I prefer vodka. She returned. "Ready?"And she swept us both out the door and into her car. "Just sit there, now, dear. I'll drive."She did, to a rathe...r nondescript part of town where she parked in front of a beauty parlor."I'm not going in there," I said, now genuinely frightened. It was one thing to be an imitation woman in privacy, and enjoy the illusion. But this was authentic woman territory, and I was not one of them. To go in there, I thought superstitiously, might make me more of one of. Hello, then, child. Enjoying the sights? Callia nodded politely, but she was a girl and they were in the middle of a jewelry stall. Her eyes were wide as she examined everything. Ive never seen the market before. You should see this one, child. Look. Agnes smiled at her and pulled a little ring off the wall and winked at Cassius. The stone is almost the exact color of your eyes. Never seen a stone like this before. Cassius narrowed his eyes at Agnes. She was trying to be kind. Well, be kind and. She had begun to pay more attention to these things, mostly because the Regent had begun to stare at her. Eighteen years old felt no different from seventeen, but she was pleased she was finally an adult. Whatever that entailed, so far, it entailed being gawked at like a prime piece of meat. This was understandable from an objective view. She was an attractive enough young woman. Her hair was long and blonde, curling in ringlets around her shoulders. She was a maiden, unmarried and able to let. I thought you shouldhave a REAL female name for your makeup session." Well, it IS nice. I suppose I can let you call me that, 'specially sinceyou bought all those makeup supplies for me. But you'd better be carefulusing it around Phil. He's already spooked enough about all this." Fair enough," she laughed again. "So, how much more time do you have?" Oh, I dunno ... I have an essay I need to get done before bedtime tonight.That should only take me, like, a couple of hours. Why do you ask?".