Kel decided to drop into her rooms and collect a change of clothes on the way to the baths. She was mentally listing which clothes were clean and didn't need repaired - a fairly small list - so she almost missed the square of cream parchment lying on her floor. The note must have been pushed under her door whilst she and Lerant had been sparring.
Kel sat on the bed and investigated the envelope. The linen parchment was heavy and crisp; her name and title inked in the artful blue-black script of a scribe. Intrigued, she cracked the dark blue seal and withdrew the envelope's contents.
Their Royal Highnesses King Jonathon and Queen Thayet request the presence of
Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan
Tomorrow night at the eighth bell, in the First Ball Room.
There is to be a banquet and dance to officially commemorate the end of the Scanran War, and to celebrate the bravery of the soldiers and Knights who fought for our realm.
Kel's heart sank. This was exactly the sort of thing that made her wish she was back on active duty. She stashed the invitation on her desk, and decided to worry about it after her bath. As she grabbed a clean shirt and the breeches with only one patch, Kel wondered if she'd find space behind the ballroom curtains, or if Lord Raoul would have taken the best spot.
*
The bath house was nearly empty. Kel floated, just her face tilted above the warm water. She knew her fingers and toes would resemble watery pink raisins by the time she left the water, but it was worth it. Months and years of basins, the occasional tepid half empty hip bath, or streams in summer. She felt properly clean and relaxed; it was wonderful. Still, there was only so long a body could stay in a bath, and she had parties and troublesome men to worry about. Kel made her way to the edge, took the towel discreetly offered by the attendant, and started to make her way back to the changing rooms.
Kel was walking back to her rooms through the corridors near the tailors' and apothecaries' work room when she heard her name called by a familiar voice.
"My Lady! Oh, my Lady Kel!"
A voice called, slightly echoing off the tiled walls. Kel saw a small, dark haired figure, waving enthusiatically.
"Lalasa!" Kel greeted her former maid with pleasure. The two woman embraced.
"You look tired, my Lady," the older woman said with concern. "Was the War so hard on you?"
"Oh, well," Kel avoided the question, "I feel much better than I did, so it doesn't really matter what I look like."
"Hmmm."
"You look very well, though. Are you working at the Palace, Lalasa?" Kel asked, changing the subject.
"Yes, there have been dresses to finish for the ball tomorrow, and it's easier to work here than try and transport everything between fittings. Everyone wants to look their best, to celebrate the end of the war and see all the war heroes…" Lalasa stopped short and gazed at Kel. "But, my Lady, you'll be going, you're a war hero!"
"The invitation only arrived today," Kel said dubiously.
"Well, you are just back from the North…" A terrible thought seemed to strike Lalasa. "You'll have nothing to wear!"
Kel scowled. "I have plenty of uniforms."
Lalasa ignored this as too ridiculous for comment.
"I have a lovely gown, a wonderful green satin, I can easily alter it in time."
"Thank you, but you'll be far too busy. If I'm going as a war hero, anyway, maybe I have to be in uniform."
"As a Lady Knight, I am sure you can wear a dress. And I am never too busy for you, this is the least I could do."
Lalasa's eyes glittered with emotion. Whether it was with gratitude to her old mistress, or sheer terror Kel might go to a ball in breeches, Kel didn't know. She did know when she was beaten, though.
"In that case, I would be delighted."
"Oh, my Lady, you will be beautiful. Come straight away, I can take some measurements and get the girls started on the plain stitching."
"Girls?"
"There are three seamstresses, as well as me." Lalasa said shyly.
"I am so pleased for you, Lalasa, so pleased." Kel gripped her hand.
"It's all down to you, my Lady." Lalasa really looked as if she was going to burst into tears, but seemed to master her emotion.
"Come now, Lady Kel, we haven't time to waste."
