Dresses Mirroring One's Soul

After registering the woman's words, Aylin's eyes widened for a second before they pulled into a frown. "What do you—"

"Do you know how it's done? How do the dresses choose their owners?" Eira suddenly asked, cutting Aylin off.

Aylin wanted to ask what the woman meant by what she said earlier but now that the topic was changed, she felt that it was for the better.

"No, I don't." Aylin shook her head. "Do you know how?"

Eira nodded, a soft smile on her lips as she gazed at Aylin. "You will be given an energy-charged crystal stone, which you will place on the ground near where the dresses are displayed. The dress, which contains a finding spell, detects your energy from the stone and attracts it to it. The stone begins to glow and float in mid-air before landing on the dress that is meant for you." Eira explained. Aylin nodded along, fascinated by this new piece of information.

"And that's all?" she questioned after a few moments of silence.

"No," Eira said softly with a small nod. "The dress will start to shine as if the energy had been captured within itself then it turns into a color that represents you."

"A color that represents you?" Aylin asked with a tilt of her head. She glanced down at herself. "My dress is blue…" she muttered.

"Your colors are chosen based on the nature of your soul," Eira explained in response.

"What do you mean by that?" Aylin inquired as she stared at the woman that seemed to know a lot of things.

"You either have a good soul, bad soul or be in-between. This means that if you have a good soul the color of the dress will be bright, if you have a bad soul, the color will be dark and for the last, it will be a mix of the two."

Does that mean she had a bad soul?

"Wow, that's cool, so it's all about magic huh?" Aylin mused and Eira nodded with a warm smile.

"A hybrid witch's magic." Eira corrected her and Aylin nodded thoughtfully.

"A hybrid? Isn't that a mix of two species?"

"Yes, it is." Eira gave a small smile. "It's quite rare."

If the one who made the dresses was the dressmaker, then he must be a hybrid.

"I see..." She trailed off before looking at Eira "You seem to know a lot about these things, have you ever bought cloth from here before? "

"No, I don't need to buy cloth from here to know how it's done, "

"You must be very powerful to know a lot of things then," Aylin remarked with interest.

"Thank you, Lady Aylin." Eira bowed slightly, "It was nice talking to you." Then her eyes focused somewhere past Aylin's shoulder and she smiled softly. "But I must take my leave. Seems like it is your turn…" she murmured, and Aylin didn't need another glance behind her to guess who she was referring to.

"Milady!" Karl called and Aylin turned in time for him to stand beside her.

"Lady Rhea said it's time," he informed her and Aylin looked at Eira who smiled once more.

"I guess it's time for me to choose my dress," Aylin murmured.

"Or for your dress to choose you," Eira stated.

"Yeah, I've heard that like thrice today," Aylin laughed. "Anyways, I have to go, see you around." She waved to Eira as she walked off, and the white witch nodded, smiling once more.

Karl frowned while staring at the white witch with suspicion for some time before following Aylin back into the shop.

Eira stared at their retreating figure and tilted her head, "I wonder what color will be yours." She murmured.

Aylin rushed back in and found Rhea standing in front of the rows of dresses with the dressmaker standing beside her.

As she got closer, she saw Rhea holding a glittering stone in hand which she placed on the floor, and just as Eira said, the stone started floating in the air before drifting toward a dress, covered by a black fabric which blew away, revealing a red dress underneath. The gem glowed and hovered above the dress before settling on it, as the dress absorbed the stone.

Rhea, whose smile could light up the whole room, took the dress and turned it over, examining it. The cherry red dress was an off-shoulder sequined gown with a V-neck design, decorated with rhinestones and a flower pattern. It flowed beautifully and the color complimented Rhea's pale skin perfectly.

Also, from the looks of it, Rhea was totally in love with the dress.

"Aylin, it's your turn," Rhea said and she blinked.

Right, she was also getting a dress.

With a small nod, Aylin collected another stone from the dressmaker who told her to breathe in and out — which she did and the crystal glowed brightly.

"Now place it on the floor," the man instructed and Aylin did as told, repeating the same thing that happened earlier.

The only different thing now was that, when the black cloth disappeared, a sparkly white silky gown came into view.

Aylin stared in awe as the dress shimmered under the light like liquid diamonds while the dressmaker raised his eyebrows and turned to Aylin whose gaze was still trained on one of the simple but loveliest dresses she had ever seen.

