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For the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon, Kathrin kept herself busy designing Raine's coat. It was best to work on new ideas while they were still fresh in her mind, and right now she had a vision for what the final design would look like that she needed to chase. While she was busy working on the prototype at the back of the store, Clovis managed to keep the rest of the shop running. Two customers came to pick up orders they had finished earlier: a dress modification, and suit enchanted to hide a growing belly. Then, early in the afternoon, the commander of the local Basitin overseas garrison visited and booked an appointment to be fitted later in the week. It had been an intriguing prospect to Kathrin, as she listened to Clovis handling it, until she overheard that the commander needed something to wear on account of the Dragon Masquerade's dress code excluding armour. The opportunity to make a Basitin dress uniform should have been exciting to her, since it was a new style (and potentially new market), but it was soured by the thought of yet someone else going to the ball when she was not.

Kat wasn't normally bitter like this, but today kept rubbing her the wrong way. She hoped she'd be over it in a day or two, maybe Zen visiting this evening would improve her mood, because at this rate she and Clovis were going to meet on the cheerful-bitterness scale. Luckily, being slightly angry helped her focus on tailoring. Or perhaps focusing on tailoring helped with her being angry. Either way it was a good thing Sythe was late, because it gave her time to finish the prototype of the coat shape and put it on a test dummy.

The jingle of the doorbell let her know someone had just entered, but Clovis had made herself scarce at that particular moment so Kathrin looked up from her work to see who it was. Even though there was a gap between all the stands and shelves so she could see and be seen from the front door, Sythe somehow managed to not spot her. Oblivious, he kept looking around, eventually calling out, <Hey Kat, are you in?> in his native Keidran.

Kathrin was already halfway across the shop in a light jog by then, and met him a second later by diving into him with a hug that he returned enthusiastically. <It's so good to see you again Sythe! What can I do for you?> she asked as soon as the hug had lasted for a mutually agreeable amount of time, also switching to Keidran. In truth she spoke human better and he was a diplomat so spoke it fluently; but he was a diplomat that probably spent all of his time working and talking in human, it might well have been a nice change to him to speak his native tongue again.

Sythe held up a travel trunk for her to inspect, which confused Kathrin slightly because she did clothes, not luggage. But then he explained; albeit rather sheepishly. <I've got my evening coat in here. You said that I shouldn't touch it anywhere it gets damaged and, well, it needs repairing.>

She had told him no such thing about his coat, Clovis had, and she was quite sure he was ignoring her credit intentionally. Still it was a good idea to keep the coat in a trunk. The defensive spells Clovis enchanted into the clothes that Kathrin made could stop blades or arrows, but were also quite proactive. They often damaged the striking weapon, and if there was any charge left in the spell after a minor impact, it could do the same to any curious fingers that went poking about the cut later.

<Ahh yes, good idea.> She said, wondering where he'd managed to scrape or tear it. <Let's take it out on my work table and have a look at it.> Kathrin lead Sythe to the back of the shop and began quickly tidying some space on her work table, mostly the sketches of suit ideas she'd shown Raine earlier that Sythe was now pondering, and some scrap fabric that hadn't gone into the prototype.

Sythe put his trunk up on the table, opened it, then very carefully picked up the coat by the shoulders and put it down on the rest of the space she'd cleared. It was one of Kathrin's earlier works, one of her first custom pieces from when she was just starting the shop. He was the newly appointed diplomat to the Human Empire and owned exactly one pair of rough work pants in a nation that disapproved of nudity. He'd ordered an entire wardrobe, with this as the crowning jewel for the most formal evening events. Kathrin had chosen a white base fabric both to stand out better against his fur, and in a crowd. It was a closed design without an under vest, so the two halves met in the middle from the neck down to the beltline. Every edge of the fabric was lined with golden trim, including a pattern of leaves sprouting out from a central stalk formed by the trim where the two halves met. It was a fairly simple pattern, made from the trim of padded cloth attached to the coat front, but it was also in fashion.

Sythe let go of the coat as quickly as he could, as though he were afraid it would shock him at any moment. With it out of his hands he packed up his trunk and put it away on the floor, before taking a healthy step back from it all together.

