Rifiuto: Non Miriena

Written: 2005 Found: 2017- Licia

The shopkeeper gave the young couple a strange look when they first entered the shop, but upon Fiyero's request to see the dress, he removed it from the mannequin and allowed Fae to try it on. Once she had it on, she turned towards the mirror, and gasped softly.

She'd never seen anything so beautiful in her life, and now she was wearing it. Despite the pink flounces, the dress itself was very pretty; it hugged her slight curves and the short sleeves stopped at just below her shoulders. The dropped waist of the dress settled on her hips, and the skirt fell to just above her knees. After a moment, she pushed the curtain aside and stepped out of the dressing room, to find Fiyero studying an emerald green cloche hat with a black ribbon around the brim that ended in a bow on the left side.

She softly cleared her throat, and he turned, his study forgotten as his gaze fell on Fae.

His mouth dropped as she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, a blush appearing on her pretty cheeks. The dress certainly did wonders for the girl, who, at first meeting, had seemed like such an ugly duckling. Perhaps it was the clothing she had worn; they didn't exactly do her wonders, and even though they were the only things she possessed, they were about the homeliest things he'd ever seen on a woman. But this dress...

"Wow. You... you look..."

"Is it that bad?" She asked, glancing down at the dress.

"No, no! Not at all! It's very... it looks... I mean... it... it looked very nice on the mannequin, but... but it looks even better on you." He swallowed, seeing her blush, and wondered why she didn't blush more often. "You... you should..." He wrung his cap in his hands, stepping closer to her. "You should try it on. You really should." Her blush deepened, before she met his gaze, a wiry smile tugging at her lips.

"I am trying it on."

It was his turn to blush as he realized his mistake, and he quickly turned his gaze away; it landed on the hat he'd been looking at earlier. "Right. I... I knew that, I... I just meant..." Quickly, he went over and picked the hat up off the shelf and held it out to her. "I meant that... that you should try it on with this." He held out the hat, and after a moment of studying it, she took it, glancing at him before trying the hat on and looking up at him.

"Well? What do you think?"

His eyes widened; besides the black boots she wore- which she'd probably had since her time at the orphanage- the hat really helped to pull the entire look together. She seemed to have the striking looks of the flappers that were said to spend their nights partying at the clubs in the Emerald City. She was certainly a beauty.

"I think... I think you should get it."

A blush crept back into her cheeks, and she quickly retreated to the dressing room, pulling the curtain in front of her. "I can't. A dress like this is far too expensive, and it's meant for someone much higher in life's station than me." She slowly undressed, a slight twinge of sadness filling her as she took off the dress and returned it to the hanger before returning to her regular clothes. Her fingers grazed wistfully over the dress one last time, before she grabbed her things and pulled back the curtain. She nodded to the shopkeeper, who came to collect the dress and return it to the mannequin.

"You looked quite striking in that dress, Miss. Shall I ring it up for you and your husband?"

A startled look crossed her face momentarily before she remembered that she and Fiyero were indeed married, and shook her head. "No thank you. We can't afford something like that." And without another word, she left the shop, but Fiyero stayed behind for a moment. He'd seen the dejected look on her face, and decided that maybe he could make up slightly for talking her into this marriage.

"Excuse me, sir, but how much is that dress?"

The shop owner quickly studied the dress for several minutes. "One hundred, but since that dress has been sitting in the window for the last eleven months... if you really want that dress for your wife, then I can get it down to about... fifty?" Fiyero raised an eyebrow, surprised that a dress of that quality would be sold for such a low price.

The shopkeeper chuckled softly. "That dress was made before the Fliaanian revolution. It was brought here with one of the royal refugees when they fled the country; the woman sold it to me because she needed money. I tried selling it not long after I bought it, but it wouldn't sell. I haven't been able to sell it since. I don't think people are in the mood for dresses of that type- at least, not out here in Nest Hardings. Perhaps in the City, but not out here, where people struggle to get by."

The younger man bit his lower lip, realizing that the older man was speaking about members of the Fliaanian royal family. "My wife and I are going to the Emerald City for our honeymoon. I think that dress would be perfect for her."

The shopkeeper carried the dress to the counter, and rang it up; Fiyero rushed back and grabbed the hat he'd had Fae try on with the dress earlier. In total, the entire purchase came to roughly sixty dollars; it was evident that things once belonging to the Fliaanian royals were no longer hot sells- perhaps after the revolution, but now, ten years later? Clearly not. As he accepted the bag with the boxes in it, he gave the older man a soft nod.

"Congratulations on your marriage." He gave the older man a quick smile as he existed the shop. Fae, by then, had wandered a little further down the street, and he quickly made sure to hide the boxes behind his back as he caught up with her. With a soft nod, they continued down the street, finally reaching the old, abandoned Corn Exchange.