A Raiment of Dilemma [Arien]

[Gilwen]

Gilwen had been released early from work that day; the palace had hired a new wave of girls, and was using that particular afternoon to begin their training. Too many bodies in the palace would make for a catastrophe. So some of the serving women and maids were released early to clear the halls.

She had gotten home to her mother, with full intentions of curling up in her bed when she had been approached with a satchel of food. Curiously Gilwen had looked at it.

”Oh, Gilwen dear! You were released early! Splendid! Here,” Niniel had thrust the food into her hands and turned her to shoo her out the front door. ”Do take this to that dear friend of yours. She does work so hard in her shop!” In the lack of having her own children, Niniel had taken to caring for Arien, Gilwen’s close friend and talented seamstress, whenever chance permitted it. It was all well with Gilwen, for at times like these it gave her an excuse to visit the woman in her shop and see her lovely works.

So there she was, picking her way through the crowd with a small bit of food. Arien had moved away from her family and was living on her own. Sometimes, Gilwen thought, she must be dreadfully lonely. And with the workload Gilwen had been carrying lately it had grown ever more difficult to see her.

The girl looked up as she found the shop, and entered the front door. The front room was empty, though, and that surprised her greatly. Even Arien’s working chair seemed abandoned. Gilwen frowned. She hoped she had not caught her at a bad time! “Arien?” She called tentatively. Perhaps she was hiding amongst the beautiful gowns.

No answer came, though she could begin to hear voices in the back. She stepped lightly through to them, recognizing a voice that was definitely Arien’s. The words she could not make out, but it seemed the woman sounded upset. Quietly she entered the room, though halted immediately in the doorway, gripping the lunch she had brought for her tightly in her hand. Arien was indeed there, and she looked upset. There was a man, of whom she had never seen before but had an idea as to who it was, and then two other people. Faeldor! Miriel? She though as her jaw dropped slightly. No wonder Arien looked upset. Miriel looked to be in quite a state.

She said nothing to announce her presence. Her cheek still bore the remnants of the bruise that Miriel had left after their last encounter. She did not wish to set her off again.

[Keann]

Keann gulped as Miriel talked to him. He probably never felt so not at his place more than today. He looked at Arien for a second. Only by the way she talked he knew she was mad, really mad. She was like a teapot on the fire, whistling to warn you if it stays any longer it might blow up. Yes, that was describing her pretty well. He saw her like that only once in his life and was not to forget about it. The guy whom caused it either for sure. He never really asked Arien how good was her business, he only assumed since people were bringing him to here for a jewel.

Keann sighed heavily out of relief when her brother came to help. All that he hoped was that the lady would listen to her older brother. But soon he realized she was not about to. For she had fun commenting Arien's words. Very bad idea, very very bad idea.

Just as he thought it couldn't go any worse, Miriel continued and asked him suggestively if she was 'satisfying' him. He jumped at the words, almost panicked or horrified at the words. Or perhaps he jumped at the contact once more of her hand on him. He was so unused to woman doing so. "That's not what it is!" he exclaimed. He never ever imagined them doing anything close to whatever Miriel was suggesting.

As if the heavens answered his prayers, Keann heard a light noise and turned his head. It was a young woman, certainly a customer. Even if she wasn't, Keann didn't mind, it was the best moment to run away. He jumped away from Miriel. "I think I'll go, I saw the dress I should make a good work." he said. Sadly he had been looking at the people while doing so and not at his feet, not even realizing he was walking backward. That until he fell on a rack with dresses. The good point was that the dresses in question prevented any wound. The bad point was that they were now all on the floor. He jumped on his feet quickly and muttered inaudible excuses and such as he dusted them off and tried as good as possible to place hem back on the rack, red slowly coming once again at his cheeks. Has he ever blushed more in a day?

[Arien]

Arien twitched a little, but it was barely noticable when she commented on her clothes again. Ah that sleeper would have to pay; she was glad that she would get out of her shop and never get back in-or at least, she hoped so. her left fist clenched and her teeth grit, for how long she could contain the anger of hers back in? She didn’t know, but she was sure of one thing and it was that if she didn’t stop doing what she was, she would end up kicking the girl out of the shop herself. Too bad she didn’t have a sword in her hands just yet.

