Running up the hilltop, squeezing the scroll against her body, Lonna couldn’t help but smile. Never mind the tightness in her chest from an hour of running. Never mind about the brambles scratching at her arm as she ducked between trees. Never mind the ringed moon overhead, which brightly lit the sky enough for even a human to see her.  

...Except maybe she did mind the last bit, a little.  She was grateful for the shadow of the trees, and the cover of her green cloak, which worked together to obscure her features. 

Of course, no matter how much effort she put into darting through shadows, it meant nothing with a traveling companion like Talith. Every time the laspi planted his fists into the ground and swung his body forward, he made a thud that surely could reach every ear in the forest. But even if he was silent as a mouse, a six foot tall creature of clay couldn’t exactly blend into the foliage. Again, Lonna wished she could have convinced Talith to stay home. Especially since he objected to her plan. But in the end, he was her brother, and she couldn’t just leave him.

“I still think this is a terrible idea,” Talith muttered, as if reading Lonna’s thoughts.

“Don’t you get bored of repeating yourself? You said the same thing about my last two plans.”

“No. Coming back to Ife was a bad idea. Stealing from the queen was a stupid idea. This? This right here is a terrible idea.”

Lonna just rolled her eyes and continued to stride up the hill. Her breathing was coming in ever shorter gasps, as she forced her way further up the hillside, but she squashed it down, along with her anger at Talith’s constant naysaying. “If you didn’t want me to cast the spell, you shouldn’t have let me steal it.” 

Sure, Talith had tried to talk her out of stealing the scroll, back when she first brought the plan up. Lonna wasn’t the sort to be stopped by mere talk, though. Maybe if he’d been willing to put up fists, things would have been different. Or maybe she just would have given him a proper beatdown. Lonna herself didn’t know what could have been. She only knew that he had failed to stop her, just like the palace guards.

Intellectually it did occur to Lonna that she was being unfair; she was the one doing whatever she wanted, and it wasn’t right to blame everyone else for failing to stop her. But then she shrugged off that uncomfortable thought, grinned widely to herself, and squeezed the large scroll tight against her body.  “Just think of it as Sorissa giving me a birthday gift. Besides… I think summoning the heroine is my best plan yet.”

The heroine. The one who would defeat Sorissa. The only one who could put an end to their immortal queen’s unjust rule. Lonna had first heard that name as a child, asking for bedtime stories. Back then, the idea of someone who could kill an immortal queen had made her shiver with fright… but back then, she hadn’t understood what sort of person Sorissa was. She hadn’t realized how evil the queen could be. Now, if she was shivering, it was with delight. She would be the one to summon a legend and free everyone.

When they finally crested the hilltop, Lonna immediately kneeled down in the grass. Placing the summoning scroll down on the floor, she unrolled the large piece of parchment to reveal the first words of the summoning spell. Though it was really more of an introduction: “To summon the heroine in your heart,” was written out clearly in fluik, an intricate script that wrapped itself into a circle.

Even though she’d barely unveiled the instructions, Lonna’s heart was already pounding with excitement. “What sort of person do you think she’ll be?” she asked Talith.

“How should I know? You’re the one always going on about her.” Talith had his arms crossed and his back turned, pretending to keep a lookout. The stiffness in his speech betrayed the anger that Lonna knew was mainly directed at Sorissa. She didn’t want to think about that, though. She wanted to focus on the spell.

“She’s probably strong and smart, and cares. I bet she kills tyrants for fun.” While there were rumors and stories about the heroine, no one actually knew what she looked like or what she did when she wasn’t killing immortal despots. The only thing Lonna knew was what the queen had said time and time again: her reign would end when the heroine came.

Now Lonna had the spell to summon her, stolen from the queen’s own library- something she doubted any other thief could accomplish. Even better - when she’d taken the time to actually read the spell, she’d found it shockingly easy to cast. One simply had to climb a hill under a full moon, and carve the proper runes into the dirt. 

Of course, the fact that it was so simple was cause for a little concern. Since it had no special techniques, or particular equipment, it was like a brute force sort of spell. The sort of thing that simply tore whatever power was necessary from the caster. And she had no idea how much power it would take. 

“You know… You don’t have to be the one to summon her.”

Talith’s comment dragged Lonna from her thoughts, and she blinked blankly up at her brother. Although she understood the words that were being spoken, they made very little sense to her.

“...What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean. You did this, fine. Why not let someone else finish it? I know you care about-“

“I cared about Mom,” Lonna spat at her brother, daring him to repeat his absurd suggestion that she should let anyone take away her victory.

Talith looked away.  “...Mom would have wanted us to stay safe.”

“We’ll be safe when Sorissa’s dead,” Lonna said, staring at the ground. She knew what their mother would have said, sure, but Sorissa had killed her. 

If not for that… if she’d been left in peace…  Lonna knew she wouldn’t have lifted a finger to stop Sorissa. She would have, as Talith put it, let someone else finish it. 

Was she a terrible person, for not simply wanting to stand against tyranny? ...Maybe. But Lonna didn’t care.

Spreading the scroll out, she skimmed the instructions one more time before turning to the list of symbols. She found a twig and, careful not to get so much as a line out of place, she began to etch the symbols into the ground, in a circle large enough for a woman to stand.

Some small part of Lonna hoped that she’d be stopped. But Talith wouldn’t do it, and Mom couldn’t, and Sorissa would have done so by now. The only way the spell would fail was if she, Lonna, gave up.

It wasn’t like she wanted to die. But she wasn’t exactly doing this as a pure hearted princess, calling on a noble heroine for help. She was just a dirty thief. So if she died… Well.

All that mattered was that the spell succeeded. 

All that mattered was the heroine.

Arching his back, and stretching his hands toward the ceiling, David tried to shake off the stiffness that came from sitting too long in one place. The drawing he’d been working on, a sketch of a dragon fruit, had taken much longer than it should have to complete. Though the time had gone less into the drawing, and more into the research. The assignment had only been to sketch a fruit, but David had been assigned a dragon fruit, so he’d wanted to make sure he got the spikes right, and the seed placement correct. He hadn’t been sure if there was really a pattern in dragon fruit seeds - there wasn’t - and researching that had only led him down the rabbit hole further, until he’d ended up doing three hours of research for a single sketch. He still had a few hundred pages of reading to do for his other classes, as well.

Thankfully, it was a Friday. He could take some time off. Maybe have a nap? Though that would probably turn into sleeping through the night. Maybe if he just napped in his chair? He  always woke up after a few hours when he dozed off at his desk, and that could qualify as a nap… but then he usually just ended up crawling into bed and going back to sleep. Besides, he had put laundry in the dryer before he started focusing on the sketch, and he was pretty sure it had to be finished. 

...Well, he’d go get his laundry and then maybe play on his laptop in bed, until sleep claimed him. Perhaps he’d even stay up as late as Eleven PM. 

“I don’t get it, man?”

David froze in place, upon hearing his assigned roommate’s voice. It had emanated from the kitchen and, now that David was actually listening, he could hear the faint sound of bottles clinking against each other as Anthony rummaged about in the fridge. Not that Anthony actually kept any of his own food in the fridge. He usually ate in the cafeteria, which meant that the fridge was mostly stocked by David. Which didn’t stop it from being treated as communal by Anthony. Something David would have considered bringing up, if not for the nature of. Well. Anthony.

“Why can’t I get laid? I thought college was supposed to be a smorgasbord of horny chicks!”

“...Maybe it’s because you say stuff like that…?” 

The tone in David’s voice was angry, but his words were spoken low. They weren’t meant to be heard. Which only meant it was a surprise when Anthony turned around, and tapped at the grey bluetooth piece in his ear.

“You say something, man? I’m on the phone.”

“I…” David swallowed, took a deep breath. This was his chance. This was his chance to stand up, not just for the women on campus, who weren’t here to do it themselves, but for his own self. Anthony showed no respect for anyone, and all David needed to do was say the words. He opened his mouth, took a deep breath… and looked away, so that Anthony wouldn’t see the scowl on his face. “...I said I need to go check on my laundry.”

“Ooooookay? You gonna check in on me about your bathroom breaks, too?”

“Sorry…” 

Anthony didn’t respond; to David, at least. He was talking quite a bit to his friend, on the bluetooth, and by the time that David actually escaped the room he’d heard a couple theories about why the girls weren’t into “real men” at this school.

As soon as the door was closed, and the words were left behind, David moved for the stairwell. He was on the third floor, and the laundry machines were in the basement. He had plenty of time to think about what his roommate had said… and how he was at fault, too, for never having the courage to say a word. 

David reached the basement quickly, his legs moving almost as fast as his thoughts. Out of breath, David decided to sit down, and lean back against the washing machines. Glancing both ways, to make sure that he wasn’t being watched, he wrapped a few strands of brown hair around his finger, and tugged hard enough to hurt. It was a bad habit his mother had long been trying to talk him out of, but he honestly felt that it helped him think. It took some of the mental anguish, and pain, and made it physical, relatable, and understandable, so that he could move past it.

Today, it wasn’t helping much. What was I supposed to say, he wondered. “Hey, can you stop treating women like shit?” Like that would have gone over well… and it wouldn’t have made a difference, anyway. He’d never listen to me.

...I'll say something. Next time, I'll definitely say something. After all... You gotta be the kind of person you want to see.

Deciding to shelve the matter, for the time being, David got back to his feet and made his way to the dryers in the back of the basement. Opening the machine, though, caused the overflowing unit to drop an article of clothing: a pink bra, with even bright pink lace decorating the bottom of the cups.

“This… Is definitely not mine,” the college student whispered, leaning down to pick it up, completely unaware of the glowing lights forming in the air above him. “None of these clothes are mine,” he muttered, standing up and peering into the dryer. The lights began to descend. “Did something-”

He was gone.

David’s eyes opened, slowly. The last thing he remembered was leaning down to pick up a bra. He could still feel that bra in his hand, the rough elastic band entwined with his fingers. So he’d definitely just done that. Yet he was now lying down in the dirt? Dirt which had strange symbols drawn into it, he realized. and those symbols were bisected by a circle, which had been drawn about him. 

“Heroine?” A voice spoke, above David. A figure was standing at David’s feet, her own boots toeing the circle, not quite breaking the line. She had bright orange hair, standing in stark contrast to her dark skin. The hair had been drawn into two frizzy buns on either side of her scalp. He was wondering if she’d dyed it, to get that unnatural orange color, when he noticed the girl’s yellow eyes. Eyes that were focused solely on David.

This woman was talking to him, then? She’d said something about… Heroine? “Who…? Are you? he meant to ask. He couldn’t force any more words to leave his throat, though. Not because the first word had come out high pitched. That had barely registered, as of yet. It was only that, as David had been forced to look up in order to meet the redhead’s eyes, he had happened to notice the moon, behind her shoulders.

The moon had a ring.

The circle. The strange symbols, he didn’t recognize. The girl’s bright yellow eyes, like nothing he’d ever seen before. Like nothing on earth. Because this wasn’t earth.

“Heroine?” the girl repeated, her voice soft, and excited.

David’s mind was spinning, his personal beliefs about the world around him collapsing as he tried to understand what was going on. He’d been in his dormitory. He’d been in the basement. On earth. And now he was - where? How? He couldn’t process, or understand, what the girl was saying. It almost seemed like she was calling out to him, but if so then the word surely couldn’t mean what it sounded like..

It was too much. It was too much information, with too little context, being jammed into his brain all at once. David did the only thing he could think of, to calm down, nevermind the fact that there was someone watching. He wrapped some hair around his fingers, and tried to tug until it hurt.

Which was how David realized that his hair was longer.

Screaming, he slammed his hands against the ground to prop himself upright. In doing so, David noticed two things. First of all, his formerly lanky arms had grown a layer of proper muscle, and were capable of lifting his suddenly heavier body upright. Second of all, he couldn’t help but notice the shifting of weight on his chest, as he got up.  He looked down…

He had breasts.

Ah. I’ve finally become the daughter mom always said she wanted...  was the first, ridiculous thought that popped into David’s mind. ...But no. It’s not like gender can be decided by my looks. I’m still me in here, after all. So I guess I’m just a guy in a girl’s body? That explained, at least, what the “heroine” comment had been about. He was being mistaken for a girl, because he had a feminine body. 

“Heroine?” the redhead was frowning, now. “Is everything alright? Did we catch you at a bad time?”

We? 

David looked about, but didn’t see anyone except the cloaked women, and a strange, clay statue that had been built to look like a simplified representation of a man. The statue was decorated in golden anklets, and a red loincloth. Its shoulders looked to be made of rock, carved into round joints. Perhaps the statue could move?

It moved, as David watched, turning its head about to look at him. Where the construct’s eyes should be were glowing red dots, that narrowed and focused upon the hapless college student. “What’s the hold up, Lonna?” the creature asked. He spoke with a deep, gravely voice, quite appropriate to his shape.

“I don’t know, Talith. The heroine looks a little sick.”

“Transportation sickness?” Talith asked, turning more fully toward David, and stepping forward. 

Unable to help himself, David let out another shocked cry in response, before trying to stumble backwards.

“Is she… Afraid of me?” whispered the construct. The way his stone monobrow moved seemed to be expressing doubt.

“W-Who wouldn’t freak out after seeing a statue move!?” David called out in response. Now, with the circle standing between him and the statue, the brunette began to climb to his feet. As he did so, he could not help but notice that the ground had seemed a lot closer the last time he stood. Had he grown taller? 

Actually, hadn’t he noticed it with his arms, too? That he had gotten much, much stronger? He didn’t have a mirror, but just looking down - it had been laundry day, so all he was really wearing was a pink tee shirt with a stain, and a pair of grey sweatpants. Those were the clothes he’d been wearing when he left earth, and they were, unfortunately, the clothes he was stuck with, now. Yet he was definitely filling the clothes out a lot better than when he’d been on earth. He was taller, which was causing the sweats to ride up his body. He was more muscular, too, and broader in the shoulders. 

“What the hell…” he whispered, looking down at his muscled, feminine form. “I’m ripped.”

“Heroine,” came a familiar voice. This time, David had to look down to see the tiny figure. She was maybe five feet tall. Her shoulders came up just about perfectly to David’s elbow. Or they did, when she was standing. The redhead dropped to one knee, as David watched, her green cloak flowing with her movements, so as to cover her body completely from the neck down. “My name is Lonna,” the woman whispered, bowing her head. “The laspi with me, is my brother: Talith. We have summoned you here, today, to ask for your help.”

The woman lifted her head up, here, and her yellow eyes shone with fever as they met David’s brown eyed gaze. “An evil woman, by the name of Sorissa, took the throne of this kingdom two hundred years ago. She calls herself the Matriarch of Resperan. She’s immortal, which is why we need your help to defeat her. Only a true heroine can stop her.” The girl smiled, at those words. “But I’m sure you’re used to killing all sorts of immortal despots, right? I’d be happy to pour you a drink, and you can tell me all about your exploits. Like what’s the fiercest foe you’ve ever faced? And did you just punch them out, or do you have - like - a hidden weapon, we can’t see right now?”

“Lonna…” Talith’s voice came out low, and slow. “There’s something else you need to tell her, too, isn’t there?”

The small woman flinched, glancing between David and Talith for a moment, before biting her lip. The way she nudged her foot into the ground made her look like a spoiled child, about to confess wrong doings to her parents. Before she spoke, though, there was something David desperately needed to say.

“Um…. Excuse me?” David smiled as he spoke, trying to ease the impact of his words. 

The girl smiled back, bright and wide, and full of hope. Which only made David’s smile feel fragile, and stupid, and wrong. He was panicking, a little, on the inside. He’d already accepted that he’d been taken to another world - and he’s started to realize that they’d made a mistake, grabbing him - but he had never, for a moment, thought that he’d be expected to save this world. That was just patently ridiculous. 

“I don’t know who you were trying to summon? But I’m not the heroine. I’m not even a girl. My name’s David…”

Silence covered the hilltop, following David’s pronouncement. Although the brunette himself was still shifting from foot to foot, Talith and Lonna had frozen in place.

Talith recovered first, crossing his arms, and lowering his stone eyebrow. “I told you that this was a bad idea, Lonna. Spells have never been your specialty.”

“W-What!?” Lonna, who had been standing stock still, mouth slightly ajar, snapped her jaw shut and turned to face her larger brother. “Don’t you dare pin this on my spellmanship! I followed the instructions perfectly. I mean, sure, there were a couple symbols I’d never seen before - but look!” She pointed towards one of the symbols, that looked sort of like a T that had done the splits. “That one’s the symbol for person. And that one…” She pointed to another symbol, a clockwise spiral. “That’s the symbol for need. And there’s also symbols for desire, fetching, and searching - among other things, but. This is definitely the heroine summoning spell!” She grabbed a scroll from the dirt as she spoke, unraveling it to reveal an inked copy of the circle that had been scratched into the dirt around David. “To summon the heroine in your heart - this is it! There’s no way I’d mistake the spell - and there’s no way I’d mistake the heroine!” 

She jabbed a finger at David, as she spoke. “The muscles. The height. She’s an ass-kicking machine, just like I imagined her! There’s no way in hell that she’s not the heroine I summoned!”

“But… I’m a guy…” David whispered, eyeing the finger like it might explode in her direction, or something. She still wasn’t sure what was going on, but from the way they’d been talking, it almost sounded like this girl could use magic? That would seem a ridiculous claim, under normal circumstances, but David was all but willing to accept the existence of magic at this point.

“You can’t be a guy!” the woman screeched, jabbing her finger again toward David. “You’re supposed to be the heroine of my heart. And the heroine of my heart is an ass kicking woman, who’s going to defeat Sorissa and save this land!”

“Lonna…” Talith’s voice was low, as usual, but a hint of anger had crept into his words. “If he says he’s a guy, he’s a guy. A person is always what they say they are, even if not who.”

“But…” Lonna’s eyes flicked back and forth between Talith and David, before finally coming to center on the confused and scared look in David’s eyes. “...Fine. If you say you’re a guy, you’re a guy,” she muttered, deciding to stare at the ground, instead. “But you’re still the heroine.”

“Lonna…” The anger was gone from Talith’s voice. Instead, the laspi sounded almost tired, for some reason. “Why would the heroine be called the heroine if she wasn’t a girl?”

“I don’t know! Maybe Sorissa misgendered her!” pointed to the circle that stood between herself and David. “All I know is, that spell was the heroine spell, and I cast it. So that means you are the heroine, Mister Avid, or whatever.”

“It’s… David, actually.” The brunette’s own voice was low, and uncertain. “But I’m not a heroine. Promise. I don’t even know how to fight. You’d be way better off just sending me home, and trying again.”

“...No way.” Lonna looked up into David’s eyes with a glower. “No. No way. This is a hero summoning spell, not a hero banishing spell, you know! I couldn’t send you back if I wanted to!”

“Wait. You can’t send me back home?” David was distantly aware that the expression on his face might be a funny one. His eyes were wide, his mouth was agape enough to catch passing flies. He couldn’t seem to stop making the expression, though, as his mind kept trying and failing to process the new information.

Realizing he’d been taken to another world had been so ridiculous, when compared to his former experiences, that it had nearly broken him. Realizing that he was never going to get back to his old world, however, was a far harder hit.

“What about a message?” he stepped closer to Lonna as he spoke, but she stepped back in turn. The expression on her face was almost afraid, but David didn’t have time to feel guilty about that. “Can we send a message out?” He tried to grab her by the shoulders as he spoke, but she ducked beneath his grasp and took another step back.

