Chapter Seventeen:
The next day, after Apple and Raven had woken, and then got ready for the day ahead they made their way down to breakfast. Apple grabbed her food, and made her way over to where Ella, Hunter and Briar were sitting together eating their breakfast. Raven meanwhile had chosen her food, she then made her way over to where Kitty, Maddie and Darling are sitting together eating their breakfast.
"Good morning!" Raven said to them cheerfully.
The three of them looked up at Raven, Kitty shot her one of her wide Cheshire cat grins, Maddie smiled at her in a friendly while and Darling's eyes were full of joy and love as she smiled at Raven.
When Raven had put her food down on the table, Darling quickly got to her feet and held her hands out to her. Without hesitation Raven put her hands into Darling's, she leant into Raven and kissed her lovingly on the forehead. "Good morning my lady princess."
Raven kissed her on the cheek before she said softly to Darling. "Good morning to you my Charming lady knight."
"Awww." Maddie said with her hands clasped together and a huge smile on her face. "You two are even cuter a whole litter of baby white bunnies!"
Raven and Darling both blushed a little, but did not refute Maddie's words, they released each other's hands, sat down and started to eat their food.
"Do you have anything planned for your free morning?" Maddie asked Raven conversationally.
"Apple and I are planning to go into book end to see if we can find me some new clothes." Raven told Maddie without hesitation.
"That sounds like a tip top idea!" The daughter of the mad hatter enthused.
Kitty looked at Raven and said to her in a firm, but kind voice. "Just make sure you don't let Apple dissuade you from purchasing anything you really like."
"I promise I'll make sure that I won't let Apple convince me not to buy anything that I really like." Raven assured her in a determined voice.
"Good I am glad to hear it." Kitty said to her approvingly.
"I look forwards to seeing what you manage to find." Darling told Raven in a light hearted voice, as she was delighted by the idea of seeing Raven dressed in more of her new clothing style.
Raven shot Darling a smile. "As do I…It should be an interesting experience to shop for lighter and more…princess like clothing."
"I am sure Apple will know plenty of places for you to try shopping in." Darling assured Raven.
Raven nodded to her. "Yes, she will do."
When Darling and Raven had finished breakfast, Darling turned to Raven and addressed her. "Might I have a kiss before I head to class?"
Raven quickly agreed to this. "Of course."
A moment later Raven gently brought her lips to Darling's. The moment she did so happiness and pleasure flooded through her and Raven sighed in delight. Darling hummed in enjoyment, while at the same time she returned this kiss.
Well aware they were in public, and that many people were watching them, Raven and Darling were careful not to get carried away or spend to long kissing. So it was that after just a few moments Raven and Darling broke the kiss and shared a loving smile.
"I love you my Charming lady knight." Raven said in a soft loving voice.
"And I love you my lady princess." Darling said in turn, before taking her hands into hers, then lifting each one to her lips and kissing the back of them. "Will you hext me later with pictures of what you find this morning?"
Raven nodded too Darling saying as she did so. "If I find anything that I like and buy, I'll make sure to hext you pictures of them."
"Thank you, my love." Darling said gratefully, before she let out a deep sigh and then said to Raven sadly. "I wish I could come with you today, but I have to get to class now."
These words drew a wistful sigh from Raven too. "It would have been lovely to have you with me. Hopefully we can go shopping for clothes together next time."
"I would love that." Darling said smiling softly at Raven.
Raven returned her smile. "Well then, that will give us both something to look forwards to."
"Indeed, it will." Darling agreed without a moment of hesitation, before she slowly got to her feet. "I'll look forwards to hearing from you soon then."
Raven smiled up at Darling and said to her. "Well in that case, I really hope to have something to send to you."
Darling gathered up her tray, she went to the drop off area, sorted it out, then made her way to the castletearia door, before she left though, Darling looked back, she smiled and waved at Raven, who quickly did the same in return.
A few moments after Darling had left Kitty and Maddie headed off to class. Raven bid them farewell and then finished her own food, before dealing with her tray and hexting to Apple that she would meet her in the courtyard outside the school doors.
Apple replied just a moment later, telling Raven she would come and join her soon, as she was just talking to Briar about the party. Whilst reading this text Raven made her way outside, she went down the stairs into the courtyard before the school, she stood at the bottom of the stairs facing the school's doors and waiting for Apple to arrive.
Sure enough, a short while later Apple had sent her message to Raven, Apple came out of the school doors, she spotted Raven at the bottom of the stairs, she smiled widely at her and waved cheerfully to Raven.
Raven smiled and waved back to her. When Apple reached Raven's side, she addressed her cheerfully. "Right let's get going!"
