"A letter? For me?" Audrey asked in astonishment, her face completely baffled as she set down her tea with a faint clink and then reached out to take the folded letter from the Roquian trader. The letter was somewhat thick and the black-haired
Gerrard could feel that there was at least another paper inside of it. Inadvertently, when he handed the letter to the couturier, the paper that was folded inside the letter slipped off and like a feather, it fell opened upon his lap and the trader could clearly see the familiar handwriting legibly written on the parchment.
The paper was clearly familiar, clearly wrinkled, a sure sign that it was opened and folded a dozen or so times. What was quite astonishing was that he could clearly see that it was his own handwriting. It was definitely
his.
“Oh dear heavens! How clumsy of me!†The brunette woman exclaimed with a loud apologetic gush. "Can you be a dear and hand it to me, Sir?" She waited for the other piece of the letter and with a slight, perplexed frown, she opened the first missive and read it for a few flickers, her eyes flickering from right to left as she completely devoured what was written and not satisfied, she opened the other letter and read it as well.
"I definitely need a new assistant now! Dear me, how could I have forgotten sending my nephew to Kings Court yesterday?" She cried out worriedly. "And he insisted I meet this..." The couturier frowned and then lifted the second letter and read it once more. "Master Trader
Mackaree... Never mind... I shall reply to him later this trade tide. I pray to Dominicus I won't be able to overlook this." With that decided, the brunette woman folded the two parchment together and slipped them inside the pocket of her skirt.
Sighing, she lifted her tea once more and sipped it very carefully, taking a piece of a biscuit and munched on it thoughtfully for a few flickers. "I have grown accustomed to my nephew taking care of this shop." Audrey explained apologetically to
Gerrard. "He'd been my apprentice for more than a yahren now and yesterday, I sent him to Kings Court to manage my other shop there. Oh my, where does the time go?"
"Oh, you've been to the Eastern Empire, Sir? How remarkable!" Audrey exclaimed, her eyes widening, clearly impressed. "You must be a traveled man. I can only imagine the colorful and exotic sights and places you've seen. It must have been very wondrous experience for you, sir." Leaning closer, she settled her cup down to the coffee table once more and asked, "And their tea? You don't say? They're better than the
Simple Pleasures? Surely, you must have brought a few leaves with you, Sir, I would be more than willing to buy them just to taste a sip or two."
With a loud gasp of delight that echoed loudly around the shop, the brunette couturier took the shirt and with both her hands, she lifted the silken shirt before her and gawked at it for more than a burn or so. "Eastern Style..." Audrey murmured, her eyes glimmering with delight as if given a very delightful gift. "I've seen one but not like this... How very curious! The pattern is quite simple but..." With tender hands, she rubbed the cloth to her cheeks, feeling the smoothness of it. "I've never seen silk like this before." Audrey exclaimed to herself and frowning with purpose, she crumpled the silken shirt into a ball, applying enough pressure until it fitted both her hands cupped and clasped together.
"Remarkable!" The brunette murmured with awe. "Pure silk, but not any silk I have ever seen. Kislovan and T'aquar produce a different kind of silk..." she continued, still holding the silken shirt between her clasped hands. "So does World's Mouth but their silk isn't pure. Watch this..." Audrey looked at the trader with a mysterious smile and without any hesitation, she unclasped her hands and out came the silken shirt, suddenly spreading and jumping from her hands. With purpose, Audrey shook off the shirt for a few flicker and then raised it with both her hands.
"Pure silk doesn't wrinkle much."
Clearly,
Gerrard could see that the silken shirt had a line or two of wrinkle despite the pressure that was given to it a few flickers ago.
"Well..." Audrey's nose crinkled as she offered the shirt back to the trader. "As for someone manufacturing that kind of silk, I can't say that I know anyone... Hmnnn...." She frowned and then smiled as she took the
letter from her pocket and handed
Gerrard the missive he had written himself. "We received an offer from a fabric manufacturer from Roque. If you want, sir, we can both talk to him about it. The missive says that he knows where to get Eastern Silk and I for one am deeply interested."