I’m somewhere different when I wake up, dry and clothed, even though I can’t recall leaving the bath. I look up into Adeleya’s pretty green eyes, as she holds my hand.

“You’re back,” She smiles down at me, warming my heart. “It feels like we’ve been through this once already today.”

“Thank you.”

“You don’t need to thank me,” she tells me, leaning down and holding me tightly for just a moment.

As she lets go, I look down over myself. For the first time in a long time, I’m fully clean. The cold stream by my cave was never comfortable to clean up in and without soap, I could never get rid of some of the stains. A pleasant buzzing runs through my skin as I run my hands over myself, my hair as soft as any of the furs that I’ve collected, and my skin smoother than the stones in the river.

Is this what ‘clean’ is?

How unfair! Why haven’t I had this before?! Why have I had to be filthy, and dirty, and bloody?!

The black dress draped over my shoulders feels smooth and comfortable. It’s… strange. Clothes can be this soft? It’s what I imagine a cloud would feel like. I can’t tell what it’s made from, but it’s so much different to my last clothes, and my elvish cloak.

The dress, while light, is knee-length and full-sleeved. It’s adorned with some delicate lacework around the skirt, sleeves, and neckline, which dips slightly below my collarbone, it’s nothing like the thick elvish clothes I’m used to.

This dress is, in comparison, light and fluffy.

“Where are the others?”

“They’ve left ahead of us,” she tells me, “It has been a long day, are you sure you still have the strength to keep going? I’d love to get you sized for some new clothes, but if you’re tired…”

“No.” I cut her short, “No, I want to go with you.”

She smiles happily and lifts me to my feet, through the waves of dizziness I cling to Adeleya, and she keeps me from falling. My feet steady a little bit, the broken one still aching, and she grips my hand tight.

“Let’s go.”

After I put on my borrowed shoes, she leads me by the hand through the busy, stinky streets. I have no mind for where we go, I just follow after her, hand clutched tightly and massive sword resting tall on my shoulder.

It seems we’re getting more looks now than before for some reason, but I don’t know what it could be. The elves especially stare at me, freezing up on the spot as they see me, pointing me out to the others. I stand proud, ignoring them until we leave them behind.

Adeleya leads me through the streets and back to the small building she’d gone to on our way to the springs. She opens the door to the two-story building on the edges of the markets. The rich scent of flowers spread from the place, which, while slightly worn in, still looks near to new.

Shelves built upon shelves filled with all sorts of cloth, in all sorts of colours, cover the walls on each side. Some fully made clothes too, both worn and new, they hang from the tight walls that cramp the building which seemed far bigger from the outside.

“Nyla!” Adeleya calls out after charging inside, summoning a small, cat-eared woman a little taller than myself. A long cattish tail sways behind her as she looks us both up and down.

I’ve noticed a few others of her sort out in the streets, and apparently, they come from a large land to the north. They’re called norkit. Largely different from other known races like the short and stocky dwarfs and common humans, still they’re not that different that it seems to matter.

“We have desperate need of your skills.” Adeleya proclaims, holding out my new padded armour that she picked up on our way here. I don’t remember stopping to get that.

I might still be a bit dizzy…

“Oh dear,” Nyla says, taking the padded armour from her, “This will certainly take some modifications.” She speaks in a slightly strange way elongating her words as she flashes her long canines.

“These are the rags we found her in.” Adeleya sadly offers my old clothes to the lady Norkit, who looks over them.

“My poor, poor, child! How long have you been in these!?”

“I… I don’t remember wearing anything else,” I tell her waving the edges of my black dress back and forth, thinking back to my childhood. Surely when I was even smaller I’d have worn something else, but I can hardly remember anything so far back.

Nyla looks genuinely shocked, “Thank you for bringing her here.” She holds Adeleya’s hands, “This truly is desperate.”

She runs out the back of the shop and returns quickly with a long, marked string.

“Set aside those rags, I’ll burn them later. Stand over here. Quickly now.” She orders me closer, where there’s a little more room.

I squeeze Adeleya’s hand but do as I’m told, if she trusts this woman, then I can trust her too.

“So cute,” I swear I can hear her whisper as I look away.

For the next few minutes, Nyla wraps the string around and along different parts of me. Mumbling numbers to herself as she works. At first, it was uncomfortable, but her confident hands and Adeleya’s warm presence calm me.

Many minutes after I would have thought her finished, she is finally done. Nyla, after a few hesitant moments, lines up some clothes.

They are mostly greens and browns and made of the same materials as my old rags, and they are much prettier than those that I recall. Because of better design and greater effort in making them, these are much better than anything I’ve seen any elf wearing before, still…

“I suppose that as an elf, this would be appropriate.” She bites at her lip as she stares down at them, she doesn’t look happy about it.

