Greetings!
It was almost three years before I could return to Wonderland. Before I realized that for all the beauty of morning mists in Darjeeling or the bustle of a market in Hong Kong or the excitement of riding heavy surf at the prow of the Wonder, there was nothing in the world Above that could compare to Underland. Mostly, because I was lonely. I had found adventure and made a tidy profit for it, but I could find no one to share it with.
But I learned quite a bit before I decided to return to Underland. I had learned to fight, not just for the safety of my investments, but for the safety of my virtue. I learned that men think that a woman who is free with her ideas is expected to be free with her body. In truth, I was very curious about that acts that went on between a man and a woman, in or out of marriage, but I felt no desire to carry through with investigations. True, I spoke with very interesting women in China and India…courtesans but very knowledgeable about trade goods and fabrics. No man would “talk” with these women, but I believe that because I was curious and spoke with them, their insights helped me make some very wise investments. But they also taught me much. What the mechanics of the act were. How to teach a man to be a good lover. How to prevent conception if I wished to experiment with the act of love.
But, it would not be an act of love. I could feel nothing but a vague sort of affection for the men I knew and worked with. And no, women did not incite my passions either, though how I blushed when I was first told of the possibility!
One woman in Calcutta, the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen except for the White Queen, was golden and exotic. Ashanti almost belonged in Wonderland more than I did, with her almond eyes and boisterous humor. She became my good friend, and before I left to return to England, she gave me a book. A book on the spiritual celebration of physical love. The Kama Sutra, only just translated into English.
That book was among those treasurer volumes that I carried in my knapsack when I jumped into the rabbit hole once again, my destination and purpose to make a life in Wonderland. So, after unlocking the door, I spent an inordinate amount of time dragging and pushing all my precious books, and my clothes, through the tiny door, before finally letting it slam with a comfortable finality behind me. I was home.
Smiling and breathing in the sweet fresh scent of the land I adored, I took a tiny bit of Upelkuchen, I grew back to normal size whilst still in the nude. I had thought I was very much alone, and would simply dress and make haste for Marmoreal. But a voice came out of the blue foliage to my right, a very welcome voice.
“Alice! Is it you? Or another not-Alice?”
Panicked, I pulled my dress up my body. I couldn’t speak for embarrassment. Hatter was here, and he’d seen me without any clothes.
I stared at him, drinking in the sight of his wild hair and pale skin and wonderfully colorful clothes and face. My heart began to beat a wild rhythm and my skin itched. He looked so wonderful, so brilliant and bright and full of muchness! And his eyes, wide eyes that had not turned away like a proper gentleman, but were eating me up, and were a color I had never seen them before, a deep rich indigo that was very intriguing.
“Forgive me, Hatter, for being so underdressed for tea. I hope I’m not too late?”
He swallowed thickly, those deep blue eyes moving over my frame before guiltily locking on my face. “Nah lassie, anything ye choose ta wear be beautiful ta meh.” He closed his eyes and shook his head before speaking again, his eyes once again the green that I loved. His lisp returned, and I found I missed his mad brogue, “You are always late, Alice, sweetling. But you would be not-Alice if you were on time. As you are so very late, then I know that you are my….Truly, Absolutely Alice.”
It was my turn to swallow. “Could you…could you turn to let me dress properly, please Tarrant?”
I don’t know why I used his proper name. I’d never spoken it before, and the flickers of sapphire blue flame spiraled in his eyes as he stared at my face, the red of his lips shining welcoming as his licked them, his mouth opening and closing with uncharacteristic speechlessness. Finally, without another word, he spun around, and I let out the breath I did not realize I’d been holding. I was almost, disappointed that those magnificent eyes were no longer watching me with…dare I hope, longing?
But I learned quite a bit before I decided to return to Underland. I had learned to fight, not just for the safety of my investments, but for the safety of my virtue. I learned that men think that a woman who is free with her ideas is expected to be free with her body. In truth, I was very curious about that acts that went on between a man and a woman, in or out of marriage, but I felt no desire to carry through with investigations. True, I spoke with very interesting women in China and India…courtesans but very knowledgeable about trade goods and fabrics. No man would “talk” with these women, but I believe that because I was curious and spoke with them, their insights helped me make some very wise investments. But they also taught me much. What the mechanics of the act were. How to teach a man to be a good lover. How to prevent conception if I wished to experiment with the act of love.
But, it would not be an act of love. I could feel nothing but a vague sort of affection for the men I knew and worked with. And no, women did not incite my passions either, though how I blushed when I was first told of the possibility!
One woman in Calcutta, the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen except for the White Queen, was golden and exotic. Ashanti almost belonged in Wonderland more than I did, with her almond eyes and boisterous humor. She became my good friend, and before I left to return to England, she gave me a book. A book on the spiritual celebration of physical love. The Kama Sutra, only just translated into English.
That book was among those treasurer volumes that I carried in my knapsack when I jumped into the rabbit hole once again, my destination and purpose to make a life in Wonderland. So, after unlocking the door, I spent an inordinate amount of time dragging and pushing all my precious books, and my clothes, through the tiny door, before finally letting it slam with a comfortable finality behind me. I was home.
Smiling and breathing in the sweet fresh scent of the land I adored, I took a tiny bit of Upelkuchen, I grew back to normal size whilst still in the nude. I had thought I was very much alone, and would simply dress and make haste for Marmoreal. But a voice came out of the blue foliage to my right, a very welcome voice.
“Alice! Is it you? Or another not-Alice?”
Panicked, I pulled my dress up my body. I couldn’t speak for embarrassment. Hatter was here, and he’d seen me without any clothes.
I stared at him, drinking in the sight of his wild hair and pale skin and wonderfully colorful clothes and face. My heart began to beat a wild rhythm and my skin itched. He looked so wonderful, so brilliant and bright and full of muchness! And his eyes, wide eyes that had not turned away like a proper gentleman, but were eating me up, and were a color I had never seen them before, a deep rich indigo that was very intriguing.
“Forgive me, Hatter, for being so underdressed for tea. I hope I’m not too late?”
He swallowed thickly, those deep blue eyes moving over my frame before guiltily locking on my face. “Nah lassie, anything ye choose ta wear be beautiful ta meh.” He closed his eyes and shook his head before speaking again, his eyes once again the green that I loved. His lisp returned, and I found I missed his mad brogue, “You are always late, Alice, sweetling. But you would be not-Alice if you were on time. As you are so very late, then I know that you are my….Truly, Absolutely Alice.”
It was my turn to swallow. “Could you…could you turn to let me dress properly, please Tarrant?”
I don’t know why I used his proper name. I’d never spoken it before, and the flickers of sapphire blue flame spiraled in his eyes as he stared at my face, the red of his lips shining welcoming as his licked them, his mouth opening and closing with uncharacteristic speechlessness. Finally, without another word, he spun around, and I let out the breath I did not realize I’d been holding. I was almost, disappointed that those magnificent eyes were no longer watching me with…dare I hope, longing?