Kay whispered back to him, "I ... I ... l-lost me c-courage, bredu ... I thought ye said ... said 'twould be ONLY HER here ...". She tugged her braid nervously, looking paler than ever. A small shiver rippled through Kay's thin body before she firmly repressed it. "She's FEY herself .... an ... an she kens me to be the same ... I dinna how, but I kenned it when I touched her ... D'ye understand what this means ? Can we trust this Melissa to be equally discreet if ye tell her the rest ? ".
Gwenn bowed his head and continued in the same low voice he'd used before, "I'm sorry, breda. I didna' think to warn ye that others would probably be present--I thought ye'd realize that." He looked back up at Kay and said, "An' I dinna' ken much about laran. As for the damisela, she _is_ Dolo's breda, but I'd ha' to ask Dolo about her discretion."
Kay nodded. "Very well then ... if ye decide 'tis safe to share what I've already said ye could tell, then I'll abide by that ... but dinnae mention laran"
Dolo, Kay and Melissa left Gwenn in a room to himself and all went upstairs to one of the larger bedrooms, which had a full-length three-way mirror.
Gwenn was relieved. He'd been worried that he'd have to request a place to change. He took off his guardman's uniform and changed into his dress-kilt and shoes. Even though Gwenn wasn't used to wearing them, the shoes felt nice after wearing boots all the time. He made a point of fastening on the knife Kay had given him so that it was clearly visible. He made certain that his hair looked acceptable and waited for the ladies to get finished. He didn't know what else to do, so he packed up his uniform, then began looking around the room.
Meanwhile, in the other bedroom, the girls slid into the dresses and zipped, buttoned and buckled each other up. Then, as Kay and Melissa were fastening various articles of jewelry on and slipping gloves on, Dolo did something very, very daring, which very few women did nowadays. She set her matrix bare at her throat, fastened on a slender silver chain. Then, she pulled out a small pouch which proved to be full of tiny faceted matrix chips. These were scattered artfully through her flowing hair, adding a blue glow to the shimmer already created by the gorgeous gown. The result, when she turned to face Melissa and Kay for their opinions, was ethereal.
When Melissa saw Dolo, her mouth dropped open. A bare matrix at an event like this? It was a bit over the top. But then again, Dolo always was...unique. You couldn't ask a bird not to fly, nor could you ever expect Dolo not to command the attention of every person in the room. It was just a fact. Melissa smiled. "You have outdone yourself this time, Breda. you look like one of the Chieri. But take care that you don't tread on the hem of anyone's gown. This is, after all, Auster's party, not ours." she spoke gently, not scolding Dolo in any way. It never hurt to just remind someone of the politics involved. If they chose to ignore them, then so be it.
Kay froze in the middle of pulling on her second silk glove. She stared openly at Dolo, wide-eyed with as much horror as if she was looking upon the face of the goddess Sharra herself. That large sparkling blue stone was just like the one from her mother's recurring nightmare. They were going to a PARTY, were they not ? So why would her new sister need to openly carry such a weapon ? Gwenn had definitely NOT warned her that Dolo was a powerful soreceress -- what else had he not thought to mention ? Silently she prayed that there would not be any bloodshed or killing tonight.
Kay's violent emotional reaction to Dolo's choice of jewelry both startled and worried Dolo. Somebody had obviously twisted the girl's perceptions of both matrixes and her own perfectly normal laran skills... so badly that she was practically terrified of herself, poor lass. Dolo tried as best she could to project the sense that this was perfectly normal, no more daring than wearing a low-cut gown (although, in truth, it was certainly quite a bit more daring, and really hadn't been done as dramatically in probably a hundred years).
Dolo knew she was going to have to take Kay aside sometime in the next few days and set her straight, no matter how much it was going to shake her faith in whoever it was who'd done such a terrible job educating her. But in the meantime... it was time for a party.
