‘Well, that was quick.’

I toweled off my wet hair as I had just gotten through with a bath. The bathroom was connected to the room by the second door, but the room was a shared bathroom used by several of the other rooms as well. I didn’t want to risk getting caught in the open, so I did a quick lather and dunk before running out of the room.

I hadn’t spent much time alone with my new body and I wasn’t planning on getting to know it much better than was needed to kill a bunch of gnarled creatures and get back to my old one. It still felt uncomfortable when I looked in the mirror at the child I had become. It always felt like like I was looking at a different person other than me.

‘You really need to invest in one of those blue portal things they use at the school. You just walk through it and it cleans everything. I never had to change my clothes the entire time I was there…by the way…where are my clothes?’

I hugged the pink silk bathrobe tighter around my body as I sensed impending danger. I noticed my metal cuff and locket were still hanging from the changing wall where I had left the pile of my clothes, but the rest had disappeared. I anxiously looked down at my peacock feather tattoo on my wrist and wondered if I should activate it. Not that it covered me much better than the robe.

‘There is no need for you to keep that uniform. You are no longer a student at the school. We will find you a more suitable set of clothes for you to wear.’

‘We? Like the royal we?’

She grinned as she rang a bell next to her on the table. The door burst open as a dozen maids clamored in carrying fabrics and tools for sewing. The last maid through the door was a large and stern-looking maid whipping around a clipboard and tape measure. This ogre of a woman was giving me flashbacks of Miss Irons personality. She rushed through the crowd as they set up and grabbed my wrist.

‘Now, dearie. Just relax and we will put together a set of outfits that will draw the eyes of all the boys in the castle.’

I shot Clem daggers from my eyes as she attempted to not make eye contact with me. I was powerless to stop the maid from pulling me onto a platform.

-

Clem and Roxanne sat at her table enjoying an afternoon cup of tea as they watched the spectacle that was unfolding before them. A maid now stood at ready with a towel after the second time one of the princesses spit out their tea in laughter.

‘Pants! What do you mean pants!’

‘Surely you know what pants are! Why is that idea so difficult?’

 ‘There is no way I would let any self-respecting woman of the castle wear pants! Do you want to become a laughing stock of the castle?’

‘If it will get me a pair of pants, sure! Dresses are embarrassing and wildly impractical for combat.’

‘You’re not in combat while you are here, young lady. Have some decorum and wear some proper clothes.’

‘It sure feels like I’m in combat! Listen, I’m not asking for much. Just take whatever idea you have going around in your head and make it with pants and no frills. Or bows. Or ribbons. And preferably with long sleeves.’

‘Young lady, have you no concept of the power that beauty has on…’

‘Rhinestones.’

‘What?’

‘No rhinestones either. I see that lady over there going through a box of them.’

‘…’

‘What?’

‘Anything else.’

‘I’ll let you know if I think of it. Honestly. I don’t know why you are complaining. I’m giving you an easy out. All I need is a shirt, pants, and maybe a jacket. And a pair of boots. Make them durable enough to last long trips into the woods. Oh, and keep the colors natural. Nothing bright that will draw attention.’

The seamstress stared at me blankly for a few seconds. She looked like she was about to give up and walk out when Roxanne yelled to her across the room.

‘Hey, Miss Beatrix. Remember the mural in the library depicting the legendary huntress? Use that as your inspiration.’

Her eyes lit up at the thought of a picture I hadn’t seen. She turned to the group and started barking out orders. I turned back to look that the two princesses and they just smiled back and enjoyed their tea.

-

The final result was…passable. They had given me pants. They were dark grey, skin tight and tucked under knee-high black leather boots. They also had a dark grey skirt attached to them at the beltline. The shirt on the top was a lighter grey ruffled crop top that needed a few more inches so it would stop showing my belly button if I raised my hands up. I would have liked it to cover up more of my chest and neck, but it was covering up what needed to be covered.

The star of the outfit in everyone else’s eyes was the jacket. The collar was extended up almost to my ears. The sleeves were form-fitting to my arms and stopped just above my elbows allowing for the ruffles at the ends of my undershirt’s sleeves to fan-out from underneath. The jacket fell just past my knees and fanned around me giving the appearance of a dress with an opening in the front. A cloth band bound around my waist and held the jacket to my hips and seemed to mostly fix my shirt length issues by covering up my midsection. The jacket's material was a dark purple that blended into a turquoise. Dark purple swirls and embroidery detailed the lighter blue parts.

