The Eye of Elicion: The Kinowenn Chronicles Vol 1 (23 page)

Well, wasn’t that wonderful news, thought Lucy sarcastically as she dropped the announcement to the floor. There wasn’t an occasion that existed that made Lucy more self-conscious than a dance. She would rather enter an archery tournament. Both the pain and the embarrassment level would be about the same. At least Justin could heal a bleeding arm. Lucy didn’t know if she would rather go with or without a date. She did not intend to be the one doing the asking, that was for sure. Darren asking her was potentially problematic for any number of reasons. It had generally been a horrible day. Lucy collapsed onto her bed, willing herself to fall asleep so nothing else could go wrong in one day. Surprisingly enough she fell asleep quickly.

Lucy woke up the next morning feeling good. She was ready to face the day and whatever physical endeavor Orin put before them. She met the others for breakfast where the entire Dining Hall was buzzing about both the competition and the dance.

“Want to go dress shopping tonight?” asked Maya excitedly.

“I don’t even know if I’m going,” said Lucy.

“Of course you’re going,” Maya replied with a wave of her hand. “I’ll help you pick out the perfect thing. Not only will it be at the height of Kinowenn fashion, I’ll make sure you look gorgeous.”

“Ladies, we have better things to do tonight than shop,” said Gavin in exasperation.

“Good, you do them then because you aren’t invited to go with us,” said Maya. “I’ll help you pick out something later. Tonight is for us girls.”

Lucy hadn’t done many girly things, and she was decidedly nervous about the prospect, but Maya wouldn’t hear anything to the contrary.

“Who are you going with?” Lucy finally asked. Lucy had been so absorbed in her studies, she had not bothered to notice if Maya was seeing anyone.

“Three people asked me before breakfast. I intend to go with Jared,” she indicated a blond haired boy two tables away, “but he hasn’t gotten around to asking me yet. He has until lunch or I’m choosing someone else.”

Lucy was surprised at how casual she sounded about the whole thing. She decided that having Maya help her pick out a dress could be a very useful thing.

“You could always ask him,” suggested Lucy.

“Certainly not,” replied Maya looking appalled. “Don’t you dare go around asking anyone either. Let them come to you.”

“That doesn’t seem fair,” said Gavin.

“Perhaps not, but it works. Who have you asked?”

“Gina,” Gavin replied promptly, waving at a petit girl with dark skin and waist long black hair. “She’s in my horsemanship class and rides well.”

Justin raised an eyebrow, Lucy suppressed a smile, and Maya flat out choked on her toast. Gavin looked confusedly at them for a minute and then caught on.

“Hey, don’t get any dirty ideas!” Gavin looked offended.

“Rides well?” asked Maya in between coughs.

“Yes, she has skills.”

They all burst out laughing.

“Stop it! I mean it completely innocently. She is a pretty girl, who I’ve had pleasant conversations with in the past. I was letting you know how we were acquainted and complimenting her horsemanship ability. I didn’t mean to imply anything sexual.”

“Well and thoroughly put,” said Lucy. “I, for one, look forward to the coming introduction and am glad you had the forethought to include a piece of background information. Now, I can ask her about her horsemanship class to start a conversation.”

Maya looked like she too had a few select comments to make, but between laughing and coughing she couldn’t seem to get anything out.

Justin had been suspiciously closed mouthed during the entire discussion. Before Maya could turn the conversation his direction, it was time to go to class.

Lucy arrived at the practice yard to find that Darren had beaten her there.

“Good morning,” she said and began to stretch out.

“Morning,” he replied. “I suppose you, Justin, Gavin, and Maya are a team of four.”

“Yes, Justin submitted our names minutes after the announcement was made,” she said with a smile. Then it faded, “I’m sorry, if it was a group of five, I’m sure we would have asked you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Darren shrugged. “I was making sure because Chloe, Grant, and I are a team so far. We wanted to make sure you were taken before we started asking around for a fourth. We’d hate to have found a fourth and then found out you didn’t have a team.”

