What Are You Going to Wear?

"What else did you bring?" I asked. "Tell me you brought something besides traveling tunics.”

Mae glared at me. “In case you’d forgotten, we left the Silverwood in a bit of a hurry after a night of no sleep. I packed for battle, not tea and cookies.”

“Rivers to the sea.” I pushed back my chair and stood. “You’ll have to borrow something of mine.”

“Impossible.”

“Why?”

“Three reasons.” She pointed to her breasts. “One. Two.” She slapped her hips. “Three. And you’d have to hem about a foot off the bottom.”

I went to my trunk. “We’ll make it work.”

“Never.”

“You doubt my sewing skills.”

“I do. You’re not a miracle worker. Just let me wear my uniform.”

“I saw it when we met with Atria. The knees are filthy. Tell me, what color is the cleanest pair of breeches you brought?”

She sighed and propped her boots up on the end of her bunk. “Probably brown. Most of them are brown.”

“Do you have gray?”

“No, I don’t have gray. What does it matter?”

“Brown’s a bad color for you. Muddies you.”

She fanned herself in mock distress. “Oh, you cruel thing. To think I’ve gone this far in life not knowing…”

I pulled out the richest color I had brought, a midnight blue gown with a square neckline. “You should consider wearing reds, or pastels.”

“Pastels?” She spit the word out as if it tasted bad.

“Something other than olive drab and brown.”

“Maybe I’ll just go naked, so Celeno’s not offended,” she said vehemently. “And don’t slam green—it’s the color of our banner.”

“Then let it stay on the banner. Get up,” I said, dragging a chair into the middle of the floor. “Let’s get to work.”

“I thought we were supposed to be talking about something practical?” she said.

“On the chair.”

-Ashes to Fire

---

One of my favorite exchanges between Mae and Mona in Ashes to Fire! I really love how the relationship between these two grows and changes through the two books. After the events of Woodwalker, they're able to appreciate and trust the other a lot more, leading to some great dialogue and action between them.

Ashes to Fire releases as an e-book on January 31, 2017! The paperback will follow a few weeks later. You can pre-order the e-book through HarperCollins for just $3.99.