With a nod of agreement Raven set off towards book end. Apple walked alongside Raven and as they walked, she said conversationally. "Are you looking forwards to trying the dresses?"
"I'm a little nervous actually, also I told Darling I was looking for new things for my wardrobe, so now I need to find some things to show her too." Raven told her with a clearly nervous voice.
Apple quickly set about reassuring the witch. "I am sure that we will be able to find you some clothes for your new wardrobe in Enchanted Attic. We can take a good look around the store after we look at the dresses."
"That sounds like a good plan." Raven agreed, while she gave Apple a nod of the head.
When they reached the store Apple made her way inside first, and Raven followed her inside. As the door had opened it had caused the bell over the top of the door to ring.
A moment later the shop keeper came bustling up to them, she smiled at them and said cheerfully. "Hello ladies, how can I help you both?"
"I have some dresses put aside, under the name of Apple White." Apple told her.
The shop assistant nodded to her. "Ah yes, I have five of them. Where they for you?"
Quickly Apple shook her head and gestured to Raven. "No, they are for my friend Raven and we need to keep the search for the dress quiet please."
The lady nodded to her saying to Apple in a serious voice. "I understand you wish for this to be secret and promise not to say anything or anyone." The shop keeper turned to Raven and then addressed her. "Well then shall I show you the dresses now?"
Raven was so glad to hear that the shop keeper was going to keep her visit to the shop for the dress to herself. "Yes please."
"I have the dresses in the back, let me take you to the fitting area and then I will go and get the dresses for you." The lady told them as she gestured for them to follow her into the store.
Apple and Raven, followed her into the store, when they reached the fitting area Apple and Raven sat down on the plush seats and waited for the store keeper to go and get the dresses.
When the lady returned with the dresses, she hung them on a rail to one side of the room, then drew out the first dress which was a deep forest green velvet, it was a floor length dress, it had long sleeves and square neckline. Both the sleeves and the neckline were edged in golden Celtic knot trim.
Raven looked at the dress. "I'm not sure that the colour of green is going to suite me…"
"Why don't you just hold it against you and look at it in the mirror." The shop assistant suggested.
With a nod Raven took the dress, she held it up against her and looked over at the mirror. The moment she saw herself, Raven wrinkled up her nose, she really felt that this colour of green didn't suit her at all. "I really don't think so." Raven said softly.
"I agree." Apple said with a nod of her head.
The lady took the dress from Raven and then brought over the next dress, it was cream, it had long floaty skirts, a small scoop neck and long sleeves with points onto the back of the hands. "Hm cream might work." Apple said in a soft voice. "It will make you look even paler than normal and make your hair look darker."
"It might look good on me, but I worry that it might look rather bridal…I don't want anyone thinking this is some kind of wedding." Raven explained to them.
"That is understandable." The lady told Raven kindly and took this dress away. She returned a few moments later with a long, royal purple dress. "This one might be a better colour for you."
"Yes purple does tend to suite me…I was hoping for another colour to ware really, but I'll try this one on." Raven said accepting it from the lady and going into the changing cubical.
A few moments later Raven returned from the changing room, the dress fitted well, the long tight sleeves made her arms look long and elegant, the neck was square again and this time the dress was decorated with silver edging.
"That really does look lovely on you." Apple told her with a smile.
Raven looked at herself in the nearby mirror, she smiled slowly and then let out a deep sigh. "Yes…I do look nice in this, but I'd really like to ware something which isn't purple for this special event."
"I think that the next dress, would suite you well too and it's not purple." The shop keeper told Raven, she went over to where the dresses were and lifted up the next one. The moment she lifted it the dress shimmered in the light, it was a beautiful silver dress, it had long skirts again, the neckline was square, the sleeves were well fitted, but over them lay silver bell sleeves.
"Oh my…" Apple said in a soft awed voice.
Raven nodded her agreement to Apple's words and then said to the lady. "It's a beautiful dress…Can I try it on?"
"Of course, you may." The shop assistant assured her, handing the dress over to Raven.
Raven accepted the dress, a short while later she came out of the room. As soon as Apple saw Raven she gasped, she clasped her hands together and a light of joy shone in her eyes. "Oh Raven! You look so beautiful! Like you just stepped out of the Arthurian tales."
Blushing slightly Raven looked at herself in the nearby mirror and slowly smiled widely. "I love this dress!"
"It looks perfect on you." Apple told her honestly.
"I'm buying this dress." Raven said firmly to the shop keeper.
She smiled and nodded to her. "Of course. Can I help you ladies with anything else today?"