“Oh, thanks. If I wasn’t already committed I’d definitely be on your team,” Lucy replied honestly. They were all great people with reasonable skills. She would have had fun being on their team. At the same time, she couldn’t help but be glad that she was on a team with more experienced people.

“I guess you already have a date for the dance then as well,” Darren said, blushing slightly and looking down.

“No, not yet. No one has asked me.”

“No one’s asked you?” Darren looked up in surprise.

“Nope,” replied Lucy turning sideways and stretching her back.

“Will you go with me then?” he asked hopefully.

Lucy turned to stretch her back the other way, partly because it was her habit to be thorough when it came to stretching and partly because it turned her away from Darren. What on earth was she supposed to do? The last thing she wanted was some messy relationship. Besides, she didn’t feel like that towards Darren.

“As friends, I mean,” he added quickly. “We are all so busy here that it would be hard to maintain a relationship. I thought it would be fun to go together since we get along and could at least talk about classes or the competition so we wouldn’t be sitting there at dinner in awkward silence.”

Lucy wasn’t sure if he meant all that or if that was his way of trying to get her to go by lessening the apparent pressure and expectations of the evening. She would like to go as friends with someone; that would make the evening more enjoyable for her. However, would Darren change his mind by the end of the night and do something ridiculous, silly, and bothersome, like invite her back to his room or try to kiss her? If she held that stretch position any longer, he was going to think she was avoiding him. She smiled as she turned around.

“I would love to,” she replied. Then, feeling like she should take the opportunity to further specify, she added, “I always get so nervous at events like that. It’ll be fun to be there with a friend.” Lucy hoped that would be enough.

Darren grinned back at her and looked much relieved. The rest of the class arrived, and they started hand-to-hand combat. Orin paired them up by size and approximate weight to begin with, telling them they could pick their partners next class. Lucy did reasonably well against Chloe. They not only learned blocks, punches, rolls, kicks, and throws, they did them as well. Near the end of class, almost everyone was rubbing some part of their body, and there were a few bloody noses, black eyes, and split lips.

“Now you see why we wait for hand-to-hand until you’ve gotten tougher, your reflexes have improved, and hopefully you’ve been paying attention in your healing classes,” said Orin as he assessed their various injuries. “I think it’s important to learn what it feels like to hit and be hit. I suggest anyone who didn’t like getting hit, learn to move faster.”

Lucy smiled at that then winced due to her split lip. They made a ragtag group walking back to Dining Hall. Lucy felt the need for copious amounts of pasta so she loaded up her plate and went to the usual table.

“I see you started hand-to-hand combat,” said Maya sympathetically. “That was my least favorite training.”

Justin turned towards Lucy, “May I?” he asked motioning towards her split lip.

“Please,” responded Lucy and leaned towards him.

He touched her lip gently, and the throbbing lessened. She smiled, and everything felt back to normal.

“Thanks.”

“Anything else hurt?” he asked eyeing her with concern. He remembered his own hand-to-hand combat training.

“Nothing too serious. Mostly bumps and bruises,” Lucy shrugged and started in on her pasta.

“Justin,” said Darren’s voice from behind, “would it be asking too much for a nose and eye fix?”

“Is the nose broken?” asked Justin.

“I don’t think so, just bleeding more than anything should while a person tries to eat,” he responded.

“Here, here,” toasted Gavin with a turkey leg of large proportions.

Justin fixed the nose and eye. Darren thanked him and went to get some food.

“So, did Jared ask you?” Lucy turned her attention to Maya.

“Naturally. I told him I would go with him and told the others no.”

Lucy nodded, still impressed with Maya’s self confidence. Lucy finished her pasta and went to the stables to collect Ash.

“
You don’t look too hurt,”
said Ash with a shake of her head.

“
Should I be?”

“
I heard you started hand-to-hand combat, and that usually leaves its mark on students.”

“
Yes, Justin healed a split lip for me at lunch.”

“
That was kind of him.”

“
Yes, it was. Do you know what we are going to be doing today?”

“
I believe we are racing.”

“
That sound like fun. Are you ready to run?”

“
Always!”
replied Ash, pawing the ground with her hoof.
“Are you ready to ride?”

