Snippet #1662313

The Tea Gardens

Lyra’s events always grew tedious, and sure enough, Edward began to grow tired of the dancing and music of the ball. There didn’t seem to be as much information as he had expected anyway. “I’m taking a walk,” he announced, rising from his seat, but grabbed a good number of cookies as he left the room. Despite how large the Hatter’s manor was, he always felt like he was drowning in the insanity within it. The spacious ballroom might as well have been suffocating him with music and tea.

The first step he took outside was refreshing. The cool wind messed up further his already messy black hair, but that didn’t matter to him. He took a moment to close his eyes and relish it. Sometimes he found it difficult to believe that the very air of wonderland had been tainted with madness. It didn’t seem possible when it felt the same as it always had, before the Dark Alices changed the land. However, Edward knew that the breeze held malice, along with the soil itself. The fact that it was partially his fault somewhat ate away at him…

“I bet those new Alices are still at the March Hare’s place,” he mumbled out loud, attempting to direct his thoughts away from the past. Suddenly losing his appetite, he dropped the cookies one by one, each dissipating into thin air before they hit the ground. They weren’t gone – he had just simply put them into storage. With just a bit more concentration, his favorite scythe materialized in his hands. The weapon held no trace of the blood it had seen just that morning. “Lyra’s servants do a top notch job as always,” he mused, admiring the glint of the azure blade in the sunlight.

Although he said he was simply going for a walk, he now felt the urge to go search for the Alices himself. He always did enjoy a head start… but at the same time, the other Dark Alices probably wouldn’t take him abandoning the party in good stride. Either way, he could afford to linger outside some more. Swinging his scythe to make himself a patch free of carnivorous grass, Edward sat on the ground and sighed. Those Alices and the White Rabbit had to be dealt with, and fast… slipping into the depths of his thoughts, he absently turned his scythe in his hands, gazing at it distantly.