Back inside the hut, Faris, along with Variann were going through the selection of readily made attire Cheiro had in stock. She kept many diffents types of clothing—all of which she had personally made by hand. Designing clothing after all was how Lady Cheiro herself passed the time, whenever she wasn't tending to simple errands, or designing specialized clothing for her clientele.
As the seamstress herself lived in limited space, all her designs had been well organized with the mind the more would be added later, so there were many display cases of varying sizes which were each compact and served a separate purpose. As they went through them, Cheiro had been there to help fold each article back the way Variann had found it, as to keep everything nice and neat while making their selection.
As the young girl seemed to be unwilling to be set on the floor, Variann set her up on Cheiro's sewing chair, and helped Faris try on various combinations of blouses, bonnets, puffball shorts, skirts and dresses. Admittedly, she remained quite cute in each combination, and Cheiro even helped with the suggestions.
When Faris' feet barely just touched the floor, she came off as surprised, jolting slightly from the unfamiliar sensation. Curiously, Faris watched as she began wiggling her knees one at a time as her toes rolled over the floor beneath her.
For the moment, it was as though she had barely even experienced being alive. For her, she practically only just learned how to move her upper limbs, and barely spoke a single word. The whole world still felt new to her as she was now, and she soon raised her attention to Lady Cheiro who now held before her another style of dress.
"What do you say of this one dear? I believe this one is more your size," Cheiro suggested, walking over.
Variann looked surprised, and would soon find herself smiling at the upcoming scene. For the moment, she was standing off to the side, closer to the display closet. Cheiro had grabbed a neatly folded garment from one of the many cases, as she recalled a relatively recent project she had done, one which had gone unnoticed.
Upon unraveling the attire before them, the folds fell, unveiling a light weight dress.
Faris had reacted to the unraveling, her gaze falling onto the small dress for a still moment. Then she looked between that and Lady Cheiro, gazing back to the dress before her once again.
From what she could see, the dress was light in color, primarily soft pink with touches of pastel periwinkle.
It was a free flowing dress, where on the bodice were three horizontal strips of pastel periwinkle blossoms—rosette appliqué—spaced apart. At the armscye on each side, a single, little, decorative bow of pastel periwinkle sat on the center edge. The dress had no sleeves and the fabric would come halfway over the shoulder.
"Do you like the color?" Variann asked Faris as she stepped closer.
As she approached, Faris looked over from the dress to Vari, as she slightly sank back into the chair and raised her gaze. Subtle movements could be seen on Faris's lips, hesitating to make a sound.
A slight hum came off her, as she tried to find the right sound, "Like..." Faris faintly repeated.
In order to get a better look, Variann helped Cheiro change Faris out of the white, over-sized shirt she had been wearing, and replaced it with the well-fitted dress.
Now wearing the new dress, Variann had made the decision to walk back to the display closet, and returned with alabaster-colored bell bottoms to be worn underneath.
Carefully, Variann took Faris's hands, and helped her onto her feet.
As Faris was lifted, she stood shakily—unfamiliar with the feeling of standing.
Looking down at her own two feet, her hands held onto Variann's desperately for support.
Faris appeared to be scared at first, as her whole body trembled at this experience.
As she was now standing, it could be seen that on the back of the dress, there were three extra strips of pastel periwinkle ribbons which were sewn on loosely. The ribbons hung horizontally, only being sewn off at each end, allowing the ribbons to curve down with the primary, soft pink fabric peaking out underneath—between each gap. They were similarly spaced to that of the rosette appliqué from the front of the dress, but the ribbons had a marginally wider width. Underneath the ribbons, was a pastel periwinkle bow, just above the skirt portion of the dress.
With the dress having been designed for a small individual, the alabaster bell bottoms stuck out under it perfectly, mostly covered but peaking out a few inches. Faris's white tail stuck out from between the bell bottoms worn and the small dress.
Being that Variann herself did traditionally wear footwear, Faris was allowed to be left barefoot. After all, as with Faris's hands, Variann knew her feet too would have the paw pads relative to such—even though they weren't looked upon directly.
Faris is a hybrid-type nekomata, not having paws, nor having the typical prints that a person would have on their hands and feet.
"It's okay dear, I've got you," Variann assured Faris.
Variann wouldn't let Faris fall, but she wanted to see if Faris was capable of standing for herself.
Still feeling shaky, Faris slowly raised her gaze to meet Variann's eyes, and her legs grew shakier at that point as well. Variann could feel Faris practically dropping, her legs all but giving out, yet Variann continued to give Faris support.
Faris's wide-eyed gaze hadn't parted from Variann's for even a moment, and Cheiro stood aside as she observed the young girl gradually growing more familiar with standing on her feet.
"The poor thing. It's as though she hasn't done this before," Cheiro noted.
