23 Clothes: Galana

Galana led the noble away from the crowd and further on the main road. They arrived shortly after to the tailors shop and got inside to see the women running the place. She was a short person who didn't even reach the height of Emp. She wore a short light blue dress that reflected the sun, delicate looking white elbow-long gloves and a thin pair of glasses held on her conceited face. She welcomed them harshly in the noble tongue.

"I do not take care of the rabble here. Get out."

A mere look from her had classified them as undesirable visitors. It annoyed Galana of course but she expected something similar. Instead of getting angry like she usually did, she just exposed to her the plain truth.

"That guy isn't rabble, he is the young master Muracier."

"Ha! You really think I will believe that? Go on then, show me your hunting card if you have the courage to lie on such a thing."

Galana was about to change her mind and scream at her overconfident face but Emp just went along with her antics and showed her his card. Her reaction managed to calm Galana down. When she saw the name on the card, she almost choked on her own tongue and fumbled to replace her glasses in a fake manner to hide her surprise.

"I'm sorry, it seems you really are a Muracier. By the forest, what kind of tragedy befell you to make you look like this! Please, let me help you. I cannot stand by and watch you go around dressed like so."

What a turnaround this was, Galana instantly hated her. The tailor reached to grab Emp's hand but then changed her mind because of the blood still left on them and made him follow her with a wave of her own instead.

Galana followed them both to a corner of the room where all sorts of measuring ribbons where sprawled on the tables. She gripped a bunch of them and moved swiftly to measure every piece of his body. Galana thought she was sometimes much closer to him than she needed to. She could almost smell it, she wasn't married and was testing the waters around the highest noble she had ever met. As if she had any chances, that guy was clueless to this sort of things anyway. The only thing this accomplished was to make Galana dislike her further.

Once done, she got herself the necessary things to write and noticed her ink was dry.

"Stupid ink, never works when you need it."

As someone who took care of a bookstore, Galana was annoyed at the way she took care of her ink but she wasn't about to tell her how to do so properly.

"Sir, you're still growing, right?"

"I hope so."

The idiot seemed serious but Galana found his answer very funny. For once, she wasn't the one who had to piece together a decent answer from all his nonsense.

"And how tall is your father?"

"Almost twice my height I think."

Twice his height! Was the great general a giant? The disgusting women was as surprised as her but quickly got over it.She scribbled some arrows on her parchment and took the look of a predator having just found a prey.

"Then, the fun part, the materials and the design, what is it you desire?" She asked while leaning subtly towards him.

Galana was quite sure Emp had no idea what it was he desired. She had learned it throughout the day, aside from the combat related things, he had no idea what he was doing. Just like the book had said about the Muraciers.

She was also quite sure that the tailor was trying to sell him much more than just clothes by the way she asked her question. Galana knew this was the perfect opportunity to raise her value back up. All she had to do was to help him get clothes that made sense and keep the midget at bay.

She stepped between them to protect him from her advances and answered for him since she already knew what he was after.

"Sir Muracier will be attending the school in Bêtéclair shortly. He needs clothing fit for his standing with enough flare to shine among his peers like he should."

He was the heir of the great general after all, if he was to look like a the son of a baron he would be underestimated. Her opponent seemed really displeased with her interference but since Emp didn't react to it, she had no choice but to go along with it.

"How about two everyday sets and a suit for now?"

Emp nodded to agree and Galana's war officially started. The tailor asked questions upon questions and since Emp didn't understand most of them, she often had to answer for him. It was really hard for her because she was not at all an expert in clothing. The only things she could be certain of was that her taste and knowledge were better than those of Emp and that she couldn't let the tailor have everything she wanted even though she was the only one here who actually knew what she talked about.

She had to step in all the time to drive back the tailor or give an opinion in Emp's stead. The price didn't matter but the actual clothes had to follow some specific guidelines.

