SFWritersU

Community / Critique Groups in SLO

I live in San Luis Obispo California and I am seeking a critique group or at least a group of likeminded writers. Unfortunetly, the local group called nightwriters has completely conflicting schedules and my discussions with a few members in the past have made me hesitate to approach them.   Does anyone have another suggestion or direction I should take?  Are there fellow nightwriters here who can give me some encouragement as to who to talk to or where to go?  I work nights monday through friday, and I am trying to find a group that would meet on a weekend or weeknight.  I mostly write fiction and fantasy.

Critiques / Harlem Writers Guild

I just finished reading a book (autobiography by a writer); she mentions the support from the Harlem Writers Guild as being invaluable in her development as a writer.

So, two questions came to mind - and SFWU seems the perfect place to ask:

1. Does the SF Bay Area have anything similar to the Harlem Writers Guild for writers?

2. Can a writer use the critiques portion of the Discussions as a "writer support group"?

I often feel isolated - writing is a lonely profession - and the need to meet and talk (rather than just constant on-line input) seems important. So much is lost when people's conversations remain on-line rather than in person.

Any feedback, suggestions, etc., also welcome.

Thx and ☼ sunshine-filled wishes!

Critiques / Looking for feedback

Cindy - I had some of the same questions as MFogelsong; however, I'd like to add that the writing had me "hooked".

It allowed me to become "interested" in the lives of this woman, her kids and the ex-husband; wondering what the wind, door, chair and the call to ex was about (I'd be able to do my own door knob - they're not that difficult)... so thanks for sharing.

Craft / What do Writers Want?

Sorry, I didn't get a space between some and of! Right now I feel so stretch by writing assignments for freelance sites and a Hiring Handbook I need to complete for an employer.

Craft / What do Writers Want?

To attend someof the workshops!

Critiques / A Poet's Mirror

Hi Lena,  This is beautiful.. I want to know more about these characters....I am intrigued.  Is this a mystical being from the beyond, an angel, maybe? Does the main character have multiple personalities...is this a dream?  You have my interest :)

Critiques / Looking for feedback

Thank you so much for your feedback.  I havent been writing much lately but I have tons of this to get back to...you have inspired me to get back to it soon :)

Critiques / Looking for feedback

Cindy --

I have read a number of writings people posted and I really like yours! It is tense and intriguing from the very beginning, and it flows well. I think that maybe you should have told us a little more about the main character herself before telling us about the Home Depot and Rick, but otherwise it looks very good. Will you be posting more? I do hope so :)

Critiques / A Poet's Mirror

I live on the other side of the mirror. I don’t know the person who looks me in the eyes every morning and every evening before going to bed. She forces me out and drags me around with her. We fight all the time. And I have my little victories! I make her listen to music and daydream. I make her talk to and feel for characters in books, movies and cartoons. I make her play with little toys she finds ridiculous. I make her dare. Then she jumps into my side of the mirror and we wait for him.

He always comes, eager and happy to join me in our world. He takes his work clothes off and we play in our world. My friend. My only friend. He likes sitting with me on my cloud, mixing the words and letters and laughing at the funny shapes they make. We take trips together to worlds unknown to anyone else. We see them, feel them, suffer in them and have fun in them. And most of the time, we dance. We dance to the music of our love. When we get tired, we lay together. On our cloud we hold hands, our essences shared – we are one.

Sometimes I get sad and anxious because I know that I will have to go to the other side again. And my friend, my best friend jumps back and forth from one side to the other millions of times to help me survive. He brings pebbles from one world to the other for me. He puts them in my pockets so they would hold me and protect me from being blown away by winds of the other world. He crosses the border thousands of times, just for me. There are times when he stands on the very line, one eye in our world, the other in theirs. The master of art, he paints a painting with a path. He puts me on the path and watches me walk along.

I follow the road laminated by the stars of his love. I know that I will be okay. 

