[ WP ] After the ball , the kingdom experiences a fad for glass slippers .

The ball was a month ago and all the shoe stores had started carrying glass shoes as that had become the craze since word of the prince's quest to find the woman with the matching shoe had spread throughout all of the kingdom. It seemed glass was the only footwear to be found on the feet of royalty and peasants alike. There were even whispers of making glass boots too, apparently, even the men were getting swept away in the frenzy. The prince was so insistent he decreed for the slipper to be inspected by every shoemaker in the kingdom to determine where it had originated from- perhaps a sorceress had transformed an ordinary slipper into glass. Once identified, woe be to the poor shoemaker were he to be unable to recall it's purchaser. 
 
 Cinderella's step-sisters were clumsy and their insistence at wearing the delicate things was cause for much frustration on her part. Not only were her days filled with the usual- mopping, sweeping, laundry, etc, - but now she must clean and redress each girls' pair of feet as they kept breaking the slippers and getting cut. Additionally, as these girls were next-level crazy, she was making increasingly frequent trips to various shoe stores to replace the broken ones. Each new pair was a size bigger than previous as the swelling of the feet never went down. 
 
 It was for this reason that Cinderella could be found perusing the shoemaker's spoils this Tuesday morning. As a further demonstration of the effects the notorious missing shoe was having on the kingdom, shoemakers and glassblowers are now sharing their trade's secrets with each other as means to achieve the highest quality products. They now set up shop next to each other for convenience. 
 
 The shoemaker, Sir Fjor, seemed out of sorts this morning, he could barely manage a nod in Cinderella's direction when she approach his merchandise. He was standing beyond his crystal shoes, barely visible under the canopy overhead. 
 
 `` Henry? You look so upset? What has happened?'' 
 
 He was shaking and he jumped at the sound of her voice, visibly bringing him back to the marketplace setting, he had clearly been elsewhere. `` I-, I made this. It was me.'' 
 
 `` You did?'' Cinderella could n't breathe. She had been busy since the ball trying to convince herself that she could n't possibly be the only dame to attend wearing glass slippers. Surely another girl, clumsy as she was, could have lost her's as easily as Cinderella had. Surely. Surely. 
 
 `` I received it only just this morning by courier.'' He turned to meet her gaze. `` Cinderella, I can not recall making this shoe, silk or not. But there is my trademark. I'll deny it's mine, the mark is smudged anyway. The next shoemaker can give it a look.'' 
 
 `` Sir Fjor, may I look at it?'' Cinderella felt the smooth weight of glass fill her hand. It's design and build familiar to her as she had spent endless hours examining its twin- remembering, dancing, dreaming. She could see his face now, conjuring it from her memory, never far from the forefront of her mind. She remembered feeling of his arm wrapped around her waist while she allowed herself to get lost in the memory of his icy blue eyes. His dark amber brows framed them, offering a nice contrast, easing movement of an onlookers gaze across his flawless, fair-skinned face. In the moment, she had raised her left hand to be placed his his- and the glass slipper fell and shattered on the ground at the shoemaker's feet, sending shards of glass rocketing in every direction, a few lodging themselves into her bare calves. 
 
 `` Cinderella! What have you done!'' She jumped, her dream clearing from her mind and she looked down at the mess she had created. 
 
 `` Mr. Fjor! I'm so sorry! I'll clean it up!'' She could feel the hem of her dress sweeping the now-forming beads of blood across the rest of her calf as she spun around in a flurry for something to collect the broken glass in. 
 
 A crowd had begun to gather at the commotion and whispers began to spread of the clumsy girl who had broken the prince's slipper. Moments later guards had arrived and were taking Sir Fjor away as the crowd looked on, Cinderella screaming her protests at them, shouting that she had been the one to break the slipper. 
 
 But to no avail. Cinderella went home that night without the glass slippers for her step sisters and with a tortured conscience full of guilt, her voice was hoarse. She could n't sleep that night, tossing and turning. What could she have done? She needed to do something. And by morning she had a plan. 
 
 She waited for dawn's light to fill her room, any action sooner and she would have woken the whole house, and walked to her closet. Digging around, deep into the back, she pulled out the blue ball gown. Laying that on her bed, she sat down at her mirrored desk and began trying her best to recreate the princess Fairy Godmother had made her into that night. When she was finished she had GusGus fetch her necklace and fasten it for her. The birds were chirping at her with questions she would answer as she stepped into the dress they were holding, flapping their wings in time with each other. 
 
 She swept down the near-vacant cobbled streets of Happily Ever After, encountering only a few early-morning peasants, who would turn and gawk at her as she strode by. When she reached the castle, she raised her gloved hand and firmly knocked. She could hear it's echoes resounding through the corridor on the opposite side. In time, a servant came and met her. Her apparel was enough to render the servant speechless, and she placed her in a room without a spoken word, save only ask, `` Charming?'' And with a nod from Cinderella, the servant was off to fetch the prince. 
 
 While she waited, Cinderella cross the room and placed the shoe atop the desk, arranging it in a way that it would be the first thing he would see upon his entrance. 
 
 When he entered the confused and irritated expression in face transformed into tears of joy as his eyes slid from the slipper to Cinderella behind it. 
 
 He cross the distanced between them and swept her up in his arms. And they lived happily every after.
