Aren sees Ted setting the lead on his saddled horse (as is the standing order of the garrison that any horse leaving the gate be saddled or harnessed) and leading it out for a walk as he is saddling his own. They take small notice of the differences between the saddles, Ted’s wide and padded for long days astride while Aren’s is a small affair, stirrups rigged to provide stable footing and generate striking power from the hips more than to support the legs as they rest idly for hours. After Ted leads his steed for a lap around the lower courtyard, they reach the gate at the same time, as does an unnoticed tabby contemplating the best way for her to cover the nearly four miles to the town and through it to the docks.<br/>---------------------------------------<br/>When Aria completes her lauds, Marie helps her out of her vestments and hangs them away. She takes her place behind Aria as she sits at her dressing table in naught but her shift. Maria takes up the brush and untangles Aria’s thick, blond hair before braiding it up to keep it out of her face and stop her coif from catching and pulling it out. Her hair set, Marie removes her lady’s shift and gently, deliberately washes her lady from the basin of warm water and chamois at the edge of the dressing table. Drying her, Marie steals a look up into Aria’s eyes before as she applies a light perfume to cover the day’s sweat sure to come.<br/><br/>As she stands, Marie begins the dressing with knee length blue silk trousers and white silk stockings followed by a light girdle and padded leggings reaching almost to her womanhood. Marie feels Aria’s knees as she checks that the squares of mail protecting their rear where plates can’t are properly positioned. She holds the riding boots as Aria steps into them and binds the laces tight against ankles narrow and strong. Marie’s gaze lingers a bit at the belly lacking much of a woman’s smoothness as she belts on the heavier girdle and hangs Aria’s leg harness. She covers the harness with a skirt of pure white.<br/><br/>Her first stage of armoring complete, Marie lays a sash of blue silk across the nape of Aria’s neck and firm shoulders, down her chest  and binds Aria’s breasts in place, her hands often checking to ensure Aria won’t be distracted should the tender flesh shift and be bitten by armor. Over this, Marie holds the gambeson as her lady shrugs the silken lining over the taut muscles of her shoulders. Marie returns to her lady’s front and begins to lace the garment, again setting Aria’s bosom into the pleats of the blue coat. Next, Marie adds the flatly curving cuirass, a small frown on her face. The arm harness and and pauldrons and taces follow and then Marie is laying the coif across Aria’s armored shoulders and buckling her sword belt across armored hips, setting the misericorde and empty scabbard to their proper draw.<br/><br/>Finally, Marie kneels in front of her lady, offering her sword wrapped in a silken sheet. As Aria takes the blade from the maid kneeling before her, she notices the small pommel of a dagger resting in the maid’s bosom. Seeing her lady’s gaze, Marie bows her head and says with the merest hint of bite, “You have shown us we are not without our courage simply because they think we lack something between our legs.” She quickly adds in a deferent tone, “I’m sorry; I speak out of turn, m’lady.”<br/><br/>Aria’s helm and gauntlets await her on a pillow on a small table near the chamber door.<br/>-----------------------------------------<br/>The maid draws her hand away and replies to her dismissal, “If it please m’lady, I will return at a turn of your glass [OOC: about 20 minutes] for you toilet and dressing.”<br/><br/>The maid draws back all of the curtains on Victoriana’s bed. On her way out, she turns the hourglass on the desk. Dora later sets out her spellbook next to it as she studies.<br/><br/>The maid returns after Dora has slipped out and keeps the curtains on the windows drawn. She hums s she peruses Victoriana’s gowns and finally chooses one of a very fine, unbleached, woolen samite, its barely off-white hue sure to complement her lady’s complexion winningly.<br/><br/>Much like Marie in the other room, the maid bathes her lady in a brass tub and dries her and dresses her hair. She dresses and undresses her lady in the gown several times, each time with some small adjustments with the needle and thread in the dressing table. Victoriana notices the square neckline shows off quite a bit of her chest; the maid sees this and notes with a sly, conspiratorial face, “We must make you more stunning than usual, m’lady, something special for your hero.” Victoriana isn't sure, but she thinks the maid means Aren rather than her brother. Her “balcony” is powdered and adorned with an elaborate double strand of gold, red hawk pendants of varying sizes evenly separating the gold with the largest in the center. Finally, the maid lays a sash of red silk from her shoulder like a baldric, her wand secured at the nadir.<br/>