Written for Autumn bingo/Halloween challenge. There should be at least one more chapter, uploaded sometime tonight. This is really last minute, and I did proofread, but I'm sure there are mistakes I missed. If you point them out, I'll be sure to fix them.
Disclaimer: I own nothing and am making no profit.
The Corus markets could only be described as organized chaos, with countless people trying to going in all different direction. They bumped into each other and blocked others paths, but somehow didn't impede each others' progress. Amid this mass were two young knights. Lady Knight Keladry Mindelan pulled her best friend, Sir Nealan of Queenscove towards a trinkets shop, while he complained about the fruitlessness of the trip.
The day before, they along with some fellow knights, Neal's fiancé Yuki, and some members of the King's Own had gone out for a night on the town. After a couple drinks, Neal being the friendly, flirt he was got a little too friendly with a waitress in the eyes of his Yamani fiancé. Due partially to Yuki's ability to hide her emotions, but mainly because of his general obliviousness Neal wasn't even aware she was upset. Kel being both their friends and the one to introduce them felt it was her responsibility to step-in and remedy the situation. After all their wedding was only two months away and she'd hate to see Neal trip at the finish line.
Neal still in denial that his "Yamani Blossom" could be upset without him noticing thought the outing was for an entire different reason. In his opinion he wasn't the one who got a little too friendly. He thought Kel and his cousin had sat entirely too close and spent too much time apart from the rest of the group to be "just friends". It seemed obvious to everybody but Kel and Dom that they liked each other. He was certain this outing was about cultivating Kel's relationship, not his. After all she's his best friend; Dom his cousin; and everybody knew Neal of Queenscove was an expert on romance. She obviously wanted advice. He figured his stoic friend was just too embarrassed to ask for help.
Once they were in the trinket shop Kel immediately honed in on the cosmetic section. Neal gave Kel a knowing smile. When trying to attract a man, wasn't the first thing a women did is spruce up their appearance? Kel normally never wore make-up. After rifling through the make-up and apparently not finding anything to her liking she moved on to the jewelry. Neal's smug smile widened, causing Kel to turn towards him slightly miffed.
"You need this gift for your fiancé. Why am I the only one looking?" She said, emphasizing the pronouns.
"Oh come on Kel, drop the charade. We both know who we're really shopping for"
Confused and still a bit exasperated, but use to his antics, "Yuki?" Kel asked more than stated.
Neal just tsked, "Yuki doesn't even wear Tortallan face-paint"
Kel still not sure what he was implying, and therefore unable to address his subtext, decided to just take his statement at face-value. "She mentioned last week that she was considering trying it. Shinko's been wearing some light make-up, and seems to like it. Yuki thought she might give it a try, I think she might miss her rice-powder, but still wants to fit in."
All this was said, as she browsed through the jewelry. Neal thought maybe she was trying to hide her face, so she wouldn't give herself away. But when she did look at him to ask his opinion on a necklace, her face seemed guileless.
He felt a smidgeon of doubt and in an attempt to buy himself sometime; he just shrugged. "Why don't you go try it on?"
Kel narrowed her eyes, clearly suspicious, but with a shrug of her own went to do just that. She headed towards the large, black mirror that hung on the far wall. It wasn't quite floor length. It reflected from the top of her head to about mid-thigh, but the ornate adornments made it even bigger. Kel couldn't quite tell what or even if the decorations were supposed to be something. They just seemed to be random shapes, some vaguely resembled leaves or birds. She didn't know if she'd classify them as pretty, but there was definitely something appealing about it. They did compliment the ivory inlaid pattern of flowers. Overall she guessed it had a pleasing effect, nicer than what she'd see reflected back at her anyway.
Looking down, she locked the clasp of necklace. Simultaneously twist it around and sighing resignedly she looked up and what she saw shocked her. Her hair seemed lusher, shiner; her eyes enchantingly large; and her lashes thicker. Even her skin looked better, paler and less freckled. There were countless smaller changes, she couldn't quite pinpoint. Overall, she just thought she was prettier, more lady-like. She couldn't believe that reflection was really her. She was mesmerized, but still a little skeptical.
