16th April 1563

Amaranta came to the familiar building. She had only rented a single level that they were using. Her line was almost complete, and she had already contacted most of the shops in Rovirna who would take her on. Amaranta finding the shops in Marallo and being able to get the shops there to stock her clothes too. It wasn’t an extensive amount of them, but she was just starting.

Most of her last year was littered with meetings to sell their line to shops, often done when she was visiting various boutiques, and mostly spending the free time dedicated to sewing.

This line was planned a long time ago.

She lugged the entire baggage into the building, which Scholastique had rented for them. Cosetta, her secretary came with her. Both of them held some bags.

Cosetta was a stocky woman of average height, with black hair tucked under a kerchief and large brown eyes. She came into Amaranta’s service a year and a half ago.

“Let me take some bags,” he said. Holding her luggage. She stopped to look up.

“Thanks, I’ll call you,” she said, knowing not to turn them down. She saw the steps and realized that she didn’t wish to bring everything up. Amaranta could only see the demise of her hands. Neither did she feel that she wish to leave most of it to Cosetta.

“Could you take around half?” Amaranta asked, her largest smile on her face. Cosetta flustered a little at admitting that they needed help.

Salvatore didn’t seem to mind her change of mind. “If that is what you wish, mia Donna.”

Once they reached the top floor, Salvatore already there taking a rest. She took out a single lira to give to him, mostly thanking him for his help.

“I don’t really need it,” he said.

“Take it, you didn’t need to do this for me. Besides, lugging things up the staircase wasn’t included in your list of duties.”

“I’ll help whatever you need,” he said. Before he smiled and left, thankful for this extra lira. She opened the door, seeing that it was just them. Cosetta would leave once they unpacked everything.

“Signorina de Beaumont is going to come in a few hours. Also, Signora de Moreni wishes to see you about your inheritance.” Cosetta listed the things she had to do. Amaranta surveyed the empty room to figure out how she was going to lay everything out.

They got to work. With Amaranta putting rolls of cloth on the table, Cosetta hanging the clothes on the rack. Scholastique marked a single table for her use, containing all the documents they had so far, mostly receipts from factories.

They both finished after a while, Amaranta taking a moment to see how the room was much better to her taste. Cosetta took a seat first, allowing herself a brief break. Amaranta allowed her. This was grueling work.

“Is there anything that you need now?” Cosetta asked. Amaranta merely passed her a list of materials she needed to keep a stock of.

With no sign of her friend, tried to get some sewing. The instant she sat down on a chair, setting everything up, and ready to get it started, the door opened. Her friend unlike Amaranta, who was slender and tall; she was petite, with light brown hair like her father, and deep brown eyes. Her hair was loose with a few braids at her crown, much like her mother. With Amaranta always pushing her hair into whatever complicated hairstyle that she liked.

The girl looked over the entire place, noticing the changes. “Well, this place looks good.”

Scholastique stepped forward, Amaranta getting up from the sewing machine. “I was here early, too early I suppose.”

“And you didn’t even try to inform me?”

“I supposed that I could use the time to continue my work,” Amaranta replied. Scholastique went to the table, gazing upon the dresses laid out on the table right in front of them. She had seen most of them during the times that she could come and see her.

She was early, preferring to go to a local school, for her father did not wish to be apart from her. unlike Amaranta, whose parents packed all of their children into boarding schools once they could take care of themselves.

“So, how many shops in Marallo shows an interest?”

“Plenty,” she said. “How is the production going?”

“Their output is decent, the factory you recommended was great, and I got some samples. It was the reason for my delay.”

Amaranta’s exhaustion from moving vanished, bursting from her seat to see the samples. She would have enjoyed doing it all herself, but she knew that for the sake of business, it was impractical.

She didn’t wish to make making, and mending clothes her only work.. She liked to devote herself to making works of art; seamstress work was repetitive. It was something that she eventually made her own peace with it even if she knew that her clothes were the only ones she would trust.

But this was a chance for her to see it too. The sample dresses were a little less fine than what she made. But it was acceptable for her to take, for the sake of business. For the quality was still something that she wouldn’t hesitate to wear. The material used was still good cotton, wool and silk. This would be acceptable for her.

“What do you think of it?” She asked.

“This could work, they’re going to wrap up soon?” She asked.

“Yes, we just need to find a place to store it.” Amaranta stood up, putting the dress back and then packing it up inside. Scholastique took it too, being the contact to contact the factories, even as Amaranta would have found it easier. But there were more options in Rovirna given that she came from the city, and the labor was cheaper too. At least in the surrounding towns when compared to Marallo, given that these factories were newer.

She took it too, handing it to her at this point.

The calendar had a particular date circled, one that they agreed upon. The style that she had chosen for this round felt more fitting for working during the hot summer, even as she also made coats to compliment them.

Amaranta and Scholastique hadn’t discussed finding a warehouse yet just yet. It was an oversight. But Amaranta had more time than her partner.

“I’ll see whether I can do anything about it.” Amaranta took the hat from the rack. Aware that her friend was busy. And she had dealt so much with the factories that it would be unfair if she had not taken this over instead. It would be better for her to do it.

“I’ll leave it up to you, to find it,” Scholastique said.

“I accept,” Amaranta said. 



“I heard that you’re looking for a job?” She asked, steering it into something else, a topic she brought it up to her in her letters early on.

“I already accepted a job with a very prestigious opera house. Their offer was too good for me to reject,” Amaranta replied.

“An offer bordering on ridiculous?” Scholastique asked Amaranta, aware that her friend had high expectations for work.

“I even checked around to make sure the amount was right. Most of them said their wages were the best, but they were picky. They rejected people and accepted few, and preferred to nurture their own talent.”

