Journey of the Messenger Cycle 2 Part 3d

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“Ijah!?”

Startled, she took a quick breath. Stepping back from the corner she had been lurking near. She calmed herself, regained a slow steady cycle of breathing then turned back towards the music room.

“There you are. Thandi wants you.” Elli informed her.

Ijah gave a nod and the two of them hurried back.

“Ladies. It’s a busy day.” Thandi declared upon their return to his small domain. “Let’s stay focused everyone. Ijah you’re up.”

She moved to the centre of the practice area. The bard re-tuned his instrument. The pair of musicians accompanying him seemed calm, the woman with the fiddle waited patiently, watching the bard, the percussionist adjusted the three drums he was using and mostly focused on Ijah. Thandi finished his tuning, looked around the room and announced, “Starting with ‘The Shaky Lady’, on one-”

Ijah adjusted he stance, hip up, opposing arm raised.

“- and two -”

Took a calming breath.

“- and, three!” The music started with a loud drum beat and a hip drop, Ijah added a small kick, the single drum beat repeated three times, she shifted her facing with each drop of the hip. Then a pattering of quick light percussion and the two stringed instruments joined in with light jaunty notes up and down the scale during which she transitioned between hip shimmies and shoulder shimmies, while her abdomen, hand and arms slowly began to undulate at half the tempo.

There was a break in the music, Ijah kicked up and flipped through a half turn, which elicited some exclamations from those watching. When the music resumed it was twice the previous tempo, she travelled around the practice space, with shimmies, locks and pops punctuated by sudden facing changes, followed by a minute pause when the tempo of the music dropped.

The tempo slowed at three points through the song, by the last quarter of the piece the rhythm changed to something more familiar to her, while the lute and fiddle became more sonorous and in its last moments the song fell apart to a discordant mess. It was a really fun piece to dance to but it really played havoc with traditional music.

There was some appreciative comments from some of the other performers, Thandi even threw in a “Nicely done.” but they quickly moved on to the next song. When they had finished all three of the fusion pieces Thandi called a break, “Anyone that needs lunch should do so, keep it light. If anyone throws up during practice they’ll be licking up their mess.”

A few of the performers rebutted with crude comments of their own and about two thirds of them departed. The rest broke up into small groups or pairs, drank water, stretched or socialized. Elli approached, “You’re really good, you know.”

“I’m glad you think so.”

“Are you going to be staying for the winter?”

“No. As soon as I can, I’m bound for West Port.”

“Oh… How do you feel about the idea of me going with you? I’d like to learn the Kereshi dance.”

Ijah gave her an appraising look, the sudden request felt like a very Maldorn thing to do, “Well, there will be women much better suited to instructing you in West Port, than I am. If you’re not under further obligations to Lord Jostan you could probably travel there with us and I’d be happy to put in a word on your behalf.”

“My contract with Lord Jostan finished half a year ago, I can come with you to West Port.”

“That would be nice. I’d like to get to know you better.”

The blush that coloured Elli pale complexion was fairly telling and Ijah smiled at her, then asked, “Are you still playing music during the feast?”

“I’ll be playing the harp in the gallery previous to the feasting, dancing with you and now a trio of solos at some point during the early evening.”

“Oh, solos in the Elquinian forms?”

“Maldorn classical forms, which are derivative of the older Elquininan dances. Though they are much more suited to duo performances or even large group choreographs, suitable for the stage.”

“Hmm, interesting. I’d not realized how much Maldorn has been influenced by Elquin. I’d only previously been to West Port and such influences are not overtly apparent.”

“That has a lot to do with which side of the river you are on.”

“Well, we were-”

“Ladies. Gentlemen. Musicians of dubious talent. I have arrived.”

Everyone turned as a short man swaggered into the music room with a large basket hanging from the crook of his arm. He was dressed in a light blue suit with lots of lace and frills. Three servants followed after him, either with baskets of a similar size or, in one case, a young lad struggled with the weight of a large bolt of cloth. He stopped in the centre of the room, placed the basket on the floor and looked around.

Thandi looked up from the small guitar he was replacing a string on and frowned at the new arrivals. He gave a dismissive sniff and returned his attention to the task in front of him.

The other man waved a hand at the servants who had followed him in, he gestured vaguely in the general area where they were standing, “Set us up here, girls.” Ijah noted his accent, certainly from the island princedoms.

The man looked around then strode towards them, “Elli, you’re looking flush, my comment about musicians had nothing to do with you of course. In fact,” He looked around the room, “’twas meant for just one person present.” He looked pointedly at Thandi who ignored the flamboyant man.

