The Finding

by Jenna Elizabeth Johnson

  Hroombra eventually stopped in front of an obscure little shop painted a dark, brilliant blue with a wooden sign hanging above the holly-draped door. The sign read Gahlen’s Fine Clothery, and Jahrra realized with a tiny grimace that this must be the tailor’s shop. She reluctantly slid off of Hroombra’s back as he stood blocking the flow of traffic. It seemed people were taking notice of him now, giving puzzled looks and muttering irritably as they shoved passed him.

  “I’ll wait right here for you Jahrra,” he said in a low voice, eyeing the person-sized door in front of them.

  “Alright,” she gulped.

  Jahrra turned the handle of the door and pushed, causing a cheerful jingle of bells to chatter above her head. She stepped cautiously into the small, cramped tailor’s shop, the buzz of the crowd ceasing as the door swung shut. Jahrra blinked as her eyes became overwhelmed with an explosion of vibrant color.

  Cotton, silk, satin, denim, lace, linen and wool, every type of fabric in every color imaginable populated the small space she stood in. Streams of cloth hung like banners on the walls and huge folded squares of it were piled as high as the ceiling. Jahrra had never seen anything so colorful in her life. It was like all of the rainbows of the world had been trapped in this tiny place and were trying desperately to escape.

  The light that flooded in from the many tall windows facing the street glowed with the color of whatever pattern stood in their way. The aroma of cinnamon, shoe polish and something more stringent, perhaps the fumes from the dye used to create these brilliantly painted fabrics, tainted the room. It was a strange combination of scents, but Jahrra liked it, smiling despite her wariness.

  A grunt from somewhere in the back of the room made her yelp. A very tall and thin older Resai man came dancing into view, loaded down with an armful of even more fabric. When he dumped the folds onto the already crowded cashier’s counter, Jahrra noticed that he had no hair but a long grey beard he kept braided. His legs and arms were so long and gangly that if he had another set of each Jahrra would have been convinced he was an oversized daddy-long-legs spider. She giggled at the thought, but quickly stifled her laughter knowing that it would appear rude.

  The tailor seemed preoccupied, so Jahrra politely cleared her throat. The man stopped his humming and whirled around to gaze quizzically down at her. He had bright, pale brown eyes and almost as many wrinkles as Hroombra.

  “Why, I didn’t hear you enter! How may I help you dearie?” he asked in a melodic voice, straightening up to an even taller height.

  Jahrra quickly and awkwardly explained who she was and why she was there. After a swift glance through the window to find Hroombra smiling in encouragement, the tailor got straight to work. Although Jahrra had grown to be one of the tallest in her class so far, the kind man still had to bend down in order to pat her on the head, which he did quite frequently.

  “What a lovely child!” he said enthusiastically. “Such good bone structure, and look at that hair! Like threads of gold.”

  Jahrra thought the man was exaggerating about her hair, but she liked him anyways. He cheered her up and actually looked happy, not annoyed, to see Hroombra loitering outside his door.

  The fitting took longer than expected, but Jahrra was much amused by the tailor’s chatter. He placed her up on a small stool and began draping acres of fabric over her as if he were trying to build a mountain. Then he would scurry around the small room muttering to himself while constantly measuring her with yellow tape.

  “Tsk, tsk,” he would say with chin in hand. “That color won’t do, no sir-ee. AHHH!” he exclaimed, making Jahrra jump as he pulled off several layers of cloth, almost knocking her off her perch. “This’ll do much better.”

  What he thought would do was a pretty blue and silver patterned fabric that looked like silk. Jahrra was wondering where it had been because she didn’t remember being draped with that particular color. She liked it very much though, and wondered what he would make with it.

  “What do you think?” he flapped the fabric boisterously in front of Hroombra, who was now peering in through the door so he could hear everything.

  “Very nice. It’ll do well, very well indeed,” was the dragon’s approving reply.

  “Yes, it goes well with her eye color,” said the tailor, once again distracted with the aesthetics of his job.

  He then found a solid blue material that matched the blue highlights in the first fabric.

  “Good, good, good.” he twittered, trailing blue and silver sheets of fabric over to his crowded desk. “I’ll work on this for a few days. Then I’ll need you to come back, young lady, for a fitting.”

