Dress up

A day and a half passed with Ava cooped up in her study taking care of a weeks worth of work before leaving the castle for a few days. Meanwhile, her guest spent his time simply eating and sleeping, according to a report from Michael, though at one point he also heard him making bird calls with what sounded like a robin.

"Lady Ava," Charlotte greeted with a short curtsey as she entered the study just as Ava was finishing her breakfast. "I've prepared the dresses for our guest, though I can't guarantee they're up to date with the newest fashion. If I recall, the royal mistress was quite into ribbons at the time when my mother had them made." A flashback of the ribon heavy dress her mother tried to make her wear for her coming out party gave her shivers.

"Wonderful, I've just settled the last of the more time sensitive documents. I've planned for us to depart around noon. With the recent road improvements, we should arrive there in time for dinner."

Ava made her way down to the second floor where the Blue room was located. Charlotte followed close behind and signaled to one of the maids to bring the garments over.

"Good morning, my lady," Michael greeted when they made it to the door.

"Good morning." Ava responded then knocked on the door and proceeded inside. "Good morning, Little," she greeted her guest with a friendly smile. Charlotte followed her inside and had the maid set the garments in the wardrobe before sending her to fetch some makeup.

"Good morning, Ava," Little replied. 'I think that was the right thing to say,' he thought internally. 'Ah, I wonder if she is alright. She looks like she's lacking sleep...'

*Cough* "It's LADY Ava." Charlotte firmly said, giving Little a bit of side eye.

"No, no. Ava is fine," she gently assured her lady in waiting.

She made her way over to the bed to check on Little's condition. She was still unsure about bringing him on the trip with them, although the journey was fairly short. The doctor said it would take a couple weeks for his wounds to heal, but seeing him now, it would be hard to believe he was as wounded as he was three days ago. The skin on his hands was completely clear of the cuts she had attended to just a couple days prior, and the way he sat up in bed quickly and with ease was not reflective of the broken ribs the doctor had said would take some time to recover.

Ava was confused to see him doing so well. 'Perhaps he's recovering so quickly because he eats so well,' Ava pondered as she watched the man in front of her devour the porridge a servant had just brought in. Whatever the cause of his miraculous recovery, Ava's heart was still not at ease due to the worry of his wounds resurfacing while traveling to the Southern border.

After Little finished his porridge, Ava called for another servant to come inside and help him get dressed behind the divider set up in the corner of the room. The servant was shocked to be handed a gaudy light blue dress with numerous bright pink ribbons tied into bows of various sizes adorning the entire skirt and back of the dress with one large bow placed in the center of the chest. Seeing as how the man seemed completely compliant with wearing the outfit picked out for him, the servant continued unquestioningly with his master's command. He even used stocking to fill the excess space in the chest where the bosom would normally be, which garnered praise from Lady Ava for she had been thinking about using fruits.

Though he had agreed to it, Little felt a bit uncomfortable in the outfit he now wore. Thought the pants were restrictive, they were far better than the tight torture device wrapped around his waist, which made it slightly hard to breathe. He adjusted his breathing to be more shallow to adapt to this new challenge. Ava noticed his altered breathing and stepped over to loosen the bodice a little bit. This great act made him so happy, that without any thought he turned around to give Ava a hug, catching her by surprise.

"Stop!" Before Ava could respond, Charlotte stuck herself between them and split them apart. Visibly annoyed she went off on Little about the proper etiquette of how to treat a Duchess. He didn't fully understand what she was saying, but he could tell hugging in front of her was probably not something he should do. When she'd calmed down, he bowed his head in apology and then moved to hide behind Ava. 'No hugging in front of Charlotte, got it.'

After things settled, Ava and Charlotte found themselves deep in concentration dolling up the man in front of them. Both were pleasantly surprised by how feminine he looked just with the dress on, despite its poor style. In fact, somehow on him, it managed to even look a little chic. They had fun working together to do his hair and makeup, it reminded them of when they were children and would play dress up while their parents held meetings about serious matters in another room. In the end, they had a stunningly tall beauty in front of them. No one outside of the castle would be able to tell that he was a man.

As they left the room to head towards the carriage, Michael and the servants passing through the hallway were stunned. How could that dirt ball from three days ago transform into such a gorgeous woman.

They made their way downstairs, where Helena had been waiting to see them off. "Ava, I thought I heard our guest was a man," she whispered to Ava as she snuck a peek at the tall woman in front of her. Ava just answered her with a telling wink and Helena nodded her head in understanding.

Without further ado they made their way outside to the carriage and guards waiting for them.

"Have a safe trip South," Helena watched on as they took off, then headed back inside for a midday nap.

***

A few hours had passed since they left Grethyll. Charlotte found herself stuck in the carriage alone with Little, as the Duchess preferred to ride on her horse for day trips such as this.

Charlotte spent the time reading the herb book she had recently found an interest in, while Little had his head glued to the window watching the scenery outside. After they left Grethyll, they went through what felt like endless hilly pastures before passing a small town. A little while after they went by some sunflower fields, though as the harvest had ended, what remained were dried brown stalks standing lifeless in the fields.

Eventually, they reached a forest, at which point Ava slowed down to knock on the carriage window to alert them the road would be getting bumpy from there until they exited on the other side. Charlotte paid no mind to the bumpy road and continued with her book, but Little did not fare as well.

After a few minutes into the forest, Charlotte noticed that the person seated across from her was looking unwell. She decided to keep reading about the toxic yet medicinal herb aconite until she noticed her travel companion sway and hold his head in an attempt to stop his dizziness.

'He'd better not be motion sick. Last thing I want to deal with is vomit all over the carriage floor.' She put her book down to observe the situation further. 'The forest portion usually takes about 45 minutes, will he last that long?' At the next bump, Little closed his eyes in discomfort and leaned forward on his knees. 'No! This isn't looking good.'

"Milady!" Charlotte shouted to Ava up ahead.

"Yes?!"

"Your guest appears to be motion sick. Can we stop for a moment?"

"I'm sorry, Charlotte. There have been reports of bandits in the area, so we won't be able to stop until we reach the edge of the forest. Can't you just distract him or something?"

Charlotte looked over at the ill man in front of her, then resigned herself to her fate, "Fine, I'll try to do that."

She tapped Little on the shoulder and he looked up surprised, waiting to see why she'd asked for his attention.

"Umm," Charlotte looked around hastily for some inspiration and saw her book. "This is a book," she said pointing at the book. She picked up the book and flipped through to the pages with pictures.

"This is raspberry leaf. This is fennel seed. This is cinnamon." She continued with her show and tell until some life came back to Little's face. 'Ah, I wish I had that herb right now,' he thought to himself as she flipped past the page with ginger on it.

At the edge of the forest, Ava came by to check on them and they had a short break. They then continued on for about another hour when they reached the Southern border just as the sun was starting to set.