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Authors: Jody Lynn Nye
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rotating display of handsome tailored garments. Elaborate animations on the walls surrounding the window proclaimed this to be the establishment of Volstang Bennett Icari XXIII, Clothier to the Rich and Famous. As if to reassure me of its clientele, it displayed becoming portraits of numerous guiding lights in politics, the military and the arts. I observed an image of my mother’s secretary, Admiral Leven Draco, a man of prosperous figure and overwhelming eyebrows, in a suit I had in fact seen him wear. Yes, it was possible Uncle Leven had traveled in this direction and purchased something from Icari. “I didn’t realize how deeply interested you were in clothing.”
“Oh, yes,” I said, fervently. “I live for fashion. I like to think that I always have the dernier cri at my fingertips. My cousins and I never like to be left behind the curve. We of the Imperium house have a reputation to uphold, on the Emperor’s behalf, of course. My imperial cousin is a serious man, but he likes to look his finest. We can but seek to follow his example. At the very least, we prefer not to shame him.”
“You could never do that,” Deirdre said. Anstruther coughed, then looked sheepish.
“You would be surprised,” I said. “In our efforts to indulge our whims, we sail rather close to the galactic wind, though we do seek not to find ourselves foundering in shame.” A very dignified-looking man, of pigeon-like figure, in his fourth decade or so, must have been alerted to our presence by his advertising wall, and appeared in the doorway to beckon us in. “Shall we see what Odile thought was worth investigating?”
Madame Deirdre preceded me over the threshold.
“You grace my humble establishment!” the man exclaimed, clapping his large hands together with unfeigned delight. “I recognized you at once, Lord Thomas Kinago! Welcome to Icari! I am Volstang XXV, grandson of our founder.”
“I am honored to make your acquaintance.” I lowered my eyes in a gesture of modesty. “I presume that your databases learned the names of all of the noblemen and noblewomen traveling through this sector?”
“Oh, no, my lord,” Icari said, leaning back on his heels with a broad smile. “Not you! You came to my attention some months back, when you demolished that ill-thought-out statue of the late Empress.”
“Oh,” I said, feeling my cheeks stain crimson. That was one of the moments of shame to which I had lately referred. Sadly, it would not have been a disgrace if I had managed to avoid the statue in question with my racing flitter, only a catastrophe.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, my lord,” Icari said, leaning close and nodding confidingly “Every one of us watching the vids thought that you improved on it, crashing into it like that.”
“Well, when you put it that way,” I said, brightening somewhat. “To add insult to injury, the amount of money it cost to repair the terrible monument put a crimp in my expenditures for quite a while. It emptied my pockets so thoroughly I was nearly forced to wear the same suit of clothes to two official functions in the same month!”
“That will never do, my lord!” Mr. Icari said, indignant on my behalf. “I have seen from my perusal of your Infogrid file that you enjoy the unique. Well, we pride ourselves on exclusives in design that you will never have seen anywhere. Please, take a look around. I can assign you a clerk, show you around myself, or leave you to explore on your own. Teesh!” Icari clapped his hands.
A slim Wichu with close-clipped white fur, a style I had never seen before as the Wichu were jealous of the lushness of their coats, slipped out of a curtained enclosure. He brandished a hand-sized device at us.
“May I scan your measurements?” he asked.
“I assume you already have,” I said, with amusement. “You are asking if we would like you to reveal them to us.”
“Yup,” Teesh said, abandoning pretense. He held out the small screen.
“Oh, yes,” I said, fervently. “I live for fashion. I like to think that I always have the dernier cri at my fingertips. My cousins and I never like to be left behind the curve. We of the Imperium house have a reputation to uphold, on the Emperor’s behalf, of course. My imperial cousin is a serious man, but he likes to look his finest. We can but seek to follow his example. At the very least, we prefer not to shame him.”
“You could never do that,” Deirdre said. Anstruther coughed, then looked sheepish.
“You would be surprised,” I said. “In our efforts to indulge our whims, we sail rather close to the galactic wind, though we do seek not to find ourselves foundering in shame.” A very dignified-looking man, of pigeon-like figure, in his fourth decade or so, must have been alerted to our presence by his advertising wall, and appeared in the doorway to beckon us in. “Shall we see what Odile thought was worth investigating?”
Madame Deirdre preceded me over the threshold.
“You grace my humble establishment!” the man exclaimed, clapping his large hands together with unfeigned delight. “I recognized you at once, Lord Thomas Kinago! Welcome to Icari! I am Volstang XXV, grandson of our founder.”
“I am honored to make your acquaintance.” I lowered my eyes in a gesture of modesty. “I presume that your databases learned the names of all of the noblemen and noblewomen traveling through this sector?”
“Oh, no, my lord,” Icari said, leaning back on his heels with a broad smile. “Not you! You came to my attention some months back, when you demolished that ill-thought-out statue of the late Empress.”
“Oh,” I said, feeling my cheeks stain crimson. That was one of the moments of shame to which I had lately referred. Sadly, it would not have been a disgrace if I had managed to avoid the statue in question with my racing flitter, only a catastrophe.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, my lord,” Icari said, leaning close and nodding confidingly “Every one of us watching the vids thought that you improved on it, crashing into it like that.”
“Well, when you put it that way,” I said, brightening somewhat. “To add insult to injury, the amount of money it cost to repair the terrible monument put a crimp in my expenditures for quite a while. It emptied my pockets so thoroughly I was nearly forced to wear the same suit of clothes to two official functions in the same month!”
“That will never do, my lord!” Mr. Icari said, indignant on my behalf. “I have seen from my perusal of your Infogrid file that you enjoy the unique. Well, we pride ourselves on exclusives in design that you will never have seen anywhere. Please, take a look around. I can assign you a clerk, show you around myself, or leave you to explore on your own. Teesh!” Icari clapped his hands.
A slim Wichu with close-clipped white fur, a style I had never seen before as the Wichu were jealous of the lushness of their coats, slipped out of a curtained enclosure. He brandished a hand-sized device at us.
“May I scan your measurements?” he asked.
“I assume you already have,” I said, with amusement. “You are asking if we would like you to reveal them to us.”
“Yup,” Teesh said, abandoning pretense. He held out the small screen.
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