Chapter 19

Lilith could see The first rays of sunlight drifting in under the closed drapes of guest room number three. It was a new day and someone was knocking on her door. In response to the renewed knocking she got up with a hesitant moan, slid out of bed and walked over to the door with slow plodding steps her chest bouncing as she went. The odd sensation finally alerting her to her own nakedness just before she turned the key she had left in the door. “One second. I need to get dressed.” she said to the unknown caller.

Pausing for a second to shake her head and clear the drowsiness of sleep Lilith blinked a few times before she thought of a proper course of action. First, she cast prestidigitation on herself and her underwear, which she was still wearing from yesterday, put on her commoners clothes only to return to the, thankfully, quiet door. There, she unlocked and opened it to find Sir Tanel with papers in hand. Before she could say a word he walked past her, right into her room turning to spread the drawings out on her vanity desk.

“These designs are good but there is one drawing here that I don’t understand.”

“Tany, I’m not even awake yet” she said with a yawn. “Is breakfast still being served?”

“Yes but I already ate.” He responded quickly before he pointed at the drawing again. “I need to know what this is so I can evaluate the project in full. The rest is perfectly understandable but this....”

“One sec let me put my shoes on.” Lilith bent over to touch her Demon plate cuirass and it disappeared as she called out a single rune word. Lilith had equipped only the armored boots while the rest of her armor was being stored in some kind of pocket dimension. Still not feeling completely awake she steps over to her own desk and looked at where Sir Tanel was pointing.

“This. It looks like a square porcupine. And the label reads ‘phalanx’ what does that even mean.”

“Well its a square formation of troops packed close together so that you can get many spears all covering the enemies line of advance.”

“Oh” He seemed to ponder the drawing once again. “Well wouldn’t a square formation be easy to get surrounded?”

“Yes but you are supposed to have many of these 10 by 10 squares in a larger formation fighting next to each other. I only depicted one phalanx as an example.” Lilith explained.

“Well we only have 100 members of the Militia, so can we change this? I mean will it still work in a different arrangement?” he asked.

“The important thing is that they are packed closely together and are at least 4 deep. So a formation of 4 by 25 would defend the most ground. But I would recommend a 20 by 5 formation. Then you could take out these men here from the back center and move them to cover the sides so your flanks are better protected.”

“Can you draw that out and label it real quick?” He asked in a softer tone.

Lilith let out an audible breath of air through her nose as she sat down, picked up a quill and began to draw the new formation using small dots for each of the men. She then labeled the formation ‘20 Front Facing Refused Flanks’. Lastly she added a note that said ‘Keep formation tight no gaps.’ This was starting to remind her of working from home. Lilith stacked all the papers together and handed them off to Sir Tanel.

“I am going to show these to Sharl and a few others. I might have a better idea of how this will perform by lunch.” Sir Tanel waved the papers as he spoke then hurried out the door without saying another word.

Lilith thought ‘This seems to be a big priority for him...Wait he must think the orcs are going to come back too!’ Lilith’s tail banged around on the back of the chair in agitation. Her goal for today of getting a few bras made for herself now seemed like a vanity project in comparison. But some indignities could not be suffered. So she got up and walked to the banquet hall, slowly. As she looked around for the usual sight of Celeste and Wendel she did not see them but the strong scent of food brought her over to the serving table like a pied piper. With hungry eyes now ablaze she picked up some sausages as usual and also some scrambled eggs. She noticed that the platter with the scrambled eggs was only half as full as it normally was but she figured there was no way anyone had seen her. Lilith only took half a plate in total she wasn’t actually that hungry apparently her late night snack had done the trick.

Finding an empty bench she sat down and began eating alone. Lilith marveled at how she almost seemed to get more pleasure from eating this simple breakfast than she did from what went on in her room last night. With no one to talk to she finished her meal quickly and was about to find a steward to ask about a shopping destination when she saw Celeste entering the hall, looking for her.

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Celeste didn’t need to look long. She quickly spotted the bright red hair and eyes of Lilith, her new demoness friend. With a spring in her step she walked over to her and saw Lilith extend a hand in greeting. Not wanting to shake, Celeste walked past it and hugged Lilith from the side. Celeste had wanted to hug her for a while but couldn’t because she was almost always wearing her plate armor. Even hugging her from the side Celeste could feel her head resting against parts of her that were both strong and soft. She looked up briefly before releasing the hug to see Lilith’s smile. It made her feel secure some how especially after last nights bad dream. Celeste thought her smile was warm and genuine… except for the teeth. Those were still a bit off putting.

