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.”