She had known Emp for merely a day but she mostly understood what he wanted based on both the fact that he was easy to read and his identity as a Muracier. He needed clothes that were comfortable above clothes that looked great. He needed clothes that would make him look strong because he was more of a fighting guy than a ballroom noble.

Based on the rest of his clothes, he wasn't someone who was careful with them, if the materials were not resistant enough, he would rip his clothes immediately.

Every time she butted in to give her opinion, the tailor got a little more angry with her. Soon, they both almost forgot Emp was even there. They dueled on opinions and designs, making him try and discard all sorts of pieces, trying to push forward their own vision of what the high ranking noble at their side should look like.

After many debates on textures, cuts, shapes and ornaments, Galana felt she was well in the lead if you decided the winner based on who was the less annoyed and angry. The tailor was fuming. Almost all her professional inputs denied by Galana and hers, often approved by the noble absentmindedly.

But, there was still many important matters to discuss, mainly the colors of the sets of clothes.

"The colors of the clothes is what gives them personality and often the first thing everyone sees. I think he would look good in either royal purple or a brick red." Said the tailor.

"I think he would rather dress in the colors of the empire with forest green and steel blue."

"Then, let us each pick the colors we think would fit him most and have him choose himself. you may have been right about the length of the shirt and the cuffs of the suit but you will see once and for all that 'I' am the one who is right on things that really matter."

Galana wondered if that girl was a distant relative of some minor noble or simply a terrible person. Still, she agreed to the challenge and gathered color samples in front of her noble. Why were his eyes closed? Did he fall asleep standing there?

"Idiot! I mean sir, I mean... whatever. Which color do you prefer?"

He opened his eyes and after he managed to process the question, he fixed the many colors held in front of him. The tailor was too busy thinking about the colors to notice what she had just said and started selling her colors instead, describing how superior their meaning was. Galana would not be undone and also vividly praised her own choices of colors.

Finally, the idiot chose his color, poorly at that.

"I like this one."

"The royal purple? Why?"

It was one of the tailors colors. She felt greatly disappointed which wasn't the case of her opponent.

"See? In the end I was the one who was right lowlife!" The other gloated.

She felt betrayed, she had been harshly defeated. Why would he choose such a color?

"I don't know. This one just feels better, color doesn't matter anyway."

That sentence brought back her smile. That was right! The Muraciers didn't care about things unrelated to combat, the design and ease of movement were much more important for him and she had many victories in those aspects. Since the colors didn't matter for him, her final score would be much higher.

She shot a meaningful look at her opponent. She could feel the anger boiling inside of her, who was just talking about the importance of colors moments ago. As long as she was angry, Galana felt it was her victory.

Afterward, she oversaw the final touches on the three sets of clothes agreed upon and both ended mildly satisfied and mildly angry. The tailor took a deep breath and put all the notes she had taken in a neat pile before she decided to end this tiring encounter.

"Now, I only need to know where I shall have them delivered once I'm done. Or perhaps you would prefer to come pick them up yourself?" She said in a last ditch attempt to entice him.

"What do you mean?" Asked Emp.

The two girls were so tired of their bout that they could barely register the question. Then, it hit Galana like a keradon.

"Wait, did you think you would get the clothes now?"

"Is that not the case?"

"Of course not, she has to make them first! Did you think she had all of that prepared somewhere in case someone with exactly your size and tastes came around to buy something?"

She probably should have clarified this first. Now he just looked like an idiot again in front of the tailor. Surely, by now, she understood that it was a rather good thing that this idiot was blind to her advances.

"Then, send it to the school in Bêtéclair. I will be there for a while."

"In Artefine? No problem sir, It will all be sent there once I'm done. Now let's talk about the price." She took on her predator face again, now was her time to find profit in her ordeal with Galana. "With everything we discussed thus far, I would say sixty crowns for three sets, delivery included."

Galana had no doubt she had caught on the fact that Emp was an idiot by now. To her, he was probably an easy target to deprive of gold. As if she would let her steal from him without doing anything!

"You're not really going to pay that right? That's obvious theft!"