The apprentice had spent the evening re-organizing part of the tower library into Demon, Devil, and Divine being sections. Another shelf had books that had multiple types of extra-planar beings in them otherwise known as outsiders. She had then spent the morning cataloging the new setup so that each book could be easily found. For breakfast her and Wendel ate the conjured food that he had made and she was again tasked to assist Lilith for the day. It wasn’t much of an ask. Really the only thing she would rather be doing is more spell practice. Celeste really liked casting spells and she thought she was ready for some more advanced magic maybe even fireball.

“So what are you doing today?” the wizard’s apprentice asked in a cheery tone.

Lilith took a small step back so she could see Celeste a bit easier and said “I need to make some undergarments so I can move around faster. Do you know where we can get different materials and fabrics to try out?”

Celeste thought that Lilith already walked too fast as it was. Which was expected given that the demoness was over a foot taller than her. But more than that Celeste was curious as to what she was trying to make. “Yes I know just the place its the Bin and Bobbin. They have fabric and sewing supplies and even some dresses that can be tailored to fit.”

“That sounds perfect.” Lilith confirmed before she nodded towards the door “Lead the way”

Celeste began walking out of the Ducal castle and down the Duke’s Way. She could see that Lilith was walking a lot slower than usual so she didn’t have any trouble keeping up. She also noticed her tail lift her dress a few times as Lilith looked up or to the side at some of the large buildings so she swatted the tail down for her to spare her the embarrassment. Lilith just gave her a knowing look and chuckled as they entered the market square. The Bin and Bobbin overlooked the Marketplace from the center of the row of buildings. It got a lot of foot traffic from the women shopping to fill their homes with food and was in prime location in the middle of town.

Stepping into the shop, Celeste could see the usual dresses in the front window but also some fine fabrics that were imported from the south. Lilith immediately began looking and feeling all the materials so she followed suit pulling on a few in the same way as her friend. They had gone over at least a quarter of the fabrics before a seamstress came over to talk to her rather tall and unusual customer.

“Hello, ah … ma’am. How can I help you today?” The seamstress asked with her hands clasped together seeming only to be flustered momentarily.

“I am looking for fabric for a new type of undergarment. I am going to try and make one using magic but the fabrics used are just as important. If possible I would like them to be matching colors but that isn’t a must.” Lilith began to explain.

Celeste put down the fabric she was looking at and started to go over the dresses still listened into the conversation.

“Yes what color would you prefer?” the seamstress asked.

“White but I want to see some soft fabrics that have a bit of stretch to them not too much maybe 10 or 20%.” Lilith motioned with her hands as if she was stretching something between them.

Celeste finally found something it was huge, way too big for her, but it was a really nice design. So she started looking for a price tag.

“Yes please come back here to our cutting table.” She motioned for Lilith to follow her and they disappeared behind a swinging door.

Celeste could hear a small yelp of surprise as someone new must have seen Lilith for the first time. After a single chuckle escaped her mouth despite he attempt to stifle it she resumed her search looking for the price tag. ‘Of course it was facing the window’ Celeste thought as she leaned into the display area facing the market and flipped the tag around. 17 silver pieces that wasn’t too bad. She pulled the tag and looked at it for a second and began to wonder if this would be a good gift for Lilith.

Celeste laid there in the display area motionless in thought. Was it right for her to buy Lilith a dress? Of course she had the money she came from a prominent family in Waterdeep. But would Lilith want to owe someone else for such a gift? ‘Lilith didn’t seem too happy with the last gift she got’ Celeste thought to herself and let out a small burst of laughter. A kid outside the window who had been looking at her jumped with a start. The child thought she was some kind of doll in the window and got a shock when it suddenly came to life. Celeste waved at the young girl and began to get up out of the display area to look for a store employee to discuss price and fitting.

She was sure Lilith would like it. The dress was white on top with red trim and the bottom was a solid crimson red color that matched Lilith’s eyes to a T. It was made rather large for some of those fat noble women that Celeste hated. They always took too long in the bathroom at the castle. As Celeste tried to walk to the back room she was greeted by a sales person who was happy to see a price tag in her hand.

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“Can I help you miss?” The sales clerk asked.

“Yes I was looking at this red dress here and was thinking if you brought the price down to 16 sp I would be happy to pay for it to be tailored here.”

“No no no. That dress is too big for you it would be a waste of material.” The sales clerk begins to look her over. “Yes with those high cheek bones and that golden hair I have just the perfect dress for you its only 12 sp and it should come pretty close to fitting you as is.” The clerk held a door open that Celeste had missed and through it she saw about 20 other dresses standing on stands.

