Introductory orientation given to a new attendant of King Relikar, a relatively short while after his coronation.

----------------------------------------

So this first layer over the king's smallclothes is this here cyera shift, see how thin it is? It’s got an enchantment woven into the fabric with thread made from a blend of fireweb spider silk and summit reed thread, braided into the thread as it was being made. It was all one string, if you can believe it. So! It’s very important that this is cleaned every night, as any built-up grime or dirt can interfere with the magic itself. You can actually see how the enchantment works, and how functional it is. See how the red dragon is shimmering? That means it’s currently adding heat, and you can touch it here to get a sense for that. Once it goes on, the red dragon will dull some and the blue one will instead shimmer more, as it serves as a coolant underneath all the other layers. The most important thing to make sure is clean is this knot-connection of runes right here, because that does… something to help figure out what the correct temperature it should hold the person at is. Don’t look at me, I just know how to care for it.

To clean it, we have this potion here, the red and blue glimmery one, made by mixing the last light of day with the breath of an ice elemental, which I think Master Runehold has bound in his tower, in the freshest springwater, the ash of burnt cinnamon, and a bit of golden olive oils.

Now, while we can clean it, if any of these runes, or any of these patterns have any tearing in them, you need to get it to Master Runehold to fix it. What? Just because I know what the thread is made of doesn’t mean I get how it works. I can make tiny repairs, like here and here, but anything substantial needs an actual mage to look at it, not just a house-witch.

Next are the pants. These are also cyera, but feel that? That’s the best Salliar cloth you’ll find. It’s naturally abrasion resistant and almost impervious to dirt and grime. If they do get dirty, we can wash them with just normal soap and water, but it’s so rare to need it when working here it’s kinda inconvenient. Make sure the water is totally clean, though. If they somehow manage to get damaged, don’t even bother trying to fix them, your needle won’t pierce it. Really flexible too. They fasten here at the waist using these runes, stitched out of clinging vine fibers instead of a belt like you or I would use. You don’t need to be a mage to use them, we’ve got this wand here, just dip it into this potion, then tap it and it’ll tighten and hold itself up. Same thing down here at each foot. We release them by using that same wand and uh… this potion! Green goes on, white comes off. Remember that.

The socks don’t connect to the pants, but these runes are made with a string with some kind of weird treatment on it. I don’t know, ask an alchemist, the shimmery blue string. It’s got some really complex name, but it’s boring and we don't really need to know that stuff do we? Anyway, those will dispel any water that gets on them, which makes washing them a pain, let me tell you. But make sure you scrub them really well each night, that uses a general cleaning potion, made of a bit of unicorn blood, rainwater, and goldblossom nectar.

No, no temperature control here, just the dryness magic. Something about interference or whatever. We have a few pairs of these, but they need to be kept clean as well or else they’ll stain and that might interfere with the stitching. You don’t want to have his highness find we failed our job with these clothes no you don't.

Then here’s the shirt, this one is really important and you need to match it properly for the day. If it’s a combat outfit, use this black one. See these runes here? Those don’t actually do anything on their own, but serve as the formation for a lot of his war spells. I know, right? I thought much the same as well, but while he doesn’t need it, he says it helps remind him of who he’s fighting for, and helps him just like prayer does. I don’t know what most of the runes actually do, though...

Oh! I do know this set. These are for mighty leaping, which pair with… ah, here are the boots that go with it. See these, how they match? Yeah, these are the combat boots. They’ve got a lot of different spells on them, but you’d have to talk to Armorer Tol for more information about them. Hm? Oh, they actually do have metal in them. Right here, if you fold back this little flap, you can see that? That’s mithril weave, it’s basically just another fabric layer, but it was actually woven with some inherent runic enchantments to automatically stiffen in response to really hard impact. See how soft they are? Okay, hold them steady and…

Oops. Ah well, if the hammer broke from that it probably was on its last legs anyway. Doesn’t really matter. I actually got to see them get tested for the king, they dropped an entire anvil on them, bounced off like it was nothing. Didn’t even sink into the ground until after it bounced. We need to make sure they’re spotless, so we use this lightoil polish everywhere the mithril can be reached, and the rest of it we use this brush- see these bristles? They’re unicorn tail hair, and they help get things just so clean, I wish we could use them on everything, but it’s just the boots. Don’t use them on anything else, it apparently messes up the brush and you’ll get in major trouble. Anyway, we use this stonevine nectar potion on them, keeps the magic running ever so nicely!

These here are the casual boots. See how soft they are? That’s wavestrider hide, and they make for some of the absolute most comfortable boots that can exist. Then this stitching here helps with walking and jumping in its own way, helps him walk or run on anything. If you want to know a little secret, I think he uses them to do his water-walking trick!

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

I know! It’s so scandalous. These also get unicorn hair brushing, using this brush instead- the labels will help you keep them apart- and with these we use this potion, made of floatstone dust, water from the Everfalls way upriver, and a bit of acacia oil. Gotta do it every night, even if they aren’t worn! Also, make sure to really work them into the folds here, and into this seam.