  The tailor smiled and patted Jahrra’s head once again before releasing her to Hroombra. They left for home with Jahrra feeling a little more than dazed by the strange experience.

  “What exactly is he making?” she asked once they left the noisy town behind.

  “I would think he’s making a skirt and a blouse,” Hroombra said knowledgeably.

  “A skirt!” Jahrra blurted. “Are you crazy, I can’t wear a skirt!”

  “Oh, yes you can. It’s formal dress, remember?” Hroombra answered firmly.

  Jahrra groaned aloud. She hated the idea of wearing anything girly. She hated girly things, plus, they were uncomfortable. All she knew was that Ellysian was always girly, and the last thing she wanted was to be anything like Ellysian. Jahrra crossed her arms with a disgruntled huff. A skirt! Why a skirt? she thought miserably. Well, she sighed inwardly, knowing there was nothing she could do about it now, at least it’s blue.

  The next week passed quickly, with Jahrra and Hroombra traveling to town twice more to try on her outfit, buy shoes and jewelry to match, and to finally take the whole lot home to prepare for the party.

  Finally, after two weeks of uncomfortable anticipation, the day of the dreaded event arrived. Jahrra rode Phrym to her friends’ ranch early in the morning on Solstice Eve. Kaihmen and Nuhra had offered to drive the children into town, and Hroombra thought it best if Jahrra got ready at Wood’s End Ranch.

  “Be sure your skirt and blouse are tucked well into the saddlebag so they won’t get dirty!” Hroombra shouted after Jahrra as Phrym tore across the frost coated fields.

  Jahrra had half a mind to get them dirty on purpose. That’ll show the twins, showing up in stained clothes to their fancy party! she thought slyly. Then she remembered the trouble Hroombra had gone to in order to get the outfit made for her. She quickly forgot about how she could sabotage the twins’ evening and turned her focus on how to survive it.

  Once she reached the ranch and Phrym was put away safely into the stables, Jahrra went inside to greet her friends.

  “What’re you going to wear?” Gieaun asked gleefully dragging her friend upstairs. Apparently, the notion of dressing up had suddenly overshadowed the reality of where they were going, at least in Gieaun’s eyes.

  “A skirt and blouse.”

  Jahrra’s response was barely audible, but Gieaun heard her anyway and let out a squeal of delight.

  Jahrra turned crimson as Gieaun pulled her into her room. Scede snickered after them, but just before Gieaun closed the door to the rest of the house, Jahrra turned and gave him a deadly glare. Scede stopped laughing immediately. The last thing he wanted was to suffer the wrath of his ill-tempered friend. Once in the other room, Gieaun helped Jahrra into her long skirt and blouse.

  The Resai girl simply adored her friend’s outfit. “Oh, Jahrra! The skirt is so lovely, and the blouse too!”

  The clothes had turned out quite nicely, Jahrra had to admit. The tailor must have sensed her distaste for too-feminine clothing from their few meetings, so he’d kept it simple. The long-sleeved blouse was a pale blue with a beautiful dark blue and silver embroidered pattern of oak branches and wild roses trailing around the collar, sleeve ends and hem.

  The sleeves, although long, flared out at the ends so that her wrists wouldn’t feel constrained. The skirt, the same color as the dark blue th
read in the embroidered pattern, was long and flowing with delicate plaiting. The hem ended in a flurry of small tassels that had silver beads sewn on them.

  Hroombra also had the tailor fit her for a jacket of supple blue suede, stitched with a large leather thread and lined with soft wool. This jacket complemented her clothes quite well and matched her dress boots perfectly.

  Of the entire outfit, Jahrra loved her boots the most. They were made of the same blue suede of her long coat and lined with the same wool for the winter cold, and although they had small heels on them, they were quite comfortable.

  The jewelry that Jahrra picked out was a plain necklace made of blue glass and silver with matching earrings and a bracelet. Hroombra had pointed out some nicer pieces, but Jahrra insisted on the simpler ones, feeling that he’d already given her plenty for this accursed party.

  Jahrra sighed as Gieaun pulled her over to the mirror so she could see what she looked like. Jahrra gawked when she saw the unfamiliar figure standing in front of her, a figure that looked so much like all of the rude girls in class.

