Colours

Writers: Eimi, Yvonne
Date Posted: 1st April 2006

Characters: Penryn, Thalia
Description: Penryn goes to Thalia for advice (!!!)
Location: Garnet Valley Hold
Date: month 10, day 22 of Turn 3

"All right, I brought all the possible outfits that I thought that I
could wear for the dinner. Which one do you want to see first?"
Penryn asked as he carefully started laying the clothing across the
back of the sofa. "I really don't know where to start."

"Mmmm." Thalia crossed her legs and looked primly at the offerings.
They were in her apartment - perhaps not entirely appropriate, but it
wasn't as if anyone would dare spread rumors about her so soon after
her husband's death. Besides - it was nice to have visitors to
entertain. "Well, the grey tunic is horribly out of style, so we can
cross that off the list immediately. How about the blue tunic with
the garnet piping?"

**Out of style?** He _loved_ that grey tunic. "Ok. What pants?"

"Either the dark grey or the black." She pursed her lips. "What do
you think?"

"Grey?" he asked uncertainly.

"Try that on first, then."

"All right then," the Steward said pulling the tunic and pants from
the back of the couch. "I'll be right back. Is it all right if I
use your bathing chamber or is there somewhere... more appropriate?"

Thalia felt her cheeks grow hot, and suddenly developed a great
interest in her cup of tea. More sugar, perhaps... "My bathing
chamber will be just fine." She picked up her spoon, averted her
eyes, and ladled a heaping spoonful into her cup.

He cleared his throat as he too realized that the room was rather
warm. Penryn almost offered to run down to his office to change, but
he had seen the inside of her bathing chamber before... Ah well,
best to get it over with.

Once he was out of sight Thalia set down her cup, stood, and wandered
over to where Penryn had draped his clothing over the couch. She ran
a hand over them, then held up the grey tunic for inspection.
**Salvageable,** she decided, **perhaps by applying some ribbon
around
the collar and hem, and changing those nasty buttons on the sleeves.
Embroidered ribbon... a pale yellow and garnet, maybe? Or maybe
grey-green...** She folded it neatly and lay it gently on a cushion.
There was a notable dearth of jackets, as well... she picked up one
of the two he'd brought, which was a rich, dark red piped with
black. She decided that it would look rather dashing, given his
colouring. **Both of us being blue-eyed and light haired makes it
easier to choose colours...** Thankfully Penryn was also tanned
enough to wear something that strongly coloured without looking
washed out, or overly ruddy.

"Looking for more ideas?" Penryn asked as he emerged from the bathing
chamber. "I'm not so sure this tunic goes with these pants. I could
be wrong though. But I think the color might be a little off."

She wrinkled her nose at him. "You're learning - they don't go well."
She held out the jacket and plucked a pair of black trousers from the
pile. "Try these, and... and the grey tunic, maybe, although it will
need some alterations."

"Alterations?" he asked with a slight pout. It had been one of his
favorites for turns! So what if it wasn't _exactly_ in style now?
It was really _out_ of style, was it? "Well, which one should I try
first?"

"Try them all on together." She grinned and deposited the clothing in
his arms. "Blue _is_ quite fetching on you, but I really like the
look of that jacket, and together I'm afraid it might be too much."

Penryn did as he was bid and walked into the bathing chamber and
changed into the black trousers. He then slipped grey tunic on and
inspected himself in the mirror. What was so bad about it? He
thought it looked rather distinguished. With a shrug he walked out.
"All right, here is the grey one."

The Lady held out the jacket. "Put this on."

He took the jacket and obediently slipped it on over the tunic.
"Should I button it?"

"Mmmm... no. You'll roast!" Thalia came over to stand in front of
him, and reached out to adjust the lapels. "You're lucky that garnet
does nice things for you. Just imagine what you'd have to wear if we
lived at Topaz Sea Hold!"

"I would imagine something topaz?" he said with a sarcastic smirk.

"Penryn!" She gave his jacket lapels a sharp tug. "You have _no_ idea
what it's like to be forced into something yellow. Jaundiced is not a
good colour on anyone."

Penryn chuckled. "So coming to Garnet Valley was a fashion choice
then?"

She rolled her eyes. "My father thought I'd look _stunning_ in
garnet, yes."

"Well, you're father was right at least," the steward said as he
turned to find a mirror.

Thalia smiled and lowered her eyes. "If only all marriages were
arranged as thoughtfully..."

Penryn frowned thoughtfully at his reflection and turned back to face
her. "So what do you think?"

"I think that's what you ought to wear. If you won't roast in the
jacket, that is. And once the tunic is altered a bit..."

"All right, what's _wrong_ with my tunic?" he asked, turning towards
the mirror again. "I think it looks fine."

Ooops... sore spot! Thalia reached out to brush an imaginary speck of
lint off his shoulder so she wouldn't have to look him in the eye.
"It just... needs a little sprucing up, that's all!"

He frowned slightly. "But its a good color on me at least."

"It's funny - the harpers say that grey isn't a colour at all. Have
you heard that?"

"No," Penryn said with a curious light in his eyes. "How can it not
be a color?"

She shrugged. "I'm not really sure. It has something to do with the
fact that there is no colour grey when you put a prism into sunlight,
and how it's a lack of colour rather than a real colour."

"That doesn't make sense," the steward chuckled. "How can you have
shades of grey if there is no color in it? You can't have shades of
nothing. Nothing is just nothing."

"They also think that white and black aren't colours." The ruse
seemed to have worked - he'd forgotten about the tunic!

"Hmmm, well, yes, I suppose you can't have shades of black or white.
Unless you consider grey as shades of black and white." It had most
certainly worked. That would be a thought that Penryn would have to
ponder for a while. Maybe Carlan would know...

Thalia smiled, feeling smug as she tucked an errant strand of blond
hair behind her ear. Now all she had to do was get Penryn _out_ of
the tunic... to get someone to do those alterations, of course. Of
_course_.

Last updated on the April 30th 2006

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