Variann silently nodded in agreement, all without turning away from Faris's gaze, and continued to extend out a soft, affirming smile. Faris, hearing Cheiro's voice, turned he gaze over—her lips hanging slightly parting in a fixed expression of curiosity, still trembling as she felt unbalanced.
"It would seem she doesn't remember much of anything, if anything at all," Variann verbally agreed as a quiet moment passed. "She has been this way since waking up. She was all alone when I found her," Variann explained.
"Unconscious?" Cheiro asked.
"Mmhmm," Variann confirmed. "I was scouting the forest, and wasn't able to pick up anyone else in the area, so I brought her back with me."
For Cheiro, not recognizing Faris now made sense. Faris wasn't a part of the village, and now here she is—a small stranger, one that was lost.
"Sounds like she had quite the dilemma—one so young and all alone."
"The Tanzha seem to have an idea of why she is like this, so they'll be coming back for her later," Variann explained.
As the conversation carried on, Faris glanced over the two of them—watching how their mouths and faces changed through the conversation, though she knew not what they were saying throughout. She would occasionally blink, her expression remaining curious still.
"Will that be soon?" Cheiro asked.
Variann didn't really know the answer to this, and her hesitation made that clear.
"They may," she slowly answered.
"In any case my dear, is this the outfit you wish for her?" Cheiro asked.
Variann smiled brighter, her eyes softening along with it. Faris had immediately noticed this.
"It's perfect," she replied.
"Just one more thing I think," Cheiro responded, as she went back to the closet.
"Complimentary my dear," she stated, as she brought over two matching rosette cuffs with white frills just barely poking out underneath to pair along with it. "These should suit her as well~"
"Oh, thank you," Variann accepted softly.
Cheiro passed them over, and while keeping a steady hold on Faris's balance, Variann stuck out her pinky finger to take hold of the cuffs as well. She then would intricately maneuver her hands to slip the cuffs between her hands, onto her own wrists while maintaining the hold, and then carefully onto Faris.
Faris looked down to the soft fabric cuffs that now hug her wrists, and the loosely flowing dress that held her body.
"What do you think?" Variann asked Faris warmly, pulling her curious, slightly shaking gaze back again.
Inside Kenrir's quarters, Alena, Kazran and Tatalia had settled in to visit.
It had been a little more than a few days now since Sem and Tatalia had dropped Alena off on Kenrir's doorstep, and as so much had happened in the short period—Kenrir seeing Tatalia with his students unexpectedly, had decided to invite them all in. Elijah as usual, was presently perched up over Alena's shoulder.
"Good day Sir Ken," Tatalia greeted, as the all entered into his quarters.
Right away, Alena and Kazran found a place to take a seat down on their knees.
Tatalia on the other hand, remained standing by the door, and gave Kenrir a full, respectful bow.
"It has been a bit now," she stated mid bow.
Kenrir nodded to Tatalia in an unmoved appreciation—not being one to bow for much of anyone himself.
"It has," he agreed. "Did Sem make it back alright?" he then asked.
"He has," Tatalia answered.
Alena naturally turned over her shoulder to get a glimpse of her mother's reaction.
"How come daddy didn't come too?" she asked.
"He's resting at the moment. He was fast asleep when I left," Tatalia answered the two of them.
"It's good to know he's at least trying to take care of himself. He's been long due for some family time I'd say," said Kenrir.
As he spoke, Alena's attention was averted to him.
"I agree," Alena stated, "Daddy is always so busy."
Kenrir then nodded to Alena in a knowing confirmation. He understood that Alena didn't know the extent of reasoning behind his choice of words, and for her sake, he would keep it that way.
"I believe you had something to return to me?" he asked.
Alena perked up at attention, and the following moment reached out to pass over thekey.
"Thank you very much for lending it to me," Alena said, as she laid herself briefly forward, extending out her full respect before lifting back to her seated positioning.
Kazran and Tatalia too paid attention to the gesture, each with some surprise, as a bow of that degree was one of the highest respects.
Seeing such a gesture brought a smile to Tatalia, as it was a clear sign that her daughter was adapting well in such a short period of time.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to keep this short, as I now have some matters of my own to tend to," Kenrir exclaimed, lifting his attention to meet Tatalia's glance.
"I understand," she replied.
"We have more training to get back to after a short break as well," Kazran added in.
Everyone gave their gestures of understanding, and in a matter of minutes, they came together just to go about their ways once again.
"Train well," said Kenrir, directing her attention to Alena.
Alena gave a shorter bow, and with that, she arose to her feet as Kazran followedsuit.
"Be well sensei," said Kazran, as he too gave a bow to Kenrir.
Tatalia half waved, then the three of them exited from his quarters, sliding the door shut behind them.
Kenrir stood there watching, and waited for the sounds of footsteps to disappear. As they did, he turned his back, and returned the library key to its proper place.
In the next moment, Kenrir found himself resting his hand on the key box, as he began to reflect upon a conversation of the recent past—coming to stand still...
"It's about your sister..." Kenrir's voice in the memory began...