You know you can’t wear all of these, right? Thea laughed a bit hysterically, shaking her head.
“It’s…a compulsion,” she admitted. In her defense, not all of them had been purchases she’d made. Many were gifts – from her family, from Mordred, from dress makers that wanted her to wear their creations – and the rest…well, sometimes the only remedy for a crippling, years and years long crush, was a new dress. It helped remind her she was beautiful, at moments when she began to doubt it.
But the process of acquiring, and choosing, and wearing a dress, particularly for an event such as this, was not the simple task Bryar seemed to think it was. “Well, no. Not really,” she began to explain, moving around the room to pick up the gowns that she’d vetoed and return them to the armoire. “Fit is the biggest consideration, and cut, and color…” She trailed off, realizing that it would probably seem silly to Bryar, who had never cared about such things. And anyway, what the other girl seemed to be saying was that she was trusting her. Thea smiled to herself. “I’m flattered, Bryar. And…thank you. For coming.” Maybe that would sound strange to her, but Thea could count on one hand the number of people who had truly offered her their trust. Tris, and Thoth, and Kane mostly. She could not think of a single other girl. “This will be fun,” she pronounced brightly, folding a silk sheath while Bryar changed.
At least, she hoped it would. Unfortunately, she could remember several occasions when trying on clothes had been so frustrating she’d cried and quit.
Bryar emerged from behind the screen at last, wearing the first dress in the pile Thea had handed her. It was quite askew – Thea couldn’t quite imagine how it had gotten so twisted around her waist – so she strode over and straightened it, and adjusted the halter neck to that it sat more naturally over her chest. Then she stepped back to survey her.
It wasn’t…bad, per se.
“Hmm. Maybe not purple.” She steered her back behind the screen, and retrieved the purple dress when Bryar flung it over. Where had she gotten this one, anyway? Seeing it on another person made her wonder why she had it at all. She tossed it into a hamper by the door. “Try the green one.”
Bryar tried a green one. Then another. And like the first, these weren’t bad, but they weren’t right, either. Thea returned to the wardrobe.
“It looks great on you, but it doesn’t look…you, yet. Let me see.” The problem, she thought, was color. Everything she’d taken out so far had been rich and saturated – jewel tones that suited Bryar’s skin tone. But they didn’t seem to suit her personality, and if it ended up looking like a costume instead of something natural and elegant, Thea knew the girl would end up self conscious all night. She hummed to herself thoughtfully, clothes hangers squeaking against the rod as she pushed them around, considering her options.
Then her searching gaze fell on something totally different. She grinned as she retrieved it.
It was a dress that had been sent to her by a young designer in Laketon, and it was beautiful: the silk chiffon was dark gray verging on charcoal, with subtle gold embroidery and a neckline Alethea could never wear without causing a scandal. She’d laughed out loud when she first pulled it out of the box, wondering how on earth she would even get it to cover her ample bosom. But the craftsmanship had been so lovely, she couldn’t quite part with it.
“This is it, I’m sure of it.” Triumph glowed over her features as she passed it to Bryar behind the screen; she found herself pacing on the balls of her feet while she waited for her new friend to put it on. Gods, dressing her was becoming even more exciting than dressing herself!
“Do you like it? Was I right?”
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