Chapter 26: Clothes Shopping
Nimbrethil was a little perturbed that the other girls had wanted to come shopping with her and Shandra, for she knew that they would try to talk her into wearing a dress. They hadn't even reached the shop yet, and already the others were putting forth their reasons on why she should wear one. They also talked about things like makeup and perfume and that almost made her turn around and flee back to her room at the Flagon. She was a wood elf, a hunter and tracker, more at home in the woods than anywhere else. She did not wear makeup or perfume! This was going to be a nightmare, she knew it.
They reached the shop and Shandra went to find the proprieter while Neeshka and Elanee started going through the dresses. They started pulling various ones off the racks and holding them up to show her. When Neeshka showed her a low cut, split skirt, emerald green dress she couldn't keep the look of horror off her face. It looked like something a prostitute would wear. Elanee saw her face and scolded Neeshka, starting an argument between the two.
Shandra came back with the proprieter, an effeminate looking man dressed in garishly colored clothes. She saw that Nimbrethil was hovering near the door looking like she was about to bolt, and quickly moved to grab her hand and pull her towards the changing area. It wasn't easy because the girl was resisting with every muscle in her body, but finally she got her to the room and told her to sit on the couch while the proprieter brought a suitable selection for her to try.
Nimbrethil sat on the edge of the couch trying not to fidget, wishing she was anywhere else but here. Right now she would rather face a horde of orcs by herself than this. The little man came back with several selections, followed by the others carrying all kinds of pants, shirts, skirts, blouses and dresses. "I told you I won't wear a dress!" she snapped at them.
"I know, we heard you the first time and the time after that, and so on and so on," Neeshka snorted. "At least try a couple on, it won't mean you have to buy one."
"I rarely wear a dress myself," Elanee told her. "However, sometimes it is necessary so I grin and bear it."
"Just try a couple on and see how you look," Shandra coaxed her. "You might find that it's not as bad as you think it is."
"Besides, men absolutely fall to pieces over a pretty girl in a dress," Neeshka grinned.
"This is for the trial, not some kind of social event," NImbrethil growled. "I don't socialize and I certainly don't want any man falling at my feet."
"Not even Bishop?" Elanee asked with a small smile and saw her flush and look down at her feet. "Now, let us get to trying on some clothes, shall we?"
Nimbrethil scowled at them, but got up to begin trying on some clothes. She ignored every dress they showed her and instead focused on the pants and shirts that had been brought. They tried getting her to go for some brighter colors but she refused, choosing instead browns, tans, and greens. Finally, after what seemed like forever, she settled on a fine emerald green silk shirt and chocolate brown light wool slacks.
"Why don't you want to wear a dress for this? You would look so delicate in one," Neeshka puzzled.
"That's precisely the reason," Nimbrethil answered. "A dress hampers your movement, it makes you vulnerable."
"Gods Nim you'll be in a courtroom," Shandra threw her hands up in exasperation. "No one is allowed to have weapons inside it, so there's no danger of being attacked." Then she turned and stomped away.
"So you say, but at least in slacks I can wear my boots," Nimbrehtil retorted loudly at her retreating back. "I can hide a couple of daggers in them just in case."
"You're being paranoid," Neeshka snorted. "The only ones who will have weapons are the royal guards and they certainly aren't going to attack you."
"I want you to try this one dress," Shandra came back into the room. "Please, for me?" Seeing that Nim was still reluctant she decided to try bribery. "Tell you what. If you try on this dress, I'll try one of those more exotic creatures you talked about. Deal?" she held out the dress and waited.
Nimbrethil eyed the garment and saw that it was a golden brown colored silk one with emerald green stitching across it. She looked at Shandra and could tell that putting on the dress would mean a great deal to the farmer. Refusing to examine why making Shandra happy was important, she scowled and nodded. Taking the dress, she went behind the screen to change. When she put it on, she found that she couldn't reach all the tiny buttons down the back and growled in frustration, causing Shandra to come behind the screen to see what was wrong.