<So where is the damage?> Kathrin asked while gently picking up the arms, checking them for scrapes or cuts. That turned up nothing so she started checking the seams under the arms and around the shoulders, where it was most common for people to stretch tight fitting clothes and tear stitching.

<Right on the chest, in the middle of the top left leaf.> He said, pointing at it from a distance.

Kathrin followed the line of his finger and recoiled when she saw what he was pointing at; far from a tear or scrape, there was a clean cut a few inches long sliced into the chest. That was from a weapon, likely a sword. <Sythe, how did this happen?> She inquired.

Rather sheepishly Sythe replied <Well at the last conference I got into a bit of a duel.> his eyes darted awkwardly, avoiding contact with Kathrin. <Unexpectedly actually, he declared it by hurling insults and stabbing me there.>

<I heard you won!> Clovis called out across the shop.

Sythe flattened his ears defensively. He and Clovis had never gotten along, which was not surprising given she had tried to kill him twice. Sythe had been amongst those voting against Kathrin's rehabilitation plan, and, unlike many others, had made his distaste for the golden wolf well known to her. Now there was a stab wound right above his heart that had probably been prevented by one of Clovis' spells. <Yeah I ended up giving him a scar he isn't going to forget easily and that should be the end of it. But I still can't go to the Masquerade with a cut like that in my coat, and you said that the spells probably need repairing if they've been used.>

Again, Clovis had told him that, even if he very much would like to think it was all Kat; this was one of their first collaborations and she hadn't learnt enough about the spells to instruct on their use. At the very least the enchantment would need recharging with mana, if not repairing. First though, it needed to be made safe. <If the enchantments have been used then I'll need to discharge them first before I can look at repairing it.> She spoke up to make sure Clovis could hear it, because she'd only done this twice before, on training examples that Clovis had made, and with her supervising. <Let me go get the thingy for this.>

Kathrin walked along the work desk to the end of it, where she had sets of draws against the wall with various little used tools and equipment tidied away. The discharger had its own locked drawer which was dusty from infrequent use. The device was formed from two bundles of mana crystals, held together by wraps of offcut fabric with enchantments printed on them. The two bundles were then held to each other by a pair of metal rods, with one bundle at one end of the rods and the other bundle at the other end. The arrangement was, as Clovis called it, an air gap. One bundle held the discharging spell and was what Kathrin would hold, the other bundle was entirely drained of mana and was what got poked into the enchantment in hopes of catching the magical discharge. The rods had anti-mana enchantments so that nothing jumped from one bundle to the other, or then a hand. Still, this was the second such discharger Clovis had made; the first one had exploded dramatically, though neither of them had been hurt and she claimed it was proof of its safety.

Holding it firmly, Kathrin went back over to the coat and took a few deep breaths to steady herself. Even if this worked right it would cause a spark and that was probably going to make her jump. <Hold it firmly in a reverse grip, thumb on the squareish rune.> She said aloud as she went over the instructions Clovis had given her as she did them, speaking them out for her to hear and correct in case she did anything wrong. <Hold it at a forty five degree angle and slowly move the tip towards a point three inches away from the damage.>

Sythe seemed to read her own very uncertainty over using the device and took a few cautious steps backwards. In truth Kathrin would normally prefer to have Clovis do this, but he was already nervous enough with her in the room so it was time she did this herself.

The crystal at the end began to crackle slightly with magical energy as it got within an inch of the cut. <Little bit of static as I get close.> She observed for Clovis to hear as she slowed down, waiting for the magical spark, nudging the tip towards it ever so slowly, a millimeter at a time.

Nothing happened though, the blunt end of the crystal poked at where the fabric parted and Kathrin let out a long breath of relief. She hadn't even noticed she was holding it in. Sythe breathed as well. <Still no spark touching the cut.> She pulled the discharger back away from the coat and gave it a few seconds to stop fizzing from being close to the spell, then she brought it back towards the coat, this time towards the very end of the cut. <Push it into the cut at one end, and very slowly draw it up along it.> If Clovis had been busy with anything before now, she'd stopped doing it; the shop was silent except for her walking herself through the task so her apprentice was at least paying attention to her, if not preparing for if she made a mistake.