Customers happy? Why yes, but by the way it was looking, she wouldn’t be one, so what was the point in making her happy? “You’re not going to be one of my customers, as I can tell by the way you’re describing my ‘oh so lame work’, why would I loose my time making you happy?” she snapped back at her, only to infuriate more when she talked to Keann, insinuating a thing that she knew very well. She couldn’t take it, this girl, went too far, poor Keann who had to deal with her.

What happened next was completely out of her control, her right hand flew straight towards the girl’s direction, landing on her cheeks, wanting to leave it’s mark in the girls skin forever. Enough was enough. Arien was pissed and that’s what only when she noticed that Gilwen was there. Who cared about if it would ‘spoil’ the reputation of her shop? Not her, or else she wouldn’t have done what she did. “You sleeper, how much imperfection do you have to hide under that make up of yours?” she asked, a death glare matched her words as she noticed the make up that was on her hand.

“I see now why you have to hide that much…” she added. “I would never allow someone like you to spit on my work and to pay such disrespect towards me. Get out of my shop now, if you don’t want me to ruin that pretty face of yours.” she snapped. She wasn’t angry at Faeldor, but this woman was so unpleasant, that she couldn’t help but to do what she had done.

[Faeldor]

Faeldor did not know what to say; he was quite taken aback by the swiftness of all which had happened. It seemed that something had broken in the lovely dressmaker, and she had gotten back at his sister quite nicely for her words.

Miriel was about ready to strike back at the woman who she now despised, and when she had been slapped she grabbed the lady’s wrist in a tightly clenched grip, “You will not speak to me in such a way, if you do not wish me to ruin these pretty hands of yours,” she growled back at the woman. She had called her both imperfect and a sleeper. “Without these you’d be quite a penny short for work, I imagine, and would have no customers to please. Save our clumsy Lord Keann here,” she looked at the man for a moment who had fallen and had been fumbling to pick up the dresses that he had knocked over.

“I’m sure you could find other ways to please him,” she gave the woman a sardonic grin, squeezing the woman’s wrist and twisting it. Miriel had quite a grip and strength of hands from her hours working with them in the palace kitchens, and could have done a bit of damage if she had been given a few more moment’s opportunity.

Faeldor however, would not allow this. “Miriel!” he shouted at his sister. He had placed the basket on the ground, and quickly gone to Arien’s own rescue, grasping his sister and prying her hands from the woman, tugging her backwards and then spinning her around. “You will not behave as such. You are dishonoring our Father’s name. People need not bow down to you; you are no nobility.”

Miriel frowned at her brother, quite upset that he had taken her from her new mission to hurt Arien. “She deserves it. And I am not the only one dishonoring our Father’s name,” she glanced fiercely g at her brother, and then glared at Gilwen in the doorway. “Let. Me. Go!” she raised her voice, and pulled her arms from her brothers thick grasp, then shoved him roughly. She in turned glared for a moment at each person in the room, and then picked the basket from the floor and stormed toward the doorway, making sure to knock heavily against Gilwen as she went and mutter to her as well… “Starlight harlot.”

When the flurry had ended, Faeldor stood in the middle of the room, and brought a hand to his forehead as he seemed to develop an immediate headache. Finally he said, “My lady Arien, I do apologize tremendously… and Lord Keann…” Really though, he did not know what to say. And then Gilwen had come in so unexpectedly; he had not noticed her until he had looked to the doorway as Miriel rushed out; such had his focus been on his sister. At least Miriel had not struck her again as well. He looked at her sadly, but said nothing yet.

[Gilwen]

The minute Keann fell into the dresses Gilwen flew into quiet action to help him right the mess he had made. She still said nothing, and as soon as the dresses were hung, she stepped back to the doorway, surveying the situation. Arien was not one to back down, when confronted in such a way. Nor should she be. Gilwen would never have the boldness to do such a thing...but look at where that had gotten her.