“I could maybe manage to send a letter…” the spry woman admitted. She was standing on one foot, now, using the other to rub against the back of her ankle. “I might even be able to send you back home, too. But that would require finding the right spell…”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Lonna.” Talith stepped forward as he spoke, coming up next to Lonna herself. “You’ve already stolen the poor guy from his home. If you can’t send him home, you should at least give him some tips for living in the new world, and send him on his way, so that we can get to thinking about what to do next.”

“Send me… On my way?” David whispered the words back, caught off guard.

The laspi turned his head to David, and gave a small nod. “Sorry, I’ve got my hands full taking care of this one. We can’t afford another mouth to feed; especially not a useless one. If you’re not the heroine, then-”

“I’m not useless, though!” David protested, suddenly desperate. “And don’t you think you have a little bit of responsibility toward me!? You dragged me into this world! If there’s not a way back-”

“There’s one way back.” Lonna was smiling, again, as she spoke.

“Hold on a second,” Talith warned, lifting up a single, thick, clay finger. “I don’t know what my sister has in mind, but I can promise you that it hasn’t been thought out. You’d be a lot safer just making your own way, from here -”

“I want to know how I can get back.” David was surprised by the certainty in his own voice. Perhaps it had something to do with his new, brawny, body, but he was willing to risk a little danger if it meant getting back home. “If Lonna knows a way-”

“It’s not that I know a way,” Lonna interrupted, smiling. “But I know where the way is. The Matriarch happens to keep an impressive library of spells; including the hero summoning spell, as it happens. Now, I didn’t have all the time in the world to peruse that library, what with her being alive, but if she was… less alive…? We could probably find a spell that would send you back home.” The redhead grinned, showing off a pair of sharp canines, but David only shuddered at the suggestion.

“I’m not killing anyone. Especially not without knowing the situation. Maybe if I go talk to the queen-”

“She’ll take your head off.” Talith spoke the words without inflection. “Lonna’s plan is stupid, and crazy, and you’re obviously not a killer. But if she even finds out about your existence, she’ll take your head off a minute later. For the last time, I’m telling you - your best bet is to go find a nice farmer, or whatever, get married, and start popping out kids. Live a nice, peaceful life.”

“...Kids?” At Talith’s words, David looked down at his own body. They’d been accepting him as a guy, so he’d almost forgotten, but… “I… My body is… This isn’t how I’m supposed to look. I was - I was smaller, and I was - I had a…” He blushed, faintly, not sure how to ask the question on his mind. Not willing to let it go, though, he eventually forced himself to met Talith’s quizzical stare and ask “How do I get my dick back?”

Both Talith, and Lonna, stared at him for a long moment. Eventually, the laspi said “Oh.”

Then Lonna tilted her head back to the sky, and just started to laugh. “Of course. Of course you don’t normally look like this. Why would you? You said you were a guy in your old world, right? Well, even if we can’t get you back, I know there’s some body changing spells in that library. Come with me, and you might actually get to have a dick again, one day.”

“Or you might die.” Talith glowered at Lonna, as he spoke. “He’s not the heroine, Lonna; he isn’t even a girl. He said he can’t use a weapon, either.”

“Then you’ll teach him,” was Lonna’s blithe response, patting Talith on the chest as she stepped towards David. “You say you don’t want to kill someone - but I’m betting you’ll change your mind after you’ve seen some of what Sorissa’s done to this place.

“For now - why don’t you come with us? We’ll give you a place to stay, keep your existence secret from the queen, and help you figure out what you want to do next. Not a bad deal, right?” Lonna grinned as she spoke, but there was no amusement in her eyes as she looked David up and down. The adoration, from earlier, was gone as well. All David could sense from the girl was determination. He didn’t think he had much choice about following her.

“...Alright…” he muttered, looking away. “I’ll go with you.”

Two miles. That’s how far from the city Lonna had traveled, alongside Talith, before casting the spell. That obviously meant they’d be walking two miles to get back home, too. Yet when Lonna conveyed that to the heroine…

“Two miles!?” He looked at the redhead in shock, then forcibly swallowed, and nodded his head. “I’ll do my best.”

Although Lonna knew, absolutely, beyond a doubt that this was the heroine, and that she had not in fact ruined the spell, she still couldn’t help but wonder: What kind of heroine would balk at a measly two mile walk?

“Should we um… Stretch or something, first?” he asked, next; Lonna simply stared at him, blankly. “Whenever my class ran the mile, back in high school, we always stretched first.”

“...If you think it’ll help.” 

Lonna didn’t really think it was necessary. Whatever the heroine’s attitude towards walking, his body was clearly built to move, and move well. His arms were well muscled, with biceps so big that Lonna would need two hands to feel all the way around one of them. His legs, which were almost unfairly long, were so well defined that they might have been sculpted. Thanks to the heroine’s too tight shirt, Lonna could even confirm that the man had washboard abs.

Too bad it was all wasted on David. Someone who couldn’t fight, didn’t want to kill, and wasn’t even a woman! Even ignoring whether Lonna had gotten the spell right, or whether she’d gotten the right spell to begin with - she knew that she had, on both accounts - the caster still couldn’t understand how she’d ended up with such a bizarre combination of mental and physical traits. It was like the spell had been working off two completely different checklists! 

Perhaps if she knew more about the magic she’d cast - perhaps if she could sneak back into the royal library - she could find out what, exactly, had gone wrong… but there’d be plenty of time for that after she’d whipped her heroine into shape and kicked Sorissa to the curb.

“Alright. I’m done stretching.” David grinned as he spoke, soft pink lips pulling back into a wholesome smile.

Lonna scowled in response. “Good. Talith, you ready?”

“Always.” The Laspi looked about, with those words, the red glow of his gaze sweeping across the dimly lit hilltop. Lonna, too, took a look about. She wanted to cast a detection spell, but the summoning had taken a lot more energy than anticipated, and had burned through her entire store of magic. 

Actually, it had taken a little more… She was trying not to show it, because Talith would never let her hear the end of it, but she’d actually used a touch of her physical life energy in the casting, as well. Which was probably why her body ached, her shoulders felt stiff, her legs were like jelly, and thinking of a two mile walk made her want to cry… 

Not that she was complaining. 

“What do you know about magic?” Lonna asked, lightly rubbing her aching back beneath her cloak, as she turned toward the heroine.

“I. Didn’t even know magic was real, until today…” David ran a hand through his hair, as he spoke, looking a little embarrassed, for some reason. “I mean, I read lots of fantasy books. Like, a lot of them. But they all had different systems of magic, and I’m not sure if any of them apply to the real thing, sooooo….”

“So you don’t know anything.” Lonna sighed, taking a deep breath. “I’ll test your capacity later.”

“Magic capacity?” There was obvious excitement in David’s voice, and Lonna couldn’t help a slight smile. It had been exciting for her, too, back when it was new.

Things had been a lot simpler, when she was five.

“Magic capacity is the limit of how much magic you can hold, at one time. The higher your magic capacity, the more complex, powerful spells you can cast without assistance. I’m sure a heroine’s should be high…” Lonna hoped it would turn out to be “But we can worry about that later. I only even brought it up because I’m running on empty.” 

It would be a long time before she had the energy reserves to cast a spell as big as that summoning, again. Which was just another reason why she’d have to make things with the heroine work.

“Is ‘running on empty’ dangerous?” David asked. His voice held concern, so Lonna gave a quick shake of her head.

“It means she can’t use spells for a while… In fact she’d be better off not using any magic at all.” A heavy thud signalled the end of Talith’s threat search, and the start of their walk. Since Talith had built himself with extra long arms, he moved by pressing his fists into the ground and swinging his lower body forward. It was fast, but not subtle. The fact that he was knucklewalking told Lonna that he hadn’t spotted anyone - yet - and that they had best move fast.

In other words, he wanted them to get going before Lonna did something stupid.

“What would happen if she tried?” David asked, his voice full of concern as he ran after Talith. 

“I’d pass out, or die.” Lonna had to walk fast to catch up to them, something she did not appreciate. She had the shortest legs there, the least physical stamina, and her legs felt like iron weights. 

Not that she was complaining, of course. She’d keep moving forward, right until she dropped, if that was what it came to. 

Her lungs were burning, though.  

“If you run out of magical energy, it’ll drain you for whatever physical energy you have, until you black out. Once you start casting a spell, it won’t end until you’re unconscious or dead. Even those who hang in there and finish the spell often end up dying in their sleep afterward.”

David’s eyes widened in surprise as Lonna talked, and he looked her over with obvious worry painted across his features. “So you could have died, summoning me?”

“That’s a detail she could have mentioned,” muttered Talith, redoubling his pace and pulling ahead of the pair.

“Slow down!” Lonna complained, purposefully dropping her pace to a brisk walk. Talith glanced back at her, narrowing his eye sockets angrily, but slowed down his own pace to match.

“Maybe we should find shelter for the night,” he suggested. “We can head into the city in the morning.”

“Homebase will get scooped up if we’re gone an entire night.” Lonna chose to ignore the look of confusion that crossed David’s face. They could talk about the housing situation later; right now it was magic lesson time.

“So, like Talith said, spells are pretty much off the table with me, at least until morning. But spells aren’t the only way you can use magic.”

“Lonna…” Talith only spoke her name, but to Lonna - who had been with Talith from ages thirteen to twenty one - an entire lecture had been delivered, in those two tense syllables.

“Relax, Talith, I’m just giving a quick lesson.” She flashed a grin at her brother, but the Laspi only scowled in response.

“What other ways?” David asked. A spark of curiosity was shining brightly in his gaze, and he wore an easy smile. You’d never know he’d come close to a complete meltdown over being summoned, less than an hour beforehand.

“There’s a couple ways, but the one I want to talk to you about is ‘gifts.’”

“Gifts?” David frowned, softly, his brow furrowing ever so slightly as he thought. “You mean, like. Special skills?”

“Exactly!” Lonna laced her fingers behind her head as she spoke, half leaning back, even as she walked through the trees. Looking at her in such a pose, one could be forgiven for thinking she was at ease. In reality, her back was screaming in protest at having to maintain that posture, while her eyes were fixated on the stars. Leaving Talith to look for threats, she was navigating by the stars to make sure they stayed on route to the city. “Gifts are special, magical abilities that don’t require incantations or runes to activate. Most of the races have singular abilities, shared across all of them - but humans - humans are unique.”

“Humans all have different abilities?” David suggested.

“When they even have abilities. Humans are the only race without guaranteed powers. That just means you never know what sort of talent a human might have..”

“So what’s your gift?” 

“I can control light.” Lonna waited a tense moment, as David frowned. “I know, it doesn’t sound like the best ability, but-”

“No. It sounds amazing. I wish I could do something like that…” There was wistfulness in David’s voice, but no bitterness. “I gotta keep my sights low, though; do we even know if someone from my world can use magic?”

“No idea…” Lonna hadn’t considered it. It would be a great boon, if it existed, but since every human gift was unique there was no real way to test for them. “You’ll figure it out, eventually, if you have one. But for now - want to see one in action?”

“Gods damn you, Lonna!” Talith’s voice was explosive, and the way his monobrow furrowed when he looked about showed an anger that even David could pick up on. The heroine actually took a step back, before hesitating, and then purposefully stepping back up besides the redhead. Lonna was happy to see that the heroine could use her spine, after all. Even if it was being wasted, worrying about her brother. Lonna didn’t need magic to handle him.

“It’s fine,” she told them both, straightening her own aching back, and stretching her tired arms toward the sky. “All I’m gonna do is have a little snack…”

“A snack?” Talith’s eyebrow lifted. “You mean…?”

Lonna nodded, ignoring the obvious confusion on David’s face. “I’m going to have a little snack. And while I’m at it, I’m going to see if there’s anything in the area worth worrying about. But it won’t cost as much magic as it’ll gain me, so you don’t need to worry about it.”

“I’m not carrying you, if you pass out,” the clay man muttered, turning the red glow of his eyes back toward their surroundings. Although he tried to hide the worry in his voice, Lonna knew Talith well enough to see the tension in his rocky shoulders. He didn’t like this plan. 

He also wasn’t going to stop her. Using eyes, alone, to detect threats could prove fatal if there was a particularly nasty beast or plant about. Besides, there wasn’t any real danger. 

As long as Lonna was careful, anyway.

“So… how does it work?” David asked, breaking the tense silence. “If you don’t need magic or incantations, how do you activate it?”

“It’s like. Stretching a muscle that nobody else has, kinda…" She frowned, uncertain how to explain what she used intuitively. "Once you get the hang of it, it’s as easy as moving your own arm. When you’re first starting out, though, you don’t know what you’re doing, and there’s no one to explain it to you…” She shook her head, slowly, then closed her eyes. “Look, just watch.” Even as she spoke, Lonna was already starting the process. By attuning her senses to the moonlight about her, she could feel every particle of light within a dozen feet.

Lonna pulled the light toward herself, causing the surrounding area to grow dimmer as her own skin took on a silvery sheen. 

“That looks like more than eating to me,” Talith muttered. He’d stopped moving, when Lonna closed her eyes, but with those words he started walking again. He still wasn’t stopping her.

“Sunlight is the origin of all magic,” Lonna whispered, her eyes still closed. She was sure David was listening, even if she couldn’t see him. “Moonlight has barely anything, by comparison. The effort it takes to distill it, like this, takes up almost as much energy as I get… but it also means I’ll know instantly if anything comes within a dozen feet of me.”

“What if it’s invisible?”

Lonna cracked an eye open, not able to tell if David was kidding. When she saw the serious look on his face, she closed her eye again, and started walking down the path. “The only way to go invisible I know of is making the light go around you. And if there’s a pocket of space where the light refuses to go, I’ll know." She continued to walk, as she spoke, deftly picking her way through the underbrush, without opening her eyes.

“We’re safe right now, by the way. Come on,” she called, aware of David staring at her from behind. “There’s still a mile and three quarters between us and the city, and I for one intend to make it before sunrise.”

The two mile walk was a miserable experience for David. His legs were longer than they used to be, so he kept stubbing his toe, or slamming his foot into the ground. His center of gravity was off, so he stumbled whenever the forest trail had a bump or dip. His clothes were now an ill fit: the top came uncomfortably close to tearing whenever he moved his arms about, and his formerly baggy sweatpants, which couldn’t even reach his ankles now, were in constant danger of slipping off his widened hips. 

Mercifully his shoes still fit, which meant that he at least might not get blisters from this nightmare of a trip.

“Relax. We’re almost there.” Lonna smiled as she spoke. With the moonlight reflected in her golden eyes, and that smile on her face, she looked quite beautiful. Enough that David, blushing, looked away.

He only knew two people in this entire world. He couldn’t afford to drive one of them away by flirting with her; he’d die if he was left on his own. Besides, he was fairly certain that Lonna wasn’t interested in him. 

It was the heroine she admired; David was just the fool who’d shown up in her place. 

It was only when his foot clipped the back of Lonna's and his thigh bumped against her back that he realized his guide had stilled. 

Talith, who’d been keeping a watch behind them, made a noise like grinding rock. David had already heard this enough to recognize it as the Laspi’s sigh.

“He’s like a newborn clayling,” Talith muttered, loud enough for everyone present to hear. “He doesn’t even know how to stop on command, and you want him to take on the queen?”

“Sorry for not knowing how to move a body I got an hour ago,” David grumbled back, his voice as low as his new vocal cords allowed. “Maybe if you all weren’t in such a hurry to get back to the city, I could have practiced walking.”

Lonna put a finger to her lips, gesturing for the two of them to be silent, and then waved Talith forward; the large clay man made his way around David to get a better view. 

“...Shit," Lonna murmured. "Didn’t realize we were so close.”

“How close are we?” David stood on tiptoes to try and get a better view, but Talith was too large an obstacle to see around.

“Too close, considering how loud you were,” Lonna whispered, gesturing for David to crouch down, as she pulled the branches aside.

They were on top of a hill. The city, of tall buildings sprawling across the land, started about fifty feet from the foot of the hill. Farmland stretched out behind it, covering a wide expanse of territory, and stretching right up to the back end of the wall itself. Despite it being late at night, David could see a few people walking about fields of maize, beans, barley and emmer wheat. The rest were probably sleeping, within the squat farmhouses that dotted the landscape.

As for the city wall itself, it towered even higher than the buildings, so high up as to be eye level with them on the hill. The wall was constructed of heavy stones, was spotted with crenelations, and had archers peeking down from atop it. It had exactly one opening, so far as David could see: a solid iron gate, illuminated by lanterns and guarded by two men. 

“Think they heard us?” Talith whispered, his voice lower and quieter than David knew it could go.

Lonna shook her head, though. “You weren’t that loud. Besides, they’re not going to get in our way today, of all days.”

“And why not?” Talith asked. The red flickers of light that filled his eye sockets were unchanging, but his gravelly voice sounded dubious to David’s ears.

Lonna hesitated. “...Because it’s my birthday,” she said. 

She calmly stepped out from the treeline and began to walk down the hill, in full sight of the guards at the gate.

There was a loud thud as Talith slapped his three fingered hand against his forehead with great force. Shaking his head, the clay man pushed his wide knuckles against the ground, and swung his lower body forward. 

David, suddenly alone, hesitated at the forest’s edge. If he wanted to find his own way, and his own way home, this was, probably, his last chance. If he turned and fled, he might make it some small distance before Lonna realized he was gone. 

He’d probably get lost and the forest and die soon after, though.

“W-Wait for me!” he called, running down the hill, straight past Talith, not stopping until he was side by side with Lonna. 

Right in front of the guards.

“Who’s this?” muttered the one on the right, while the one on the left cautiously lowered his spear, aiming the tip toward David’s neck.

Although the guard didn't move to kill, David still stepped back, heart pounding. It was the first time that anyone had ever pointed a weapon at him.

Lonna calmly stepped in front of the guard. 

Although she was so short that the one with the spear could have simply raised his shoulder to skewer David, the guard immediately lowered his weapon. 

“He’s with me,” Lonna declared, looking back at David. “Goes by-”

“Melissa,” the heroine interrupted, smiling brightly as the guard’s eyes narrowed. “My name is Melissa.”

The guard frowned, faintly, looking first at Lonna, and then at the newcomer.”Melissa,” for his part, starred right back, trying to memorize what sort of uniforms guards wore in this world,

The answer appeared to be “not much.” He was wearing a maille shirt, and pauldrons emblazoned with what looked to be a red sun, on a black field. Or, as she would have been told to call it in class: sable, a sun guiles. Melissa could only assume that it was the (supposedly) wicked queen’s symbol - on earth, a golden sun on black would make more sense and wouldn't break the rule of tincture; whoever bore this coat of arms had enough power enough to break the rules
in this ominous way.

The guard’s companion was dressed in much the same way - right down to the same sized chain shirt, which left his midriff covered only by a coarse brown fabric. The parts of his clothes that weren’t armor must have been the soldier’s responsibility: while both guards were wearing brown trousers, the one who had been speaking so far had thin, tan ones compared to the other’s tough, dark pants.

The guard on the right, who’d been speaking so far,  had short-cropped brown hair and hard green eyes. The one on the left who was too tall and lanky for his gear had dirty blond hair, brown eyes, and an adolescent face - complete with acne. He couldn't have been older than 18, and that was doubtful. 
Considering the other one looked to be in his early thirties, Melissa supposed they were partnered as mentor and student.

There was only one thing Melissa couldn’t figure out: the look of fear that filled both guards’ eyes whenever they looked at Lonna.