Pushing the tip of the crystal up through the scar was much less nerve wracking. The discharger was about draining any mana left over after an enchantment had violently repelled an attack and the distance it would spark was basically proportional to how much charge was left. If it hadn't sparked by now, then whatever spark it would make would at least be very small. It also meant that either the enchantment was almost entirely drained, or that it was entirely untouched. Either way Sythe had been very lucky.

Nothing continued to happen as she drew the discharger along the cut, besides the end crystal picking up a little magical static again. <So I ran the discharger all the way through the scar without anything happening. That means it's safe to work on right?> She knew Clovis was listening, but still wanted to double check with her.

<It's safe to hold and wear, not to work on!> Clovis snapped back, appearing from around the corner of a display stand (she knew which ones she was shorter than and could hide behind). <Let me go get the kit to disarm it first.> Clovis made a start towards the back room where she kept the parchment with the disarming enchantments.

<Thank you Clovis.> Kathrin beamed back happily. <See?> She said softly and to Sythe, but intentionally while Clovis was walking past them so she would hear. <She worries about me.>

Clovis didn't stop to chat, and so her grumbling reply faded out as she went deeper into the back room. <If you got hurt by one of my spells your friends would trip over each other to kill me! And I'd only have a twenty second head start on him.>

Sythe shrugged non-comitally at that. <So, what does that all mean?> he asked, slightly bemused and scratching his head.

<Ohh! That means it's just cosmetic.> Kathrin made a point of picking up the coat and holding it up to the light so she could inspect the cut closely, gently bending the fabric to open it up and check the deeper layers. <We won't have to open up the coat and work on the insides at all, I can probably just replace this leaf. Although....> She trailed off while inspecting the coat, checking the trim around the padded leaf, the way it was attached to the fabric and how it connected to the edge of the coat in the middle. <Actually, I might be able to unpick some of the trim, slip another bit of top fabric in and sew the trim back down. I don't think anyone would be the wiser for it, and it would only take me an hour or two.>

<Oh wow, that's great.> Sythe perked up at the sound of that, presumably he'd connected minimal work to a low repair bill. <But actually I mean the enchantment thingy, does that mean I didn't even need it?>

<Mhm, you dodged it by the sounds of things, at most you would have lost some fur if you'd been wearing a regular coat.> Kathrin put the garment down and glanced over her shoulder at Sythe, who still seemed unreasonably tense. She put two and two together. <So no, you don't owe Clovis anything.>

<Phew.> Sythe finally looked very relieved by that. <So, do you think you can get it done in time for the Masquerade then?> he asked.

Oh yes, now she remembered what this was all for. <Of course, in fact, I should probably be able to do this tonight if you'll still be around.> She said slightly less cheerfully, at least it would give her something to focus on this evening.

<Oh yes, that would be fantastic.> Sythe exclaimed. <I wasn't going to head back to Morlin Hall until tomorrow anyway, and that would save me a trip back here in a week.>

<Well you're welcome to stick around then, I'll get right on this as soon as Clovis will let me.> The two of them both looked towards the door to the back room of the shop, but the half fox didn't make an appropriately timed appearance there. Nor did she make a late one half a minute later. The two of them instead stood there in silence, listening to the distant sounds of her rummaging around in the back.

Sythe gave up waiting first, <So...> he began optimistically. <I take it you're making your own dress for the Masquerade?>

Kathrin slumped. She was going to have to go through all of this again then. <I'm not going to the masquerade.> she said dejectedly, then added to it before Sythe asked the obvious question. <I didn't get an invitation.>

<You didn't?> Sythe looked horrified and surprised, as though someone had just proven to him that the sky was actually green and he'd just never noticed. <But I spoke to Adira last night, and she said that last week she had to help one of Nora's couriers find your address. He hadn't been to the city recently and didn't know where your shop was.>

Kathrin raised her hands up in confusion and frustration. <They must have been delivering one of the other letters I got last week. A dozen people booked for appointments after they got their invites.> she tried not to be too angry in her tone, but she failed, because this was getting repetitive.

Sythe furrowed his brow, she'd expected him to back down on this, but to her surprise he dug in instead. <No she was certain it was one of Nora's couriers. He had...uhh... he was...> Sythe trailed off as he searched for the right words, the obvious ones apparently being the wrong ones.

