Kalia wiped the sweat from her brow as she stood up to work the soreness from her back. She was startled when the man sitting in front of her spoke. “Are we finished for now?”

She nodded and motioned for the man to leave. With how still the undead could be, she sometimes forgot the armor she was working on was being worn by someone. As the man stood, he quaffed a potion and she sighed in resignation as all of her hard work vanished.

“Better luck with the next attempt,” the man responded sheepishly.

She smiled tightly and turned back toward her notes. Where was she going wrong? This had been her fourteenth failure. There wasn’t anything really significant about the number, just that she had wanted to impress Lord Norman at their dinner tonight.

Was that weird? She felt like it was. The two of them had hardly spoken in the last few weeks, both busy with their own thing. Then his assistant comes by to invite the entire enchantment team to some sort of gathering at the castle. It wasn’t like it was a date or intimate dinner or anything. But she still somehow felt like she should present some sort of progress.

Was it her feelings of debt toward the man? Lord Norman did give her carte blanche to work on whatever she wanted as well as fixing her condition. And she had done a few of her own things. But most of her focus had been consumed by the interesting challenge of enchanting a spell. Or at least the physical result of a spell.

Maybe she just didn’t want to disappoint him. The more her thoughts dwelt on her failure, the more her stomach began to twist in knots. Deciding not to focus on her failures, she shifted to something she could fix. With her new goal firmly fixed in her mind, she went in search of Nolia, Saliu’s life mate and the Finance Administrator. She was the only real female acquaintance Kalia had made since she got here.

“Nolia, I need your help with something, if you have time.”

The bluish-grey-skinned jorik woman looked up at her. “Oh, and what might that be?”

Kalia fidgeted a bit before responding to the piercing purple-eyed woman. “I don’t have anything to wear for the party.”

Nolia smiled slightly and looked around the store she owned and operated with her husband. “I suppose it's quiet enough. Saliu, I need to step out for a few hours.”

The slightly taller jorik turned away from the customer he was helping and nodded toward his partner.

As the slight woman glided out from behind the counter, she hooked Kalia’s arm with hers. Kalia wished she could move with that sort of fluid grace. “Come, Dear, we will find you something appropriate to wear for this gathering. And while our Lord doesn’t hold much stake in being formal, we can’t go in there looking like a gron.”

Kalia winced slightly at the derogatory statement, but it was mostly true. She had met a few of the gron Junior Ministers over the last few weeks and they put a capital B in the word bland.

Even though Kalia was a good five inches taller than the jorik woman, she had a hard time keeping pace without looking like she was jogging. And to make matters worse, it hardly looked like the smaller woman was exerting herself at all as her long skirt flowed behind her.

By the time they reached their destination, she was panting heavily.

“Oh, Dear, you should have said something. It’s been so long since I needed to breathe that I forget.”

“It’s fine,” Kalia choked out, as she sucked in a deep lungful of air. She really needed to exercise more anyway.

Nolia waited patiently for her to recover before the pair entered the building.

The rustic wooden exterior did not do the place justice. Inside the walls were richly decorated and enameled in deep reds and whites. She almost broke out in laughter when she saw a portrait of Norman hanging over the counter at the far end of the room. It wasn’t that it was a bad painting, but it represented him standing atop a pile of corpses with a magical wand held high in the air as his people hoisted a flag over some conquered town.

It was just so inconsistent with her experience with the man that she found it funny.

“Sarah, my friend here needs a wardrobe for tonight’s festivities.”

“Oh,” the human woman responded in surprise before looking over at Kalia and making her feel a bit self-conscious. “I did hear about the event. Alas, I wasn’t invited,” the woman sighed. “Will you be needing a dress as well?”

“I could ask Lord Norman if you are interested in attending,” Nolia responded with a smirk.

Kalia got to experience what happens when a greykin blushes. Apparently, their face turns nearly black. “Oh, I would never impose on him in such a way. Just knowing he appreciates my designs is enough for me.”

“Very well, and yes. I will need a dress as well. Charge them both to me.”

“That’s not nes-,” Kalia began to respond, but the woman just looked at her, cutting off any argument.

“Very well, Administrator Nolia. Alright, Ms., let's get started.”

What happened next was a bit of a whirlwind as she was dressed up like a doll in all manner of attire.

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The first dress was some floofy pink affair that Nolia quickly shook her head at. The next was a slightly more subdued white dress. But Sarah shook her head at that one. “Looks too much like a wedding gown. Unless that’s what you’re going for,” The woman winked, making Kalia go red in the face this time.

“I think we have a winner,” the seamstress said, standing back and admiring her handiwork. She turned a long mirror toward her and Kalia let out a little squeak of surprise. The emerald green dress was a simple thing with a V-neck that showed off a bit of her cleavage, but it wasn’t ostentatious.

The long skirt reached her ankles and allowed her to walk with ease. It was like a more formal sundress. An embroidered gold design flowed through the dress, accentuating certain areas. She ran her hand down the lovely dress, but couldn’t figure out what it was made from. It didn’t feel like silk or cotton.

The seamstress must have seen her confusion. “It’s made from the same long grass as all of the clothing around here. Only we refine it until we get this much more refined texture and look.”

Kalia was no stranger to the plant-based clothing. She had been wearing it since her arrival. The coarse but sturdy overalls that she normally wore during her enchanting. “This is too much… I couldn’t possibly wear something so extravagant.”