Critiques / Kingdom Key

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">Chapter 1.  Morning at the Marketplace<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font size="3"><font face="Calibri">“Come listen to the tale of Prince Glwys” the melodious voice of the talespinner cried, “only child and heir of our beloved King.  Prince Glwys, the Valiant Hunter!  Prince Glwys, the Merry Companion!   Prince Glwys, the People’s Champion!  But, alas, alas!” his voice fell dramatically into tones of despair.  “Also Prince Glwys, the Doomed Lover!”  <o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">“Fair of face was he, tall and strong of limb, well-formed, and possessed of both manliness and grace.   With his golden locks, his topaz eyes, and his brilliant smile, he was a man to smite the heart of any maiden.  Yet no maiden’s heart would he have, but one who loved him truly, without thought for his royal birth, his princely riches, nor even the comeliness of his face and form.”<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">“No!  No ambitious lover of power whose only desire was for command, no greedy lover of jewels whose only wish was for wealth, no fickle lover of countenance whose only care was for appearance, would he take to wife.” <o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font size="3"><font face="Calibri">“For True Love he yearned, for True Love he quested, and for True Love,” he dropped his voice again as he somberly declaimed, “he was lost.” <o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font size="3"><font face="Calibri">“Come one, come all, and hear now the tragedy of Glwys, the Lost Prince of Dryn.”<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">“Come on, Lirinna,” Callis said impatiently, tugging at her friend’s sleeve as the latter lingered by the talespinner’s circle.  “You’ve heard the saga of the Lost Prince a thousand times before.  I must see the new silks unloaded at Melamus’ shop before the court ladies venture out.”<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">Early sunshine struck sparkles from the copper bondslave collar around her neck and from her bright copper hair, which was pulled back into a severe braid, with a halo of springing curls defiantly escaping about her forehead.  Her rust-colored gown, though of plain cotton, was superbly cut in the very latest fashion.  By contrast, Lirinna’s gown of expensive indigo linen was two seasons out of style.  The lapis lazuli and pearl sigil which hung from a fine silver chain about her throat, however, proclaimed Lirinna’s status as a citizen, and as a member of one of the oldest and most respected merchant houses.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">Lirinna reluctantly turned her back to the few loiterers who had drifted over to form a sparse circle around the talespinner as he paused after introducing the morning’s tale.  As she quickened her pace to keep up with her eager companion, she heard the tinkling tambourines of the talespinner’s trueslaves calling the early marketers to listen.  At various other dramatic pauses, she knew, those tambourines would be passed among the listeners, collecting coins and trinkets.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">“I know I’ve heard it before, but it’s still my favorite.  Besides, the telling is different every time, because no one really knows what did happen to Prince Glwys.  All anyone knows is that he left on a quest for true love twenty years ago and never came back.  Who knows, perhaps today is the day that he’ll return triumphant with a fairy bride from the land between dusk and night that can only be reached by following the moonbeam’s path.  Or betrothed to a princess who was magically imprisoned inside a waterfall and who’s hauntingly beautiful voice echoing among the falling waters was all that was known of her, until the Prince followed the river to its source and discovered the secret of the spell to free her.”<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">Lirinna paused for breath, her imagination having carried her along faster than she could speak, especially at the brisk pace Callis was setting.  Callis took advantage of the pause to head off further protests.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">“There you go again!  The tales you tell about the Lost Prince are much better, and certainly more original, than the ones the market talespinners do.  They haven’t half your imagination!  I agree that they change the story a bit with each telling:  sometimes the Prince is kidnapped by pirates, sometimes he’s taken captive by an evil foreign king, and sometimes he’s lost in an enchanted forest, but they never think of anything as unusual as following a moonbeam path to the land between dusk and night or a princess bespelled into a waterfall!  Why you even want to listen to their tales when yours are so much more interesting, I don’t know.”<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">She continued briskly before her friend could respond.  “Especially the first tale of the morning.  