I forgot about my previous question as I starred at the room. It was like my room when I was a child except the colors in the room were different. A four poster bed was on the wall in the middle of the room and it had a dark blue cover with gold flourishes threaded through it. A matching rug was in front of the bed and a carved wooden trunk sat at the foot of the bed.

To the left of the room were a vanity and a desk and to the right were a door and a wardrobe. “What is through the door next to the wardrobe?”

“That’s your own private bathroom. Those of us in the wall don’t need to stoop to using chamber pots and having a bathroom as decoration.” At that moment she sounded like a stuck up noble who believed she was better than anyone else. Except the people in the wall were actually better and they lived in the darkness. They kept our society functioning.

She turned to leave and then turned back toward me, “We normally marry at some time between eighteen and twenty, and my brother has many women who have tried to win his favor, but he doesn’t notice any of them. He has eyes only for one girl. If you leave I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes with you.”

Then she shut the door behind herself leaving with that last message that Roderick liked me. I would ignore that for now. For now I would focus on the comforts of the life in front of me.

I went into the bathroom and marveled over the simple but elegant bathroom in front of me. It had a bathtub with a shower and a smooth marble wall. The walls of the bathroom were painted a dark red to go against the light tub, sink, toilet, and floor. It was so simple and yet so beautiful. I walked over to the sink and turned the handle of the sink. Wonderful water poured out of the faucet. It was beautiful. I held my hand under it and laughed in delight. Running water! I turned it off and wheeled toward the tub with the shower head. We had never been allowed to even attempt to turn on the water in the bathroom of the house when I was a kid.

I touched the spigot for the tub and carefully turned it on. Water poured out of it and splashed onto it in a steady stream so different from filling a tub with a bucket. How did I make the shower work though? I felt around on the wall, looking for something to switch it on, and pressed a small button. The water streamed out of the shower head like a mini version of the rains coming out of the dome. I pressed the button again, and it went back to the tub.

This was greater luxury than anything inside the city had to offer!

I turned off the stream of water and spun around in delight. I ran back into the bedroom and through open the wardrobe door. Inside there was a night gown like the ones royal ladies would wear and beautiful simple dresses and… and pants and shirt combos. I hadn’t even thought about it, but the clothing of most of the pale people in the wall was as pale white as their skin and hair. And everyone wore pants and trousers. I guess… maybe the pants and trousers were to make me feel more comfortable just like the room. I took off the leather jacket and helmet, and then had trouble. Was the leather even meant to be taken off?

A knock came at the door and I quickly went over and opened it to find Roderick standing at the entrance of my door.

“Roderick. Hi. Umm, did you need something?” He as staring at me and coloring was rising up in his cheeks.

“Umm… Oh yeah. I was going to make sure you didn’t need anything. That ummm… You look good in that leather.” He stood there awkwardly now looking at the floor as if afraid to look at me. What happened to the unemotional and certain man I had met earlier that day?

“It’s the same as what I was wearing earlier. I just took the jacket off. Could either you or your sister help me with theses laces on the back of this… I think Christopher called it a corset.” He was still in there. All the people I had ever known were so close and so far away.

“Umm. I’ll help. Who’s this Christopher?” Was that jealousy I heard in his voice?

“Come on in. Christopher was one of the guards who helped me get ready for exile.” I stood out of the door so that he could enter. He hesitantly walked through the door. And then he just stood there awkwardly

“I just need help with the back laces undone. I can’t reach them. I can get the collar though.” He just nodded and came closer so he could undo my laces. Was he biting his lip? He looked nervous? Had he never been in a room with a girl before or something?

His cold fingers brushed my skin and I shivered from the cold touch. “Sorry,” he mumbled as he undid the knot at the base and then slowly loosened all the laces till he go to the top and then he said, “There. That should do it.”

I turned around with a smile feeling glad that the collar was still holding the corset up so that I wasn’t naked. I would bet that if it had dropped he would’ve spun and run out of my room. “Thanks. Clothing can be such a bother sometimes. At least I won’t need to put this leather stuff back on until we leave here.”

