B1 Chapter 20 - Shopping with my Lil Sis

“So big sis,” Alice began. “What should we do here?”

“We should shop! We need to get you some bags and clothes,” I said. “It will look odd if you arrive home with me without any luggage.”

“Gotcha,” she said.

“Just clothes?” she asked.

“Do you want anything else?”

“Should someone my age have anything else?” she asked.

“Hmm, maybe a toy. A dolly or something,” I said.

This town was huge, so if we were going to find anything special, it would likely be here. We walked around just exploring for a bit. It might have been a good idea for me to have done that more on my own before I left to meet up with her. Then we would have more of an idea where to go. But I suppose there was a charm to be walking around with my… lil sister.

She smiled. Wait, was she listening to my thoughts?

“Clothes shop?” she pointed as she held my other hand.

“Yep, looks like it,” I said.

Walking inside left me taken aback. Everything was more costly, but it was also super pretty!

“I don’t know what to get,” Alice said. My head tickled as she switched to telepathy. “None of the memories of Bethany or Tabitha saw any clothing like this. I don’t know what to use as a reference?”

That made sense. They were shelter girls or poor. So it would be odd if they knew anything about the kind of fashion in a shop like this. It might be better to just ask the shopkeeper. We weren’t living in this city, so it wasn’t like we needed to make an especially good impression here.

“Which one of us should ask?” Alice asked me in my head.

I’ll do it, I thought.

“Ma’am, could I ask for your advice?” I asked. “My little sister here is supposed to start school with some merchants’ children. I don’t really know what fashion would help her fit in.”

She bent down and looked at Alice. “Well, aren’t you a cutie. You're getting an education, but not your big sister?”

Yeah, that made sense. If our family was well off enough for one of us to get an education, it would make sense for that to apply to both of us. The shopkeeper wasn’t dull. But I wondered why she cared.

“We are half sisters, my mother remarried someone wealthy. I am her attendant,” I said.

“Ah, I see,” the shopkeeper said. “I recommend things from this section.”

The place she pointed towards had mostly skirts and blouses, and a few bodices. They all had fancy embroidery, and the fancier ones also had shifting colors. Like one skirt, in particular, was yellow towards the waist, but more of a dark orange by her ankles.

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“The shifting colors are in high fashion at the moment, but they do tend to be a bit more expensive. What were you thinking?” the shopkeeper asked.

“I think we should get one of each. Does that sound good?” I asked Alice.

“Okay,” she said as she picked up a white skirt that shifted to pink at the base. “This?”

“I do like the pink,” I said.

We got about three bodices, two blouses, and two skirts. That alone cost thirty thousand geld. Geez, fashionable stuff was a lot more expensive. But thankfully, she gave us a bag for it all. So I guess that was a perk for this kind of shop. We could technically head to the carriage shop at any point now. But Alice did say she wanted a toy. So we were looking to see if we could find a toy store or something like that.

“Are you hungry?” I asked.

She shook her head. “I’m fine.”

“Okay, but remember, once we are home, people will find it strange if you don’t eat at least twice a day,” I said.

“So much? Well, I’ll keep that in mind, I suppose,” she said.

We never found a toy store, but we did find a woodworker, so I thought that would be good enough. We walked in to see a man whittling something as he whistled.

“Huh? You got an order?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “I was wondering if you could make my little sister a doll. Oh, and do you have slates here?”

“Slates sure. Four thousand geld. A doll? Isn’t that the type of stuff her father would normally make?”

“Is that a no?” I asked.

“When you want it by?”

“Before dark?”

“Three thousand geld then, give me like twenty minutes.”

He walked to the back, and we just walked around the store. He had lots of examples of work screwed in place, from wheels to boxes and other complex shapes.

“So much can be done with wood,” Alice said. “It is impressive.”

“Yes, I agree. So, do you know how to read and write?” I asked.

She gestured with her finger for me to lean close. She then touched me in the middle of the forehead. “Hmm. Yes, I think I can read at the very least. I have never tried to write, though.”

“Did you just do what I think you did?”

“Yes, I scanned all your knowledge,” she said with a curtsy. Her form was clumsy at best. “Hmm, understanding it, and physically doing it are not as simple as I imagined.”

I chuckled. “So even the great Alice needs to practice like the rest of us.”

“It would seem, but I suppose that isn’t the worst thing. But I am curious. Why are you giving me pricy clothes? Was not the idea for me to blend into the shadows?” she asked.

Heck. She made a point. “Honestly, I couldn’t help it. You are just so adorable. Though the more I think about it. There may be an advantage to this approach.”

“Oh?” she asked.

“Yeah. Poor kids run into lots of problems. Plus, I think people will realize you are awesome at some point. We can try to hide you, hide that you can read, hide that you're smart, but people will probably notice. If we lean into you being smart, then we aren’t hiding. As long as you curb it and just look like a normal smart kid, we should be good.”

“That certainly seems valid,” she said. “I shall try to meet your expectations, big sis.”

I smiled and patted her head. “I believe in you.”

The man came back in and tossed a doll at me. I caught it and examined it. It was more complex than I expected. It had ball joints for its arms and legs. But just one each, and it had a neck joint. It was definitely worth the three thousand geld for the timeframe and quality.

“You like it?” I asked.

“It is naked and has no clothes.”

“I’m a woodworker, you brat,” the man said. “Talk to a seamstress about the rest.”

He made a point.

I took the slate and grabbed Alice’s hand. We could look for clothes and hair for her doll next. We weren’t in a rush.