It had appeared no one truly cared what she did with her time; Fiona had been left for the balance of the afternoon to herself and her reading. It hurt partly but then Adi had had his first client and likely had other things on his mind, she hoped it had gone well for him and that he was not hurting or anything like that. Atticus...he was always busy, why should she think he would notice anything odd with her while he was performing his house duties. Most probably thought she was simply busy with a client, or maybe even working on her mysterious writing projects; free time was precious here after all so often at the beck and call of patrons. For the first few hours she had been upset, resentful almost to the people she counted as near friends in this house. Were there such things as true friends in this world though?<br/><br/>Thinking of Lessard and the time he took to dance with her soothed her. Thinking of Atticus and his kiss, of the stolen moments of<em>"Give this to me...'</em>shook her out of her unusual melancholic thoughts. Why not indeed make the most of the time she had to herself now? And so she had, pulling out several books, unlocking her secret drawer that held her newest manuscript and spent the afternoon making notes and writing as well. Fifty pages flew by and when she sat back to flex her wrist she realized that the afternoon had well and truly passed.<br/><br/>Biting her lower lip she sanded her last page and then locked up her writing, reshelfed her books and went to the water basin she kept to wash her hands clean of inkstains. There was to be a line up tonight she knew, perhaps more then one, many clients came in the evening hours after all. The redhead glanced down at herself and shook her head, her gown showed that she had been sitting for several hours and it...reminded her of the garden and Zara.<br/><br/>She shivered at that and quickly undid her laces, the dress rustling down to pool around her feet. Fi gathered it into her hands and tucked into a hamper that was for laundering before throwing open her wardrobe of clothing; running her hands along the different gowns she found a smile touching her lips, one of pride. She made lovely things and she knew without false pride that she could very well leave the Teahouse as a costumer and seamstress and make good money. Not as good of money of course, and not in near as lovely surroundings. Humming softly to herself she shuffled through her creations before finally settling on one she had yet to wear of gold and cream. The gown (http://www.rossetticouture.com/baroque.html) was carefully constructed with a tight bodice that molded to her torso and cupped her breasts beautifully, the bodice made of a soft golden hued fabric with golden ribbons and pearls for the decoration. The sleeves were pure fancy, whimsical and stitched with fine gold threaded embroidery that had taken her the better part of a day to complete. Tulle the color of new cream made up the many many layers of skirts along with a slight touch of golden brocade fabric over it. Fiona smiled in satisfied pleasure once she had gotten into the gown.<br/><br/>The whore settled at her vanity, pinning her hair up with gold and pearl pins, teasing down a few strands to seem elegantly misplaced, still humming to herself and feeling relaxed in her preparations. Perhaps she would find a new client tonight, or perhaps one of her regulars would request her. It would be lovely to have a evening with the Lady Stanbury though her pretty song bird normally was very good about making appointments firmly a week ahead at most. She was musing over what jewelry to select when a knock fell on her door. Two knocks, sharp but not demanding. The housekeeper then, Emma.<br/><br/>Unfolding herself from her vanity she traversed the room and unlocked her door for the first time since she had fled into her room from the gardens and found herself indeed facing the blond housekeeper. Fiona smiled warmly, her blue green eyes friendly. "Hello Miss, am I behind in getting ready?"<br/><br/>Wanting to feel some like her normal self she opened the door fully and beckoned to the other woman "Will you help me choose what jewelry for tonight? I can't seem to settle on anything, I just need that and my slippers now."