Chapter 24 - The Dukes new cloth

I looked to Suha for confirmation then nodded. "Yes please guide them there, thank you. Have my wives returned from their visit?" She nodded. "Lady Neile and Lady Viola have arrived a short while ago." She seemed to be hesitant about something and suha noticed it right away. "Is something wrong with my dear?" she blushed slightly being noticed. "Lady Viola appeared to be upset milady. She returned in tears and rushed back into the harem." Suha and Gabrielle looked at each other and seemed to have a short silent conversation before Gabrielle rose.

"If you would excuse me I think I will have to take care of this. But I am certain that we can keep the tailor busy with ease with the new outfits of our dear grace." She winked at me and didn't even wait for confirmation before carefully putting  down the book that she had been working on, and walking out with a fast steady pace. I looked to Suha but then just shrugged it off. "Madam Tersou it seems i have to cut this short you are more then welcome to stay and continue the study of the pleasure gardens or maybe start the first lesson with my dear friend." She chuckled. "I think I can do a dance or two before returning to the palace." She looked at Johanna then looked to the Headmaid with a curious smile. "I assume there is a fencing hall on the grounds?" She nodded "Yes of course madam one of my maids will be ready to guide you there."

I nodded once more then looked back to Suha. "Well then ... shall we?" I offered her my arm in the best imitation of what I had seen the king do towards the queen. She chuckled and gently started to correct my posture a bit before taking it. She had started to do that while we planned. Correcting me on little things. Things that where not done as a Lord, or at least that I should be aware off that they were not done. Thankfully she was not to strict about it. At least so far and the focus was mostly about learning about the existence of the correct procedure so that I had a chance to recognize it and maybe even notice if something is missing or being changed. According to her only the king and queen where really above me in standing. The other dukes where on my level of course, but most of them where seen below the old's duke standing because of the power he was wielding, still it was important not to offend the others by making them to aware of that.

It was strange to walk with someone so close to me. I was hyper aware of every movement when ever our arms touched. Her skin was elegant and soft, while mine below the short fur was way rougher from the long time in prison and the harsh life before that. She didn't seem to mind that and guided me subtle towards our goal. It became clear to me that she was training me for other upcoming social events where you would not be able to openly speak about something and needed to guide each other with subtle clues. "Do you always teach this smartly?" She laughed suddenly wholeheartedly an sound that made a pleasant shiver run over my spine. "After teaching three wives and my little girls I had to develop some tricks for that yes." She smiled. "It always helps to show how its done instead of just talking about it." We finally reached the fitting room. It was in the separation of the first and second inner Courtyard tugged away on the first floor. One of the maids was standing patiently outside and opened the door for us with a smile and a bow.

The room was spacious, with a small round two steep high podium that was surrounded by four large mirrors. There where three large windows illuminating the whole room as well as long flowing curtains that could be used to cover them completely. Behind the mirrors on the sides where a lot of utilities used for creating  of dresses. I spotted neat rows of rolls of cloth in all kind of colors and materials, a large collection of carefully arranged cut samples and an assortment of tools for the craft, like scissors, rulers and similar items. They were arranged on shelfs and two large tables there were multiple assistances waiting patiently. Meanwhile one woman was standing near the podium she had a set of an extremely well made top with a long flowing skirt. On her left arm, she wore a cushion in which was a large assortment of needles ready to be used.

She looked neutral until she really saw us then she looked exited and bowed. "Greetings your grace. I am Amanda De Flurentin. I thank you so much for hiring our service." I smiled warmly and followed the example of the small bow that Suha did. "Welcome to our home, thank you for coming on such a short notices." She waved off steeping down from the last steep of the podium showing how small she really was. She was basically the height of Lizbeth if not even smaller. "It is no bother at all your grace but how may we help you today?" I opened my mouth to answer but it was Suha who did instead. "We need a complete set of uniforms and daily wears for our dear Husband. Most urgently we need a set for the official business of the dukedom and a set for an banquet in three weeks. Apart from that we need at least two sets for each of us wifes of new ball gowns a complete set for Lizbeth of everyday wear as well as a ball grown and some everyday wear for my two children." You could see the excitement behind the eyes of the tailor with this order. Although I was confused that all of that was ordered by just one tailor.