Looking over the clothes again, I feel a bit… disappointed.

Where’s the colour? The fluff? The layers?

Look at Adeleya, I play with her little red cuff, it’s soft, it’s fluffy, it’s pretty. The clothes on the table are none of those things.

“Go ahead and ask,” Adeleya urges me, brushing her hand through my hair.

“Can Syr get something, more like this?” I ask, still playing with the bright red cuff.

“Yes!” Nyla barks out quickly, her ears standing tall on her head before she makes all the green clothes disappear, “Yes, you can have anything you like!”

In moments she replaces the drab with the colourful; thick and layered things set right beside the light and fluffy.

It’s all so beautiful. The colours arrayed before me are more splendorous than flowers in bloom. Complex designs are lined up side-by-side with simple and delicate works, all without regard for the small space.

Adeleya describes them to me as we look through them. Skirts and pants, shirts and jackets, dresses and suits. Each one unique, and each one pretty.

Some are made from layer upon layer of the sheerest cloth becoming fluffy and wavy. Some of thick leather, studded and not. Some of smooth silks, and some of thick cottons. All dyed greens, blues, reds, and everything between.

Lost amidst the sea of colours and shapes, I look toward Adeleya.

She is absolutely beautiful in her own dress. The way the sharp colour makes clearer her own pale skin, the extra bounce it has with each of her steps.

What was I thinking about again?

Her dress! Yes, her pretty dress.

The chest of the dress is fluffy, but with a deep enough neckline to show her skin. The short sleeves at shoulder length, reveal her pale, smooth arms leading down to the pretty red cuffs on her wrists.

It fits her body so well.

“Can you pick for me?” I ask her, my heart warming at the sight of the smile rising on her lips.

“Yes! No problem, leave it to me!”

She has me wear thin dresses, long dresses, pants; long and short, and atop them jackets and cloaks that might best suit. She smiles and glares with keen eyes, exchanging thoughts with Nyla who joyously joins in on the hunt. Looking in a polished mirror I see a different me looking back with every change. A bright smile adorns this strange pretty girl looking back at me.

After some time and many, many changes, Nyla pulls me aside to cut my hair. We talk as she snips carefully.

“I’ll work on the dress tonight,” she says. The dress we decided on is something much different to the test clothes that I actually wore. “I’ll make it just perfect.”

The clothes that I’m wearing now are something that I’d never have even considered, though Nyla and Adeleya had been quick to put it all together for me.

A dark, black jacket inlaid with fur that comes out the neckline and cuffs, worn over a dark purple dress of a strange design that I’ve never before seen. The dress is a little tight around my chest, holding itself up by the bone-like material that’s weaved into the cloth. The skirt of the dress trails longer down my back than my front, layered to be darker in the back, and lighter and more ruffled in the front.

With my borrowed shoes, which are soon to be replaced by a nearby cobbler, I’m wearing thick, long, grey, woollen socks which almost reach up to my skirt. They’re strapped in place with silken strips connected to a small belt on the inside of my skirt.

Nyla, who’s been clipping at my hair for a while now, pulls me over to the same mirror from earlier.

“Now what do you think?” Nyla asks with an eager smile, demanding praise.

Within the glass is someone like me but not quite.

My dark hair, which has been a mess from the sloppy cuts I’ve given myself for convenience, looks completely different. My fringe has been carefully brushed to the side, while the rest has been properly trimmed to near even length. My hair curls slightly outwards where it’s been cut, giving a bounce that knotted hair simply doesn’t have.

“Perfect,” Adeleya compliments me, warming my heart yet again, “A bit wild, and a bit feminine. Though growing your hair out a little would be nice too.

“Now we need those boots to finish the costume and those shorts to give us more options. Not forgetting the dress we have ordered, as well. Oh, and the styling on the padded armour,” She adds, looking over to the plain armour on the desk.

“I’ll get right onto it,” Nyla nods to each point, “Now in terms of money…” She walks back to the table and starts flipping through the pages of a large book, whispering numbers to herself.

“We’ve been getting the spider silk much cheaper lately, the producers have also been figuring out new silk types as well, which I’ve incorporated into the dress,” Nyla mumbles as she works on her numbers.

“I was wondering where all that stock came from,” Adeleya says. “I’m keen to buy myself something using spider silk.”

“It is quite a wonderful fabric,” Nyla replies still leafing through the pages. “The wool has been cheaper too, I’ve heard that they’ve got a new breed of sheep that develops wool every season, and in much greater quantity.”

“Good times to come,” Adeleya says, bouncing on her heels.

“Good times, indeed.”

