Emery gazed at her reflection in the several mirrors around her as the matronly seamstress finished with the last button on her latest outfit.

“There you are, miss, what do we think of that?” She asked in a tone that Emery could only describe as slack jawed optimism.

“I think” said Emery “that we pay you far too much if this is the best you can offer. I have both a reputation and an image to maintain, I cannot possibly attend in such poor… well, I was going to say clothes but I’m not quite sure that term applies to this collection of rags.”

Emery paused for a moment, seeming to consider for a moment, before saying “I liked the fourth dress more than any of these others, though I’m still not certain I would want to buy it. Get me out of this mess and go fetch that one so I can see it again, as well as any others you have like it.”

“Oh miss, that’s so wonderful that you liked one of them! I’ll go fetch it right away!” At that, the shorter woman began to bustle away, but stopped short at the door when Emery snapped her fingers several times.

“Miss..?” She asked.

“Look at me. What do you see?” Said Emery, feeling the need to talk a little more slowly so this zero would be able to comprehend her.

A bright smile graced the woman's slightly rounded cheeks as she said “Why, one of the most beautiful women to ever grace my shop. You’re like a radiant-”

She cut short as Emery snapped again several more times “What did I ask you to do?” she said in the same sickly sweet tone one might use when talking with a toddler or training a puppy.

“To fetch you the turquoise dress and… Oh!” She laughed then, bustling back over and beginning to undo the buttons she had just finished moments before “Forgive me young miss, you asked me to get you out of these clothes miss, how silly of me. I was just so happy you complimented one of the earlier ones that I missed the first part of your directions.”

“Never you mind, the fault was really my own. I should have known better than to give you more than one instruction at a time.”

“Oh, young miss, don’t blame yourself please! The fault could never have been your own, never ever.”

After only a couple more minutes, the woman finished, and Emery stepped down from the dressing platform surrounded by mirrors and reclined onto the nearby plush satin sofa. With two bows, several compliments, and four assurances that she would be back as quick as she possibly could, the older woman hurried out of the private room Emery had reserved for the fitting.

The moment the door closed, Emery stopped channeling her class ability directly on the woman and let the passive effects of her aura take over as she walked out of sight, but not out of aura range.

Emery had only had her class for around a month. Nevertheless, she was one of the older students to have started at the academy, already in her twenty second year. Still, she had made what she considered explosive progress on her class and was already nearing the first threshold. Not record breaking of course, she wasn’t close to some of the meatheads who plowed through monsters with a massive hunk of metal, but still, she was doing well.

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Taking up the cup of tea still gently letting its wisps of steam curl into the air, Emery took a tentative sip and found it… passable. Considering the sheer amount of aurens and agrens her family supplied to this place, it should have been far better, but at least it wasn’t entirely unpalatable.

After several more moments, Emery let out an exasperated sigh, the simple fact she had been left alone for so long was almost deplorable. If she was going to make her wait for more than a minute or two, she should have sent in some entertainment, or at least brought her snacks!

She shook her head as, through her aura, she felt the seamstress returning, she had begun to develop some lingering hesitancy, doubt, even a little bit of resentment towards Emery, towards her patron and her customer. Once again, simply deplorable.

“Let’s soothe those feelings away, can’t have anything but joy and honor at being graced by my presence afterall.” Emory muttered under her breath as the door swing inwards, and almost immediately, her beaming smile, round rosy cheeks, and dark, dim eyes poked out from behind a mound of fabrics in her arms.

“So sorry young miss, I tripped in the store room and-”

“I don’t need your excuses,” Emery said, cutting her off “just make sure you are faster next time.”

Dipping her head in a small bow, the woman just kept on smiling “Of course, of course, now, I’ve brought back that fourth dress, and three others in similar styles and colors, as well as two more besides that are, I think, fantastic compliments to your exquisitely beautiful tangerine eyes.”

Standing and returning to the platform, Emery stuck out her arms and allowed the woman to begin dressing her again. “We’ll see, hopefully at least one of them is up to my standards” she said, her nose angled ever so slightly upwards.

~ ~ ~

Approximately two hours later, or as Emery thought of it, thirty seven outfits later, she stepped out of the dressing room without paying for a single article of clothing.

“But, but… young miss, please now, out of everything we tried on, everything, there wasn’t a single thing that caught your eye?” Her tone was that of one trying to stay positive in an increasingly distressing situation. Like a woman on the verge of losing control but trying to salvage what she could.

Emery didn’t respond, not because she didn’t long to, because she didn’t need to. Her tall, almost comically muscular and intimidating looking butler stepped to her side immediately from where he’d been waiting all morning.

His bald head shone like waxed marble, and the myriad scars stood out in high relief against his pale skin. He had only one slender pointed ear on his right side, the left one being clipped short from where it had been cut in some skirmish some years past. He had a thick curly mustache of light brown on his upper lip, and eyebrows like gnarled hedges that grew from his luminous mint green eyes.

“The young mistress has decided to leave.” He said, his voice both unerringly formal and unyielding in its finality. “Please control yourself, lest you risk offending her.”

Emery, whose face was turned away, couldn’t help but to smile. There was just something so satisfying, being able to feel the tumult of emotions raging inside the seamstress’ head at the sheer and profound indignity of it all. And yet, through the combination of Emery’s aura and ability, she couldn’t do much more than smile.

“Of course, sir, of course. Right you are. Come back any time Lady Evergold, you’ll always be welcome here.”

With a dismissive wave, and not another word, Emery left the shop, Bory getting the door for her and following along slightly behind and slightly to the right.

“Did you enjoy your morning off, Lady Emery?” Asked Bory

Emery sighed contentedly, heeled shoes clacking along the cobbled stones as she walked to her carriage, helped in by both the footman and Bory himself.

“You know Bory, I truly did. It was an excellent bit of training, and so many wonderful fashions for one of the commoners to have crafted. Still, keeping her emotions on track for so long has left me drained. Let’s return to the estate for now. I wish to dine and rest before my afternoon class.”

Nodding his head, Bory said “Absolutely Mistress, we shall return at once.” Before closing the plush door and sealing her off from the outside world. With a slight rattle, she felt both Bory and the footman take their seats on the front of the carriage, before they set out for their residence in the academy district.

Reaching down and taking one of the small, candied nuts from the bowl beside her, Emery popped it into her mouth with a delighted squeak, before languidly stretching out. She might have been new at the academy, but she intended to leave her mark on that place one way or another.

She would have to, in fact.

The thought of failure… the thought of anything less than perfection… was not something she could tolerate.