My Sweet Daisy

Chapter 14 - Daisy's New Look

Chapter 14

Daisy's New Look

Juliet did not tattle on her. In fact, she had seemed rather amused after hearing how she and Richard met, of course leaving out their little sunrise waltz and the promise of another one. She was very certain her path would never cross with the prince's again anyway.

In the past few days, she had gone out with Edwin twice under her aunt's encouragement. Edwin was a gentleman; attentive to her and behaved properly but she didn't care for his company a third time, or any of his counterpants for that matter, so as the Bair Havel ball drew nearer, her feeling of dread increased. She had been practicing to mind her manners when in other companies, been making conscious efforts not to talk about anything more than the pleasantness of the weather when she had a chance to speak to anyone in the gentry class, and learning how to drop down to the proper level while courtesying. Another reason she wasn't looking forward to the upcoming ball was the pressure laid on her shoulders to get her dance steps right. With that amount of pressure on her, her dance steps had only become clumsier when no one thought it was possible.

When Daisy woke up on the day of the grand ball, she felt gloomy. She missed home and her sisters so much. She missed Snow and the scent of freshly harvested wheat and barley. She was once again risen before the sun rose and whisked away, this time into a sunny room on the uppermost floor of the manor where the servants' quarters were. Her aunt, together with her cousins, was there. With them this time was a bright-eyed bearded man who took one look at her and started clicking his tongue with disapproval. What now? She groaned inwardly.

"This is Artemis. He's a renowned hair stylist in Cacitel. He's here to do something about your hair," her aunt announced, pointedly eyeing her messy mass.

It occurred to her, seeing her aunt scowl, that she forgot to run a comb through her hair before leaving her room.

Juliet had her chestnut hair rolled with little wires to turn them into curly ringlets. Cynthia was still getting hers washed in a large tub at a corner of the room.

"Come, Milady. Let's see what we can do to that beauty." Artemis seated her in a chair in front of her aunt and fished out all the hair pins which had been holding the thick mass up while she slept. She felt it roll down heavily past her hips. The tongue clucking started again.

"Beautiful colour," Artemis commented. Daisy wondered if he was colour-blind. Bizarre was a better word. "Good structure. Sadly, no body."

"Can you do something about it?" her aunt asked in exasperation. "The Ball starts at ten o'clock, and I can't allow her to attend another social function like this."

"Certainly, Milady. Bring the curtain, Zoey." A curtain was draped around her, mercifully blocking off her aunt's disapproving gaze. "I'll give it a cut."

"No!" Daisy sprang up to her feet. She was proud of her long hair, no matter how hard it was to manage it. "I've never cut it once since I was born."

"That has to be remedied then, Milady," Artemis pushed her firmly back onto the chair. "Long hair is no longer in fashion. You're also one of the rare ladies blessed with natural curls and we need to let those wavy demons come out and flourish."

"Curls? Even if I wind wires in my hair, they disappear within minutes. Only the edges curl," she said.

"That's because the mass is too thick and long to hold them in. Their springy nature is barely seen. A nice cut and you'd be amazed at the rare beauty you possess."

Daisy sat down helplessly and watched in misery at every lock that fell on her lap or the floor. Soon, she couldn't even feel the weight of her hair any longer. Yet still, the scissors went snipping everywhere around it.

"Viola!" Artemis finally said, putting down the scissors and pulling what is left of the mass back up on her head. Daisy choked on a sob, already missing the heavy weight. "Let go off and wash it nice and clean."

When the hair had been washed with a thousand assorted chemicals, blown dry with the steamed pot, and combed, the curtain was drawn away from her. Her hair only fell around her upper arms. She looked up glaring at her aunt, but Lady Perribea's stare was that of disbelief.

With a proud grin, Artemis came round to examine his artwork. Chagrin at all the gaps and exclamations, Daisy jumped off the chair to find the nearest mirror. She released a startled gasp at the sight of the girl staring back at her in the mirror. She saw her face alright but on a completely different person.

Her hair bounced behind her, the curls wavering with each flick of her head. She didn't know if the many chemicals passed through it should bear all the credit or what she saw was indeed her natural hair colour. It shone golden-red in the lantern lights. Her entire face had been transformed. She looked more rounded around her cheekbones and even her chin looked less jagged. Even the faint specks of freckles that dusted the bridge of her nose were barely visible. She had always loved her complexion the most. While ladies strive to maintain ivory skin-tone, she had hers delivered to her naturally, and now it also glowed like butter cream against her flaming hair. Her brows had darkened to a russet shade arched tastefully above her large almond-shaped eyes. Had all that beauty been hidden under that thick mass?

"You look beautiful," Cynthia said almost reproachfully. Her hair was out of the basin and Artemis was cutting them into little pieces for a maid to wrap around a wire. Her hair was darker than Juliet's so she couldn't expect it to have any such lustre even after Artemis was done with it. She could hardly believe Daisy had had such beautiful hair all along.

"You look like Nancy, your mother," Aunt Veronica murmured with a tiny smile. Her expression indicated she was very satisfied with Artemis' handiwork.