The tailor finally had enough and snapped. Fulminating, she let her anger loose through poison filled words.

"Would you shut up you lowlife servant! If a grand character such as the Muracier heir wants to bargain he doesn't need the input of an unsophisticated savage like you! Leave me be you dung eyed fish!"

So now was resorting to insults. She had wrongly judged Galana if she thought she wouldn't be able to retaliate!

"Dung eyed fish? Is this really the only thing you could come up with? Is someone of your class unable to find a good insult unless it's been taught to you in a school or is it just because you are so small you can barely see me through the floorboards and confused me with the fish you keep as a lover?"

"At least I have some features to be insulted upon. Both your clothes and yourself are so plain that if you were not both a gold digger and the most annoying hag I've ever heard, I would have never noticed your existence."

Her, a gold digger? She wasn't the one trying the seduce a noble here. Was she so muddle headed she confused who did what throughout this afternoon?

"What about you? Not only are you small but you're flat as well. I would be convinced you have no husband because it is obvious you can bear no child but I'm sure it is rather for the fact that a giant fly surely has a more charming personality than yours."

This one seemed to disturb her somewhat since she completely changed the subject.

"You have no look, no taste and no redeeming traits but if you still want to compare, it seems I win in terms of wealth as well since you appear to be unable to understand how money works and decided to waste more than what was rightfully yours. So when you, brainless bitch, end up thrown to the pigs, I will be laughing from my successful business."

Since a noble was here, neither could resort in physical violence so they had no choice but to continue their insults until one gave up. Neither of them wanted to admit defeat and both wanted to drive the other into the mud.

"If said pigs were to ask you, you would gladly spread your legs for them. What's more, that debt was out of my control from the start, I had nothing to do with it."

Galana must have been tired as well, she realised too late the mistake she had just made. She had entered a defensive stance, the worst thing to do in that kind of fight since it just highlighted the weak point of the opponent.

"Who was it then, your parents? Then, they are even more retarded than you and like the worms they are they tried to steal from their better. Or did they just walk around lazily all day begging for money?"

Galana frankly didn't care for her lazy insults but no one was allowed to speak ill of her dead parents!

"Don't you dare!"

"Ho, I do dare!" Said the tailor, jumping headfirst into the crack in her walls. "I'm curious now, what was it? Your father probably died in some genius way like drowning in a puddle somewhere and your mother was so useless she ran out of coins and started stealing pocket money in the market place."

Her mother would never steal from anyone and her father was a proud warrior, how dare she! She squeezed her fists out of rage and ground her teeth in order to stop herself from strangling the tailor right here and there.

"Maybe your mother had no charm at all and your father accepted her out of pity, before he ditched her when he finally understood he would have to take care of you as well. That would explain both your plain looks and your terrible tastes as..."

"Enough!" An angry shout came from their side. "I do not understand what is happening between you two but I am too tired to listen to this nonsensical fight any longer."

She wished she could put her dagger through the chest of the tailor but she couldn't. She knew it was a stupid idea, she knew she would not have the mental strength to do it and she knew Emp would stop her if she tried. She couldn't just go away either, the only thing she could do was withstand it all and bottle up her anger.

"You," Emp said to the tailor "apologize to Galana first."

"Why me and not her?"

"Because you had the last words and she is the only one of you two who is crying. It is only fair that you would be the one to correct your wrongs first."

Was she really crying? She touched her cheeks with her fingers and felt her tears. How disgraceful, she used the back of her hands to quickly and strongly wipe out the tears from her eyes. She had no reason to cry, what the tailor had said wasn't even close to the truth at all, why did it upset her so much?

"I refuse to apologize to one such as her! You cannot force me to do so."

The noble seemed angered by her retort. His forehead was all scrunched in a frown, his eyes cold and the slight curve of his lips revealed the depth of his displeasure. She had never seen him angry before. She had insulted him, annoyed him, called him an idiot all day and even betrayed him but never once had he shown such a scary face to her. In fact, he did not show such a face even in front of those who tried to kill him.