It was a strapless mermaid tail gown with a sweetheart neckline and puffed balloon off-shoulder sleeves that came down to her elbows.

She fucking loved it, and she wanted it.

"I would have never thought that someone would take away my most treasured dress," The dressmaker smiled at Aylin.

Aylin turned to him, "One of your most treasured dresses?"

"Yes, it's one out of the only two white dresses I made. To be honest, I already believed that no one would own this dress then suddenly you came."

Rhea who stood at his right side rolled her eyes, "Wasn't all the dresses here made for someone to own it? And as you said earlier, the dress will be the one to choose, which means that if Aylin came earlier or later, the dress will still be hers because it chose her to be its owner."

The dressmaker faced Rhea, "Oh Lady Rhea, thank you very much for the reminder but don't you think I wouldn't know that considering that I was the one who made them," He said, sarcasm lacing his words before turning back to face Aylin. "Is white your favorite color?"

"Uhh...Yeah, white and blue."

"No wonder," He mused.

"Why'd you ask?" Aylin questioned.

"Because... The dress's color is always your favorite color."

Aylin's brows furrowed, "Really?"

That wasn't what Eira told her.

"Yes, and it isn't surprising." He raked his eyes over her and with a wide smile he said, "White will look great on you, almost perfect."

"But I'm not the only one whose favorite color is white—"

"You may not be the only one whose favorite color is white but you are the only one who can own this dress—The one it chose." He said before glancing at Rhea, "I assume you both are satisfied with your dresses?" He added.

"Yes," Aylin answered while Rhea hummed.

"Great! Now that it's done, it's time for the payment Lady Rhea..."

"What do you want?" She asked tonelessly.

The dressmaker smiled sweetly, an evil glint in his eyes. "What do you think Milady?"

Rhea stared at him, her lips twisting in dissatisfaction. "Still the blood?"

"You got that right, Milady."

"Can't you collect something else?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't."

Aylin looked between them, blood? Why did he want to collect her blood?

Then she remembered Rhea's words about the dressmaker not collecting money but something valuable as payment.

So he wanted her blood as payment? Weird.

Sighing, Rhea held out her hand. "Fine, be quick."

"Salma!" He called.

A petite lady with short curls came over. "Yes, Mr. Jefferson?"

"Bring a vial and a needle please?" He ordered and Salma nodded before leaving after some seconds, she appeared again, holding a vial and a needle.

"Here it is, Mr. Jefferson."

Mr. Jefferson smiled gratefully at her, "Thank you, you can go."

Salma gave him a nod and walked away from them.

Mr. Jefferson pierced Rhea's middle finger with the needle before placing the glass vial beneath the now bleeding finger.

Aylin watched silently, frowning slightly.

Once he finished, he moved the vial away and covered it while Rhea healed her hand, and let out an irritated sigh. "Happy now?"

He grinned, "I am, indeed."

"Good, we're taking our leave," Rhea announced. "Karl, take the dresses to the carriage."

"Yes, milady," Karl answered with a bow before collecting the dresses which had been packed into a box from Salma and walking out of the shop.

"Let's get going," Rhea muttered as she began to walk towards the exit. Aylin fell into step beside her.

"It was nice to see you Miladies! Have a wonderful trip back home!" Mr. Jefferson shouted after them in farewell.

…

Stepping out of the shop, they walked toward the carriage that was on the other side of the road.

"Rhea," Aylin called.

"Yes?"

"Why did the dressmaker take your blood as payment?" Aylin asked with furrowed brows.

"Because it's valuable," Rhea answered simply.

"That wasn't the answer I was looking for."

"Alright, alright." Rhea sighed dramatically. "He wants to use it for a spell, my blood is the only one that can make it work."

"A spell? He told you that and you believed him? What if he wants to hurt you?"

Rhea laughed, "I don't think he could hurt me with three drops of my blood. And he couldn't hurt me even if he wanted to."

Aylin stopped walking and faced Rhea, "Are you sure?"

Rhea smiled, "Yes, I am—" she walked closer to Aylin, and used her hands to smooth out the lines on her face—"Now if you can simply stop frowning and let's go back to the mansion and show the dresses we bought to Grandmother."

•••

A/N: To clarify, what Eira said was true because she was only referring to the dresses bought in the hybrid shop, not the normal dresses worn by Aylin. As you've read, the dresses are chosen through magic so that it represents the women's nature. Don't be confused!