“A-Alright,” muttered the guard on the right, apparently having gotten his fill of staring at Melissa. “ So his name’s Melissa…” 

“Um… Her…. Her name is Melissa,” Melissa corrected, rubbing the back of her neck. “Lonna had a ...Slip of the tongue?”
She smiled, trying to appear as natural as possible. The whole reason she’d given a fake name was to try and blend in, so Melissa figured that using feminine pronouns would make her less conspicuous.

So why was the guard narrowing his eyes? 

“Lonna?” the guard asked, raising an eyebrow, and turned his gaze to the redhead. “I thought your name was Rigara.”

“Does it matter?” Lonna asked, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes. “You’re going to let me through no matter what my name is, aren’t you? Because you know that if you don’t-”

“She’ll light your pants on fire,” Talith interrupted, slamming his lower body into position behind Melissa and Lonna. He’d taken his time coming down, but the effect of a huge clay creature on the guards was… 

Not very noticeable, honestly; they were still just trembling at the sight of Lonna.

Melissa turned to look at the small sorceress. “Tell me you haven’t actually lit anyone’s pants on fire?  Please?” she whispered. 

Lonna averted her eyes. “I didn’t know the guy was keeping oily rags in his pants… And I healed him afterwards, didn’t I?”

“The captain of the city guard has strict orders not to allow her arrest,” Talith explained, his voice pitched low enough that it would seem a whisper. The words were loud enough that the guards couldn’t help but hear, though. “Heard around town that someone higher up in the food chain wants to recruit her. Personally.”

“Those rumors can go fuck themselves.” Lonna’s voice was an actual whisper. But Melissa’s ears picked it up, all the same. 

By the time she’d shifted her focus to the little redhead, however, Lonna had already taken a step away from her companions - and toward the guards.
“Now. Are you going to open the gates? Because I’m telling you right now - I won't have Breath to waste on healing you.”

The guard's faces turned ashen at that. 

“O-Open the gate for the Lady!” stuttered the lanky one. The older one on the right was sullenly silent as the gate started to crank open, sliding upward until there was enough room for even Talith to walk under it without stooping.

Experiencing the city for the first time, with no walls between her and the streets, Melissa’s first thought was not directly about the people, or the buildings. 

“It stinks,” she thought out loud, wrinkling her nose.

So far, she had been treated to the smell of woods, and open fields, untouched by industry. Clear, wonderful, natural scents. But now she was confronted by the sheer stench of people - without a sewer system - cramped in close quarters and surrounded by a wall. 

A sheer wave of nausea overwhelmed her, and she couldn’t help reaching up to pinch at her nose.

“Come on,” Lonna muttered, pulling the hood of her green cloak over her head, hunching herself over, and walking in. It was obvious, to anyone looking, that she wanted to be neither bothered nor recognized.

Talith, who couldn’t hide this way, began to walk upright on two feet for the first time since Melissa had met him. Although he had no visible nose, and possibly no sense of smell, it was obvious that something about the city made him uncomfortable.

Melissa could relate. She didn't want to step into a stench so strong it
seemed nearly a solid barrier. But with Lonna and Talith already inside, the gate was closing and Melissa had no choice but to lower her head and duck within, scrambling to enter before the entrance closed.

“Glad to see you made it,” muttered Talith. His face was set into a scowl, however, as he looked about the city.

“Welcome to Ife,” Lonna proclaimed, striding forward now that Melissa had joined them. “It used to be the greatest city on the continent. Before Sorissa.”

“How can one person cause this kind of decay?” Melissa asked, taking it in. Though the stench made her eyes water, the brunette reasoned that it was normal for a walled city with gutters instead of a proper sewage system. The mouldering and pockmarked buildings, on the other hand, spoke of something more sinister.

The city was squalid. The buildings did seem a little more solidly built, as they moved toward the wealthier center of town - but only the architecture improved. No matter how far they traveled inward, nothing was cleaner, and there wasn’t a single sign of wealth or prosperity. The shops Melissa saw had dingy signs, with smudged symbols she couldn’t make out and faded pictures with peeling, washed-out paint. Melissa’s would suppose that at least some of them had to be open during daylight hours - but all of them had the windows boarded up.

Even more upsetting were the people - or the lack of them. It might have only been because of the lateness of the hour, but Melissa saw near no one on the streets, and these wore clothes saturated with sweat and dirt and reek and hasty patchwork. They kept their heads bowed, and moved straight toward their destinations. 

Melissa, Lonna, and Talith walked through street after street, but Melissa saw nothing but poverty. 

Eventually, they came to a stop in front of a large house, built of unpainted red stone. It had a red door - and no roof.

“The second floor was shattered when the last owner apparently pissed off a magi,” Lonna told Melissa. “But it hasn’t collapsed yet, and everyone here knows I’ve claimed this as my territory, so no one should bother us during the night.” 

Lonna then pulled two slender pieces of metal out of her cloak, no longer than her pinky and no wider than it's fingernail.  She inserted the metal into the lock mechanism, and began to fiddle.

“You’re..." Melissa could scarcely believe it. "...Picking the lock? Don’t you have a key?”

“I told you, I claimed this place after the last person and most of the second floor exploded. And the key with them, probably!” 

The lock clicked open as Lonna spoke, so she gave the doorknob a test turn before nodding and pulling it open. 

“Come on in, heroine. Talith, you okay with keeping a full watch?”

Talith crossed his arms.  “Fine. But tomorrow evening, the heroine’s taking her share of the watch.” He turned to face the outside world. 

From the conversation, Melissa could only hope that the clay creature didn’t need sleep - because it was clear that he wasn’t going to get any. 

Melissa needed sleep, though - God, she needed sleep. She was only human, after all, and it was late before she was summoned. Between the drama after, and the hike after that, and the final danger at the city threshold, she was exhausted.

“Come on, ‘Melissa,” Lonna called, from deep inside the house, her voice desiccating when it touched Melissa’s new name. “You can take the bed tonight.”

“The bed?” she called back. “What about you? You were out of breath, you should-”

“The heroine needs her strength.” Lonna decreed from deeper in the house. 

Walking in, Melissa found himself in front of a bare-boned bed frame. There was no mattress or box-spring, but several thick looking blankets had been piled on top of a single wooden slat. 

“Sleep,” Lonna imperiously demanded, unaware of how disappointed Melissa was with the bed.

Melissa nodded all the same, yawning, and climbed into the bed. The wood was hard beneath her knees, even through the blankets, but since the night was comfortably warm, she decided to lay on top of the heavy wool and linen, using them as cushions.

“What’s with the Melissa thing, anyway?” asked Lonna. “And the she pronouns? You trying to disguise yourself as a girl?”

“...Thought it would draw less attention…” Melissa cracked her mouth harder with this yawn, stretching her arms above her head before she curled up in as small a ball she could make of herself. “...Besides…” she added, drifting away into sleep. “It felt… Better. Being called that. In this form…” 

Cracking her eyes open, Melissa’s last thought before losing consciousness was Why does she look so confused? I just want to be seen as a girl, for a little bit… 

Perhaps if she’d stayed awake a bit longer, she would have analyzed that thought - but in that moment, sleep swallowed her up.

Chapter 5

Melissa’s eyelids opened, for a moment, before closing again. She was still laying in the same room she’d gone to bed in. She still had breasts, like before she’d gone to sleep. Not that she’d expected things to magically get better, in her sleep. If anything, she was relieved that things hadn’t gotten somehow worse.

She was trapped in another world with a woman’s body, and the only way home was to defeat an immortal sorceress-queen. She didn’t want to think about it, but “defeat” probably meant “kill” in Lonna’s eyes, too. 

Melissa tried to decide whether it was worth getting up, or if she should just try and sleep until they forced her out of bed. That was when she heard it: a faint humming coming from outside the room. It wasn’t loud enough to be a bother; it was barely loud enough to be heard. Still, Melissa was... intrigued.

Everything else Melissa had come across had reeked of poverty, misery, and death. By contrast, this humming sounded happy, the first bit of joy that she could associate with this world. 

If someone was happy, Melissa wanted to know why. She wanted to share in it. Maybe even feel a bit better, herself.

Melissa opened her eyes to half of an unfamiliar ceiling; the rest had a hole from - she was assured - a wizard gouging it out with a magical explosion.

Melissa got out of bed, stretching as best she could in her too-tight clothing as she moved for the door. She peered past the main living area and into the kitchen, where she saw Lonna standing over a wood-burning stove. Lonna had a small copper pot bubbling on the stove - and as she took it off the flames, Melissa realized that the joyful noise from before was coming from no one less than Lonna herself.

Lonna blew on the stove, her breath instantly extinguishing the merrily dancing flames, to Melissa's surprise. Was that the result of a spell? Or was there more to Lonna’s gift then she’d let on?

“I know you’re there, Melissa,” Lonna muttered, placing the pot on the table. “Come sit down.“

Melissa hesitated for a moment, then walked up to the kitchen table and pulled out a dingy little stool from under it. Plopping down on it, she turned to Lonna with a smile. “So what’s for breakfast?” 

“Maize porridge, with salted pork and some mushrooms I grew in the corner. Plus each of us gets three eggs! It’s practically a feast.  Eat up - you’re going to need your strength for our itinerary.”

“Our what now?” Melissa stared into the large bowl. Pale, yellow porridge, with little bits of mushroom and pork studded here and there through it. It looked fine, and smelled good enough to make Melissa’s stomach growl. All the same…. “I’m not eating random mushrooms that were grown in a corner.”

Lonna rolls her eyes. “They’re Freeman's Steaks, impossible to mistake for a toxic mushroom - and you’ll eat them, if you want to keep your strength up. Ever been mountain climbing?”

Melissa swallowed, hard.  “Can’t say I have.” 

Lonna went back to the stove and grabbed a plate of curiously small eggs - the edges crisped in bacon grease, and with deep golden over-easy yolks - from atop the counter.  She placed it next to the porridge pot, before handing Melissa a roughly-hewn wooden spoon. 

“Eat up," Lonna cheerfully commanded. "But be careful, it’s…”

 She trailed off, wincing as Melissa stuck the spoon into the pot, and scooped the porridge directly into her mouth.

Melissa swallowed the porridge. It tasted bland, most likely needing salt that Lonna couldn’t provide. Still, it was well cooked, and Melissa could tell that it would be a filling meal. 

“Don’t worry,” she said, reaching to grab another spoonful, “I can handle hot food. My mouth is like a…” 

She swallowed another bite. “Are there dragons here?” Melissa asked.

“Yes. And everyone hates them," Lonna warned, leaning forward, lowering her voice. “Don’t ever compare yourself to one, in any way, if you don’t want to be treated like a monster.”

“What? What’s so horrid about dragons? I always thought they were so cool! They’re strong, and powerful, and they look gorgeous!”

“Stop. You don’t know what you’re talking about. Everyone says - everyone knows…" Lonna’s cheeks flushed red, as she glowered at Melissa. "There’s nothing across Auroras half as bad as a rampaging Dragon.”

“Auroras?” Melissa asked.

“The continent? Largest land mass in all Mistina?”

Melissa stared at her, silent for a moment, collecting her thoughts. If Auroras was the continent, and Mistina the name of the world... a world with a ringed moon…
“I’m not just in another world, I’m on a whole different planet,” she declared, mostly to herself. 

Then she had another spoonful of corn porridge. This time she bit into a little salt pork, adding an explosion of much needed salt and flavor. 

“You seem surprisingly calm about it,” Lonna remarked, pulling out another stool by her side of the table. Melissa offered Lonna the spoon, but Lonna simply waved the offer off. “Thanks, but a couple eggs will be fine for me. Light provides me with most of the energy I need."

Melissa nodded. She wasn’t convinced light could provide proper nutrients, but Lonna probably knew best. 

“I am worried about it, by the way." Melissa’s tone was dry.  "I’m freaking out. About everything. I'm on another planet, where magic is real, and everything is strange and terrifying and out of my control." 

Melissa shrugged, helplessly. She wanted to express how scary it was to be living in a house whose last owner had exploded. How exciting, but equally worrying it was to be in a world where magic was possible.

"But if I let myself dwell on that," she said, instead, "I’ll just start screaming and screaming and never stop, too terrified to move a muscle, and that seems, uh.  Bad?  For my chances?" Melissa smiled, faintly, like she was telling a joke instead of expressing how deep in the shit she felt she was. "So right now, I’m just going to eat, and take things one step at a time." 

“So. Lonna. Could you tell me why dragons are so bad?”

Lonna didn’t meet Melissa’s eyes, instead looking into a dark corner. Melissa was struck by the image of Lonna growing the 'Freemen's Steak' mushrooms in that dank and lightless corner of the house, and smiled. 

Lonna sighed. “...Because they used to rule the world.” 

Melissa's smile evaporated like an ice cube hit with a dragon's breath.

“So. Uh. Dragons. Ruled the world?" Mellissa said, frowning faintly. "And they did a bad job at it?”

“I’d say they did a pretty good job of enslaving everyone," Lonna replied. "They were merciless, and damn-near invincible. All the races had to band together to defeat them, back during the Burning. Thanks to that, the dragons had their powers stripped and they were enslaved in turn." 

“The dragon’s royal family was particularly hardy, and couldn’t be killed no matter how many people tried. They were bound, instead, imprisoned under their own palace. They lived the rest of their lives in a gilded cage, surrounded by hedonistic luxury."

Lonna looked up at Melissa, eyes ablaze. "Until their daughter killed them.”

“...Sorissa?” Melissa guessed.

“Close. Sorissa’s wife, Arasitelle. The only dragon in existence who didn’t take part in the oppression, because she hadn't even been born yet. The other races still bound her, though, even as a baby." 

Lonna chuckled, without much humor to it. "Worked great, until Sorissa broke her out of the palace, undid her bindings, killed the royal family and the ruling council - Look."Lonna narrowed her gaze. "Do you really want a history lesson?”

“Uh.  Yes?” Melissa nodded. “I love history, or I wouldn't have majored in it. And I think I have a right to know about the person you want me to ki- dethrone,” she corrected at the last second.

Lonna frowned, golden eyes meeting Melissa’s for a moment, before bowing her head. “ Like I said, Sorissa freed Arasitelle of her bindings, then killed the royal family - something people had been trying to do for centuries. Sorissa then had Arasitelle legally annex this queendom of Resparan, from her throne, at the center of Auroras. Then she handed over the rest of the country to her army for loot and pillage and let things go to shit from there - these days, the only way you can tell the knights from the outlaws is by what's on their shields.”

Melissa nodded, taking a moment to absorb this information with a deepening scowl.  Unfortunately, this tracked with her lessons about the Anarchy in England. 

“And the mountain we’re supposed to climb? Is it in the gang lands, or…?”

“Everywhere on our itinerary is firmly in Sorissa’s control. It's not great, I admit, but I won’t have to sneak you over any borders, at least.”

Melissa nodded, eating a bit more of the porridge. Now that she knew to mix the porridge with the pork, whenever possible, she was finding it much tastier. Hunger had a way of adding its own spice, anyway. “So, why this mountain?”

“Mount Drogone is where we find the Lunargent Scale. A magical suit of armor that covers its wearer from head to toe. It’s capable of fitting any life form, and will protect its wearer from all harm. ...Well, maybe not against legendary class weapons, like the Quecaw, but anything short of that! It was armor used by the Dragons - most of it was destroyed, and the singular scale that remains is within that mountain.”

“Alright, let me see if I understand the plan.” Melissa replied. “The goal is to get me that suit of armor, so that I'm not instantly vaporized when Sorissa the Sorceress breathes on me.  Which means magic bounces off of the Scale, right?”

“Sorissa the… source-eress? I’m not sure what that is. And she's not a dragon, or a… whatever that is? She’s a dryad." 

Lonna grinned, the brightest smile Melissa had seen on the other woman’s face as of yet. "You’re getting it, though, yeah! The scale should totally protect you against her. We just need to combine that with the power of the Quecaw, and you’ll be able to defeat Sorissa!”

“Wait. A dryad? Like, a tree person? And the Que-what now? That’s the second time you’ve mentioned it.” It was Melissa’s turn to look confused, the porridge spoon stopped halfway to her mouth.

“A cutting from her tree, actually, but yes. And I’m talking about the quecaw! The fabled weapon located at the heart of the Forest of Night - which draws the Breath out of whoever dares wield it. Half the reason we need the armor is just so you can grip that thing without asphyxiating.”

Melissa's appetite suddenly vanished. “Good to know,” she forced out, before making herself  take the last spoonful of the leftover porridge. She scraped up what was left of the salted pork, and took what turned out to be her best bite of food yet.

Too bad it was like ash in her mouth.

“You should have the eggs,” Melissa said, pushing the plate toward Lonna. On it, six small, vividly golden yolks were quivering atop a field of white. 

Lonna frowned, though.  “I’ll eat mine, if you eat yours. Eggs are part of a healthy diet.”

“Thanks, but I’m mostly out of appetite.” Melissa poked one of the eggs with her spoon. “What sort of eggs are they, anyway?”

“Pidgeon,” Lonna replied, taking the spoon from Melissa, and scooping one of the eggs into her mouth with the yolk still intact. 

Lonna’s eyes closed as she chewed, and she hummed in delight at the taste of the food. Whether she needed to eat for energy, or not, it was clear that Lonna enjoyed it. Melissa promised herself that she’d try to leave more food for Lonna, in the future.

Melissa waited until Lonna had popped another egg into her mouth before asking, “When do we leave?”

Lonna regarded Melissa through narrowed eyes, before popping a third yolk into her mouth, chewing, and swallowing. “I assume that means you’re in?” She held out the spoon, as she spoke.

“Do I have a choice?” Melissa asked, rhetorically, taking the spoon and trying to scoop up an egg with it. It was harder than Lonna made it look, and she broke the first yolk when it fell off with a soft “plop.”

“If I want to get home, I need to dethrone your evil queen, and you’re the only one with a plan on how to do that. Right? Besides…" 

Melissa scooped up the broken egg and stuffed it in her mouth. It was creamy, and delicious. She regretted not having started with it.

“Besides?” Lonna asked, impatient.

"Besides…” Melissa smiled faintly. “If I stay, maybe I’ll hear more of your happy humming.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lonna demanded, voice slightly sour. “I’ll have you know I’m only interested in women. I couldn’t care less how gorgeously muscled your body is, if the one inside it is a man.”

“...Noted.” It wasn’t a surprise, hearing that Lonna wasn’t interested. Melissa had already decided not to hit on the girl, anyway, since she was Melissa’s only line on a way to survive.

It still stung to hear out loud, though. Even if she understood: she wasn’t really a woman, after all.

“I just meant…” Melissa gave a wry smile, trying to push her feelings aside. “...There’s been nothing but misery, poverty, and chaos since I got here. So when I heard something happy… it was nice. I want more of that - we need more of that. That’s all.”

Lonna frowned, looking him over for a long minute, before shaking her head. “You’re strange. Following me against Sorissa because you like my humming? But if that’s what gets you to come with me, then fine. I’ll hum you the ballad of Sorissa’s defeat.”

Melissa grinned, then rapidly scooped up the next two eggs, actually managing to get them both into her mouth, whole. Her appetite had just returned, and the creaminess of the egg yolks as they broke in her mouth was a delight.

“I don’t suppose you have any more of those mushrooms?” she asked.

Suddenly the front door swung inward. Talith side-stepped into the kitchen and slammed a piece of vellum down on the table. 

On it was an illustrated picture of a woman. The woman had soft, round cheeks, long flowing hair, a cute little nose, and surprisingly soft looking lips. Melissa didn’t know who the drawing was of, but the artist clearly had talent to capture her looks.

There was writing at the bottom of the picture, for some reason. She couldn’t guess as to what the characters meant, but she was pretty sure it was the local language.