Miriel lashed back, though. And for a moment Gilwen almost rushed to her friend's aide. Gilwen would have never stood up to Miriel for her own defense; but Arien she would help in an instant. Not that the petite woman would be able to do much against Miriel's strength and height. Gilwen's arms were strong, yes, but no match for someone like Miriel. Especially when she was in such a rage! Her movement only lasted a step though, for it seemed Faeldor had put down the basket and had wrestled his sister from the dressmaker.

He began to speak to her, and to scold her for her actions. Though it seemed to only ignite Miriel's temper more. Gilwen flinched slightly as the woman's fierce green eyes glared over at her. “Starlight harlot.” Miriel had broken free of her brother's grasp and had begun to walk toward her.

For a moment, Gilwen feared that it would be worse than simply the hard shove she had recieved. It sent her back into the door frame, and she righted herself quickly, as Miriel exited. She caught Faeldor's gaze, but hardly stood still. The little woman rushed forward, satchel in tow to her friend, placing a comforting arm about her. "Are you alright?" Gilwen murmured.

Miriel surely had overstepped her bounds this time. What on earth had caused this?

[Keann]

Keann was still working on placing properly the dresses when he heard a slapping noise. he froze and turned very slowly around. Who slapped who? He watched every faces one by one and understood it was Arien who slapped Miriel. His breath got caught up in his chest, expecting the worst now. The way she talked to the lady... It was so scary even for him who was not the one yelled at. He felt himself shrinking to a ridiculous size while Arien seemed gigantic due to her anger.

When Miriel grabbed her hand though, Keann felt she could be just as dangerous as well. And when she talked of him he felt he didn't shrink enough. He never could imagine such a fight could happen. Who on earth was to enter a shop and act like this? If you can't be pleased with the merchandise, you only had to go elsewhere.

He blushed some as she called him 'clumsy'. Sure looked like it right now. He startled seeing her twist Arien's wrist. "Lady Miriel, please." he exclaimed, unable to think of anything else to say to make her stop. Hopefully he found himself being helped by her brother who made her stop. He sighed of relief. Though a man, Keann knew he was no match, especially compared to those two women who had turned into furies before his eyes.

Powerless, Keann watched the confrontation between the siblings. As cruel as it may sounds, he was relieved Miriel was going away. Especially since she seemed to have something against not just Arien but the new girl who arrived. It seemed so awkward, so out of space. But then Miriel left and her brother apologized in her stead. Keann simply nodded to it, showing that way it was fine, at least for him.

Once the tempestuous lady had left, it took him a few minutes to deal with it and notice. Then he went by Arien's side just like the other woman did, inquiring about her well-being. For a second he watched the other girl to say: "Thank you", softly for her help with the dresses earlier.

[Arien]

Arien maintained the gaze of Miriel, as she twisted her wrist, not showing any sing of suffering in the process. Heck, she was too proud of herself, and had too much pride to ever think of lowering her gaze and show pain in front of that wench. Sure it hurt, but she was fine with that, she wasn’t using her right hand that often anyways, only when she absolutely needed it she was working with the left one and paid much more attention to it-which was also why she hadn’t slap the girl with her left one. She wouldn’t want to ruin it with ugly make up.

“Oh don’t worry, I can deal with anything myself, with hands or no.” she snapped at the girl. Arien was pissed at the moment, really pissed. Thank God that Faeldor had stopped her sister and pulled her away from her before things would get worse. She still didn’t twitch and remained collected. There were no points in showing weakness in front of that one, that would only satisfy her if she did that and this, would certainly never happen. She decided not to add any comment about her pleasing Keann. Who would’ve thought of such perverted things? Not her and she could careless right now.

It didn’t take long before she went out of her shop and Arien turned to Gilwen her good friend. She was one of the few who could appease the fury that was within her body at the right moment and slowly calmed down, but clearly looked pissed. What had she done to Gilwen anyways? She wouldn’t forgive that oh no. Who knows what would happen next time she sees Miriel…bad things probably.

