Dawn- An Age Of Darkness

I took a gulp of courage, a deep breath, and poked my head out. "Umm… miss, could you come over here please?"

Luckily the attendant was nearby and she came inside. I sighed in relief but the problem wasn't over yet. 

"What is it, my lady? Is the size not fitting or is it not to your liking?" her eyes trembled. And she was addressing me with a lot of respect. 

I didn't really want to complicate things and so tried to explain. "I can't seem to put this on. Can-can you help me?"

"O-Of course!"                                                                           

I didn't need underwear for the top portion of my body, as the bandages had me covered and when I told that to the attendant she gave me a big no-no. She tried to peel the bandages but they hurt too much. She even grieved about my left arm. And then she proposed to get me in a shower. Although I survived a month in a cell, my hygiene was kind of messed up. 

Should have seen this coming. 

I didn't have the guts to smell my odor. "Ye-yes. Please lead the way." I also didn't have the guts to say no to her either.

There was an attached bathroom with the dressing room. 

Is the women's room always this fancy? 

But things changed when she saw my underwear down there. "Umm… I can explain?"  I couldn't explain. I didn't have any excuses. 

She smiled. I knew that wasn't the good kind of smile. But she didn't say anything and brought out panties. "I think this would be better suited to your figure." Oh lord, I did not like that smile.

It's not a fetish, please believe me!

"Ye-yes. Of course!" I forced a pretty smile: I was so not dying inside: definitely not dying inside. Okay?

Things were awkward and we both had this weird smile plastered on our faces.

It took almost an hour to shower and it helped a great deal.

After the shower, she dried my hair with a bit of warm wind magic. 

But when I put on both of the undergarments, I felt more than just weird. 

How the hell do women move in these things!?

With her help, I put on the new dress. I'd rather not get into the details of how everything else went. 

Most of my bandages were removed and the skin had healed. The few that remained got covered inside the dress and it didn't seem that bad. I was surprised at how resilient my body was to pain. Even after roaming around in such a condition, I didn't really feel all that bad. But a month was a long time, possibly the longest for me to go without receiving new additional wounds. 

Only eight and a half months to go, huh?

I looked at the mirror and, honestly captivated myself. I looked pretty good: too good. Way too good? I didn't know what to feel anymore.

Even the attendant was blushing. But then again, she was always blushing around me. Did elves have some sort of way to tell who was beautiful and stuff? Because no matter how you asked me, I'd always say they all looked the same. And besides, I was a human. Plus the elves had a bad relationship with humans. SO what was the big deal!?

"You look gorgeous my lady." The attendant burst into praises. It was like that earlier underwear incident never happened. Honestly, I was a bit glad she forgot.

"You can just call me Daarc."

"Yes-yes my lady- I mean lady Daarc!"

I think I might have ended up complicating things even more. 

***

I made my way out and met the guard. The guy almost jumped at his feet when he saw me. Were elves capable of displaying such emotions?

Ignoring his show of passion I went closer to him. "What do you think?" The least I could do was to be considerate. He was paying after all.

"You look wonderful!" I guess he wasn't that bothered by waiting a full hour and a half. But then again elves lived long lives, so they probably had more patience than me anyway.

"Thanks for the shirt and now this too…" I tried to maintain a smile.

The guy gave me a standing bow with a smile. Everything just seemed, a little, easy?

We paid them or rather the guard did. The attendant gave us a discount. She even waved us out. Were one-handed women popular or something? That was the only thing I could think of.

The guy really didn't mind buying the expensive dress for me. Maybe I misjudged him. 

Do girls always get free things like this? 

But I wasn't going to take it for free. It cost forty silvers and I had about as much left in my bag which was in the palace. So I decided to pay him back as soon as I got it back. 

Maybe the gold embroidery wasn't gold after all. 

I was getting, even more, stares now. Biteria now proudly stood on my shoulder. It was wearing me down (the stares). But I had to move on. 

Never thought girls face this every day.

I felt pity for all the girls in the world. But if they could live through all this, then wow, girls must have been much stronger than I gave them credit for.

***

Eventually, I came to the palace. It looked as spectacular as always and we took the escalator like before. But I remained vigilant. I didn't have any weapons but I still couldn't let my guard down even for a second. But then again all the guards gave me similar glances just like the one with me. Something was wrong with this country and it wasn't me.

Could it be that they all have a thing for one-handed woman?

Glad I didn't ask it aloud. Because I had no intention of knowing.

But it all changed when we entered the throne room. The guard had entered along with me. Maybe he was one of the higher-ranked officers of the army?

The throne room had a lot of guards this time. Lianne was here too. On the throne someone I knew sat. I already knew it from before. It was Jowy. But what shook me the most was his reaction. His jaw almost dropped when he saw me.

"Ho-how beautiful!"

"Indeed." Even Lianne looked captivated. In fact, all the elves in the throne room stared at me with awe and longing. 

Is something wrong with the world? Did I perhaps come to the wrong world?