Business Dinner
After Ariawyn leaves, I turn around to see a group of women giving me the once over, which made me slightly uncomfortable. A full elf in the center of the group speaks, "my dear we have got to get you into something appropriate for tonight's dinner." I blink, "pardon?" She smiles at me and says, "why everyone knows you'll be dinning with Ecthelon tonight. He is such a handsome, not young; well built man." I blink again, {did these women think I was going on a data with my Arms Master}? I hear Cheshire chuckle in my head, {you may as well let them have their way; as if you run they'll just keep looking for you. they've been looking for a reason to get you into fancy clothes since they opened their shop.}
I mentally groan, so now they're going to try to set me up with him I imagine. He chuckles, a human woman grabs my arm and they drag me to their shop; which was oddly across from Miresgalsell's. I drag me inside and I briefly see how the jeweler's show might look on it's facing, the images were almost a living forest carved into the solid stone.
The woman march me to a set of mirrors that let the person standing in the center of them see themselves from all angles. They start arguing, "The dress should be blue to go with her hair," another says; "no green to match her eyes!"
After a few minutes of heated debate over color the elf shop keeper spoke hushing the rest of the. "How about combining the two, royal blue with forest green trim work?" The gathered women moan over the shop keeper's statement, ye Gods is this how addle-patted women normally act? How do men put up with it?
The women then rush me with what appeared to be cloth tape measures and started taking measurements and yelling numbers out. I could hear the other women in the shop running about as if hunting something. The women start passing 'dresses' into the spot I was standing in, I personally would call them gowns. Most were made from silk and some material I had no name for, all I knew was is was extremely light; weighing less than the silk did.
The shop keeper notices I am just admiring the dresses and says, "well come on start trying them on." I inwardly groan and start trying the dresses on, an hour later while putting on one of the lighter dresses. This one had sleeves going down to my elbows and at mid hip the sides were slit. There was some lacy bits in the forest green along all of the edges and where it cinched at the waist, the tie strings in the back were also forest green. Once I had put this one on and was looking in the mirror at it I hear, "that is the best one Ma'am if you want to catch Ecthelon's attention. See how it let's our Hunter has full range of motion while it still looks good on her?" The women part and Tammy is standing a few feet away watching, she continues. "He's an old Arms Master, while he might like to see her look pretty he will also want to make sure she can fight in it."
The shop keeper looks at me a moment then frowns nodding her head, "you are right Captain Tammy. I had not thought to take that into account, so best keep her in flat shoes then." The woman frowns again, "easy to remove jewelry; maybe something that is breakaway?" Tammy nods her head in agreement.
The shop keeper claps her hands together and shoos the women out of the area telling them, "you heard what I want; now go get them." She then turns to me, "now I have a friend who is excellent at setting up hair. She will take you to the public bath house," she hold up a hand before I could protest. "If Captain Tammy is with you I am sure your guardians will be alright with it this once. I wish I could find a way to cover those scars of yours however."
I turn to look at myself in the mirror, the green eyed blonde haired muscular woman looks back. I did have a great deal of scars, the spots the dress didn't cover would show some of them. Especially on my legs, I had one very wide scar there from a hatchling Solar Dragon, I should be thankful it takes them a few weeks to learn how to use a breath weapon. Otherwise I might not have a leg now, it will be fully visible in this dress.
It didn't bother me any that I had these, it was just a symbol of who I was. I mentally chuckle, bet after this they'll stop trying to put me in dresses again. {Someone is bound to complain about seeing all these scars on me}. I hear a faint chuckle that I supposed was from Cheshire, the question was did he agree with me or not.
The woman come back holding things out for the shop keeper to see and she selects a few of them. She then walks over to me and hands me a pair of small dainty slipper like shoes, they appear to be made from some kind of leather. She smiles when I take them, "those you might wear daily after you try them. They are made from Dragon hide and will never get hard, it will be as if you are walking bare footed. They pair nicely with the spider silk dress." She smiles at my look of surprise, "yes spider silk. We have a special breed of spider we've been breeding for millennia that provide a silk that can be woven. The best ropes are made from it," she then hands me a necklace. "This came from Miresgalsell, you see the stone? It is an emerald that grew into a gray moonstone, the chain in pure silver. It can be broken simply if you need to fight, and I doubt anyone but you would want that gem other than Starburst."