  Gieaun simply beamed at her. “Oh! You look so nice Jahrra! You should dress up more often!”

  Jahrra blushed with embarrassment. She never dressed up and didn’t know how to take all of her friend’s compliments.

  “Oh, let me do your hair too, will you?” Gieaun pleaded.

  Gieaun pulled Jahrra’s hair up into a fancy half twist, braiding part of it into a tight rope that held up the rest. Gieaun was next to get into her dress, a lovely shimmery green material with a forest green, capped-sleeve velvet vest to match her eyes. She opted to pull half of her dark hair back in a ponytail, leaving the rest down. For shoes, Gieaun wore embroidered slippers that had green glass beads sewn onto them.

  An hour later, the two girls came out of Gieaun’s room to meet Scede and their parents. Everyone was impressed by the girls’ appearance, especially by Jahrra’s.

  “Why Jahrra, look at you!” Nuhra said cheerily.

  Jahrra, unable to be rid of her blush, gave a weak smile and dropped her eyes to focus on her boots. A few minutes later Scede entered the common room where everybody stood. Jahrra raised her head just enough to see that her other friend had on a nice pair of pants, also green, but much darker than Gieaun’s vest. The tunic he wore was a light moss color, embroidered in emerald and gold and covered in emerald, copper and gold glass beads. He had his longish hair slicked back for the occasion. Jahrra resisted the urge to poke fun at him, knowing he would return the favor.

  “Are you three ready?” Kaihmen asked enthusiastically.

  “Yes,” they said simply and morosely, once again remembering exactly where they were going.

  The instructions had been to meet at the schoolhouse one hour before midday. It was now three and a half hours to midday, so the three children and two adults piled into the family carriage and made their way towards Aldehren. On their way they stopped briefly at the Castle Guard Ruin to greet Hroombra.

  “You all look so grown up, especially you, Jahrra. Remember your manners and try not to let the other children get to you.” Hroombra smiled at them as they headed down the drive to the main road.

  The ride to Aldehren was much more pleasant in a carriage than on horseback, and along the way the children chatted about what their classmates might be wearing.

  “I bet Eydeth’ll be wearing royal robes, and Ellysian’ll be wearing furs and a big frilly dress,” Scede commented boorishly, tucking his loose hair behind his slightly pointed ears.

  The three friends laughed heartily at the thought of the “Royal” twins glaring down at everyone from their high perches.

  As the carriage clattered into Aldehren, Jahrra, Gieaun and Scede stopped talking about their classmates and began imagining what the city of Kiniahn Kroi might look like.

  “I hear they have houses made of silver and gold there!” Gieaun said.

  “Yes, and they keep unicorns for pets!” Scede added in wide-eyed wonder.

  Jahrra hoped very much that they did keep unicorns for pets; she’d never seen one before.

  Aldehren was busy with all of the ongoing Solsticetide festivities, and it took Kaihmen longer than anticipated to maneuver the horses towards the schoolhouse. Finally, they reached the small grove of redwood trees and turned up the narrow road into the hidden gully. Jahrra breathed in the crisp air, shivering a little as she stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets. The schoolhouse and its surrounding yard were deserted, and Jahrra imagined the dull red building was a great wild creature, hiding from everything that was happening in Aldehren.

  Jahrra released a great sigh into the cool air, hoping that they were too late and had missed their ride to the party. Ten minutes later, however, their classmates started trickling up the path in a variety of carriages. Jahrra swallowed her disappointment and she, Gieaun and Scede all gazed curiously at the other children stepping out of the coaches to gather on the school steps.

  Jahrra stared in awe at the variety of costumes. The girls all wore dresses, much more sophisticated than her own skirt and blouse, in intricate patterns and designs. Glittering necklaces and earrings, most definitely not glass, hung from their ears, necks and gloved wrists and a few were wearing jackets lined with rare furs. It appeared as though everyone had their hair done up by a professional barber as well, and Jahrra felt a little self conscious with the simple style Gieaun had done for her. The boys looked just as impressive, their pants and shirts a little fancier than Scede’s.

  Finally the twins arrived leading a wagon train that was made up of eight pristine white carriages, each pulled by a pair of matching snowy horses. Jahrra’s jaw dropped. She remembered the twins arriving in yellow carriages the first day of school and was impressed, but they had white ones as well? These new carriages were more embellished than the canary-hued coaches from before, and they all had garlands of holly branches and evergreen boughs hanging from them.