You know they always save the best for the afternoon crowds rather than waste them on so few listeners.  This afternoon’s tale will be much more exciting; at least as exciting as he can make it.”<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">“And,” she added teasingly, “Don’t you start making up another one – or two – now.  I’ll lose your company for the whole morning while you’re lost somewhere inside your own head, though the rest of you remains by my side.”<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font size="3"><font face="Calibri">Lirinna laughed somewhat guiltily.  It was hard to stop thinking about a new tale once an idea struck her.  Making a mental note to remember both the land between dusk and night reached by the moonbeam’s path and the waterfall princess, she strove to pay attention to the bright spring morning and her companion’s enthusiasm.   <o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">Melamus had sent word to Noya the dressmaker, knowing that it would be passed on to her gifted bondslave, that he had received a shipment of unusually fine silks.  Callis was not only supremely talented in the design and making of elegant gowns; she also had a brilliant ability to choose just the right styles and colors to flatter every wearer.  Melamus had quickly learned that if he guided his buyers into choosing the fabrics she recommended, their satisfaction with the finished gowns, and consequently with his selection of merchandise, was greatly enhanced.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">This in turn greatly enhanced his profits, and Melamus loved a quality profit as much as he loved a quality weave.  The guiding process was not always easy, as none of his wealthy customers shared Callis’ discerning eye.  They often insisted upon choosing patterns that emphasized their figures’ flaws or colors that clashed disastrously with the tones of their hair and skin.  He had therefore conceived the idea of letting Callis review his new stock before he displayed it, and showed only the selections which she endorsed to the various court ladies.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font size="3"><font face="Calibri">“And this,” he would whisper conspiratorially, “is the very latest weave, which I have shown to no one else, knowing that your ladyship’s discriminating eye would be far more able to appreciate its fineness than any other lady of the court.  Indeed, if you were to have your new gown made of this, you may well find that you are the only lady at court to appear in anything truly new and fashionable, while the others are all still wearing last season’s styles and colors.”  <o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">It was a remarkably successful approach, in spite of the fiction that any court lady would ever appear in a gown made of last season’s fabric.  All would be clad in something new and different, but as each would see her own best appearance reflected in her looking glass, each would believe that she alone was wearing the truly newest and most fashionable sensation.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">Callis fully appreciated Melamus’ guile.  Noya’s profits also depended on the satisfaction her clients found in their gowns.  That satisfaction was much easier to achieve when she had the right fabrics to use for each.  She was therefore as eager to prevent them from seeing the selection before she did, knowing their penchant for being smitten by something totally unsuitable, as she was eager to view the new weaves for her own pleasure.  Accordingly, she kept up their rapid pace in spite of Lirinna’s breathlessness.  Her best friend’s company was an essential part of her enjoyment of the morning, and she did not want to lose her to the lure of a new tale about the Lost Prince.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">The two girls passed the fountain at the market plaza’s center and threaded their way through the open-air stalls of fruitiers, wine-sellers, pastry and sweetmeat vendors, basket weavers, potters, braziers, and trinket dealers.  At the north end of the cobbled square, they came to the permanent shops of the weavers and dealers in all things fabric.  Passing by the leatherworker’s shop and breathing in its rich scent, hurrying by the wool merchant’s, with its kaleidoscope of colored yarns in bales and baskets lined up along its outer front wall, past the piles of snowy linens visible through the open door of the broadcloth shop, they came at last to Melamus’ elegant and spacious shop.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">They entered through the carved wooden door and pushed past heavy folds of rich purple velvet into the quiet interior.  Thick carpets underfoot and bolts of fabrics on every side effectively muffled the sounds of even the most boisterous market crowd.  Inside this shop of rare and imported cloths, a sophisticated hush accompanied the sale of rich stuffs to even richer clients.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">Callis stepped quickly through the shop, following a familiar route to the back regions.  