Loathing (Sulia)

[hrsegrl]

Alsea finished her morning duties early and had walked down to the stables to ride Koolah. Unfortunately the stallion had a sore front hoof which meant, no riding. After spending a candlemark petting and talking to her runner, she came back to the house. Her stepmother had returned a few days ago from her trip home. Alsea had not really cared that the woman was back. She just knew her father was glad of it.

When she got back to her own rooms she changed out of her riding habit and into a floor length red dress. Her hair was adjusted from her riding bun to where it was half up and half down. She wore a gold necklace and a matching bracelet. While she was a pretty girl, she wasn't seen that way when in the presence of her step mother. Not that that was a suprise, she wasn't supposed to outshine the Lady Holder, no one was.

She was on her way to her father's study, to return a record she had looked over, when she literally walked into her stepmother. "Oh. I'm sorry!" She said before she realized who she was talking to. Great, it had to be her, of all the people here who I could be clumsy around. "My Lady, I did not realize. Pardon me for my clumsiness." The green eyed woman looked to the other woman. Maybe she disliked the woman but it wasn't about to become common knowledge.

[thedreamerlady]

Common knowledge or not, Sulia was well aware of her stepdaughter's dislike of her. Looking down at the girl, with eye brows raised, the beautiful woman covered her mouth and laughed quietly, before actually speaking to her stepdaughter.

"Ah, Alsea. Do not worry, I was just looking for you, so this is merely a fortuitous occasion." And yes, she had changed her speech patterns. Anything to avoid looking back country to the 'refined' Lady Alsea. Who actually looked pleasant today: dressed in red, with her hair nicely styled, and jewelry.

Not that Sulia ever looked less than lovely(in public). Her dress was subtle, rich brown, with orange and red embroidery. And her hair was swept up elegantly as well. No jewelry today though. Other than the little drops in her ears, of course. And her wedding ring.

"I was hoping we could arrange a time for you to receive a dress fitting. I'd like you to come along to Conclave, but you'll need new dresses for that, and I need to ask Merrek." Sulia laughed lightly. "If you'd like to come, that is?"

[hrsegrl]

Looking for her? By the Egg, whatever for? Alsea hoped it had nothing to do with giving Sulia more responsibility because she liked having something to do and Sulia didn't seem to care that her stepdaughter did help run the Hold, as she had since she was very young. "Oh?" She asked before Sulia continued to tell her what exactly was going on.

The woman was serious. Of course she was, why wouldn't she be. She hardly paid Alsea any mind unless they had to speak. Getting fitted was not necessarily a pleasant occassion, one got to see all ones faults and get poked and prodded in the process. However, she was never one to turn down new gowns. "You wish for me to attend a Conclave? Does my father know yet?" He probably left such things up to Sulia, now that she thought about it. "New gowns would be lovely. Thank you for being so considerate of my needs." The girl was quick, quicker than some people realized. Sulia however, knew quite well that Alsea was the brain, of all her siblings, including her brothers.

The only reason for her to attend a Conclave would be to try to get her married off. Not that she would mind. She would like to have an advantageous marraige. An heir to a Lord Holder. Not that being a minor Holder's wife would be so bad. She expected, as the eldest daughter, she would be married to a more influential person. They needed strong ties between their neighbors. Alsea had long ago washed away any childish idea that she would marry for love. She would not. She would marry for power, wealth and position. That was what she was bred to do. "Nerat will be a beautiful place to visit. I've heard much about it. Of course I would love to attend. "

[thedreamerlady]

"Merrek will be much easier to convince if I can assure him that you want to go along." Sulia told Alsea confidentially. "But I'm sure you know that." Sulia, for her usual perceptive self, did not know that Merrek and Alsea were not close. Considering Merrek's love of his daughter, she assumed that they were close: it wasn't like they advertised any feeling of separation.

"Anyway, I finagled a seamstress who's dresses are quite delicious." Meaning they would do wonders for Alsea's looks, and hopefully garner Fort an offer for her hand. They could hope at least. Well, Sulia could hope.

