She whistled while she worked. As she swept, the dust swirled around her, sparkling. She made the mistake of inhaling deeply.

Well, that just surfaced many dormant allergies.

After a small sneezing and coughing fit, she loyally got back to work, not that she had any reason to be loyal to her stepmother. But still, she continued her chores.

When her stepfamily arrived home from the markets, her stepmother was overjoyed. She grabbed her daughter Ana by the shoulders and spun around in a circle and did the same with her other daughter, Dolcie, only leaving out her late husband's daughter.

"Cinda!" She demanded instead of the fun looking spin. "We have been invited to the King's week-long Festival in two weeks, along with the other young maidens in town. The king is searching for a wife for the prince and I am sure that either Ana or Dolcie shall appeal to the Prince and the King. So, since I cannot afford one of the makeup ladies from town, which is all thanks to you, eating me out of house and cottage, you shall instead prepare Ana and Dolcie. They. Will. Be. Beautiful. Well, they will if you want to eat dinner for the next few weeks." She smiled a sickening, and slightly mocking, grin.

"Yes Eladorie."

"Please, leave us. I have some tips for attraction to share with the girls. You, Cinda, are not allowed to come in this room after you leave, until I say you can come in. Not that these tips would be able to do anything flattering for your...physique."

Cinda gave Eladorie a tight lipped grin, almost a grimace. "Of course, Mother."

She swept out of the room, leaving her 'Mother' and sisters - who she actually loved - to talk tips.

She walked up the steps to her room in the attic, shutting her bedroom door and sliding her back down it. A black cat slunk out from under her bed and rubbed against her side.

"Hey, Lucy. Enjoying the sun?"

Lucy mewed a reply, climbing on to Cinda's lap, purring.

She played with the cat's leather crimson collar, gently ringing the bell. Her dad had been very clever, making many creations for Cinda and even Lucy, who had only been a kitten when the collar was made for her. Lucy rolled onto her back, legs waving in the air.

Cinda giggled at the sight.

"Lucy. You silly little feline." She was rubbing the cat's stomach when someone knocked on her door. Cinda 'removed' Lucy, stood up and answered the door.

"Ana! Dolcie! How were 'the tips'?"

Ana laughed. "Utterly useless. Head up, back straight--"

"Smooth steps, puckered lips, delicate arms." Dolcie interjected, giggling.

Cinda opened the door wide and ushered her sisters in.

"Any ideas for gowns, girls?" She ran up to her bed and pulled out an elaborately decorated box containing multiple fabrics and embellishments.

"Oh! Ana, you must wear the red velvet, and Dolcie! The green velvet would set off your eyes perfectly!" She grabbed the two coloured bundles of fabric in her arms and spun in a circle.

"Okay. Arms out, girls!" The girls obliged, standing straight, arms rigid as Cinda draped the fabric around them. She pinched bits of the fabric, pulling it and poking it, pinning it. When she finished Ana's basic mold, she shaped Dolcie's fabric. When she was done, she stepped back, adding the final touch ups, before raising a hand and twirling her finger. The fabric draping the girls started to sparkle, shaping perfectly to where Cinda had moved it, the pins falling out on to the floor. After the dresses edges had sealed, and glittered like the stars, Cinda ran back to her box and grabbed three red flowers and three white ones, pinning the red on Dolcie, and the white on Ana, and twirled her finger again. The flowers embedded themselves onto the dress with a glittering flourish, sparkling like diamonds and rubies.

Then Cinda grabbed some more of the coloured fabric, and some ivory, measuring it from the girls heels to toes, and swirled her finger, shaping them into sparkling velvet heels molded to the girls feet.

She twirled her finger for the last time, their hair swirling up into elaborately and elegantly braided up dos. Pearls flew out of the box, flying for Ana's black hair, and rubies flying for Dolcie's brown hair.

When she was done, Cinda stepped back and admired her handiwork.

"Well then girls. I guess it seems like you shall go to the ball."