"Certainly milady. The Uniform and ballgowns will of course only be done completely in my house but do you wish subcontractors for the everyday wears for speed or do you wish them to be done by my company completely?" Suha smiled she clearly had done this before and seemed to enjoy the whole thing. "The gowns and the Dukes outfit only by your house. However one of my ball gowns can be done by this former apprentice of yours that you told me about last time. After all you assured me that she has the right hand for it." The tailor didn't even flinch and nodded along with a wide smile on her. "One of Lisbeths gowns as well can be done by her but the other one will require your fine hand. She will be getting a lot more attention now that she has become a daughter of this house instead of being the youngest wife." You could see the surprise on all the girls faces and tailor bowed towards us.

"Is this happy news public knowledge milady?" Even I with my untrained ear could hear the request in that. "It is as good as. There will be a public statement later but as you can imagine we are currently so busy." And there was the confirmation that she was free to share that. I was surprised that she did choose this method of spreading the news but I assumed that my dear wife would know the best way to gain other nobles attention. With that came a lot of things for Lizbeth. It would mean that other nobles would start to court for her hand. Although none of them would be even considered until she was 18 and I never would allow for her to be used in a political marriage. "Anyway, she and the others should join us soon so we can start with our dear duke."

And then came one of the most trilling and exhausting hours so far. I loved all the different options and they were clearly surprised by my willingness to engage with fashion. Although my choices were mainly more in the manly direction most of my outfits got skirts or fluffed arms. A few were classic outfits, designed for men, especially the official clothing of the duke. Those were going to be with pants and such, but still even there we manage to find ways to improve. At the same time I requested some practical cloth, to be worn for training or more active activities, although I knew that there was not that much chance for any in the near future. One of our maids stood quietly to the side and did note down the final choices, together with one servant of hers.

After an hour and a half or more the others joined us. First the two little ones came in. There were giggling and running straight towards me, wrapping themselves around my legs. I was wearing some pants now which allowed the tailor way better access to take my measurement. She was clearly exited to work on my nonstandard body feature and was almost disappointed when I told her that there was not much more beyond the tail. Although Suha did enjoy reminding her to add a support for my ... unusually ... lower parts. Thankfully that happened before the little ones had arrived. So my blush did go away after only a short while.

Behind those however came Neile who had a big smile that was replaced quickly with a frown as soon as she noticed me. Still she greeted everybody, including me, politely and then just steeped to the side taking seat on one of the chairs that had been discreetly arranged near the windows. Next came in Lizbeth who after a short silent greeting, sneaked to the side as well and sat down near Neile to continued to read her book. And lastly came Gabrielle and Viola. Viola didn't looked at anybody but she seemed to have a smile on her, even though it was just barely clinging to her lips. Gabrielle had a tight arm around her sister while they walked in.

I did wondered what had happened before and if she was just sad because she had to leave for the day or if It was something else was going on. But this was not the place to talk about it. The tailor took kind of over from here. She finished my last wardrobe choice quickly with the two little ones still clinging to my legs giggling and asking curious question, before moving straight on to them.

When I tired to move they both just shook their head forcing me to remain standing where I was. She obliviously was used to work with kids so instead of being bothered by her unwilling subjects she worked around the obstacle taking their measurements carefully and comparing it with her notes. It became clear that the new dresses would accommodate for a bit of growth while still being quite nice to wear and look at. None of them where court dresses, so they just had to be good enough for daily wear. Well good enough by palace standards. They still would make my old cloth look like rags. Next came Suha who had clear ideas of what she wanted especially after we went through a lot of options for me already. She was done within half an hour since the tailor did just confirm her measurements quickly and noted down Suhas wishes with only a few short questions from her side. It was clear at this point that these two have worked together before.

In fact, most of those choices for her seemed to have been tested before and where now just brought up and confirmed or denied. After that my dear wife picked up the two little ones who had started to get bored being here and smiled to me. "We will take our leave for now. Please watch over the rest and keep up the suggestions you had earlier." I was surprised but responded with a wide smile. "Of course, Milady. I will see you three later." I waved to the two youngest who were looking to me with a shy grin and waved back when they left.

Gabrielle spoke up without any hesitation. "Well then Lizbeth you are next." Liz sighed silently before carefully placing her bookmark and steeping to the podium. It was clear that this was not her favorite activity. "Don't make such a face my dear this time we don't have to restrict your choices as much." This realization did bring a soft smile. "However I am afraid we still wont be able to let you appear in a pirate shirt as part of a ball gown." That brought an interesting reaction a deep blush. I noticed that Uru was on her shoulder just peeking out below her cloth. "Well if you want we can get you one for a daily outfit to be worn inside the palace only. " I gently said from the side.

