‘Oh, let’s not miss the opening,’ Spacia told Tenna. Rosa had accompanied Cleve into the station and was helping Penda serve the Boll group a second breakfast after their long run.
So the two girls had excellent seats to watch the two Lord Holders do the official walk through the Gather.
‘There’s Haligon,’ Spacia said, her tone hard, pointing.
‘Which one?’
‘He’s wearing brown,’ Spacia said.
Tenna was none the wiser. ‘There are a lot of people wearing brown.’
‘He’s walking just behind Lord Groghe.’
‘So are a lot of other people.’
‘He’s got the curliest head of hair,’ Spacia added.
There were two who answered that description but Tenna decided it was the shorter of the young men, the one who walked with a definite swagger. That had to be Haligon. He was handsome enough, though she liked the appearance of the taller man in brown more: not as attractive perhaps, but with a nicer grin on his face. Haligon obviously thought himself very much the lad, from the smug expression on his face.
Tenna nodded. She’d give him what-for, so she would.
‘C’mon, we should change before the mob get upstairs,’ Spacia said, touching Tenna’s arm to get her attention.
Now that she had identified Haligon, Tenna was quite ready to be looking her very best. Spacia was also determined to assist and took pains with Tenna’s appearance, fluffing her hair so that it framed her face, helping her with lip colour and a touch of eye shadow.
‘Bring out the blue in ’em, though your eyes are really grey, aren’t they?’
‘Depends on what I’m wearing.’ Tenna gave a little twirl in front of the long mirror in the room, watching the bias-cut swirl around her ankles. As Spacia had suggested, the anklets took up the spare room in the toes of the borrowed boots. Nor did they look ungainly on the end of her legs as her long feet usually did. She was really quite pleased with her looks. And had to admit, with a degree of satisfaction, that she looked ‘pretty’.
Then Spacia stood beside her, the yellow of her gown an attractive contrast to Tenna’s deep blue.
‘Ooops, I’d better find you some spare runner cords or everyone’ll think you’re new in the Harper Hall.’
No spare cords were found, though Spacia turned out all the drawers.
‘Maybe I should be Harper Hall,’ Tenna said thoughtfully. ‘That way I can deal with Haligon as he deserves before he suspects.’
‘Hmm, that might be the wiser idea, you know,’ Spacia agreed.
Rosa came rushing in, pulling at her clothes in a rush to change.
‘Need any help?’ Spacia asked as Rosa pulled her pink, floral-printed Gather dress from its hanger.
‘No, no but get down there and keep Felisha from Cleve. She’s determined to get him, you know. Waltzed right in before he’d finished eating and started hanging on his arm as if they were espoused.’ Rosa’s voice was muffled as she pulled the dress over her head. They all heard a little tearing and Rosa cried out in protest, standing completely still, the dress half-on. ‘Oh, no, no! What did I rip? What’ll I do? How bad is it? Can you see?’
While the seam had only parted a bit, and Spacia was threading a needle to make the repairs, Rosa was so disturbed at the thought of her rival that Tenna volunteered to go down.
‘You know which one Cleve is?’ Rosa asked anxiously and Tenna nodded and left the room.
She identified Felisha before she did Cleve. The girl, with a mop of curly black tangles half-covering her face, was flirting outrageously with the tall, lantern-jawed runner. He had an engaging smile, though a trifle absent, as he kept looking towards the stairs. Tenna chuckled to herself. Rosa needn’t worry. Cleve was obviously uncomfortable with Felisha’s coy looks and the way she kept tossing her hair over her shoulder, letting it flick into his face.
‘Cleve?’ she asked as she approached them. Felisha glared at her and gave her head a perceptible tilt to indicate to Tenna to move on.
‘Yes?’ Cleve moved a step closer to Tenna, and further from Felisha who then altered her stance to put her arm through his in a proprietary fashion that obviously annoyed Cleve.