Folding the Sky

-34-

Jem hardly gave the gown one glance before she announced, her chin in the air, "I am not wearing that."

    "Jem," Kalindi whined from beside her, her fingers still delicately brushing the dress's skirt. "This'll never work if all of us don't look the part. At least try it on first?"

    Jem didn't need to try it on to know that something that egregiously shiny would never work on her. The dress was a floor-sweeping arrangement of rose-hued chiffon and tulle, the bodice a glittery collage of sequins and hand-sewn white flowers that climbed the sweetheart neckline like an entanglement of vines. The gown was just one of many others like it in this stuffy boutique; Jem had accompanied Kalindi here because Kalindi had asked her to, but now Jem couldn't help but mourn the extra few hours of sleep she could've gotten instead.

    Kalindi reached up, lowering the dress from its rack. Jem scowled and took a step back, like Kalindi was offering her a glass of fowl-smelling spoiled milk. "Oh no you don't. Get that away from me, woman. Anything I need to do at that ball I can do in a pair of trousers."

    "You can, yes, but should you?" Kalindi replied, and huffed, her cheeks adorably flushed. "I just think it'd be rather droll. Don't you want to make an impression?"

    "I'm sorry. Are we trying to stick out or blend in, here?"

    Kalindi just glared at her.

    "Think of it this way. I'm doing you a favor," Jem said, waving Kalindi off as she walked away, fingers aimlessly tracing the dresses that hung on either side of her like hand-embroidered hedges. It reminded her for a fierce and uncomfortable moment of her mother's closet: the color-arranged gowns lining the walls like an earthbound rainbow, the glass chandelier tossing white-gold light on her collections of satin shawls and polished leather shoes. Everywhere evidence of the extravagance Jem could never really have, evidence of the life the meteor had snatched away from her.

    "I'd look all awkward in one of those," Jem said, dipping her head. Her shoes, the same pair of loafers she'd been wearing ever since they left Naino, were scuffed and dirty. "You and I both know it'd look way better on you, anyway."

    Jem expected a scoff—it seemed to be the princess's preferred method of communication—but got silence instead, interrupted only by the faint clinking of coins as the modiste fussed with the cash register in the back.

    Jem turned. "Kali—"

    She stopped, for Kalindi was right behind her, the gown hooked over one elbow. Kalindi folded her arms, a tired but fond little smile at her red-tinted lips as she said, "I hate it when you do that."

    "Do what?"

    "Underestimate yourself," Kalindi said, raising an accusatory eyebrow. "You're capable of so much more than you think. Pulling off a dress like that would be endlessly easy for you. I know it."

    Jem felt her cheeks heat, her pulse starting a slow but steady ascension. Hastily, she turned away, pretending to examine a ruby evening gown hanging on the rack beside her. "Hardly anything's easy for me, really. I've just gotten especially good at faking it."

    "Impressive. I couldn't tell," said Kalindi casually, sighing as she returned to her browsing. "Well, fine. If I can't get you in a gown we should at least pick one for Zuri while we're here."

    "Why can't Zuri pick her own?"

    "Well, I would have loved for her to come along, if only I could've found her this morning," Kalindi said, an annoyed wrinkle forming between her brows. Jem had the sudden desire to smooth it away with her thumb, but refrained. "I know she didn't go far, not after the big lecture we all gave her last time she ran off. Aldric will certainly go looking for her once he realizes, so I'm not too worried."