“It says that this is a picture of the seditious, self-described Heroine,” Lonna replied. “Reward, five hundred crowns for your capture, alive. Fifty for information leading to your arrest." 

"These have been springing up like mushrooms in the corner across the entire town," Talith snarled.

"Then we need to get out of here.” Lonna was already moving to the door, with Talith falling in behind. 

Melissa moved to follow, but Talith held out a shield-sized hand to stop her. “Hold it. First thing first, before we officially say we’re all allied and go to take on the queen or whatever… I need to hear it for myself.

Talith splayed his stony fingers and recited: “Through thick or thin, through rain or shine, through life or death, and may the Majesty Trees impale you with their roots should you lie - are you with us?” 

Talith had no nose, and his mouth was little more than an opening in the clay, but he was still pulling off a dubious expression, as if he didn’t really trust what Melissa had to say.

Melissa thought he could shove it up his - well, she wasn't sure the Lapsi had one, but still.

“I already told Lonna,” Melissa responded, walking around Talith so that she could file out the door after Lonna. “But yeah.  May God strike me down where I stand, God forbid, I’m in it for the long haul. Besides, it's not like I have a choice with that poster everywhere." 

Talith paused, then nodded.

Melissa grinned. "Then let’s haul ass before they catch us!” she said - and with that, she was out the door. 

Chapter 6

Melissa lifted an arm to her eyes, shielding herself from the sun as she moved through the door. In front of her, Lonna was already walking briskly down the street, with her head ducked and her eyes focused permanently in front of her. The walk seemed to scream “don’t get in my way.”

Melissa had questions, so she hurried to catch up, leaving Talith to lock up.

“Hey!” Melissa called out. “What’s the plan?”

“The plan is to get past the gate.” Lonna didn’t look back, but did raise her voice. “We’re going to clear up our misunderstanding with the guards.”

“You don’t need to speak that loudly?” Melissa replied, a little confused. “And what misunderstanding? Isn’t everything on the poster true?”

“The poster says that you’re a false heroine - you’re the true heroine. Which everyone will know soon enough!” Lonna shouted this last for everyone to hear.

Not that there was anyone in the streets around them, actually. For some reason, despite it being morning, the city around them seemed all but deserted.

“Uh... great plan!” Melissa started, “But maybe we can try a different one? Like a disguise! If I had your cloak, I’d be a lot less likely to be seen in -”

“- my cloak stays on me,” Lonna growled, with enough ferocity that Melissa stumbled back a step.  Talith caught her in his warm, soft clay arms, and then released her. 

“Careful there,” the Laspi warned. “That cloak was a gift from our mother.”

“Your mother?” Melissa looked between Lonna's diminutive green-cloaked figure and Talith's gigantic clay form, mentally running through everything that they’d ever said about each other. “You’re… siblings?”

“Adopted. Both of us.” Talith shrugged, before pulling his slit mouth into a smile. “The cloak isn’t magic, or made of special thread, or anything like that, if you’re wondering. It’s just a normal cloak. But our ma made it with love, and patched it every time it tore. I’ve rarely seen Lonna without it.”

“Lonna can hear you,” Lonna called, back, fists on her hips and a scowl on her lips. “Look. It’s just a cloak. Stop trying to make it seem important, and focus on the townsfolk who want to murder us and kidnap Melissa for the Queen's coin!”

Melissa paled, her legs suddenly like jelly. Despite that, she took a step away from Talith, and toward Lonna. 

 “That's why you're yelling?” Melissa asked, incredulous. “To warn them off?”

“For all the good it’ll do,” Lonna agreed, her golden eyes pivoting about. 

Then Lonna raised her hand.  “-Three, approaching.”

“So it can count!” The voice came from an alleyway to the right.  It disgorged three people, none of them human.

The woman speaking was like a giant grey cat with a white muzzle, standing on two digitigrade legs. If she got on four legs, she would have seemed like just an oversized house pet; as she stood, though, she was nearly as tall as Melissa.

Next to the felinoid was a man with pale skin, golden eyes, and the lower body of a large green snake. He was long enough that he could have likely curled around Lonna three times before running out of tail. 

Taking up the rear was a woman who looked, to Melissa, like an angel: a human torso and legs, blonde hair, a vapid smile on her face. She had swans wings stretching behind her back, twitching occasionally as if she were trying to fly. Despite that, her feet never left the ground.

“A feline Sapphi, a lamia, and a harpy.” Lonna listed them all off, in order, for Melissa’s sake. “What brings you three together?”

“Funny you should mention our roots, actually…” The cat laughed, and held a paw up to her mouth, just a moment too late to hide her disconcertingly fanged grin. “You see, we have a little bet going. About what you are.”

“Just tell us,” added the lamia, “and we’ll be glad to let you and your little heroine friend go on your way.”

“Uh-huh!” the harpy chirped next. “I think you’re a Chimera, by the way.”

“Nobody cares what you think, Harmony,” the Sapphi snapped, before turning with that predator's grin to Lonna. “I mean, I personally think you’re just a magic experiment gone wrong. That’s the real reason you’re always cloaked.” 

She stepped forward, reaching for the green fabric. “Come on. You can tell me. I’ll win two Crowns!”

Lonna moved to slap the hand away from herself, but Talith stepped forward before she could. Moving with shocking speed he pinched the Sapphi’s wrist between his three thick fingers and lifted her into the air, causing her to cry out in pain. He swung her by the wrist and threw her into her two friends, knocking all three of them down.

“Nobody talks that way about my sister.” Talith’s voice rumbled with anger, and the three figures trembled as they found their footing again.

“T-This isn’t over,” the Sapphi warned, holding her limp wrist, and wincing in pain. “I-If you dare step foot in Ife again, we’ll be there! I promise you that!”

Talith only scowled in response.  Harmony practically squeaked.

“Come on,” Lonna muttered, starting to skirt around her, now trembling, one time opponents. “These idiots aren’t worth wasting Breath on.”

Melissa stared, as Talith turned to follow Lonna past the group. She only hesitated for a second, though, before running to follow them both.

With this group, she thought, they just might make it through the gate.

***

Lonna was, to understate things, in a bad mood. The dawn was scant hours ago, but already the heroine had been made renegade, the city had turned against her, and three idiots decided to test her patience.

Word of the stooges fate must have taken wing, though, or else no one else in the city was the same flavor of foolish enough to face a magi, a laspi, and a mighty-seeming heroine all at the same time.

It didn't much matter. Lonna and company had made it to the gates with due haste. That should have put her in a good mood.

It didn’t.

Because standing in front of the gates were the two faces she wanted to see least: Maxwell and Eddison, the night guardsmen. 

“Isn’t it a bit early for you two?” Lonna asked, staring them down.

The two pummeled their shiny new breastplates with freshly gauntleted fists. Both parts of their new kit of wisely-forged iron. They even had new helms, though they hadn't closed their visors.

This was clearly Lonna's invitation to punch them right in their smug faces.

“Still want to set us on fire?” asked Edison.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Lonna replied, voice dry. “I mean. Think of all the extra funds it must have taken for them to get armor sized for a sprite.”

“Cut the horseshit,” snarled Maxwell. “We both know Magi are defenseless against iron! Your magic won’t work on us, like this.”

“Will it stop me from knocking your heads together like the rocks they're full of?” Talith asked, striding toward them. 

Lonna held out a hand to stop him. “You go work the winch for the gate," she ordered. "I’m in just a bad enough mood to deal with these two myself.”

“Are you sure?” Talith asked, voice dropping low. His eyes darted to Melissa, just now coming to a stop behind them, and still looking over the scene. “Your heroine doesn’t seem to like violence. It might be better to put it all on me.”

“She’ll see how I fight eventually, anyway,” Lonna muttered, glad that her dark cheeks wouldn’t show much red. “Just take care of the gate.”

Talith shrugged, and moved toward the wheel that would lift the iron gate. The soldiers in turn pointed their spears at him, preparing to attack the Laspi, but he paid them no mind as he began to turn the wheel.

“Melissa?” Lonna called. “Go on ahead.”

“Are you sure? They look like they’re about to stab Talith…”

“He can take it,” Lonna promised. “Body of clay - Lapsi are hard to kill. Just get through the gate.”

Now Edison had spun toward Melissa. His lack of experience was obvious; he clearly didn’t know which target to prioritize. 

Maxwell really was going toward Talith, though. At least until Lonna exhaled a plume of fire toward his back - heating the armor, and causing smoke to rise, likely from the padded gambeson sparking. If she kept up the fire too long, he’d burst into flames… 

But Lonna wasn’t cruel enough to do that, tempting as the thought was.
She only needed him to turn around.

The second Maxwell turned toward Lonna, Talith spun the wheel rapidly, moving the gate up far enough that all of them could duck under it. Then the Lapsi bent the wheel in on itself, securing it as they moved toward the gate.

“Come on!” Lonna urged, running toward the gate at full speed. She waited until Talith and Melissa were under, both of them ducking almost in half to get under it, before lowering her head to pass through herself. 

Then she blew a kiss toward the rope that burned neatly through it. 

A moment after she got through the gate crashed closed and Lonna grinned, showing her fangs. “That should buy us a few minutes. Now come, the stables are this way…”

Without hesitation, Lonna made her way toward the stables used by the gate guards. A young man stood guard in front of them - maybe fifteen at the oldest, with only the spear, maille, pauldrons, and brown cloth pants that were a guards' usual kit. Lonna gave him only a cursory glance before delivering her ultimatum.

“Be elsewhere. Go back to your family, if you’ve got one.”

The man hesitated, gripping his spear. Lonna could tell from the twitch in his eyes clear as windows that he didn’t want to hurt her.

She could also see Talith narrowing his eye sockets, though. He was half a second away from pulling back and fist and sending the boy to a medic.

Lonna grabbed hold of the spear shaft and muttered a spell under her Breath that ignited the dry wood.  The weapon splintered in two.

The boy squeaked in surprise and broke, running. Lonna, for her part, threw the blunt half of the splintered spear-shaft to Melissa. 

“Hold onto this,” she ordered. “It might come handy in a fight.”

“R-Right…” For some reason, Melissa looked pale and frightened; she really didn’t have a stomach for violence, it seemed like. 

If she was really the heroine she'd learn while keeping that gentleness. The road they were walking was going to be soaked in blood before it was done.

“I’ll saddle up two horses,” Lonna told the group, for now. “Talith, you set the others free, and look for a riding drake. Melissa… Please tell me you can ride?”

“My class trip went on a field trip to ride some horses in middle school?”

“I didn’t understand half those words, but good enough!” Lonna grinned. “Doing better than I expected at this point,” she said, sincerely.

Talith was already bringing out the horses. Most of them would be sent to roam the countryside, while Lonna and Melissa would take one each. For Talith, however, they’d need something bigger.

“Did they not have drakes in the stable?” Lonna asked, uncertain how to proceed. Talith could move fairly fast, but without a mount...

“It’s in the back,” Talith responded, stilling Lonna’s fears. “I’ll get it next.”

“Good. Be quick. Melissa - while he’s doing that, I need you to gather up all the equipment you can find. Riding crops, saddles, bridles, everything.”

Melissa, clearly confused but eager for something to do, began to prepare.

Lonna nodded in approval. “Once we get our own rides secured? We’ll burn the rest of their gear. That, plus the missing horses, will buy us some time without riders on our trail.”

Melissa nodded, throwing a saddle and some bridles on the ground before going back inside for more.

This time, however, she stopped, and took a hasty step back into the light. It didn’t take much to see why: Talith was walking one of the riding drakes out.

It was a huge beast, about a dozen feet long and half that across. It had thick muscles, covered by hard green scales. It’s feet had vicious black talons. Even its snout was covered in small spines.

Children were known to cry when they first saw a drake - but the beasts were quite gentle, and bred for size and strength only so that they could carry Laspi without effort or complaint.

“Don’t worry,” Lonna said, heart soaring. “With this girl on our side, and the guard’s gear burnt, there’s no way they can stop us. Mount Drogone - yon we go!”

Melissa shifted nervously on her horse, one arm across her midsection - beneath her breasts - and the other clutching desperately at the reins.
They’d left the city walls behind almost an hour ago, heading out and onto a forest road. They had been lucky enough not to pass anyone, yet, but Melissa was sure that their luck wouldn’t hold. There’d be witnesses; there’d be a trail. Melissa knew that, but she wasn’t sure what to do about it.

There was another, more pressing problem, though.

“Lonna?” Melissa called, nudging her horse forward.

Lonna had taken the lead in their flight, and was riding a horse the color of roasted chestnuts. Melissa’s own dun stallion was eager to get close, the horses whickering to each other as Melissa drew near.

“Lonna?” Melissa called, again.

“You’re going to fall off if you don’t hold on,” Lonna warned, yellow eyes flicking to Melissa, and then back to the road in front of her.

“Lonna. I need to talk to you.”

“If this is about what happened in town, then keep your mouth shut. I don’t want to talk about it.” Lonna’s lips twisted into a scowl as she spoke; she was still looking straight ahead, rather than at Melissa.

“No, it’s not that...  It’s…” A slow blush started to cross Melissa’s cheeks. “It’s just. Can we stop for a bit? Being on horseback without a bra is killing me, and also I really need to pee?”

Lonna’s head snapped around to face Melissa. 

“You… We’re being hunted, and you want to stop and pee? And what’s a bra, anyway?”

“Well, I usually go in the morning, and before bed, but with everything going on, I just…” Melissa trailed off, blushing bright red. “And uh. A bra is like. Something that cups your breasts, and stops them from bouncing all about?”

“You’ve been riding a horse without a breast band this entire time!?” Lonna demanded, voice rising in pitch. “We were galloping! Have you just - have you just been keeping your arm under your chest, the whole way!?”

“Maybe…” Melissa admitted. “My legs are pretty strong, now, so I just sort of gripped the horse with them? And it seems to have been working, but my arm is getting tired, and my chest is really sore, and… I do kinda have a bra on me?”

“...You…  I was under the impression that you didn’t have breasts in your last life?” Lonna asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well… I was sort of…” Melissa gestured awkwardly, with the hand holding the reins. “There was a laundry mix up? And I was holding it when you transferred me, so…” Reluctantly pulling her arm out from under her breasts, Melissa reached into the pocket of her sweatpants and pulled out a crumpled pink bra.

Lonna took one look at it, and then shook her head. “There’s no way that’s going to fit you…” she pointed out. “...But I guess a too tight breast band’s better than nothing, if we’re riding a horse.” Lonna brought her horse to the side of the road, stopping it there. Melissa did the same, and Talith - seeing this - pulled his riding drake to the other side, before dismounting and walking toward them.

“Why are we stopping?” Talith asked, his stone monobrow furrowing in worry as he looked about.

“The heroine needs to pee,” was Lonna’s dry response. “And put on a breast band.”

“Well, let’s be quick about it,” Talith sighed. “I’ll lead you into the forest, and you can take care of business.”

“Um… Actually… Can Lonna come with me?” Melissa asked, rubbing the back of her head nervously. “I. Kinda might need help putting on the bra?”

“And you want Lonna to do it?” Talith asked, arching his monobrow on one side. “You’d rather have a woman see you without your top then another man? Is this because I’m an androphile? Because trust me - you do not pique my interests.”

“What? No! I didn’t even know you liked guys. It’s just… Well… The hooks are kinda small?” Melissa explained, awkwardly. “Your fingers are kind of. Huge. And yeah, I sort of didn’t want to see a man looking at… You know...”

“The body of another man?” Talith suggested, monobrow still quirked.

“...Sorry. You can do it if you want?”

“I swear by every Majesty Tree there is, if you two keep wasting time on something this stupid I’ll roast the both of you,” Lonna declared, scowling. “Now someone help me off my horse? Apparently I need to 'support' the heroine.”

“...Fine.” Talith moved, even as he spoke, wrapping two hands and all six of his fingers around Lonna’s waist, before lifting her up and placing her delicately on the ground.

Melissa dismounted herself, stumbling a little when her feet hit the ground. Her inner thighs were sore from riding, even though it had barely been more than an hour. She was not looking forward to riding more.

“Come on,” Lonna called, gesturing for Melissa to follow her, off the road and into the woods.

Melissa followed, until they were deep enough into the treeline that they couldn’t face the road, and Lonna had come to a stop.

“I’m just going to face away from you,” Lonna declared, “so take care of your business, and let me know when you’re ready.”

Melissa nodded, a faint blush on her cheeks as she looked about the woods. She found a spot, quickly “taking care of business,” while trying not to think about how weird it was to be doing this as a girl. Then, after pulling her boxers and sweatpants back on, she stripped off her pink shirt.

Thanks to her new height, bigger muscles, and new breasts, the fabric felt practically painted to her skin. It was difficult to peel off, without ripping, and Lonna’s impatient toe tapping didn’t help anything. Eventually, however, she managed to pull it over her head.

Then came the bra. The cups were too small, and the band barely reached around her back, but she could just barely get the hooks to touch, but she couldn’t seem to maneuver them into position to clasp on.

“A little help?” Melissa called, turning so that her back was to Lonna.

“...What kind of heroine loses a battle against an elastic band?” Lonna demanded. 

A moment later, though, Melissa felt small hands press against her own, taking the clasps from her and slipping them into place. “There. Done. Now put your shirt back on, or you won’t even be able to enter the next town.”

Melissa nodded, pulling the shirt over her head, and forcing her arms through the too tight cloth. It took a few tugs, and she heard a few stitches popping, but the clothes did get over her.

It was even less comfortable than before, though.

“What am I going to do with you?” Lonna muttered, shaking her head.

“You could… try a little more respect, maybe?” Melissa suggested.

Lonna stopped, mouth opening and closing, before snapping shut. 

“What did you say?” she asked, teeth gritted together.

“I said you could treat me with more respect? You called me useless earlier; I’m not useless. I’m just sort of… I’m not used to this. But I’m not useless. I might not be able to punch as hard as Talith, or use magic like you. I don’t have anything you’d consider common sense, in this world, either.

“I’m probably not the heroine you wanted, either. Even if I do end up being able to defeat Sorissa, I know I can’t be the girl you wanted… I know that… but. I’m smart? I mean, I think I am - I got into a good college, anyway, and I’ve always gotten good grades.”

“College. Like where the big brainy types go and learn? You were in one of those?” Lonna asked. She sounded almost impressed.

“It’s more common for people to go in my world, but... Yeah. I majored in history, and minored in botany, with a focus on medieval herbalism. So far, a lot of the plants around here seem the same as my world - so if you ever need help foraging for edible berries, or medical herbs, I’m your girl.”

Melissa smiled, as she spoke. For some reason, Lonna’s cheeks darkened, though, and she turned her face away from Melissa. “I’ll keep it in mind. Plants are dangerous in this world, though - so don’t go checking any of them out without me, alright?”

“Okay? I promise,” Melissa agreed. “Are there a lot of poisonous plants around or something?”

“What? No. I mean how they sometimes turn into monsters and attack people,” Lonna explained. “Now come on. Talith’s probably wondering what’s taking us so long.”

With that, Lonna’s cloaked green figure began to move back toward the road. 

Melissa hesitated for a moment, before following, catching up right before they were on the road.

“The heroine’s going to need new clothes,” Lonna declared, the moment Talith was in earshot. “We’ll have to pick some up when we get to Koleff.”

“Koleff?” Talith asked, narrowing his eye sockets. “I thought we’d be going off road, not traveling to a major town.”

“Going off road would only slow us down,” Lonna declared, dismissively.

“And if the Queen has sent word to Koleff?” Talith demanded, crossing a pair of arms long enough to hang most of the way to the ground.