"I may not be able to force you to apologize but, there is also nothing you can do to stop me from just walking out."

"You wouldn't, not after all this work! There is no one else that can do the job right in this city." Said the tailor with confidence despite her worried expression.

She had worked so hard and put up with Galana for so long to do this trade, she couldn't believe he would really just walk away. But with nobles, you never know, Galana knew this very well.

"Just watch me do it then."

And he really did. Was this a family trait of the Muracier, to walk away when things didn't go their way? She couldn't believe it, that guy took her side and was willing to waste all the time spent here to deny the victory of her opponent.

"But what about all my work!" She wailed behind him.

"But what about all my time you wasted." He answered emotionlessly as he stepped out.

She had seen a lot of strange whims and flimsy decisions from nobles before. She always felt disgust at how they played the merchants around, wasted their time and asked for impossible things from them. This time though, this was the first time she did not feel disgusted, mainly because it was to the detriment of the tailor instead of hers.

It wasn't exactly to her benefit since there was nothing to gain out of this but it was quite clearly for herself. He could have just paid that girl and be done with it but instead, he had chosen to stand on her side to his own detriment. This was totally unexpected and surely a once in a lifetime thing. The chances of her ever being on the winning side of an argument including a noble again were almost nothing.

Noticing she was still standing there in the shop, she ran after him. Her head was a mess right now, too many things had happened today. She was exhausted, saddened by the memory of her parents, angry at everyone, she felt guilty about what she had done and also for messing up once again and felt ashamed of what had come out of her mouth but somehow, she was a bit happy as well.

She ran to his side and walked with him in silence for a while. She had no idea of what to tell him. Maybe she should start by apologizing. Because of her, he had ended up wasting a lot of time and gained nothing out of it, he didn't seem all that pleased about it.

"I'm sorry." She said from his side.

He looked her way, seemingly unsure of how to answer. Her apology wasn't strong enough it seemed.

"Because of me, you wasted a lot of time and did not get any clothes at all. I apologize for that, and also, thank you... for taking my side I guess."

He thought about his answer carefully before opening his mouth.

"Well, I had no idea what was happening in there and she did not even introduce herself for the whole time we have been there, what else was I supposed to do?"

She didn't introduce herself? Was this the reason this idiot was angry? He had not intended to take her side at all! He was just upset about something idiotic! Did he even realize she had not introduced herself either since they met the day before? Was he asking her to do it now? She should probably do it in case she managed to get him angry.

She stopped in the middle of the road, right in front of him and gave him a curtsy.

"Good afternoon young master Muracier. My name is Galana Whisryba, would you please allow me to keep being your guide for the rest of the day."

She saw it on his face then, shock. He was shocked at her late presentation and had no idea how to react. Had she screwed it up again? Finally, he found something to answer.

"Who else would do it if not you? Of course I will allow it. I still need clothes, some I could wear tomorrow if possible. I already said I wouldn't get angry at you, and your grandmother is counting on me to help you out with the way you treat nobles."

Wait, was this why she was still alive even after she betrayed him? Because he had said he wouldn't get angry? The words of a Muracier really were powerful, many times more than she thought. She dreaded the idea of what would have happened to her already if he had not promised this to her.

He had promised to pay her as well, but not for how much. She would end up being paid with a single copper coin, she knew.

"I understand, I won't disappoint you again. I think I know a good place where to buy clothes."

Her only chance was to accomplish the last two tasks perfectly. Find him clothes and find him books. At least, she would still get some money from the books she intended to sell him, if he ever agreed to buy any from her. Why was everything going wrong today.

She released a sigh and started to move towards the next shop with the noble on her heels.

"Are you alright? You are acting weirdly." He asked.

If she was alright? She wasn't, not at all. She wished to dig a hole and hide in it. But, she couldn't possibly tell him she wasn't alright because she felt bad about what happened earlier and her lack of money.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"What was that, earlier, about a debt? Is this why you are feeling unwell?" He asked moments later.