With a smile going from ear to ear, Celeste walked through the door. It couldn’t hurt to humor the lady if the dress was really only 12 sp and of similar quality. This room was full of dresses. They seemed to be made for several different purposes but each one was beautiful in its own right. Some were for formal balls, others were for dinners and almost half were everyday wear like what she was looking for Lilith and now for herself apparently. She was then ushered over to a cream and gold dress that had tailored fabric on the front and back to add a more feminine shape. It also had pockets and a special loop to tie your coin purse to. It wasn’t as fancy as the one she had chosen for Lilith but it was equally well made and would last a long time.

“Can you have them add some black embroidery to the top of this front panel? I would like them to look like explosions and flowers.”

“Explosions?” The clerk gave her a puzzled look.

“Yes, Boom! like a fire ball.” Celeste pulled out her casting focus holding the clear crystal ball up for the clerk to see. She then casts minor illusion to show the image of an explosion. “Can you hold your note pad closer?” The sales clerk hesitantly presented her note pad as if she expected the ball of fire to set it alight. Celeste then tapped the crystal focus onto the sheet of paper leaving it lightly singed with the image she had been holding only a second before.

The clerk looked very relieved seeing how well the young wizard had control of her powers. “Yes I think we can manage that for 3 sp but it will take a day or so”

“That's fine I will take both dresses and can you do the fitting for Lilith today?”

“Umm...Who’s Lilith?” The clerk asked.

“The tall lady with the red hair and the red eyes who may have almost given you a heart attack.” She said as she reached her hand into the air to mark an elevation about a foot above her head.

“Oh the … woman in the back. Oh is the red dress for her? It should fit nicely then. Yes, we only have two appointments this afternoon so this morning is completely open.” The clerk was glad that the large dress wouldn’t be going to waste after all.

“Thanks I can’t wait to show it to her” Celeste corrected the price down to 16 sp using her spell focus before she handed the price tag back to the clerk. She then went looking for Lilith who, she assumed, was still in the back.

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Lilith was looking over the fabric swatches and picking out the ones that had the right stretch to them.

The seamstress called out to a clerk to go work the front of the store. When the middle-aged women got within eyesight of Lilith she nearly had a heart attack and let out an audible yelp.

“Are you ok?” Lilith asked.

“No you can’t!...ah…. I mean yes I’m fine.” The clerk said as she rubbed her arm and walked out the swinging door.

Lilith found that the ones that had a mix of Cotton and silk were smooth enough to go well against the skin for a long time. Then she remembered that her skin was nearly indestructible but decided to still use the fabric as it was also pleasing to the touch and shiny.

They had the white fabrics lined out by amount of stretch and had set the cotton and silk mix off to the side for use on the lining. Had the seamstress cut off two samples of some of the cheaper material for testing purposes and warned her that she was going to use some magic to do a few experiments.

“Whats going to happen? Please don’t damage my shop?” She asked with an alarmed voice.

“Don’t worry its my first time using the spell so I have to test it out. The worst thing you are going to see is some really ugly stitching on my part. And I am only using the magic on two pieces of fabric at a time.”

Celeste then walked in with a million gold smile on her face. “Oh that's a lot of fabric”

“Hey Celeste where were you?” She asked giving her friend a smile as a greeting since her hands were occupied.

“mmm...Shopping.” she said with a grin in reply.

“Ohhh did you get me anything?” Lilith asked jokingly she really didn’t expect anything she was here to make stuff after all.

“Maybe.” She said in a sing song voice.

“Really?” Lilith turned towards her only to hear and feel her tail bang against a leg of the table behind her.

“Its a dress but it needs to be tailored for you.” Celeste said coyly while playing with the price tag in her hand.

“Oh thanks so much… What does it look like?” Lilith had put the fabric down at this point as her friend now had her full attention.

“Its white and red, tight on tip but looser on bottom. Is that ok?”

“Ya as long as its not black” Lilith stated flatly.

“No kidding people would think you were about to murder someone.” she said in an agreeing tone, quite sure of the statement.

Lilith tilted her head at Celeste not understanding completely. “Are you saying that if anyone wears a black dress it implies that a murder is afoot or just me.”

“Well if an outsider is wearing a black dress or robes it is considered an omen of death.”

“Then why did you bring me that black dress for the banquet?”

“You know me I was just hoping for the best.” Celeste said as she gave Lilith a devious look. It was almost as if she had been hoping for the succubus to be killed that night.

