Forest of Dreams

Chapter twenty-three

By the end of the week the work at the cemetery was almost finished. To my surprise Kaspa had come back with Ayol every day to help. He was quiet and cheerful, I liked having him there, and he acted as a buffer between Ayol and Lorian. Ayol was civil towards Lorian, but nothing more. I'd alternated between Lorian and Ayol for dinner in the evenings, enjoying each of their company separately. With Lorian it was effortless, we chatted and laughed through the evenings, which seemed to fly by. With Ayol it was different. I liked having him close to me, I liked talking to him, teasing him, flirting with him, but sometimes I caught him looking at me, or he held my gaze for a moment too long and I was scared he would try to kiss me. I wasn't ready for that, I didn't know if I ever would be. I didn't know if the scars of what he'd done went too deep for me to ever really move past what he'd done.

I'd instructed us all to take a break from the cemetery for a few days. It was the day of the King's Feast, and the following day we'd all be recovering. I waited in my room for Pattie to bring me some dresses. She told me she had some from her younger days that would probably fit me. I didn't know what to expect, but I had nothing else suitable and was reluctant to pay for a new dress only to be worn once. I was practising braiding my hair into an elaborate style I'd seen women wearing around the city when she knocked on the door, bustling in without waiting for my reply. In her arms were eight to ten dresses, carefully sheathed in white linen covers.

'I can't wait to see you in one of these,' she said excitedly as she laid them on the bed, 'I'll be glad to see them being worn again. It's been a long time since I've been able to fit in them. I kept them all for a daughter, but I was blessed with nine sons.' She smiled reflectively as she turned to the dresses, looking through them for one in particular.

'This one,' she said triumphantly. 'This is my favourite.'

I was stunned when she unveiled it from the plain white covering. The fabric was a very pale silver, imbued with tiny crystal beads, sewn into fabric so that it glistened like diamonds in the sunlight. It was breath-taking. I was even more surprised when I tried it on, it was floor length and tight-fitting, accentuating all the curves of my body, with a deep neckline that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. I couldn't envisage Pattie ever wearing this herself, even if it was a long time ago.

'Pattie I can't, it's too precious. I'll be scared to damage it,' I protested half-heartedly as I lapped up the view of myself in the mirror. I looked a million miles away from the grubby woman digging in the cemetery.

'It's going to waste, packed away in a dusty room. At least if it does get ruined it will go out with a bang,' she said, looking satisfied.

I grinned back at her. I never wanted to take it off. There was just one thing, the dress only had thin straps on the shoulders and I felt exposed with my arms bare. I still wasn't comfortable with the discolouring of my skin and had bought long gloves that came past my elbows in several colours. Pattie disapproved, but eventually agreed with me that the white pair looked best with the dress.

Lorian came to collect me in the late afternoon. He'd promised that he'd take me on a tour of the city before the evening celebrations began.

'You look wonderful,' he said, looking me up and down when he arrived, 'and you told me you had nothing to wear.' He was wearing a plush velvet suit in a deep grey covered with fine embroidery patterns. I linked my arm in his as Pattie stood at the door waving goodbye to us. He paused to look at our reflection in the large window of a shop on the corner.

'We look good together,' he remarked, admiring his reflection first, then mine.

'So, where do we go tonight? What do we do?'

'We walk around, allow people to admire us, drink, dance, watch the fireworks, drink some more, then take our pick of who we want to go home with.'