Looking down at the suit in my hands, I quickly convinced myself the minor alterations would be best. After all, I’d only met Alira once. I knew that Lily and Crisplet would probably prefer to represent me.

  Racing out the door, I saw Cameron heading through the hall.

  “Sorry, Cameron, before you go, you might be able to help me?” I said, catching him before he exited onto the stairs.

  Turning around, looking confused, Cameron stammered, “Sir?”

  “Sorry, I was wondering if there was anyone who knew how to tailor the suit available. I wanted to make a small change to them.” I said.

  Suddenly, I felt embarrassed by it all. I probably didn’t even have enough time, and would I even wear this again? Ah well. Too late now.

  “Not on the staff, sir, but I’m sure we can get someone for you if you’d like? I mean, sorry…” He apologised.

  Trying to wave at him to get him to stop apologising. “It’s fine, honestly. If it can’t be done, then it’s no problem.”

  It was fine. I would wear thi—

  “I will get someone immediately,” Cameron said with such finality it left me stunned. Not even getting a response before he was out the door.

  Entering the room again, looking at the suit in my hands. I didn’t even know what I wanted to change exactly, or if it could even be changed.

  I didn’t really know what to do right now. It was still at least five hours before dinner, maybe even longer as we arrived just after lunchtime. Crisplet was clearly busy in the hearth as I watched the base of something being built out of it.

  I didn’t trust cooking anything yet here as we still didn’t know the motives of the royals or what they’d expect.

  What I really needed to do while I was in the capital, however, was use my skills that I had neglected—chief among them, Runes and Stock Reduction. Outside of a couple of uses, I had barely done any testing of Stock Reduction, despite it having so many plus sides.

  I took a seat at the reading desk near the window, pulled out a notebook, and started creating a goals list for what I wanted to achieve while in the capital.

  The main ones being: train my runescribing and see about possibly finding someone who could give me hands-on training. Milo was great, but he’d be the first to admit he didn’t actually do any runescribing, so his instructions were limited to just understanding the texts better.

  The next thing I really wanted to do was find someone to teach me some cooking. Sure, I had learned from Martin and Geo, but the food they prepared was basic. I had tried restaurants now, and I was sure I could learn so much more. Perhaps if I found a chef, or maybe I could hire one as part of the house staff.

  Then, I really wanted to make sure that my friends were all set up and would thrive here. I wanted them to succeed, and I would do what I needed to do to make sure of that.

  Finally, besides the skills, I wanted to find a baker to teach me more in terms of pastries. Also, if I could stockpile a lot of dough, that would be amazing.

  My thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.

  “Uh, sir, the royal tailor will be here momentarily. Would you like him to be escorted to the room?” Cameron said, poking his head into the room.

  I looked around at the massive snaking coal-and-ash statue Crisplet built that had already reached the roof, and at Lily sleeping on the bed. It should be fine, right? If he’s uncomfortable, we’ll go to another room.

  “Thank you, Cameron. Please escort him up when he arrives,” I said, storing away my notebook and going to get the suit I was given.

  Moments later, another sharp knock, followed by a much older-looking man entering the room, followed closely by Cameron.

  “Sir Trevor, this is the personal tailor of the royal family, Toby Cunningham,” Cameron introduced, but I saw his eyes never leave Lily.

  Toby seemed mostly unbothered by it all.

  “Greetings, sir. I was told you would like to make some alterations to your suit for this evening. I am at your service,” Toby bowed.

  Again trying to wave it off, but he paid no attention. I was really not used to this sort of formality.

  Cameron quickly made his way out of the room, seemingly eager to leave now that his job of introductions was done, as I picked up the suit jacket I was provided.

  “I was wondering if it would be at all possible to change the stitching of Alira here to a combination of Lily and Crisplet,” I said, gesturing to them as I spoke.

  “Alira, sir?” Toby asked, looking confused, before just staring at me.

  “Oh, sorry. The phoenix—her name is Alira. I was hoping to get her changed out for my companions instead,” I said, looking at the jacket. Was I asking too much?

  “If it’s not possible, then it’s okay. Maybe I could get a jacket commissioned for the future,” I quickly added, in case it wasn’t possible.

  Toby just shook his head. “Uh, no, sir. It’s not that. I can certainly change the stitching. It’s just I had never heard the phoenix had a name, and yet you say it so casually.”

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  I chuckled nervously, scratching the back of my head. Clearly, word had not spread everywhere yet, so that was good.

  “I am having dinner tonight. Would that be too soon to have it done?” I asked.

  “So you’d like me to remove the phoenix, and then add… Lily and Crisplet?” The last part was posed as a question, so I pointed to them both again.

  “Lily, you can just leave her sleeping like that, but I’m sure she won’t mind what you decide. Crisplet will probably pose for you if you—” I didn’t even get to finish my sentence before Crisplet burst out of the fireplace and struck a little pose next to me.

  “Yeah, like that,” I said with a laugh.

  “It might be easier to create a new jacket than it would be to remove the stitching in this and redo it. Are you set on the red jacket? I think I could make something nice to go with the white shirt you have,” Toby said, turning the jacket in his hands.

  “Yes, let’s do that.”

  “Arms up. I need to measure. Stand still,” Toby said, seemingly having decided, putting my arms up as he started pulling tools out of storage devices he must have had.

  After only a few seconds, he turned to me. “Do you have a room I can work in?”

  “Um, yes, I think so. There is a room just outside my own, I believe—you can work in there,” I said, still a bit confused.

