Chương 279: Pleasant

We spent most of Sixthday in that diner. The marquis bought the place out for the day, had them shut the doors, and the staff mostly sat at the other end of the dining room and chatted amongst themselves, only to jump into action every time the Marquis spontaneously decided he was in the mood for some other snack. He wound up ordering about four tablefuls of food, which is not a measure I am used to, but we only ate a couple of plates each.

He had the staff bag up the rest to go, and his footmen carried it all out when we finally wrapped our planning session in the afternoon. At no point did I actually get comfortable in his presence. Or, around his wife either. I turned off the system's indicators that told me about their strength, but it didn't help. We had the majority of the plan hashed out in a half-hour, but details, contingencies, backups, logistics, and making sure everyone understood what their specific role was, took longer.

We made sure we had everything settled before dinner, because most of us had evening plans. The marquis and his wife were showing up for a charity ball by one of their counts who was organizing a cleanup effort for riverways in the march. I was going to a wedding reception for the son of a Harigold earl. And I was bringing Thumper. So the atmosphere in my dorm room was a little different than usual.

All four of us mean girls were headed in different directions but on impulse we were doing all our preparations in the room Elica and I shared, because it's bigger. I moved Larianne and Vancy's mirrors and vanities and wardrobes from their room to ours, and the extra confusion just seemed to add to the laughter. Rinnie is here because Elica is the most performatively helpless person we've ever known.

Thumper is here because, for all her grace and charm, she has never actually attended an upper-crust fete, and she needs some help and some direction. I could not say whose idea it was to get Thumper in trousers, it started as a half-said joke and escalated quickly, passed around and building momentum really quickly. For the first pass she laughingly refused, but at the second she did point out that she spends half her time in pants anyway as part of her fencing uniform.

This carried until I rolled my eyes and conjured a full suit of gala-quality clothes for her, with a jacket and trews with jerkin and chemise. I blended styles a little bit, with a flowy lace-throated undershirt and epaulet coat, all fitted to her. It was a little more feminine than you would find the men wearing in most gala events, but not by much. She took them to the washroom to change, because stepping behind a simple screen to change into pants in a room full of young women just felt...

inappropriate, I guess. The look was good, but not stunning. I adjusted a few things, the collar, the lapels, but it just did not seem to flatter her face. Ultimately this was deemed a fun experiment, maybe to revisit in the future, but we dropped back to Plan A and brought out her gown. And from there, sorcery started opening possibilities.

"Hmm," I said, looking it over.

"Thumper, do you mind if I put in some alterations?" I touched my hair self-consciously, I'm still not quite comfortable wearing a tiara. They fit funny, not like a headband and not like a circlet. There's a specific angle that is only used for tiaras and it's rather fiddly.

"That's the main reason I'm here at twelfth bell for a party that doesn't start until fourteenth," she quipped. I nodded.

"Well, first I just want to adjust the weave a bit, if I may, just to help the whole thing pop," and I shifted the fabric's spacing and separated the layers slightly, turning worsted cotton into satin. There was a shimmer that moved from the floor upwards, her dress's fabric sparkled as a transformation swept up her skirts. A million tiny changes all at once, and a shimmering finish flowed up her body. She held her arms out as if to keep them clear of the shifting magic, and I smiled gently.

I felt like a fairy godmother. She gaped.

"Wh- how?"

"It's magic," I said.

"Besides, satin isn't a material, it's a weave pattern. So I changed the weave of your fabric to get you the satin finish. Next, I want to try some ruching to improve the fit without making it look close." In a wave the material altered again, taking on more volume, a pattern of draping, gathering and ruffling that was just as dramatic as the shimmering satin finish. Thumper was craning around to see the changes, wonder creeping over her face. The color wasn't quite right, it did not play well with her warm tan.

That pink was too bright, like she was trying to hide behind her own dress. The color muted, taking on a more mature and seasoned effect, and then the colors separated, shifting to a pale pale rose-pink, and a deep jewel-like fuchsia. Her warm complexion caught them and elevated them, and after a second of my guidance the light tint and deeper shade separated out, a fanciful lava-lamp swirl that played across the whole gown.

"Oh my gods," she gasped out, staring down at herself, then whirling to see in a mirror.