  Jahrra blinked dazedly and turned her attention to the horses instead. They were the same horses from before and now that she was taking the time to get a good look at them, she realized they weren’t horses but semequins. Jahrra gulped. Four semequins for each carriage. She was flabbergasted. How rich were the twins’ parents?

  She shook her head and tried to forget about Eydeth and Ellysian, returning her attention to the semequins. Their harnesses were red and had large silver bells sewn onto them, jingling cheerfully as the animals approached. Stiff men in ivory colored suits pulled heartily on bell-laden reins, bringing the carriage train to an elegant halt.

  Jahrra was overwhelmed by the whole display. She suddenly felt as though she were wearing rags and as she shrank down in her seat, the door of the first carriage opened and out stepped the twins. They were both attired in shades of yellow, not far off from the description Scede had imagined.

  Ellysian wore a full-skirted dress the color of butter. The sleeves were short and she donned white satin gloves that ended just below the puffed sleeves adorning her shoulders. The tiara perched in her ridiculously styled hair sparkled blindingly and her earrings and necklace glittered like crystal fire. A white fur shawl completed the ensemble and she stood, not surprisingly, with the air of a smug queen.

  Her brother looked just as bad. Eydeth’s mustard colored pants, polished boots and embroidered dandelion silk jacket actually hurt Jahrra’s eyes. He looked like a giant banana slug. Looks like a banana slug? Jahrra thought with a smirk, he is a banana slug. The costumes would’ve been better in another color, but for some reason gold was obviously important to the two.

  “Why do they always wear yellow?” Gieaun asked harshly, voicing Jahrra’s thoughts.

  “Probably has to do with a stupid family crest or something,” Scede added bitterly.

  “Hello everyone, I hope you’re all doing well this morning,” Ellysian said, even more pompously than when she’d invited them all to this ridiculous celebration. “You can get into the carriages now.”

  And with that
, Ellysian swept her gown up as gracefully as she could and her brother, who had followed her, helped her into the first carriage. Stuffed her, more like. Jahrra had to suppress a laugh as Eydeth abashedly jammed his sister’s billowing skirts through the carriage door.

  Gieaun rolled her eyes and gave Jahrra and Scede a disgusted look.

  “Well, I guess we’ll see you tomorrow morning then,” Kaihmen said to them.

  Jahrra was sure she heard a hint of laughter in his voice, but she couldn’t say for sure.

  Reluctantly, the three exited their wagon and swiftly made their way to the last carriage in the line, hoping that no one saw them. To their delight, everyone was crowded around the head of the wagon train trying to sit with Ellysian and Eydeth, but only the privileged few were granted the honor of sitting in the lead carriage. Gieaun, Scede and Jahrra breathed a sigh of relief when no one climbed into their cart.

  “At least we’ll have some peace for now,” Scede commented.

  Jahrra nodded her head in agreement, but still dreaded what would happen once they arrived in Kiniahn Kroi. She took a deep breath and felt her stomach lurch as their carriage jolted forward.

  -Chapter Fourteen-

  A Party, a Prank and a Near Death Experience

  The caravan traveled at a steady pace, clattering down the smooth dirt road that wound through the wide, green Raenyan Valley. From an eagle’s point of view, Jahrra imagined the small train of carriages would look very much like eight glittering pearls strung out on a necklace. Unfortunately Jahrra, Gieaun and Scede couldn’t appreciate such a sight; they were stuck in one of the giant gem-like coaches rocking gently towards what they were sure was going to be an unpleasant experience.

  In order to blot out the horrible images of dancing around a crowded ballroom with their malicious classmates, Jahrra, Gieaun and Scede focused on the landscape as it passed by. Deep green hills and wild, rolling fields stood on either side of them.

  Jahrra pushed open the window nearest to her side of the carriage and poked her nose out like a curious mouse. The outside air stung her face, but it smelled wonderfully of thawing frost and distant fire smoke. The clattering of wheels, the chucking of hooves and the puffing and snorting of the horses made any other natural sounds obsolete. Great clumps of deep green oak groves dotted the fallow fields like huge, hulking beasts curled up against the cold.