She was right, as the colors almost match Granite's colors; she continues. "So if you were wearing it and it broke anyone here would know it was yours. I doubt anyone hoping to sell it would get very far without being arrested." I nod still looking at the stone, and she hands me a ring box. "This is also from Miresgalsell's shop, it is part of a set. They are all made from the same piece of holy forged silver, your guardians all have a copy of it. By their making it will 'link' all of you closer than you were, if you were injured they wouldn't need you to tell them they would feel it." I stare at the ring box as I open it, inside was a bright silver ring. Very simply made with a flawless white moonstone on it.
I look at the shop keeper in amazement, she smiles. "This is something that the other races would gift to Hunter's and their guards, as many have made it. Only with the thought of keeping you safe." I nod still shocked as I change back into my everyday clothes and ask. "So what do I owe for all of these things?" The shop keeper smiles and shakes her head, "nothing; especially for that ring. Those cannot be bought or they lose their power, the rest is a pure gift to the one who has given all of us so much."
I open my mouth to say something as Tammy drags me out of the shop, "now jut let it go Hunter Gwen. Glad I got there when I did or you'd be there a couple more hours. I doubt Ariawyn would be pleased to have her perfect meal served late just for those women." I sigh, "why does everyone act like this is a date?" She chuckles, "simple. Ecthelon doesn't feel inferior to you, so who else would everyone try to pair you with?" She takes my hand, "listen. Everyone just wants you happy, and everyone deserves a future; you are no different." She tugs my arms then, "come on. Lets go to the bath house, I hear she requested a private room for you." I groan internally again as Tammy leads me to the public bath house.
The public bath house was like all the other buildings in the city made from stone, this one's carvings however only depicted water scenes. There was two entrances, one for males and one for females. There were workers for those who did not have hands to help in the bathing process, or like in the case of the one elderly human we had help period. There were private rooms you could pay for if you wished to be alone. I imagine the idea of the private room was also an attempt to not worry my guardians about my location.
The Hunter compound had a unisex bath house as our guardians prefer to be able to keep tabs on us at all times. It has given rise to some thinking we had some tastes best not spoken of, which; when mentioned tended to put me in a foul mood.
Yes there was a private room with a young human woman in it waiting for us to arrive, she takes a look at Tammy. "Not to offend Captain, but I took the liberty of getting your things as well. Best you bathe as well, we wouldn't want people to think you'd go out to a meal smelling of the barracks." Tammy managed to hold her tongue instead of telling the woman what she thought of it. The woman points to a smaller pool in the floor, "this one if for you to bathe in, the other one is a soaking pool. I will be washing your hair for you today Hunter, yes I know that you can. However as I am the one arranging your hair, so we are doing it my way." I sigh and undress and step into the pool, finding one of the built in seats. Tammy does the same, the woman walks over and squats down and starts washing my hair. I have to say she was very good at it, it almost made me fall asleep in the water. She first washed it with soap then after rinsing that out used a cream, probably a conditioner. Then after rinsing that out used a perfumed water rinse over my hair. Then she started combing it, "you should start cleaning up Hunter; after you have change pools. I will arrange your hair in that one." I gently nod my head in response, surprised as to how gentle she was at her job. Anyone who had every worked on my hair had always pulled on it.
After Tammy and I finish washing ourselves we walk rinse off under the waterfall inside the room and then walk into the soaking pool, which was about twenty degrees hotter. A good temperature for easing sore muscles, especially ones you did not know you had. The woman squats down next to me again and starts making tiny braids in my hair, that when she pulls back then takes those and braids them into a larger braid and then twirls it on top of my head in some strange form held together with a hair pin. She gently taps my shoulder, "that hair pin is very sharp so you could use it as a weapon if the need arose." She then quietly leaves the room, Tammy asks out loud the time and a half elf pokes their head in the room to tell her. She nods her head in thanks, "well we have thirty minutes to enjoy this before we have to dress and head over there."