Back to the shirts. There’s a lot of different shirts, you can see, depending on what he expects the day will entail. The red shirts are for his decree days, these blue ones are more general wear, the green ones are on training days, black are more combat shirts, but they’re different in some way. I don’t know how, but he’ll specify which he wants. Then these white ones, I don’t know! He does something private when he wears that. Don’t know what it is, but I bet it has to do with the church. Yeah! I know, it’s so exciting. But we can’t get distracted. I don’t expect you to remember all of this tonight, but a couple more days watching me prepare everything and you should be ready to help by the end of the week. Oh, no, not with the King himself.

Honestly, even I only sometimes help with that, it’s usually Lady Zenu who takes the lead with that. But I know how to do it, for when she is called away! I know, it’s so exciting.

What? Oh, but of course I do this! I’m important to him, I’ll have you know. I think he might even know my name. Really! He even thanked me last week when Lady Zenu was busy and I helped him get dressed. No, I’m not exaggerating, honestly! I know this. Look, just because-

Okay, so being a bit more quiet, we should keep going. It’s important to know this, and we can get you some practice with Lady Runehold. She’s got a much simpler outfit, but the most important bits are still the same. She’s who I usually help with, anyway.

Now, once the shirt is on like so, make sure to fasten it here and here, and tie down the shoulder here, so it is tight against his skin and doesn’t bunch. Oh right! I almost forgot, we use the same potion that we do on the socks with the shirts. Make sure it’s clean, though, don’t reuse them.

So, this roll of cloth is the most important thing. Every night, it gets washed in this here basin, and nothing else is washed in this basin, and the water is changed every tenth day right at First Shade, so make sure you’re done with it before the morning. I don’t know what all goes into this one, but I do so love watching the sparkles whenever it gets touched. See? It ripples so silvery when you poke it, I love it. You need to wash the entire thing every night, then it’s important to lay it out like so on this hangar, and hang it inside this box, which dries it. Don’t let it touch the walls of the box, it has to only touch itself and the white wood hangar it’s on.

Then, the hardest part, but you’ve done this before, right? We have this cloth, and you need to wrap it around him in a Tonshin-style robe wrapping. Always start on the right shoulder, yes, then around the torso, loop it here around the waist, hold it here while you pull it around, tuck, then over like so, and down one arm and back up, down the other arm and back up, then over the shoulder and tuck. Then, you’ve got this other fabric, that folds in here and goes down one leg, and then back up the other. Eh… that wasn’t that good, but you get the idea, and it really needs three people who know what they’re doing. When it’s done properly, all the different embroidery lines up and makes… well, you’ve seen the design it makes.

To help hold it together, we pin it here with this. We don’t need to do anything super special with it, just give the outside a little polish to keep it looking nice, but see inside, that little flame? That’s because it’s holding a little bit of phoenix bone and ash, so it’s always burning.

But anyway! Then you put the belt on. But on the belt, you need to put these on it first.

We don’t have any of the actual pouches at the moment, Master Runehold takes care of them and only brings them out when it’s time to actually use them, but here are some that are basically identical, just empty. For a court day, we use these more slender pouches, see? You need to make sure that the openings align with the openings in the outer robe, but these larger pouches are used for any time he’s actually going to be fighting. Lots more room, lots more compartments, no, I don’t know what goes into them. I think it’s lots of jewels and gold, maybe some leaves from a golden apple. You know, goldleaves. What? I’m serious.

But once the pouches are on, we put daggers on it. This one, see? I think the sapphire’s my favorite part, but the engravings! And the blade. I heard it’s actually dragonbone, not crystal. I know.

You need to test the dagger each night. We’ve got these little strings here, see? You lay one over the blade, and if it cuts the string in half, it’s good. If so we just rub the blade with this heartblood oil, and polish the stone with this gemstone polish. Otherwise, we need to pass it along to Tol for proper sharpening.

So you need to be really careful when sheathing it, and make sure it’s fastened in place right here, and with this knot. You need to make sure that it’s not too tight, so it can’t be undone easily, or too loose, so it falls out. It’s tricky, but you’ll get it eventually.

Then make sure you fasten the belt here, and if it’s a war outfit, use this pin, but if it’s a court day, use this one. I don’t know what the difference is between them, sorry. Oh, the belt? It’s made of unicorn hide, apparently, and the old lord wore it to help fend off poison and disease. I don’t know why our king wears it still, but maybe he just likes how it feels. It is quite soft, yeah. Make sure you don’t pin it too hard, either. There you go, just right.

See? Not so bad over all. One day, you’ll learn how to do the hair… once I do, and maybe one day you’ll even help put his horn ornamentations on! It’ll be great, just you see. Being able to know each day that you helped dress the king, that you were able to help his magnificence? It’s great! Especially once you learn a bit more about how all the weaved embroidery helps- Oh! Lady Zenu. I wasn’t expecting to see you.

Yes, Lady Zenu. No, Lady Zenu. Yes, I was just helping Felilia learn how best to serve the king. Of course, Lady Zenu. Yes, Lady Zenu. Yes, the shift is clean Lady Zenu. Of course, Lady Zenu. I will get started on that right away, Lady Zenu.

Come on! You heard her. Let’s get moving.