“I’m fine…” She mumbled, smiling a little and looking at her wrist. It hurt like hell, but there were no ways she would admit that to any one of them. She was strong, not weak and she had to finish that wedding dress that was due soon enough. She hoped that no other customers had entered in the shop meanwhile this scene was happening.

“It’s okay mister…” she said to Faeldor. “I can deal with that kind of people quite easily, although I wished I wouldn’t have lost my time with her. I got work I need to finish…” She grabbed the green dress she had made for a customer and put it back at her place, whimpering as silently as she could, since she had done the mistake to hold it with her right hand, but quickly saved the day, using her left hand. No she didn’t want to worry them after what had happened.

[Faeldor]

"I am sorry that you have lost your time. We have been a dreadful inconvenience to you," Faeldor muttered morosely, standing still in the middle of the room. At least Miriel had not destroyed any of Arien's dresses or work. It seemed that his sister was more and more flighty as of late, and he never knew what she might do.

Keann seemed to have righted himself, and Gilwen had gone to look after her friend. The man looked back to the dressmaker as she turned to replace the green dress. "Perhaps there is something to cool it?" he asked, though his gaze was on Gilwen now. It seemed that she knew the woman well enough, to embrace her as she did. If she was familiar with the place, she would know where to go for cool water, and would understand his question.

"Please, might I see?" he asked the dressmaker, as he moved toward Arien and lightly touched the sleeve of her injured wrist.

[Gilwen]

Keann thanked Gilwen for her assistance in righting the dresses, and she tossed him a small smile to let him know it was no problem. Arien was a tough woman; and was not going to admit when she was physically hurt. Still, Gilwen would not let her simply just ignore this. Sometimes, perhaps, Gilwen's relationship with Arien was like that of an older sister. This, was clearly going to be one of those times.

A sideways glance at Faeldor, who was still standing in the middle of the room, told Gilwen he was highly upset, and embarrassed by his sister's display. Still, her attention belonged to Arien at the moment. "You can finish your work later," she murmured softly. "Mama sent me with lunch, and your wrist needs a break."

"Perhaps there is something to cool it?"

Gilwen nodded. "Excuse me," she murmured, after a moment dropping her embrace on Arien to go find some water to wet a cloth. Perhaps it would quell some of the ache in Arien's wrist. Oh! The poor dear needed it to work! It made her a little sad to think that the woman needed to rely on it to work; perhaps Arien would take a vacation to go visit her family, and make the break useful. She needed time to rest anyway. It took her a few minutes, but she returned, a wet cloth in tow to wrap about her wrist. "Here," she whispered. She extended her hand for Arien to present her wrist to her so she could care for it.

[Keann]

Keann was not blind. he couldn't believe Arien was fine. And it wasn't mentally. She could take on the harsh comments. She'll deal with it later. But if her hand was wounded then it would be a problem. She needed her two hands, even if one was working more than the other.

When Keann saw her switch from her right hand to the left while simply replacing a dress, he understood it was more damaged than she wanted to admit. Already was he beside her when Faeldor came to have a look at the wrist. Keann stopped. The man sure was not like his sister. More composed, polite. He didn't think one second this man could try to hurt her more. And strong as he was, he certainly was a soldier or such and so used to that kind of wound. He'd be able to help. Keann could massage her wrist, well could but it didn't mean he'd do it. Even alone with Arien, he'd be quite embarrassed to get close enough to hold her wrist. Hold her with his rough hands.

He was happy the two others were more than eager to help. But with the lady who had gotten her food and went to get a wet clothes while the man was busy looking at her wrist. Finding he was pretty useless, Keann took the wedding dress she had been working on with extra care and placed it properly so it wouldn't get in the way. Then he made sure everything that had been disrupted during the fight was back to its rightful place.

When Gilwen came and placed the cloth around Arien's wrist, Keann went back to her. "You really should rest. If you ask too much of your wrist already it will never fully heal." he said on a careful tone.

