The Tailor of Seamel

The story of Leon Noble, of the quiet city of Silkfield, is best remembered in the heart of the wood, where it is said even the wolves will stay their fangs when beauty passes. Leon Noble, a tailor by trade, belonged to a family of laborers - not in the field of war, nor in the field of men, but of thread. Leon was a wonderful tailor, and some would even say blessed. He spun cloaks like the moon spins light, capes like the sun with flames, hats as if the rivers gave up their waves. Leon could have had anything he wanted, money, a good wife, and wealth for his hard-working family. But he harbored a secret so deep, that it scratched and scratched, and would eventually destroy him. He was in love.

The Lady Deniah Seamel was a constant visitor to the Noble family shop. She was a vain woman, who painted her face, shunned the woods for royal balls, and scorned the dirt of the fields. Her dream was to live under the bright palaces of the north, to drink the golden wine of the Emperor, to hear the Fastheldian bards sing of eternal beauty.

Leon Noble worshipped the Lady Deniah. He would make for her the most beautiful gowns, which sparkled as if the diamonds of the earth were his to command. Yet she paid him not a heed, until he spun for her a gown of such beauty, that tears came to her eyes and all vanity fled from her heart. She wept that night, afraid to wear the gown, lest she soil it.

After that night, she changed. She began to notice the love in Leon, and became curious. If a commoner could create such a work of art, then perhaps, just perhaps, could she recognize the art, even as a noble, predestined to frown on the commoner as a plainclothes laborer. She paid the Noble shop more visits, asking Leon an endless barrage of questions about his art, and he gave for every question a bit more of himself, as if he was decorating his soul with just the right ornaments for the noblewoman. And she found herself in love, a despairing love which ate at her very heart. When she told her father about this love, the Noble family was ruined, forced out of the house into the fields as common farmhands. Leon disappeared. The Lady Deniah ran away from the home, in search of Leon, and found his head at the end of an executioners block, for being shadow-touched and cursed with magic.

Broken and torn, she flung herself towards the body of her love, but was pulled away. Lady Deniah sequestered herself in her home, forgetting the royal balls, the court life. Then one day, she cast herself into the river, and was never heard of again. The Starlight Gown, as it was called, was lost to history, and it said the diamonds lay on the bottom of the river, a testament to love that could never be.

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