“Nonsense,” the seamstress scolded. “This is one of my favorite pieces. But alas, the color clashes with the grey skin of most of the residents. I would be honored if it finally got to see the light of day.”

“Then it’s settled, Kalia will wear this tonight,” Nolia spoke, brooking no argument.

The seamstress took some measurements to adjust the dress before moving on to the Administrator, who seemed not shy at all about stripping completely nude in front of them.

While Kalia was embarrassed for her, she couldn’t help admiring the woman’s form. There wasn’t an ounce of fat or a blemish on her body. Had she stood still, Kaila might have mistaken her for a statue carved from a very rare marble. The stereotype about elven beauty certainly was true. At least as far as she had seen.

The Administrator ended up going with a spaghetti-strap red dress that was almost the color of blood. It exposed most of her upper body and back, while also plunging dangerously low in the front to expose the woman’s much smaller cleavage.

She must have spotted Kalia looking and she smirked. “Let’s hope my life mate has the same reaction. I could never have gotten away with something so scandalous back when I was alive. But since my passing, I have learned to enjoy some of your human customs.”

After they were measured and Sarah assured them the dresses would be done before the party, the pair headed over to a hairdresser. Kalia was honestly surprised at having a seamstress of such high quality as well as a hairdresser in this small town. Then again, she probably shouldn’t be. Over a quarter of Ashvale was now made up of humans. The rest were a mix of other species with the gron making up the majority.

That had confused her at first until one of the other enchanters told her the story about their arrival. She shouldn’t be surprised that Vincent had been so short-sighted. She still had a hard time believing Lord Norman had defeated an entire army without lifting a finger.

A few hours passed and she was now riding in a fancy carriage opposite Saliu and Nolia. Although she might as well not be there as the two couldn’t keep their eyes… and hands off of each other.

Kalia fidgeted with the dress and she heard Nolia tsk. “You look fine, Dear. Now relax and enjoy the evening.”

“Sorry,” she responded. “It just feels like too much. Do- Do you think, he’ll like it?”

Nolia smiled mischievously, while Saliu quirked an eyebrow. “Has our new resident enchanter perhaps found a paramour she wishes to impress tonight?”

She watched as the Finance Administrator rolled her eyes at her mate’s obliviousness before slapping him on the arm lightly in rebuke. “No teasing, Love. She is nervous enough about tonight.”

The man shrunk back, looking chastised. “Mere curiosity, my Love. But I suppose I will learn who this man is tonight. And we will judge whether he is fit enough to be with someone as talented as you.”

Nolia giggled at that, and Kalia would have choked if she had been drinking anything. As it was she looked out the side window to keep her embarrassment from being seen.

The houses rolled by at a slow but steady pace as people moved aside to let the enchanted carriage roll through. The trip didn’t take very long as Saliu’s shop was inside the first wall. Soon she spotted the ring wall around the Lord’s mansion and the carriage started up the winding road that ran along the entire perimeter of the hill.

While it seemed silly to have it traverse the entire hill, she had to admit the view was spectacular as they rose above the houses and she got to see the entire city and beyond in all its glory. Before the carriage came to a stop in front of the estate, she asked something that she had forgotten to do before. “Um… Do either of you know what this party is for?”

Saliu smiled. “Why of course. It’s Lord Norman’s coronation party.”

“But I thought he was already the leader?”

“He is, Dear,” Nolia responded. “This is just to make it official and to give the people a day to celebrate the occasion. Tonight is for close friends and important officials, and tomorrow will be his official coronation day in front of the city.”

“That seems like big news. How did I not hear of this sooner?”

The pair looked at each other before Nolia replied. “You have been rather preoccupied as of late.”

“…Ah. Right.”

The carriage came to a halt and a well-dressed man, whom Kalia recognized as one of Norman’s assistants, opened the door and helped them down.

The first thing she noticed was the red carpet that covered the central walkway. The second was the magical lanterns that hovered quietly off to each side. Her fingers twitched as she got the urge to examine them. She managed to keep her curiosity in check… barely. It was a testament to how often she had seen the Death Knights lately that she hardly even noticed them standing farther off to the sides, like deadly sentinels.

She followed behind the jorik couple as they strode into the building. She had been inside the castle plenty of times and figured they were going to go straight for the throne room. Only for the pair to pass straight through and head down toward the testing chamber.

When they arrived outside the thick metal blast doors, she realized why. There simply wasn’t enough room to host the dozens of people inside the throne room. And she hardly recognized the testing chamber. All of the austere stone walls had been draped in warm upholstery done in shades of warm red with gold designs woven through them. Also gone was the permanent spell circle that usually sat off to one side. She could still see the shape in the floor but it had been filled in by normal stone.

Small circular tables that could seat five or six people dotted half the room with Norman sitting at the center of a rectangular table in a slightly taller chair, a line of people coming and going to congratulate him. Her gaze stopped when it landed on the leader. Other than their first dinner together, she had never seen the man put much effort into his looks or dress. That was not true tonight.

He looked regal in his black dress jacket with red accents and gold trim. In one hand he held an ornate staff that she could tell was powerful without even having to activate her sight. And atop his head sat an ivory-colored crown that looked to resemble thorns. She realized it must be made of bone, but something about the crown made her pause and she activated her sight without even thinking about it. The crown gave off its own magical glow, similar to the armor that the city guard wore.

The man’s eyes settled on her and he smiled.