“
I try to be,”
Lucy smiled and rubbed Ash’s nose before leading her out of the stables.

They won of course. Ash was fast, and Lucy was quickly becoming an accomplished rider.

Lucy showered and ran down to the Apothecary.

“Good afternoon,” she greeted Ted as he finished helping a customer.

“Oh, yes, good afternoon. What can I help you with?”

“Actually, I think I should be asking what I can help you with,” said Lucy slightly confused.

“Help me…help me,” he blinked at her confusedly. “Tuesday? Is it Tuesday?”

“So I’ve been told.”

“Oh, good. I was thinking I could use your help earlier you see, but then I was sad that you wouldn’t be coming in because it was Monday, but you are here because it is Tuesday, and now I don’t remember what I wanted your help with. It is good that you are here though. I’m sure it will come to me. I’ll be right back with something you can do in the meantime. Tuesday. How interesting. I was sure it was Monday. I’ll have to do something about that.” Ted continued talking to himself as he left the room to get whatever it was he was going to get.

Lucy was getting used to this behavior by now, and it did not bother her that she could not hear what he was saying. He usually didn’t ask her to comment, and if it was something important he was likely to repeat it. He returned moments later with a box full of Tinctus rocks.

“These need to be separated by size and put in their appropriate jars. Try not to lose any of the dust. There is a dust jar you see, and we need to put the dust in it. Dust is important. So many things can be done with it. Always remember that dust is important.”

“I’ll be careful with the dust.”

“Very important, you see.”

“Yes,” Lucy assured him.

Ted returned to the back room still intoning the importance of dust. Lucy bent to her task. She was so absorbed, she lost track of time and would have been late for dinner had her stomach not rumbled to remind her.

Dinner was a quick affair as Maya was excited to go dress shopping and didn’t want to overeat and feel bloated. They left Justin and Gavin stripping chicken legs and made their way to the clothing shop. It was bustling with girls who had also left dinner early in an attempt to find or order the perfect dress. Maya had the advantage of working there. Not only did she know where to find anything they could possibly need, she had already set aside five different dresses for Lucy to try on and picked out her own two favorites to get Lucy’s opinion on. Maya had Lucy try on her dresses first.

The first one was strapless, red, high waisted, and the rest fell in rich drapes almost to her feet, with a small train in the back. It also had an odd arm band shawl type thing that took Lucy a minute to figure out. A band of fabric about two inches wide went around each upper arm. The bands were joined together by a long piece of fabric that draped down her back to her knees. Lucy put in on and had to admit it looked good on her. She came out to show Maya.

“I like it,” said Maya. “However, I want to see them all before we make a decision. What do you think?”

“It’s beautiful, but I’m not a fan of strapless.”

“Understandable, not everyone is. The color is fabulous though. Try on the next one.”

Dress number two was black, high necked, with sleeves that ended a quarter of the way down the arm. It had a floor length full bottom. There were tiny gold leaves embroidered on the hem. Lucy looked terrible. She walked out with a grimace.

“No,” she said.

“Definitely not,” agreed Maya. “It was worth a shot though. I liked the leaf embroidery.”

The third dress was a simple peach sheath dress that ended mid-calf with a chiffon overlay that was covered in embroidery and fell to the floor. It looked ok. Not great but ok.

“This feels old,” she told Maya.

“It designed for the court women of Impera. They can wear the sheath during the day and put on the fancy chiffon for court or an informal dinner. It is a touch stuffy, but you never know what is going to look the best.”

Lucy went to try on the fourth dress. She started to try to put it on and got tangled. It seemed to be more strips of green fabric than an actual dress. Looking more like a half wrapped mummy than someone going to a formal occasion, she stuck her head our of the dressing room door.

“What in the name of all that is holy is this thing?”

“Green?” questioned Maya.

“Green,” Lucy confirmed.

“Here, let me,” Maya squeezed into the dressing room and began to lift, wrap, tie, and pull. She managed to cover all the important parts and still show off a fair amount of skin. “It’s the latest fashion of young unmarried ladies in Kennemt. It’s meant to be form fitting and revealing, and just on the border of being indecent.”