Sorry if anyone's OOC, it's been a while since I read these books. This story is so short that I'm hoping it shouldn't matter too much. I also have a soft spot for ridiculous magic abuse (which is definitely OOC but also hilarious), and the song mentioned is in fact a North American folk song and the only stupid song I could find that might have been around in the equivalent of 1940s England (20 years or so after Sabriel).

Enjoy!

"Sabriel!" Lirael called. "I've been looking for you! I have the perfect idea for the costume ball!"

Sabriel turned in the hallway to see her sister eagerly walking towards her. "What is it?"

"Well," said Lirael, "you know the ridiculous things the candidates in the Ancelstierrian election have been saying?"

"Yes?"

Lirael whispered in her ear.

"How can we build that? Won't that be heavy- and cramped?"

"Not if we make them crinoline style, with cloth over wire frames, and we make them big enough! I was thinking two or three- Sanar and Ryelle agreed, Ellimere came up with the idea, and Sulyn's visiting so she might be interested, so that's six total. We just need your bells."

"All right," said Sabriel. "Let me return this book to the library, and then I'll write Sulyn."

Sabriel, Lirael and Ellimere sat in Sabriel's bedroom with Sabriel's bandolier, paper and pencil, and measuring tape.

"So two per bell?" Sabriel asked.

"Does that really count as 'full of'?" Ellimere worried.

"It counts as easier for me to get out of if something Dead attacks our costume party."

Ellimere sighed. "No fun," she muttered.

"Sabriel, can you make fake Charter marks for the sides?" asked Lirael.

"Here," said Ellimere, taking the bell in question, "let me read the Charter marks to you so you know which ones they're supposed to look li-" Ellimere's hand hit the back of Sabriel's bed and the bell let out a small chime. "Oops,"she said in a small voice. "Sorry, Mom- Mom?"

Sabriel had gone totally still and was staring vacantly at Ellimere. Ellimere looked wide-eyed at Lirael.

"How do I fix this?" she squeaked.

Then she noticed a mischievous glint in Lirael's eye.

"We really shouldn't," Ellimere said.

"Really, really shouldn't," Lirael agreed.

Five minutes later Sabriel was singing an old and very stupid Ancelstierran folk song about a "cotton eyed joe", whatever that was, and doing the accompanying dance. Five minutes after that Ellimere and Lirael were both grounded.

The day of the costume ball finally arrived. Touchstone waited for Sabriel's big entrance- she had mentioned that she was doing a "group costume" with Ellimere, Sulyn, Lirael, Sanar and Ryelle, but she refused to say what it was, and the whole palace had been gossiping about it for weeks.

Finally, Sabriel entered, sharing a costume that appeared to be one of her bells with Sulyn. The bell was sitting on their shoulders, and their heads were poking out through two holes on the top. Ellimere and Lirael walked out after Sabriel and Sulyn in an identical costume, and Sanar and Ryelle followed after them. There was a murmur of confusion in the audience.

Touchstone walked up to meet them. "Is that... one of your bells?" he asked, at a loss.

"Saraneth," Sabriel confirmed with a big grin, looking at him expectantly.

"I don't get it," Touchstone confessed.

Sabriel turned to her partners in crime. "One, two, three..." she whispered, and then on three they all chorused, "We're Binders full of women!"

Saraneth- "the Binder"