A Simple Darkness (The Young Ancients: Tiera) (6 page)

"Well, I feel lighter. As for everything else? Horrible. My life is pretty much ruined already and I'm only fourteen. It's all my own fault, but, I don't think I can fix it. I should probably transfer to a different school, or go home, but I... I've destroyed it all, haven't I?"

Instead of reassuring her, Petra nodded, which wasn't helpful at all.

"Pretty much. Oh, you'll get past it, but it's going to be hard for a while. You need to get used to your new nickname I'd guess. Doretta, is it? Well, it could be worse. No one thinks you're a traitor just because your older brother and his bitch of a wife declared war on the kingdom." She grinned and patted the smaller girl on the back gently. "Though Maria and I have kind of made up now, so calling her a bitch is a bit mean, but for a few years there... Well, you understand, you aren't the first girl to have to deal with the fallout of things like this. At least you were supposedly trying to protect the boys you hurt? No one will believe that, even after hearing it was Truth verified, but at least you can hold on to the fact that you aren't
just
evil..." There was no hint of teasing to the tone, and no smile came, but the woman didn't seem like she was being mean or anything. "On the good side you can hang out with the fighters now, since you have a good teacher for it
and
the right haircut. They're a lot more likely to cut you slack, as far as rumors go, as long as you try hard and learn fast."

Tiera started walking to her room, Petra following her. She noticed that far fewer people were staring at her, which was either her haircut throwing them off, or the news of her humbling apologies having gotten around. Probably the hair. Honestly, if they knew it was her the whole groveling in public thing would make her more of an object of interest, not less, if not in a good way.

 In the room Petra had her stand in the small open space near the desk and turn around a few times, examining her as if thinking of abstract and brilliant things. Then, slowly, she reached out and placed a single hand on her shoulder, There was the faintest hint of movement from her clothing, and when she looked down she was in a dress, one that nearly glowed, her shoulders bare and her bust line looking a lot larger suddenly.

"Padding?" It wasn't horrible, but not something she would have normally bothered with herself. It made her look a lot bigger though.

Petra nodded, but didn't speak for a while, the whole thing taking on the very slightest hint of a silvery blue glow. The shoes had turned from a sturdy brown look to light slippers that seemed to be made of silver metal. Then, a little rudely, the woman picked up her heavy and multiple layered skirt and looked at her legs, which got pale white hose to appear.

Dropping her handful of material she smoothed the material a bit.

"That should do it. Much more and it will look out of place, since you aren't anyone of high status. Not enough to put on airs in the Capital with a full Count and his Countess there. Plus, this isn't a party, so this is about the right level of dress I think. Can you remember the pattern? We have hours and there really isn't a good reason to lounge dressed like this."

Tiera went back to Browns, then her new dress a few times. It was good to practice things like that, since it meant she had a new outfit now. It wasn't hard to work the amulet, but
good
new designs were difficult to come by. Common clothing was easier, but anyone could do that. Plus it was a Petra design. That was kind of a big deal.

Then the woman surprised her.

"Will you work up something for me? I'm thinking a nice practical brown for tonight. Something that isn't quite as nice as what you have. I want to blend into the background a bit more, I think."

Tiera smirked, trying not to seem put upon. She felt that way, since it was out of her comfort zone, doing clothing designs, but it was also a companionable thing to do, letting her play too. It was a friendly gesture she understood, not a demand for perfection.

That was good, because the first three things she tried made the woman look like she was getting ready to go work in a tavern. Finally Tiera focused and put her in a nice pink gown instead, that was a slight variation of something that she'd seen in the Capital, on the Queen. Then carefully, she made it look like brown silk. It was still nice, but not perfect at all.

Petra made a face, looking at it, but not a disgusted one, it was more like she was considering something.

"Not bad. I need a mirror though. Do you have a disguise amulet on?" The words were sudden, and a little abrupt.

"No... I, Tor never gave me one." It was the only way she could have one, unless she learned to make her own and they were pretty hard to even copy, she thought. No one had them for sale yet at least, not that she knew of.

Petra rubbed at her face then and wet her finger to try again, which got Tiera to step back, forcing a chuckle.

"Um... Say, strange person that I hardly know... what are you doing? If this is some kind of sex thing you've nicely gone well outside what I know about." It was possible that it was, that or she'd had a smudge on her face and Petra thought she was a tiny child.

"Nothing like that, I was checking for make-up. You don't have anything on at all? Your skin... It's perfect. I was expecting to spend fifteen minutes fixing your face, but it just doesn't need it. Not for this. For something at the King's palace maybe, but for a meeting like this you're naturally ready. I'm jealous." Except that it didn't sound like she really was.

There was a small smile on her face and then the large woman patted her shoulder again, this time letting her hand linger a little more.

"I'm not normally into girls, as a rule. Plus, you have that whole Doretta reputation, so I wouldn't want to make any moves. You understand... so that I won't get hurt?" There was definite teasing in her tone this time at least.

Tiera nodded.

"Alright. I just wasn't sure what was going on. Karen told me I should just accept any overtures for now, so that I didn't mess things up I think. I've only ever even kissed one person. My roommate. My old one. Karen is in here with me now, to watch me I think."

Chuckling a little, Petra leaned in and kissed her on the mouth. It wasn't a romantic kiss, and was a bit dry, but she winked after she stood up.

"There, now it's
two
people. At this rate you'll be popular in no time. Two or three years, tops."

They worked on Petra's make-up for a bit, a knock coming at the door a few minutes later. She figured that it would be Timon, but Karen was with him, so why would she knock? When she opened it, she saw that Sir Kolbrin was with them. Maybe she'd wanted to alert them, in case they had their clothing off or something?