"You're amazing!" I'm just the one that convinces fabrics and dyes to cooperate. What's amazing is the way she wears the dress. I was looking quite pleased with myself, and everyone else looked rather impressed.

"Good work for someone who's turned down a designer's job," Elica commented dryly.

"Too late to start now," I said, with entirely unforced cheer.

"That door is closed." I'm not bitter, really. The others got in their carriages because they were going to their own parties. We went by way of the Portal Express. Thumper told me once before that she cleans up nice, and it really is true. I saw that when I went out on the town with her for a shopping trip and a teahouse, seeing her in something other than her fencing uniform or a school uniform. That had been a rather nice and well-chosen day dress. But today we went a lot further.

The wedding reception we're at is a long drive from that tea party. Earl-level guests, a lot of powerful officials and merchants. Not a huge guest list, but a good place for a ducal heir to fit right in. And with that, the appropriate honors and the appropriate dress code. Thumper's dress had originally been fine for this, but I will modestly state that with my help it's now one of the very nicest ones on the premises. And with Vancy and me both helping with makeup, she looked dazzling.

She held my arm as we came through the door. Plus-ones normally arrive in one of three postures: either standing at a comfortable distance, as an aide or secretary or acquainted friend. Or, perhaps holding hands, as a closer friend or "friend" might. Or, hand-over-elbow, as an escort. This is mostly for couples, but is also just as suitable for a chaperone or guardian. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. And this is really just a convenient fiction.

Someone of my station who is not officially courting may very well use the escort station to bring dates around and everyone politely pretends this is not a date. This is mostly what happens when I bring dates to galas with me. In an official capacity, they are a trusted responsible friend who is here to make sure that I am not led astray by heated impulses or the treacherous wiles of some cad. In an unofficial capacity, they shoo away would-be suitors because they're my date.

If I sit down to an afternoon snack with four friends in public, it gets rumors started. When I show up at a formal event with a date, everyone pretends to believe this is something different than it is and just doesn't acknowledge it. Because of the specific position of my arms. And for all the really restrictive and regressive and narrow-minded customs as Hearstcliff holds onto, genders of couples is not one of them.

So nobody batted an eye when I walked in with my fingers cradling her bicep and Thumper strutted along, proud to be the princess's date/escort. It took me a long time to bring her to a formal, but it's really worth the wait. Not really my fault it took this long. She took a while to get a gala dress, and wouldn't let me buy one (or conjure one) to expedite. And then, all of my events were very particular. I needed specific outcomes for my political career.

And as much as I respect Thumper and her social acumen, "fate of nations and the future itself" is not the right stakes to apply for someone's first foray into the world of high-society celebration. I wouldn't want to pitch her into the deep end, but unfortunately that's what attending with me really is. We moved in through the doors side by side, and I immediately dropped a curtsy to the earl who was hosting, Thumper a second behind me.

"A pleasure to attend, my lord, so glad you did invite us," I said to him with a warmer smile. It is a deferential move; I slightly outrank him but he is footing the bill for this party. It's a carefully-calculated smile and curtsy.

"Of course, your Grace, you honor us with your attendance," he said, bowing in return, slightly deeper than my curtsy. He's seen that I'm offering him a little extra courtesy and he responds by showing his appreciation with a deeper bow and extending my title slightly. A lot of the rules of etiquette and station may seem complicated, but most of it is just learning to recognize body language. I turned to open the conversation towards my side.

"And may I introduce my escort, this is Miss Sepecca Kuritan. Thumper, his Lordship the Earl of Helvurcysa, father of the groom." I kept my hand on Thumper's elbow, so when she curtsied I guided her to the right depth, and then back. I used a subtle touch. and she shot me a grateful sidelong glance. She said a few of the right words, and the earl looked amused as he replied, and then we moved to the reception space itself.

A bit of a switch from most gala spaces, in that it did not use tables and amenities in the center of the space as a divider to keep the dance space moving and mingling, but the dance floor was in the middle and slightly recessed, with dining tables ringing. Not unusual for wedding receptions, but it does create a slightly different dynamic than most venues. Thumper looked at the tables, seats and place settings.

