Kingdom of Ellorace

The entire Kingdom of Elorrace was abuzz with the upcoming event. Parties were few and far between in this kingdom, let alone ones where everyone was invited. The King and Queen were so rigid in their distaste of the lower class, they never even stepped foot outside of the stone walls of the castle. There was a rumor that the King once stepped outside the gate, drunken and disoriented, only to be so repulsed by the smell of poverty that he sobered up and immediately went inside.

Not everyone believed that rumor, though.

Thanks to the upcoming ball, tailors suddenly had enough food to eat, and children that were previously too young to become apprentices were bombarded with basic stitching to be done on hundreds of clothes. With a kingdom of thousands of people, with nearly half of them never invited to a party, everyone had to find something to wear. Not just something—something stunning. There was the off chance that one might sight the Prince, who was usually off fighting some war to be home for whatever holiday or celebration. There weren't any wars going on now, though.

"Where's your head today, silly girl?" called a warm voice. Kate blinked out of her stare to address her mother.

"In the clouds, Mother," she admitted with flushed cheeks.

"Turn," she muttered through her teeth, which now held pins. Kate adjusted herself as instructed, so now she could see herself in the mirror. Her mother was no tailor, but she had some basic sewing skills, enough to make simple, nice clothes for her children. Kate was the eldest, and therefore first in line to get her measurements.

In the mirror, Kate watched her worn mother fiddle with the basic outline of what would be her new smock. They were plain and white, and at the moment weren't anything like they would be when they were done. The shoulders sagged and exposed too much of her arms, the waist didn't even hug her correctly, and the bottom skirt was far too long. Still, her mother promised her lace and a tight fit. There was a lot of work to be done between now and next week.

When enough pins poked at her from every angle, Kate's mother stepped back to address her handiwork.

"Stop fidgeting, Katie," her mother murmured, almost in a trance. Kate spun without being told, until a gesture told her to stop. "Right, so I need to tighten this up a bit," she said to herself. "Then that'll fit well under the corset." Kate suppressed her groan, but her mother caught her expression in the mirror. "Well if you want to look like a true Lady, then you're going to have to get used to it!" The trouble was that she wasn't a Lady, and she wasn't used to it.

"I know," Kate said through a sigh. "I just know it'll be uncomfortable."

"But you will look stunning." The women smiled at each other, and Kate brushed her long, brown hair to the side so her mother could begin stitching the smock together. At least she got new clothes out of this.

~'~

Just a couple days later, Kate stood in the same spot with her mother and younger sister on either side, waiting in silent anxiety for the most uncomfortable part of the new clothes she so naively

anticipated. Her sister, a younger replica of her redheaded mother in every way but a button nose, held one side of the corset while her mother held the other. The two joined the back for the initial lacing, and Kate felt her heart beat hard in her chest.

"What is a corset for, anyway?" she groaned as Liliana pulled the first string.

"Posture and support, for one," their mother murmured. "Tighter on that side, dear." Kate gasped when Liliana placed her hand on Kate's hip to pull tighter. Now it started to get uncomfortable.

"And for two?" Kate asked.

"To give yourself a more desirable figure," she replied matter-of-factly. "When we stand tall and proud, we look fuller—" She gestured to the top part of her abdomen, where her own breasts peeked over the cut of her dress. "And healthier." She grabbed Kate's hip for emphasis, and pulled the strings again. Kate suddenly couldn't collect a full breath. "You're supposed to be wearing one anyway. You've got a full woman's body, and you need the support. Tighter, there--"

"Any tighter and I'll faint," Kate insisted with a furrowed brow.

"That'll do. Just the top, now," her mother instructed Liliana. Her sister smirked, and Kate scowled.

"You're next, Lil," she murmured under her breath. "You're not out of this stay-thing either."

"Hm?" Liliana looked in the mirror, then to her mother through it. "I'm not?"