The man looked at her and nodded seriously.

"Perfect. Now if only the rest of the first year students in my section would follow suit. Shields require it, but most try to protect their hair for some reason. It's the first test you know. If you hadn't at least taken it off to shoulder length I would have politely suggested that you be removed from the school. This is just about right however." He didn't ruffle the remaining fuzz, but seemed pleased enough with it.

Karen agreed at least.

"It was her decision too. We'll be able to run full combat scenarios for her in no time. After she learns to swing a sword without hitting herself, I mean." She fought a smile from her face, but Kolb nodded seriously.

"Understood. Two weeks. We can't really afford to coddle her." He made direct eye contact with Tiera as he spoke, which was strange and slightly too intense.

Her younger brother looked at Petra and gestured at the dress she was wearing.

"Tiera's work? Good plan. You tend to overdo things a bit. This is nice and subdued. Here..." Without asking permission he reached out and touched the larger woman's side, just above the hip. It was almost a romantic looking thing and Tiera was about to scold him for it, but the dress changed slightly. She didn't get
how
, but it went from being very nearly perfect magical clothing to a
real
dress. It was a subtle thing, but she could see the shift.

No one explained it to her either, so she used it as an excuse to pull her brother away, going outside, laughing slightly, as if it might be a secret. If that was the case he wouldn't have showed the trick to everyone, so it wasn't that.

He didn't let her speak at all, looking around, his face deadly serious.

"I added slightly frayed edges in a few places and some light wrinkling. Magical clothing tends to be pristine, so it doesn't seem real. As to the look I gave Karen earlier... She's big enough that I was reminded of Countess Alan for a few seconds. The meeting is secret, so I can't tell you anything yet. Was there anything else you needed to know?"

There really wasn't, but Tiera felt a little like her brain must be stuck in a mud pit. She frowned at him and crossed her arms.

"You could let me talk you know. Would it hurt you to waste ten seconds?"

He stared at her for a bit, then shook his head.

"No. I'm sorry, I was just trying to make sure we didn't leave everyone for too long. Shall we?"

"Alright, but I hope you know that you're acting weird."

"I know. I'll try harder to seem like a moron."

She nearly hit him, but realized that he wasn't calling her stupid, he really just felt like that's what he had to do in order to fit in. For him it was probably about correct, wasn't it?

"Good. Don't over-do it, just learn to let others talk, and, I don't know, only say about half of what you pick up from people, instead of all of it like that? It's too hard to connect to someone that knows everything about you all the time."

They went back in then, without him saying what he planned to do, one way or the other. That was fine. She stood in front of everyone without speaking and changed into the outfit that Petra had designed for her and added in a few bits of fraying herself, and, as mentioned, two faint wrinkle lines, that would look like her gown had been folded to be packed away in a trunk at some point. Then she added a single, almost imperceptible scuff mark to her right shoe.

 That got a smile from Timon, even if the others didn't really understand why she was doing it. Then, she wasn't either. The fact was though, it made it seem like real clothing. It probably wasn't that important, since everyone at the party or meeting would be dressed just as nicely from the sound of it, but the changes wouldn't have been made on Petra if there wasn't a reason for it.

It was frustrating, she realized, dealing with Timon. He knew things, but he didn't tell anyone what that really was, except on the surface level, which was annoying. He'd recount the details of your last meal and who you spoke to, seeing small signs that no one else would notice, and then not bother to mention that a monster lived under your bed, or something like that.

Not that there were monsters, but... Well, it was a real point, he was a little tight with information already. She'd probably just made that worse too.

They had some time before they needed to leave, the Headmaster not being available. She still didn't know why he'd be going, but no one else had questioned it at all. Maybe it was about trying to curry favor? She was kind in a bad spot with the man, wasn't she? Tiera decided to try and work on that. She didn't have a lot of coin for fancy gifts, but she could visit with him and try to make herself useful in her off times. If she was familiar to him there would be a lot less reason for him to simply send her packing. She hoped so at least.

They took turns getting Karen and Kolb into proper clothing, which got the older girl to run out at one point, coming back with David, the boy from earlier in the day. He was even taller than the Knight, though clearly not that old.

"Here, a date for Tiera. I'll go with Kolb and Ali... I don't know anyone that would fit there. Who should we bring along?"

Timon shrugged, almost as if he didn't care, but then he spoke, his voice low.

"Sam Builder? I think they're close anyway. Friends at least. He should be in on this. The whole Lairdgren group probably, but we don't have a good way of taking them all along. As it is I'll need to contact Terlee again. Let's not add anyone else actually. David can take Hardgrove's place. There are rules to these things. Alyssa will be fine."

Tiera looked down as the tall boy stared at her, realizing that her hair was probably the issue. He bowed to her however and took her hand with a courtly flow to the gesture.

"Would you consent to go to this event with me Miss Baker? If you aren't already engaged for it, or have alternative plans."

It was, she realized, a very proper way of asking, so she smiled and bowed back a little.

"I'd
love
to. Thank you for asking. It's most welcome."

Instead of people ignoring the interplay, which was what should have normally happen, everyone nodded at her. Karen clapped her on the shoulder even, hard enough to rock her in place, but not push her over or make her shield kick on.

"That's about right. Keep it up. We'll work on how to bow later. That wasn't awful, but in a dress you should probably curtsey. It looks better. Also, you could make more contact with him. Try touching his arm or something. Like this." She reached out, chin down, eyes looking to the side slightly and put three fingers on Kolb's arm. For all the world it looked like she was just trying to get his attention.