The meeting over the arrival of Verei's letter had ended not long after the Queen's decree.
The arrival of the letter should've shattered all lingering doubt of my identity, on top of being present for the Queen's plan to face the growing hobgoblin force, and that plan is to remain on the defensive till they get someone capable of surviving against the Berserker Staff long enough to put down the Orc.
Just before leaving, I asked her to respond to that letter as swiftly as possible so "they could catch my brother as he was 'unlikely' to stay in that village forever." This will give me an excuse beyond a simple 'feeling' that my 'sister' was heading for the university. To which the Queen was just as willing to fulfill that request as the Guild Master had for Verei.
With, hopefully, no overlooked inconsistencies, it's time for Veda to fulfill everything she had planned for today. Fortunately, I already have Emeri with me, happily humming to herself with our arms crossed as though worried I would disappear. Every once and a while she seems to look over her shoulder just in case a certain someone were to appear.
One thing she is checking more than over her shoulder though, is on my condition.
Despite knowing she's overreacting, it's impossible for me to come up with a good reason she shouldn't worry, at least not without an excuse that could come back to bite me later seeing as the Queen came up with her own conclusion for why that happened to me. So, with a lot of reluctance, I think I will let Emeri do as she wishes for today.
As we leave the castle to travel through the streets, Veda's condition with the crowd seems better than before, so maybe I am getting used to being surrounded by groups of strangers. But compared to Verei, Veda's discomfort is there. 'Maybe Veda wasn't around a lot of people in her past.'
It may help that not as many people are gazing at me as when I was traveling with Seci or the princess. Both of them were well-known, one way or another, but Emeri seemed less publicly involved, her face not being what people recognized her by.
On entering the Tailor's store I commissioned a dress from, the clerk recognized us right away, waving us to the counter. "If you can wait a moment, I shall let him know of your arrival. The dress has been finished for a while now, waiting for your arrival. And, in my opinion, it looks absolutely stunning. I'm sure you'll love it too!"
I give him a smile. "Thank you for your hard work."
The clerk's face seemed a little flustered by my word of thanks before heading to the back room and returning with Mr. Morian a minute later. "Good to see you've arrived. I was worried you wouldn't show up considering the meeting time was a few hours ago."
I lower my head to them both. "Apologies for being late but an incident took place last night that required I take a long rest. But I'm better now and can't wait to try it on."
He nods before turning to the clerk, who rushes to bring everything out.
"I'm glad to hear you're feeling better. This dress was made exclusively for you, and it would have been saddening for a dress as beautiful as this one I to go unworn. I even pulled a few connections with a friend in a jewelry shop to add the right accessories to go with it."
When he finishes speaking, the clerk returns with what looks to be a mannequin, a human upper body with the top of the hips of a human form. And on it was the dress.
Red column dress with frills and a long slit along the left thigh, but it seems to be too big on the mannequin, requiring clips to keep the dress from falling off as well as keeping it from touching the floor. 'He probably doesn't get many women as tall as Veda is.'
Mr. Morian smiles at my reaction. "If you would follow me, you can try on the dress to ensure it fits just right before paying for my work. Please, feel free to try it on to ensure it fits just right before paying for my work. There's a changing room just over here."
The clerk helps pull the mannequin to the back behind a curtain. I follow inside, finding I'm in a rather spacious room, bigger than my room back in Uldrei's shack.
'Why must every 'extra room' in this city taunt me?'
When I'm left alone, I begin taking my clothes off till I only have on my underwear before working to get the dress off the mannequin. I take a deep breath to calm my heart as I begin.
I start with the accessories, taking them off the mannequin and putting them on me before working with the dress. The buttons seem to be the first step for taking it off. There weren't any problems as I unfastened them one at a time before sliding the dress off to put it on myself. I make sure to take off the clips that were being used to keep the dress from being dragged along the floor, it reaching my ankles.
That's when I realized the reason for all this, 'This must be why they put it on a mannequin in the first place, to give experience with taking off the dress to whoever is putting it on, be it a servant or the lady herself.'
"Are you doing alright Veda?" Emeri's voice came from beyond the curtain.
"No problems. It's just, this is the second time I'm wearing a dress but the first time I'm putting it on myself. The last buttons are giving me a few problems."
When she hears that I can feel her contemplation with coming in to help but it would ruin the first look she gets of me in the dress, so I take a deep breath before successfully putting it in place. "G-got it, I'm coming out now!"
I take one last look at the mannequin to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything, noticing something hanging off a hook at the top of the neck. I didn't know what to do with it, so I just grabbed it before pulling the curtain away.
Emeri's eyes widened along with a smile growing, looking as though she could barely contain herself yet unable to find the words to exclaim her approval.
I give a light nudge. "Does it look good?"
Emeri takes a deep breath before finally letting words out. "It looks perfect on you!"
I try to keep myself from smiling too widely before Mr. Morian comes up to me. "Perfection requires the last touch. Courtesy of Ms. Nutren."
He shows a pair of red heels that match the dress while gesturing to Emeri. She must have bought these for me after I went into the changing room.
He offers to help put them on and I feel a little too embarrassed to say no as I let him get down on one knee. I lift my foot and allow him to put it on as I now have matching shoes to the dress.
"I know you said last touch, but I am wondering what this is... It was left on a hook at the mannequin's neck." I showed the red band that is as frilly as the ends of the dress. It's elastic but I have no clue what it's purpose is.
"Ah I see! I was worried you didn't like the hair tie. It's meant to keep your long hair from fluttering into a mess by tying it into what's known as a ponytail. It was... my own personal interest." He was a little flustered so I didn't pry.
'So, a hair tie meant to keep my hair up? It'll definitely be useful in some non-fashion situations for when I need to keep my hair in place.'
"Allow me to help you this time!" exclaimed Emeri with determination, appearing to of been jealous she didn't get to put on the shoes she bought for me.
Emeri takes the hair tie and proceeds to gather my hair as gently as she can before pulling my hair through the tie three times over. The clerk pulls up a mirror and I see my straight hair is now in a ponytail for the first time.
My hair is still quite long, spreading out the further it gets from the tied point, but it's better than not having a tie at all. 'She could probably run through a forest without worry of getting tangled by a bush at least.'
Looking at myself in the mirror, I can't help but admire the image I have with my haired tied back.
Mr. Morian couldn't help but exclaim. "A truly breathtaking look! I knew you would look wonderful with your hair tied back!" Despite all the work he put into the dress, getting it all done within 24 hours, including getting an emerald gem and gold necklace, the ponytail was what he relished seeing the most.
Emeri gave him a look that made him quickly recollect himself in his overexcitement at his own work. "For the payment, Ms. Nutren went ahead and paid for the shoes, so that leaves the Dress and protective case for a total of 55 Alcrime g'Septims."
I was a little caught off guard by the mention of currency, but thankfully the Frozen Sapphires were currently teaching Verei what Alcrime Septims were. I pulled out the gold coins that had a judgment scale on them from the bag the princess gave me till I pulled out 55 of them. That left around 77 of these gold coins left for the armor.
With the coins counted, Mr. Morian seems satisfied before bowing. "A pleasure doing business with you Ms. Deidura."
I bow formally back to him, the first time with this dress. "Thank you for the dress, Mr. Morian. And... I agree. A Ponytail looks wonderful!"