Jocasta laughed and quickly covered her mouth with her hands. She had to admit that in his current state Beren looked like he had robbed several graves or was taking part in a poorly funded theatrical production about people who robbed graves. She crossed over to him in her own resplendent gown and began to stroke the front of his frock coat as though smoothing it, running her hands down over his chest.

“My clothes aren’t any better than yours,” she told him, despite the fact this was manifestly untrue. She moved around behind him and brushed dust from his pants, sneezing violently as she did so.

 

“All things, contain the seed of what they once were,” she told him as she ran her hands over his belt.

“Wha…” Beren asked, obviously taken aback by her strange behavior. Jocasta gently turned Beren to face mirror against the far wall. It was a lousy mirror and probably hadn’t been much better before it had been pulled from the house fire that had charred its frame and heated a long crack in the lower half of it, but it did the job. The clothing now looked brand new. The coat was no longer threadbare and shabby. Instead, gold thread had been woven through the taupe linen to give it a soft shimmer and the scuffed brass buttons shone as though freshly buffed. The cracks in the leather belt had vanished to be replaced with a soft sheen as though it had come directly from the tailor. The trousers and the button down too seamed brand new, the stains and tears of a lifetime of use erased.

“What did you do?” Beren asked, though that must have been obvious.

“You know that old story about the girl who goes to the ball with magic clothes and has to leave by midnight?” Jocasta asked. Beren nodded, it was a common enough child’s tale, though why the would be princess just didn’t tell the prince her name escaped Jocasta completely.

“I did that,” she told him, with an aura of smug satisfaction.

“So I’m going to turn back into a rag picker at midnight?” he queried. Jocasta put on a hurt expression.

“Of course not, I’m much better at this than that fairy witch or whatever.”