Princess of Faerl

*Elentari*

Tanz came to my room to wake me up as I had forgotten to set an alarm. I rubbed my eyes and yawned, still sleepy. It amazed me how tired I had been the last few days. It felt like I could never get enough sleep. The pixie was humming a pleasant tune. It made me smile as I watched her buzz around, getting things set out for me. My mind wandered to the events in the dream state and I sighed internally. “My Princess, your outfit for dinner.” The announcement startled me out of my thoughts. My eyes landed on a deep plum almost black gothic steampunk dress with a pickup type skirt. It had a deep plunging sweetheart neckline and a matching bolero. It was my style to a “t”. On the other hanger was a corset with silver skull clasps in the same deep plum. Black shiny Mary Jane heels finished off the outfit. The shoes had a bow on the toe and a satin strap that wrapped around the ankle multiple times before it could be tied in a bow. The cloth material matched the rest of the outfit.

“Do we have guests for dinner tonight?” The thought worried me slightly, my fingers running over the fabric of the outfit. Turning around, I bit my lip. “I haven’t had time to dye my hair yet.”

“We do have guests, but you wouldn’t be able to fool them behind hair dye and contacts. Today’s visitors are some of the most powerful beings you could imagine. We have no idea why they are here. Damn Greeks.” My tongue involuntarily clicked. It was becoming Selene’s way of letting everyone she was annoyed at their words. Tanz addressed Selene directly, “Yes, My Goddess, they are all here. I don’t know what you’ve done, but please be careful with my Princess. You can reincarnate at will. She cannot.” She was being rather bold, though the shaking of her fists hinted at her fear. Curiosity filled me as Selene seemed to study my loyal pixie. This brought a smile to my lips.

Tanz nodded in respect and exited the room, granting me privacy to get ready for the evening. Time to look my absolute best. ‘Who is out there?’ I questioned Selene as I set out my makeup and brushes. Primer first, foundation next, concealer after, eyeshadow, eyeliner, lip liner, lipstick, mascara. Repeat a small amount of foundation if anything falls. Finishing spray. I didn’t normally wear this much makeup but Silk was telling me the steps to do and pointing out the items I needed.

‘You will find out soon enough.’ Selene didn’t exactly answer my question. This time I clicked my tongue myself, annoyed at her. She simply laughed a bit and retreated from my consciousness. Probably to get ready for whatever was to happen. Silk started babbling nonstop.

‘Okay, primer everywhere you have skin and no hair on your face. So just not in your eyebrows.’ I did as instructed. It felt creamy on my face and I frowned. ‘Until it dries it will feel like you put Vaseline on your face. Don’t worry it will dry soon.’ She laughed at my obvious discomfort. ‘Now, see that flat headed brush there, take the spray foundation and spray it on the brush. Then brush it all over your face.’ All the makeup was new since Tanz had shopped for me and I felt so strange doing all this. I didn’t see the point of covering my face with something that looked just like my skin.

Next, take a bit of that concealer there, and put it under your eyes. Use the blending sponge to blend it into the foundation. You got some wild bags under your eyes for someone who sleeps so much.’ She was pacing in my head. I could almost feel it like she was trying to create a foot made road inside my brain. ‘Much better. Now, use the concealer over your eyelids up to your eyebrows to highlight and make the eyeshadow pop. Let it dry. Good good, the creamy black on the outside like you normally do with your eyes is the next step followed by the shimmery plum on the inside. Silver shimmer above that to your eyebrow.’ I had to admit it was coming together well and still looked like my style, even if subdued a bit. ‘Eyeliner on your top and bottom lids, line your lips with the same black, and use the plum cream eyeshadow for lipstick. Lightly dust on the plum blush and put your mascara on. I promise it will come together perfectly.’ She seemed so sure of herself but I felt like I was over doing it. ’Alright, the finishing spray and your makeup is done!” She exclaimed and stopped yapping at me.

I found a strapless bra in the Torrid bag and had to laugh a bit. Tanz thought of just about everything. Changing my undergarments to a matching rose colored set, I admired my new curves in the mirror. I blush a bit more, the odd feeling of being a woman creeping over me. I slip the dress over my head and can’t stop staring. I still couldn’t believe my eyes. Struggling, I tried to reach the zipper in the back of the dress to no avail. I opened the door and called Stacie, asking her for help. I wasn’t sure if she would, she was quite shocked at my transformation and had seemed to be avoiding me. Luckily she came to help.

