Three
As it turned out Merlin had already made sure Lily had lunch –obtaining it for her, including the apple, when he went to enquire in the kitchens. Unfortunately no work was available there and the other places he had suggested also proved dead ends for Lily. Which meant he would have felt bad too if Arthur didn't change his mind about employing her.
"Only temporarily," Arthur stressed, quieting Lily's gushing words of gratitude.
Lily began work the next morning with the utmost seriousness. Arthur had allocated her his time while he breakfasted and she began without delay. Step one was to catalogue the prince's current collection of clothes.
Merlin opened Arthur's wardrobe and Lily began taking notes, brows almost furrowed, immersed in her work as if she and her parchment were the only things that mattered in the room.
From the table behind her Arthur gave Merlin a look of confusion in between chewing. Merlin returned a mild shrug; neither men had seen a stylist at work before.
"Right then…" Lily began.
"Oh you haven't seen the ones at the obscure depths yet," Merlin remarked. "This," he gestured with his arm at the neat stacks of clothes, "is the result of time and effort. Then his-royal-untidiness begins rummaging," he pulled out several articles of clothing from the back which looked like they were surely rummaged, "and I have to start over again."
"Merlin, stop overwhelming the girl," came Arthur's voice from the table.
Lily took note of these clothes also while Merlin took the opportunity to fold and stack them with the rest of the clothes.
"I have noticed you don't have much colour here," Lily turned to Arthur and spoke studiously. She was right. Dark trousers aside, most of his other clothes were in shades of brown and grey, with the occasional shot of red; for patriotic reasons obviously, considering red represented Camelot. The jackets were equally without character, different to the tunics mainly in the density of the material.
"I just wear whatever the tailor has come up with."
"I shall consult with the tailor and see what we can do," Lily spoke in a formal tone and smiled, clasping her hands in front of her while holding the parchments neatly.
Lily disappeared for the next three or four days but Merlin and Arthur bumped into her every now and again. She would stop to greet them before moving busily to one of the stalls in the marketplace or scribbling something down or carrying a bundle of material.
The next time Lily met with Arthur she was followed into his chamber by Merlin, whose arms sandwiched a fairly large stack of folded clothes.
Lily explained the stack in her usual sunny manner.
"I have to try all of them?" Arthur's eyes went from the stack to Lily, widening in the process. "I mean, the tailor has my measurements; they should all fit…"
"It would be useful for seeing which piece goes well with which –and you know, for generally ascertaining what your style should be."
Arthur gave Merlin, standing behind the girl, a stunned look. Apparently people needed to try clothes for other than the purpose of determining if they're the right size.
Merlin gave a casual smile and a little shrug like nothing unusual was happening.
Lily sat on a stool some way off from the changing screen where Arthur disappeared with the bundle of clothes.
Merlin was bringing the contents of Arthur's table to order as Lily consulted her notes next to him. "You put a lot of effort," he said observing the notes. She had perfect sketches of jackets and vests with neat labels and occasionally even had small squares of material pasted next to the drawings.
Lily looked up at Merlin to meet his smile and returned it. Her eyes were on the paper again as she spoke, "I was always told off for it! When I used to suggest how my mother should sew our clothes, that is. Or if I experimented with a new design when I was doing the sewing. I mean, we only rarely got new clothes and hardly any interesting materials but…" she looked to him again. "The idea of designing and putting clothes together just always excited me." She had a rather embarrassed air as she continued. "But I can see why people think it's silly and a waste of time."
"It's good to be passionate about something though. Even if it seems nothing will come of it," Merlin paused in his work, "it's yours to keep. It makes you who you are."
Arthur's voice came in just then. "The jacket's fine. But this is girly." Wearing one of the new jackets, he held up a tunic in front of him –the next article in line to be tried on.
"There's nothing wrong with a boysenberry coloured tunic," Lily said innocently. "You'll make it work, trust me!"
Arthur still had a semi-scowl on his face upon wearing the tunic in question but Lily smiled encouragingly and rested her case.
Arthur went back and forth, appearing from behind the screen in a new article of clothing, occasionally forgetting to put on a begrudging expression.
On he went, through the dark brown tunic, the red jacket with the upturned collar, a brown long coat…
"Does it need to be this long?"
"It's what all the lords are wearing this season, I've been told. I think it looks great."
Arthur appeared in a rich blue tunic with a dark brown leather vest just then.
"Yay, the blue tunic!" said Lily like a child might say 'yay, juggling!' "It looks as excellent as I hoped and it brings out your eyes."
Arthur returned a quizzical face. "I think I'd like my eyes to remain exactly where they are…" he muttered.
Merlin snorted a laugh and Lily smiled up at him with a shrug.
Lily gathered her documents neatly on her lap, happy her efforts paid off. "This reminds me of Barbie…" she said happily.
"Who's Barbie?" Arthur reappeared from the screen just then, donning on a dark blue velvet jacket with a red lining.
"Oh, she was this girl in our village who was one of the few that actually approved of my fashion adventures. She would enthusiastically try out any new dress I would make her or add things to one of her old dresses…"
Arthur turned back to the screen again with a treacherously perplexed expression.
"Did you hear that, Arthur?" Merlin would not let this one go so easily, "she said you remind her of a girl from her village."
No words from behind the screen. Perhaps Arthur decided to let this one go.
With eyes wide, Lily popped her head up like a startled mouse. "I had not meant to offend His Highness…"
Arthur returned just then, all forgotten and forgiven apparently by the look of the straight face he wore. He thanked Lily for her services and dismissed her for the day. "Oh and Merlin, tidy up the clothes, will you?"
Lily bowed and smiled and took her leave. Merlin and Arthur returned the smile and the latter headed towards the table while the other reached the changing screen.
The small amount of floor space behind the screen was thoroughly used up by the jumble-tumble of clothes. It wasn't that Merlin had the task of merely folding the articles and storing them, he had to untangle them from each other first. He swore he could even see some of Arthur's other clothes thrown into the clothing melee.
Merlin stared at the mess and absentmindedly scratched his head. No, Arthur hadn't let that last jibe go.