toward the stars. "She was successful is spreading her father's company to Asia, but trouble began when she finally returned to England from Underland." Pausing for a moment, she continued. "When she fell down the rabbit hole, she was proposed to by a Lord Hamish Ascot. When she came back it was like no time had passed and he was still there and she turned him down. Though she was polite in the way she refused, he didn't like the fact a woman was doing better in business than he was..." Adrastea's voice trailed off.
"What happened?" asked the Hatter, softly.
Adrastea didn't move her eyes from the night sky. "He arranged for her to be raped... She was raped by several men at once..." Hatter's eyes turned orange, as Adrastea continued. "She became with a child, and was deemed as a whore, since she wasn't married. She died having my grandmother at the age of 34."
Turning her eyes sadly from the sky, Adrastea turned to look at Hatter. Her eyes widened in fright as his eyes remained orange as he started swearing in Scottish, complete with an accent. "Hatter?" He looked at her, his eyes full of rage.
Breathing calmly, Adrastea stood up and walked in front of the sitting madman. Exhaling, she slapped him as hard as she could again. Slowly, Hatter's head turned back, not stunned like last time. Standing up, he advanced on Adrastea who slowly backed away. Rising his hand, Hatter slapped Adrastea, so hard her face burned and was turned hard to one angle.
Turning her head slowly, like the Hatter had before, Adrastea's eyes found the Hatter's and in the back of his mind red alarms were going off. Adrastea's left eye was gold, burning with rage and hate, while her right eye was brown.
Staring each other down, the two slowly circled each other. Suddenly, Adrastea struck, years of martial arts kicking in, first she catch the Hatter's right arm twisted it behind him, made him go face-first into the stone pathway, and then sat on him, his left arm pinned underneath him.
Not even panting, Adrastea breathed deeply and slowly calming down. The Hatter settled down too, but more against his will than anything. As soon as he wasn't panting and his eyes were only a dull orange bordering on green.
"She could have decided not to have the child. She could have just went home. Alice decided to pass on a journal of her adventures and life to all her kin. She was brave and didn't give up." hissed Adrastea. "You should be glad to have at least that little bit of Alice alive. She bore a child of her own out of love, even though the child wasn't made from love, Tarrent Hightopp."
Tarrent froze and shuddered, his eyes returning to green. "She is still here... in you, isn't she?"
Adrastea smiled and got up off of him, and helped him up. "That she is, that she is, Hatter..."
"Please call me Tarrent." replied the Hatter, bashfully part from Adrastea and from his actions.
Adrastea winked at his back before disappearing behind him, into the maze. "Alright, Tarrent..."
Tarrent turned around but Adrastea was already gone. "Goodnight, lassie..." he murmured, his gaze turning to the stars...
When Adrastea got back to her room, she was undressing from the moment her chamber done shut and she was walking to her bed chamber to bathe before bed. Leaving a suggestive trail of clothes and jewelry, Adrastea was naked when she got to the bathroom and started the water as she brushed her hair out.
Washing all the makeup and perfume from her body, Adrastea gave a sad look at her skin before she got dressed in a long-sleeved floor-length pale blue nightgown and climbed into bed...