"Do we sit down?" She glanced around the room, the only people sitting were either elderly or kept a cane nearby.

"We walk, we talk, we mingle," I said.

"There will be either a general announcement or some discreet hints when it is time to be seated. The caterers will help us there, they know the seating chart." I guided her to the right, and touched base with Bruce and Petty who were deep in conversation with some high-ranking members of the scrivener's guild. We said hi, there were quick introductions back and forth, I promised I wasn't here to interrupt very long, do any of you have questions I could help with?

I answered a couple of questions about the eventual length of the railroad project, and I wished them all well and assured the cousins I would see them later.

"That seemed harmless," Thumper said.

"We're among friends today," I said.

"To get you used to the environment. We'll swim with sharks some other day." She looked away into the middle distance and a dreamy smile came over her face.

"Figurative sharks," I clarified.

"Oh. That makes more sense." She did not fully hide her disappointment. I laughed.

"All right, we can swim with actual sharks, but it's really cold in the oceans right now, so let's call it a rain check. I'm gonna be very busy and very stressed for the first half of the summer, so maybe we can schedule a beach episode for Summerslow?"

"You have a deal. But remember that you promised me sharks and I will be holding you to it." Definitely a solo date, one-on-one. I'm not doing the full-harem beach episode trope. My life is balanced on too many precipices for me to set up an obvious disaster like that. Hah, priorities. The sharks aren't a danger. Putting Kurumi and Rabert in the same room feels dangerous. [Mission Checkpoint Achieved: Third and Counting. +5 XP. Advancement - The Access] I moved to a corner of the room away from the door so as not to block traffic, and I posted up with a glass of water in my hand.

"Now," I said to her, "normally at a Harigold family wedding like this I would be moving from group to group. Like Cousin Iarold over there is doing. See him? He's been working on behalf of several of the granary and preservation companies in his district, they lost a lot of business when I struck Meadwhite from our house, and they haven't fully recovered with the new Vuryta contacts. So he's setting up meetings to get those businesses back on their feet, because he's a responsible lord.

Normally I'd be flitting about like that, making the rounds. But if this was a more inclusive gala with a larger and more diverse guest list, I'd be here in a corner like this."

"Why is that?" Thumper asked. I half-turned to the room, and waved to a woman passing just five feet from us.

"Ah, Aunt Iarriet! I'd like to introduce you to my escort, this is Sepecca Kuritan, one of the finest fencers of our generation. Thumper, my second-aunt Duchess Iarriet, she also attended Hearstcliff Academy, and I believe she was also in the debate club."

"First and second year only," my aunt corrected me.

"Third year I needed room in my schedule for wood shop. I discovered a love of cabinetry and it's been my method to relax and collect myself ever since. Debate only ever made me tense and stressed." Thumper nodded enthusiastically.

"That's an excellent reason to move away from it. I see so many of my classmates that are clearly having a bad time and they think that is the point. They can't draw a border between debate as an exercise and argument as a conflict. I personally love it, but if I did not I would never stick around." Then my second aunt started blessing us young people with life lessons from her experience, and Thumper added her own input and questions.

I gestured Cousin Bruce over, and quietly asked him to point out who here was particularly enamored of fencing. He gave me the faces and names, and as they walked by I started to reel them in. I brought Iarriet over to me and asked her about cabinetry, is she in any clubs or guilds? - and she started hailing over several acquaintances that could tell me about their associations. In only a few minutes I was accreting a wall of Harigolds that chatted amiably, conversations mixing over each other.

I turned to my right, and tapped Thumper on her wrist. She turned to me, curious.

"This is why," I said, my voice low.

"This-" and I gestured to the jovial family bonhomie that surrounded us, "this is what I surround myself with when we swim with sharks. This is why I have people mingle in toward me instead of me walking about. It's strategic." She looked around, measuring the difference, and slowly nodded.

"I.. see. If you were at a party with the wrong sort-""Toxic, nasty, scheming, and untrustworthy," I confirmed for her.

"-this would be a good defense."

"Thanks," I said.

"I learned it from the most toxic, nasty, scheming and untrustworthy man I've ever not been siblings with."

"Pleasant."

"I won't introduce you to Marquis Grennick. Please do not be offended."

"Hardly."