Page 14 of Sparktopia
So I think maybe… maybe someone came and passed on a message right before the ceremony started letting him know that Aldo is fine. That the god listened and healed him up.
That’s the only logical explanation for Finn’s jovial mood, and as a little more time passes, I decide that’s what happened. Aldo is fine and I can relax.
So that’s what I do. I calm down, loosen up my tight shoulders, and listen attentively like I’m supposed to as each Little Sister walks across the stage in her simple, handmade blue dress while Finn calls out her name.
The spark displays are almost never dazzling the way Imogen’s was when she was on this stage. She was a very special case. We all knew she was going to be number one.
But this next Little Sister is wearing something unexpected and different.
Haryet coos in my ear as I recognize the brazen, auburn-haired girl from earlier in the day as she takes her walk. “Oooo! That’s Jasina Bell.”
Gemna pipes in now. “That dress is gorgeous, isn’t it, girls? Do you think she made it herself?”
“Not likely.” Haryet laughs. “She comes from a long line of Maidens. I’m sure she had help.”
I pay attention here, my curiosity getting the better of me. The dress she’s wearing really is spectacular. It’s blue, like all the others, but it’s nothing like all the others. Typically, the first gala dresses are plain and simple, because they are the same dresses they’ve been wearing all day.
But Jasina Bell’s dress doesn’t look anything like the one I saw her in earlier. So many layers of flowing and fluttering skirts over a simple linen… this is when I realize sheiswearing the one from earlier, except she’s embellished it with the tulle, and the tulle has been decorated with… I squint and lean in. “What’s that on her dress? Are those… butterflies?”
“Embroidered,” Gemna says. “And look, it’s sparkling.”
“Woven silver?” Haryet postulates.
“And something gold too,” I add.
And the moment I say this, it comes to life. The crowd gasps as all the tiny butterflies on her dress take flight and flutter around her. This is when we realize they are made of spark!
Not the actual embellishments on her dress, but electric blue light copies of them lift up off the tulle and float in the air around her. They don’t do anything else, just float there. But this is such a different way to display spark that the entire ballroom erupts in cheers and clapping. And it goes on for so long, Finn has to stop them in order to make the girl leave the stage because she is soaking this moment up with every fiber of her being.
The whole thing is way over the top, but at the same time, it’s… gorgeous. And even though projecting light into the air is a simple trick—hell, even I managed to do it during my first Choosing gala—it’s not simple at all when combined with the butterflies on the dress.
It actually might be the most spectacular display of average spark I’ve ever seen. And by the sound of the reaction in the ballroom, everyone is agreeing with me.
“How many Maidens?” I ask Haryet and Gemna. “In her family, I mean.”
“Four,” Gemna replies. “But most were Chosen generations ago.”
“One of them is a Matron now,” Haryet adds.
Well. Now I remember the name of the Matron I saw leading that group of Little Sisters this afternoon. Matron Bell. Aunt, or great-aunt, or great-great-aunt of one Jasina Bell. Who will forever be known, from this day forward, as the Little Sister who wore the prettiest gown to the First Choosing in the whole entire history of the Choosings and stunned people with her spark butterflies.
Haryet interrupts my thoughts with a new statement. “I heard she got special treatment. You know, to get this far, since she’s from down-city.”
Gemna counters this with a huff. “Don’t be jealous now, Haryet. This girl is as gorgeous as that dress. And her display of spark was creative and original. She doesn’t need special treatment.”
Gemna’s right. Jasina is probablythemost beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. And that’s saying a lot, because every girl in the Extraction is beautiful and I’ve seen a lot of them.
I take Jasina’s side for another reason as well, though. Because I maybe got special treatment myself. I’m not saying I didn’t earn my place, but Aldo is like a father to me. After my own father died, Aldo took me under his wing. I was already a part of the Extraction—girls sign up for that when they are twelve. But he helped me so much along the way after my parents died.
And numbernine? It’s practically a guarantee that I wouldn’t go into that tower. So who’s to say that he didn’t give me this position simply because he loved me? And because his son loved me? And because he knew that one day, I really would be family?
I never asked, and I never would, but it’s a logical conclusion even if it’s not true.
Finally, all the introductions are over and Finn officially starts the ball by announcing the very first Dance of Sisters. Then the entire stage is filled with dancing girls in blue. At first, they do all the moves alone in their respective lines, but then young men enter, all wearing linen suits the color of sand. They weave their way through all the Little Sisters, and since I’m sitting in a balcony, I can see the patterns they are making as each one finds their partner and drifts off to the outer edge. When all the partners have been matched up, the dance truly begins with a waltz.
Haryet sighs, putting a hand to her heart. “My goodness, do you girls remember this night ten years ago the way I do?”
Gemna laughs. “I will never forget that night. Jeyk was my partner and he flirted with me non-stop. It was…” She sighs as well now. “It was the best night of my life, I think. And even though we’ve been to so many galas since then, this very first one was the absolute tippy-top!”
