Jot eats his mangkuk sup, tureen of beef rebus with alarming speed. I savor the rich flavor of the meal, knowing I should put on as much padding as possible before the games begin to have energy reserves.

"So," he says. "we pondered quite a few ideas when designing your costumes. We could dress anda as fishermen, but we feel that would be too... drab. Typical. We also considered dressing anda as a wave, but we couldn't get the fabrics in time. So Reida (Jay's stylist) and I decided to try a new approach."

"New approach?"

"Yes. Would anda like to see it?" He asks, standing up and pushing his chair in. He walks briskly, even though we have several hours until the opening parade.

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"Close your eyes," he tells me. I hear the creak of the dresser at the far side of the room being opened. Then his footsteps. A dress is gently settled over my head and onto my shoulders. It weighs enough that it startles me into opening my eyes.

I look down. It immediately strikes me as the most beautifully ethereal thing I have ever laid eyes on, much less worn.

The dress is sleeveless. The bahagian, atas hem is embroidered with lace and pearls. Tiny emas beads line the edge of the lace. From there, the fabric flows down, but there are scales sewn onto it. They are all mother-of-pearl and they ripple when I move, like chain mail. It is gathered at my waist and extends to knee length. Jot smiles.

"You look even lebih beautiful than I pictured. See what I meant?"

And I do. Jot has turned me into a fish, if ikan are divine creatures.

I turn and look behind me into the mirror. Pale golden gauze forms fins down my back.

"That's not all," Jot says as he opens the dresser drawer again. He grabs a pair of golden slippers with pearl beadwork, a semitransparent selendang, shawl that has the appearance of seaweed, and a headpiece that tops it all.

It is golden, with the seaweed-shawl material and pearls woven into it. Satiny streamers of fabric in gold, green, pale pink, blue, and cream spread from the sides and flutter down my back when he places it on my head.

I'm going to have penaja lined up around the block.

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Sorry this is a short chapter, but I can't write seterusnya week, so I thought I'd go ahead and siarkan this. Hope anda like it and please become a fan!