He looked up to Ijah, “This must be the seductress that has disturbed our lord’s usual equilibrium. You’re a big lass.” He reached up and gave one of her biceps a squeeze, “Nice, very strong. Shame you’ve lost your tits though, likely a result of too much meat and murder would be my guess. At least you have good hips.”

Ijah suppressed the urge to slap him upside the head, “You must be Lavett Den’Daleen.”

“Must I? Then no doubt you are the warrior, Ijah. Please excuse my flippancy, it’s a bad habit I picked up when I settled in this barbaric land. It is the only way I am able to keep my sanity. Also, please let me assure you in the forefront of our interactions, despite certain unparalleled talents I possess, I have no inclination towards power, dictatorship or otherwise interfering with the rise of the feminine divine. I am but a simple tailor.”

A muttered comment from Thandi followed, “Simple, yes.”

“You see what I must deal with?”

Ijah ignored the banter and addressed the man’s true concern, “Despite certain cultural assumptions, I’m not in the habit of killing gifted males.”

“Oh, good. That is a relief. With that concern having been swept aside, let’s get down to business. Costumes, fancy dress, regalia. Do you have anything on hand for me to work with?” He turned to the servants, “You three, get to work, I’ll start with these two.”

Ijah retrieved the clothing and jewellery she had brought as Elli explained what they were looking to wear during their duets. The tailor then looked at the black lace and Elli’s white lace. His banter had stopped and he only periodically muttered under his breath as he handled the cloth. He gave a nod then went and retrieved his basket and instructed the youth to cut a few lengths from the bolt he had brought.

Returning to them he picked up the white lace and held it up to Elli, then handed the garment to her, he did the same to Ijah with the black lace. “Put those on and let me see them.”

Ijah looked down at the lacy dress she had been holding only to discover it had been transformed into a much looser and shorter gown with long flowing sleeves, some skimpy looking briefs and two garters, though thankfully no stockings. The patterning of both the white and black lace now matched. In the time it took them to change, the magically gifted tailor had produced two cover-ups of the same lacy material, with deep hoods and two oversized veils as well. She did her best to take the transformations in stride, but this man was no simple tailor. What he had just done took a lot of skill, power and likely no small amount of natural affinity for magic.

The miracles the islander performed were far from over. Two more costumes were made for Ijah and another for Elli based on what they had brought with them, it took about the same amount of time. They all fit perfectly. The material seemed of better quality and cut than anything she had originally brought with her.

“Is this all you have for jewellery?”

“Yes, sadly. I’ll make do, though.”

He gave a dismissive snort, “Make do, my arse you’ll make do. Not on my watch. Are you particularly attached to any of this?”

“Ah… no, I guess not.”

“Good.” He dropped her jewellery onto a scrap of cloth, fished out two smallish silver bars, from his basket, dropped a handful of semiprecious stones into the mix and made a gesture over the treasures. Before her eyes she watched as the metals and stone flowed together as though they had been melted. In moments there were bangles, a delicate arm band, two anklets with tiny bells, a long belly chain, as well as a complex necklace of many small chains and charms set with stones.

“It is more durable than it appears. Will that do?”

Ijah was agape, too shocked to reply, she quickly nodded.

“Very well. I was also instructed to provide you with a gown, suitable for his Lordships guest of honour. What’s your favourite colour to wear?”

“Um, a burnt orange, ochre-like.”

“What style do you think would be best?”

Ijah thought about that for a moment,”Something that would appeal to Lord Jostan.”

Lavett chuckled but did not elaborate as to why he found her statement amusing. He retrieved an ample amount of cloth from the bolt, gathered a spool of gold wire and what appeared to be rough hemp cord.

He gave the cloth a couple of firm shakes then passed her a full length gown of a rusty orange colour, “Put that on please.”

She did so. It felt luxurious, the neckline plunged to her breasts, half of her back was left exposed. He stepped back and looked at her, “Not bad… may I?”

She nodded. He placed a finger at the vee between her breasts, “Plunging necklines are all the rage these days.” His finger traced down nearly to her navel, the neckline followed and she felt the upper part of the dress shift a bit.

He picked up the spools of hemp and gold, “A little applique across the hips and hems should help keep it in place.” She watched as delicate knot work formed and the ratty looking hemp turned into orange-red silk. It only took a moment or two for the dress to resettle across her shoulders and hips.

He stepped back, looked his handiwork over and gave a considering nod, “How does it feel?”

She said, a bit breathlessly, “Rather divine. Thank you.”

“Excellent, now unless there is something else I can help you with, I should see to these other people’s needs before the bard starts getting testy.”

Ijah only nodded, too amazed to articulate.

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