Lyriia returned the smile, a little hesitantly. Her eyes might have gone a little wide at the full implication of what Ahmal said but she forced the sudden heady rush down. She’d already made a fool of herself; she didn’t intend to make it worse. [color=7bcdc8]“The sixteenth stretch, or so? That way we’ll have time to go to the carnival and grab something to eat before the dance officially begins. I figure, four stretches will be enough time to find a dress… Not to mention convince Master Longarm to let me go.”[/color] She hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Right then. I guess I’ll see you in four stretches?” With that she let herself out the front door and pulled it gently shut behind her. And then flew as fast as she could back to the clinic. [color=7bcdc8]“MasterLongarmguesswhatAhmalaskedmetotheballcanIgocanIgocanIPLEEEEEEASEgo?!”[/color] she shouted as soon as she flew in, through the window, this time. [color=82ca9d]“Lyriia, child, calm down! What’s the matter with you?”[/color]Longarm stood up from the table. His eyes were twinkling enough that Lyriia figured he probably knew. [color=7bcdc8]“Ahmal asked me to the ball. Can I have the afternoon off? Please? Pleasepleaseplease? I didn’t even ask for midwinter off, not even my birthday either, can’t I just have this one night?”[/color] Master Longarm pretended to deliberate for a second. Then he laughed. [color=82ca9d]“Lyriia, of course you can. I also meant to tell you earlier; I’m not opening the clinic until the twelfth stretch tomorrow.”[/color] She frowned for a moment, but soon realized why. If they opened right at dawn as usual, they’d have hungover fairies out the door. If they waited, the alcohol would get out of the fairies’ systems (after all, a super-small body means a super-high metabolic rate) and then they would be left with the actually injured or sick ones. She sighed and dropped her satchel off in her room, then took her shoes off and sat on the table, studying paperwork. Master Longarm coughed. [color=82ca9d]“Lyriia, I’m assuming you told him to meet you at the sixteenth or seventeenth stretch. You have three or four stretches, and no formal dress.”[/color] Oh. Right. She yanked her shoes back on and dove out the window, only to come flying back in a second later. [color=7bcdc8]“Purse! Pursepursepursepursepurse.”[/color] Then, with her purse in her hand, she went shooting back out the window, trying to contain her excitement. ---- The better part of a stretch later she was cursing her luck. She couldn’t go to Silvermist; the florists would be backed up out the door with fairies come last-minute for dresses. And none of the Silent Rise herbalists had anything that would work that wasn’t wilted or still budding. Internally she resigned herself to wearing a cloth dress, even though such a thing was virtually unheard of at formal events. But now there was still the issue of finding a tailor who made things in fairy sizes. She flew back down the row of shops twice more, trying to decide which ones would be best to go into. On her third or fourth pass a young saleswoman came out of one of the shops. [color=f49ac2]“Excuse me, would you be looking for a formal dress, Ma’am?”[/color] Lyriia nodded. The seamstress looked a little ashamed. “I’m still new to the area. No one ever bothered to tell me that fairies don’t wear cloth dresses, most of the time. So I have a bunch of gowns that I made for fairies that aren’t ever going to be used.” Lyriia followed the woman inside. There was a rack of tiny dresses, sure enough. Pinks and greens and golds, gaudy colors that she’d never be able to wear—oh there. She pulled on a blue dress, tugging it off the rack, and held it up. Blue and lavender, trimmed with… fake flowers? And quite twirly in the skirt. In other words, absolutely lovely. It was also a good deal smaller than most of the other outfits which meant that chances were, it would fit. The clerk nodded. [color=f49ac2]“The color goes so well with your wings and your eyes. Absolutely stunning. Is there anything else I can get for you, dearie?” [/color] [color=7bcdc8]“um… Hair pins, perhaps, and bracelets and necklaces if you have any?”[/color] [hr] Lyriia had a small panic attack at the checkout. [color=f49ac2]“That’ll be 126 Gold, dearie.”[/color] [color=7bcdc8]“Isn’t the usual cost for a courtier’s outfit 30 gold?”[/color] The shop owner shifted uncomfortably.[color=f49ac2] “Yes, but it’s so hard to sew; the stitches and cuts have to be so tiny and precise, that it takes me easily four times as long to make a fairy dress as it takes me to make a human-sized dress.”[/color] The girl hesitated for a moment. [i]Why are you hesitating, Lii? It’s the night of a lifetime, you’ll have the dress forever… And plus you’re earning a very respectable wage and you don’t have any other expenses to cover.[/i] She counted out the coins, and scooped up her purchases. Back in her room, she squinted at her tiny bit of polished metal that served as a mirror. Her hair was hanging down in a cloud of disarray; disarray that she only excited as she brushed it. She splashed water all over her head and then combed, with much better success. She braided just the front strands of her hair back and secured them with a pin, leaving the rest down in its usual waves. Then dress on, necklace, bracelet, earrings, touch-up the makeup, throw on the shoes, spray on perfume, and she was ready to go. She checked her appearance in the mirror one last time and then went out onto the porch to wait for Ahmal. Only to duck back inside a moment later. She grabbed two of the fairy-sized packets of contraceptive herbs and stuck them in her satchel, before going back out to the porch. Better safe than sorry, right? [hider=Purchases] Total=126GP 120GP: [url=http://i.imgur.com/htoIlBv.jpg]Dress[/url] 4 GP: New satchel 4 SP: 10x hairpins 4 SP: Wire Bracelet 4 SP: Wire Necklace 8 SP: Wire Earrings [/hider]