Biting her lip to keep from laughing at the disgruntled expression on the girl's face, she quickly fastened all the buttons and then smoothed the dress into place. Taking Nim by the hand, she led her out from behind the screen and over to a mirror. "Go on and look," she told her. She stepped back next to the other girls and waited.
Nimbrethil lifted her head and looked at her image in the mirror. The dress had long, slightly billowy sleeves and a sqare neckline that covered her chest quite well. The color of the dress against her light brown skin and dark hair seemed to shine, almost like a jewel. The green stitching along the neck, sleeves, and sides of the dress matched the color of her eyes. She looked at the others' expressions in the mirror and saw that they all thought she looked good in it.
"As you can see, it covers as much of you as your armor does, if not more," Shandra told her. "I think you look beautiful in it and you will certainly surprise Torio and the rest of the court if you show up wearing this." She saw the elf blush and duck her head a little and smiled.
"I agree," Elanee said. "It is stunning on you and modest at the same time."
Neeshka saw Nimbrethil hesitating and quickly spoke up. "You'll piss Torio off for sure if you show up in this. You certainly don't look like you're capable of hurting a fly, let alone an entire village." She saw a smile come to the elf's face.
"Piss her off huh?" Nimbrethil's eyes gleamed at the thought of one-upping that Luskan bitch. She took one more look, still not quite sure, but finally she sighed and nodded. "I'll wear the dress," she told them and saw them congratulating each other on their victory. "But only for the trial and I'm not wearing makeup or perfume," she growled at them.
They all nodded and agreed, but she could see the by the gleam in their eyes that they had not really given up on the other stuff. The dress needed to be hemmed up a little so one of the shop seamstresses came over and pinned the skirt. They promised to have it ready by later that afternoon and would deliver it to the Flagon. Nimbrethil quickly changed, paid for the dress and scampered out of the shop before they could rope her into trying on something else.
"Remeber our deal Shandra," she growled at the other woman and saw her grimace a little. This made her feel a little better about wearing the dress and she quickly headed back to the Flagon. She still had a lot of reading to do and not much time left to do it in.
Shandra felt triumphant at her success, despite the fact that she was positive Nim would pick one of the nastier creatures like spiders. It was a small price to pay for she knew that everyone would be stunned when they saw the girl in court tomorrow. She almost couldn't wait to see their reactions. She could only hope that Grobnar's recipes were edible for she certainly couldn't back out of the deal now.
******
Nimbrethil sighed and stretched, rubbing her eyes in a vain effort to clear the cobwebs from her brain. She had been going over the books Sand had given her for most of the day, pausing only long enough to eat, and now the sun was starting to set. She didn't know how mages could stand this kind of thing, pouring over books and trying to absorb all the knowledge within them. She was fortunate now that her father had insisted that she learn to read and write in common and elvish, even though at the time she couldn't think of what use it would really be to her. She had actually laughed and asked him what he expected her to do, read her prey into her trap? That was one of the other times that he had gotten really angry with her and had scathingly reprimanded her, telling her that no one would hire a dumb elf no matter how skillful a tracker and hunter she was. He always knew how to make her feel real small and that time was no exception. So she had studied hard to gain back his approval, and now, decades later, she was finding a use for it.
Deciding she needed some fresh air, she got up and went to her closet to get out her dark practice leathers. She then slipped quietly out her window and silently walked behind and away from the inn. Keeping to the shadows she managed to reach the gates without anyone seeing her, and nodding to the guards, slipped through and headed for the woods. As she reached them, she sent out a call and waited. Soon Thorondor came flying up to her, screeching his delight at seeing her again. Together they walked to the little pond she had found and there sat and stared out over the water. It was quiet and she felt herself finally relaxing. It wasn't long before she heard footsteps approach and turning she saw Bishop standing by a tree watching her.
