The Dresses Three

Chapter 11: Spinning Stardust

Mercy took a deep breath, calmed herself, and then sat. She found the stool to her wheel and then the wheel itself. Taking up a coil, she prepared it and then, she began.

The sunshine fabric has been warm to spin. Not so with the moon; it was cool to the touch. With the cold of the night air, she was soon feeling her sunshine dress heat up to keep her from being too chilly, but it still affected her hands.

"I think I might benefit from making some kind of hand covering from the sunshine cloth. It's chilly out here!" she said to Johanna, blowing on fingers cupped together.

"Huh. I never thought of that, Mercy," Johanna said. "That seems so obvious since you've said it."

Mercy giggled, "I come up with an excellent idea now and then."

She spun through the hour that the moon was out before it set for the night. In fact, she spun until her stool disappeared from under her, leaving her laying on her back in the grass, laughing.

She heard music then, a merry tin whistle, and looked to the fire and her friends. Dadus had played a dancing tune and Matt was bowing to Helena, holding out a hand. For the first time since she arrived, Mercy saw Helena give a genuine smile.

The newly betrothed couple danced, smiling at each other. Johanna asked Lance to dance, who almost refused, but then thought the better of it. They, too, moved together, though it wasn't with the style and grace of Matt and Helena.

Mercy sat by the fire, warming her hands, as she watched. The sunshine dress fascinated her. With every step Johanna took, it shook sparkles onto the ground whenever she twirled or jumped to the rhythm. It was almost like she was dancing with the stars.

Stars...

Mercy stood quickly and looked at the ground where her ghostly friend was whirling. There, she saw a swath of glittering earth.

"Johanna! Look at what you're making! I think that might be the way to make stardust!"

Johanna stopped, the skirt wrapping around her legs, flinging out the last of the sparkles. "Oh, wow! That's beautiful! I wonder why the dress has never done that before?"

"Have you ever danced in the dress?"

Johanna thought carefully. "No, I don't think I have!"

"If we had you dance over a solid earth or a floor, rather than the grass, I wonder if we could scoop up the sparkles? And use them with spinning?"

Johanna gasped and clapped her hands. "Yes! I bet we could! Let's find out!"

Even Dadus hurried as much as he dared to the barn. There, he started up a tune and Johanna danced. It was just as Mercy had hoped; soon there was a swath of glitter they could sweep up. Helena stepped forward with the empty scone basket, lined with cloth, so it could hold what Mercy gathered.

"Now, I wonder how we use it?" Mercy asked. She sifted it through her fingers, watching it flow into the basket. For a moment, she saw a distinct pile of crystal-like beads as fluffy as the spun sugar she'd seen at the fair as a child. Curious, she picked up a handful again and went through the same motions.

Mercy gasped. "Johanna! Watch!" she exclaimed, sifting again. This time, it created a defined mass of fluff, but it eventually dissolved. "When I do that, it gets more and more distinct! I think if I keep doing it, I'd end up with something that looks like cotton?"

Johanna's eyebrows lifted at the sight. "How much do you want to bet you could spin that fluff?"

Mercy kept sifting, creating more and more until, to her surprise, the sparkling dust in the basket formed itself into a pile of soft cloud-like substance.