The girls were hard at work crafting a few more copies of the clothes as well as making other jackets that echoed the design but were grey to green and black to red. One set of girls had even made a copy of the whole outfit that was all white with gold and silver accents and a jacket that went from white to yellow with silver embroidery. It was actually fascinating to see how fast they worked.

Feeling somewhat satisfied with the flexibility and design, I went to step off the platform they had me standing on. I was met with a hand from the ogre maid.

‘Not yet, dearie. We still need to make you a dress for the ball.’

I opened my mouth to protest and the maid winced in anticipation when a knock rapped at the door. Everyone stopped and a hush fell on the room as one of the maids went over to answer it. A man in a servant's uniform bowed and delivered an envelope to the maid and whispered a few things to her. She thanked him and closed the door. She walked over to me and held the envelope out to me with both hands forward like she was holding something precious.

‘For a Miss Samantha Rye.’

‘For me? Who would deliver mail to me? Who even knows I’m in the castle?’

I took the envelope and examined it. It was made of a white paper that had been embossed with ivy all over. It was sealed with a wax that looked like amber sap and had an imprinted seal of the silhouette of a woman in a dress surrounded by an ivy wreath. I opened the letter and pulled out the piece of paper and unfolded it. The smell of a mixture of jasmine and honeysuckle wafted from the paper. I read the note out loud.

“To My Dearest Samantha,

I hope this letter finds you well. When I learned that you were to leave the school, I was devastated.  The first I laid eyes on you when you arrived at the school, I was shocked by your feral beauty, and I have an eye for such things. I saw you as an uncut jewel that could shine brighter than any of the other students whose polish came from a power not their own. I made it my goal to tame and refine that splendor but time and time again, no matter the tactic or glamour I used, you remained vigilantly unchanged. I see now that you are as the resplendent quetzal, valuing your freedom to chose your destiny over being corralled to realize your vast potential.

So now I relinquish you to the arms of fate. I firmly believe that you will go down in the history books known as much for your beauty as for your ferocity. So fly free, little bird. Just know that beauty can be as potent a weapon as any blade, and its edge is only as sharp as the technique you shape it with. Maybe one day you will accept my teachings and hone this gift you have labored to keep hidden for so long. Until then, I will wait for your invitation with bated breath. 

This dress was originally going to be the foundation of your battle costume, but I see now that you were never meant to be just another Fairybond. As such, I have modified the garment to better account for your new way of life. I have heard word that the third princess, Her Royal Highness Clementine, has taken fancy to you in much the same way that I had.

With any luck, this dress can be a tool to help you navigate the political battlefield much the same way that Miss Flameking’s fairyite blade has helped you in the martial field. This is my olive branch to you. When I meet you again in the future, I hope that we can be on friendlier terms.

Regards,

Miss Puffin”

I looked at the letter for a few seconds and then looked around. I looked at the door expecting to hear another knock with a delivery. It was then that I felt a pulse from the note and a pricking sensation on my wrist. I dropped the note and saw the fading light of a magic circle on its rear side as it floated to the ground. I looked at my wrist as the previously present peacock feather lost its eye and elongated into a quetzal tail feather.

‘No way.’

I felt the energies change that were stored within the tattoo. They spiraled outward down my arm and around my body in flashes of green and blue light. I felt the sensation of silken fabric wrap around my body from head to toe. My vision refocused to the awestruck eyes of the room all staring in my direction.

The dress I was now in was a ball gown that was a mixture of iridescent blues and greens. It was short in the front and went almost to the ground in the back. The top was form-fitting and the neckline was cut lower in the front than I was comfortable with. The shoulders had a slight puff and then became skin-tight sleeves until it came to a point at the knuckle of my middle finger. Two large tails of tool fabric attached to the back as a sort of cape split in half that ended at two points like tail feathers.

My hair was up in a bun with tight ringlets hanging by my ears and down off of the bun to my shoulders. Gold chains crossed the dress all over with gold rings, bracelets, and necklaces accenting the rest. Blue and green feathers adorned my right shoulder and the gold pin holding my hair up, and embroidered feathers accented the rest of the dress. A large blue and green teardrop opal broach encased in gold was clasped to my right side by my heart. The worst offender of the outfit, however, was the green and gold heeled shoes that loudly clopped as I took a few steps in them.

Clem jumped up from her chair with a beaming smile on her face, and Roxanne wasn’t far behind her.

‘It’s perfect!’

‘She’s like a gilded bird!’

The face of the girl in the mirror turned red as I eyed her up and down. It really was a beautiful dress. I’d really have to find a way to give it to someone else after this. Can’t have something this nice getting bloody.