Hanni pulled out a dress from the closet that she hadn't had the heart to destroy with manual labor – it was a deep, elegant burgundy that left her shoulders completely bare, but wrapped around her chest fashionably with thin, flowing sleeves that draped around her elbows and obscured her bruise. She knew that the shopkeepers had chosen her clothing, neither she nor her master really specifying anything beyond "presentable," but of all the random dresses they had given her, this was the most elegant. She slipped it over her body, enjoying the feeling of the silky material against her freshly washed skin. Other than the cheap necklace she had arrived with, which would not match her dress, Hanni had no jewelry. She pulled her hair up into a bun and clipped it with the mock-gold pin she had also brought with her with before leaving her room to join her master in the main hall.
He was dressed impeccably as always, this time wearing black pants, a long-sleeved shirt that matched and a scarlet vest, his shoulders festooned with a golden cape that fell to the small of his back. A chain of black gold hung about his neck and rested against his stomach, with a large, round gem the color of Hanni's dress in the middle of an ornate setting. His hair was done in the usual style, as was his makeup, which covered the dark circles under his eyes.
She approached him cautiously, feeling suddenly quite under-dressed, but he said nothing, only inspecting her up and down as he walked around her. He reached up and unbound her hair, tossing the flimsy hairpin aside and procuring several black ones seemingly out of nowhere. Hanni stood still as he ran his fingers through her hair and bound it back up again, this time more carefully than she had done. He moved a thick lock of hair from the top of her head and let it hang loosely to her shoulder, curling softly all the way down, framing her face elegantly. Tivan stood back to admire his work, but something suddenly occurred to him and he reached up around his own neck and unhooked the black gold necklace, placing it against Hanni's chest and wrapping the excess part of the chain around her neck to form a sort of collar or second loop, allowing the gem to rest against her breastbone at the perfect height. She smiled at him in gratitude, preparing to follow him out the door, but he held his elbow out to her.
"If I am to show you off tonight, you must look like more than a slave," he said.
You make me feel like I am sometimes, she thought, but kept it to herself, taking his elbow instead and walking alongside him to wherever he would lead her.