Raven and Apple shook their heads in answer to this and Apple said to her. "No thank you, we will just brows of the store to see if there is anything else we might like to buy."
"Of course. I shall start packing the dress at the counter." The shop keeper told them before bustling away from them with the dress.
Raven and Apple then started to walk around the store looking at various things. After a while Raven spotted a dress on a hanger, it was a black current purple decorated with small white flowers, it had a belled skirt which fell to her knees, with a small single ruff around the hem at the bottom, it had a square neck line, with thick straps over the shoulders. Raven could see it looking adorable with a white or different colour purple shirt with puffed sleeves under it and it would be wonderful for her to ware to Maddie's tea parties or for warm weather.
She grabbed the dress off of the rack and then looked around for some kind of shirt to go under the dress. After looking for a little while in the shirts across the way from the dresses Raven spotted a lighter purple shirt on another rack of clothing, it had a white polka dot pattern on it with short puffed sleeves. Raven scooped it up and placed it over her arm, just as she had the dress.
Just as Raven was going to move on from this section of the shop, she took one last look around to see if she missed anything and spotted part of a skirt poking out between two dresses. The skirt was white, but what had really drawn her attention was the embroidery of icy blue feathers and light lavender.
Quickly Raven crossed the room, she parted the two dresses either side of the dress and her eyes widened, this embroidered pattern of feathers was done in such a way that it looked as if the feathers were floating across the fabric, this was a floor length dress with a off the shoulder's neckline and lovely little sleeves of white gossamer fabric.
Without any hesitation Raven took this dress and added it to her other two items. Smiling to herself Raven went looking for Apple to see if she had found her anything else which she might like to add to these finds. It didn't take Raven long to find Apple, and from the fact that Apple held nothing, Raven concluded that she had not found anything for her.
"I found a few items I want to buy!" Raven announced to her cheerfully.
"Great!" Apple enthused coming to meet Raven.
Raven showed her finds to Apple. "Oh, their all lovely!" Apple gushed.
A wide smile spread over Raven's face as Apple complimented her choices. "I'm glad you like them too. Let's head to the front to pay."
Side by side Apple and Raven made their way over to till at the front of the shop. When they arrived Raven placed her finds onto the counter, she smiled at the shop keeper. "I'd like to purchase these too."
"Of course." The lady said, before she took off the prices, folded them and placed the clothes in a separate bag from the dress. She rang the purchases up, told Raven the total, the witch paid for them, she picked up the two bags with her magic and then turned to Apple. "Where to next?"
"To find your crown! For that we need to go to Filigree!" Apple told Raven cheerfully as she led her through Book end to the store.
As they came inside the store, a dwarf appeared over the top of the counter where the till was, he smiled widely at Apple, then noticed Raven and frowned with confusion. "Good morning princess Apple. Why is miss Queen here with you?"
She smiled at him and answered this question in a firm but kind voice. "Good morning Witty. Princess Raven Good King is with me because I am assisting her in the purchase of a new crown."
As Apple told Witty this, the mouth of the swarf dropped open in shock. The sight of this expression on his face caused Raven to have to desperately try and hold in laughter which wanted to escape her.
"Princess Raven Good King?" He asked rhetorically.
"Yes, what is it?" Raven said pretending Witty was asking her something.
The dwarf staired at her for a few moments, his mouth opened and closed for a few moments, before Witty coughed, forcefully pulled himself together and then addressed Raven. "What kind of crown where you hoping to find?"
Raven hums thoughtfully for a moment, and then answered the question. "I was trying to find something which would not look out of place for a princess in the legend of King Arthur."
Witty gave her a nod of understanding, before asking her. "What kind of metal were you looking for? We have gold, silver, white gold, rose gold or platinum."
"Platinum if possible." Raven told him without any hesitation.
"Crowns of that period were usually without any kinds of gem stones." Witty said conversationally as he opened the counter, the dwarf led them over to the store and gestured towards the display in one corner of the store saying as he did so. "These are the crowns which would be closest to those of that period."
Raven looked into the display, they were all beautiful, but her gaze was instantly drawn to one in platinum, which was a full circle crown with spender points spaced around it and would suite her dress perfectly. "May I look at that one?" Raven asked Witty pointing to it.
"Of course." He assured her, before opening the case, Witty then carefully drew the crown out of the display case and then held it out towards her.
Raven carefully accepted it from him, she took the time to check the crown and was pleased to see it was perfect. "Yes, this is perfect. May I try it just to see how I would look waring it?" Raven asked him in a soft voice.
Witty nodded to her. "Yes, of course you can."
Carefully Raven took her head pieces off. "Would you mind holding these for me Apple?"