"No, dear, you're not. You're old enough now. I made you one, too—"

"What!" Kate's mother pulled one last loop of the corset, and Kate somehow managed to squeeze a gasp out. It tightened considerably around her chest, and now she found it considerably harder to breathe. She adjusted her breasts as much as she could, pulling them above the rim to give herself some more space. She just barely fit her fingers beneath the caged fabric to pull at the skin. A small sigh escaped her when she found another couple inches to breathe, but now she felt rather exposed. A drafty breeze brushed against her cleavage, sending a shiver down her spine. This was quite low-cut, so low it almost exposed enough to be considered unladylike; and her formal dress was to be around this shape? Kate kept her shock internal.

"Not so bad, is it?" her mother said with a smile. "My first corset got me a proposal from your father. Maybe yours will, too." It was hard to admit, now that Kate looked at herself in the mirror, that she finally looked her age. Normally, when she looked at herself she could still see a little girl, unready for the world. Now she could clearly see her womanly figure; she finally looked like she was nineteen. Maybe she would get a couple proposals at the ball...

"I do have better posture," Kate admitted, though she didn't quite look at how far back her shoulders settled, and rather at the newfound curves the stay gave her. She'd never seen herself quite like this before, so womanly. For a moment, she let her fingers trace over the new shapes her body displayed, the hourglass form from her hips to her bosom. She knew that she was getting a little larger up top, but she always wore so many layers, it was hard to tell--until now, that was.

"Don't," her mother said sharply, slapping Kate's hand away from her breasts. "You'll develop Hysteria."

"What even is that, anyway?" Liliana asked with a furrowed brow. "I heard that Ulysses Pattersonne and his wife had it. Is it contagious?" The ladies' mother shook her head.

"I don't know what it entails for men, but for us women, it's when our womb wanders and it has to be set right. If they can't fix it, it has to be taken out." The girls gasped.

"Then we couldn't—"

"No, you couldn't have children without it."

"That's awful," Kate muttered. She, herself, imagined having two or three. She didn't want a very large family, like the one she currently had, with three younger sisters and four younger brothers. A couple would do nicely, though.

"It is. Be careful. Don't do anything that might lead to impure thoughts, or you might get it."

"Impure thoughts?" Kate asked, turning to her mother. "Like what?"

"Like thoughts only a husband should have for his wife. Bedroom thoughts." The woman's daughters seemed very uncomfortable at the mention. "Right, now. The final bit." As the sisters gave each other awkward glances, their mother left to retrieve the elegant gown she'd constructed for her eldest daughter. "Slip this on."

"Mother!" Kate gasped at first glance. The dress was a pale green with dark green embroidery, white lace along the edges, and a perfectly flattering shape. "This is beautiful!" Kate hardly noticed her mother beam with pride as she stepped into the skirts. "Do me up!"

Liliana was silent as she laced the back of her older sister's dress, but Kate could see her finger the threads.

"I told you it would be. Look how it goes with you. Oh, your eyes." She referred to the look of pure elation on Kate's face—or maybe how the green in the dress matched the green in her eyes. She'd never felt this beautiful before, not even when Robert attempted to court her without permission a couple years ago.

The fabric fit perfectly over the smock and corset, hugged her newly formed curves. It was beautiful. She was beautiful.

"I hope mine is that nice," Liliana murmured as she stared into the mirror.

"Yours is just like it," their mother announced with glee. "Except blue! I think you'll look better in blue with your red hair."

Kate's sister and mother chatted excitedly about the design of the dress in the background. Kate, though, stood, staring at herself, smiling. Was looking at her new waist considered a bedroom thought? No, it couldn't have. It wasn't as if she let her thoughts slip any further than that. She didn't imagine a man looking at her that way...well, she did—she imagined how his eyes might trace the lines of the designs on the fabric, but settle on her ivory skin just where her neckline was. Then his eyes would look at her hair, how long and curly it was, then to her face—then, he would fall in love, perhaps want to touch her newly accentuated shapes with his bare fingertips.

--but that didn't count as a bedroom thought, did it?

"Katie, dear, go ahead and change while we do up your sister." Kate felt the world reappear around her; now she was no longer at the ball standing in front of a suitor, but standing on a box in front of a mirror. She sighed and hopped down, then made her way to the bedroom where she would change.