"Following me again Bishop?" she asked mildly. She watched as he stalked towards her with Karnwyr at his side. Seeing the dire wolf, Thorondor flew over and started playing tag with him. She watched as Bishop rolled his eyes and scowled at the antics of the two.
"I don't know what's got into him lately, but he's behaving like a stupid puppy," Bishop snorted.
"They like each other," Nimbrethil shrugged and turned to stare back out over the water. She felt him come and sit beside her, but he said nothing for a while. It was one of the things she liked about him. He didn't feel the need to fill the silence with pointless small talk like so many others.
"You know that your uncle and the others are planning on trying to stop you from hunting down Lorne," he said. "You should have just smiled and agreed to go fishing with Duncan and then you'd have had no problems."
"Gee thanks for the insight," she snorted. "If you hadn't been snickering then Duncan might have let the subject drop you know."
"Don't try to blame me elf," Bishop sneered. "Just because you didn't think to lie about it doesn't make it my fault."
Sighing she shook her head for she knew he was right. "I came here to relax, not get into an argument with you," she told him.
"I followed you because I wanted to know the real reason you want to hunt down Lorne," he looked sideways at her and saw her stiffen a little. "You may have fooled the others into thinking it was because of what he did at Ember, but I don't buy it."
She looked at him and saw a smirk on his lips and a hard gleam in his eyes that said he already had a pretty good idea of the reason, he just wanted to hear her to say it. "He is a mad dog and needs to be stopped, but I want revenge as well, you have a problem with that?" she snapped.
"You already know the answer to that question," he said sarcastically. "Otherwise you wouldn't have asked for my help in the first place."
"They can try to stop me but they'll fail," she said confidently. "I know how to get in and out of places without being seen and they can't watch me every minute."
"I actually heard them talking about locking you up," he snickered. "They obviously feel you need taming," he chuckled and heard her snicker a little.
"What do you think?" she looked at him in amusement.
"Gods no," he smiled slyly. "I like my women wild," he said as his eyes roamed over her in an almost possessive gaze.
"Your women?" she arched an eyebrow. "No man will ever own me or tame me," she snorted and saw his eyes light with the challenge.
"Well now, I'll just have to see if I can change that," he growled at her. Quick as lightening he lunged at her, pinning her under his body and staring down into her green eyes.
Nimbrethil felt her breath catch and a warmth spread through her at the feel of him lying on top of her. When he bent his head to run his tongue up her ear she shuddered, and when he nibbled on the sensitive tip she moaned and felt her body involuntarily press up into him. The warmth had rapidly becoming a burning flame and she turned her head to try to get away from his mouth.
"I think I rather like the idea of trying to tame you," he murmured into her neck before nipping at the base of her throat. He moved his hand up to to cup the back of her head and then cursed as he felt the tip of a blade very close to a tender part of his anatomy. Lifting his head he saw her emerald eyes gleaming with satisfaction.
"You let down your guard again," she smiled at his chagrin.
"I knew there was a reason I liked you," he smiled back and then rolled off her and away from the dagger. "Next time, I'll make sure to disarm you first," he told her as they both got to their feet.
"Presumptious of you," Nimbrethil smirked. "Who say's there'll be a next time?"
"Oh, there will be," he said softly and his eyes gleamed with a feral light. "You want me more than you've wanted anyone before in your life. Your body says so, no matter the words that come out of your mouth." He turned then and walked back into the woods and soon was out of sight.
She stared after him, silently cursing him because she knew he was right. She did want him, even though he was dangerous and upredictable. Then she smiled as a thought struck her. So he wanted to tame her did he? Well, maybe she would be the one doing the taming. After all, it was a game that two could play. Realizing it was getting late she headed back to the city. It wouldn't do to be tired tomorrow, for she would have to be on her toes when she squared off against Torio. When she reached the inn she quietly slipped in through her window and took off her leathers. Climbing into bed she wondered what his reaction would be tomorrow when he saw her in that dress. She hoped she'd be able to find him in the crowd, for she wouldn't want to miss it.