Where did that question even come from? Was he back to being nosy now? Of course she was frustrated to have a debt but that had nothing to do with what she felt right now. Why did he only bring it up now and not earlier when he was asking about why she hated nobles? Thinking about it, there was so many common things he had no idea about. Maybe he didn't know what was a debt iron? She raised hers in the air to show him.

"Do you know what that is?"

"An ugly bracelet."

He truly didn't know. What an unknowledgeable guy.

"It's a debt iron not a bracelet! It's made out of black iron and serves to stop those highly indebted to leave the city before they have paid back what they owe. It's weight serves to remind you of the consequences that awaits you if you do not pay back. The amount you owe and the name of who you owe money to is carved on it in case some mishap happens to either the debt holder or the debtor."

"I see. So you owe money to someone."

"Yes."

"And this is what upset you?"

"No, not really."

"Then was it because she talked about your parents?"

"More on the point yes."

"Why?"

She didn't know! It just did, did she really need a reason to be upset? Why was he bothering her like that now? Could he not possibly just shut up?

"I don't know and I don't want to talk about it sir Muracier."

There was a short silence before the noble spoke again.

"Will you tell me why you hate nobles then?"

"No! Why would I have changed my mind?"

"I do not know, I just really wanted to tell my story but I already told you that I would do it only if you told me that."

"Right, the Muraciers can't break their words."

After that, he stopped talking. She had managed to shut him up. Since he was behind her, she couldn't see his expression but she guessed he felt disappointed by how silent he became afterwards. She didn't care if he was disappointed or not by her answer, this wasn't his business. He couldn't force her to say anything.

Although this was what she felt, she still hoped he would cheer up because of the shop she brought him to. He had asked for something he could wear right now so she had delivered.

The clothes here were quite ordinary, they were all made the same way, one by one, and hung in rows in the clothing shop. The differences between them were minimal and they were not shoddy at all but their quality would never be up to par with custom made clothes. None of the things in this shop were fit for a noble, this was what common sense told her but Emp seemed to not really care.

"Will this really be all right?" She asked, skeptical.

With the unordinary day she had lived, she understood that the guy didn't act quite like the nobles she knew and hated, but he was still one of them, if only in name. He should never wear those as they were now.

"Yes, as long as they are not ripped, they will do the job." Answered the man, seemingly unfazed.

"But they are way too plain for a noble. And, you don't know how to fix that, I'm sure because if you did, you would have repaired your old clothes instead."

"No calamity will befall me because my clothes are not spectacular enough. Plus, I am still planning to leave today, I do not have the time to wait for someone to embellish a thing that will probably not survive the journey to Bêtéclair."

She could only nod at his statement, it made sense after all. In the back of her mind though, she knew that other nobles would never agree to that sort of logic, they would always find a way to get what they wanted anyway. This was often the source of all kinds of unreasonable demands, or orders, that annoyed her so much she wished they would all just disappear.

She had a hard time understanding him since at every turn, he was either doing something perfectly normal or something absolutely ridiculous. He almost never did anything like a noble, aside from how he treated the tailor. Was it worse to be an idiot or a noble? It didn't really matter in the end. She hated both and he was both.

Or maybe he wasn't as big of an idiot as she thought he was, just like he wasn't as much of a noble as she first though. After all, what he had just said proved he was capable of logical thinking. And then he immediately proved he was indeed an idiot.

"Idiot! Could you not just pick another one from your bag? Why must you remove the one you are wearing!"

"I do not understand why it matters, all their sizes are the same."

That was exactly what she was saying, if they are all the same why not just pick one in the bag? How dumb could this living being possibly be?

"I'm saying that there is no point in flaunting your body if you look like that. You're just a scrawny kid!"

A scrawny kid that happened to be stronger than her but that was beside the point! He just looked at her with his usual confused air and proceeded to walk around the shop half naked to her great annoyance.

When at last, her ordeal ended, he had bought a lot of clothes and they were ready to move on.