[The Weft and Warp] Another Day, Another Miza. (Open)

[Nessaisa Protea]

Nessaisa had worked very hard and had wanted the dress to turn out great. She was quite happy when Avarys proclaimed the dress perfect. She became nervous again though as she realized that it was now time to take the dress to Silenva. She had no idea whether Silenva would be happy with it or not. She quietly watched Avarys make the box, marveling at how quickly he had thrown something so elegant together in under a few minutes.

Nessaisa took the suggestion to freshen up. She took the box with her into the other room where the water came through. She splashed a little water on her face and on the back of her neck. She was growing nervous again and the cold water wasn't helping. It was just giving her a chill. She dried off and took the box to the door where Avarys was waiting. "I'm ready to go."

[Poison]

The residence of the ruling couple was located in the very center of Kalinor near the Temple of Viratas and all the other important buildings. It was shaped like a drop, and the entrance was decorated with precious silk and jewels.

On the surface the residence of such important people would have been surrounded by dozens of guards, but Kalinor was a close-knit community, and everybody knew everybody else. Murder rarely happened here. Even attempted murder – like the one of the moth queen – attracted a fair bit of attention.

Only two Symenestra stood there, looking somewhat bored. They rarely had anything to do.

„Good day.“ Avarys approached them confidently, with a smile on his face. „Nessaisa here and I have a delivery for Silenva. I assume she’s home?“ The guards nodded, and a moment later Avarys and Nessaisa were inside, walking to Silenva’s chamber.

The inside of the house was decorated with precious carpets and tapestries, and opalogems filled it with light. The various rooms were separated from the main area where the ruling couple welcomed visitors by curtains. Silenva resided at the very bottom of the house, in a large, round chamber.

A servant announced Avarys‘ and Nessaisa’s presence and then pulled the curtain aside, allowing them to enter. The ruling couple’s daughter was lying on a couch, dressed in a nearly transparent gown of white silk, with countless tiny jewels in her hair. She was beautiful.

Various sweets and fine wine were on a low table in front of her. She ate from them every once in a while while she studied her guests. Finally, as if she had come to a decision, she rose and walked over to them. Her feet barely made a sound as they touched the floor. Her every movement was graceful.

„Avarys Anthurium“, she stated. Her voice was low, but pleasant. „I haven’t seen you in a while.“ She smiled and extended her hand as if to touch him, but then she abruptly pulled away.

Avarys who had been looking forward to her touch sighed. Silenva ignored the look he gave her.

„What brings you here?“ she asked, and then he she turned to face Nessaisa. „And who is your … friend? She is a bit younger than the women you are usually interested in.“

Avarys frowned. He didn’t appreciate that remark.

„That’s Nessaisa Protea. She is a most talented young weaver. I asked her to help me make that dress you ordered. I thought you would appreciate a fresh, new designer.“

Silenva didn’t comment on that, but gestured for Nessaisa to come closer. „Avarys seems to think you are talented. Show me that dress you made. I’m curious. His judgement often tends to be impaired, but for now I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.“

[Nessaisa Protea]

Nessaisa barely managed to follow Avarys through the royal house. She spent more time staring wide eyed and enraptured at the beautiful artwork and decor throughout the house. When they arrived at the princess' room, she switched to studying Silenva. She was only barely listening at this point, her expression told everyone in the room she was quite far away from the present moment. She snapped out of it though when Silenva suggested that there might be an inappropriate relationship between herself and Avarys. First her face scrunched up in confusion, then her eyebrows shot up to her hairline and her lips parted in surprise. She was quite thankful that when Avarys cleared up the misconception. She had no idea what to say to such an idea, it was obvious the though had never crossed her mind.

Then the time came to present the dress. Suddenly Nessaisa's hands began to shake a little. Nessaisa took two steps closer to Silenva, then slowly went down to one knee on the floor, setting the box down carefully. She took a deep breath and released it before she lifted the lid and set it aside. That helped her to stop shaking. Then she slowly and carefully pulled the dress out of the box, standing up slowly as she did so. She held the dress delicately at the top, arms a little higher than her head and away from her body. Then she dared to look at Silenva for the princess' reaction.

[Poison]

Silenva watched closely as Nessaisa took the dress out of the box. At first the daughter of the ruling couple frowned a little – she didn’t seem to think much of Avarys‘ great idea – but then, as the younger woman held the dress in front of her, she smiled slightly and nodded.

„It looks … good“, she remarked. Silenva wasn’t he kind of woman that would gush about how awesome a dress was. She thought such behaviour didn’t have style. She always held back and always acted as if she were superior to everybody else. „Avarys said that you helped make the dress. How much of it was your work and how much of it his?“

„Nessaisa …“ Avarys began, but Silenva raised a hand, silencing him. „I asked her, not you.“

She turned to face Nessaisa again. „Help me put the dress on. I need to see it on myself before I make a final decision. Avarys, you can go. While I’m normally not averse to others seeing me naked, this is not the right time. We don’t want to give this young woman the wrong impression, do we?“

Avarys smiled a little. „No, we don’t.“ With that he was out of the door, leaving Nessaisa to deal with Silenva alone.

