To Wear a Dress
Keladry of Mindelan took one last look in the mirror.
She, Raoul, and the rest of Third Company were in Persopolis, following the Progress yet again. Tonight the Bazhir would be serving, which gave the squires a much-needed break. This also gave Kel a choice: dress or tunic.
For just this once, Kel chose the dress. She was not required to wear Goldenlake colors, not this week, anyway. It wasn't that she minded dressing like a lady. She actually rather liked it. In her page years she wore dresses to let everybody know that she was a girl, and wasn't going away. As a squire there was less of an opportunity for it, not to mention it wasn't exactly at the top of her list.
The dress she'd chosen tonight was a gift from her mother. It was an interesting piece of work, a dusty rose overgown of lightweight silk, with the dress itself a pale copper-gold. It complemented her skin wonderfully. Her hair was freshly cut, the back slightly stacked and the forehead fringe of her childhood grown out at last.
Kel went out on a limb and decided to wear a delicately pale gold headband. The whole ensemble made her look more like a girl than ever before, almost sickenenly so.
It's just a dress. My hair is still short, my skin is still tan, and I still can ride Peachblossom and joust like mad. It's just a dress.
The unsure girl in the mirror smiled slightly, shrugged her shoulders, and walked out, closing the door gently behind her.