Kathrin didn't see how Adira could have been so sure, not unless she'd seen the inside of the letter, or she somehow recognised the dragon's seal. Even then a good courier probably wouldn't have even shown anyone else the letter, only asked about directions to...

Then Kathrin figured out how she knew it was Nora's courier. <He'd just delivered her invitation, hadn't he?>

A very apologetic Sythe very clearly didn't want to make eye contact as he admitted <Yeah.>

<Well I didn't get any invitation.> Kathrin exclaimed in frustration, right before Clovis appeared in the doorway.

Kathrin and Sythe stared in shock at Clovis as she walked back into the room carrying a rolled up piece of parchment and a few mana crystals. <It took a while to find the right one.> She explained herself, which was as close as she ever got to apologising. Kathrin was still working on that. <I have one of these for each coat we make and it was at the bottom of course. It might even be the first one I made.>

Clovis put the parchment down on the table next to the coat. When she didn't get any response from either of them though, she actually paid attention to Sythe and Kathrins horrified expressions. <What?> she snapped at them, annoyed at the implication she'd done something wrong.

<Clovis.> Kathrin began slowly. <Did you get an invitation to the Dragon Masquerade and not tell me?>

Clovis clapped her palm to her forehead. <Yes,> she groaned between clenched teeth, then quickly answered the obvious question before it could be asked <and no, I can't give it to you or take you with me; it didn't include a guest, Nora knows better than that.>

<It didn't include a guest? Are you sure?> Sythe exclaimed, presumably his invite did include a guest, though Kathrin knew who that was for.

<Yes!> Clovis snapped back at him, <It's not a real invite, she's sent me one every year since I tried to steal the dragon mask, just to rub it in. But she only invites me because she knows I won't actually turn up.>

Kathrin grumbled as yet another opportunity to go to the masquerade slipped through her fingers. <What is the dragon mask though?> She asked curiously, since learning about it seemed to be the closest she was going to get to actually going.

She'd been expecting Clovis to answer, but she just sighed defeatedly. Kathrin kicked herself mentally for that, she'd gotten so wrapped up in how upset she wasn't going to the masquerade, she'd forgotten that the whole thing was a huge sore spot for Clovis. She would need to apologize later.

Either entirely unaware of how Clovis felt on the matter, or perhaps uncaring, Sythe took over and explained eagerly <Oh! Every Masquerade, Nora secretly picks a guest of honour who wears a really elaborate façade that's styled like a dragon. I think it's supposed to be about representing Nora or something, since she's there obviously, so there must be one dragon in the building, but you're supposed to not know who everyone else is?>

Kathrin found herself listening with rapturous attention, and some slight daydreaming about herself going as the guest of honour. Clovis was busy working with the enchantment circle she had inscribed on the parchment; laying the coat on it, arranging some mana crystals around it and channeling some mana herself to set it off; so Kathrin allowed herself to be distracted. It would probably hurt later, when she didn't get to go, but it was nice for now.

The magic Clovis was casting was notably anti-climactic when a few of the mana crystals glowed briefly and she then declared. <There, it's safe to work on now.> She started gathering up the crystals again into a bowl. <Just don't hand it back to him until I've re-armed it, it would be very embarrassing he got killed in one of our coats and it didn't do anything.>

That didn't seem to entertain Sythe very much, who perhaps had not enjoyed getting stabbed, so Kathrin quickly changed the subject to the first thing she could think of. <So why did you try to steal a mask?> Well that probably wouldn't be what Clovis wanted to talk about, more apologies later.

<Because it had a massive flawless mana crystal in the middle.> Actually Clovis didn't sound too upset by it. Then again, even though she'd been learning to be a better person from Kathrin, she had refused to be even the slightest bit apologetic for who she used to be. <Nora uses the opportunity to show it off before auctioning it privately. That's why she's rich, she's got a near monopoly on the top end mana crystal market.>

That sounded much more like Clovis, especially the bit where she took a jab at Nora. The dragon turning the prince into a woman had only been the first shots in what had become a long running rivalry that bemused everyone around them.

