As always I had woken up early. The sun was barely visible from the east, the sky stained with oranges, reds and purples. Dawn, my favourite time of the day, a time when I could walk around while most people where still asleep. Slipping on my robes and boots I exited my room, tying my hair up into a neat knot. Making my way down the stairs I walked through the empty entrance and out the front door. The cold morning air stung my warm face, the white frost that coated everything crunched beneath my feet. The rain from last night had stopped, but the dark clouds brewing above promised more. I just hoped that they would hold off until at least late afternoon. Entering the baths I noticed for the first time in a while I was starting to feel excited.

The guards at the guild gates bowed as I passed, glancing at each other. They obviously did not recognise me, but then how could they; I had hardily ever left the guild grounds. I had spent the morning revising after my trip to the baths. Time had seemed to take ten times longer to pass than normal; it appeared to be doing that a lot recently. I made my way quickly through the inner circle while the flamboyant, ornately dresses people of the houses stared in both awe and respect, bowing to me as I travelled by. Tall, grand houses lined the streets, their white marble surfaces immaculate. Gold and jewel encrusted carriages with the different houses crests embedded in their sides glided past. They were pulled by only the finest thoroughbred horses, which where primed to perfection.

Things quickly changed as I pasted the Northern gates into the Northern Quarter. The gazes of awe and respect rapidly changed to suspicion, even in some cases hate as I made my way deeper into the Quarter. Ducking into one of the side alleys between two rundown, wooden houses I pulled a folded cloak from the inside of my robes. It was the same cloak I had brought off of a servant girl when visiting Jonna, Ranel and my cousin for the first time. Slipping it around my shoulders I pulled the hood down low, making sure my robes where not visible before returning back to the open street.

Now hidden in the folds of the cloak I felt more at ease. The people around me no longer noticed me, instead their gazes slid over me just seeing me as another member of the crowd, like them. As the buildings became closer together, the condition of the streets and the people walking along them decreased. I was suddenly glad for my thick, sturdy, leather boots that the guild provided. I found myself grimacing when I saw people walking around bare footed, even though I had once done exactly the same.

Five minutes later I reached the Turn off I had been looking for; it was halfway down what appeared to be a normal alley. A gap only big enough to fit down sideways was set in the wall, so cleverly that unless you knew exactly where it was you could look all day and never find it. Glancing in both directions I saw no one, so turned on my side shuffling roughly ten meters along. The walls where so close that they brushed against my front and back, no light was visible rendering me blind, but increasing my other senses. I did not like the claustrophobic feeling; therefore I was relived when the pressure on my front disappeared. I jumped, the rush of wind as I fell whipped my cloak around me, it was an odd sensation falling when you couldn't see. My feet came into contact hard with the ground, sending shocks up my legs even though I bent my knees. Bracing my hand on the side wall I steadied myself, this passageway was big enough to walk facing forwards down. I continued down to the end, before turning on my side to go down a gap like the first one, except unlike the other one, three quarters of the way down their branched off a lit up passage. Taking this branch I walked eight paces down before turning and walking through a seemingly solid wooden wall.

I blinked, looking at the small square courtyard surrounded by houses of grandeur not unlike those of the inner circle. I smiled; this was the slums equivalent of what the palace was like for the inner circle, the only catch being only a selective few knew about this place. It was not the grand houses on top that mattered, no they where just a decoy, it was what was underneath them and who they held that mattered.

The houses where made of a special black stone that was harvested from within certain sections of the Lonmar deserts. Pillars ran round the edge of the court holding up canopy's, one of which I was standing under, they were made of the same stone as the houses. Each pillar was engraved with symbols, some old, some new, but I did not pause to read them. Seating areas had been arranged and a few where occupied, though I did not recognise any of them. Perfectly kept rose bushes could be seen dotted around. Even though we were in the midst of winter their leaves where a dark, healthy green and the blood, red roses in full bloom. That was the way they always where, constant splashes of colour among the black. Even the floor was made from the black stone.

But it was as I turned my attention to the water fountain in the centre of the court that I saw Del. She was leaning against one of the statues adjoined to the fountain. It was a she the statue, a water nymph, so skilfully crafted that she looked like she would start walking and talking any second. The same went for the rest of the fountains sculptures, made up of every mythical creature imaginable, it was both enchanting, beautiful and terrifying all at the same time. Walking towards Delafay I smiled when I saw her face light up as she caught sight of me.

"Sonea, are you ok, your two minutes late!" she exclaimed walking forward.

"Nice to see you to, I'm fine, not everyone can be perfectly on time all the time like you," I said.

"Sorry," she said hugging me in greeting, "I was beginning to worry your guardian had not let you out."

"He dose not know I left, if he asks I'll say I was visiting Jonna, Ranel and my cousin," I said.

Del frowned, "You don't trust him?"

"No," I replied.

"Good," she muttered.

"What do you mean 'good'?" I asked.

"I don't like him," she said looking up at me.

I laughed, "You have never met him, so how can you not like him?"

"I don't need to have met him, I've heard enough about him," she said seriously.

I frowned, "like what?"

"It does not matter," her serious expression changed to a smile.

"Do you want to go get your dress now?" she said glancing towards one of the houses, whose first floor had been converted into a shop.

"OK," I said letting the subject slide as she pulled me excitedly towards the shop.

"You have not met this designer before, his new, but he has already become renowned for his dresses, I showed him an image of you, also I gave him the colours he could choose from and he said he would have a dress ready for you now," she grinned up at me.

