Luna started to return to her seat in the gallery, but Father stopped her with his hand on her shoulder.
"One moment," he said, and nodded at Trenit.
Trenit held his docket up in front of him and announced, "Lord Heb Dariya of House Dariya, on the matter of reports of animal attacks in the Blackclaw Forest near the village of Greenscythe."
All eyes turned to the Five Seats, where a gnarled old man was creakily rising to his feet. Lord Heb was easily the oldest head of the Five Houses, and likely the oldest House head of any level.
Yet despite the evident fragility of his body, his mind was as sharp and wily as ever, and he led his House with a shrewdness that could not be disguised.
As Aadhira watched him shuffle his way slowly down to the Throne, however, she couldn't help but wonder, not for the first time, if his apparent decrepitness wasn't part of some shrewd disguise of its own. She may have only seen him in person a small handful of times in her life, but she had been a student of the way her own body moved as long as she could remember. She knew how to step to maximize her own mobility, and she couldn't help but notice a certain surety in the placement of each of his steps, slow though they may be.
Idly she wondered what would happen if someone were to try to trip him up.
As interesting as that question may be, though, her mind kept returning to a much more interesting question. Trenit had said that the trouble they were waiting for Lord Heb to address was near the village of Greenscythe. Aadhira might not pay as much attention to her geography as she ought – she might not know Greenscythe from a fallen star – but Blackclaw Forest sounded vaguely familiar, Father had said something about up north the night before, and she did somehow know that the main part of House Dariya's lands tended to the area of the Five Sisters.
Aadhira had a map tied to her inner thigh that she hadn't yet had a chance to look at, that she hoped might mention some of these names.
In retrospect, her inner thigh was probably not the best place to keep it. The outer thigh would have been just as hidden, without rubbing against very uncomfortable places every time she moved her legs. But the thought of chafing or even – moon forbid! – paper cuts had never even occurred to her when she had been romanticizing over what some kind of spy would do.
Aadhira was starting to feel like she would have been ready for a Convocation tonight, had the full moon tarried.
Aadhira surreptitiously glanced around her as she tightly crossed her arms. It might take Heb a minute to get to the Throne, but at least he wasn't going so slow that he risked people losing interest and looking at her. All eyes were still on him, she confirmed, and pulled on the armpit seam of her dress.
Her sleeve seemed big enough.
Aadhira tried to keep her visible movements to a minimum as she pulled her hand in through her sleeve. It ended up being a tighter fit than she was expecting, but she managed to get her arm into the top of her dress right as Lord Heb reached the Throne.
The sudden motion as her elbow cleared the armor seam caught Selena's attention, but Aadhira just sat there, empty sleeve hanging, obvious lump filling out her – what was the word? Bodice? – and smiled innocently until Selena rolled her eyes and looked back at the Throne.
"My liege," Heb was saying, "I have heard about the report that you received last night, and have received a copy of my own. This sounds like a simple animal attack, reports of which are not uncommon near untamed forests like the Blackclaw. I am certain my own men will be able to deal with it; there should be no reason to trouble you with this matter."
He started to turn as if to return to his seat, but the King held up his hand.
"Wait," he said.
Lord Heb turned back to the King, a look of mild surprise on his face.
Aadhira took the opportunity to look around and make sure that nobody had noticed that her hand was now halfway down the waist of her dress, which turned out to be a tighter fit than she had expected. Fortunately Selena was very pointedly ignoring her, which meant that nobody saw her leaning back in her seat, bottom raised, body stiff as a board.
Until Mom's eyes passed over her.
At first Aadhira thought she had missed her predicament, as her eyes kept scanning over the mostly empty gallery without so much as a pause, but after exactly one second her mouth tightened and she carefully held a handkerchief up to it for just long enough to squeeze her eyes shut extremely tight.
Her face was completely composed by the time the handkerchief was removed.
"You have met Luna, I believe," Father was saying to Lord Heb, who nodded in reply.
"We have had occasion to meet each other from time to time."
"You are aware that she has been progressing quite well in her military and leadership capabilities?"
Again the lord nodded.
By now Aadhira had managed to get her hand far enough inside her dress to get her fingers on the string tying the map to her thigh. She found the end of the bow, gave it a yank – and felt the map slip farther down into her dress.
A quick glance around her confirmed that nobody new was looking at her after her groan.