“Material costs, labour costs… I can go as low as 2 gold, 45 silver.” She tells us, “Though if you can’t pay straight up…”

“Today we’re fine,” Adeleya says, with a smile bright enough to light up the gold in her hands. “I’ll be paying for half myself,” She says, pulling some more coins from a second pouch.

“Well, well, aren’t you the lucky girl?” Nyla turns to me, petting my head.

Why yes. Yes, I am.

I hold onto Adeleya’s skirt and lean into her side.

We leave the store, with the small black dress from earlier still in hand. As well, of course, as my Adamant blade, which threatens to take out Nyla’s doorway on our exit.

“Thank you so much,” I tell her, bowing a few times at the door.

“No, thank you for coming to me,” she replies with a beautiful, wide smile showing off her sharp teeth.

Adeleya takes my hand, and we head out.

“Thank you,” I say, clutching at the clothes that are, in part, a gift.

“Well, I sort of forced the clothes on you, so it’s only fair that I help pay for it,” she says, glancing down at me with a smile. “I just want my little sister to look cute.”

Hearing those words makes me so unbearably happy that I can’t help but stop in the streets and give her another hug. “I want to be your sister forever.”

“You will be,” Her warm embrace pulls me tighter. “No, you already are my sister forever.”

I feel that warmth in my guts again and nuzzle closer to her so that I can smell her more deeply. I don’t want to let go, but eventually, she pulls away.

“Let’s go make that order with the cobbler, shall we?” Adeleya says, leading me toward another building down the street. “You need some proper boots to go with that dress.”

This time it’s a little less exciting, there aren’t many shoes to look at and none of them are in my size. Adeleya knows the man running the shop, though, and she spends twenty minutes describing what sort of shoes he should make for me.

Adeleya’s boots are only a little taller than her ankle, but mine are meant to be tall enough to almost reach my knees. The cobbler takes my sizes, and a handful of coins before getting to work, not nearly as excited as Nyla was.

“You’ll like them when you see them,” Adeleya says, brushing her hand through my hair as we head back out onto the street. She’s about to say something more when my stomach growls loudly to interrupt her.

“Are you hungry?” She asks, looking about the few shops on the side of the street.

“A bit.”

“Let’s get something,” she looks around the street. “You eat anything, don’t you?”

I nod, “Syr doesn’t really like bugs, though.”

“Ah… that I can understand,” she says with a bit of a frown. “I have a few bad memories of that myself.”

While we talk, she walks over to a small stand and hands over some dull coins, receiving some sort of food impaled on a stick. She hands me one and bites into the other with small, delicate movements. She looks like a cute little bird pecking hesitantly at her meal, yet strangely the food is disappearing frighteningly fast.

I take a decent bite out of my own meal on a stick. It hits faster than a lightning bolt, an explosion of flavour unlike anything I’ve tasted. The meaty juices blend wonderfully with countless flavours that I can’t name, and to top it all off, the warm flavour of cheese melts in with the oils.

“Norkit Sausage,” Adeleya tells me, as she finishes her own. “They blend a bunch of meats, spices, and cheese. They change in flavour depending on where you get them.”

“This is good!” I say, taking another bite.

“It isn’t bad,” she smiles down at me, petting my head.

We finish the sausage while walking through the street earning a few interesting looks. Whether for our outfits, for my sword, or something else I can’t really tell.

Adeleya leads us back to the guild building, where it is starting to grow busy with the falling sun.

“Let’s see if anyone else is here,” she says, taking us inside.

“You finished shopping?” Nadia immediately jumps on us. “I expected you to take a little longer, honestly.” She is drinking something at a table by the door.

“It takes as long as it takes,” Adeleya replies. “Art cannot be rushed.”

“They’re clothes, not some grand painting.” They both sigh at once, tired, with neither able to understand the other.

“Say, where are you staying the night, Syr?” Alice asks suddenly, cutting into the uncomfortable silence.

“With Adeleya,” I say, hoping for it to be true.

“In the guild barracks…?” Alice asks and Adeleya nods, covering her face and looking away, “No, no, no. If that’s the case, you can stay in my home.”

“Is that okay?” Adeleya asks.

“It’s better than throwing her in with all you mercenaries and adventurers.”

“If you’re okay with it,” Adeleya turns to me, “Would you like to stay with Alice tonight?”

So, she doesn’t want me?

She doesn’t want to fall asleep cuddling anymore?

“Don’t pout, I’ll pick you up tomorrow and we can go get your new clothes.”

“Promise?” I ask her.

“Promise.” Adeleya smiles, wrapping my pinkie with her own.

“If it’s what you want…”

I’ll put up with it until I’m powerful enough to make my own home here. When I’m stronger, things will be different.