Through the years, Reinette had become quite proficient when it came to altering her appearance. There was the theater, of course. Costumes and changes and the delicately woven threads of fantasy.

But then there was the business of entertaining a king. It was her role to see him to bed each evening and greet him with a smile after mass each morning. And always, perfectly dressed.

Once she had marveled at the textures and the touch of the fabrics, how the felt moving over her skin. How her hair breathed after as evening held at bay. But some of that was lost, she could fully admit. She was more shopkeeper now.

Reinette tried to bring herself back, then. To enjoy the feel of the midnight blue silk as it settled over her body, her breath becoming shorter as her maid expertly worked the laces. A bolt of matching blue velvet paneled the bodice, the entire gown expertly worked with silver thread. Soon her hair was precisely coiffed, a single blonde lock working cutting across her shoulder.

After a brief knock, she reentered the dressing room.