Aadhira was going to have to dive down farther to find the map. In order to do that, she first untied the sash around her waist with her outside hand to make room. At least she was able to sit down normally after this.
"But you are telling me that this situation in Greenscythe is not an issue; that whatever wild animal there is will be easily dealt with?"
"I am confident in my assessment, Your Majesty."
Got it! Aadhira had the map caught between two of her fingers. She started to lift it up – and her elbow got caught in her waistline again coming back up.
Selena let out a sigh, but when Aadhira looked up at her, she was staring straight ahead.
Aadhira tried to tug her dress down with her outside hand, but she couldn't quite get the leverage she needed. She thought about it for a moment, then decided that maybe if she brought her other arm inside her dress, she could force the waistline to expand enough to let her bring her arm up.
"I assume this also applies to the reports from–" the King glanced back at Trenit, who supplied the names of two other villages.
"I'm sorry?" Lord Heb replied. Clearly he recognized the names, but – "I hadn't heard of any issues with any other villages."
After a bit of trial and error, Aadhira arrived at a solution whereby she was able to get the leverage needed to slip her arm inside the sleeve by sitting on it, though she had to first unbutton the buttons in the back of the dress to get a bit of play in the fabric.
"These other reports arrived shortly before this audience," the King said. "Apparently Greenscythe isn't the only village with wild animal problems."
"Hardly surprising," Lord Heb said smoothly. "As I have said, these issues with wild animals will be easily dealt with."
Aadhira now had her other hand inside her bodice and was working it down to join her first hand at her waist.
"It warms my heart to hear you say that," the King said. "It will alleviate so much worry for me as I send my daughter on her first command mission."
Aadhira looked up from her situation in time to see a surprised look on Lord Heb's face. It was rare enough to see the wily old lord out-maneuvered that a murmur went through the nobles, who were suddenly much more interested in today's proceedings.
"My liege–" Lord Heb began.
"Yes, it will be such a comfort to me to know that you have personally guaranteed her safety as she conducts her investigation. I'm sure you will want to be there beside her as she personally finds whatever beasts might be responsible for putting commoners' lives in danger?"
Aadhira couldn't help adopting a wicked grin as she listened to Father get an angle into a House that had long maneuvered to keep its internal workings opaque. It's not that Father thought anything was happening in House Dariya that would be contrary to the good of the kingdom; but he had been complaining for years about the fact that he simply didn't know much about the internal functioning of the House.
"My liege, of course your daughter's safety would be my chief concern–"
"Of course it will be, I wouldn't expect anything less. And I trust that you will be right beside her to ensure that she has access to any resources or information that she deems necessary? To fully investigate and stop any dangers she finds in the course of her investigation."
"My liege, House Dariya knows exactly what needs to be done to stop wild animals."
"Which is why she will need you close, so that you can provide her with the best advice as she decides how she will handle it."
"So that she–"
"Of course, my lord. This investigation is being given her for her benefit, that she may experience the rigors of command firsthand. In a safe environment, of course. So while your advice will be most welcome, all final decisions will be hers to make."
Aadhira blinked, recalling that she still had both hands stuck inside her waistline. She tried pulling them apart, but it seemed the waist had expanded all it was going to. She needed something more drastic to pull her arms free.
Lord Heb bowed deeply, out of what seemed to be a show of respect at being out-maneuvered. "It will be as you command."
"Then shall she expect you to ride with her come morning? I will certainly forgive you if you feel that you are not up for the swift journey."
Aadhira smiled as she finally figured it out. It required a little bit of kicking, but she managed to get the hem of her dress underneath her feet.
"I will be there, Your Majesty."
"Good. Then if there is no other business?" He looked at Trenit, Lord Heb's lingering presence dismissed as if he had already made it back to his seat.
Aadhira put her weight firmly on both feet and leaned forward in her seat, preparing to pull her arms free with one firm tug.
"All rise for His Majesty King Tidus!"
Thirteen years of etiquette training not even Aadhira could entirely escape took effect. She stood automatically to her feet. This had the effect she had been hoping for: the dress, held underneath her feet, stayed where it was and the waist slid smoothly off of her arms.
This was followed immediately by the top of the dress also sliding smoothly off of her shoulders, down her arms, and to the floor, leaving her without a stitch of clothing on.