Dungeons & Dragons

Chapter 12

The night passed peacefully enough. No dreams of madmen, or destruction. No dreams at all... It was almost like being back under a sleep spell. Almost.

As I understood it, nearly a week of magically induced coma should have had a lot more impact on me than it had. All the healers that had seen me were horrified. They expected me to have trouble waking from it initially, then to have lasting sleep delay issues, but apparently I'm built of stronger stuff.

My sleep schedule, despite their fears, had never been better.

The modern world is absurdly good at ruining natural sleep cycles. The invention of electric lights allows us to stay awake long after the sun has gone down. Worse still is the socially accepted morality of waking up as early as possible. Waking up 'late' is seen as a mark of laziness, rather than an evolutionary split in the populace. Apparently just because we don't have to worry about wolves at night anymore, the morning people think they can enforce their sleep schedule on the rest of the world... Ok, I'm getting a little too into this, but the point is this. Here, in a pseudo-medieval setting, humans are free to pursue their more natural biphasic sleep schedule.

I went to sleep just after the sun set and removed most of the light, and slept for six hours. When I woke, I spent about an hour or two journaling my recollections of Oblivion. It was at that late hour that I could avoid all surveillance to do so, additionally I wrotein English so they couldn't understand it if found. After that, I went back to sleep the rest of the night.

This routine has quickly improved my energy levels from before I got dropped in Tamriel. I used to be sleepy all the time, from the monophasic sleep and erratic bedtimes.

That is all to say, I woke up quite happy this morning. I was well rested, and thanks to magic I wasn't sick after my dip in the lake yesterday.

Now, the sun was in the morning sky and I was being dressed for breakfast.

"Here you are, my lady." Paninda said as she pulled out a rather fanciful gown from the wardrobe.

Eyeing its frivolous decorations with a skeptical quirk of my of my brow, I asked, "Surely I can wear something less decorated?"

"Prince Enman requested that you take your breakfast with him if you were not ill." She breezed past me to set the gown on the bed, "You should look presentable to show you're grateful for his assistance and his time yesterday."

Rolling my eyes, I walked over to assess the dress she had picked.

It was a pink so pale that it was almost white. I hated pink, but seeing as this body had more of a warm undertone, I supposed pink wouldn't look as bad as it had Before.

I noticed that since arriving in the capitol, I had mostly been given pastels or other light colors to wear. It was a far cry from the dark, saturated colors I had arrived with. Why the change? Was it the fashion of court, or a trend among young women? Truth be told, I hadn't seen much of other people, besides Enman and the other servants...

At the very least, this gown was much more to my liking, with a fitted bodice that sat just above my natural waist. Classically renaissance, if not still skewed towards the Italian fashions. The sleeves were ridiculously poofy at the top, with detachable foresleeves that tapered to the wrists. I would classify it as Mid-16th century. I didn't hate it, not with the rows of jewels and pearls at the neckline to distract from the pink.

"I suppose I shall wear it. Though, I want to pair it with the pale blue sleeves instead of the cream." Nin nodded and quickly fetched said sleeves as I shed my nightgown and changed my chemise.

With expert skill she laced me into the standard kirtle, then had me sit to slip on some silk stockings. She buckled my shoes on my feet and pulled me up to begin lacing me into the gown. Unlike my previous dresses, which laced at the front, this one was laced at the side back. If I wanted to change out of this without help, it would certainly be quite the ordeal.