“I’ll look for a poster at the gate before bringing Melissa in,” Lonna promised. “But I happen to know that the countess of Koleff has long hated the queen, ever since Sorissa killed the Countess’s brother. Whenever Sorissa sends her a missive, she always drags her feet.”

“And how do you know that?” Talith asked, the slit of his mouth pulling downward into a frown.

“I know a girl,” Lonna said, waving the question away. “Look. There are four major roads from Koleff, and a seaport. It’s the perfect place for us to elude them.”

“What if they’re using magic to track us, though?” Melissa asked, a little concerned. “I mean. They managed to figure out what I look like? So maybe they have some sort of - do you guys know what ‘scrying’ is?”

“...Scrying?” Lonna shook her head. “What’s that?”

“Like. Looking people up in a magic mirror?”

“...That would be a nightmare, wouldn’t it?” Lonna laughed. “If Sorissa could do that, she would already have caught us by now, surely?”

“She does know what Melissa looks like, though,” Talith pointed out, concern rising in his voice.

“Okay, yeah, but we called her with an extremely powerful ritual spell. If she can do this ‘scrying,’ she probably just keyed in on that. Trust me - If Sorissa could do magic of that nature? There’s no way any of us would be walking free.”

***

Laying back on her bed, cradling a crystalline egg against her breast, Sorissa smiled at the three dimensional image held within: three figures, two horses, and a riding drake. 

Within the image, Lonna was currently being helped onto the horse by the brutish Laspi - the one who she insisted on treating like an equal, for some reason. What was his name?  Something with a T?

Lonna was shooing T’s hand away, now that she was situated, slipping her boots into the stirrups. She looked so much like a little girl, riding on that big horse, that Sorissa simply had to smile.

The smile turned into a frown, when the door to her bedroom was thrown open.

A redheaded woman was standing in the doorway, holding a sword and panting heavily. There was bright red blood splashed across the white tunic she wore, and her brown trousers held many dark stains.

Without waiting for Sorissa to speak, the woman lifted her sword arm, and pointed the blade straight toward Sorissa.

“You took my sister!” the woman accused; her eyes, which reflected the light like polished jade, were filled with anger and hatred. “You took Mona!”

“Mona?” Sorissa frowned, pretending to think for a moment. “I’m sorry, but if it’s been more than a week since I killed her, you really can’t expect me to remember her name. Did she have any defining features?”

The woman didn’t respond. She had lowered her sword, while Sorissa was talking, and was now staring at the maid standing by Sorissa’s bedside.

That maid, who wore a black skirt and red apron, was another redhead with green eyes. Her gaze, however, was lacking the fierce emotion present in her sister. Her eyes were glassy, and her smile was complacent. Even as the intruder stated at her, she simply stood stock still and awaited instructions.

“Mona...” The intruder ran toward the maid, shifting her sword from right hand to left so that she could grip her sister’s hand. “Mona,” the swordswoman repeated. “It’s me. It’s Daphne. It’s your sister. I came to rescue you, okay? I know you said not to, but I came anyway. I trained in the sword, and I fought against the Queen’s guards, and I. I came here for you, Mona. I came to rescue you.”

“The guards would have let you in, if you’d only waited. I happen to accept duels, when I’m not scheduled for relaxation.” Sorissa set the egg in its wrought iron stand, beside the bed, the picture turning pitch black as soon as she removed her hands from it.

“Why…” Daphne’s voice broke, here, her voice coming out shrill. “Why aren’t you looking at me?”

“Should you really be ignoring me?” Sorissa asked, standing up and walking toward the pair.

“Mona,” Daphne repeated, tears now streaming down her face. “Mona, please. I came here for you. Please.”

“She can hear you,” Sorissa  informed the woman. “She just doesn’t care anymore.”

“You’re lying…” Tears dripped down Daphne’s cheeks, yet her words were spoken with conviction. Eyes wide, she turned her gaze toward Sorissa. “Mona would never abandon me. I’m her sister, and we love each other. You might be powerful, but even you can’t defeat love.”

“...Love, hmm? Shall we put love's power to the test, then? 

"Mona - kill Daphne.”

Without hesitation, Mona drew a blade from beneath her apron, and slashed her sister’s throat.

For a moment, all was silent; all was still. Then, with a faint gurgling noise, Daphne fell to the floor, knees striking the red carpet, quickly followed by the rest of her.

Mona wiped the blade on her apron, and put it away, not showing a hint of sadness, or remorse, or…
Well, any emotion, really.

“Would you take care of that?” Sorissa gestured to the dead body. “Dump it out the window, or something. The gardeners will find a use for it, I’m sure.”

“Yes, my Queen.” Mona dropped into a perfect curtsy, fingers pinching her black skirts just so, and smiled brightly for Sorissa. Then, straightening, she turned toward her sister's corpse.

Sorissa frowned as she turned away from the gruesome reunion. She thought that, perhaps, she’d gone a little far in stripping Mona’s emotions.
It simply wasn’t as fun now that she couldn’t hear the girl protesting…

Perhaps she’d dispose of her, and acquire another girl, at some point. Start the whole process over again. That almost sounded amusing.

“Mona…” Sorissa started, only to stop as she felt a shiver of unfamiliar pain through her stomach. Looking down, she was surprised to see a red splotch had spread across the peach colored dress she’d chosen to wear today. 

The blade of a sword was sticking out of her gut.

“Mona,” Sorissa said, again, reaching down to touch the blade. With a whispered spell, the metal began to corrode and rust, until it was easy for her to snap off the protruding metal. Then, calmly stepping forward and off the blade, she turned to face her servant.

Mona was still smiling, but now tears were running down her face.  “I - I’m sorry, my Queen. I don’t know what’s gotten into me…”

“...Why don’t we find out together?” Sorissa suggested, a small smile on her lips. It seemed she wasn’t out of ways to play with her maid, after all. "Once you've taken care of the body, head to testing room three. I'll meet you there shortly. Understand?”

Mona nodded, misery written across her features, as she turned back to her sister’s corpse. Hefting it over her shoulder, the broken blade held loosely in one hand, Mona moved to toss both out the window.

Sorissa, meanwhile, turned her attention to the wound in her stomach. Or what had been a wound - while she was talking, it had already closed up. 

“...A shame,” she whispered to herself. She got hurt so rarely, and it had been nice to feel a different shade of pain....

Sighing softly, Sorissa waited until the maid had made her exit, before  turning back to the egg-shaped crystal. The moment she placed a finger on it, the image of Lonna and her friends once more lit up the void. They’d gotten back on the road, during that little tiff.

“Still playing the runaway princess, I see. Running as far away from me as your little legs can carry you… But you’ll be back soon. You, and that so-called heroine.

“I look forward to it, Lonna. After all - who better to plot my demise than my own daughter?”

A breeze blew through the trees, carrying with it the salty scent of the ocean. Melissa took a deep breath, hoping to enjoy the scent of the sea.

Melissa gagged, immediately.

“Something wrong?” Talith asked, moving his riding drake closer to Melissa. Talith, who had no nose, could only frown in concern. 

Melissa leaned down over her horse and fought desperately not to retch, despite having just inhaled the scent of rotten fish and raw sewage.

“...Breathe through your mouth,” Talith suggested, watching from astride his riding drake. “That’s what Lonna always does, when we’re in the city.”

“...Thanks…” Melissa straightened, wiping a little spittle from her lips. “Surprised you care.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Talith asked, monobrow dipping at the center as the Laspi furrowed his brow.

“Nothing. You just… haven’t been that welcoming, since I got here. I was starting to think you hated me, or something.”

Talith opened his mouth, to reply, and then paused. He turned toward the bushes, and a moment later Melissa heard why: a rustling sound.

Two dark hands shot out from the nearest bush, pushing aside the foliage to reveal a small, green cloaked figure. Lonna, returning from her mission.

“Where’s your horse?” asked Talith, first.

“Those bastards at the gate charged me an entry fee for it! I wasn’t paying twice, so I stabled the damn thing at the our inn, the Dancing Kraken.”

Talith grunted acknowledgement, then frowned. “Where’d you get the coin?”

“Easy. I stole your coin purse.” Saying this, Lonna casually reached into her cloak and pulled out a half empty bag. It was little more than a piece of burlap, tied together with some string, but the moment Talith saw it his hand shot down to his loincloth.

“Trees take you, Lonna! When did you grab that!?”

“When you were helping me onto my horse, earlier.” Lonna grinned. “We’ll be needing it to get inside; and to pay for the heroine’s shopping trip. A new riding corset is expensive, you know.”

Talith scowled, in response. “It looks light. Couldn’t you have at least filled it, while you were out? And why are we paying for Melissa’s clothes, anyway? Isn’t it about time Mister Heroine pulled his own damn weight?”

“She doesn’t have money…” Melissa interjected, scratching at the back of her head. “...I just think we should keep in practice using she and her, so we don’t mess up? Also, she isn’t comfortable with stealing.”

“You were comfortable enough with stealing that horse,” Lonna pointed out, lifting an eyebrow.

“That was different,” Melissa protested, blushing faintly. “We were in clear and present danger, and we only stole from a government that was trying to kill us, anyway.”

“Well, everyone’s in a clear and present danger with Sorissa about,” Lonna pointed out. “And I only steal from rich people, who - trust me - can afford it, anyway.”

“...Even if that’s all true, I’m supposed to be the Heroine, aren’t I? So shouldn’t I be standing up for some sort of moral code? How can I just steal, knowing that it’s wrong, and that it’s only for my own benefit, anyway?”

“It’s for everyone’s benefit that Sorissa be killed!” Lonna protested, her voice raising an octave from frustration.

“Then give them a choice,” Melissa countered. “We can tell the shopkeep I’m the heroine, and let her choose whether to outfit me or…” 

“Or turn you in?” Lonna asked, raising an eyebrow. “No way. I’ll spend every copper cap Talith has before I put you in danger like that.”

“Hey!” Talith complained, maneuvering his riding drake between Lonna and Melissa. “That’s enough useless arguing. Melissa, if you want to avoid Lonna stealing, then come up with another way. Lonna, if you want to go steal anything, go steal the toll money - then it’ll be stealing from the government again, and Melissa should be fine with it. Right, Melissa?”

“...That’s not really the point I was trying to make, but I guess it’s better… What if I traded in my current clothes, for a new outfit? I bet you guys don’t have anything like sweatpants in this world - you probably don’t even have elastic waistbands. Maybe that means it’ll sell well?”

Lonna frowned. “I guess that could sell for a little, as a novelty. If it doesn’t work, though, I’m definitely robbing the gate’s coin box.  In fact, I might rob it on the way out anyway. Teach them a lesson about charging me for my horse!”

Talith simply sighed, and got off his drake. Picking Lonna up in his clay hands, he deposited her on top of the riding drake, before getting up behind her.

“We can discuss it after we settle in at the inn, tonight,” Talith said, lightly tapping the side of his steed with one foot. “For now, we should focus on getting into the city.”

“I’m telling you,” Lonna promised. “It’ll be a piece of cake. They didn’t have her warning poster anywhere in sight!”

Despite nodding, Melissa couldn’t help the knot in her stomach, as she rode out of the forest and toward the city.

***

After an hour of waiting in line, Melissa underwent only a brief examination at the city gates, in which her image was compared to the various wanted posters on the wall. After that, Melissa was charged a silver helm for herself, and two copper caps for her horse, before the guards allowed her to enter the city.

“I got an inkling of this from the intact wall,” Melissa began, “but… This place looks a lot better than Ife did.”

The buildings were largely clean, and many were painted. People lined the streets, walking between shops and window-shopping. The buildings even had colorful signs. Most of these were adorned with pictures and words, but a few had only pictures. Melissa didn’t see any with words alone.

The only thing this place had in common with the city of Ife was a stench: here, the rotten smell of fish and the taste of salt in the air, combined with the unfiltered scent of unwashed masses to create a nigh-physical force that pummeled Melissa's nostrils. She had to constantly remind herself to breathe through her mouth, and even then she could still catch an occasional whiff of it.

A major part of that stench was beneath their feet, even now: a channel had been dug into the middle of the street, with a steel grate over it. Similar channels were on every street they passed. A sewer system, of sorts? What wasn’t collected by tanners, for leather, or farmers for fertilizer probably ended up in the ocean.

Lonna didn’t seem to be affected by the stench - her eyes weren’t watering from it, like Melissa’s were. They instead studied each building they passed.

Eventually, Lonna stopped and pointed to a sign, one with a white pair of pants. There were characters underneath the sign, though Melissa had no idea what they said.

“The White Trousers,” Lonna declared, as if predicting Melissa’s question.

“Sounds expensive,” Talith complained. “And you still haven’t given me back my coin purse.”

“A place like this is more likely to pay for new materials, and clothing designs,” Lonna insisted. “We’ll have a better chance of trading clothes for crowns here than anywhere else I’ve seen.”

“...if you put it that way…” Talith sighed.

“I do,” Lonna promised, slipping down from her the drake. Before Talith could do the same, Lonna tossed his coin purse up to him.

“Use that to stable our mounts, would you? Melissa and I can handle the rest of this on our own.”

Talith fumbled with the bag of coins, having to use both of his hands to get a solid grip on the small sack. By the time he had gotten the bag secure, Lonna had already darted down the street, through the crowd, and into The White Trousers. 

Talith stared at the space she had been for a moment, and then turned to glower at Melissa, who flinched back on her horse.

“What are you waiting for?” Talith grumbled, after a moment of glaring. “Get off your horse, and go after her. There’s no telling what sort of trouble she’ll get into on her own.”

“...R-Right…” Melissa looped a bit of hair nervously between her fingers, tugging lightly to draw it taut. It still felt a little weird, having hair so long; only when she was trying to tug it, though. Honestly, the weight had grown to feel surprisingly natural. 

“I… Um…” Talith was still glaring at Melissa, who had yet to dismount her horse. “Is she always like this?”

“...Like what?” Talith asked, arching his monobrow.

“Like. A twister on two legs? I mean, I guess I should have figured, when she - you know, recruited me, but… Is she always like this?”

Talith shrugged, heavy stone joints rising,and then falling, with a heavy sigh. “You get used to it.”

“You… do?” Melissa asked, finally moving to get off her horse.

“Or die. But isn’t it that way with everything, though?”

“...Maybe?” 

Melissa sighed, feet finally hitting solid ground. She passed her reins to Talith, with a small smile, and then glanced back at the shop. “I hope I get used to her.”

“Good luck with that. Better men then you have tried.” Talith nudged his riding drake forward, moving through the crowd with Melissa’s horse in tow.

Melissa hesitated for a moment, and then moved toward the shop.

Pushing the white painted door open, she was relieved to see nothing was on fire. Lonna was standing patiently by the wall, near the entrance. 

When Melissa entered, Lonna turned to her with a bright grin. “Took you long enough. I could have robbed this place and been a whole building over by now. Didn’t Talith tell you to keep an eye on me?”

“I think if you wanted to do any of that, me being here wouldn’t stop you,” Melissa replied, looking about the shop. It was entirely unlike the clothing stores back home - there were no rows of uniform clothes, folded together or held on hangers. Instead, there were about eight different mannequins, each in a different style of dress, with the main part of the shop’s space being devoted to bolts of fabric. Probably to give customers options for what their outfit would be made of.

The shopkeep, currently slithering toward them, was a lamia. Much like the one who had accosted them in the streets of Ife, her snake half was covered in green scales. Her upper half, however, was that of a blonde woman. Despite the small smile on her face, her yellow eyes held no warmth.

“Can I help you?” she asked, stopping a few feet in front of Lonna. The way her eyes looked over Lonna’s dirty, tattered green cloak, before sweeping over Melissa’s obviously ill-fitted outfit, seemed to say that she thought they were beyond helping.

“We’re looking for some new clothing,” Lonna declared, speaking before Melissa had the chance to. “A riding corset, a few nice blouses, and a good pair of trousers. I missing anything, Melissa?”

“Um… New boots would be nice…?”

“You’ll need a cobbler for the boots,” the shopkeep declared, with a small smile. “But I can certainly manage the outfit - assuming you can pay up front? From what you’ve said, we’re looking at a minimum of three crowns.”

“How about you give us three crowns, and the outfit, free of charge,” Lonna suggested, a grin spreading across her face. “And in return, we give you something the Countess of Koleff herself would be thrilled to wear - tell me, have you ever heard of ‘sweatpants’?”

“Sweatpants?” The woman frowned, curious now. “No, I can’t say I ever have - but if it’s those gray slacks your friend is wearing, I can’t say that I’m very…” The woman, having reached out to pluck at Melissa’s sweats, paused to rub the cloth between her forefinger and thumb. Tugging it, lightly, and watching it snap back, she let out a little “Hmmm” of fascination, before walking around Melissa. “The rest of your outfit seems useless; the shirt looks like it’s about ready to burst at the seams, and is stained besides. The shoes might get some vague interest from a cobbler, though… I suppose I could take them off your hands, along with the sweatpants, as a package deal - and in return, give you three golden crowns… worth of clothes, that is.”

“Uh-huh. Throw in two golden crowns worth of actual money, and I’ll consider it.:” 

Lonna was grinning, now. 

The shopkeeper, however, put a hand on her chest, and started opening and closing her mouth as if trying to catch a fly in it. 

“Are you trying to rob me, madames?” she asked, glancing between Lonna and Melissa. “I have a daughter to feed. I’ll give you a helm, for your time, and the clothes you asked for; no more.”

“Have I mentioned the elastic waistband?” Lonna asked, despite never having heard the term before.

“Elastic…?” the lamia frowned, but reached out a hand to pluck at Melissa’s waistband. When she realized how it stretched out, and snapped back, she let out a little squeal of delight - then coughed, and tried to cover her faux pas.

“Hm… Hmmm…., It’s not really worth much, though, is it? I mean, perhaps we can sell it as a one off to some rich customer - after washing it thoroughly, of course - but it’s not as if we can reproduce this fabric… Wherever did you get it, in any case?”

“From outside Resperan,” Lonna said, interceding before Melissa could even think up an excuse. “There’s a small town, on the northern coast of Auroris. They produce this stuff using a strange mix of plants and magic. It’s traveled a long way, just to come to your shop - the one and only shop in Resperan that can be said to have this…”

“Oh, very well…” the lamia sighed, unable to hide a glimmer of greed in her eyes. “Three blouses, a riding corset, a pair of trousers - and one crown. It’s really the best I can do, right now…”

“Two crowns, and a letter of recommendation to a good cobbler,” countered Lonna, an easy smile on her lips. She was obviously at home here.

“Maybe I should go look at the clothes a bit?” Melissa suggested. “Pick out some fabric I like for the blouses while you two argue it out?”

“Oh, do whatever you like, my dear,” the lamia offered with a smile. “Be sure to check out the blue cloth we keep toward the back of the shop.”

“Oh, so that you can eat into my profits by saying we picked out too expensive a fabric? I’m onto your tricks,” Lonna accused, with a glare. “Melissa, check out whatever you want, but do not even think about that blue cloth.”

“I don’t think blue’s really my color, anyway, but sure,” Melissa promised, moving further into the shop, amid the bolts of cloth, until she was in fact at the back of the shop. Melissa wasn’t here to look at the cloth, though; she’d just wanted to get away from Lonna’s haggling, before any more guilt-inducing lies came to the fore.

Despite that… since she was there, she saw no point in not looking about. The blue fabric that the shopkeep had mentioned was in fact there, a small bolt of shimmering fabric that probably cost a fortune to make anything out of. There was also a red bolt, and even a pink one. What caught Melissa’s eye, however, was not a bolt of cloth at all, but a carved wooden mannequin which had been laid against the corner.