  “Very well. Give me a few hours and I shall have this ready for you,” Toby said, marching out the door.

  I was left speechless. Even Crisplet next to me looked up at me before dashing back into the hearth.

  I sighed. I needed to kill some time, and I couldn’t get dirty, so that ruled out rune practice or training in the yard, even cooking.

  With a sigh, I decided to go explore the house a little. The tour was nice, but a lot of it I had not seen properly. I knew there was a study just outside of this room as well.

  Walking out of the bedroom, Crisplet quickly followed me, clearly not wanting to miss out. As I walked forward towards the reading room and study, I noticed Toby had set up in the reading room, and already there were three mannequins floating in the air as he worked.

  Not wanting to disturb him, I turned into the study, where I was met with a richly appointed room. There was a large wooden desk dominating the centre, with a cushioned, carved dark wood chair behind it. The walls had bookshelves of the same dark wood. These were all empty, however.

  This would be incredibly useful for Micca, I imagined, but I doubted I would have a use for an office like this.

  Leaving the room, Toby caught sight of me. “Perfect. Sir, come here a moment. I wish to quickly size this on you.”

  I was a little shocked as I was pulled forward and several pieces of cloth were thrown over my shoulders while he did his work. One was dark purple, another was deep blue, and the third was green, but the moment it touched me, he threw it away, muttering something.

  Before long he was wandering off. “Thank you, sir. That will be all,” he said.

  Since I was already in the room, I took the staircase down to the library.

  Seeing Milo was in a discussion with one of the female staff members, not even looking up as I walked past him and made my way back out, having a look at the two open rooms.

  I didn’t go into the third room there because the door was shut and I could hear Hari on the other side. I’d have to remember that those rooms didn’t hide sound all that well. It was slightly muffled, but not by much.

  I continued to make my way through the house, visiting nearly every room. I avoided the bathroom that was off the sunroom as I clearly heard the sounds of Liane, Jen and Micca there, and I didn’t want to intrude or walk in on something I shouldn’t.

  Finally, I ended up in the kitchen, where I spent the next hour going through all the tools and inspecting the ice room, and importantly inspecting the three runes inside the ice room that kept it ice cold.

  There also appeared to be runes in the pantry, although I was not sure what they did exactly.

  Eventually, Cameron came to find me.

  “Excuse me, sir, the master tailor is ready for you when you’re available,” Cameron said, bowing.

  “Cameron, please, no need to be so formal. Just call me Trev, or Trevor. A few months ago, I was just an orphan. I’m no one special, honestly,” I said with a chuckle.

  “Sir, you were here with the King, and own this manor. I don’t think saying you’re no one special is accurate,” Cameron said, before bowing again.

  I let out a sigh, but calling for Crisplet, I made my way back upstairs towards the reading room.

  Entering, I saw a single mannequin with a deep purple jacket on it. On the breast where Alira sat on the last one was a posing Crisplet, standing behind the face of Lily, which seemed to blend in with the rest of the jacket, but her green eyes were unmistakable.

  “How did you know she had green eyes?” I asked curiously.

  Toby just laughed. “I didn’t. It just felt right with the colours.”

  The jacket looked amazing. As Toby took it off and handed it to me, I couldn’t help but stare in wonder as it felt so incredibly soft to the touch.

  “It’s amazing. I love it,” I said, as Crisplet let off a burst of sparks next to me.

  Toby waved my compliment off. “It was a rush job. If you give me more notice next time, I can make you a masterpiece,” he said proudly.

  “I would love to get one, if that’s possible,” I said, looking up at him in wonder as I wore the jacket, and felt it fit perfectly. I still had movement in it, without it feeling too large or too small.

  “Uh, sorry, Toby. I have a jacket that is self-cleaning. Is it at all possible to get that added to the jacket and maybe some pants for the next set?” I asked, hoping I wasn’t going too far.

  “Absolutely! This one has nothing added to it, so it will get dirty, and it will get damaged, but give me a couple of weeks, and I will have the perfect jacket for you.”

  “Thank you, sir. That would be amazing,” I said.

  Toby was packing his things as I was still admiring the jacket.

  “I will return when it’s done,” Toby said, bowing. “It’s been a pleasure.”

  And then he was gone. It wasn’t until he had left the room that it clicked to me we hadn’t even discussed price, and he hadn’t charged me for this jacket.

  I was confused and went back to my room to wait until I was picked up for dinner, adding to my list that I needed to complete my wardrobe and get more kitchen equipment after realising how bare bones what I had was after seeing all the different items in the kitchen.

  Both Lily and Crisplet had inspected the jacket when I returned, with Crisplet approving of it, which Lily seemed to be indifferent—until she saw what the other one would have been. Then I got a second burst of sparks from Crisplet.

  ***

  It felt like only a second had passed when Liane came to knock on the door, doing a double take at my new jacket.

  “That… that’s amazing, Trev! Where did you get it?” she asked, circling around me, inspecting the jacket closely.

  “Uh, Cameron got the tailor for me because I didn’t really want to wear a jacket with Alira on it,” I said, shrugging.

  Liane just started laughing.

  “What?” I asked, confused.

  “Nothing, nothing. Just, you know, you’re stirring up court politics on your very first day,” Liane said, laughing before walking out of the room.

  “Come on, troublemaker, we need to leave!” she said through laughter.

  “Wait! What do you mean I’m stirring up trouble? What have I done?” I asked, but she just ignored my questions.

  I raced after her, Lily vanishing on the bed, and Crisplet dashing along next to me.