A week later.

Note that the occurrence of Dune-Grass happen between these
She had a new friend. And that felt good.

A friend, if you could call him one. It was more of a brief acquaintance that she had met on a beach whilst considering her life. There had been very little between them in terms of a long conversation, or spending delightful amounts of weeks simply getting to know one another - but there had been smiles. And there had been rest. And there had been an eventually panicking voice of Zulon clumsily contacting her via her mind in a manner she had never known existed.

Now she stood before her full length mirror at the mansion, holding up various formal tunics to her body. Over by the door Jordain watched with mild amusement, their brows raised.

“Vitruvion owns a private booth,” Stare stressed. “Which is in plain view before a lot of the audience. If I was not dressed properly then decorum would be out the window and blue-eyed dickface would probably never forgive me. You know how obsessed he is with appearance.”

“Aye, miss but you don't seem the type to be bothered with that yourself.”

The black hard eyes of the kenku glared at the guard for a moment before shrugging and dumping the tunic she was currently supporting on the ground. Leaning back she snatched one up already discarded as being not ‘evening’ enough and she draped it over an arm. It was one that she commonly wore to business meetings with aristocrats and was ultimately 'smart’ as a fine black thing, straight cut with minor lace.

“I don't, much. But walk into any meeting with one other manager and you're expected to wear the finest robes.” She huffed as she stretched, then nodded at the bathroom.

“I'm going in there. You do not have to accompany me there.”

Jordain rose their brow but shrugged. “I was not planning on it. But you did disappear for a whole day. Zulon said to keep an eye on you basically everywhere.”

The kenku scowled in her eyes and did not respond before stalking away into the bathroom. Closing the door loudly behind her she set about stripping to her underclothes, then back up again. The use of having feathers was that they kept in a lot of sweat and smell so washing wasn't necessary any day. It was also a pain washing when one had plumage, for the amount of toweling that had to be done was ridiculous. Today was not a cleaning day. Rather, she has washed yesterday and could not be bothered going through the entire charade of wetting and drying her feathers. She had fought to also get her right to wash in the mansion, not wanting to use the bathroom that was more or less hers - the one in Ventrua's old room.

Desperately, she had tried not to think of Vitruvion's missing sister. It was painful and worrying - something she did not need. The search had reduced Vitruvion down to such a ridiculous state - covered as she had seen him in dirt and unusual ripped clothing - that she had simply tried to keep herself busy. The days were filled with appointments that she did not really need to make, but did. Daily she was visiting Lament to ensure the young girl was at least safe. So far Gravelle had not come for her, but Stare knew only time would tell. Stare also tried to do what more good she could within the Hollow, encouraging the use of better food and hygiene, as well as beginning the conversation with Zulon about permanently liberating those down below the apartments, even if it was incorporated into their movement to another country. They were not wanted by the brothers and had been through the worse of the times.

Quickly she changed, pulling on the tunic and setting a small silver chain with onyx beads around her neck. A thin grey sash made a belt. Stare stepped from the bathroom, fully clothed and was surprised to see Jordain gazing out of the window and not poised in case escape by Stare was possible. Or rather, plausible. Which it was not. Stare already knew that when Vitruvion came back she was going to be facing a storm of anger from him. But that had been her own acceptance for the hours of peace she had received.

Jordain nodded once at Stare, before the kenku grunted and took up a small satchel and began to stuff further clothes into it. The guard made no comment, only stepped back and gestured to the door when it was clear Stare was done. Letting out a sigh Stare nodded in return before heading back out of the room, and towards the small cart that would carry her back to the Hollow.