Girl of Iron and Magic

11.

11.
10 YEARS BEFORE THE WAR

Mr. Henri continued to deliver Lotte gifts and made only the smallest attempts at conversation. He was doubtlessly quite rich since he wore a different suit each time she saw him.

He dressed differently from most gentlemen of his station. Gentlemen, Lotte noticed, typically dressed in boring colours ranging from brown to grey.

But Mr. Henri always stood out in the sharp cut of his suits and the addition of colour. For instance, on that day his suit was such a pale grey, it was almost white. His jacket was trimmed with pale pink silk on the lapels and he wore a buttoned down fuchsia blouse with a matching handkerchief in his pocket and a matching ribbon in his hat. His bow-tie was grey to match his jacket, and even the buckles on his shiny leather shoes were accented with pink thread.

He lingered longer that time. He sat on the bench at her side and twiddled his thumbs. Lotte stared firmly ahead, annoyed at her curiosity. What was he going to do next?

He held a shimmering black shopping bag in his hands and placed it on the bench at her side. "I would like to show you something," he said slowly. "Use this and meet me tomorrow on the steps of the Kardioll Gallery at noon. What I want to show you is inside the gallery."

And that was all.

He smacked his thighs and rose to his feet, nodding his head firmly towards Lotte before striding away.

When he was gone, she took the bag and examined its contents. There was a sensible black dress, white stockings, soft black trainers, a sturdy black coat with a deep hood, a black beret and a comb.

Lotte didn't have much use for clothes, but she knew that dressed as a street urchin she couldn't come anywhere near the prestigious Kardioll Gallery.

She sometimes looked at the paintings through its grand windows. The gallery was the centrepiece of Karioll square. It was  a massive glass tower that was said to have no stairs. Instead, the floors spiralled up and up, the walls lined with paintings and sculptures. Supposedly, there were inner halls too. There were cafes and restaurants inside Kardioll gallery.

Lotte felt very worried when her curiosity got the better of her. When noon of the next day came round, she stood on the steps to Karioll gallery in a new dress and shoes with her hair combed and her hands clasped nervously together.

The worst of it was the fact that she missed the protective folds of her overlarge jacket, though she had to admit that after a few months of constant wear it had begun to smell.

Lotte had even made the concentrated effort of washing her face and all the other bits of her body. When she had lived in the orphanage, she had bathed quite regularly, more readily than the other children.

Cleanliness was the kind of thing she'd never thought she'd miss until it wasn't an option.

It was odd to look at her reflection in shop windows. She looked quite different without the layer of grime.

"Ah, you came," said Mr. Henri's voice from the top of the steps. He nodded towards her and then to the entrance of the gallery. "Shall we?"

Lotte let him lead the way, making sure to keep a step behind him. She kept a wary eye on their surroundings, watching everything at once.

The entrance hall of the gallery was so large, it still felt like standing outside. The ceiling so many stories above her head it might as well have been a slightly smaller sky.

The marble floor was milky white, with grey veins running through it. Six attendants rushed forward, lacquered shoes clicking loudly.

"Mr. Treebald!" one of them cried. "We did not know you were coming."