"However, the Conclave is coming up very, very quickly. So, if you have free time now, it would be idea for us to get you fitted now." Suggestion? Maybe. Sulia wasn't about to allow that toad Ariashi to get on her case for causing Alsea to miss her duties. Not that her familial duties weren't more important. And that did mean making a good match.

[hrsegrl]

Actually, she didn’t know all that much about her father. Not anything more than the Headwoman knew which wasn’t saying much. For all that her father loved his children, he had been a rather distant figure. Even after he seemed to recover from their mother’s death he seemed to not get any closer than was expected of him. At least not to Alsea, who had more of her mother in her than she knew. Sulia obviously spent more intimate time with her father and therefore knew him better. She really didn’t see why that should bother her and brushed such thoughts aside.

The young lady stood thinking about what exactly she had to do that day. Seeing as her runner was recovering from a minor injury and that she was not really needed for anything too pressing, Ariashi probably wouldn’t even notice her absence. Alsea really did want to impress at this Conclave. While she doubted her stepmother cared what she did, she knew the woman wanted her out of her hair. Who wouldn’t want to marry off stepchildren who were a constant reminder that she was barren. Alsea was not sure what the future held for her. Would she be in the same position? Shard it all, she hoped not!

Of course, one couldn’t be too picky when marrying to create stronger ties between Holds. “Not anything that can not be put off till later. Shall we go then?” Alsea wondered if Sulia would take pleasure in getting her fitted. Sometimes even her stepmother surprised her. Well if she was to be married off, she needed to look her best. Everyone knew that.

[thedreamerlady]

Had they been close, or interested in projecting the idea that they were close, now would have been the time to hook elbows and chatter to each other as they made their way to Sulia's special dressmaker. That was unnecessary, and so Sulia merely smiled and responded with cool, though not unfriendly calm.

"Well then, let's go then." Though she didn't move fast, Sulia moved fluidly in the direction of her dressmaker: back the way she came. While she generally didn't like being around her stepdaughter, in this case, it wasn't much of a problem. They were going shopping, and the joy of that far outweighed any negatively Alsea could inflict on her. She hoped.

Walking towards her rooms, and pondering what jewels to dress Alsea in(creating jewelry would take more time then they had), Sulia continued talking.

"What colors would you prefer? Are there any particular fabrics that set you off well? Are pearls better for you, or opals?"

[hrsegrl]

Alsea didn't comment on anything at first, she simply followed her stepmother. Sulia wouldn't be so bad if she were ten turns older, actually understood hold duties and wasn't cheating on her father. Maybe the girl had been too hard on the woman but her expectations had been high. Her own mother was a great lady and Alsea was very very close to her. No one came close to the woman in her eyes.

Honesty was probably the best thing in this situation. Her Stepmother was ordering the gowns and therefore had a say in what she was wearing. That and she had invited her to the Conclave where her father had not.

"I like eye catching tones, though I look good in almost anything. I don't really like pastels." She didn't own any pearls or opals so she didn't have an answer. "I couldn't say as I've never worn either."

[thedreamerlady]

"Opals." Sulia decided after a few minutes of thought. "With eyes like yours you'll need something as flashy as opals." In a few more footsteps, they reached the room that Sulia's especially hired seamstress was working in while in Fort.

"Journeywoman Shensu?" Sulia asked, stepping into the workroom. "I've brought my Stepdaughter." The room was busy, with several apprentices working feverishly on varies workings of clothing, and a tall, domineering blond woman dressed very well.

She approached with interest and looked over Alsea. The smile the so named Shensu created was much of a woman given a doll and allowed to dress it anyway she wanted.

"A pleasure, Lady Sulia, Lady Alsea." Turning away from them, she barked orders at several people, and then turned back to the ladies. "If you'll follow me, we have seats over there. Finding the right fabric can be trying."

Walking in front of them, Sulia smiled at her daughter. "Isn't she brilliant? And the fabrics she uses are quite cutting edge. She'll fix you up properly."