Once she was behind the dividing shade in her bedroom, Kate looked at herself in the mirror again, savoring the feeling she just discovered. For the first time in her life, she felt desirable. She pulled at the string on the back of her dress and watched the green pool around her hips, where it stopped on its own for her to push it down. She wiggled a little, and it fell around her feet. Next, came the corset, which was quite a relief to untie, but still gave her an odd feeling in her lower stomach. She didn't like how it pushed at her stomach, but the way it rubbed against her skin, pressed everything up and at attention, certainly gave an extra appeal to the gown she just wore. The tip of the boning rubbed right against her sensitive nubs--a feeling she'd ignored her whole life up until now.

The corset fell to the floor, and next the smock. And, finally, when she stood naked in front of the mirror she looked at herself again.

The corset didn't do all that much but change the way she looked at herself. She wasn't fully aware of these womanly curves until now. She never noticed the way that the curve of her legs led up so perfectly to her rear, her hips. Her nipples erected from the constant torture of the corset; she shivered as her hands found their way up her body to examine them. Her body lurched at her own fingertips when they reached the sensitive nubs. Why did they feel like that?

She took her thumb and forefinger and gently rubbed them on the little nub, examining the feeling it produced. It was strange how something that felt nice up here made her womanly parts tingle all the way down there. Kate kept letting her fingers run over her breasts, exploring the gentle mounds carefully, and wondered to herself about the tingles that trickled through her body.

If touching herself here made that place feel like this, what would happen if she touched it directly? Slowly, anxiously, she started to let her hand drag its way lower, past her belly button and to her hip. In the mirror, she could see her nipples harden on their own, without any direct touch, just from the anticipation.

"Katie, what's taking you so long!" Kate jumped in fear at the voice at the door. Quickly, she grabbed for her regular clothes and began to throw them over her head, and began to tie it around in the right places.

"J-just admiring the stitching, is all!" she shouted back. Her heart raced and slammed against her chest; Kate stared at herself in the mirror, amazed at the discovery she'd just made. She'd have to find a time where she could do this again.

It turned out that that night, while her sisters slept, was the time the feeling begged to be felt again. She lay under the blankets in her bed, wide awake while her little sisters snored away. She could hear her brothers and parents snore through the wall, which, while it normally made her feel safe, only made her heart beat faster. What if someone saw what she wanted to do?

Kate waited a couple minutes longer, wool blanket pulled up to her chin with her legs bent on her bed. She could hear each of her sisters breathe evenly; they were all asleep. She was the only one in the entire house that dared be awake this late with so much to do tomorrow. She would be exhausted in the morning, but maybe it would be worth it.

Silently, Kate released her hold on the blanket at her chin and let her hand trail to her bent legs, right where her smock bunched up at her hips. Her hand felt the inside of her thigh, how warm and sensitive it was, how it seemed to catch on fire just from her own touch. With shallow breaths, she lowered her hands to her mound, and let her fingers explore every inch. She ignored the small bush of hair and went to the slit that called for her ever since she tried on the dress—the part of her she wasn't even supposed to think about. Every question prompted a slap from her mother and every thought usually showed on her face without fail, which would earn her a slap anyway. But now...no one was around. No one could see what she intended to do.

It radiated heat more than her legs did, and when she parted her lower lips ever so gently, a ragged breath escaped through her teeth. Kate gently let her finger explore inside the slit, where the sensitive warmth seemed to gather some sort of moisture. At first, confusion clouded her judgement, but when her fingers continued to examine around, she could tell that this was only for her benefit. There was something extra—something delightful that the wetness added to it all when she dragged her fingers in and around the slit again and again. She dared let her fingers go a little lower than her slit, and found the one spot that was only supposed to be there for her future husband. A small, little hole that held so much promise.

She felt around the entrance, noting a small layer of skin at first that didn't feel all that special, until she crept her finger inside. She was warm, and the walls of her maidenhood pulsed at the foreign touch. Guiltily, she could begin to understand why this might feel so nice to another. If someone could do this for her...

Liliana snorted in her sleep and flopped over on her cot, and Kate found her hands bunched up under her chin with the blanket again, stomach solid cold in fear that she might have noticed something. Her sister was fast asleep, though; but the fear was enough to leave that wonderful world undiscovered for just another night longer.

