Keepers of the Moon

Chapter 6. Getting ready (1)

Indigo

‘Oh you look fabulous!’ Brian was adjusting the straps on the formfitting dress and was bouncing with excitement. It was heavy and had a lovely dark red colour. Other than I had expected from Brian it was a fairly simple dress, without much sequencing or embroidery. I looked at myself in the mirror. The bodice was laced with large lilies and the skirt was just a heavy velvet dark red which widened at my hips. It somehow was long enough for me to wear heels. According to Brian heels were essential even though they made me tower over him, which showed me a bald spot forming on the top of his head. Brian walked around me and tugged at places where the dress was still not fitting the way he wanted it too. ‘Twirl for me, lassie!’

I twisted around and let the dress flow with the movement. I felt it falling into place and realised that it was extremely comfortable. Heavy and warm, but still flowing. In the mirror I only just realised that this was me now. No longer a street girl, but someone who would actually be attending a royal gala. I looked like royalty. No one would know.

There was a soft knock on the door and Mo Bhean came in with Abigail.

‘I think we’ve got a very concerned Miss Wells on our hands. I found this little rascal wandering through the corridor.’ Mo Bhean was smiling, though her face was unreadable. Abi however reluctantly walked over to me and tried to hide underneath the dress. She was obviously very well aware that she was doing something she wasn’t supposed to.

‘Abi, you can’t walk off like that. You could’ve gotten lost! I told you to listen to Miss Wells.’ She was now underneath my dress, clinging to my leg.

‘Sorry, has she bothered you?’ I looked over at Mo Bhean who stared at me with an amused yet odd look. A little uncomfortable I avoided her eyes, which she noticed.

‘No, not at all. She really loves my stack of pillows.’ She snickered and walked over toward me. Brian threw out his arms, as if trying to show what he made.

‘You outdid yourself this time Brian! Indigo you look marvellous.’ I nodded with a face even redder than my dress. I wasn’t sure how to take this compliment, I wasn’t even supposed to be here.

‘Your dress is… pretty.’ Brian didn’t sound very convincing and only now I noticed that Mo Bhean was also already dressed for the occasion. The heap of moss green fabric that I’d seen lying on her bed was now revealed to be a very simple, light dress. It had short sleeves and was buttoned on the front, all the way down to her feet. It looked like a silky material, but that was pretty much the only reason why it looked a little bit fancy. The bodice was nicely formed around her frame, yet not too tight. The skirt fell straight down in pleads and it looked like it was made out of a lot of fabric. I bet that it would look awesome if she twirled. Even though her dress looked way to simple for the occasion she looked stunning, it enhanced her natural beauty and showed me exactly who she was. Simple yet elegant.

She had a tattoo on the inside of her arm in the form of a little embellished turtle. It almost looked wrong on her pale skin, but it somehow also strengthened her appearance. I knew it now, and I knew it the first time I saw her, there was more to this girl than the eye could see. Each time I passed her in the castle there was this tingle at the nape of my neck, like a cold yet pleasant breeze brushing through my hair. She always left the smell of the sea hanging in the air and was almost always barefoot. Her dress was too long to reveal her feet, but I was almost sure she wasn’t wearing any shoes now either.

‘You are going to do your hair right?’ Brian asked not so subtly. Mo Bhean pulled up her nose, she obviously wasn’t planning to. And I had to admit, her hair was all over the place almost looking like a birds nest.

‘You’d think after all these years that I would be able to do my own hair. Turns out, I’m not. I need help. Brian, help.’

‘Birdie!!’ shouted a childish voice from underneath my dress and I burst out laughing before I could stop myself. Brian shot a nervous glance toward Mo Bhean and then burst out laughing too.

‘Yeah funny, Abigail caught me trying to fix it. Which didn’t turn out to be working anyway, so here I am, all yours.’ She threw out her arms in a wide gesture, sounding only slightly annoyed and more amused. Though now that I looked better there was a definite tension in her shoulders. I wasn’t the only one nervous for the party. Brian however was bouncing with glee at the notion that he would be able to create another masterpiece. He had done a marvellous job at my hair, where he created very soft curls framing my thin face and put in a clip on the right side of my head where a dark red rose complimented my dress.

‘Abi, could you let go of my leg please? I don’t want to step on your toes with these ridiculous shoes.’ Brian gave a condescending smile.

‘They are mandatory with the dress! Get used to them, no pain no gain.’ I twisted my face into a grin when I managed to set myself down on a chair. Abi was wearing a soft pink dress with lots of glitter and tulle, a little tiara was perched on her head and securely fastened with some clips. That tiara was probably more worth than my entire apartment, yet they were perfectly fine with her wearing it, even after I warned them that she was very rough with her stuff. I looked on when Brian was working his way through Mo Bhean’s thick curls with a wide toothed comb. Now that it was out of the bun I could see how long it was. Even with her tight curls she could easily sit on it, which was most likely also the reason why she never had it down. Within fifteen minutes he was done and had created a low bun at the nape of her neck with two rope braids from either side of her face. He pulled out a flower crown and placed it just above the braids and let it disappear into the bun. He even managed to give her some make-up, which she profoundly refused at first.

‘Now Saoirse, all done! No need to worry about hair getting caught in your fiddle.’ She stood up and shook her head to test whether it would hold during the night. After adjusting a few pins she nodded in agreement. The soft pink, yellow and blue roses and green petals accompanied the dress nicely, but made her look even younger than she already did. The fact that she was more than half a meter shorter than Brian and I didn’t help that. Mo Bhean didn’t seem to mind this and twirled around in her dress and then placed a playful kiss on Brian’s cheeks. The tension in her shoulders was still there.

‘Pretty!’ Abigail was looking in awe at the free flowing green fabric.

‘You like it now? Well that’s at least one of you!’ She laughed out loud and twirled again much to Abi’s pleasure. This time I saw that she was in fact shoeless.