Lilith let out a hearty laugh along with Celeste before they got back to the work at hand.

“Ok hold on I am going to try and join these.” Lilith focused her mind and pulled up the runes for the spell and began chanting. “Fa ma da Ga Shu Dan.” [Fabricate] A faint gray cube appeared around the two swatches of cloth. Lilith moved a spindle of silk thread into the cube with her right hand while controlling the cube with her left. She then began thinking of the steps to stitch the two pieces together. The thread would have to make a type of knot on each pass to prevent the stitch from unraveling if the string broke in a single place. Lilith pictured the loops and the knots and began the process.

The result was less than stellar. The stitches were too far apart and the line was not straight. This would cause the fabric to bunch up.

“You were right. That is ugly.” The seamstress said with a pointed finger.

“Let me try something else maybe something closer to another skill I know.” Lilith said and turned over the sample to try joining the opposite edges. This time she focused on physically joining the fabric by interlacing the threads of the fibers. The same way that rope extensions or hair extensions are joined. This would be impossible to do by hand but magic had no problem with doing many things at a small scale. Lilith focused the gray box again. But this time with no silk thread.

The result this time was much better. The section where the fabric was joined was thicker but there were no seams or rough edges. It almost looked like the fabric had been welded. ‘Oh this was definitely the way to go’ she thought. “Ha, what do you think about that?” She asked as she held up the joined swatch.

“I think you wizards are liable to put me out of business at this rate.” The seamstress said in a joking voice.

“No but you might like what we are making today. You may even be able to sell these in your store. Lets start with 1 foot of that and 2 feet of that.” Lilith commanded pointing at two of the white fabrics.

The seamstress rolled out the folds of fabric and cut them as requested. Lilith grabbed the cloth as if to carry it with her and asked “Do you have a private fitting room with several mirrors in it? I am going to have to fit it directly to me as I make it.”

“Of course right this way.” The seamstress led them to the fitting room. It had a raised pedestal for standing and mirrors every 45 degrees on three of the four walls. All 3 of them entered and the seamstress drew the curtain shut.

Seeing as how she was about to get naked in front of a stranger Lilith thought this was as good of a time for introductions as any. “Oh by the way I’m Lilith Ruler of the Third Room.” In an overly serious tone.

The seamstress shook her offered hand responding in kind. “Anabel Jacobs, owner of this fine store, pleased to meet you but what’s this about ruling a third room?”

“She is staying in guest room number three in the Ducal Castle. That's all she meant.” Celeste said trying to smooth things over. “I think she just says stuff like that because she doesn’t have a last name.”

“Well in Faerun if you don’t have a last name you use the name of the town you were born in. You know like Cray of Saddlebottom.” Anabel explained.

Lilith cocked her head to the side and thought for a second. It was going to sound weird in conversation but perhaps it would put some people at ease.

“So where were you born Lilith?” Celeste asked in a genuine tone.

“A small town called Devine in a state called Texas”

“So it would be Lilith of Devine.” Celeste stated trying the name on for size.

“Oh that is marvelous you know I wasn’t at yesterday’s service but I heard that you were in attendance. Are you a divine being from the upper planes by chance? I know that fiends can’t enter there and well you know the eyes and all.”

Lilith had to think for a second. She didn’t want to lie to her new acquaintance but also didn’t know how to explain her situation in few enough words. At the least she could claim to be a human of faith. “The order I follow believes that every human life has a spark of the divine. That's why we hold life in such high regard. We believe that if you take a life you are killing a divine work. Truthfully though I don’t come from a higher plane or a lower plane. It is just a different plane. We have the same amount of troubles and problems as this world does they are just different.”

“So you aren’t divine but you think you have a divine spark? That seems rather contradictory.” Anabel asked in as polite a tone as she could.

“Well its not a physical spark It is more like the potential to do god’s works.”

“So yours is a god who protects the living. Oh I see. You serve a god that the morning lord has an alliance with. Hmmm that makes a lot more sense now.” She nodded looking to Lilith for confirmation.

Lilith nodded and was about to speak further when Anabel spoke up again.

“Now are you going to get undressed or not? I want to see this new garment you are going to make.”

Lilith and Celeste both broke out laughing at this. This seamstress was obviously more comfortable with undressing and nudity as its part of her daily work. After they control their giggles Celeste helped Lilith out of her dress and the seamstress handed her back the fabric.

