It is dawn, and the seagulls screeching as they fight over their breakfasts invades Kairi’s dream, pulling her from it, and placing her where she last layed herself down. She rolls her head to one side, spitting the sand from her lips. The sandy floor of her dye hut isn’t the most upstanding place to sleep, but it’s more comfortable than the rock floor of her new manor. Anyways, she likes being woken up to the sounds of the sea. It brings back memories.
She does a push up and slides herself out from underneath the dye table. She rolls onto her back and stares up at the thatched ceiling. With the back of her arm she rubs the sand that’s embedded itself into her skin from her face.
"Mornin’ Sunshine!" Tully says, announcing his presence. He is always there, bright and early, prepping the shop for the days sales. She tilts her head up to see him, smiles, and lays it back down. "Whatcha ‘ave on yer schedule ta-day Miss?" Tully takes out a notebook and flips it to the next empty page. He dips a quill in ink, and waits for her to dictate.
"No to-do list today, Tully" she says melancholically. With a sigh, she hoists herself up into a kneeling position. She throws her long and loosely twisted locks over her head, shaking the sand out with her fingers.
"No?!" Tully exclaimed, sounding shocked by this. For months he’s been taking down her to-do lists. Every so often, she would find herself at the hut, lost, forgetting what she was supposed to be doing. It helped her stay on track.
"Today, I would like to dictate a letter. To my sister, Ellora, of Oakglen." Tully nods his head and rips the clean sheet from the notebook. "To Ellora..Vel?" he says as he readies the quill.
"My dearest sister Ellora," she responds. "It is a personal letter, Tully. Please, take this down word for word".
As Tully takes to writing in the slow steady manner that he does, Kairi flings her hair back over head, letting it fall softly on her shoulders. She knee-crawls over to her full length mirror. Sitting crosslegged in front of it, she leans in close to her reflection. She gazes into her doe shaped eyes, green with a star of light brown around the pupils. She muses a moment, losing herself within these windows to her soul…reflecting on memories, reflecting on her true nature.
"I regret to inform you that I am nearing my end, for I, your half-blood born kindred, am suffering from the ailments of human minds at this age. I have been…"
She pauses, stuck now in the trance her eyes have put upon her. Everything goes blank; she knows of only her reflection at that moment in time.
Tully clears his throat, and she slowly comes back to reality. "I…" she pauses and looks around, not knowing what she was saying.
Tully re-reads what she already dictated. For fear of getting stuck again, she sways back from her reflection and starts doing her hair. She twists her soft butter locks into one rope braid, and fastens it to the side with a scrap piece of leather lace. She pulls some of the side hair down over her slender pointed ears to cover them, all the while knowing that later on in the day when she becomes more disheveled, they will poke through. But for right now, it brings her comfort to see them disappear behind the tufts of hair. "I have been blessed with my youthful appearance.. no, scratch that Tully. I can’t remember what I was getting at."
"No worries, Ma’m. Take yer time."
She sweeps the palm of her hand over her light beige complexion, getting rid of a few grains of sand that don’t seem to want to part from her. Displeased with her paleness, she pulls a sewing needle from the sand next to the mirror, and pricks the end of her fingertip. She squeezes the wound until a bead of blood forms. Kairi traces her fingertip across the pout of her bottom lip, and dabs the high arches of her top lip. She smacks her lips together, now bloodstained and reddened with her natural lipstick. Next, she smears a streak of blood across each cheek, rubbing it into her skin in a fashion that gives the illusion that she doesn’t have such high of cheekbones. This is an elven characteristic that she dislikes, as well. She prefers the rounded faces of humans over the heart-shaped ones.
"Ma’m?" Tully asks, quietly. This letter had begun to depress him. He knew for a long time she was stricken with something, but didn’t know it was this bad. Or, maybe he just denied it. Every day he walked into a shop where his employer was the kindest, most beautiful creature he had ever encountered. He had grown to respect her, if not love her, even though he knew some of her dealings were less than legal. Hell, she found him in the sewers, and everything is less than legal down there!
"Oh yes!" she exclaims. She grins at her reflection in the mirror, putting on her most sincere of smiles, her eyes curling up into half moons as she masks her gloom within. "I do not have a child, nor a husband. I wish for you dear sister, to be my heir. I have, since your visit, built a small clothing empire for myself and have aquired a small manor in the town of Mythndale. If I shall pass, I write you this, as my last will and testament. All I own is yours, so long as you tie up any loose ends. Tully has my diary, and all my business dealings are written therein. Complete any tasks left open, and take my pride as your own. If I could see you one more time, I so do wish it. But I know we left on bad terms, and I am eternally regretful. Your’s Truely, Kairi Vel."
Tully pokes the paper with the quill as the last sentence is completed. Kairi gets up and opens her chest. She pulls out a lovely dress with frills and laces, and pulls it on over her petticoat. Tully walks over and she turns her back to him. He pulls the corset strings taught and ties them, so that it hugs her slim waist and squeezes her cleavage together provocatively. He then fits a circlet to her head, making her look fit for nobility. She brushes the remaining sand from her arms, takes a deep breath, puts on a fake smile, and takes a few light steps out the door. Before moving onward, she turns to Tully and asks, "What’s on the list for today?"