“I don’t know, but maybe I could see what I can find using my father’s papers,” she said. There is some worry that Amaranta could see on Scholastique’s face. Not to mention the deal on its own was far too good.

“I think that’ll be reassuring,” she said. She didn’t want to turn her down, besides as a friend she didn’t want to turn Scholastique down or to tell her so. There were plenty of her own suspicions about the situation, most of which she could benefit from her friend’s kind offer.

“I’ll see what I can get,” Scholastique said, before she heard the door close. Amaranta was now alone, checking a little before she also did the same. There was something else that she had to get to after she was done. She had agreed to meet with another friend of hers, someone who she had known.

It was a local cafe that she brought her friend to while she had been in the city. It wasn’t far from here, with some of the best pastries that she has the chance to taste. Taking a seat, while waiting for her friend to come. Getting a nice pastry from the shop and then sitting down waiting.

She finally could see a young woman, of average height, with rather dainty features, deep brown eyes and light blonde hair. The girl wore a beige dress with floral patterns and a light pink bonnet, unlike Amaranta who chosen a dark red dress, plain and devoid of any colour, with a picture hat.

“How has everything been, Amaranta?” Bianca asked, speaking rapidly in the Marallese accent. Amaranta could barely keep up. “I have found work at Societas Elisse.”

Amaranta returned it, albeit her smile was much more muted. There was more to make her a little uneasy about the situation, but she was happy for her friend.

“That’s great, Bianca,” she said. “I have to confess something too, we’re working under the same place.”

Bianca hugged her, showing her happiness at the both of them in the same opera house. Amaranta returned it after a moment.

“It’s not an issue, I mean we could continue to see each other after it, but it’s great,” she said. “I would have wanted to tell you they were actually looking for costumers too alongside a lot of things.”

She knew how unusual it was, while they had never done it throughout the past couple of years. They were prestigious, but it was so rare for them to hire this many people.

“The pay is fantastic too,” she said.

Amaranta was a lot more unsure about, but she had thought too much into it. It was just a job. As long as she kept her head down and did nothing to anger them she would be fine.

“After I said yes, I went out and then took the chance to celebrate at the opportunity,” she said. Bianca was content to have found work, not wishing to move back home into her small town. It wasn’t as easy if she were to go back home, and without it, marriage would have been what followed.

But there was more for Amaranta to consider, in reality, that it was too good an opportunity.

“You don’t seem too excited at going there,” she said.

“I am, but I know that there is a little more to it than just that,” she said. “My mother, before she died, always warned me specifically about too good an offer may always return to have hidden consequences.”

Bianca raised her eyebrow. “I’m sure there isn’t much concern, as long as you just follow what they say. And just go there to learn, that’s what they told me. They even helped me to sort out my accommodations.”

“Perhaps so,” she said. Taking up a cup of coffee and drinking it, then realizing something that Bianca brought up. “They even found you a place to stay?”

“They say that a lot of them do, it’s recommended especially for an actor. They even have roommates too,” she said. “I remember that you said you had a house here.”

“I do, it’s owned by my parents, since they’re no longer around, by my two siblings and I equally.” she said.

“I remember they said that the city provided much opportunity, even if half of it was in ruins. I also can stay around them, but I don’t wish to,” she said. Bianca quietly drank it.

“Aren’t you doing it now?”

“I am, but it’s difficult to do so, with quite most of them trying to tell me that the city is not a simple place. They’re just doing what my parents wanted, to have me move back home after school.” She looked at the coffee cup. And perhaps why she would see the offer as a godsend.

“Come over to my place if you need to, there’s no one except for my brother,” she said. “And he isn’t around most of the time. The last time I came back, he didn’t come back till two days later explaining to me it had been a work trip.”

Bianca blinked at the mention. “I knew that you were wealthy, but I never knew how wealthy you were.”

She didn’t like to advertise the fact that was a wealthy heiress, having inherited a vast sum of wealth that she was turning to open her own fashion line. To bring her love for it, and her style to more who appreciated it for what it was. Nothing brought her more joy than seeing others who shared her style.

“It’s not huge, I have seen vast estates with dozens of servants, we only have a steward and just a housekeeper. It’s a modest house,” she said. Although she remembered that her parents bought it at a bargain and restored, being around two centuries old in its creation. It was a house that was previously owned by noblemen, but it was a beautiful place that she liked despite its age.

“I see, but you don’t show it too much, apart from how you dress,” she said. “But you make all of your clothes.”

“Can’t deny it,” she said. “All the shops display nothing that I want to own, and what I want to buy, I can always make it my own. Because it usually isn’t up to what I like, or it isn’t even as practical.”

She remembered looking through them, the last time she had used it was when she was fifteen. Now, it was easier for her to make her own and cheaper too. Especially since her mother left her entire wardrobe in her will to deal with as she wished, and there were plenty of that she had taken apart while maintaining a few others that she couldn’t bring herself too.

“I guess it was a good idea to follow you here. There is a lot more opportunity here.” Bianca smiled, taking a bite from her pastry She looked at the city, so old din some ways but new too.

“It’s more in terms of it, as few think of it as the city you want to go to until recently,” she said. It was always the tales of the old empire, the ancient glory that it lost and now didn’t seem to matter. That it was just ruins, but it wasn’t. It was a city that moved on long after the empire that sprung out of it collapsed, with a new identity for themselves.

“Yes, I think so too. The relatives I’m staying with came here because it was cheap to do so, just after the war where it was all devastation all around,” she said. “But I think they just want to find the best person.”

“I guess you’re right,” Amaranta replied. She was thinking too much into it.

She would deal with it when she would need to do so. They continued to chat throughout the entire afternoon. Knowing that it could be their last, once they worked, it could be harder to do this.