Evarista had always perceived the kelvic as melodramatic and disagreeable, but apparently he was only like that towards her. Seeing him appreciatively twirl the boy around and dexterously pick through the clothing racks was a positive surprise; it looked like he knew what he was doing, and Alira, the woman who owned the shop, didn't keep him on staff for nothing. It was also amusing to see him nonchalantly undressing Hwyn, in the same way Alira did when they last were here. There was nothing strange about it - after all, his personal boundaries weren't his to decide.
Crossing her arms and leaning on the wall a bit off to the side, Evarista let her eyes travel up and down Hwyn's figure as the kelvic applied the unusual fashion to it. It was not quite how she remembered the outfit of the Sykan woman, but then again, it wasn't designed for the massive bust and birthing hips an adult belly dancer would be expected to have. Instead, it was made to accentuate the subtle slopes and curves of a younger girl, and Hwyn's figure didn't betray him as far as those slopes and curves were concerned.
The kelvic eventually stepped away, apparently happy with his work, and Hwyn turned to her, striking an unexpectedly seductive pose. Evarista's eyebrows rose slightly. Somehow, he didn't seem like his usual timid and awkward self. Both his posture and his aura emanated a relaxed self-assuredness of a sort she couldn't recall him ever display before. In the firelight of the dim shop lantern, the way his bare midriff flexed during his movements and the glitter of the jewellery made him look obscenely decadent. Evarista's eyebrows rose higher. Seeing a boy wear a sundress or a maid's uniform was one thing, but this was on an entirely different level. And somehow, it worked. Rubbing her chin thoughtfully, the decidedly more plain-looking master nodded in approval.
Azure, on his side, was also bobbing his head appreciatively, apparently (and unsurprisingly) happy with his own pick. The show had only begun, though, since the kelvic was already pulling the boy out of the outfit and adorning him with a new one. Hwyn ostensibly enjoyed the process, looking himself over in his new colors; sea-blue accentuated with coral. The strangest thing was that the color of his aura changed as well. His previous outfit was green, and his aura was green then as well, but she didn't note it, since Hwyn's aura usually had a greenish tint anyway. Now, however, she could no longer ignore it. It was as if both his body and mind were permeated by the mood of the cloth, making both his movements and his aural emanations smooth and wave-like.
The show continued. The third and final outfit was a bit more restrained in its color scheme, and Hwyn accentuated it by a more refined presentation. Truly enough, his aura followed suit, the energetically flowing waves of blue slowing down into an ordered pulse of paler shades. She didn't need to look at his face to know what he was expressing. Without knowing it, the boy was making theatre for her.
It was time to decide what to buy. Still leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, Evarista licked her lips slowly. The three variants were almost identical in their cut, and were obviously designed by the same tailor, although it probably wasn't Alira. The woman's style tended towards the heavy and the bombastic, and to Evarista's knowledge she didn't enjoy designing dancer garb, which had to allow good mobility. This was clearly foreign work, perhaps by some countryman of the dancer she had met in Syka.
What mainly set the designs apart, then, was the coloring. The kelvic was babbling something about the advantages and disadvantages of each design, but Evarista wasn't concerned with the technicalities of fashion, and decided largely by caprice. To start with, she enjoyed wearing white herself, but she didn't think the color fit Hwyn, so that one could be ruled out. Choosing between green and blue was harder, but she found her mind wandering back to the deep blue waves of his aura while he wore the blue one, matching the movements of his body and the color of the cloth flawlessly. It was uncanny, and it intrigued her.
Leaning away from the wall, Evarista finally uncrossed her arms and opened her mouth, bluntly interrupting Azure's monologue on the fine points of Eypharian damasking techniques.
"I'll take the blue one. Payment by invoice."
Shooting her an indignant glare, the kelvic never the less proceeded to dexterously wrap the merchandise in an inconspicuous linen covering and hand it to Hwyn. Returning to the store counter, he picked up a piece of chalk and a writing tablet, he jotted down Evarista's name followed by a number. Payment by invoice was common in the Noble district, seeing as the wealthy residents generally, and understandably, didn't carry large bags of money on their persons.
Putting her hands into her skirt pockets, the annoying customer turned her back and marched out of the store without further comment, not even noticing the exaggerated sigh of relief that the kelvic made behind her. Her mind was already elsewhere, and her feet took her home.
***
Back at the estate, she told Hwyn to put on the dancing outfit and come up to her room. There was something she wanted to do... something she wanted to add. Sitting and waiting in the armchair in front of the open window, she slowly clenched and unclenched her right fist, as if preparing her fingers for action.
LedgerSmall dyed velvet dress with fine buckles and chains = 16,2 GM