[Arien]

Arien shook her head at Faeldor and gave him a smile. Wow to think that those two were siblings, she really wondered about how his sister ended up being this… unpleasant and mean. Anyways, she doubted that the girl was loved by a lot of people in this town if she acted the way she did to everyone out there. Ah well, she could careless about it at the right moment, besides, her wrist was more important than her.

Everyone was so carrying to her, it made her feel almost uncomfortable. She smiled seeing the lunch that Gilwen had brought her, this girl was such a sweet heart. She loved her mother too, it reminded her of her own and she missed the woman greatly. She couldn’t see the girl as often as she wished and this would be one of the moments where she wanted to see her mother.

She let out an inaudible sigh and showed Faeldor her wrist, gazing at Gilwen who went off to get a wet tissue and then looked at Keann who cleaned the shop for her. She considered herself really lucky to be around such nice people. She’d have to thank all of them.

As soon as Gilwen went back, she extended her arm to Gilwen, letting the girl take care of her. Yup, she really was a great friend. They looked like a big family at the moment and it made her feel better just to think of it. She was still pissed by what had happened. Though, she didn’t like the suggestion of taking vacations.

“I have this wedding dress to finish…” she stated causally. “I can’t hold back on my promise…” she said softly staring at the dress. “I’ll finish it then consider of taking a break.” she said, though, she wouldn’t mind eating before doing so.

[Faeldor]

The stable master held the woman’s wrist gently in his hands, looking over it. At least Miriel had not broken the skin; she was known to do such. But she had twisted it so, and it was no good to harm the wrist of someone who used their hands for their everyday work. Especially for such delicate work as sewing.

Faeldor really did not know what to do now. There was truly nothing he could say to apologize for his sister’s harm. He let Gilwen take over caring for her friend when she returned with the cool cloth, glad that she had known where to go for the water.

“A break would seem well requited…” Faeldor said, moving back behind Gilwen to allow her room. “You must work long hours here; to run this shop by yourself,” he added, finally looking about the room. His sister had distracted his attention since they had come back here, and he had not truly looked at the dresses hung about, which were even lovelier than the ones out front. And there were many of them.

Faeldor’s family usually saw to a seamstress up on the fifth tier. The woman worked well and the garments were quite respectable. This man was nobody to compare dresses for their quality, though Arien’s stitching did look even and neat. Perhaps though, he could at least offer her some business in response to what Miriel had done. He, after all, had many growing sisters. Better yet, if she were a friend of Gilwen’s he had an idea that Arien would be glad to sew something for her own friend.

However, he did not say so now. He just looked at Gilwen, a slight smile drawing over his face. He wondered, fleetingly, if Gilwen was quite alright herself, for she had been shoved quite roughly into the doorway. But he would not ask her now, while she was tending to her friend.

[Gilwen]

Gilwen's tongue was well trained. To know when to be silent, to know how to speak shortly so that her words were not ample or plenty; but to still get her point across. But with this training from the palace came the distinct ability to trap words with ones ears. To hear and not be heard. As Arien spoke of considering taking a break, Gilwen's heart relaxed.

When the wedding dress was done, she would surely bring it up again casually and insist that she go. She finished wrapping her wrist and tucked the bandage into itself and stepped back lightly. "There," she announced. It was by no means a perfect job; but the woman was a common servant, not a healer in the Houses on the sixth tier. It would do for its purpose anyway, and there was no shame in that.

“You must work long hours here; to run this shop by yourself.”

"It seems she lives here more than her own home sometimes," Gilwen offered, without turning her gaze away, and in fact used the sentence to pointedly show Arien how much time she did spend here in this shop. Though, Gilwen was not in a place to truly comment on such things. It seemed that she was gone from her own home just as often.

She looked to the food that her mother had bade her bring and finally extended it to Arien. If she could get Arien to tend to herself at least somewhat, she would not feel so useless. Aside from this, Niniel was sure to inquire as to whether or not Arien had enjoyed it or not. It would be of no use to leave without seeing her eat.