Thinking maybe she picked up a beauty charm instead of a normal necklace. She started to look down to inspect it, when out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw the reflection of a women standing behind her. Kel turned around to apologize for monopolizing the mirror, but nobody was there. It was then that she realized Neal was talking.
"…and it would be better, healthier, I am a healer I would know, for you to just admit your feelings." He paused and looked at her expectantly. Kel having no idea what he was talking about had no idea what to say. Neal took her silence as a denial and continued. "It's not healthy to bottle up your emotions all the time. You should be more up front about your emotions and intentions. Take today for example we both know why we're really here, it's just silly to pretend otherwise."
Kel becoming even more frustrated at her friend's refusals to acknowledge his fiancé's anger, took a deep breath blanked out her face, and responded as blandly as possible, "We're here because Yuki felt slighted that you were flirted with that waitress and a gift might put her in a more forgiving mood."
"See! Right there that's exactly what I was talking about you're always hiding behind that mask! And if Yuki was really mad wouldn't I want to buy her a nice gift, not something from a place like this?"
Kel was still confused and slightly peeved. But couldn't help but be amused by his antics, and couldn't resists ribbing him, just a little bit. In the same emotionless tone she used before, she said, "I thought this would be the first in a long line of apology gifts, I didn't want to set the bar too high." By the end she couldn't help, but let a little grin slip through. Neal chuckled in response and Kel joined in.
The sound of their laughter couldn't quite cover the shopkeeper's humph. He made his way over towards them clearly angry. As he got closer he seemed to realize not just that they were nobles, but exactly who they were. Both of them had reached a certain level of fame from their exploits during the war. The heir to one of the oldest, most powerful fiefs in the kingdom and the Protector of the Small were not people you wanted to ostracize. In fact being able to telling people the Protector shopped at his stall would surely increase business. His anger quickly turned to optimism.
"Does My Lady need any help?" He asked hopeful.
"Well, I'd like to buy this necklace" Neal responded grabbing the necklace out of Kel's hand. Kel half-thinking the necklace was what caused such a miraculous change in her appearance was a bit disappointed. She clearly wasn't the only the one.
The shopkeepers face fell, but he dutifully answered, "Of course Sir" But like any good merchant he didn't give up that easy. He continued a bit flirtatiously, "But surely the lady would like something. A pretty lady could always use more jewelry."
Neal snorted at the man's obvious attempt at flattery, but Kel thought it was at calling her pretty. She glanced a bit forlornly at the ornate mirror, only to see her normal, plain reflection staring back at her. The shopkeeper followed her gaze and eager to sell her anything jumped on it.
"Are you interested in the mirror, My Lady? I noticed you admiring it early or maybe you were admiring what was reflected back at you. You're such a bonnie lass, who could blame you? It's just what a women like you needs; something to reflect your natural beauty, not petty trinkets trying to adorn what already is one of the Gods' greatest masterpieces."
The salesman was laying it on thick and Kel was obviously a little flabbergasted. Neal tried to step in, saying,
"A woman like her? I don't think she even owns a pocket mirror. " He meant it as a compliment, to emphasis her modesty and practicality. Unfortunately, it came out kind of insulting and that's the way Kel took it. She flinched a little bit. The salesman noticed and sent as much of a glare as he dared at Neal. Both because he saw his sale slipping away and as a proud father of three daughters, he believed that wasn't the way to talk about any female. Redoubling his efforts he continued,
"The previous owner of this mirror was a woman renowned world-wide for her beauty. It is said she would spend hours admiring herself in its surface. It originally wasn't for sale, but as soon as you walked in, I knew it was meant for you. It's only fitting that it would go from one beauty to another."
As much as Neal's comment stung, Kel knew it was true. She wouldn't have much use for a mirror like that. On the other hand the man looked so hopeful and she still felt a bad about unintentionally insulting his products. She hesitated, wavering on the purchase.
The merchant saw this and pounced, "I'll give you a great deal, and a discount the next time you come in."
"oh, alright" Kel figured she could always give it to one of her sisters or nieces. With both of their purchases wrapped the two knights headed back to the palace.