[Nessaisa Protea]

Nessaisa watched the entire exchange between Silenva and Avarys with great interest. She didn't say a word the whole time. When Avarys left the room, though, her nerves spiked way up. She took a deep breath--it had helped before, right?--and began to explain how much work she had put into the dress. She first told Silenva about how she had woven the silk herself, painted the dress (leaving out that she had actually dreamed it). She also told Silenva about the sewing she did from the seams to the little details in the beads. She explained that most of Avarys' help was in holding the dress, and some of the sewing. She also explained that he had harvested the silk with her help and dyed it.

She explained all this as she helped Silenva into the dress. Dressing Silenva made her uncomfortable. She had helped her grandmother dress, and seen other members of her family dress. A complete and total stranger, though? Not something Nessaisa had experience with. She did her best helping her both to undress and put on the new dress. Finally she tied the back of the dress tight enough to stay on but loose enough to not suffocate the princess. It fit nice and snug on the princess, bringing out her beautiful golden eyes and complimenting her dark hair. She then waited patiently for Silenva to reach a decision on how she liked the dress.

[Poison]

As Nessaisa began to explain, Silenva went back to her sweets and her fruit as if the younger woman’s words alone just weren’t interesting enough. But once Nessaisa had ended, she let her food be, smiled and nodded. „Impressive“, she remarked. „You really put a lot of effort into the dress. It seems as if Avarys didn’t exaggerate for a change.“ From the tone of her voice it was obvious that she thought that the owner of the Weft and Warp usually tended to exaggerate a lot. Silenva wasn’t particularly fond of that.

„Now help me.“ In one swift motion she had taken her dress off, and it fell to the floor. Silvenva wasn’t embarrassed at all that she know stood in front of a stranger in nothing but her underwear (that was rather thin and hid little). As she noticed Nessaisa’s discomfort, she smiled a little. Nessaisa’s behaviour amused her. „It seems as if you’ve never seen another woman without her clothes on“, she remarked. „Such innocence. I wonder what Avarys would say to that.“

Once she was wearing the dress, she turned around a couple of times, tugged at it here and there, and then she walked over to the mirror that was attached to the wall and looked at her reflection.

„I look great, don’t I?“ she asked as she turned back to face Nessaisa. „That dress fits me perfectly. I have a half a mind to take you away from Avarys and his cousin and let you make more dresses for me. You have to at least agree to make a robe for the Morning of the Moths. I can’t welcome the new Moth Queen in rags.“

“I suppose you can let Avarys in again.“

[Nessaisa Protea]

At the suggestion of making Silenva a robe for The Morning of the Moths, Nessaisa became more than radiant. She was actually tearing up a little from happiness, and it looked like the smile on her face was getting very close to her ears. Finally she managed to calm down enough to say, "I'd love to design something for you for the Morning of the Moths!"

At Silenva's command, she went to the door to fetch Avarys. "Avarys!", she said in a low voice, "she wants me to design something for her for the Morning of the Moths! Can I please?". Nessaisa looked like a child begging for a particularly nice treat or toy. All excitement and big gold eyes looking imploringly at Avarys. Before he could respond, however, she half-ran back into the room to present Silenva to him.

"Sibeava's dress looks so beautiful on her, doesn't it?" She said, turning back toward Silenva. She looked to Avarys now to let him decide whether she could make the robe or not. After all, he was her employer and it really was his decision.

[Poison]

„Perfect“, Silenva remarked as Nessaisa agreed to making another dress for her – although she hadn’t really expected anything else. No woman in her right mind would refuse the daughter of the ruling couple. “I’ll talk to you about my ideas for the dress another day. You won’t mind visiting me again, will you?” She smiled a little. Of course Nessaisa wouldn’t.

As Avarys returned, she looked at him. She wasn’t as enthuasiastic as Nessaisa to see him again – although he had introduced her to this remarkable young woman. That had to count for something. Maybe she would invite him sometimes.

Avarys looked from Silenva to Nessaisa and back. He was quite happy that his plan had worked. “Yes, of course you can make a dress for her”, he told Nessaisa. “And I agree, she that dress looks beautiful on her. Very beautiful. But of course she’s a beautiful woman.” He looked directly into Silenva’s eyes as he said that.

It was obvious that he meant those words for her and only for her.

oocI think the thread is as good as over now. If you want to, you can continue to interact with Avarys (and Silenva?) in a new thread. What do you think?

[Poison]

THREAD AWARD!

SKills: Climbing 2, Weaving 4, Sewing 4, Drawing 1

Lores: Harvesting Coccoons, Acquaintance: Old Fisherman, Creating Silk, Dying Silk, Designing a Dress, Acquaintance: Silenva, Acquaintance: Avarys

Notes: I really enjoyed the thread. If you think you deserve more or different skills, let me know. I look forward to RPing with you again in the future.