I got home and quickly took a quick bath with cold water. I knew I had pushed it this night because I had gotten only 2 hours of sleep. I climbed into bed, only to be awoken by my sister in what felt like 5 minutes.

"Wake up Aolia! We are going to dress shopping today for the ball!" Ali exclaimed trying to pull me out of bed but failed terribly.

"No" I mumbled into my pillow and turned my head. There was no physical way I could get up out of bed right now.

Suddenly a rush of cold water hit my back.

"Ali!" I yelled as she ran down the hallway "You are dead meat! You hear me?".

I was stopped by my father as he looked at me, up and down, in my nightgown. He muttered something under his breath along the lines of "She'll never find a husband", and turned away. Little did he know that I did not want or need a husband to be happy in life. Ali might be content with all that fairytale stuff but after mom died I realized that those types of stories didn't come true in real life.

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After I got dressed and looked like what my father calls "proper". We headed out to the dress shop as soon as we were all read. My father always saved money claiming that we would need it in the future, and this is what he wanted to use it for. Personally, I would have used my half of the money to purchase some more useful. When we finally got to the dress shop, I hopped out of the carriage and told my father and sister.

"After I find a dress I am going to meet up with Emily. She wanted to tell me about her new threading pattern" I told them trying to sound excited. My father gave the slightest nod bringing his chin down slightly. I knew my father was not going to have a problem with me going out with Emily because he wanted me to hang out with more girls in hope that their girly ways would rub off on me.

The only problems with the statement I just said were two things:

One: Emily had not talked to me in the last 5 years.

Two: I had no intentions of learning about threading patterns.

However, my father did not need to know that. We walked into the dress shop and Ali ran to the nearest dresses looking contently. I, on the other hand, would burlap sack and wouldn't care. I wanted to get done as quickly as possible. I knew my father would give me a hard time if I did not look my best at the ball so I decided to waste a few more minutes in this boutique before I took care of my business. I had also decided that if I needed to spend more time than necessary in this shop, I might as well wear something that I enjoyed.

I walked up to one of the associates and kindly asked

"Excuse, can you show me where your red ballgowns are?"

"Red?" the associate asked, "Are you sure you want to go with that color?"

"Yes miss, I am sure," I told her.

She walked me to the back corner of the store with a small selection of red dresses. Red was not a popular color with ladies in our times. They believed it signified blood and battle, and that's exactly wanted I was going for. That's when I found a beautiful blood-red gown with black detail.

I quickly picked it out and handed it to my father and said

"This is the dress that I want and I am not arguing about it"

"Red?!" he exclaimed "I will not be purchasing this. Your sister just picked out a beautiful yellow gown with white ruffles. Why can't you be more like her?"

"Either you purchase this gown or I am going to the ball naked. The choice is your father" I told him not backing away from the gown I had picked.

"Fine" he mumbled, "But I never had any hope that you would win the Prince's heart anyways".

"Thank you for the wonderful afternoon," I told my father as I walked out of the shop. I quickly ran to the carriage and pulled out my cloak as well as my pouch with gold coins and my dagger. I pulled on my cloak behind the carriage and pulled the hood up. I walked out and faded into the shadows as I walked until I reached the shop, slipping the dagger into the pocket of my hood.

"Hello Davidson," I said with a grin as I walked into the store.

"Long time no see Miss. Aloia," He said not looking up from the blade he was sharpening.

"I hope you didn't miss me too much," I said as I was walked to the blades on the wall. I needed a new blade and harness to wear to the ball. I knew the caption of the guard was going to be there and he might be a little upset over our last talk. However, I would do anything necessary to keep him quiet, even draw blood if needed.

"I missed your gold, not you," he said with a smirked

"Still as charming as ever," I told him as I choose a dagger that was about as long as my hand and moved on to the harness. I always purchased any weapons I used in Mr. Davidson's shop. He never tried to pull any tricks on me with the money or touch me in any inappropriate way that other shop owners would. In exchange, I would throw in an extra gold coin or two for his quiet on my visits and for him giving me the basic human respect that most women do not receive. I was also certain that Mr. Davidson's name was not Davidson.

"May I?" I asked as I walked up to the target made out of wood with three white rings and a white circle in the middle.

"Break it and you still have to pay, got it?" Davidson warned me.

"Got it," I said as I winked at him.

I was about to throw the dagger again when I heard someone walk in behind me.