Look Beyond What You See

The Ball

 "Well, you didn't make it easy, milady, but I'd say you're quite presentable for the ball now," Juniper huffs, eliciting a chorus of relieved noises from the other maids who have been (torturing me) helping me get ready. I can't blame them all for being annoyed with me. Dmitri and I ended up riding around the grounds, including through a muddy creek or two, so I was quite the mess when we came in, and rather tired, besides. Accordingly it took longer than Juniper had originally planned to bathe me--they insisted on bathing me! All of them! I've never been so humiliated in my life! And then of course I fell asleep once they had me all snugly wrapped up in warm towels while they were working on my fingernails and toenails. It seems, from the bits of Juniper's lecture that I caught, that I don't take good enough care of such things and as such I am a disgrace to all womankind. After that debacle they had to do my hair, which caused even more irritation because my thick, wavy auburn tresses are extremely unruly and defy styling of any kind. And then we had an argument about cosmetics, which of course I lost because there were too many of them for me to escape.

Thus I find myself standing in front of the mirror unable to recognise my reflection, as so much has been done to me. The dress, for once, is not the torture contraption I feared but rather a lovely creation of pale cyan that brings out my eyes and fits beautifully with minimal corseting. The shoes, on the other hand, are silver sandals with a complex weave of straps and ridiculously high heels I shall have trouble walking in, let alone dancing. My arguments on the matter went unheeded. My hair has somehow been concocted into a fashionable updo studded with sapphires to match the jewelry they've made me wear, around my engagement necklace, and the ornamentation on my dress, which is accented with the dark blue stones. And the cosmetics...well, my skin has never looked so flawless, my eyes so enormous, or my lips so sensuously red.

"Thank you, ladies. I apologise for all the difficulties," I answer Juniper while gratifying the others. "How long until the ball?"

"Just long enough to teach you to walk and dance properly in those shoes, since you seemed so concerned about it," one of the nicer ladies asserts. "Come with me into the hallway. No need to practise on rugs. That won't be useful for you." I struggle to follow her into the hallway without catching my heels in the woven rugs and falling flat on my face. Each step gets progressively easier, to my delight. Perhaps this will be doable, after all. The maid seems confused once we're in the hallway but makes no remark.

"Let's just start by walking up and down the hallway a few times, all right?" she suggests.

"All right," I acquiesce, following her lead and mimicking the way she makes her dress seem to float over the shining hardwood floors. Halfway down the hallway she stops dead in her tracks and whirls around to face me, only to be startled that I am fairly close behind her and stumble back to a more appropriate distance from me.

"How do you manage to walk in such shoes without making a sound? I thought you were still standing outside your room!" she exclaims. I pale a bit for fear and then force myself to flush with embarrassment to cover for it.

"It's a talent I've always had, moving without making noise. You're right, though, I should try to refrain from using it for now... Please accept my humblest apologies."

"You need not apologise. I have half a mind to ask you to teach me how to move like that. But no matter. I'll watch you, now, and make sure you can pass for a lady with the way you walk. How did you manage to reach the age of eighteen without learning to walk in such shoes, growing up in a noble family?"

"I always put studs in the heels of my flat shoes so that they clicked on the floors so that everyone thought I was wearing heels," I answer truthfully, though that may not be the best tactic to employ, as I walk down the hallway giving a fair impression that I'm not about to trip over myself and become an embarrassment. "My skirts were always long enough that I could get away with it. I never had a retinue of maids to help me get ready. Mother knew I could take care of myself and thus the maids attended to my siblings. There were nine of us, you know."