"He just said it needs to be practical. Ser Nikita's work is fine if you're just there to show off, but it's not suitable for anything much more active than dancing, and certainly not jumping off a roof."

"Right, of course - perhaps Anselm, then. Turn around for me, would you?"

Turn. "The clothes will ideally also be practical."

"Well, I don’t make armor, but I certainly won't send you off with something that'll catch or tear. If you want something that'll stop a sword you'll need at least another layer."

She finishes her measurements. and then directs them towards one wall of her store where a number of dresses hang, spanning the distance between some gauzy numbers she rejects to ones made to go with trousers that look somewhat similar to Camellia's outfit.

"It's about what I expected on size, there's plenty I can tailor to you. Let's see, we don't want anything with frills or excessive lace..."

"The paper'll serve as armor, this just needs to go under it and look snazzy while also not trapping every drop of sweat and particle of dirt it touches or catching on every plant I walk past."

It takes some back and forth, but eventually they manage to settle on three outfits that get approved by Iskander and Camellia doesn't totally hate. She promises to have them tailored to fit Kybele within two days.

Camellia counts out the money they owe so that either of them can pick it up whenever she's done.

"Where to next? Are you in the mood for boots, or would you rather accessorize first?"

"My current boots aren't so bad. What accessories are you imagining I need besides my iconic hat?"

"Well, if you're satisfied with it there's hardly a need, I suppose, but I've always enjoyed having the right piece of jewelry to complete a look." She gestures to her chest, where she has a silver necklace made to look like a snake made of bone. "Since I'm paying for things, if we don't get something it should be because you don't want it."

"You're too kind. I don't have anything against jewelry and perhaps there'll be something lovely."

"Please, I don't need to be kind to want the people I'm hanging out with to look their best, and trying to look better by comparison is for people without the ability to stand out anyway."

The jewelers she leads them to has mostly an ordinary selection of gold, silver, and gemstones, and there are a handful of pieces with incredibly tiny gems set on them that brag about containing genuine diamond.

"Anything catch your eye, or shall we try some stuff on? Oh, and skip sunhammer's stuff, it only works as a status symbol if you get it commissioned from him personally and his waiting list for custom projects is public."

"Oh, I like the gem chips - I don't care if they're diamonds, I just like the intricacy of the designs..."

"Hmm, yes, I see it. Shopkeeper, do you have something like this but with sapphire on silver? Or mithral I suppose, but judging by the limited supply of diamonds I'm not holding my breath."

"Begging your pardon, my lady, but there's not much call for Mithral in jewelry here."

Especially since you can't really tell it apart from silver unless you're examining it extremely closely, he valiantly refrains from saying to the wealthy customer.

"If you want something more impressive, I could get you something with larger gems?"

"No, that's definitely the right size - larger wouldn't have the right visual effect."

"Certainly, my lady."

The man does as requested, and brings out several options, only one of which Camellia reluctantly deems satisfactory and pays him for before presenting it to Kybele.

"It's gorgeous, thank you. I will have to be on the lookout for your taste in gifts too, I have never been in such a gift-giving culture as this before."

"My own motivation was more to spoil a friend, but if you think of something far be it from me to turn it down."

"I'll keep it on the back burner, I daresay I won't have the spare time to go on a shopping quest."

Their journey out of the inner city is interrupted by a woman with spiky hair. To Kybele's domain sense, it's obvious that she has rather a lot of paper on her in addition to the loose sheets in her hands.

"You there, girl! What are the favored colors of the goddess Iomedae?"

"I suppose I've seen a lot of red and gold but I don't know if those are her favorites, why?"

"That's half correct! Red is indeed one of Iomedae's sacred colors, but while gold is associated with the inheritor, her second sacred color is held to be white. I'm conducting a survey to measure the theological knowledge of people in Kenabres, for publication in the Encyclopedia Golarionica! Now, next question - back before he became a god, did Aroden ever fight against the abyss?"

"Not that I've read, but I would have had to have read it, I'm not from anywhere around here."

"Though his more well known defeat of Deskari and his cultists in Sarkoris took place after he ascended to a god, Aroden lead an army to the abyss to slay the demon lord Ibdurengian back while he was still a human wizard. And it's fine that you're not from Mendev originally; lots of people in Kenabres aren't, so it wouldn't be much of a random sample if I took that as a reason not to ask you. Now, the third question on the survey: for what feat is Areelu Vorlesh best known, and with which god did she cooperate to achieve it?"

"That one I couldn't tell you. Uh, we're pretty sure we're from another continent at least, maybe another planet."