Ryo and Mokuba had fun exploring the town and even found the books that were good for his coin collection. They were approached by a small shop owner as they got close.

"Excuse me. This is the young Prince that the king has adopted, is he not?"

Ryo was confused and said, "Yes, can we help you?"

"Please come in."

Ryo was a little weary but agreed. The woman had gone in the back. Then she returned with an almost white blue silk button up shirt with gold buttons, a golden stand up collar with gold triangle half sleeve cuffs and a dark royal blue belt and silk dark royal blue pants with gold trim on the side and a gold sash. Then a cape that came to just above his ankles was also a dark royal blue with white faux fur color and trim.

"It's lovely, but I don't understand."

The old woman smiled, "Years ago I was a midwife in my spare time. I was asked to help the queen in the last 5 months of her pregnancy. I was also there alongside the doctor for the birth. But after the queen died I stayed on to help with the poor child left behind. Then I was appalled when the king snatched the child and told me my services were no longer needed. Then when he returned I couldn't believe he had the nerve in declaring the child had died in childbirth. I kept hoping and praying that the child would return safely. The queen had often drawn sketches of what her little boy would wear. She even did a few girls dresses. She said this is what she'd want her little boy to wear. I told her that it could be a girl. She simply shook her head and gave a sad smile and said, 'My daughter I'm sure will wear a fabulous gown.' Which I thought was a strange comment as the king and the boy as far as I knew were her only children."

"Strange, did you ask? I've not heard anything about another child."

"Of course. She simply told me it was wishful thinking. Hope for future children. It didn't sound that way. But I told her the one she's carrying could be the girl she's wishing for. She said she knew it'd be a boy. She said she just knew. So I started to save every penny I could to buy the materials needed for the outfit. Once I saw this one hanging out with The King and Master Atemu I knew my prayers had been answered. I knew the young Prince had returned. I started work on the outfit then. My son works for the castle and came home with 2 blue coats that were torn. He had gotten the first one from the king himself after being told to throw it out. The second he found in the trash that evening."

"Yes I uh… why did you want them?" Ryo almost told what happened to the coats but his brain caught up with his mouth and kept his mouth shut. Seto would kill him if he went around telling everyone their business.

"My son wants to repair them for his children. Money being tight and all. It will be nice for his children to have nice heavy coats for once."

Mokuba could sympathize with that. He was always lucky to even have a coat. Then if he was given one it was always too big or too small. When Seto and Yami first gave him a nice coat that actually fit him. He was so happy. Then he was surprised when they bought more than one.

"As I was saying. He told me of a young girl also now living there. I'm not as young as I used to be and could never complete both in the time I had. My daughter agreed to make the girls dress for me. The sketches the queen had made for her daughter weren't detailed enough to work with. So I was able to find some old photographs at the library of the queen when she was young and had just enough material left to have the dress made for her."

"Why would you do all this? Does the king know?"

"No, I was actually hoping they'd do Royal Court before the ball and I could give it to them then. But seeing as that's not going to happen. I was thinking I'd just have to have James request an audience with the king and see if he'd accept the outfits then. But then I saw you. I decided to just do it now that you are here. Would you mind helping him put it on? I want to be sure it fits."

Ryo saw no harm in it since she wasn't asking the boy to go with her or go alone. With so many hired killers he was nervous. But he went where instructed in the back and helped the boy in it and brought the boy back out to show the woman. The old woman was very happy.

"Oh I'm thrilled. I saw a neighbor boy that looked about the same height and build. I gave him some snacks and some money for candy or comics or whatever for his time to model. Does it fit well?"

"As far as I can tell it does. Does it feel okay, Mokuba?"

Mokuba nodded, "It f-fits great."

That had been what Charlie, the boy she hired, had told her but she had to be sure. Now she was confident that the dress would fit just as well. The dress was also silk and was a dark navy blue. With blue, white and gold sequins sewed onto the sleeveless bodice. Then the skirt was floor length and flowing. It had a top layer that stopped half way and had a ruffle layer that circled around. Then a second layer starts at the new ruffle line point in the center then it trails down sideways around the bottom of the dress meeting back up to the second point. She made a royal blue wool shawl with faux fur trim. Charlie had reluctantly tried the dress on as well. But only after being promised more money and she wouldn't tell anyone.

"I don't understand why you would do all of this without wanting something for it." Ryo said.

"Just my way of giving back to my kingdom."

"You've not even told me your name."

"Cynthia Masumi, I've run this tailor shop for many years now. It's been in my family for generations. Please take that outfit and this dress and hopefully the king will allow them to wear them to the ball."

"Isn't there something you want in return?"

"Only to see them wearing my clothes."

Ryo thought it weird but helped the boy change and he took both outfits.

He was thankful they hadn't run into Shizuka all day. He feared running into her. Especially as they stopped by the toy store but both Shizuka and Sugoroku were out.

Ryo was happy to see the boy had come out of his shell a little as he looked around. Ryo couldn't place what was wrong though. Mokuba was still refusing to touch anything. The antiques shop he thought he understood. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized the boy had been like that all day.

Then he saw the boy sorta bee-line it to a specific toy. He started near the front as he wanted the boy to explore on his own. He saw the boy just looking at it. The boy had come a long way from where he'd started but today it almost seemed like he'd reverted back some. Ryo thought for sure he'd be bringing at least the one toy back with him. But frowned when the boy returned without it. He was sure he saw a smile on the boy's face when looking at that toy but he returned without it. "Have you looked over everything?"

Mokuba smiled and nodded.

"You sure you don't want to get that toy? You looked like you liked it."

"N-no is okay."

Ryo didn't understand. "Come on, show me."

Mokuba reluctantly took Ryo to where he saw the toy. Ryo forgetting the boy's second favorite animal after dragons didn't see anything. "Which one did you like?"

Mokuba simply pointed towards a white unicorn with a multi-colored mane, horn and round hoofs.

Ryo then remembered that the boy liked unicorns. "Why don't you get it then? You've been reluctant to touch anything all day why?"

Mokuba decided to tell him about his and Yami's castle tour and being scolded for touching anything.

Ryo wasn't happy about that. The boy had barely been free of his old life for six months and here Yami was undoing all the progress the boy had made. He knew he himself was no angel in that department but he hasn't set back progress by pushing the boy back into his shell. "It's okay to touch as long as you're careful around breakable stuff. Why don't you get it? It's fine."

Ryo could tell the boy was still a little weary about it but he did take it. Ryo was happy they broke through that barrier if only for the moment. He'd have to talk to Seto about this later. "Is that all you want? I want you to tell me if you want something else."

Mokuba hugged the unicorn and said, "N-No this is w-what I want."

Ryo paid for it himself. He could have had it charged to the castle but he felt better about getting it himself.