It was wearing a green dress.

The design was simple, bordering on basic. It was nothing more than a tube of green fabric, cinched at the waist, with a low v-cut neckline.

Yet, still, Melissa found herself staring at it.

“I can sell you that one cheap, if you want,” came a voice, and Melissa spun to find a miniaturized version of the shopkeeper, standing behind her.

Or. No. She wasn’t just smaller - she was younger, looking to be in her early twenties, and her face was subtly different: a little rounder in the cheek bones, and a little softer around the eyes, and definitively more chubby around the stomach. Perhaps the shopkeeper's daughter?

“It’s ripped,” the girl continued, gesturing to a tiny tear at the hem. “Mom says that we can’t display anything with a rip, so I’m supposed to cut it up after making a new one… but I think that’s just too sad a fate for it. Don’t you?”

“I… Guess. I mean. It’s pretty - and the tear’s really small…”

“Right? You get it, right? Mom says dresses don’t feel, and maybe she’s right, but I just think it’s too cruel. Dresses are made to be worn! They carry their maker’s will inside them! And I made that dress, so let me tell you now - it wants to be worn. By you.

“Why don’t you try it on?” the girl asked, gesturing to a small curtained off area, in the corner of the store. “Try it on, and I bet you’ll never want to take it off again.”

“I...I don’t think I should,” Melissa muttered, glancing back toward the front of the store. Melissa and the shopkeep were still arguing, from the sound of it. “I might mess up my friend’s bargaining, if I end up wanting more clothes…”

“It’s cheap,” the girl promised. “Won’t cost more than a helm. Just try it on - try it on, and if you don’t like it, you don’t have to buy it.”

Melissa hesitated a moment, glancing toward the little covered off area. She didn’t want to disappoint the girl, but honestly - should she really be putting on a dress? She was a guy, really, after all. She was trying to get back to being a guy, too. Should she really be playing dress up?

“Did I mention we have a mirror? You can see how pretty you look in it, for yourself, before making any decisions.”

“A mirror…?” Melissa murmured. She hadn’t seen a mirror, since coming here, actually. 

“...Alright. I’ll do it.” If only to see what she looked like in a mirror.

The lamia grinned, in response, quickly tugging the dress off its mannequin, and shoving it at Melissa.

Melissa stared for a moment at the fabric, at the dress she’d just agreed to put on, and then walked into the changing area. The curtains closed behind her, offering some small bit of privacy.

A mirror stood in front of Melissa. It was the first reflective surface she’d come across since coming here, and part of Melissa wanted to look into it immediately.

Another part of her desperately wanted not to, though. She knew what she’d see after all: a man, in too tight clothing.

Oh, she’d probably look like a woman on the outside, thanks to the spell, but… There was no escaping what was going on inside, was there?

Melissa decided not to look into the mirror, just yet. Instead, she stripped herself of her too tight pink shirt, and her too small but suddenly valuable shoes and sweats. She left herself in her too tight bra, and boxers, not having anything else to wear.

Then she slipped on the dress.

The fabric was surprisingly soft, and cool to the touch. The dress itself was actually a surprisingly good fit, despite her large frame. A little tight, but not so much she was popping out of it. She thought it settled nicely on her.

Of course, with the dress going on so smoothly, there was no longer anything to keep Melissa from what she dreaded most. In fact, she had more reason than ever to look into the mirror. 

She didn’t want to.

She had to.

Taking a deep breath, Melissa closed her eyes, and turned toward her reflection. Then, slowly, she cracked open her eyelids to get her first peek at her new form.

A woman stared back at her. Muscular, tall, but undeniably feminine, with round cheeks and soft brown eyes; wearing a green dress that hugged her figure, with tight green sleeves that did nothing to hide her musculature. 

Staring at her reflection, Melissa didn’t see one hint of the man she’d always assumed herself to be.

Unsure how to process this, unsure what to make of this, Melissa took one step back, and then a second, before turning and fleeing from both the curtained area, and the lamia who’d cajoled her into entering it.

“Lonna!?” she called, heading back to the front of the store. “Lonna, we need to get out of here. Make whatever deal, or grab whatever coin purse you want, we just have to get out of… here…”

Standing at the front of the store were three heavily armored men, each of them wearing a sword at their side. Emblazoned on the front of their maille was what looked to be a silver squid, on a blue field - azure, a kraken argent.

One of the guards had taken Lonna by the arms, and was forcefully holding her still, while she glowered.

The other two were advancing toward Melissa. 

“Don’t resist,” suggested the one still holding Lonna. “We have orders to bring you in alive, but we’ll still hurt you if you resist.”

“Lonna?” Melissa called, nervously, as one of the guards took her by the wrists.

“Just do what they say,” Lonna said, her whispered voice holding barely contained rage. “They’ve already got Talith, or I’d have burned them to the ground already.”

“Hmph. You’d be welcome to try,” said the guard holding Lonna, with a small smile. “But never fear: we mean you no harm, your Highness. In fact, you can consider this a formal invitation: the Countess of Koleff wishes to see the Princess Lonna.”

Melissa’s head twisted about to Lonna, her mouth opening and closing. She had so much she wanted to say, and there was so much she didn’t understand, but one thing obviously demanded more attention than the rest.

“Lonna… Why did he call you a princess?”

Author's note: This update catches bigcloset up with the other sites I've updated this story on. <3 Three chapters feels like a lot to update as one, but I really think chapter 11 should be read following chapter 10 - and I don't want to flood the community with my series, so. Hope this works!

Chapter 9

Hood thrown back to show her face, dark skin and red hair on proud display, Lonna stomped her way out of the clothing shop and into the streets.

Behind her walked a confused Melissa driven forward by three armed men and one brown furred rabbit Sapphi, who’d apparently been keeping watch out front. The silver krakens on blue indicated their fealty to the countess of Koleff. That, combined with the quality of their plate, said they probably served the countess’s manor directly rather than the city as a whole. It was likely they had each had detailed pedigrees, dating back through generations of service - and knights sworn to them, who they'd bring to Koleff's defense in war.

Their blood would run red as any others’, though, if anyone dared touch so much as a clod of Talith’s clay.

“Lonna?” Melissa called out to her, voice hesitant, eyes wide. “Why did he call you a princess?” The same question Melissa had asked in the store. 

As before, Lonna chose to ignore it.

The people around her were less inclined to do so. Already, Lonna could hear the whispers spreading through the populace. Snippets of conversation, including “Princess Lonna?” and “The runaway?” 

It made her grind her teeth near to dust.

At least they were all smart enough to get out of her way. In fact, they were all but rushing to clear the streets, pressing themselves up against the store fronts so that Lonna could stomp forward.

Mere seconds after Lonna passed by an area, the cityfolk would slam into the space she’d occupied, and begin to whisper among themselves. As such, Melissa and the guards had little choice but to follow closely in Lonna’s wake.

Not that Lonna actually knew where she was going. She’d never actually visited the countess’s manor, as a princess - or if she had, she must have been too young to remember it. Sorissa had marched her out of the castle, occasionally, if only for carefully curated events. 

The rest of the time she’d been kept behind walls, so that she wouldn’t learn of Sorissa’s villainy.

Not that she could tell Melissa that. It wasn’t as if Melissa would understand, or even care. All she’d hear was that Lonna was Sorissa’s daughter. That she was Sorissa’s heir. Just like everyone else did.

There were only three people who’d ever accepted her for herself: her dead mother, her captive brother, and…

Well, Vellos was probably fine, but still.

“Lonna?” Melissa repeated, yet again. “Please. I can’t understand if you don’t talk to me.”

“There’s nothing to understand,” Lonna replied, finally turning to glare at Melissa. For some reason, Melissa’s tall and muscular visage looked blurry to Lonna. She blinked her eyes, a few times, and things seemed to clear. 

“There’s nothing to understand,” Lonna repeated. “I’m the princess. The queen’s daughter. The rightful heir. It’s just like you heard. I’m the runaway princess! The tree-forsaken daughter of a dragon and the tyrant queen, the epitome of all that is wicked and rotten in this world! Everything you, the heroine, are meant to destroy - all right here, in one tiny little package! Maybe after you take on Sorissa, you can have me for your damn dessert!”

Lonna wasn’t sure when her feet had started moving. She only knew that she was now standing directly in front of Melissa, glaring up at the heroine. Her vision was blurry again, for some reason, and her cheeks were wet.

“Lonna… You’re crying?”

Lonna looked up at the heroine, mouth opening and closing, unable to respond with grace. After a moment, she snapped her jaw shut, wiped the tears from her eyes, and turned to glare at the guards. 

“Well!? You were ordered to take me to the countess, weren’t you? Do so!”

The four guards exchanged glances. Only one stepped forward; the lapine Sapphi. She bowed her head to Lonna, briefly, and led the way forward.

Lonna followed, a silent Melissa in tow.

***

Melissa stood, shifting nervously from foot to foot, in front of a large desk.

On the desk was a small, polished, wooden box, a sheaf of papers, a writing quill, and an inkwell.

Sitting behind the desk was a woman.  Her short blonde hair was cut right at the nape of her neck; she had deep green eyes. A sword, hilted with a large squid with tentacles for quillons, was sheathed and belted to her waist. Her eyes shifted continuously between Lonna and Melissa, studying them with the intensity of a bird of prey eyeing its dinner.

Lonna, meanwhile, was staring not at the sitting countess, but at the brunette maid standing behind her. Melissa wasn’t sure if it was some sort of power play, or what, but the maid was clearly nervous from the attention. She kept fidgeting and the smile on her face was under growing strain.

“If you have something to say to my maid,” the countess declared at last, “perhaps you’d like to discuss it aloud? That way we can all be privy to the conversation.” The woman smiled sweetly as she spoke, but her gaze was hard.

“I have nothing to say to her,” Lonna replied, finally shifting her gaze to the noblewoman before her. 

There was a squeak from the maid, at that, which caused the countess to lift an eyebrow. “I admit that when Tabitha said she knew the runaway princess, I had my doubts. And when she insisted you’d definitely be the one accompanying our 'heroine…' Well. I’m ashamed to say I might have questioned her sanity.” 

The countess chuckled, faintly, to herself. “I’ll have to make it up to her, later.”

“I’m sure you will.” Lonna scowled as she spoke, her gaze still almost boring a hole through Tabitha.

“Of course, I assume you do have proof that you’re the true princess?” The countess lifted an eyebrow as she spoke.

“Why should I prove anything to you?” Lonna demanded, turning her glower to the countess. “I’m not doing a tree-forsaken thing until I know my brother is safe.”

“Your brother. The Lapsi, you mean?” The countess frowned for a moment, then shook her head. “He is well and good, I assure you; you will be free to join him shortly. But first, I really must insist that you prove yourself to me.

“Otherwise, I fear I will have no choice but to dispose of the seditious heroine, and the imposter princess. I will promise not to hurt the Lapsi, though, if it’ll make you more cooperative. He’s of no use or worth to me, regardless.”

Lonna glared at the countess for a moment longer. Then, slowly, she reached a hand up to her head, and undid the twine from one of her hair buns.

Beneath the frizzy red hair was a small horn - a small, brown protrusion, smooth at the base but broken and jagged at the tip.

“Satisfied?” Lonna snapped, quickly tying her hair back into a bun.

“...A dragon’s antlers are usually gold. Yet yours are as dark as a dryad’s tree. You truly are the child of those monsters, aren’t you?” The countess smiled as she spoke, but it didn't reach her stony green eyes, and her voice was cold enough to send chills down Melissa’s spine. 

Which made it all the more shocking when the countess stood, and bowed stiffly to the waist.

“I am Liliath, the countess of Koleff. Loyal servant to the queendom of Resperan.” Straightening with those words, she turned her cold gaze to Melissa. “Now tell me: what in the world are you doing with the heroine?”

“...Sorissa always told me, as a child, that she’d be with me until the heroine herself took her away from me. So I summoned the heroine to do just that.” Lonna jutted her chin out as she spoke, as if daring the countess to speak against her.

Liliath smiled in response, eyes still lingering on Melissa even as she spoke to Lonna. “A loyal subject would bring you to your mother and have your royal behind spanked for such comments about our queen. After seeing to the heroine’s death, that is.”

Melissa swallowed, hard.

Lonna glared at the countess. “Are you a loyal subject, then?”

“I am loyal to the queendom of Resperan,” Liliath responded, smoothly. “Long has it stood, and long may it stand yet.”

“And the queen who rules Resperan?” Lonna pressed, placing her hands on the desk and leaning forward.

Liliath glanced at the small hands on her desk, and smiled faintly. “The queen’s word is meant to represent the queendom.”

“You know it doesn’t…” Lonna snarled back. “Unless you think it was the will of the kingdom for your brother to die?”

Liliath’s hand darted to her sword, a clear threat. Smoke was curling from Lonna’s lips.

“May I say something?” Melissa asked, voice soft, and a little scared, but trying to keep firm.

“No.” Lonna’s eyes snapped to Melissa with that word.

The countess, however, took a step back from the desk and removed her hand from her sword. 

“Speak,” Liliath commanded. “I would hear what the heroine has to say before condemning her to death.”

“...I’m no heroine…” Melissa said, voice quiet. She kept her eyes on the table, not looking at either woman, but she could imagine their reactions: Liliath, eyes wide, staring. Lonna, glaring with all her might. 

“I’m really not the heroine,” Melissa repeated. “I’m not… I’m not even really a girl. My real name’s... I mean… I was born male, and. I just…” 

Melissa sighed.

“I got summoned into this world, in this body. So. I went along with it? I asked everyone to call me Melissa, made them all use she and her pronouns. Played at the idea that I could actually rescue people… But I’m not the heroine.

“I’m not even a girl. I’m just… I’m just a guy, trying to get home. I’m only even trying to defeat Sorissa, so I can use her library to find a spell that’ll take me back. And give me my proper body.

“I just…” Taking a deep breath, Melissa finally lifted her eyes to meet Liliath’s steely gaze. “I’m just a guy. Not the heroine.”

“Why would you reveal this to me?” Liliath asked, voice soft, gaze hard.

“Because if I’m honest about this… Maybe you’ll believe I’m being honest about something else: That from what I’ve seen, the queen isn’t representing this land at all. From what I’ve seen, the queendom would be better off without her. From what I’ve seen… I think you all could do better.”

“I see…” Liliath murmured, a dark chuckle rising from her throat. “Tell me, my self-proclaimed good man. What does it feel like, being in that body? Compared to your old one, I mean.”

“It’s… Lighter?” Melissa offered, blinking in confusion. “I mean, I’m a lot stronger, so. Everything feels… lighter. And smoother. And soft, and nice? Like… Like it’s… I don’t know. Like it’s right. Even though it isn’t.”

“I see,” the countess repeated, a small smile on her features. “Guards!”

The moment she called, the door opened, revealing the rabbit Sapphi that had guarded them earlier.

The countess smiled, sweetly. “Please, take the heroine to her guest chambers. And get her properly dressed.

“We’ll be dining together, tonight. Tell me, Melissa. Have you ever had goose?”

“I… I don’t think so…” Melissa admitted, a little confused.

“Then let tonight be the first time. Now, if you’d please go with my bannerlords? I have a few things to discuss with my Princess.”

Melissa shot Lonna a look, but her companion’s eyes were only for the countess.

After a moment of uncertainty, Melissa nodded her head, and then headed out with the Sapphi guard.

***

Lonna stared into the countess’s eyes, full of resentment. Resentment over Talith. Resentment over Melissa’s refusal to accept the role of heroine.

Resentment that the tree-forsaken countess was still standing, too. Lonna’s neck was aching and stiff, raised towards a woman who towered over her. Not that she ever let that stop her when it came to Melissa or Talith. She’d let the trees take her before she let go of a staring match against someone only a hand and two fingers taller than she was!

“You seem to be taking this as a personal grudge…” Liliath murmured, shaking her head, breaking eye contact. She dropped back down in her chair.

“Tabitha. Bring Lonna a chair, would you?”

Tabitha bowed, and scurried out of the room, leaving the two women staring at each other once more.

Once again, it was the countess who broke the silence.

“If the queen of Resperan falls, the queendom will fall into the same chaos as the rest of Auroris. What are your plans to prevent that?”

“E-Excuse me?” Lonna demanded, taken aback by the sudden line of questioning. “I… The people will-”

“Without a proper line of succession, the queendom will fall to infighting among nobles. From there, it’s only a matter of time before the outlaws outside our border try and worm their way in for a slice of the apple.

“Sorissa has made the border towns dependent on the warm bodies she provides - loyal to her, and no one else. They keep the chaos at bay for her alone.  Who will they listen to when Sorissa is gone? Who can keep them untied?”

“I… I don’t know…” Lonna whispered, finally looking away from the countess. “I don’t know.”

“Even Sorissa is better than chaos,” Liliath declared, her voice flat and hard as steel. “But there is a third option.”

“A… What?” Lonna asked, attention now raptly focused on the countess.

“Despite being known as the runaway princess, you are still Sorissa’s one and only heir. The only child born of a handfasting between the dragon and the false queen.”

“The dragon princess had no more right to rule than Sorissa, though,” Lonna pointed out.

“Does any queen? Sorissa founded her rule on Arasitelle’s right to all of Auroris. It was Arasitelle who officially annexed Resperan, and gave it to Sorissa, for all that she had already conquered it herself.

“You are their child. You are their heir. A decision Sorissa has not, to this day, undone. Every house that is pledged to Sorissa will lawfully and rightfully pass to you.  By laws Sorissa legislated. 

“Which means those who respect her law will in turn respect your claim.  Not that you won’t have to work to keep it, of course - we’ll have a lot of work ahead of us, even after Sorissa’s gone, if we want to keep ahead of things.”

“But…” Lonna felt like she’d dunked her head into a stream and came up dry. Nothing was making sense. “The people. The people will never accept me! Not after everything Sorissa’s done!”

“No?” Liliath chuckled. "But they will accept the heroine." 

Lonna’s eyes widened in shock. “The… The heroine?”

"The one who deposed Sorissa. If she were to wed you, and the two of you ruled together as Queen and Princess-Consort, then the people and the nobles both would bend a knee.”

“Melissa would never agree to that,” Lonna protested. “She wants to go back home. She doesn’t even believe she’s the heroine. She…” 

Lonna sighed, looking down at the floor. “She isn’t even a girl.”

“Yet you still call her one in your head, do you not?” Liliath asked.

“She just asked me to use she and her, so…” Lonna frowned, uncertain. “I mean, you can be one thing and call yourself another, I do that all the time, so…”

“...As you say, dear.”

Liliath was still smirking when the door opened, and Tabith came in carrying a cushioned chair. She deposited it quickly behind Lonna, and attempted to scurry back to her position behind Liliath, only for Liliath to raise her hand.

“Take Lonna to her bedroom, would you dear? Her brother is waiting there. I’m sure they’ll want to be reunited, while I have my dinner with Melissa.”

“...Yes, my Countess,” Tabitha said, tugging her skirts up. “If you’ll follow me please.” 

Without so much as meeting Lonna’s gaze, she walked toward the hallway.

Lonna spared the countess a frown, but quickly followed after Tabitha, catching up just in time to catch her as she turned down a hallway.

“What are you trying to do?” Lonna complained. “Get me lost in here?”

“I’m sure it wouldn’t be a problem if you got lost, Princess,” Tabitha responded, her voice pitched low enough that no maids they passed might hear them. “You’d simply have to find another servant to guide you.”