"Of course, I don't mind." Apple assured her as she accepted Raven's head pieces from her.
Raven placed the crown onto her head, she then looked to Apple and asked. "What do you think?"
"Oh, Raven it looks wonderful on you! It's going to go perfectly with the dress! Apple gushed in a sincere voice.
"Would you like a mirror?" Witty asked Raven kindly.
Raven nodded to him. "Yes please."
Witty went back over to the main counter, he picked up a large hand mirror and brought it over to Raven. Raven accepted it from him, saying gratefully as she did so. "Thank you Witty."
Raven looked at herself in the mirror and she had to admit that it really did suite her. "I love it…" Raven said in a soft and happy voice.
She handed the mirror back to Witty, who took it back to the counter. While he was doing this Raven took the crown back off and when the dwarf returned to them, she held it out to Witty saying as she did so. "I will purchase this. Thank you."
"Thank you for purchasing our work." Witty said as they made their way over to the counter.
Raven smiled at him as she paid and said to Witty. "It's wonderful work and top quality. I'll make sure to leave the store an excellent review."
"Thank you, princess Raven." He said to her as he carefully packed her crown into specially made box, placed it into a bag and handed it to her.
Raven accepted the bag from him, by lifting up with her magic. "Thank you Witty."
Together Apple and Raven left the store, with the three bags floating alongside Raven as they made their way back to the school. They walk along together in silence for a few moments before Raven said to her. "Do you think we could find a way to work the language of flowers into the knighting somehow?"
Apple hummed thoughtfully, she turned the idea over in her head thinking about how this might be possible and eventually said in a thoughtful voice. "Well, you could present Darling with a meaningful bunch after the knighting, but that is a little outside of tradition…But that doesn't have to be a bad thing, especially if the flowers were a both a representation of the qualities the knight is supposed to have and your love."
As Apple suggested this Raven nodded, then an idea came to her and she asked in an excited and thrilled voice. "How about instead of presenting Darling with the bouquet of flowers at the end of her knighting I present her with a flower and say the meaning as I go, for example accept these Oak branches to show your bravery?"
Apple clapped her hands together; her eyes fill with delight and says in excitement. "That would be wonderful and very original!"
"Good let's see I'll need, Oak branches, Juniper branches, Helichrysum, Red Verbena, Fennel, Monk's Hood, Gloxinia and Mahonia…That should be all I need." Raven said when she came to the end of her list.
Apple smiled at Raven, she was so glad to see her enjoying herself and she was taking great pleasure in helping Raven with her plans. "I won't ask what it means now, but I look forwards to hearing what they mean on the day of the knighting."
"Thank you. I'll need to stop by the florist on the way back and order any flowers that I need to from them." Raven told Apple.
After consulting her mirror phone Apple addressed Raven. "That's no problem we have time before we need to get back."
"Great!" Raven enthused.
So it was that Raven and Apple stopped in the florist shop, she ordered what she needed for her bunch of flowers and made sure that all the flowers would be ready to be picked up on the Saturday morning, when they would be picked up by Cerise.
After this Apple and Raven made their way back to the school, when they got back to the dorm room, Raven carefully placed the dress and the crown in her cupboard with a spell on them so Darling wouldn't be able to find them by accident.
Raven the spread her new clothes on the bed and sent a picture of them to Darling on her mirror phone. A few moments later Darling hexted her back, telling her how lovely the clothes were and that she couldn't wait to see Raven ware them.
Raven thanked her for the complement and told her that she too couldn't wait to have a reason to ware these new clothes. She then asked Darling how her plans were coming along for her birthday Saturday.
Darling answered that she was planning to spend the morning after breakfast with her brothers and parents, she would have lunch and then if it was alright with her, in the afternoon they could spend some time together, maybe even go out and do something together.
Raven assured her she had no objections to any of those plans and ask if she could at some point later in the week let her know what time to expect her after lunch. Raven told her that that she only wanted a rough time so that she could look for something for them to do for the afternoon.
Darling answered that the meal was usually over by twelve thirty, so if she said they could meet up by one o'clock that should give her time to see her parents off, have some lunch and make her way to meet her.
Raven agrees this sounds like plenty of time and then Raven tells Darling that she now knew a rough time she will look around to see if there was a movie for them to go and see together.
Darling messages Raven back saying that sounds like a wonderful idea, she couldn't wait to see what movie Raven would choose for them to watch.
Raven tells Darling to have a wonderful day and that she loves her dearly. Darling replies wishing her a delightful day and that she loves her with all her heart and can't wait to see her the next day at breakfast.
