DWC February 2026 - Day 6 - Harm/Useful
~Some time during the Suramar rebellion~
Imraliesse hummed quietly; a single note to assure her client she was listening as she carefully placed pins along the hem of yet another debutante's extravagant gown. They paid a hefty price- they all did- to ensure that their dress was of the highest quality. Imraliesse didn't know how to do anything less, but she had noticed well before the rebellion began that the phrase "money talks" meant so much more than what people thought.
Yes, it meant money could buy influence, power, favors.. but in her tailoring shop, it was quite a bit more literal.
The wealthy respected her work, but more than that, they seemed to think money bought her confidence; the amount of petty gossip that came through her doors over millenia would shock and scandalize even the most salacious of writers. She'd never paid it much thought until the rebellion began in earnest.
In truth, she still wouldn't have cared about who was sleeping with whom, or what court favors got bought with this quid pro quo.. but when her daughters were exiled for openly opposing Elisande, and summarily left to wither outside the city's gates.. well.
Suddenly, the gossip from the loose lips of the rich became very useful. Not only that, but positioning herself with the right contacts allowed her to be useful to the rebellion; it was easy to hide a secret message in a garment's inner tag, or enchant it into a seam. With how frivolously enchantments were woven into the fabric of Nightborne life- literally and figuratively- nobody ever batted an eye or spared her a second glance.
After all, even with the quality of her work, to so many she was still little more than 'help'; an expert seamstress with thousands upon thousands of years of experience, but still "small" by their standards, and so where was the harm in telling her things they heard behind closed doors? What ill could possibly come from sharing a few plans here or there, or the details of an event where such-and-such a bigwig would be present?
She knew when to keep her silence, and when to let a secret slip. And while she never heard back personally from anyone of rank in that rebellion, every so often a message would arrive, tacked neatly (but less elegantly) to the inside of some "random" new client's garment. The language changed, but the intent never did:
Thank you for the intelligence. We'll take it from here.
@daily-writing-challenge