“You don’t have to leave.” He put his cold hand on my shoulder, and it took self-control for me to not pull away. It was an automatic reaction to want to pull away from people trying to comfort me.

“I do though. I have to go out there.” Lisa was probably right. I think he was showing signs that he liked me, but I didn’t know if he actually did or it was just all speculation. And I didn’t know if I liked him back. It was creepy that he had watched me growing up. But he was nice. And cute if you like extremely pale and washed out. But that was the thing. I preferred guys that had dark brown hair and at least slightly darker skin. I didn’t want a see through guy. But he was smart and kind of sweet. Could I like him without lying to myself?

Suddenly an image of Kevin slipped into my head. No, I liked Kevin. I would wait forever for him and, if he never liked me or married another girl I would stay a spinster for my whole life rather than marry someone I didn’t like. Maybe I could learn to like Roderick, but I didn’t see anything past friendship with him. His hand dropped off my shoulder.

“I guess I should… umm… go?” He looked as if he wanted to stay even as he asked if he should go.

I shrugged. I guess I was already picking up the wall people’s shrugging habit. “You don’t have to. You can stay if you want to. I think you might want to turn around if you stay though. I plan on changing out of this leather.”

“Umm, ok.” He turned around and I unbuckled the corset from the collar and then unclipped the collar and pulled it off before pulling the loosened corset over my head. “So what is your normal day like when exiles don’t come running in demanding your time?” I asked as I worked on getting the leather boots and pants off.

“I’m training to be teacher.”

“Mmhm. What does that involve?” I grabbed a pale night gown. I hadn’t worn a night gown in so long. A ribbon dangled off the waist and I pulled it around and tied it in the back.

“Well… I have to learn the basics of everything so I can pass on knowledge. I’m what you would call a scholar. I normally spend about half my day studying and learning. I go to other older scholars if I don’t understand something from one of the subjects. I spend the other half my day shadowing a teacher teaching classes to young kids and he teaches me about teaching afterwards. So you’re not wasting my time. I just see it as getting practice in.”

“You can turn around now. That sounds interesting, but don’t you have a focus or something?”

He turned back around and his face turned slightly red again as he took in my night gown. Men probably weren’t supposed to see women in nightgowns till they were married or something. That’s how it was within the wall unless you were dishonored.

“You umm… you look pretty in that… Yeah, I don’t focus on one subject. That’s for people going into a field. I want to teach younger kids who still have to learn all the subjects before they can choose a focus.” He was staring at me the whole time, and I was actually starting to feel uncomfortable from his gaze.

Finally he looked away to look around the room. “Do you like the room? And the clothing? Lisa told me she suggested that some dresses were put in the wardrobe because you might be more comfortable in them. The room is just one our unused rooms for single people. I hope you like the color blue…”

I shrugged and smiled, “Yeah. I.. I haven’t had anything so beautiful in a long time. I like blue well enough. Tell your sister thanks.” What else did I say? Sometimes trying to have a conversation was just hard.

He spoke up again, “I should leave… You are settling in well? I umm… Lisa will come and make sure you wake up in the morning so we have plenty of time to study.”

I nodded, “Yeah, I need to take a shower still.” I could help but smile with delight at the thought of getting to actually use a shower.

He waved at me while never breaking into a smile, “Bye then,” he turned away and left the room.

I waited a second then I went into to the bathroom and took the night dress off. I turned the shower on again, and stepped into its cold stream of water enjoying the amenities these wall people had. The water slowly warmed up into a pleasant and relaxing beat against my skin. Not only did they have running water, it was magically warmed up. I never wanted to leave this shower!

But I had to. I had to leave this shower, and this magical place where every room had a working bathroom which meant turning off this faucet and preparing myself for bed.

A towel hung near the shower, and I used it to dry my body and my short hair before slipping into my night gown again, and heading toward the bed that should belong to a Most Honored.

