T. A. Star
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11 - Particularly Perilous
🕑 Added 2024-03-12 00:00:04 +0000 UTC
Phoenix was rubbing her temples as she sat on the couch in her room, half naked in her undergarments, while Patricia and Rayna were heatedly discussing which outfit she should try next.
She hadn’t entirely believed Dazien at first when he said conjuring things to and from her collection cost mana but here she was with a mana headache from the mountain of outfits she had attempted to swap through in quick succession.
Saiya was quietly holding her hand while curled up next to her and pushing the tranquil aura out a bit to offer its comfort. Even Tala was trying her best to keep Phoenix from snapping at the two arguing women as the fluffy Familiar nestled quietly on her lap, graciously offering the opportunity for the summoner to pet the soft feathers. She gave the Healer a grateful smile, obligingly stroked the back of the [Cosmic Phoenix], and took a deep breath before interrupting the pair of socialites, “So what exactly was wrong with the last fifty outfits?”
“They didn’t show off your powerful figure enough!” Rayna exclaimed.
“They didn’t show off your Mark or graceful femininity enough,” Patricia said at the same time, which triggered another verbal battle between the two.
Phoenix groaned and said, “I don’t think you’ll find anything that will make me look both hard and soft at the same time, so you two will need to figure out which is needed more for the first impression.”
They paused in thought for a moment and Saiya spoke up before they could begin arguing again, “Why don’t you just take her to Mother’s Cupboard?”
“That’s not a dedicated tailoring shop,” the priestess argued, “Madam Malik won’t be able to procure or craft something in time.”
“You’re a prominent noble! Don’t you have some tailor you normally go to?” the bard inquired in frustration.
“We did!” the older noble replied in equal frustration, the long braids twirling around as the woman turned to pace slightly, “He was a Sapphire Caste Shard Weaver that was helping out with the wall response teams and fell in battle a few months ago to a swarm of porcutors.”
“Oh…” that news seemed to deflate the aggressive voxen as Rayna offered sullenly, “I’m sorry.”
“We all are. Everyone is feeling sorry lately,” the priestess said, still trying to calm down, “Your party might have been doing fairly well so far, with only a few close calls, but this prolonged blood moon and the betrayal of multiple noble houses has already claimed too many lives.
“Everyone is being affected in some way whether they were close to someone or not. Supply disrupted. More orphans and elders that need caring for. Jobs left empty…” the priestess took another deep breath, “The worst part is that everyone knows that a lot more lives will be lost before the end.”
“Should we really be even having this celebration then?” Phoenix asked, adding sullenly, “It doesn’t make sense to be arguing over a dress now.”
“Yes, we should,” the noble surprised her by countering, “It helps us from dwelling on all this bad. We need to seize what moments of happiness we can.”
“Madam Malik might know someone who can help us out,” Saiya pointed out.
The two standing women glanced at each other and then finally agreed on something.
Phoenix was only slightly surprised that they had decided to take her that very instant, dragging her out the door as soon as she conjured her normal casual dress.
Mother’s Cupboard looked just like it always did with its precariously stacked items seemingly in a random configuration and the Wayfarer thought it would be a miracle for anyone to locate anything specifically. The place was a treasure hunter’s paradise though, with the best deals buried in the chaos.
A dangerous mix of curiosity and rebelliousness had her try to pull something from the bottom of a particularly perilous pile of prizes; the metaphorical devil on her shoulder that rarely piped up telling her that she could just claim to have wanted to buy the ratty-looking tome holding everything up and offer to pay extra for it should disaster strike.
She was pleasantly surprised by the towering trove of treasures maintaining its balance, despite her less-than-gentle yanking. Fully convinced now that magic was the only reasonable answer for her not to be currently buried under a veritable mountain of valuables. She glanced at the book she managed to procure from the depths and raised a brow at the title: From the Deep, Origins of the Gemite.
“Phoenix? You coming?” Rayna called out, causing her to reflexively shove the book back into the heap that separated the isles instead of proper shelving, and she quickly made her way back to the others that had continued on to the service counter near the back of the main room.
“Miss Fraser! Wonderful to see you again and in one piece,” a raspy alto called out, “Have you finally decided that the AOA isn’t payin’ you what you’re worth?”
“Good evening, Madam Malik,” Patricia said almost too sweetly as the runeforged woman walked up from behind her, “Trying to poach my niece again?
“Niece?” the cinderen merchant repeated with a raised brow looking towards her, “Lord Wayland found a wayward daughter he sired while adventurin’, what? Twenty years ago?”
Phoenix blushed and shook her head, “I’m eighteen and no. Paul’s adopting me.”
The larger woman gave a long weary sigh, “I suppose I’ll never get you on the books now that you’re a noble scion,” then seemed to shake herself out of the sorrowful moment and ask, “Well then, what can I do for such an esteemed group of ladies?”
The noble priestess gave a slightly mischievous grin that sent a shiver down Phoenix’s spine as the woman put a hand on her shoulder and said, “Now that Phoenix is a Wayland, her Noble Reveal will be in a week, and we’re having trouble finding a suitable outfit for the occasion. We used to go to Master Vaturi…”
“Say no more, this cursed blood moon has already claimed too many of our best people…” the proprietor said with a sad nod, falling uncharacteristically silent.
