Chapter 11: A Trip into Town
THE next day, I decided to go and explore the castle town.
Outside of eating lunch with the Prince, Patricia didn’t have any important plans scheduled, so I styled her hair up nice and tight so it would last throughout the day. Once I was done, I was free until evening, when I’d return for her nightly upkeep. So I had plenty of daytime hours available to tour the city and observe the hairstyles of Vaxwald commoners. Plus, that reward money from the Queen was burning a hole in my pocket, so I figured I could browse around for some hair ornaments and accessories while I was at it.
Patricia’s still really hung up on the incident from yesterday... Hopefully she feels better after talking to Prince Dario, I thought as I walked down Main Street.
Just then, I spotted a group of young girls staring in my direction and blushing.
“So dreamy...” one of them whispered as we passed each other.
Dreamy? Me? No, surely not. Upon further reflection, I realized their gaze was pointed over my head...but before I could turn around, I felt a tap on my shoulder.
“Did you bring your parasol, Mayna?”
I whirled around to find Ray of all people standing there. “What are you doing here?!” I yelped in surprise.
“I had the day off work,” he replied flatly, ignoring the gaggle of girls admiring him from afar.
“That doesn’t explain why you’re here. If anything, you ought to be relaxing in your quarters or something. Or do you mean to suggest you had similar plans for today entirely by coincidence?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
How very vague. I quirked a brow. “I see. Well then, I’ll be going now. Don’t worry, I’ll be mindful of the heat.”
I opened my parasol, slung it over my shoulder, and turned to go when I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder.
“Hold on a minute. Isn’t this your first time in the city? I’ll be your guide so you don’t get lost. Besides, there are a lot of pickpockets in these parts.”
“Oh, really? In that case...hmmm...I guess I’ll take you up on that,” I decided after an extended internal debate. Being around Ray was always awkward, but at the same time, I felt safer having at least one other person with me.
Although Ray had seemed rather pleased that I agreed, when put into practice, he really didn’t “guide” me at all—just followed along behind me. Now that I think about it, why would I need a guide when I’m just walking down the street?
I thought maybe he could help me find the hair accessory stores, but when I asked, he simply said, “I wouldn’t know—I’ve never thought to look.” In the end, all I could do was keep walking until I found one, observing hairstyles as I went.
“Dragonkin men all seem to have really short hair... They make yours look long by comparison... And as for the women, sure enough, theirs is mostly long and straight...”
But as it turned out, I wasn’t the only one ruminating on hair at the moment.
A group of three young women approached me. “Pardon me, but how do you get your hair to look like that?” one of them asked.
Today I was wearing my hair in a single braid starting from the crown of my head. This was no ordinary braid, however. First, I’d put the upper half of my hair in a ponytail, then tucked it into itself. From there, I braided it into the loose lower half of my hair, creating three small separate braids. Then I took those, fanned them out, and braided them into a single giant plait, atop which sat a hairband.
In Myulan I would’ve styled it up further, but I had been meaning to experiment with Vaxwald style for a change, and today was the perfect opportunity.
“It’s pretty easy, believe it or not. I could do it for you, if you like.”
“Really?”
“Mayna,” Ray chided. He seemed to think better of trying to stop me, however, because he eventually took up the duty of holding my parasol for me as I worked.
I pulled the three of them to the side of the street where we wouldn’t block foot traffic, then set about braiding their hair the same as mine. By the time I was finished, the young ladies were beaming with delight.
“That was pretty easy! You weren’t kidding! Now that I’ve seen you do it twice, I’m sure I’ll remember the steps. Besides, I’ve had some practice doing Myulan braids.”
“By all means, give it a try sometime! Oh, and while I have you, take this. It’s the hairstyle Her Highness Princess Patricia wore to her Vaxwald debut party.”
I pulled the spare pamphlets from my satchel and passed them out. This was precisely why I thought to bring them.
“Wow... An authentic royal hairstyle?”
All at once, the ladies’ eyes lit up. Not that I blamed them, of course—surely anyone would dream of looking like a princess.
“Thank you! I’d be more than happy to take this off your hands!”
“You’re very welcome.”
“Just wondering, but...are you two a couple? You’re not Bondmates by any chance, are you?” one of the girls whispered to me, her eyes on Ray.
“No, no, nothing of the sort,” I quickly replied.
At this point they invited him to grab drinks with them, but he wriggled out of it by pointing at me and saying, “I need to stay with her.”
Uhhh, you really don’t, but okay.
“Awww, darn...”
“Rrgh... I just know my one true Bondmate is out there somewhere...”
As the group of girls wandered away in disappointment, I commented, “These young Dragonkin care an awful lot about finding their Bondmate, don’t they?”
“Indeed—and doubly so knowing not everyone is destined to have one at all.”