Rising bright and early the next morning, Serali looked at the shelves of her nearly bare wardrobe, and sighed. The choice of what to wear was easy. All her clothes were boy's clothes in varying degrees of disrepair, save for the one dress. She slipped it on, a very simple dress in dark blue cotton, and came down the stairs. Lady Valerie was already waiting for her.

"Ah, there you are. Good heavens, surely that is not you best dress?"

"Yes, it is," answered Serali, somewhat embarrassed. She didn't even want to hear what the lady would have to say if she said it was also her only dress.

"Well, all the more reason for us to be off then. You simply cannot be seen in good society dressed like that!" She paused then and added, in a softer tone. "Don't worry my dear. You really do have great potential. And you'll find that shopping is one of life's greatest pleasures. Your training will not be all work."

"I hope so."

"Ah, and the first little lesson for you, my dear, is that you should always address someone by their name or title. It's quite impolite not to. Now formally you should call me Lady Morena, that is my proper title. If we were close friends you might call me Valerie, but as our relationship as student and teacher falls somewhere between the two, please address me as 'Lady Valerie.'"

"Yes Lady Valerie," said Serali.

Lady Valerie smiled at her. "Very good. Now come along." She swept out of the room and into the tower's courtyard regally, Serali trailing behind.

What followed was a flurry of activity. Lady Valerie led that way as the pair visited dozens of shops all over the city. Traveling in a sleek black carriage, they went form one end of the city to the other. The first stop was at a large dressmaker's. Unlike most of those that they visited later, this shop had pre-made dresses ready to be worn. Lady Valerie picked out what she called a "simple afternoon frock" that had more lace on it than anything Serali had worn in her entire life, and she insisted that Serali wear it for the remainder of the day. At first, Serali was reluctant, but the dress proved to be surprisingly comfortable, and she had to admit that it looked better than her old one.

Then for the next several hours they visited shop after shop after shop. At the next shop, another dressmaker's, Lady Valerie had Serali try on a half dozen dresses that were much like her own, elaborate things with a great deal of ornamentation. "You'll be having your gown custom-made, of course, but first we need to find out what cut and style looks best on you." She frowned at the first one and shook her head. She frowned more and more at each of them and finally she said, "This simply will not do." Then she practically dragged Serali out the door, leaving the dressmaker looking a little bemused, with a pile of dresses scattered around the shop.

They went into a second place which was very different from the first. There were no actual dresses here, just bolts of cloth and rolls of trim displayed in an orderly fashion. A man, dressed in a bizarre ensemble that seemed to have dozens of different colors but somehow didn't clash one bit, was the only person in the shop. "Why Lady Valerie! Finally decided to break with current fashion and try something different?"

She laughed. "No Joanne, I quite prefer to stay within the bounds of acceptable fashion. It suits me. But this young lady here is far too tall, and far to strikingly colored to look acceptable in such things, I've decided. Can you do something for her?"

The man, though Serali wondered for a moment if he really was a man, wasn't Joanne a girl's name? circled around her and gave her an appraising look. "Oh my. Yes, that hair! Far too vivid. And you're right about the height. Why current fashion calls for raised heels, and she would simply tower. No, no, no, current fashion will merely make her look like a walking wedding cake! She must have something different."

For the next hour he measured every inch of her and draped dozens of different fabrics over her, comparing them to her skin tone and to her hair. He scribbled down pages of measurements and notes. At one point he asked her to remove her dragon bracelet, and tisked when she said it didn't come off. "We shall have to work with it then. But gold accents suit your coloring well in any case." When he was finally done he promised that he would have a truly stunning dress for her within two week's time. Lady Valerie thanked him, and then once again swept out the door with Serali in her wake. But that was only the beginning of dozens of other stops they made. They bought all sorts of things, though actually they mostly just ordered things to be made, including a half dozen more "simple frocks." At last they were done, only a little bit past noon, though Serali felt like they'd been shopping all day. She didn't think she agreed with Lady Valerie about shopping being one of life's pleasures. At least not shopping like this. She would rather sit down and haggle over some odd and interesting item at a street vendor's stall than get dragged around dress shops and hatters'. Still, she had to admit that Lady Valerie knew a lot about fashion, and though she still didn't feel particularly beautiful, there was something about being dressed up that was rather nice.