I give her a questioning look and she laughs, "I see Shadow's been teaching you how to ask questions without speaking. Your hair looks fine, you'd have to look in a mirror again if you didn't believe me." I shake my head she responds, "good; I'm sure you'll impress someone tonight Hunter."
We head to the restaurant after dressing and as we approach Ariawyn notices us as we enter the building. She walks over a big grin on her face, "you look great Hunter Gwen. Even better that the men got here first, you will be able to shock them when you walk in." Tammy grins as Ariawyn leads us to the back of the building where there was private eating rooms.
I have to admit seeing Ecthelon's face was worth it, I walk into the room and he stands slowly stammering. "Good, Good evening; um. Hunter! Hunter Gwen, you look good; please sit." He goes to walk around the table and trips over his own feet and Tammy stifles a chuckle. Samuel who had briefly look stunned also had to stifle a laugh.
Ecthelon manages to stand upright and pulls a chair out indicating I should sit. To avoid him hurting himself I did as he wanted and sat down, him pushing the chair in as I did so. Before he could speak Ariawyn steps in followed by the Selkie server I had the night before. The server had a tray with four small glasses on it as well as some bowls of fruit. "This is some strawberry cordial that Hekkogar gave me this morning with a warning that Ecthelon only gets one glass, with some of the freshest fruits from our fields." After the items were set on the table they left the room.
I take a sip, as I hadn't had time to try any that she had given me as yet. It was very well made, as if she had concentrated the flavor down to it's core flavor. Samuel look slightly uncomfortable and Tammy kicks him under the table for some reason, then he speaks. "So we need to discuss what to do if the bandits make a real attempt." I nod my head enjoying my glass, "I imagine the only real thing we need to do is plan for anything. I had talked about this with Zander last night and we might want to ask about for a solution to one possibility."
Samuel nods his head inhaling the drink and blinking a few times, I guess he hasn't tried Hekkogar's drinks before. He asks, "what possibility?" I frown, "we were jokingly discussing the possibilities they might find a functioning tank. I would guess it could happen, see if the weapon smiths can come up with something." I get a glint in my eye, "and if it could be embarrassing to them even better." Tammy grins at that idea, "that could work; maybe we can get them to turn a few of their magma stones into arrows. That would be embarrassing, what do you think Ecthelon?"
The elf had been quiet and staring at me randomly drinking the cordial, he looks startled when she mentions his name. "Um, yes; yes that should work. Sorry I guess my mind was somewhere," I hear a chuckle in my mind from three different voices. {Enjoying yourselves?} Starburst responds, {very much so it is amusing to see that elf get flustered}. I inwardly chuckle agreeing with them, Ariawyn then walks into the room with a tray of cheese and some glasses of white wine. I raise my eyebrow, and Ariawyn smiles. "My dear that lovely young lady brought a sampling of her work to see what I wanted for the shop, this one pairs wonderfully with cheese." She then instructs the server to set everything down and they leave again. We spent the remainder of the meal talking about the city's working and enjoying the foods Ariawyn brought. Ecthelon didn't say much of anything, thankfully he did eat. After dessert he quickly excuses himself and leaves as if something had lit his tail on fire, and while I found ti amusing it bothered me a little that he left so fast and hadn't spoken hardly at all.
Tammy however was very amused by the quick leaving and Samuel lets out a breath and says, "now Hunter Gwen. Please tell em you are not going to dress like that all the time, or I might have to assign guards to you to keep your guards from killing men trying to get your attention." I blink not understanding why he would say that, "of course not. While I can fight in this it doesn't cover enough for me." He nods his head, I was thinking however of using the shoes while in town. The dressmaker was right they felt like walking barefooted.