Weavespinner

"I doubt that it would come to that, Lord General," Je

"I'm here, Keeper!" a male voice called from behind the curtain. "I'll be out directly, if you'll pardon my audacity!"

"Take your time, Cass," she called with a smile. "We're not going anywhere anytime soon."

Tarrin absorbed that. It was a little hard to believe, but the reaction of the people to Je

Strange, how fate never seems to cooperate with plans.

The tailor Cass came out, and Tarrin was a bit startled. It wasn't a human being. Cass was a Wikuni, a silver fox Wikuni. He vaguely reminded him of Keritanima in his face and tail, but where Keritanima's fur was red, brown, white, and black, Cass' fur was silver, white, bluish, and a white-beige the color of bone. His muzzle was a bit sharper than Keritanima's, and he was taller and a bit more stocky than she, but that had to be because he was a boy. He had the strangest hair, for it was a definite shade of blue, cropped close and with silver ears with white and bluish tips jutting out from it. He wore a very elegant linen shirt under a blue doublet that was very well made, gored with red satin on the sleeves and with a strange crest of some sort on the left breast. His trousers were made of some kind of very sturdy yet soft-looking fabric Tarrin had never seen before, cut in a strangely baggy style that gave him lots of room. He wore leathers shoes on his feet, which was unusual for Wikuni, he had noticed. Of all the ones he'd seen around the Tower and such, only Keritanima and Miranda seemed to wear shoes. Both of them had very small, dainty feet, though, so it was probably no effort to put them in shoes. He bowed with fluid elegance to the Keeper, his tail flourishing behind him in a rolling ma

"This is my brother, Tarrin," she introduced. "He had an accident today, and lost all his clothes. So he needs a full set."

"I see. It is good to meet you, Tarrin," he said, looking Tarrin up and down in a critical ma

"Nothing fancy," she replied. "Functional clothes. Rugged would be good. Tarrin is rather hard on clothing."

"I have nothing right now that will fit him, Keeper," he said confidently. "I can have something ready tomorrow, and the rest done by the end of the tenday."

"Good. Tarrin, tell him what you want."

"Uh, nothing fancy, your honor," he said. "I don't like frilly things. Just plain old shirts and trousers will be fine."

"Plain can be challenging sometimes," he said, clicking his teeth in an eerie ma

"Uh, fine."

"Very good. Is cost an issue here, Keeper?"

"Not really," she said. "But I don't think we need anything made of dragonhide."

"Not quite that exotic, but I do have access to some Selani fiber cloth. It's rather expensive, but it makes very rugged clothing."

"That sounds fine to me," Je

"I'd be delighted to do so, Keeper," he said with a nod.

"Then we're done?"

"I would say so, Keeper," he nodded.

"Don't you need to measure him?" Ulger asked.

"I've already done so, good Knight," Cassiter said mildly. "When he came in. I can guarantee his clothes will fit perfectly."

"Well, I'm not paying for them, so I guess I don't have much say," he said with a grin. "Then again, it doesn't sound like you've reached a price."

"It's very simple, good Knight. I charge twenty percent more than it costs for me to buy the materials. Flat rate, whether it takes me an hour or a tenday to finish the order. I find haggling to be very tiring and a waste of time."

"How do we know what that was?"

"For those who don't do regular business with me, they receive a bill," he said calmly. "My regulars know they won't be cheated."

"Cass is the best tailor in Suld, Ulger," Je

"Well, that's alright then," Ulger gri

"Not all of us are money-grubbing cheats, sir Knight," Cassiter said calmly.

"I think we'd better go, before Ulger here says something we'll regret," Darvon grunted.

"I'm not offended, Lord General," Cassiter said mildly. "Most Wikuni merchants are money-grubbing cheats. I don't make excuses for my people."

"Well, you're better than most of them," Darvon said with a slight smile. "And I'm surprised you know who I am."

"I have eyes, my Lord General. Your breastplate denotes your rank."

"Not many know that," he said in an impressed ma

"It's not hard to find out," he shrugged. "If one is willing to take the time to learn, anyway. I'll have the clothes sent to the Tower, Keeper. Shall I drop them off at the gate?"

"I'll make arrangements. Send me the bill when you're done."

He nodded. "Then if you'll pardon me, I have a customer waiting for me on the fitting stand. Holding her arms up with about fifty pins threatening to jab her in many different places. I should really get back to her."

"We'll see ourselves out, Cass. Thank you."

"Any time, Keeper," he said with a nod.

They plunged back out into the crowd, and it was slow going once again. Tarrin didn't feel very comfortable with all those people surrounding him, shouting and calling to Je

Tarrin though they were going back to the Tower, but he found out that he was mistaken. They moved deeper into Suld, to the edge of the wall near the harbor on the south side, and once again they got out. This time there were no throngs of adoring citizens, for they were in what looked to be an area of craftsmen rather than merchants. The carriage stopped before a silversmith's shop, from the looks of it, with all the silver plates and goblets hanging and standing behind a window protected by a very heavy set of iron bars to prevent a thief from simply breaking the window and making off with the display pieces. Je