The Stone

What Beauty Can do with a Blade

The room smells of flowers and sweet things, I stand in my undergarments, feeling vulnerable and shy,  waiting for my bath to cool. There are at least five women in this overly decorated room. They are working very hard at getting me to look "proper" as they keep saying and it is taking all of me not to hit them in their "proper" mouths.

"When is the last time you brushed your hair?" One says to me. I've decided ignoring their demeaning questions is the best thing to do, before my anger rises enough and I "accidentally" push one into the hot bath water.

"Miss! Your bath is ready." Another says as she leads me into a bathing room and helps me into a white clawfoot tub. She carries on soaking my hair and washing it for me, I find this very irritating and invasive. But I'm assured by the other women in the room that this is what they do for all of the mages in the castle. I finish my bath, dry off and they take me to another room for "powdering" is what they called it. This is all very tiresome, I am not looking forward to doing this every day. They have me sit in a chair in front of a large oval mirror. I watch them brush out my hair and style it, parting it down my right side so it drapes over the left side of my face.

"You have beautiful golden hair miss, many women would die for hair like this." One woman says.

"That seems like a silly thing to die for." I reply and they all laugh.

They've moved onto my face now, plucking hairs from my brows "perfecting" them is what they call it. One woman comes to me with a pallet of colors I wish not to have on my face or anywhere near it. She comes in with a brush tool and I stop her dead in her tracks with just a simple glare.

"All mages wear perfecting powder, miss." She says with a wavering voice.

"If you touch me with that I will make you eat it." I say and she backs off leaving it on the vanity. Everyone watches me nervously.

"It's ok you don't need that stuff anyways, your skin is like glass." Says the woman brushing my hair.

"Are all mages this vein?" I ask.

"Most are yes, you are, well.. you are much different from any mage we have ever met." She smiles.

"What's your name?" I ask.

"You want to know my name?" She laughs.

"Yes if you are going to be undressing me everyday I should at least know your name."

"Mina." She replies and bows as a dust of pink roses her cheeks.

"Mina." I test the name on my tongue. "Well thank you Mina for taking such good care of me, you can call me Brianna." She giggles at me.

"Of course miss Brianna."

They finish with their "perfecting" and we move onto dressing. I am now in new undergarments, they are very revealing, with black lace only covering my most "precious" areas, the top seems to push up my breasts making them look even bigger and I find the bottoms are rather uncomfortable. Everyone awed at me when I put them on.

"Why does everyone keep doing that?" I ask Mina.

"You are very pleasing to the eyes Brianna."

I blush and they all giggle.

Mina takes me over to a pedestal, where I stand as they bring me multiple gowns to try on.

"Which one do you like Brianna." Asks mina.

"Umm... none? They're all too long, how am I to wield a sword in it." And the room fills high pitched wails and cackles. I scowl at them completely flushed with embarrassment.