“Thanks, sis. I really didn’t want to bother Tanz again.” She pulled the zipper up and mumbled something about it not being an issue. “Are you okay? You’ve not been yourself today and I thought we had made some pretty good progress yesterday. Today you don’t seem to want to be around me.” Sadness touched my eyes.

She looked down and sighed. “It is just… weird. I can’t wrap my head around all the changes in the family, where we live, who we are. Your change in appearance made it all impossible to ignore.” Her honesty was something I was grateful for. “Everything that has happened also revolves around you. Hell, I wouldn’t have been born if my dad wasn’t your caretaker all these years. She never loved any of us. Only saw power. I’m having a really hard time with it all.”

I nodded with a somber expression as I put on my shoes. I kept dressing, putting on my corset and tightening it. Tanz had it laced so the middle had loops and could be tightened by the wearer without help. It wasn’t quite as tight as it needed to be though, so I turned my back around as I continued talking with Stacie. “I feel you on that. Life is so insane. We’ve had so much happening. I can’t imagine how hard it has been on you and Scottie. I actually count myself as the lucky one. I also feel guilty because of your loss. I blame myself for your misfortune.” I paused for a moment as my body jerked with the tugs of the corset, “I just… I hope you know I’m here. If you need to talk, vent, scream, whatever. I want to be the sister you were never allowed to have. The one I was never allowed to be.” Every word was heartfelt.

“I may take you up on that,” She looked over my shoulder at me in the mirror, “it might take me a while, but I’m grateful you aren’t trying to cheer me up right now or pretend you know how I feel. I always hated when people have done that. For now, though, I heard we have extremely important guests for dinner tonight and I have to admit, I’m nervous as fuck.”

“Don’t be. If anyone should be nervous it’s me. Tanz told me my hair didn’t matter nor my contacts as these guests would be able to see through it all. Makes me wonder who they are. She was also complaining about them being Greek.” Selene knew but isn’t letting me in on the secret. I was getting tired of secrets. I looked in the mirror at our hair, biting my lip. “But if they are so important, we need to look our best in every way. If only we had time to do something fancy with these manes of ours.” My eyes widened and a thought struck me. “Maybe there is something we can do!”

Stacie looked at me as if I was on crack as I moved quickly to the nightstand grabbing my Grimoire. “Want an updo?” I asked with a cheeky grin. She laughed and nodded, somewhat understanding what I was about to attempt. This was either going to be a glorious success or a major failure. I asked the Grimoire for a spell to help us with our hair. It flew open, stopping a quarter way through within the filled pages. To my delight there was a simple spell, no components needed. I recited it and our hair started moving on its own. Braids appeared and twists were pinned down. Glorious crowns of intricate strands and braids were circling our heads. Black ribbon entwined itself into my hair creating a stark contrast with it and random banana curls hung near my face. Stacie had a French twist in her silky blonde hair adorned with soft rose pink ribbon and a matching Lily by her ear.

This matched the white pencil skirt and blazer she wore, a silk dress shirt beneath it in soft rose. “You look lovely, by the way. Very professional and lady-like.” I complimented her as she smiled proudly. “Even if you do snore a little.” Her mouth fell open and we started a typical sibling squabble of choruses consisting of ‘yes you do’ and ‘no I don’t’ until we were both laughing too hard to continue.

Tanz came to the room, watching us for a moment, “My Ladies,” She announced and we looked over, trying to contain our laughter. “It is time for dinner.” She gestured towards the door. “Shall we?” She seemed so formal and acted as if she had caught toddlers sneaking cookies out of the jar. We followed, still trying to keep our laughter in check as we walked to the dining hall. There were a great many more chairs today than yesterday and all but two were filled. We saw dad for the first time today, a blushing Alisee on his arm and brilliant silver lily markings on their necks. Stacie and I smiled knowingly at each other and took our seats. I was seated next to Alaric as I had been the night before and Stacie between Scottie and I.