The bed covers were so smooth and soft that my calloused hands snagged against them. Luxuries like this weren't meant for a Dishonored, but I wasn't Dishonored anymore. With that thought I slid myself into the sheets that caressed my skin. and let the bed envelop me in its soft cushions.

But the falling asleep was hard. I wasn't Dishonored anymore. I had escaped the endless drudgery for life of dimly lit rooms and maps promising a large world beyond the wall. Tomorrow I would get to learn more! This bed was too soft!

I tossed to my side. It felt so wonderful, but I felt like I was endlessly sinking.

In the morning I heard knocking on the door. I groggily got out of the bed. I guess I had fallen asleep at some point, but it had taken so long, and I felt like I had run through the whole night. This thing was too soft. Maybe in the future I should just grab some of the sheets and sleep on the floor.

The knocking came again, “Coming!” I yelled as I dragged myself out of the covers and went to the door. I opened it and found Lisa waiting in the darkness outside my door.

“I’m here to help you if you need it. Your lack of a need for privacy quite embarrassed Roderick last night.” She spoke like an adult of the Wall with the same flat emotionless tones. It was too early in the morning for such monotone speech patterns.

“Umm, ok. I might need help with back of a dress, but that is it.” I stood back and let her in before heading over to the wardrobe and opening it up to browse through the choices. I picked a simple black dress from the wardrobe. It looked like it would be a floor length dress on me.

I took off the night gown and slipped the dress over my head. It had a zipper so I pulled it part way up, and then turned toward Lisa, “Hey Lisa, you want to come help me with my stupid zipper?

She nodded and quietly came over and pulled the zipper up. “It looks good on you.” I looked down at the dress, and from what I could see it flattered my thin emaciated body making me look slightly less emaciated and it had a heavy and full skirt that touched the ground. Thin straps went over my shoulders leaving the rest of the skin bare.

She grabbed my wrist and led me over to the vanity. “I don’t know what to do with your short hair. Most of us hardly ever cut our hair, but…” she let the sentence hang as she brushed her hand over the couple of inches I had.

“I normally just leave it alone, but I could brush it down if you want -” I started before she shushed me.

“No, I’m doing your hair and I’m doing your make up. I’ll just make your hair lie flat, or we could do a wig…”

“No wigs.” I would let her play and do make up on me and stuff if she wanted but I wouldn’t be so fake as to wear a wig. I liked my short ash brown hair no matter what length it was or what color it was.

She nodded seriously, “No wigs.”

She spun me toward her and then start applying stuff to my face. When she finished she applied some sort of gel to my hair and then brushed it down around my head. She spun me around to face the mirror and I was shocked. I hadn’t thought she would actually do that great a job, but she did. It was hard to tell that I was wearing make-up and that it wasn’t natural. My eyes stood out more though, my lips were slightly redder, and my face was more evenly colored. My hair was pulled to the side and back of my head in the style I knew was called a bob. She made it work on me even though my hair was a little short for a proper bob. I didn’t look half bad.

I wished Kevin could see me like this. Maybe if Kevin saw me he would see something more than the sister he always saw me as. Where was Kevin? Was he getting to live in the same luxury? Would he even want to leave?

“Wow…” I whispered as she waited for approval.

“Wow, is that all you can say right now?” I laughed at her demand for more praise.

“Thank you Lisa. I look simply stunning, and you did it without making me look fake. I am really, really impressed. What’s the occasion?” They wouldn’t have me get all dressed up for no reason would they?

“No reason. You’ll be dressing nice and wearing make-up every day you live here. I might even be willing to teach you to do your own make-up. You would like that wouldn’t you?” I shrugged not sure if I would actually like that or not. Then suddenly she smiled, “And thanks for the praise. I do think I did a good job.” She had that superior look again. She was not humble.

All the pale people of the wall were so strange. I guess they had nothing better to do what with being cooped up in the wall all the time. She pulled my hand and I stood up and followed her out of the room. Again we went down black halls until we came to the hall where Kevin and I had just entered the other day. It had dim lights turned on in the hall. Roderick was there.