As Kel was dragged away, to dress fittings and measurements and Goddess alone knew what else, she wondered if Lalasa was still as adept at explaining the whys and where-for's of men and women as she had been when Kel was a page. Maybe some good will come of this, Kel mused, maybe she will help me work out what's going on with Lerant.
aAaAaAaAa
"Hold still my Lady, hold still just one second longer - there!"
"Lalasa, I can't breathe!"
Of course you can my Lady, of course, you just have to take little breaths, same as you have to take little steps. It's just the way you wear a dress like this. Do take a look at yourself." Lalasa turned Kel round to face the full length mirror in the corner of the fitting room.
Kel stared at herself in wonderment. The gown was of green silk, trimmed with heavy brocade round the square neckline. The billowing sleeves hid her heavy muscles, and it seemed to hold Kel in a ladylike posture - she felt as if she couldn't slouch even if she tried.
"My Lady, do you like it? You're not saying anything.."
"That's because I don't know what to say… you are a genius, Lalasa. You've made me look like a completely different person." Kel twisted to look at herself side on. "Really, there's no spell on this cloth?"
"Lady Kel!" Lalasa chided, half pleased. "Nothing but the work of our hands in the cloth."
"Then I have never appreciated your Gods-given skills properly before."
"Neither does she." A new voice, a gentle alto, came from the doorway. "Only the finest dressmaker in Corus could receive the number of commissions Lalasa does." A petite blonde woman walked in, bobbing a quick curtsey to Kel before moving quickly to stand beside Lalasa.
"Tian." Lalasa smiled warmly, and gripped hands with the other woman for a second. Kel felt momentarily awkward, intruding on what seemed to be an intensely intimate moment.
"The Royal Ladies will be here for their final fittings in a few minutes." Tian was saying. "Shall I start, or will you be along?"
"I'll be with you in a minute; I'll just finish with Lady Kel's dress."
Tian nodded, smiled, then left the room.
"Tian works with you?" Kel asked lightly.
"Oh, yes. We discovered we worked together well years ago, when I was maid to you, Lady Kel, and well, it made sense to stay together. Left arm up, please."
Kel raised her arm, and looked down at Lalasa she pinned a seam.
"Together?" She asked soft, half to herself.
"Together." Lalasa looked up, slightly flushed, but her gaze steady. "It's not done to talk of such things, my Lady. Right arm now."
"Not talked of. But it happens…" Kel felt an idea tickle the back of her mind.
"Lalasa," she asked slowly, "the servants don't speak of it; I know the nobles don't. But what do the servants hear?"
"A great deal, my Lady. Step up, please."
Kel stepped onto the footstool, and said "About my friends…in the King's Own."
Lalasa glanced up from Kel's hem. "All the stories about Sir Raoul are just that, now he's married, my Lady."
"Nothing more recent?"
"I never took you for a gossip, my Lady." Lalasa frowned a little up at Kel.
"Not gossip - just one of my friends has been acting a little, well, oddly, and it would explain quite a bit."
"Ah." Lalasa took a pin out of the little velvet pad strapped to her wrist, and twirled it in her slim fingers. It sparkled in the sunlight. "As I said, when it happens, it is not spoken of. But maybe nothing has happened?"
"Hmmm."
"Or maybe your friend wishes, or desires, something to happen?"
"That may be it…" Kel thought of how Lerant had lingered over Dom, and Dom's help and friendship, and it all made a crystallising sort of sense to her. Of course Lerant would say or do nothing about it, with his Eldorne pride and prickly insecurity...
"And that's it, my Lady. You can take the gown off now. Lady Kel?"
Kel snapped out of her reverie. "Oh, yes, thank you." She stepped down and stepped behind the dressing screen.
"It's my job."
Kel passed the dress over the screen and began pulling on her breeches. "Not just the dress. For the talk. Things are much clearer, now."
"Well, I'm glad I if I can ever help my Lady."
Kel stepped back round the screen. She smiled, warmth and purpose in her eyes.
"I can see how to help my friends, now."