“Well, maybe I don’t want another servant to guide me,” Lonna declared, picking up her pace to try and keep up with Tabitha’s longer stride. “Maybe I want to have a little conversation with this maid.”

“And what conversation would that be?” Tabitha asked, voice dripping with all the sweetness of poisoned honey.

“Oh, you know. About how the guards knew I’d be with the heroine? Because it’s funny - back in Ife, Melissa’s poster didn't mention me.”
Lonna picked up her pace until she was side by side with the maid. "You’re the only outsider I told about my plans to, Tabitha. The only one I kept in contact with after leaving for Ife.”

“I…” Tabitha’s footsteps faltered, though only for a moment. “Fine, it was me. Is that what you wish to hear? The countess has been… The countess has been very kind to me, offering me a job here despite my inexperience... and I saw a chance to prove myself.”

“You saw a chance to prove yourself?” Lonna’s voice broke a little, mid sentence, drawing the gaze of an errant blonde maid as Lonna and Tabitha walked through the hallway. “After everything we went through? I thought we had something-”

“Shhhhhhhh!” whispered Tabitha, desperately, gesturing with her hands for Lonna to lower her voice. “You know how maids talk…”

“...Are you ashamed of me?” Lonna demanded.

Tabitha came to a dead stop, before turning around with a quizzical expression on her face. 

“Well. Yes. I thought that was obvious. I mean, Lonna - you’re the runaway dragon princess. Who wouldn’t be ashamed of having slept with you?”

Lonna stared into Tabitha’s eyes for a long moment.

Everything made sense again. Everything was exactly the way she’d always expected it to be.

“...Your room’s here,” Tabitha said, pushing the door open.

Lonna nodded, without a word, and walked right in.

Chapter 10

Melissa walked behind her guard in silence, largely staring at the ground as the dark furred rabbit guided her down a series of hallways. The guard, who looked menacing with a spear in their hands, eventually came to a stop in front of an unadorned wooden door. It was when the guard reached for the doorknob that Melissa noticed something that had escaped notice thus far.

“You have thumbs.”

The rabbit glanced back at Melissa, and tilted their head to the side. “Why wouldn’t I have thumbs?”

Despite the lupine looks, the rabbit’s voice came out as smoothly as any human’s, and with a definitively feminine ring.

“Are you… A girl?”

The rabbit gave a small nod. “Yup yup. I’m Joanie. Nice to meet you, heroine.”

“It’s… Melissa. Actually.” Melissa rubbed the back of her head as she spoke, but Joanie only gestured to the open door.

“You’re supposed to wait in there, Miss Melissa.”

“Until dinner?” Melissa asked, voice trembling from nerves. “By myself? Why are they separating me from my friends?”

“Wouldn’t know. Guess the countess has taken a special interest in you.” Joanie shrugged as she spoke, then gestured toward the doorway again.

“The room won’t eat you, or anything,” Joanie promised. “Bed looks pretty comfortable.”

“Will you… be guarding the door?” Melissa asked. She had the vague thought that maybe she could go looking for Lonna and Talith.

That was dashed when Joanie nodded her head. “I’ll keep you safe, yup yup. Me and Lucinda.” She thumped the butt of her spear as she spoke, drawing Melissa’s attention back to the weapon.

“Is your weapon… Named Lucinda?” Melissa asked, a little taken aback. “Is it a sentient weapon, or something?”

“...Nope nope. Just a six foot redwood shaft and an iron point. You’ll find fifty like her in the armory - none half as pretty.” 

So far, it had been difficult to read Joanie’s emotions; her head mimicked that of an oversized rabbit, after all. When she spoke of her spear, though, her blue eyes seemed to sparkle, and her voice was filled with affection.

“You. Must really like her. To have named her and all.”

Joanie eyed Melissa for a moment. She looked strangely wary.
“Wait inside. Countess Koleff might get mad, otherwise.”

“Mad that you’re talking to me? Or mad that I’m not in my room?”

The rabbit shifted uneasily, looking up and down the hallway. “The countess likes things just so. Said you wait in the room, while I guard the door.”

Melissa frowned for a moment, then walked past the threshold of the door and turned back around. “So. What if we do it like this? With the door open? That way we could talk while we wait.”

“...” Joanie hesitated for a moment, clearly torn. Then, slowly, she shook her head back and forth. “Nope nope. Sorry Miss Melissa. You’re interesting, but if I’m following the countess’s orders to the letter, door definitely has to be closed.”

“But-”

Joanie didn’t wait for Melissa to finish her sentence, but instead slammed the door shut on Melissa, who stared blankly at the wooden surface for a moment.

“...Miss Melissa, huh?” she whispered to herself after a moment. “Maybe I should have told her the truth, too…”

Sighing, Melissa turned to look about the room that she was effectively trapped in. There was a large mattress, on a frame with four wooden posts. Each post was carved to resemble a large squid, with the curved pointed head being the top of the post, and the tentacles clinging to the length of the wood. When Melissa pressed a hand down on the bed, she found it remarkably soft. She was sure if she laid her head down on it, she would be asleep in no time.

Melissa hadn’t even realized it, before, but the meeting with the countess had left her exceptionally tired. The idea of putting her head down on the bed and sleeping was incredibly tempting.

Instead, she took another look around the room, looking for something to distract herself with until dinner. Being in a strange house, locked away from the only people in this world she knew… it didn’t seem like the proper time to sleep.

The only other things in the room, however, were a writing desk, a floor length mirror, and a window - not quite large enough to fit through - currently letting in the light of a late day sun. She peered out of it for a moment, looking over carefully trimmed hedges, before turning her attention to the mirror.

It was the second time Melissa had seen her reflection since coming to this world.

She looked fairly similar to the wanted poster. Not exactly right: her eyes had been a little closer together in the poster, and her nose had been a touch too big. Still, the artwork had done a good job capturing the softness of her face, the roundness of her cheeks.

It hadn’t captured her long eyelashes, or the vibrant green of her eyes, of course. No more than it had captured the fullness of her lips.

Melissa reached up to touch a finger to her cheeks, feeling the soft smooth skin. The mirror image of her did the same.

Melissa reached out toward the mirror, next, fingers touching the cool glass. The image in the mirror reached out as well.

“It really is me…” Melissa whispered. “I look like… Like a girl…”

A half-forgotten memory stirred, as Melissa looked at herself in the mirror. It had been Halloween. She’d wanted to go as a cheerleader. Some of the more popular kids in school had gone in drag the previous Halloween, and it had been a big hit.

Her mom said they’d only pulled it off because they were popular. That Melissa would just get beaten up if she tried, and had outright refused to buy the costume.

Which was why Melissa had saved up her allowance so that she could buy the costume herself.

It had taken months. She’d been… What? Thirteen? And the allowance she’d gotten for her chores had only been about five dollars a week.

She’d managed it, though. She’s gotten the costume. Put it on as a test. Stood in front of the mirror.

She had known she’d look funny. A guy, with a few stray hairs on his chin and a lot on his legs, dressed in a too tight skirt and a too small top, wearing a badly made blonde wig.

She’d expected to look ridiculous.

What she hadn’t expected was for it to hurt. Looking into the mirror, and seeing a man in woman’s clothing.

She’d just broken down crying, on the floor. Where she stayed until her mother found her.

Her mother confiscated the costume. Said that she wouldn’t see her son bullied or beaten up.

Melissa hadn’t argued.

She’d never put on feminine clothes again.

This was just another costume. Just a really good costume. One that would come off, when this adventure ended. One that she’d never get to put on again.

A tear slipped down Melissa’s cheek; then another. She didn’t know why she was crying. She’d known all along that this would one day come to an end. She was going to transform back, go back home, and put this entire crazy adventure to an end. She was going to watch television, and read books, and know better than to dream of a fantasy land.

She was going to go back to how things used to be.

Why was she crying? 

Melissa didn’t understand. She couldn’t comprehend where all these tears were coming from. Did she want to stay so badly? Did she want to live in a fantasy world, in a fantasy body, nursing this fantasy? Of being the heroine, being a girl?

Being Melissa?

Unsure of the answers, Melissa wiped away her tears.

She was still wearing the green dress, with the tiny little tear. She had barely even processed, until now, that she was wearing feminine clothing again. The realization only drove her deeper into confusion, though, and soon she was forced to wipe her tears away all over again.

Eventually, she stopped crying. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed. The sun was a lot further down, though, and the room had started to darken. It would probably be dinner, soon.

As if on cue, the door to the bedroom opened. On the other side was Joanie. With her was a familiar figure: a slightly chubby lamia, with blonde hair and blue eyes. The shopkeeper’s daughter.

Melissa stared at her for a moment, completely nonplussed to be meeting her again, in the countess’s mansion. “What… What are you doing here?”

The lamia, meanwhile, slithered into the room as if it was the most natural thing in the world to be here. She was holding something in her hands: a white piece of cloth, marked with symbols and lines. Melissa wasn’t sure what it was for, and she took an uncertain step back from the girl.

The lamia only tilted her head to the side, though, as if confused. “What do you mean what am I doing here? I’m here to take your measurements, so mom can try and get through that emergency order on your wardrobe.”

“Emergency order…?” Melissa asked, numbly.

The lamia nodded, firmly. “Yeah. Ten pairs of trousers, ten blouses, three dresses, and a riding corset? In two days? Mom nearly screamed. She’s going to have to get outside help, even with me casting spells…” There was obvious worry on the lamia’s face but when she saw Melissa noticing, she put on a broad smile.

“I’m Clattara, by the way. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Heroine.” Saying so, she gripped the white strip of fabric she’d been holding between both hands, and pulled it taut. Between what she’d said, and the markings…

“Is that a measuring tape?” Melissa guessed.

“Uh-hm. Like I said, I can’t do a thing until we have your measurements and we never got around to that during your last visit. Mom’s busy readying the fabric and getting people to help, so she had to send me.” There was an easy grin on Clattara’s face as she slithered toward Melissa. “Put your arms out, please.”

Melissa glanced at Joanie, her guard.

Joanie shrugged, and closed the door.

“Arms please!” Clatarra repeated, more firmly. “If I’m going to pull an all nighter on your clothes, the least you can do is make the measuring easy.”

“S-Sorry…” Melissa muttered, spreading out her arms.

Clattara calmly began to take Melissa’s measurements, humming faintly under her breath as she did so. She measured Melissa’s chest, waist, hips, and more, each time whispering the number out loud before continuing to the next. She did not, however, write a single measurement down.

“Are you going to be able to remember all this?” Melissa asked, frowning. She didn’t want to imagine how the clothes might misfit if the girl forgot anything.

“Don’t insult my memory,” Clattara scoffed. “Now. Off with the dress, if you’d please.”

“W-What?” Melissa shying away from the girl.

“What? I need to get a measurement on your bust for the riding corset. Don’t tell me you’re shy about that sort of thing?”

“Yeah… A little…” Melisa admitted, wrapping a little bit of hair around her finger and tugging softly.

“Seriously?” the girl shook her head, then pursed her lips. “Tell you what - I don’t have time to argue with your modesty right now, so if you’re a good girl and do everything I say I’ll give you a handy little spell to get rid of that voyeur curse on your friend.”

“Voyeur… Curse?” Melissa asked, frowning faintly. “What are you talking about?”

“You know, the spying spell someone slapped on the princess! You couldn’t feel that?” Clattara frowned. “Felt like spiders crawling up my spine.”

“I… I didn’t think there was such a thing as spying spells, though?” Lonna had said there weren’t any, at least.

Clattara just shrugged, though. “Believe me or don’t. I mean, considering which of the two of us comes from a Root with sight-based magic, I know which of us I’d bet the ox on, but. Up to you.”

Melissa frowned for a moment, before reaching down and pulling her dress over her head. That left her in only a pair of boxers and a too small bra.

“You’ll need to take the breastband off, too,” Clattara insisted.

“...Fine.” Melissa knew she was being stubborn. She’d allowed Lonna to see her naked, just a few days prior.

Lonna had known Melissa to be a guy, though. Clatarra was looking at her entirely as a girl. It made Melissa feel both guilty, and entirely too self conscious.

The measurements went quickly from there, though, with Clattara thankfully remaining professional throughout. Before long, the bra was back in place - with Clattara’s help - and the dress went back on after.

“That’s everything I need,” Clattara declared, before slithering toward the writing desk.

Pulling open a drawer, she pulled out a quill, an inkwell, and a piece of parchment. Moving with swift assuredness, Clattara drew a series of symbols, before bisecting them with a circle.

“Just have your friend Breathe through that,” Clattara told her. “I don’t know how the spell is anchored to her, so this is just a one day shielding spell. Should make it impossible for the spell to connect, as long as she casts it daily!”

“Thanks,” Melissa said, reverently taking the paper in her hands.

“Don’t lose it!” Clattara commanded, moving toward the door. “It’ll be worth a lot, once I’m a famous magic user! One of Clattara’s originals!”
She pulled open the door, then turned and waved goodbye, before sliding out.

Melissa waved goodbye herself, and then turned to stare at the paper. She didn’t have pockets anymore, so after a moment’s hesitation she folded up the parchment and tucked it into her cleavage.

Then she sat on the bed, wondering how much time was left before dinner.

She didn’t have long to wait.

Chapter 11

Sitting in the massive dining room, at the upper right hand side of a very long dining table, Melissa couldn’t help but feel out of place. From the four different forks, to the sommelier in black and white currently pouring her a cup of wine, everything about this dinner felt too rich for her blood.

It didn’t help that the dining table, large enough to fit twenty, had only two chairs: one for Melissa, who was sitting dead still from nerves, and the other for the dark skinned countess, who sat with a faint smile on her lips.

Once the servant was done pouring, he bowed his head stiffly to Melissa, bowed at the waist to the countess, and then left the room. Melissa was now alone with the countess.

Liliath, for her part, took a small sip of her wine, before picking up one of her forks and a knife, and cutting into the bounty on her plate: goose breast and asparagus, with a white sauce, on a bed of aromatic white rice. 

After reciting one prayer for grains and another for miscellaneous foods, Melissa did her best to pick the fork that matched Liliath’s. She was fairly sure she’d messed it up, but the countess didn’t so much as raise an eyebrow. She only took the food to her lips, chewed, and swallowed, before moving for the next bite.

Compared to the quiet grace with which the countess ate, Melissa couldn’t help but feel her own attempts at cutting into the bird were clumsy. Liliath had cut into it without a sound, but Melissa’s knife clacked jarringly every time it hit the plate. By the time Melissa got her first bite done, the countess was on her third.

Still, Liliath waited until Melissa had finished her first bite before speaking.

“I hope that you’re enjoying dinner, Melissa. I understand that soirees like this aren’t always comfortable, for those unused to them. That’s most of why I had the servants leave. I had hoped that you would relax with no one watching.”

“Thank you, uh -" she suddenly realized she had blanked on the term of address.
Which the Countess seemed to sense. "Lady Liliath will do," she said, chuckling.
Melissa sighed. "Thank you, Lady Liliath. But I’d like a lot better if Lonna and Talith were here.”

“Is that so?” the countess smiled, faintly. “You seem quite attached to Lonna. You said something about being summoned? Does that mean you came from another world?”

“I… I guess so…” Melissa admitted, staring down at her goose breast. “I’m from a place called Earth?”

“You will have to be more specific,” Liliath said, smiling, taking another bite of her own meal. “Earth is a common name for a world.  But perhaps you will tell me about it one day. Though we have more pressing matters to discuss, first…”

“We do?” Melissa asked, confused. “I’m. I mean, I don’t really get why you even wanted to have dinner with me. I’m not a princess, like I guess Lonna is? And I’m not really the heroine, so…”

“Tell me, Melissa: do you know how I came to know Sorissa?”

“Um… no?” Melissa frowned, uncertain how to process the change in subject.

“I was thirteen. The runaway princess had yet to run away, and the Queen was discussing with my parents an event where she would come to visit.

“I was… Very different back then,” Liliath smiled, faintly. “Unkempt. Wild. My hair a shaggy mess, because I’d refused to let anyone cut it. My trousers constantly torn, and myself often muddied and dirtied. The result of getting a little too rough with my sword training.”

The countess stopped talking, for a moment, to cut another bite sized piece of goose, and bring it to her mouth. After chewing, and swallowing, she continued.

“I was born to a commoner. My father loved her dearly. Enough to hold a quiet bonding ceremony - do you know what a bonding ceremony is, Melissa?”

Melissa shook her head.

“It’s a religious ceremony. A pledging of love. Quite unlike the political handfastings we nobles use, when merging bloodlines through our heirs.

“Being born of a bonding ceremony, instead of a handfasting, means being born outside the noble line. I was well taken care of, given anything I desired - but I had no status. My blood was seen to be as common as my mother’s. Only my father’s love kept us in the house. When he died, it was likely that we would have been shown out to the streets.”

Liliath took another bite of goose, chewing slowly.

Melissa leaned forward, her own dinner forgotten. “What changed?”

“...I was chasing after a particularly fascinating insect, in the gardens, when Sorissa called out to me. I had no idea who she was, but her fancy dress made clear to me that she was important. So of course, not wanting to be punished, I came when she called.”

“And she… Made you a countess?” Melissa asked, frowning.

“In a way. I’m wataba, you see. Sorissa was the first person to see it.”

“Wataba?” Melissa asked, lips pulling into a puzzled frown.

“I was born into the wrong body. Born masculine.” The countess took another sip of wine, as Melissa stared.

“I was raised as a boy,” the countess continued, “and to Sorissa, it was plain as day that my form was wrong. As such, she offered to design a spell for me, that would give me whatever form I desired. I accepted - and was transformed.”

“And… You’ve been transformed ever since?” Melissa suggested.

“I’ve been myself, ever since,” the countess corrected, a small smile on her face. “Sorissa was right - I am wataba: an individual born in the wrong body.”

“You’re transgender?” Melissa knew the word, and the concept, even if she’d never actually met a trans person before. Wataba sounded like a similar, if more restrictive, concept.

“Is that the word for it, where you’re from?” Liliath asked. “Apt.” A small smile touched her lips, for a moment, before dropping off.

“Of course, Sorissa wasn’t done. She asked me next if it would be okay to talk to my family. To reintroduce me, as their daughter. I hadn’t even picked out a new name, yet - but Sorissa insisted that it be done while she was present.”

The countess cut into her goose breast, again, but this time did not lift the poultry to her lips.

“...She took me in front of my family. I still didn’t know who Sorissa was. I didn’t know why my family was bowing. I only knew I was scared. Terrified of how my family would react to the new me. But when Sorissa told them that I was wataba, my commoner mother, my count father, and even his handfasted wife, who’d so far never bothered with me - they all bowed their heads as one.

“So did my half brother. But he sniggered.”

Liliana lifted the bite of goose shed precut to her mouth, chewing methodically. Swallowing.

“Is that… Is that when she killed him?” Melissa asked, softly.

“She melted his head clean off his neck.”
Melissa dropped her fork, as the Countess took a forkful of rice.

“Then she turned to my family and ordered my father adopt me into the noble line. She said that they had all best get used to the future countess, or that she would be back for them as well. And simply walked out the door.”

The countess reached for her wine glass, emptying it in one long sip.

“...I heard you’ve hated Sorissa ever since. Is that true?” Melissa asked.

“Hate isn't complex enough to describe what I feel for her. The anger, the despair, and the knowledge that my life turned on a whim of the Queen. They all exist, in ever shifting measures.”

“How did she know?” Melissa asked. Her voice felt dry. Her throat parched.

“I expect she used a spell. One that gave her the ability to look into the depths of my being.

“Now ask me how I knew.”

“How… How did you know?” Melissa’s heart was beating fast. Her fingers clenched in her lap, meal long forgotten.