She ignored the jewel-toned velvets, the gossamer laces, the shimmering cloth-of-gold, and the intricate embroideries that spread over tables and racks and festooned the walls on every side.  Lirinna followed in her wake, pausing briefly to stroke a magnificent ermine.  Her fingers lingered a moment in the silky fur, and then she hurried to catch up to her friend.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font size="3"><font face="Calibri">Ducking through a drape of filmy gauze, Callis and Lirinna entered the merchant’s storeroom and work area.  Melamus was standing at the back entrance to the shop, supervising the unloading of the silks from a wagon in the narrow back alley.  A clerk sat cross-legged on the floor, ready to enter the inventory into a ledger as Melamus called it out.  <o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">Melamus was big and burly, with a glossy beard of black curls which he had a habit of stroking.  His hair was also curly and black, but cropped much shorter than his beard.  With his broad features and dark eyes with pronounced laugh lines, he looked more like a good-natured farmer than one of the most astute and prosperous merchants in the Royal City.  His clerk, Zacarus, was a complete contrast, being a slight man of just over middle height with thin mousy hair, pallid skin, and pale grey eyes.  The twinkle in his eyes as he nodded to the two girls, however, was alike enough to Melamus’ twinkle to be its twin.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">“Ah, Mistress Lirinna, young Callis, good morrow to you both,” Melamus greeted them, bowing courteously to the citizen Lirinna and giving a conspiratorial wink to the bondslave Callis.  “How fortunate, Callis, that you happened to call this morning.  I have here a shipment of new silks from the Eastern Islands, which I am sure that your mistress, our good dressmaker, will desire to examine as soon as they are properly recorded.”<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">Although fully aware that it was her bondslave, and not herself, who possessed the true artist’s eye and talent, pride forbade Callis’ bond owner from admitting any such thing, or from allowing anyone else to acknowledge it.  Melamus, therefore, was always careful to send word of new shipments to Noya herself.  He knew that she would find an errand for Callis that would necessitate her visiting his shop first, and would then be guided by Callis’ report when she arrived to examine the new goods for herself.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font size="3"><font face="Calibri">“Good morrow, Master Melamus,” Callis answered with a deferential slave’s bow, while Lirinna smiled and returned the merchant’s greeting with a friendly curtsy.  She liked the fact that Melamus always greeted her and her friend in the same sentence, rather than emphasizing Callis’ current lack of citizenship by conversing with the citizen before acknowledging the presence of a bondslave.  <o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font size="3"><font face="Calibri">“My mistress is in need of some more of the lavender lace for Lady Tabithia’s summer frock,” Callis continued, returning Melamus’ wink.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font size="3"><font face="Calibri">“Indeed!”  Melamus was genuinely surprised, as the dressmaker was frugal to the point of parsimony, and never used an unnecessary purchase as her excuse for dispatching Callis promptly to see new wares.  He lifted one eyebrow at Callis in silent enquiry, as he continued “I myself measured Lady Tabithia most carefully.”  <o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">Melamus was well aware that Noya always ordered less yardage than Callis recommended, forcing her to use every square inch in a gown’s construction and disregarding the fact that this led to less-than-flattering lines in the finished garment.  Melamus was therefore careful to measure his clients himself and to send the correct amount of fabric so that the finished gown would hang properly on its wearer.  To make up for his “mistake” in providing more material than Noya actually purchased, he increased his initial price accordingly, so that the dressmaker’s cheeseparing tactics actually saved her nothing.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">“There was no error in your measurements, good master,” Callis assured him.  “It seems that Lady Tabithia finds herself in a very joyful condition and will require a larger-than-anticipated gown by the time of the Midsummer Festival.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">“Well, well,” Melamus answered.  “That is most pleasant news.  I know that Lady Tabithia’s mother-in-law has been in despair these last three years that the lady has not yet presented her son, Lord Malister, with an heir.  I must congratulate the lord and lady as soon as the announcement is official.”<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font size="3"><font face="Calibri">“I believe that the Heir Toast will be drunk at Master Artemus’ Leisure House this evening,” Callis told him.