<I'd never thought about that before, I just assumed that being so old, she would have made lots of money doing something sooner or later.> Kathrin said. Having once been Eric's slave she'd met lots of wealthy humans, many of them quite old, and had somewhat associated the two together.

<The hoarding gold thing is mostly a myth, stemming from the fact that mana crystals grow in dragon caves and those are valuable.> She said while rolling up the parchment. <I'll go put this away in the safe.> She shook the rolled up enchantment and strode off to the back room to go file it away.

Her absence left a hole in the conversation that Kathrin filled in quickly. <I'm going to get to work on this then, I should hopefully have it done in an hour or two and you're welcome to stay and chat if you don't have anywhere else you need to be.> She said, already moving tools and making space to work on the coat.

Sythe accepted and grabbed one of the chairs nearby to sit down on while Kathrin went to work. She started with sketching out the shape of fabric she would need to insert on tailoring paper, then started to gently unpick the stitching, while Sythe talked about the latest ambassadorial work he had been doing. The most important thing was organising repatriation of wolves freed during the ongoing emancipation in the human empire, particularly trying to find any surviving family that could, and would, accept them home.

Kathrin liked hearing of the stories he had to tell. Not all of them had happy endings, sometimes he would be unable to find anyone, but it was worth it for the days he could reunite lovers or parents and children. She'd searched for her own parents briefly after being freed, or any other trace of family, but the search had turned out to be fruitless.

Sythe was good company, and it was nice to catch up with him when he'd been so busy with work, but the truth was that he was also a distraction. She needed to concentrate while cutting fabric to make an exact fit, or redoing visible stitching, but Sythe filled every moment of silence with conversation.

She was saved, by all people, by Clovis. She must have caught sight of Kathrin's frustration at redoing several stitches in a row, because she went and whispered something in Sythe's ear.

<You're joking?!> Sythe exclaimed, turning to Clovis in shock.

<I wouldn't waste the effort.> Clovis said as she turned and walked away from him.

Sythe sat leaning forwards on his chair, trying to out think Clovis. <OK, why would you tell me that?> he said, giving up.

<Spreading chaos and misery.> She was grinning as she walked away from Sythe, a mischievous grin. <Also general petty revenge, I owe her a harder time than I had time to give her myself. She'll know I sent you though, Kathrin wouldn't have told.>

That piqued her interest, and she looked up after finishing pulling the thread through. <I wouldn't tell Sythe about what?> She asked them, curiously.

Clovis chuckled. Not one of her evil chuckles, but the lesser mischievous kind. Sythe hammout an answer quickly. <Ohh, I need to go find 'Scarlet', apparently she's in town and a woman right now. I owe her some payback after that mixup with Natani's spells.>

Kathrin stifled a giggle at the memory, she remembered that incident now. It had been days before Raine and Trace had managed to turn Sythe back into a man, and Red had been relentless on her the whole time. Also, that had probably been where Raine had learnt the magic for the device Kathrin now used to control Clovis' gender.

<Do you mind if I come back in an hour or two to pick that up?> Sythe asked. He looked distracted as he glanced out the window, she presumed trying to think of where the grand templar and her 'wife' might be.

<Yes. that will be fine, we'll probably both be around later tonight so drop in any time.> she said back, while focusing in on a difficult bit of edging that needed to be folded around a curve just right.

<Thanks Kat.> He said while hurrying out the door, with a jingle. <You're amazing!>

Quiet fell on the shop at last, and Kathrin made good use of it to place the next, very difficult to make, stitch while cornering the trim. "Thank you Clovis." She said slightly exasperated as her assistant walked past, switching back to talking in human without even thinking about it. "You know Scarlet is going to hate you for that?"

"And she has no one to blame but herself." Clovis said as she went back to doing her inventory.

The shop returned to silence. Kathrin picked up the coat and looked at it longingly, because it looked amazing on Sythe and she wasn't going to see him wearing it again. At least, not any time soon, not at the masquerade.

Having Sythe talking, even if she hadn't replied much, had probably kept her mind off the masquerade. She tried not to think about it any more and did moderately well at doing so. She had a repair to concentrate on, and hopefully that would tide her over for now.