Lilith started the spell again chanting the same rune words causing a gray transparent box to appear. With the movement of a pointed finger, she centered it on her now naked upper torso. Her other amr pulled the first 10% fabric inside the box where her magic cut a strip of fabric 2” wide only to then run it around her chest before she welded the ends together. She then cut more 2” strips and ran them over her shoulders. Next she uses 1” strips to outline the arm holes and the neckline again using here eyes and the magic that she was active. Finally more 1” strips are used to make the outline of the cups for each breast that also connected to the 2” straps.

With all the strapping in place, Lilith began welding the 20% material to the outside of the bra. It laid against her flush, being pulled tight by the spell before it was welded to the straps and then the excess cut away all done by magic as she watched and guided each step. The mirrors were making it much easier to do both her sides and back. Lilith then lifted the cups to support her using the spell and attached the straps that were resting over her shoulders. Once the outside was finished she removed the bra by hand and turned it inside out before putting it back on again. Then she begins welding the silk cloth to fit the shape of each cup and on the armpit area. For the back she uses the soft stretchy material that should allow the back to grip a bit better on the stronger skin. She then took it off for the last time turning it right side out before putting it back on to check the fit in the mirror.

“And that is, I hope, a good attempt at a sports bra.” Lilith stated with no small amount of pride.

“Darn! Now you are going to walk faster than me again aren’t you?” Celeste said jokingly.

“Yep!” she said with a nod.

“That's amazing it has the support of a corset without all the laces and the pulling. You just put the whole thing on in one motion.” Anabel looked on with amazement and then seemed to wonder how no one had created something this useful and simple in all the years of Faerun.

“Yes but it has to be fitted for each person.” Lilith explained.

“Well that's exactly what I do. …. Do you think you can make a copy for me to use as an example? I will need at least one to base them off of if I am to share this miracle.”

Lilith spent the next hour making 3 more sports bras. Two for Celeste and one copy for Anabel to keep. Lilith only did this on the condition that she pay 10% of each sale to her for the first year. It was such a generous deal that Anabel couldn’t pass it up.

With all the bras made it was time for Lilith’s fitting next. The other sales person brought over the large red and white dress which Lilith put on before she stood stock still doing her best impression of a mannequin. Anabel wasted no time and brought over a small kit taking out chalk and pins as she walked around pulling on different portions at the shoulders and waist. She then began placing pins and chalk marks where she found too much fabric. She jokingly commented how the chalk was hard to see on the white dress as she continued to work. She then asked Lilith whether she wanted the tail inside or outside the dress much to the demoness’ surprise. Lilith decided that inside was probably for the best as she was getting better at pointing her tail down more often than not but still had trouble keeping it still. Celeste held Lilith’s tail while Anabel added more pins to the bottom hem line. Then suddenly Anabel motioned for Lilith to take the dress off. Celeste helped her with the back and she was again in just her undergarments standing there as the seamstress and shop owner left with the dress folded over her arm.

As they waited Celeste had still not put her dress back on and was jumping up and down and showing off how everything stayed in place as she tested out the sports bra. This of course reminded Lilith of what she was doing in her room the previous night causing her to have a bit of a laugh of her own. She also took a few looks at Celeste who while short and petite was well proportioned in most ways. Lilith thought that the bra she had made for her was probably a C cup according to her eyes her mind beginning to wonder how to denote sizes in this world. She was considering that since she could use Fabricate to copy objects she had made, it might be possible to mass produce a line of bras and getting a sizing convention in place would be a good thing to keep in mind. There would be quite a few people that were also close to Celeste’s size so the work for her friend wouldn’t be going to waste.

When the dress was brought back it was much tighter in the waist, and the shoulders were let out a little.

Lilith tried it on and admired it from every side. She especially loved the filigree which had an orchid in bright red on her left breast with a humming bird trying to drink from it under her chin. Celeste finally got dressed as Lilith was doing twirls making the red material expand out away from her like she was a kid playing with a dress for the first time. To be fair this was only her third dress and was actually the first one that was truly hers after all.

With the sizing and the making done, Lilith put her commoners clothes back on and carried out her new dress in a giant box along with 5 yards of each type of fabric. All the fabric had cost her 3 gp total but only a 10th of it had been used, while Celeste had paid 4 gp for both dresses and fitting. The apprentice wizard decided to carry the material spools leaving Lilith to carry the dresses. The spools were a bit much for her to carry under one arm so she did just as Lilith had done and put them on her head. The two of them now outside in the daylight of the mark with the boxes and spools on their heads looked both odd and strangely normal at the same time. They continued to talk and discuss some of the other dresses they had seen as the two of them walked back to the Ducal castle for lunch.