Thoughts of Kehllor also sprang up fresh for some odd reason. A pang of guilt had hit her the other day when something Jaax said reminded her of the younger Tanaan dragon. She hadn’t seen him since Sobledthe nearly a month ago. Well, she had seen him at the handful of Coalition meetings she tried not to sleep through, but she never was able to catch him outside of Essyel Auditorium for a chat. She had promised herself she would somehow wean him away from Shiroxx, yet she’d been so distracted by school and nervous over the spirit stone ring that she had put her grand plans aside and had completely forgotten about the golden dragon.
A soft knock at the door invaded her reverie. At first she thought it was her imagination but the knock came again, this time with a greeting.
“Jahrra? Are you awake?”
Jahrra breathed a sigh of relief, glad that Neira had rescued her from her scattered thoughts. “I’m awake,” she responded, rubbing her face and yawning. “You can come in.”
Neira opened the door with her usual gentle grace, balancing a rather sizeable box on her forearms.
“What’s that?” Jahrra asked, standing from her chair and forgetting her musings for now.
Neira grinned brightly. “Why, your birthday present from your guardian of course!”
Jahrra froze and then felt her stomach churn with caution. It suddenly occurred to her what sorts of things came in boxes of this size and shape.
“What?” she said in a harsh whisper, glancing inquiringly at the woman beside her.
“I had to keep it secret,” the maid replied, faltering just a bit. “Raejaax insisted that I not say a word to you until this very moment. He wanted to surprise you.”
Jahrra groaned. Surprises from Jaax were never good.
“Aren’t you going to open it?” Neira said, keeping a cap on the excitement in her voice.
Jahrra took a deep breath and reined in her own anxiety about what she knew she would find inside. “You know, you could tell him that the sword was enough. I don’t need a Solsticetide gift and a birthday gift.”
Neira brushed Jahrra’s comment aside with a lady-like snort. “Oh please!” she said, “It’s not as if you are a child anymore. You’re eighteen today, practically a woman! That deserves a separate gift.”
Jahrra gritted her teeth and tried to see things from Neira’s point of view. No, it was still a little bit excessive, she thought, but the look in the maid’s eyes implored her to treat the wrapped box as if it was everything Jahrra had been hoping for upon waking that morning.
Biting her cheek she took the end of the ribbon with one hand and undid the bow. She stopped for a moment, not wanting to continue.
“Oh, come on now! I’m dying to see it! Master Jaax wouldn’t even let me look at it when I went to pick it up yesterday. Made me swear up and down. He was afraid I’d tell you before this morning!”
Jahrra closed her eyes and held her breath. She lifted the lid of the box and pulled it off. Neira gasped in feminine appreciation.
“Oh, Jahrra, it’s beautiful!” She sounded almost envious, if Neira was capable of such a selfish emotion.
Jahrra braved a glance and dropped the lid of the box in numb surprise. It was a dress, as she had guessed, but it wasn’t at all what she had been expecting.
Neira pulled it out of the box, unfolding it as she did so, and draped it across the bed. The few gowns that Jaax had insisted on ordering for her important appointments and meetings with the Coalition were made of fine materials, but simple and unadorned. In her opinion: practical. The dress sitting in the box that perched upon the edge of her bed was nothing like the others. The skirts were twice as full and the cool teal fabric was thick and lustrous, like seaweed dancing just below the surface of a sun-gilded sea. The bodice matched the rich fabric of the overskirt, a swirling pattern of gold embroidery against pale turquoise and embellished with tiny glass beads. The sleeves, made from the same fabric as the underskirt, were loose and long with cuffs that tied at her wrists.
It was an elegant piece of clothing, far more grand than anything Jahrra had ever owned, and she found herself admiring it more than she would like to admit. I think, she said to her innermost self, the part of herself that was always honest, I just might wear this overly ornate dress without being asked by Jaax or some other important diplomat.
“That dragon sure knows how to meet your standards,” Neira said, her attention still on the dress.
Jahrra gave her a wavering look but shrugged the comment off. She felt suddenly odd standing there in her night clothes, her hair a mess and her face pale. Going against her usual instincts she held the dress up in front of her, as if seeing what it would look like if she were to wear it. Her arms prickled in goose bumps against her will. When did she start liking fine dresses? She shook her head. It must be a result of her lack of sleep and her over worked mind.
As she admired the rich colors and the fine needlework on the bodice in the faint candlelight, another thought managed to break through her muddled brain. Why had Jaax bought the dress in the first place? She knew it was for her birthday, of course, but why a dress? He knew she was slightly averted to them, maybe not as much as she had been when she was younger, but she still preferred tunics and pants. And it didn’t matter that this dress seemed to finally be winning her over to the frilly garments. Did he expect her to go around in them from now on? Jahrra snorted to herself, drawing an unusual look from Neira as she kneeled to light the fire.
“Oh, I almost forgot!” Neira said, slapping a hand to her forehead and dropping an armful of kindling. “You are to be bathed and dressed and ready to go an hour before sunset.”
Jahrra started from her contemplative stance. “What?” she sputtered.
Neira grinned as she dusted her hands free of dirt, then folded the dress neatly into the box, replacing the lid with a soft thlunk. “Raejaaxorix told me to tell you.”
“Why doesn’t he tell me himself?” Jahrra gritted.
What was he up to? She had nothing against surprises, truly, she didn’t, but the types of surprises she’d been experiencing lately weren’t the most joyful of events. And she especially feared surprises from Jaax. Did this have anything to do with the spirit stone?
Jahrra felt suddenly nervous. Had he lied? Did he just tell her he liked it? Or worse, had he done some investigating yesterday only to discover where Jahrra had purchased the ring? Had the jeweler told him how much she spent? Jahrra’s stomach churned.
“He wouldn’t tell me. Like the dress, it’s all a big secret,” Neira rattled off as she returned to the fireplace.
Jahrra sank onto the bed. She hated it when Jaax got like this.
“I might have plans,” she said. “My friends might want to take me out. It is my eighteenth birthday after all.”
Torrell had offered to take her out to lunch later but she had declined, knowing that her friend’s extended family was still in town. Instead, Jahrra planned to go riding along one of the trails just outside of the city walls.
“Just make sure that whatever you do it gets done in time for you to be ready this afternoon,” Neira responded in her usual cheerful way as she gathered a bundle of dirty clothes to take to the laundry.