Fade by Viola Grace Page A

She needs to be appropriate but have full range of motion, so one of the styles used for my niece would suit her.”
    Keeku perked up. “Lady, what is your talent?”
    “I can pass through objects.”
    “Do your clothes remain on you?”
    “If I wish them to, Mistress Keeku.” She smiled politely.
    “How long is your hair when straight?” Keeku picked up a notepad and started to make notes and measurements as she wandered around.
    “Um, it hangs to the back of my knees.”
    Keeku smiled and nodded. “Excellent. What will you be called?”
    Lord Akutan smiled, “Fade.”
    Amy blinked and sighed. “Apparently. Do you need to see my talent in action?”
    “If you wouldn’t mind?”
    Amy took a few steps forward and swept her arm toward an elaborate display. Keeku gasped, but Amy’s arm went right through her target, and when she held her hand out to Keeku again, she opened it to expose the small box of pins she had taken from the tower of sale items.
    Lord Akutan tried to look like he was unsurprised, but she could see the impressed gleam in his eyes.
    Keeku cleared her throat. “Right, so you need free motion but having wide sleeves is not an issue.”
    “It is not. Do you need to take measurements?”
    “I already have. Gauging things by eye is not as impressive a talent, but I do make an excellent living with it.”
    “Now, Mistress Keeku, did Lady Jinu ask you to prepare something when she last stopped in?”
    The seamstress nodded. “Just a moment, my lord.”
    She disappeared in the back and came out with a bundle of cloth wrapped around something else.
    He held up his hand when she would have opened the parcel. “Have it brought to the palace as soon as you are able.”
    “Of course, my lord.” The seamstress bowed.
    “We will continue on our journey then. Good afternoon.”
    Completely befuddled as to what was going on, Amy allowed him to complete the circuit through every shop in the village. She smiled at each nervous proprietor and admired their goods, whether it was baking, pens or leather work.
    She was tired from the minute steps that the clothing forced her to take, her legs ached with strain and she was relieved when a boy was sent to bring Vedu to them.
    Akutan hoisted her onto the effu’s back, and he mounted in front of her. She wearily put her arms around him and leaned her head against his back as they climbed back up to the palace.
    She dropped a little heavily into his arms when he lifted her off Vedu. “That was both confusing and tiring.”
    He smiled and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “It will all be explained shortly. Take a bath and a nap. You will be woken when it is time.”
     
     

 
     
     
    Chapter Ten
     
     
    Amy didn’t have a choice. Teriki took charge of her and ushered her to the back of the palace, scrubbing and nudging her into the tub without brooking complaint.
    Her muscles eased in the hot water, and she sighed.
    Teriki sat next to her and poured a cup of tea. “Here you are, lady. You look exhausted.”
    Amy chuckled. “Thank you very much. It was a confusing morning on top of a fairly sleepless night.”
    “All will be made clear in a few hours. Drink your tea.”
    A pot of tea, some light snacks and a thorough massage later, Amy wanted nothing more than to nap where she was on the raised massage platform, so they let her.
     
    The sun was reddening the sky when the four maids shook her awake. She was coaxed into a dressing chamber and offered one last chance to relieve herself before they started.
    After all necessities were taken care of, they surrounded her and began the laborious process of layering her in nine different robes, each as light as a feather. Watching in the mirror, Amy could see the care they took so that each layer was slightly exposed under the next. When they had her extend her arms out to her sides and they flipped the sleeves up and out of the way, the wrap that held everything in place and doubled as a corset was wrapped