4.
The new coat Tinker Bell had envisioned was going to take a great deal of work. She not only accepted the help of Periwinkle but also enlisted her friends who were all too eager to let Lord Milori and Queen Clarion be together like any ordinary couple.
The girls started by a building an inner lining made with fabric waterproofed with spider silk and a thin layer of tree sap. The lining was filled with sawdust and then stitched throughout with a complex diamond pattern intended to capture the sawdust and prevent it from sinking to the bottom of the coat.
Large and deep pockets insulated with the same sawdust were sewn in to contain sheets of ice to keep Lord Milori cool. The outer shell was made of the same material that was used to make Tink's winter parka. Because of her artistic sensibility and impeccable fashion sense Rosetta was asked to try on the coat.
"Well, what do you think?" Tinker Bell asked.
"It's bulky, it's heavy and it itches," Rosetta answered. "And couldn't you find a different color? This drab grey isn't very inviting if you know what I mean."
"This is just the prototype," Tink explained. "It has a long way to go before it's finished."
"So, what's next?" Vidia asked.
"We need someone who can test it out for us," Tink said.
"I know just the sparrow man," Rosetta cooed.
~O~
"Now remember, Sled, this is a surprise so don't breathe a word of this," Rosetta instructed her beau. Sled was to wear the coat around the warm seasons while he was still a winter fairy. Plenty of ice would be made available to aide him in his testing.
It didn't take long before his critique was ready. The coat was heavy on its own. The ice only added to the extra weight. "My shoulders started to hurt in less than an hour," he told the girls. Worse yet, the sheets of ice restricted his range of motion. When he tried to bend or lean over the ice refused to let him move. When he forced the issue, the ice broke. One shard even pierced the watertight lining and poked him in the stomach.
"I like the idea, Tink, but to be honest I don't think this is going to work," he told her. "Not without lots of changes."
Deflated but not disheartened Tinker Bell soldiered on. Using Sled's review she went back to her drawing board and redesigned everything from the ground up. Instead of a bulky, oversized coat she developed a special vest and leggings. The sawdust was retained but instead of deep pockets for bulky sheets of ice she developed a series of tiny, watertight pouches that were sewn into the liner. The pouches were arranged to allow for the greatest range of movement.
Halfway during development Tinker Bell made a small but crucial change. She decided to mix some of the sawdust into the water. Tink reasoned that putting insulation into the water would keep everything frozen longer. Rigorous testing proved her right. "Now Lord Milori won't have to refreeze the water as often," she noted.
Taking some advice from Rosetta the inner shell was lined with rose petals to mitigate the itching. The outer shell was tinted a pale, ice blue color that was chosen specifically to complement the Lord of Winter's pupils.
"No woman can resist a man when his clothes brings out the color of his eyes," Rosetta crooned. "Queen Clarion will be smitten all over again when she sees him wearing this smart outfit."
After much testing (with Sled again as the guinea pig) she presented the final version to her friends for inspection. "Now whenever Lord Milori visits Pixie Hollow he can stay cool. And when the ice starts to melt he just has to use his own winter powers to freeze it over again."
The coat was cut for a comfortable fit that hugged Milori's handsome physique. Vidia pointed out that Milori's good wing would still be exposed to the heat of the warm seasons. "The vest isn't long enough to protect them."
"Oh, I took care of that," Periwinkle smiled. "Lord Milori has worn a cape for as long as I can remember. So I devised one to protect his wings. With a little help from my sister."
"Hey, it was your idea," Tink protested, beaming with pride at Peri's ingenuity.
"What are we all waiting for?" Iridessa chimed in. "Let's go present this to Lord Milori."
~O~
Rather than get Queen Clarion's hopes up needlessly, the girls went to the Winter Woods first. They wanted to offer Lord Milori time to try it on and become comfortable with it. The small group of fairies arrived at the library where they encountered the Keeper at his desk. He was mumbling to himself about his next volume of historical texts.
"Dewey, do you know where we can find Lord Milori?" Periwinkle asked of him.
"What? Oh the Lord Milori is inspecting the northern mountains on his owl," he answered them. Noticing the peculiar article of clothing in Tink's arm he set down his quill and flittered towards them. "What do you have there, if you don't mind me asking?"
"It's a coat for Lord Milori," Tinker Bell told him. "Well, really a vest. We made it especially so that he can visit the warm seasons just like everyone else."
"A coat? For the warm seasons? How does that work?"
Periwinkle and the other girls all chimed in explaining everything to the curious historian. Once he realized just how important this invention was he started writing everything down, asking questions to commit every detail to posterity.
"Oh, future generations are going to look back on this era as a golden age of invention," he told his visitors. "So this vest actually works?"
"Yes," Silvermist confirmed. "Sled helped us test it."
Fawn chuckled. "He spent a whole day helping me train the bunnies to hop around the meadow. He never felt warm once, but boy did the oak pollen make him sneeze. Who knew he was so allergic?"
"Oh this is going to be so great for Lord Milori and Queen Clarion," Dewey exhorted. "It will be just like it was before."
All the girls were shocked by this slip and in unison spoke. "Before?"
"Wait, what do you mean 'before'? Are you telling us that Pixie Hollow used to be different?" Tinker Bell asked.
"Uh oh. Now I've gone and done it. O-oh, Lord Milori is going to kill me."