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.

She lifted it out, playing with it, testing it, to see if it was the consistency of what she had used before in her weaving. "This is perfect!" she nearly shouted. 'Look! I can pull it thinner just like fluffy plant material.

"Oh, Mercy! You must try to spin it!"

"Do you think it spins only under a dark sky? One with no moon?" she asked, jumping up to head back outside.

"It seems reasonable; that's when the stars would be brightest," Johanna said, nodding.

Mercy reached the grassy place at the edge of the firelight she'd been before and sat. Not finding her stool, she fell on her backside. As she lay there, she said, "Well, it may be a challenge to find my wheel again."

"We just need the right conditions for spinning, I'm certain of it!" Johanna offered.

The group of them followed Mercy around the yard, watching her attempts. Each time, she fell but she always got up to try again. It wasn't until they reached the other side of the house, in a pool of the deepest darkness under the stars, that she found it.

"Of course!" she laughed. "It would be here where the stars were the easiest to see."

"Spin Mercy! Let's see what it looks like." Lance urged.

Needing no more encouragement, she prepped her wheel. Slowly, the bobbin filled with a soft thread, strung with what looked like beads, but they didn't impede the spinning. Mercy would bet a bolt of her best cloth that it would weave as smooth as it spun.

When the fluff was gone, she had several bobbins of heavy, chunky, dazzling yarn.

"Mercy, this means that you can spin all night. You can do the moonlight vines under the moon and, when it has set, spin under the stars with the stardust cotton," Matt said, hugging Helena close. He looked at his love, but continued to speak to Mercy. "You'll have the dresses done in no time."

Mercy, seeing their exchange, beamed, "Yes! And the two of you can get married sooner!"

"Well," Dadus said, waving his tin whistle about, "I guess this means there will be much more dancing going on here!"

Everyone chuckled as he played under the stars. Johanna danced with glee, delighted to contribute in some say. Mercy found that her dress, too, produced the stardust, but it didn't hold a candle to what Johanna created.

The two women danced together, spinning around and around. "You know that this means you'll always have to stay with me, right?" Mercy pointed out to her friend.

"I thought you'd never ask!" was the joyful response she received.

As they danced, Helena gathered the dust until the basket, and several large bowls, were full. She sifted it through her fingers as she'd seen Mercy do and, to her surprise, she could create the cotton-like fluff.

"Oh, Helena! Look at what you can do!" Mercy said before gasping and stopping her dancing. "ave you ever tried to sew or anything like what I do with fiber? Maybe you're talented after all!"

Helena's eyes widened. "Oh no, I'm not talented in sewing. Can't sew a straight seam to save my life. I think I am always destined to be a helper."

"But, that could be a talent. I mean, what if you were trying to create the stardust for yourself instead of for me? Would it work? If not, then I'm betting your talent lies with being supportive. Like... having you as an assistant makes for better magic or something."

"Oh! I never thought of that! I like to help... even with my mother, I enjoyed sorting the shop and aiding customers in their purchases."

"Well, there's only one way to find out," Mercy said. "Johanna? Do you have it in you to dance more? So that Helena can have a small bowl of her own?"

Johanna grinned, "That is one advantage in being dead; I don't get tired."

"Ah, but I do," Dadus said. "My bed is calling, I'm afraid."

"Here, let me have the whistle." Lance said. "I play a little."

"You do?" Mercy asked, incredulous. "I didn't know that!"

Lance Shrugged. "I don't really think about it, honestly. It's not smithing, so it's not important to me," he explained.

"Well, it's important now," Johanna pointed out. "Play for me!"

He began with a slow tune. Much to their surprise, the dress dropped as many sparkles as it did when the tune was lively. As long as Johanna danced, she created the glittery stuff.

Helena gathered the dust and, when she had enough to work with, she turned to Mercy. "What do I do now?"

"Try to make the stardust cotton for yourself. Really concentrate on it being for you."

She nodded and sifted. She worked it but it never would form into anything other than what she gathered from the ground.

"I will make it for you now, Mercy," she said, uncomfortable with focusing on herself. As soon as she changed her intent, the stardust material formed.

Matt exclaimed, "Look, Helena! You're talented after all! You're a Helpmate. That's very rare."

Helena's eyes filled with tears. "I had no idea! Wait, does this mean that, since I'm no longer there, my mother's business will suffer?"

"Probably," Matt said. "Please tell me you don't want to go back," he murmured.

"Tsk. As if. I know it's wrong of me, but let her find out the hard way that I had—have—value." She handed the fluff to Mercy who carried it to the wheel.

Lance yawned, which led the others to do the same. "I don't think I'm far behind Dadus"

"Off to bed with you!p long enough to spin this bit. I don't want it to go to waste."e to what Johanna created.

By the time she spun the stardust, Mercy could barely keep her eyes open. Johanna helped her get to bed, coaxing Helena off to one side so there would be room.

It was later in the morning when they awoke. Helena fixed breakfast while the rest went out to harvest the vines from the night, creating the coils for Dadus to dry.

"Hmm... I wonder..." he said out loud. "Matt, go fetch Helena for me?"

Matt did as he was asked.

Dadus explained to her what he was doing. He took some earth energy from the vines to dry them properly. "I want you to try this."

"Oh! But I don't have any skill with plants! In fact, I kill them regularly," Helena protested.

"Yes, but you're not a fiber artist either, yet you can create stardust fluff," he pointed out. "Go on, try it. Do it for me."

Helena concentrated on the task and soon, the vine withered in just the right way to create what Mercy needed.

"I did it!" Helena said, jumping with joy.

Matt hugged his betrothed, "This is why Helpmates are rare. They can exhibit any talent, as long as they are doing it in service to someone else."

"Anything? Like, I could be a healer? Or," she said, winking at Lance, "Even a blacksmith?"

Lance grinned. "Oh, I'd love to see that!"

"Well, I think some knowledge of the craft might be in order, unless it is a simple task. But, yes, I think so."

Helena gasped, then burst into tears. "Oh, Matt. I could truly help you all. I mean, that's if you wanted to live here near Dadus and Johanna." She looked at him.

He paused, thinking. "I'm not opposed to that, as long as your mother stays out of our way."

"I would say no, either, if Da approves," Lance said. "The smith offered, albeit in passing, to pass on his forge to me when he retires. He wants to do that as soon as they are Citizens and that day isn't far off. I think Da would like to see me at a my own sooner rather than later."

"And, Mercy and Johanna could live here on the homestead," Dadus said, "when I move back to town."

Mercy's eyes went wide. "Oh, wow! You mean that? You would give me the place?"

"Well, technically, it belongs to mother," he said, nodding in Johanna's direction, "but, it is obviously hard for the dead to own property." He grinned.

Mercy hugged Dadus with all her might. "I'd not take it from you; I'd be willing to purchase it. I'll be making a fortune with these three cloths."

"We'll work out something fair,' Dadus said, hugging back.