“Ah, I should warn you.” I said. “It … doesn’t really like being dressed.”
The maid paused, her fingers hovering over the tray. “Beg pardon, my lady?”
“Um, perhaps it is best if I do my own Hair.”
The maid’s eyebrows practically disappeared into her hairline.
“You can help me dress,” I added, as a consolation prize.
“As you wish, my lady,” said the maid, lips pursed. She bustled about, laying out the selection of gowns on the bed. They were all very grand, in rich fabrics. In different circumstances, I would have been delighted to have such an array of beautiful clothes to choose from, and I would have spent a while examining the cloth and their construction, but that night I couldn’t bring myself to care. I knew I should just choose one, any one—it didn’t matter—but could not make up my mind. None of them seemed just right. Finally, I selected a dress of green velvet. It had bell sleeves with points that hung almost to the floor.
“Arms up, please, my lady,” said the maid, glad that I had made my choice at last.
“You know …” I paused, gazing at the dress, forming a plan in my mind. I could see the maid fighting the urge to roll her eyes. “I think I shall also dress myself tonight. Thank you for your help.”
The maid pressed her lips tightly together, but nodded, leaving the room with an indignant huff of breath. When she had gone, I sat in my chemise and pulled out my embroideryneedle and the few silks that Mieka had given me back at Milady’s house from the deep pocket of my cloak. I tried to clear my mind. Baldbeak fluttered over to perch on the bed next to me. He seemed overwhelmed by all this wealth and ceremony, too.
“I can at least make this a bit more … me,” I told him.
Baldbeak, who only cared about clothes if they had interesting buttons and shiny thread, croaked back at me.
I let my mind empty and watched the needle as it darted in and out of the silk. A design began to take shape—something ornate in looks but simple and quick to create. I added silver, then amber, batting away Baldbeak when he tried to grab the gleaming thread from me. The finished design traveled all the way around the low scoop of the neckline. In it, I could see echoes of the embroidered handkerchief I had clutched in my hand all those days ago when I awoke in the Temple—the one I still carried, my mother’s hairs carefully wrapped in it.
Next, I moved on to the long, flowing cuffs of the sleeves that fell almost to the floor. I managed to stitch the same easy design all around both cuffs in a matter of minutes.
When I had finished, I pulled the dress over my head. It had no lacing, but fit me extremely well. Patrick’s annoyingly precise eye for measurements again.
“Now Hair,” I muttered to myself. I looked in the mirror. The rich green made the Hair flame brighter than I had ever seen it. I sighed. The last thing I wanted to do was wrestle with it for an hour.
“Look,” I told it, “I have some hair ribbons the maid left. If I hold them up, could you, sort of, arrange yourself in a pleasing way? However you would like. I just don’t want to look like a fool.”
Ifeltlike a fool, trying to have a conversation with my own Hair about fashion, but it was worth trying. I selected amber ribbons from the tray and held them up above my head cautiously, as if holding out a piece of food to a wild animal. Fora moment, the Hair stayed still, and I braced myself for a fight … But then it reached up to tangle itself with the ribbons. It entwined itself with the shining fabric and braided half of itself into a circlet around my head, crown-like. The rest of fell in loose tendrils beneath. It took a matter of seconds.
“Er—Thank you,” I said.
Patrick had sent up a case of jewelry as well. An extremely large and heavy case. I hadn’t planned to wear any of it, but something about being dressed in such a formal gown made me want to at least see what it would look like.
I opened the case. My mouth dropped open. It was a king’s ransom of jewels, literally. Baldbeak squawked and hopped over to it, his eyes gleaming. A kingdom’s wealth, strung on chains of silver and gold. Jeweled hairnets, circlets, brooches, necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings … Baldbeak reached in with his enormous blunt beak, but I snapped the case shut as if the Watch were about to burst in the room and accuse me of stealing it.
Shiny!he said indignantly.
“I know. Believe me, I know. But we have to be careful with it.”
When my senses returned, I opened it again, slowly this time, and tried to think practically. I didn’t want to be weighed down with the stuff, but if I were meeting the king … The thought of anything on my hands or wrists made me recall Ban Morin’s ring, making me feel a little sick. My ears had never been pierced. The Hair had taken care of itself. But a necklace, perhaps?
I tried to think of it like selecting thread, looking at the colors only, without dwelling on how priceless the pieces were, because the value of them made my stomach knot. After some deliberation, I selected a green velvet choker with a silver chain and a deep, gold-flecked red stone hanging from its center. The stone sat right in the hollow of my collarbone when I clasped it. I stared at myself in the mirror and sighed.
“This will have to do,” I told Baldbeak. He flapped his wings as if he were about to fly to my shoulder, but I fended him off. “No! Not tonight, Baldbeak, I’m sorry.”
For why?he said, offended.
The last thing I needed was claw marks in the velvet dress—or a white line of bird droppings running down the back of it. But I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. I reached into the case and selected a bracelet of silver and stones as blue-green as the heart of a candle flame—emeralds, I guessed.
“Come here,” I said. He hopped towards me and bent his head. I clasped the bracelet around his thickly feathered neck. It made a fine collar.
“You can’t ride on my shoulder tonight,” I said. “But you can wear this.”
He tried to peer down at it. I lifted him in my hands and carried him to the mirror, where he could see how well it suited him. He tilted his head to one side and the other, and then preened the feathers on his chest and back. The silver and green brought out the dark iridescence of his plumage.