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">Melamus frowned in disapproval.  The slave master, Artemus, who had recently expanded his business ventures with the opening of a dining and gaming establishment, was no favorite of the cloth merchant.  He kept his thoughts to himself, however, and merely remarking gruffly, “Indeed,” he returned to the morning’s business.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">“I will be very happy to provide you with as much of the lavender lace as your mistress requires.  First, though, I must conclude my business with these gentlemen, if the delay will not inconvenience her.”<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">“Not at all,” Callis responded.  “My mistress has very generously allowed me the full morning for this simple errand so that I might enjoy the market with Lirinna.”<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">“Your mistress is most kind.  The delay will not inconvenience you either, Mistress Lirinna?”<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">“Oh no,” Lirinna responded.  “I always love seeing the new merchandise.  Please go ahead and don’t mind me.”<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">“Very well, then.  Are you ready, Zacarus?”<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">“I am,” the clerk replied briefly.  Zacarus was always a man of few words.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font size="3"><font face="Calibri">Melamus promptly abandoned his elaborate and leisurely courtesies and began calling out the goods in rapid succession as he deftly examined each bolt.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font size="3"><font face="Calibri">“Two bolts emerald silk, one bolt pale green silk with silver overstitching, one bolt ivory silk with gold-edged cutwork, two bolts…” his voice continued the litany as his hands unfolded lengths of each fabric, which he inspected critically in the bright morning sunlight falling through the open back door.  <o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">Callis and Lirinna sank quietly onto a bale of sheepskins and watched the shimmering display.  The merchant and his clerk paid them no further attention, as did the wagoners unloading the goods.  When a particularly beautiful bolt of glowing amber was unfolded, Callis sighed with pleasure, and when another in the most gossamer silver-grey, overlaid with delicate spider web embroidery in silver-white, was held up to sparkle in the sun, Lirinna drew in her breath with an audible hiss of admiration, but otherwise the two girls made not a sound.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font size="3"><font face="Calibri">“One bolt pale blue figured silk with deep blue floral, three bolts plain white silk…” Melamus’ fingers stroked expertly across the delicate fabrics, checking the finish and weave, judging weight and quality, while his eyes studied the sheen and shimmer of the silk, the evenness of the dye, and the fineness of the embroidery.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font size="3"><font face="Calibri">At last the final bolt was unfolded, examined, approved, and recorded.  Melamus nodded to his clerk, who entered a final figure, blotted his page, rose, and departed into his own small cubicle.  The merchant counted gold coins into the head wagoner’s hand and stepped outside to chat with him about the next month’s delivery of velvets, while the wagon was pushed backward out of the narrow alley.  <o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">The second wagoner left to retrieve the horses from the stables at the inn several streets away.  Melamus did not provide stabling for his deliveries, nor did he permit horses to stand in the alley behind his shop.  He would not risk the odor of horse or horse droppings permeating his shop and being absorbed into the costly fabrics.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">Lirinna and Callis also rose and Lirinna stood on one foot, shaking the leg which had fallen asleep back to life.  Callis, used to spending hours sitting cross-legged as she sewed, laughed quietly at her.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font size="3"><font face="Calibri">Melamus reentered the shop and closed the back door.  It was suddenly much dimmer inside and the sounds of the marketplace, which had been growing gradually louder as the morning progressed, disappeared completely.  <o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font size="3"><font face="Calibri">“Well, well, how did you like the new silks?” Melamus inquired genially.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">“Beautiful!” Callis breathed.  “That amber could have been dyed just for Lady Allinor.  With her delicate complexion and strawberry blonde hair, it will be a sensation.  And Lady Penn is sure to look taller and slimmer in that deep violet with the subtle narrow stripe.  It’s also the perfect color to accentuate her blue eyes…”<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">Melamus held up a hand to interrupt the flow of words.  “Your pardon, my dear.  I believe I shall want Zacarus to make some notes on this occasion.  When your mistress gave your, that is, her,” he corrected himself with one of his conspiratorial winks, “recommendations for last winter’s velvets, it seems that she misspoke herself and proposed the pale olive green for Lady Allinor rather than the deep moss green which I am sure she meant to suggest.”<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">In fact, Noya had deliberately ignored Callis’ color suggestion in the erroneous belief that women of delicate complexion should never wear dark colors.  The greyish green had clashed disastrously with the pale peach blush which was Lady Allinor’s winter complexion.  Lady Allinor, whose plain features made her delicate coloring her only claim to beauty, had therefore not looked her best at the Winter Ball, and had threatened to order her summer silk from her godmother’s dressmaker when she attended that lady’s Nameday Feast in the spring.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">Callis was therefore overjoyed that such a perfect silk for Lady Allinor had been included in this delivery, two weeks before the lady’s scheduled departure.  “Oh yes,” she stated emphatically, “Lady Allinor must wear the amber silk.  In summer her skin glows just like a sun-ripe peach and her hair picks up red-gold highlights from the sun, which will be positively dazzling against the amber.  Don’t even show her another color; especially any of the pinks.  Mistress Noya always thinks blondes look good in pink, but there’s far more of peach and amber than pink in Lady Allinor’s complexion.  She’s really a redhead rather than a blonde in skin tone, even though the red in her hair is extremely subtle.”<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font size="3"><font face="Calibri">While Callis expounded on the nuances of color that only her artist’s eye could discern, Melamus stepped backward several paces, so as not to rudely turn his back on her while she was speaking, and reached his arm into Zacarus’ cubicle, beckoning silently.  Zacarus rejoined them and, once again seating himself cross-legged on his cushion, began making notes.  <o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">Lirinna, standing behind him and slightly to one side, had a clear view of his parchment.  “Lady Allinor – NO PINK!  AMBER ONLY!” she read and repressed an urge to giggle.  She herself was uninterested in the effect color had on hair and skin tones, and, if a pretty shade caught her eye, she was far more likely to find inspiration for a new tale than for a new gown.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">She wandered contentedly around the shop while Callis and Melamus continued their discussion, so intent that they soon forgot her presence.  A delicate rose-pink damask spilling across the counter made her pause and smile, with the memory of Zacarus’ emphatic “NO PINK!” notation, and a mental picture of Lady Allinor falling into a swoon at the touch of the pink fabric.  This in turn led to the glimmerings of another new tale.<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font size="3"><font face="Calibri">Soon she was deeply engrossed in a plot featuring a jealous weaver, jilted by her lover, who began secretly weaving cloth imbued with poison for her successful rival’s wedding gown.  So deep in her musings was she, that she jumped when Callis eventually tapped her shoulder.  <o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font size="3"><font face="Calibri">“Tale-spinning again, I’ll wager,” Callis smiled.  <o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">Lirinna rolled her eyes sheepishly and grinned at her friend.  “True, but only after you and Melamus had completely forgotten my existence.  I see you have Lady Tabithia’s lavender lace.  Did you get all of the other court ladies assigned to their proper colors?”<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font face="Calibri"><font size="3">Callis waved a stack of small silk squares in front of her friend.  “Not only did we find suitable choices for everyone, Melamus gave me swatches of them all so that I can begin the search for trimmings now, before the gowns are even ordered, instead of when the sewing is at its busiest.  Wasn’t that kind of him?”<o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font size="3"><font face="Calibri">“Ah, Mistress Callis!” Melamus rumbled, “Your clever eye is a help to me always.  Anything I can do to assist you in return is my very deepest pleasure and no more than your due.”  He bowed solemnly to Callis, who blushed in surprise and automatically responded with a graceful citizen’s curtsy rather than the subordinate bow of a slave.  <o:p></o:p></font></font>

<font size="3"><font face="Calibri">Lirinna blinked in astonishment at Melamus.  Then, with an approving smile and nod, she gave her own curtsy and followed Callis, who had blushed even deeper over her gaffe and rushed out of the shop.<o:p></o:p></font></font>