The girl riding up to Darkenhold wears blue gingham, a jaunty blue sun-hat and blue riding gloves. There's nothing incredibly well-made about the outfit; it's the current style, the slightly off-kilter lines of dresses currently popular in Ricathair, mixed with the unfortunate choices of most of Myrken's unfashionable lower class and homespun cloth. She rides a dumpy pony -- the kind of animal used for this and that around the farm -- and is trying so very, very hard to look respectable.
A hundred meters from the gate, the girl removes her hat. She has slightly curly black hair and dark eyes, a Northern cant to her chin and the tanned skin of a lady who spends much more time outside than inside. She leads the pony up to the gate, and if there is a guard or an attendant, presents herself as Miss Petronela Kaczmarek of Calomel's Farm, here to petition the lord of the manor to let her search the library for a "proper romance." A sweet smile accompanies that, and an explanation: see, she's just learning to read, and the grammaries and basic-books are boring and meant for boys. She's not a boy, she says, not a boy at all, and the market-scribes told her Darkenhold has the best private collection of all. May she come in?
And finally, she curtsies. It's the curtsy of a person who's just learned it, leaning slightly to the side and wavering there on one knee. But it's perfectly functional, and she's trying so very hard to impress.