He must be good, Del very rarely becomes excited over a designer, but then when she does they always turn out the best.

I closed the door behind me as Del skipped forward and tapped a small, silver bell that rested on a dark, mahogany counter along the far wall. Clothes lined the walls; the majority of them dresses, some where on racks while other, more impressive works where displayed on their own. From what I could see his work truly was extraordinary. A set of sofas were set in a circle in the middle of the room, their frames made from the same wood as the counter and the front was wrapped with a deep, scarlet velvet material.

"Hello?" A male's voice from behind a curtain at the back of the room said. A head popped round from the edge of the curtain.

"Ah, Delafay," he said glancing at me, "hold on a second and I'll fetch the dress."

Then he was gone again, his head disappearing back round the curtain.

Not long later he returned, whipping open the curtain behind which a corridor of doors could be seen, in his arms he held something red.

"Red, correct me if I'm wrong but isn't a bridesmaid usually seen in gold or black?" I whispered to Del as quietly as possible as she tugged me forward into the room.

"Yes, but I don't want to be like everyone else, so I choose different colours and it looks like he choose red out of them," she replied.

I turned back to the designer. He was tall with light brown hair, enchanting grey eyes and a friendly smile. He wore a loose, black short sleeved shirt, black trousers, leather boots and a white tape measure was slung around his shoulders. He was muscular but not overly so, like most men in this place.

He walked over to me and kissed both my cheeks.

"You must be Sonea, my name is Raphael."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," I replied.

He then turned and kissed both of Dels cheeks and they exchanged greetings.

"I can't wait to see what the dress looks like on her," said Del.

Raphael handed me the red material and pointed towards the curtain.

"Just go though there and pick any door on the left."

I looked at myself in the mirror the room provided. I wore a floor length silk, red dress, it was strapless and the material hugged my upper body, before falling freely splitting halfway down my right thigh. Gold links ran down the centre of my upper body, thousands of tiny, thin flowers all joined together in intricate patterns. The material on either side gathered, joined to it by small gold clips that could not be seen from the outside. Patches of my skin could be seen underneath the gold, but not too much as to make me feel uncomfortable.

I twirled once watching the small circle of fabric that trailed at my feet flutter. I liked it.

"Sonea, come on you can't still be changing, I want to see," called Del from outside my door.

"Ok," I called, feeling slightly self-conscious as I walked out of the room; it had been so long since I had worn anything but my robes.

Del squealed when she saw me, clapping her hands, "It looks beautiful on you," she exclaimed, "you look stunning."

"Thank you," I mumbled, blushing.

Looking at Raphael I saw him evaluating me, thinking.

"One minute," he said, walking past me into one of the rooms on the right.

I looked at Del, she shrugged.

After a while he came back out of the room, shoes in one hand and a box in the other.

He handed the shoes to me, "put these on."

I did as he said putting on the pair of small, wooden and red stain shoes.

He smiled, "now that is better than those horrible guild boots, no offence."

"None taken," I replied.

Opening the box he turned it towards me, inside was a variety of different styles of clips all designed in the same way as the golden flowers on my dress.

"I can not put these on you now, but when you have your hair styled for the wedding have these added."

I smiled at him, "I will, thank you for designing this dress for me."

"No problem," he said, flashing me a smile, "it's good to see you finally wearing it though."

"Oh, now I just can not wait to see what you have done for my dresses," said Del.

"You're going to try your dresses on today?" I asked.

"I'm afraid she can not, I have not finished them." replied Raphael.

Del pouted.

"Sonea unless you want to go back out into the slums and ruin your dress I suggest you go and change," called Del as she turned towards the counter, where Raphael was working out the amount due.

I nodded, turning back towards the changing room.

Once back outside in the courtyard Del turned to me, "I can look after the dress until the wedding if you want."

I looked down at the neatly wrapped parcel in my arms; I suppose if she kept it there was no chance of anyone finding it at the residence.

"That sounds like a good idea," I said.

Del clapped her hands and a servant appeared out of no where. Talking rapidly to him in another language she pointed towards the parcel in my arms, I handed it to him. Bowing to us he turned and vanished again. I raised my eyebrows at Del, she shrugged.

'What, I've grown older and in the process gained more influence, now do you want to go out and find some food?"

After we had made our way out the way I had come in, we hunted down Dels favourite sandwich restaurant. For someone so small I had no idea how she managed to eat so much. We browsed through the busy markets, blending in with everyone else but finding nothing of interest or worth buying. It was late afternoon by now and the clouds above seemed to be becoming darker, a sign that we were going to have to part ways soon and start making our ways back to our separate homes. It was as we where walking down one of the side alleys, a shortcut, that Del suddenly broke of talking mid sentence, head snapping to the side. I only had the chance to catch a glance of the force strike roaring towards us. It hit the messy shield Del had hurriedly thrown up around us, the force of the strike made us stagger, my hood falling down. Dels shield wavered as she tried to refocus; I quickly added my own magic to the shield, looking around for our attacker. My eyes zeroed in on a figure stepping out of the shadows. Locking eyes with the figure I felt myself freeze in shock, it was the High Lord. I saw the shock reflect in his eyes as he recognised me. Snapping his eyes to Del for a second he turned his attention quickly back to me, his gaze was worried as he looked at me, shield still strong around him. Holding out his hand to me he said, "Sonea, come here now."

I frowned, if I moved he would attack Del.

"No," I replied, voice firm.