The morning meal with her family didn't hold her attention much this day. Her mind kept wandering to the tingles from yesterday; the oddly nice feeling no one ever told her about.

"You've got a couple deliveries today, Kate," said her father from across the wooden table.

"Oh?" she asked, welcome to the distraction. "Where to?"

"One for the Metalworker, and another for the Doctor. They've already paid, which is why I'm sending you and not going, myself." Kate sighed, but nudged her wooden spoon against the leftover stew from last night. She liked handling the money, but of course her father would never let her—in case the men weren't honest, he claimed.

"But," her father continued when he noticed her sigh, "your mother says you're very excited for this ball. Is that right?" Only she and her sister could go, so the rest of the siblings muttered under their breaths instead.

"Yes, very excited. It's going to be beautiful," Kate said breathlessly with a smile. Her father mirrored her.

"I'm going to give you a couple pennies to pick up something nice for you and your sister today, then. A bit of a gift from your mother and me, to celebrate how beautiful our daughters have turned out." Liliana gasped and stared right at Kate.

"New ribbons, maybe? Oi, can I go with her?" She addressed this to their father, who shook his head.

"No, one of the cows looks like she's going into labor soon. I need you around for that." Kate suddenly became very thankful for the curse she'd had ever since she was a little girl: cattle did not like her. She was never forced to milk or feed the cows because they'd always run away from her, or go to kick her. Her mother said it was usually a bad thing, but in her case it must have just been because she didn't like cows; mutual distaste for one another made everyone's lives easier.

Kate dressed quickly so she could get to the market as soon as possible, and picked up the parcels of bread for the Metalworker and the Doctor. The coin purse hung at her side under her apron. She patted everything, checking that the ties were secure and stacked in the boxes, and that the purse wouldn't go anywhere without her noticing. When she was about to leave, her mother stopped her.

"Let me primp you just a bit," she insisted. She ran her hands through her daughter's hair and pulled off stray hairs, much to her displeasure. "Mrs. Mosely tells me that the Doctor has a new apprentice. He's young, he's handsome, and single."

"Oh, mother, it's just a—"

"Kate, you just stay sweet and pleasant and don't shy too much away from the nicer men. You understand?" With a gentle and affectionate touch to her cheek, her mother let her walk out the door.

Kate attempted to keep the burning edges of irritation away from her stomach, and instead focused on the light breeze the day held. It was a beautiful, sunny day, which meant the walk to the kingdom would go very quickly, and she could spend more time looking at what to get her and her sister.

The Metalworker wasn't home, but Kate got to meet his daughter, who was just a little older than her and even more excited for the upcoming ball than Kate and her sister were. She didn't entirely know if that was possible until she met her.

"Oh, if you're looking for jewelry, the Parkins family is back just in time. They've got lots of new jewels from the next kingdom over," Becca assured her. And, because this day was going so well, it just so turned out that the Parkins set up their tent on the way to the Doctor's house. They had dozens upon dozens of necklaces of every shape and color and size. Kate was certain she'd spent too much time staring at the sparkling gems and was about to move along when Mr. Parkins stopped her.

"For the ball?" he asked with a wide grin. Mr. Parkins might have been a handsome man back when he was young, but now Kate couldn't help but focus on the giant wrinkles that overtook his forehead.

"Yes, for me and my sister. My father gave me a few pennies to spend," she said, nodding.

Mrs. Parkins perked up. "What color are your dresses, dear?"

"Mine is green and Liliana's is blue." Mr. Parkins' wife immediately went into a few folded pieces of fabric to extract two necklaces; one held a sapphire, the other an opal.

"We don't have any emeralds anymore; just sold our last one. But this would look beautiful against your skin," she reassured as she passed the silver chain to her. Kate regarded it gently, and let the light trickle through the setting so she could see how it bent and manipulated the colors of the light.

"This is beautiful. How much?"

"Four pennies," Mrs. Parkins answered quickly. Kate frowned.

"I have three, and I need to get something for my sister. Do you have anything...smaller?" It went on like that for too long. Mrs. Parkins kept producing more expensive jewelry than Kate could find until Kate took off the purse and dumped the contents—the three pennies—onto the table.