Melissa felt Kay shudder in horror, but was quite sure that she hadn't seen anything physically. The girl was so suddenly frightened... Something was definitely not right here, but Dolo didn't appear to be bothered by it. So Melissa kept her thoughts to herself for now.
This time, Kay made no explanation for her reaction. Just like with her earlier attempt at trying to explain her sexual preferences to Melissa (only worse), the words of explanation jammed up in her throat. Since she couldn't get any of them out, she turned her attention to the dresses instead.
Dolo fastened Melissa's necklace for her, then settled down to do Kay's hair. When they were all done, the three stood in a row in front of the mirror with matching satisfied expressions. "Ladies, we look wonderful," Dolo said triumphantly.
The blue sparkling stone still bothered Kay somewhat. But, unlike Mum's poor left hand still extensively-scarred from long-ago burns, Dolo's was whole and unmarked, which must mean that the blue fire had never escaped her control. So if Dolo was so powerful a sorceress as to treat such a thing like any other piece of jewellery, then it wasn't likely that they'd be accidentally- dangerous.
Reminding herself to stop acting like a mare with the scent of woodsmoke in her nostrils, Kay tried to distract herself with another look at herself in the mirror. She whispered softly "... so beautiful ... I barely recognize myself". Gently and reverently, her small hands stroked her skirts and bodice. Then she brushed a fingertip over the butterfly-shaped hairclip that had once belonged to her Gran Callie -- just for additional reassurance that she was still herself.
Melissa smiled in delight. Indeed, they all looked stupendous. Her own silvery-green shimmering dress was a delight. It was old, you could tell from the style and cut of the gown, but at the time it was made, it must have been a bit ahead of its time, for it looked now like a perfectly modern gown modeled after a classic style. it hugged her in all the right places, while cascading in soft folds all around. The sleeves were long, but the neckline was wide, hinting of off-the-shoulder Terran designs.
The necklace that she had found in Morgana's jewel-box was an old one from their grandmother's collection. Morgana had only dared to wear it once or twice before. Now, the deep-green Terran gemstone shone richly against her skin, and reflected the green in her gown. Her hair was arranged in a loose chignon at the back, with messy little tendrils hanging down all around, that appeared to have just slipped out of the clasp.
Melissa shivered in anticipation. "Do you think," she said with a tinge of wonder in her voice, for she could not take her eyes from any of them in the large mirror. "That when we get there, people will recognize us?"
"Both of you look so breath-takingly lovely that people might assume they're dreaming of the Goddess Evanda in duplicate. You'll surely be in danger of outshining the guest of honor herself", Kay assured her, "As for myself, if Gwenn still recognizes me, that's fine enough for my tastes.".
Dolo laughed merrily at this, and glanced at Melissa, who she knew wasn't entirely sure she approved of her choice of jewelry. Dolo couldn't tell her that it was almost an unconscious statement to Melissa's own family, who had been unsettlingly pushy in tryiong to convince Dolo to get laran training to control the very skills that matrix symbolized.
Softly stroking the flowing skirts of her dress again, Kay adding softly "I never would have thought that this russett color would look so fine in a silk". She thought it looked especially nice in contrast with her Mum's heirloom choker necklace of creamy Darkovan pearls and the longer delicate three-stranded intertwined chain (silver, gold, and copper) that supported a gold charm of Brighid's cross with a gold trinity-knot in the center. Idly, Kay thought to herself how much nicer if would have been to wear her bracelet and both rings --- instead the gloves.
Then a thought occurred to her, "Would it be improper of me to wear at least one knife sheath openly ? Or should I leave them both hidden ?", she inquired. "Unless it would be poor manners, I would gladly display the clan crests of both MacDhomnall and MacConal/MacRory", came an additional comment of explanation.
Dolo giggled. "Keep them under your skirts at a formal event, Kay. Ladies needn't wear knives... that's supposed to be what men are for." The twinkle in her eyes let Kay know she was teasing... both of them could certainly take care of themselves!