I Patronize a Tailor based upon a Legend

originally posted April 18, 2006

"Modesty, Freedom & Pride," the Tailor remarked, lifting each veil in turn for my inspection.
They were all white or whitish in color and of increasing opacity and lengths. The first of them would fall just beneath a woman's chin. The final of the three would lay below the bustline.
"Standard, but the fabric is nice," he told me.
He was a thin fellow, overworked. I thought he was young, despite the crow's feet about the eyes. He came highly recommended. Rumor had it that he worked in the great textile mills of Ar as a boy. His mother, they say, fell slave during the second trimester. There were bandages about three of his fingers. His hair was oddly unkempt, stood up here and there. It appeared he just cut it himself now and again when it occured to him to do so. If the stories were true, they say a pair of slippers worn by a thirteen year old Talena were so exquisitely embroidered that Marlenus himself sought out the fingers responsible for the delicate threading. Were it all true, it was quite the remarkable tale. A Ubar, Marlenus himself, placing him under the foster care of an Artisan House on Aulus Street in Glorious Ar, granted the slave boy his freedom. The details of how he ended up in Thentis vary, but the story is fairly consistent from telling to telling up to that point.
"Very nice," I remarked.
"This, then, is the House Veil," he said. "It is a good brocade. Nice and light, but completely opaque. I've worked a little embroidery into the edges."
I thought it was very well done and said as much. It was aqua, a color of my Caste. The aforementioned embroidery, small red paisley designs, were sewn about the edges. He continued to show me the last veil. It was longer than the others and would fall to about the waist.
"The Street Veil is quite a bit heavier, but that cannot be helped," he explained, holding it up for my inspection. "I've alternated the embroidery here. The designs are aqua against the red fabric."
"It is very nice," I remarked. Deep red, like the aqua embroidery, a color of my Caste. "And the hood?"
"Right. You mentioned Ar," he said, displaying it for me. It matched the Street Veil. "Women around these parts favor fur, but I took the liberty of lining it in a soft velvet. Better for the temperate climates where you live."
He showed me the robe itself next. It was a high collared affair and, like the Street Veil and matching hood, it was deeply red, brocaded. The aqua embroidery was repeated high on the neck, at the cuffs of the sleeves and the hem of the garment. It was pleated in a manner that would allow it to hang modestly on a woman, concealing what lay beneath. The bodice closed by means of hooks. There were no jewels or pearls worked into the fabric, but none would deny it was a fine garment. I paid the fellow the agreed upon price and, because his work was of a quality fine enough to catch the eye of a Ubar, whether the stories were true or not, I tipped him generously. For the past few days, I have been considering a Contract of Companionship. It is only fitting that the woman wear robes befitting my Caste.