Patricia’s entire demeanor shifted suddenly from that of a viper to a mother as the runeforged said softly, “I heard about your son, Rayk. My condolences for your loss. He was far too young to be taken from us and our city is lesser for it.”
“How?” Rayna asked curiously, failing miserably at decorum, and earning a rare death glare from her twin.
Phoenix wasn’t sure if it was insatiable curiosity or just the voxen’s utter disregard for any kind of social formalities that drove the bard to ask the blunt questions at the worst times but she found herself silently grateful to have her own curiosity sated and not be the one gaining Saiya’s ire.
The grieving mother gave a heavy sigh, “Doing what Adventurers do; protectin’ the people from some monsters that had spawned inside the walls of the Logistics District. They never did find his body or that of one of his party members but the license confirmed his death while the other’s was found on site. They told me the monster likely ate the remains.
“But the more unnervin’ thing was that the alarms hadn’t gone off. It was around the time of the battle of Tulisuda so they think the ley lines just hadn’t finished properly restorin’ power to that area when it occurred,” the merchant said with a frustrated look.
Phoenix was taken aback for a moment. She knew Rayk from her Adventurer trials and she hadn’t heard anything about his death. The young cinderen had only been a few years older than her, she guessed, and he had taken the time to explain things to her when she was still feeling lost in this new world.
It was an odd feeling to mourn someone you only had a fleeting connection to. Like you didn’t know the deceased well enough to deserve to grieve them. All you could do was offer your sympathies and go on with your day while those who remained struggled outside your observations.
Before she could think of something good to say that wouldn’t sound hollow, Madam Malik seemed to shake herself once more and say, “It might not be what you’d expect but I have a contract with a BEL for custom tailorin’ orders I might need.”
“A BEL? You think she would have time for us?” Pati asked in obvious surprise.
“She will if I ask and explain the situation,” the merchant said with a smug smirk then admitted, “Besides, it’s known throughout the city now that House Wayland has aligned themselves with House Teras in shared purpose. I’m surprised you came to me instead of directly to Lord Teras to ask for this. The BELs are well known for their precise craftin’ and deep well of knowledge.”
Then the proprietor turned and began walking towards a side room and gestured for them to follow while speaking, “I’ll send a messenger to arrange a fittin’ tomorrow. Why don’t the rest of you come over and look at what I have available currently to see if somethin’ strikes your fancy? We can get it all adjusted with the BEL tomorrow.”
As the others went to look through the racks of clothes filling the side room they were led into, Phoenix went over to pull Madam Malik aside as she said, “I’m sorry about your son. He was nice to me at our trials when I didn’t know anything about anything and I wish I had gotten to know him better.”
“That’s kind of you, m’lady,” the merchant said with a smile, “When he first told me about you, he had mentioned how alone and oblivious you seemed,” the cinderen added with a chuckle, “He seemed rather relieved when he learned you were a Wayfarer and found a party to belong to. He had a kind heart and Noble Wayland was right, the world is lesser for his loss.”
“It sounds like he was a good Adventurer,” she offered, “He died a hero’s death protecting others.”
Madam Malik gave a pained smile, “You know, I argued with him about becomin’ an Adventurer in the first place. Told him only fools risk their lives chasin’ monsters for an organization like the AOA, ‘specially durin’ a blood moon,” she said and the smile slowly vanished as she added regretfully, “I’ve never hated bein’ right so much in my life.”
Phoenix didn’t know what to say that could possibly make the woman feel better. Despite having lost many childhood friends and her own mother, she had never been a mother and didn’t want to pretend like she could empathize with losing a child so she just settled on, “I’m sorry.”
“Thank you,” the woman said, wiping away molten tears from her ember eyes before saying with a false sort of cheer, “I’ve been able to keep myself distracted durin’ the days with the shop and the special requests people come to me for. It helps me not drown.”
That gave Phoenix an idea and she conjured a large bolt of cloth into her hands. The fabric seemed almost alive with swirling shadows and she explained, “Well, if you’d like another project. I got this ages ago and have come to the realization that I will never be able to craft something worthwhile with it. Do you think this BEL tailor can make something for Rayna to help her sneak about with me without my friends finding out about it?”
Item: Shadeweave
Fabric woven from the remnants of a wight and attuned to darkness.
Caste: Crystal.
Availability: Rare.
Type: Material, fabric.
Effect: Can be used as a material for crafting.
After her enlightening alchemy lessons with her soon-to-be cousins, Patric and Padma, crushing her hopes and dreams about becoming a master crafter of everything, along with her many failed attempts at more complex artifice projects, she had finally come to the sad conclusion that she wouldn’t be able to do much with the rare fabric that wouldn’t produce something better in the hands of an actual tailor.
Madam Malik smiled while gently feeling the fabric, “Oh, yes. Let me take what you have and I’ll set somethin’ up on the side. You don’t mind it bein’ completed a little later though, do you?”
“That’s fine. Like I said, it’s just been sitting in my collection collecting dust.”
The merchant gave her a curious look and said the same thing Dazien had told her long ago, “I’m pretty sure things can’t get dusty in a dimensional storage space like that,” and Phoenix snorted a laugh.
Comments
Custus
Thanks for the chapter!