The whole subject seemed to be rather embarrassing for her so she just shook her head still trying to hide her blush. I chuckled and watched the tailor take careful measurements. She thankfully used the same respect manners she had used with me and Suha threating her like any of the other grownups. Viola meanwhile had taken a seat at the window looking out on the palace gardens. She did not appear to be depressed or upset, but she clearly had a lot to think about. Neile was leaning against one of the pillars in the room and gave me angry looks from time to time while gently teasing Lizbeth about the different choices. In general, the dresses for Lisbeth where way more tame then Suhas or mine but they would frame her nicely. The one that seemed to work best for her was one that had an almost uniform like look but we would need to wait and see how she would look in the first draft to be absolute certain.

In all her daily wear we agreed to add in small closeable pockets for snacks for Uru, as well as  one or two sleeping porches in the more comfier ones. The little critter really did love being around her. In general, her round worked out nicely. And I saw a sparkle of surprise run over her face when Gabrielle and Tailor announced that she was all done. She stepped off the podium and just sat down again to continue reading her book. The next was Neile and it was clear she was trying to provoke me from the start. I just raised my hands slightly, smiled and sat down near the little bookworm completely leaving it up to Gabrielle to rain her in.

It became readily apparent that she was always tricky to get outfitted. The tailor and Gabrielle went into details why certain things where chosen and why some of her wishes were not advisable to be used together. Every time she refused an outfit she would look at me with a provoking smile as if she wanted to see If I would challenge her on this. All I did was just nod in agreement or shrug my shoulders. Most of her rejection were quite sensible for her own style. For example she said no to a type of cloth because it would itch her all the time. A reasonable argument. She just didn't need to call it a piece of scratchy shit. The tailor just took it all silently and with remarkable patience. I was surprised when I noticed that occasionally they would return the same pieces of cloth as first choices for a dress so Neile had a chance to complain about it, before they could show what most likely was the actual suggestion. The young assistance who was preparing that, hidden behind one of the mirror noticed that I had spotted their little trick and blushed slightly, which just made me smile a tiny bit. I had to fight hard to keep it to just that, because I knew my dear young wife was watching me intensely.

After a long time we finally had enough options for her so that she was done. She steeped to Lizbeth and gently pulled her up to her feet with the younger barely having enough time to put in her bookmark. "We will returning for now." She said with her typical, try me voice. I however just nodded together with Gabrielle. "I will see you two later then." Was all that came from Gabrielle. She kept eyeing me for a moment longer before rushing out dragging the confused Lizbeth behind her. Viola was the next one to get some dresses fitted and to my surprise she was a bit tricky to work with. Mostly because she was quite most of the time and did leave it up to Gabrielle to understand her mumbled voice. I noticed however that she really was not interested at all in what type she was wearing. Even though she from all of my wife's definitely was the one who took the greatest care in her Appearance with a lot of tiny details in her dress woven in and in her hair as well.

The only thing she definitely disliked where to plain dresses. "Is there anything you want to have been added to the dresses you had so far? Anything you think they were missing to make them yours?" I kept my voice gentle after all we were here for her so no reason for any haste or pressure. She pondered a moment in silence then nodded and spoke really quietly. "A nice bow at the back right about here for the white one. And in addition hats and maybe a few fitting sun umbellars." I nodded with a smile and the tailor spoke up. "I am certain we can find some that are suited for the dresses. Some for the daily wear as well?" She nodded shyly.

The rest of her fitting went in a similar pace whenever she had agreed to a design one of us would ask if there was anything she wanted to add and she always would without fail add at least one bow or other ornamentation somewhere. In different shapes and styles of course. And I could see the tailors eyes full of excitement with the prospect. When she was finished she excused herself and left quickly before I could get a word in otherwise.

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Not the most eventfull of all chapters but i liked it a lot. It was easy to write but was a pain to eddit. Originially it hat around 10 Howerver in it but i think i got rid of them all since they did not improve anything in the flow of the text.

Editting is the bane of this books xD It is so important because only that way i noticed if stuff does not make sence because i forgot to finish a sentence or had a double wording in there but at he same time it takes sooooo long like three or four time as long sometimes as it took to write the damn thing in the first place. And then there are still errors sneaking in. Still after the edit i am at least happy with the flow and general context of the story ^^

Now the next big boxes to tick are all about the upcoming banquet and some other problems kreeping up. Still who knows with my current pace when i will finially get to those xD. I love writing about them together. Neile and Viola are at this stage the least develeoped character in story but their time to shine will come ... ^^

Hope you all enjoyed and will see you ^^ Stay healthy!