I looked critically into the mirror at the latest gown. This wone was scarlet with inlays of black and gold. Its generous neckline might have been indecent save for roughs of fabric a shade or two paler than my skintone. It pinched tight around the waist and the curve of my hips was highlighted with braided golden cords in successive rows. It fell into a bussel the was slightly narrower than my hips, giving me the look of a tulip bulb from the waist down. One shoulder was left bare while the other rose into an ornately starched steeple that nearly reached my chin before joining a hood which cowled my face. The top of my hair protruded through the cowl like a horseman's top-knot, bound up in a cage of gold wire that added several inches to my height. 

"Very well," I approved as the courteous staff appraised me. This was as close as could be had to current Gudrun style, or Gudrun style a year and a half ago when we last touched on that pleasant world. It would add to my credibility that I bought something similar to what I was used too and the overall effect wasn't unpleasant. 

"I'll take this as well, you may charge it all to my husbands account," I declared imperiously. The clerk rung his hands together for a moment.

"Madam the total is consider..." I slapped him hard across the face.

"Do as you are told sirrah!" I snapped. A noblewoman from Gudrun would never allow a servant to question her finances afterall. The functionary bobbed his head and smiled subserviently, as though I had done him a great kindness. I felt like a bully, but that what was expected. 

"Do you wish to change madam or..." the clothier persisted. I avoided glancing at my hand, judging by the mans face my fingers might be covered with cosmetic powder. The question was answered a moment later when a servant appeared and sponged my fingers with a cool cloth that smelt faintly of rosewater. I pretended it was beneath my notice.

"No, I shall wear this to my next appointment," I said with a frosty smile that only my mind could make conciliatory. Without further comment I climbed down from the modeling diaz and headed down through the front of the opulent store, heading for where my palanquin should have been waiting, instead I found Hadrian and a priest whom I didn't recognize waiting for me. 

"Husband," I greeted in a cool tone.