"My tailor has proven sufficient," Bella replied, as a roundabout way of thanking Ardara for the compliment she'd paid her.  Sidhe never directly thanked anyone, and no matter how many human customs Bella had picked up in her time of exile, she was not about to pick up such a vulgar habit as thanking people.  "If you like his work, I can give you his card.  He has a particular eye for fae fashions, and his taste in material and color choice is nearly impeccable. For a mortal, of course."<br/><br/>She turned to regard Thad, a composed man in his early 30s dressed smartly in a suit and tie.  For a moment, she permitted to see him through the eyes of a sidhe that was not herself, and a small smile lifted the corners of her mouth.  In ancient days, she'd often taken mortals under her wing to teach them the fine art of jewelcrafting, but during her time in the Shining Court, that custom had fallen by the wayside.  Taranis had been a nearly schizophrenic ruler, one minute welcoming mortal servitors into the sithen, the next dropping subtle hints that perhaps there were growing to be too many of them in the mounds.  She hated to admit it to herself, and would throw herself in front of the Queen's Darkness before she said it aloud, but her self-imposed exile really had been the best thing to happen to her in centuries.  She had finally been free enough to rediscover her passion for teaching, something she had not been able to afford within the Seelie sithen.<br/><br/>"Thad has made these sets," she said off-handedly, and coming from most other sidhe, it would have been a backhanded insult to the shopkeeper in question.  But Bella never,<em>ever</em>offered an apprentice's pieces unless she herself had inspected them rigorously and declared them fit for consignment.  "I have, of course, included one or two of my own handiwork," she continued, leaning gracefully on the counter.  "Dragon-themed this month.  Despite the unfortunate lack of fae clients, it would have been a shame for them to only gather dust in the dark corners of my cabinets, so I brought them to you for display."<br/><br/>She glanced over her shoulder at Brom in the shop, and smiled faintly.  "Good day," she called politely.  "You're looking particularly imposing today."  He didn't seem like he'd gone out of his way to dress up, but it would have been rude not to find something to compliment him with.