“It just felt right.”

The words hung heavily in the air, for a moment.

Then, a small strangled cry escaped from Melissa’s lips, and the silverware clattered down to her plate. All at once she was sobbing into her hands.

Liliath stood, walked over to Melissa, and gently stroked her back, a small smile on her features. “It’s okay. None will mock you here.”

“I… I’m…”

“Shhh…” the countess whispered, rubbing Melissa’s back again. “It’s fine. It’ll be okay. Rebirth is a painful process, I know. I know it better than most.”

She put her hands on Melissa’s shoulders. “You can say it. To me first. And then to your friends. We can say it together, if you’d like. Or you can go it alone. But why don’t we practice first.”

The countess backed up a few steps, and then smiled. “My name is Liliath Koleff, a countess and a woman. And you are?”

Smiling through the tears, Melissa looked up at the other woman.  “M-Melissa…. Drewski… I’m Melissa Drewski, and I’m… the heroine.”

***

“Lonna. How long are you going to lay there?”

Lonna made a noise between a grunt and a groan, containing no words whatsoever, but she trusted Talith to receive the intended meaning.

“Lonna. You walk in. You throw your cloak on the floor. You kick off your boots. You collapse into bed. And you don’t move for five tree-forsaken hours! At the very least, you could tell me what happened?”

Lonna rolled onto her side, just long enough to glare at Talith, before sliding back onto her stomach.

“Come on, Lonna. Did the countess do something? Did something happen to Melissa? Give me a clue here! Even if it’s just a name.”

“....Tabitha.” That was all Lonna said.

“Tabitha!?” Talith demanded, pressing his knuckles to the ground and swinging himself forward. “What the fuck is Tabitha doing here!?”

Lonna kept her mouth shut, face plastered against her pillow.

“...Wait… Your contact…? Don’t tell me your contact was Tabitha?”

A curl of smoke rose from between Lonna’s lips in response, a bit of fire formed in her mouth and rapidly extinguished.

“Of all the burning - in what tree-forsaken world did you think it would be a good idea to trust Tabitha!?”

Lonna shifted so that she was on her side, again, and facing toward Talith. “Thought we had something.”

“Had…” Talith stared for a moment, clay mouth sealed shut, glowing red dots boring into his sister. “Lonna. You’re talking about a girl who broke your damn antler off!”

“So? I broke them off all over again when we had to go back to Ife…” It had taken a lot of courage, and a lot of alcohol, but she’d done it by her own two hands. All so that she could slip into the castle, and get the heroine summoning spell.

“I really thought I could change the world,” Lonna muttered, mostly talking to herself. “I thought I could summon the heroine, and she’d defeat Sorissa, and everything would be great. But I can’t even convince Melissa she’s the heroine… how am I supposed to do something as impossible as making her marry me?”

“Marry… Lonna. Why the hell would you want to marry someone you barely know!? You’re a gynophile, for goodness sakes, and she’s a-”

“Don’t say it,” Lonna whined, clutching the pillow against her ears. “I don’t want to hear it.”

“Lonna…” Talith’s gravely voice held concern, as he slowly walked toward his sister. “What’s going on? I know you’re attracted to how she looks, but you can’t tell me you’re actually falling for him.”

“Her, Talith.” Lonna turned her head to glare at her brother. “Melissa asked that we keep to she and her.”

“Yeah. To keep herself from getting noticed. As if there aren’t plenty of wataba who don’t have access to a transformation spell.”

“It’s what she wants…”

“But why!?” Talith demanded, voice growing in anger. “Why does she want to be called Melissa? Why does she want to be called she and her? Why would a guy want any of these things?”

“That’s not our place to question… People are free to have any gender expression they want. If you start questioning-”

“You start invalidating,” Talith finished, shaking his head. “You sound just like Vellos.”

“He did teach me half the things I know,” Lonna pointed out, propping herself on one arm. “Especially about gender expression. And being born in the wrong body.”

“And about being a thief,” Talith reminded her. “Damn man’s going to get himself caught one day.”

“Not if you make an honest man of him, first,” Lonna countered, smiling faintly. “I mean, assuming he forgives you for abandoning him and coming with me to Ife…”

“He’ll still be ranting about it when he’s old, and wrinkly, and every last feather’s fallen out,” Talith predicted, a small smile on his face. “How I cared about my sister more than him.”

“Even though you really just didn’t want him in danger…” Lonna pointed out.

Talith shrugged. “Don’t want you in danger, either. That’s why I followed you. Though if you’re going to pull something as stupid as trusting in Tabitha, it’ll all be for naught.”

Lonna scowled, and let herself drop back down on the bed.

This only lasted for a moment, before she straightened up.

“Why do you hate Melissa so much?” Lonna asked.

“...What makes you think I hate her?” Talith asked, not quite meeting Lonna’s gaze.

“I mean. You try to push her away at every opportunity you get? You used to do it with anyone I got interested in the village, but…”

“You mean the ones who bullied you, threw rocks at you, and called you names?” Talith responded, voice taking on a menacing growl. “What a mystery as to why I didn’t want you dating them.”

“That was when we were kids. And I’ll remind you that you let them do it, when we first moved out there.”

“...I was… I didn’t…” Talith’s gaze sank to the floor.

“We were kids.” Lonna shrugged, dismissing it with that.

“I was fifteen. I should have known better.” Talith’s voice was heavy.

“You barely knew me. You just saw a stuck up, half dragon princess who’d run away from home. Someone who put you and mom in danger, and caused you to relocate to a remote farming village. Which everyone was terrified was going to get wiped off the map, when Sorissa came looking after me!

“Kids make mistakes. Then they grow up and make new ones. Like sleeping with Tabitha. Or thinking I had something special with Tabitha. Or thinking I could have something special with anyone, when I’m just a half dragon, runaway princess…”

“Lonna…” Talith started, reaching out a hand.

Lonna slapped it away, glaring up at her brother. “Tell me why you hate Melissa.”

“I don’t… Hate… Melissa. I just don’t think she’s any good for you.”

“What, like, romantically? I mean, I’m not going to date anyone who isn’t a girl, so-”

“No. I mean. To be around…It’s just...” Talith sighed, lifted up a hand, opened his mouth, and then let the hand drop and his mouth close.

“What?” Lonna asked, leaning forward.

“She makes you think you can do this. She makes you think you can take on Sorissa, and fight her. She gives you hope - even though she isn’t the heroine, isn’t a girl, isn’t even capable of fighting. She makes you want to keep going. That’s why I don’t like her, Lonna.

“Because I think she’s dangerous.”

Lonna stared at Talith. “...You think I can’t take on Sorissa?”

“I think she’s your mother, and you shouldn’t have to. And… also that… You’ve never been able to figure out how to kill her, other than the heroine. Which Melissa isn’t. So.

“Yeah. I think you can’t take on Sorissa.”

Lonna stared at Talith for a moment longer, not sure what to say.

“...I…” Talith started, only to stop when a knock came on the door. “I’ll… Get your cloak.”

“Don’t bother,” Lonna muttered, putting her feet on the floor and standing up. “Everyone knows what I am already. What’s the point in hiding it?”

***

Melissa stood awkwardly in front of the door. She was flanked, on either side, by Joanie the rabbit sapphi, and a human guard who insisted on looking straight ahead at all times. Joanie, too, was staring straight ahead, but in her own words it was to give Melissa “a little privacy.”

A very little privacy.

Still, Melissa had gathered her courage, and knocked on the door. After which, she’d heard muffled conversation, footsteps. It was only a moment before the door opened, but considering the news she had that moment felt like eternity.

When the door actually swung open, though, Melissa simply stood and stared for a moment at the girl on the other side.

“Lonna you’re…”

“Not wearing my cloak?” Lonna muttered, crossing her arms. “Go ahead and stare if you want. I’ll even do a spin.”

Lonna turned about, and walked back into the room, leaving Melissa staring.

Of course she was staring. Lonna had wings. Small, dull red, leathery wings, with a thin membrane stretched out over a bony framework, and a tail; small, thick, reptilian, colored red like her wings.

Not to mention the fact that her feet looked like a cross between roots and talons, with elongated toes that ended in claws.

Melissa couldn’t help but stare at her, for a moment, before hurrying in. “I’m… I’m sorry. I mean, I guess if your moms are a dragon and a dryad, that means you’re not human? But I didn’t know…”

“That I looked like a freak?” Lonna suggested, back still turned to Melissa. “That I’m an ugly chimera, with horrible dragon traits?”

“...Actually, I think you look beautiful…” Melissa admitted, shrugging her shoulders. “I mean. You’re part dragon! And I’ve always loved dragons, so-”

“In what tree-forsaken world would someone love dragons!?” Lonna demanded, spinning around to face Melissa at last. “Maybe that’s fine in your confusing little world, where guys want to be treated like girls, but here? In Mistina? Dragons are bad. They’re horrible. They’re evil. And I’m descended from them! Okay? It’s not beautiful, it’s not…”

“Lonna…” Melissa hesitated for a moment, before getting onto her knees. Now at eye level with Lonna, she reached out a hand to gingerly brush away the tears that were starting to form in the corner of Lonna’s eyes. 

“Lonna. You’re beautiful. Okay? You’re gorgeous. I don’t want you to ever doubt that.”

Lonna stared at Melissa for a moment. Then, without warning, she leaned forward to press her lips against Melissa’s.

Melissa’s eyes widened in surprise, but she didn’t pull away. It honestly felt nice - like a warm tingling spreading from her lips, down throughout her body.

After a moment, Lonna parted, looking down at the ground. “S-Sorry…” She muttered. “I uh… shouldn’t have done that. I don’t even like guys, so-”

“I’m not a guy.”

“...What?” Lonna asked, voice barely more than a whisper.

“I’m not a guy,” Melissa repeated, a small smile on her lips. “My name is Melissa  Drewski. I’m a girl. And I guess that means I really am the heroine.”

A soft groan of frustration could be heard from Talith, in the background. Melissa didn’t turn to face it, though, too happy to care.

“You’re…” Lonna whispered. “You’re a girl?”

 Melissa nodded, in response, a happy smile on her face.

Though she still couldn’t help but asking… “Um. Lonna. About that kiss?”

****

Sorissa sat on her throne, a small smile on her features.

Before her were three feminine figures - a young woman with blonde pigtails, blue eyes, and a manic grin upon her face. A rotund woman, dressed in layers of colorful silk clothing. And a slightly more mature, rakish woman whose head was decorated with cat ears. All three of them were kneeling before their queen, as was proper.

“It seems my daughter is after the Scale of Mount Drogone. I want you all to go after them - and ensure they do not get it.”

Two of the subjects remained silent. The blonde, however, lifted her head, revealing a faint scar that ran from her scalp to her right eye, and from beneath her right eye down her cheek. 

“Thank you for entrusting me with this, mother," she said. "I won’t fail you.”

“...Tell me, Kylee. What have I told you about calling me mother outside of designated events?”

“N-Not to do it…?” Kylee muttered, looking back down at the floor.

“Correct. And what have I told you about Lonna?”

“That she’s… better than me. In every way.” Kylee was gritting her teeth as she spoke, the anger evident on her usually manically happy features.

“Of course she is. She was grown with a seed from my tree, within my dear departed wife’s body. There is not a single piece of her that would lose to you. That’s why I’m putting Dame Belinda in charge of the mission.”

A feline pair of ears twitched at the mention of their owner’s name. “It will be my pleasure to serve,” Belinda said, her voice and gestures deferential.

“Of course it will. Or I’ll have Maeve, here, pin your heart until you’re practically begging me for a torture session. Now. Off with the three of you.”

The three bowed their heads, then stood and filed out of the room.

Sorissa smiled as she watched them leave, but the moment they filed out the door the smile dropped from her features. 

“An abandoned toy, a scheming knight, and my personal inquisitor. I know I didn’t want to make things too difficult, but I do hope this isn’t going too far in the other direction… If I don’t challenge Lonna properly, I don’t expect she’ll ever grow.” A small smile touched the corners of Sorissa’s lips, then dropped away.

“Being a parent is hard, Arasitelle. Making the people of Respiran hate me - that’s easy. And fun. But making Lonna despise me…”

A small sigh escaped Sorissa’s lips. “Losing Nadell hardened my heart. Losing you shattered it. And now it’s like someone is stomping on the pieces.”

Sorissa shook her head, forcing a smile back onto her lips. “Ah, well. An immortal queen does what she must, for the chance to join her loved ones.

“Not that I believe in the Valley, of course. But if it truly is a place where all our mortal mistakes are forgiven… I hope to see you both soon, my loves.

“I hope to see you very soon, indeed.”

Lonna lay on her stomach, small wings folded forward up and under her chest, her stubby red tail lashing side to side. She kept turning the events of the night over and over in her head.

Melissa had called her beautiful. Even despite her being a half dragon, a runaway princess, and an all around mess… Melissa had called her beautiful.

So Lonna had kissed her.

And then Melissa had said she was a girl, and it felt like everything clicked into place. It felt like everything was exactly the way it was supposed to be…

Except Melissa didn’t feel the same way. The moment Melissa asked about that kiss, Lonna knew that Melissa didn’t feel it. Didn’t want it. Didn’t understand it.

Lonna loved Melissa. She’d been drawn to the heroine the moment she arrived, and only thinking Melissa was a man had stopped her from pursuing it. Now she knew Melissa was a woman.

She also knew that Melissa didn’t feel the same way- she just saw Lonna as a friend. If that. Maybe she only saw Lonna as the one who dragged her into this mess. Maybe she even hated Lonna…

Except Melissa wasn’t like that, was she? Unless she was, and Lonna was wrong, and… And she was hated.

Lonna sighed, shaking her head. She was getting nowhere, thinking like this. She needed to take a walk. She needed to clear her head.

Decision made, she rolled out of bed and onto her feet. Talith turned to face her, as she did so, opening his mouth to speak, but she held up a hand.

“Don’t want to hear it.”

“...I haven’t said anything yet,” Talith muttered, crossing his arms.

“I can hear it all, already. You think I’m being dumb. You think I definitely should stay put. And most of all, you think I should stop pining over someone who doesn’t want me.”

“I think anyone who doesn’t want you is an idiot,” Talith corrected. “...But maybe I was a bit… Harsh. On Melissa.”

Lonna stared at him, hard, while Talith shrugged his shoulders.

“I still don’t think she’s  the heroine. And I don’t think anything good will come out of you two fighting your mother.”

“Don’t call her that,” Lonna demanded, glaring at her brother. “There’s only one woman I’ll ever consider my mother.”

“No,” Talith insisted, shaking his head slowly. “Sorissa did a lot to you. But she raised you for even longer than Maiar did. You can’t erase that.”

“I had only one mother! One! Not two, not three, one. And Sorissa killed her.”

Talith stared at Lonna for a moment, opening and closing his mouth. Then he lowered his head, staring at the ground. “Maiar wouldn’t want you to act out of revenge.”

“It’s not revenge. It’s for the well being of every person on this whole forsaken continent that Sorissa’s reign ends. You know that as well as I do.”

“What I know is that you’re the only family I have left. What I know is that family is important. What I know is that you shouldn’t have to take the lead in killing your own mother - whether or not you see her as your mom.”

“...I tried running away, Talith. I tried telling myself it didn’t need to be me. That someone else could summon the heroine, and take care of the threat. That it wasn’t my responsibility, just because I benefited from everything she did. But that was when I was thirteen. I’m twenty one, now, Talith - and I’m the only one who can lead the heroine to victory. So. I’m done running.” 

Saying so, Lonna grabbed her cloak off the floor, slipping out the door and walking down the hallway. She passed Melissa’s room without stopping, simply slipping on her cloak and moving toward the manor’s front door.

She was done running. She really, truly was done with it. ...So long as she was only talking about Sorissa. If the conversation turned to Melissa, however - she couldn’t stop the kiss from flashing through her mind, again. The kiss, and Melissa’s confused words right afterward.

She needed a breath of fresh air. She needed to get out of the manor. And honestly, she needed a bite to eat. She hadn’t been invited to dinner with the countess, after all. Of course, the servants would have brought her food if she’d asked but then she’d have had to eat under Talith’s watchful stare. She wanted to be alone for a bit.

Unfortunately, Lonna didn’t have much in the way of coinage. Talith had always handled that... 

As a blacksmith, he’d made some decent money in their old life. By contrast, Lonna had still been living at home with their mother, doing little more to earn her keep than mending torn clothes. Not that it hadn’t been appreciated - lapsi, like her mother and brother, were notoriously bad with needlework, or indeed anything that required a delicate touch.

Part of why she valued the cloak her mother had made so much was because it had taken Maiar so many tries to get it right. Her adoptive mother had refused all help, though. She’d wasted so much fabric, too. It was really a good thing that Lonna was the only one in the family that needed to eat, because they did not have much money to spare that month…

Remembering just how many times she’d been forced to eat potatoes during that period brought a small smile to Lonna’s lips. It had been the same month she’d met Vellos, who went on to teach her how to sneak and steal.

Even back then, at barely fourteen years of age, she’d been thinking of how best to escape the castle if her mother ever came for her. Of how to survive, if she was abandoned. Of how to make sure she could stay alive, no matter what came. That was why she’d asked Vellos to teach her. She could only imagine what he’d seen in her eyes, to convince him to say yes.

Who’d have thought her first big mission would be sneaking into the castle, though? Stealing the summoning scroll. Bringing out the heroine. She’d done so many things her younger self never could have imagined.

She wondered if her adoptive mother would be proud, seeing her daughter like this… Or if, like Talith claimed, she’d have wanted Lonna to stay safe.

Not that it mattered. Her mother was dead. And soon enough, Sorissa would follow.

Then Lonna really would be an orphan…

Lonna shook the thought off, as she heard footsteps coming down the hallway. Pressing herself against the wall, she peeked around the corner, to see two guards walking down the hall. Likely on patrol.

What were their orders, regarding Lonna? Were they meant to keep her here? Was she free to come and go as she pleased? Lonna wasn’t sure she wanted to know. They were coming right toward her, though.

Looking about, Lonna’s eyes locked on a small vase, standing on a pedestal. More importantly, she locked eyes on the shadow cast by that pedestal, and darted toward it. Wedging herself into the corner, between hallway and vase, she focused on draining all light from the area, until the spot was all but pitch black. Then, she bent the light around herself, making herself invisible - at the cost of not being able to see, for the duration.

With a double layer of protection, all she had to do was wait until the guards walked past her. It was a trick she’d employed in the castle, letting patrol after patrol pass her by as she snuck toward the library. She was convinced it would work.

So she was quite surprised when a set of footsteps walked straight up the alcove, and stopped.

“Funny,” came a dry, familiar voice. “I don’t remember this alcove having quite so dark a shadow.”

Lonna cursed under her breath, letting her magic fade so that she could glare up at the countess.

The countess responded with a smile, green eyes flicking across Lonna’s countenance. “Your power to hide is impressive, Princess Lonna. But you went a little too far with the shadow work.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Lonna replied, rising up from a crouch to her full, somewhat unimpressive, height. “What are you doing out this late at night?”

“The guards alerted me the moment your door opened, Princess. I thought if I hurried, I might be able to catch you before you ran off into the night.”

“I’m not running,” Lonna told the woman, glaring now. “I’m just having a walk.”

“Considering your brother isn’t with you, I can only hope that’s true,” Liliath murmured. “That said - you are a guest in my home, and not a prisoner. So while I’d appreciate knowing your whereabouts, it’s hardly a requirement - you are, of course, free to go outside. Though I imagine there’s talk of the princess all up and down the street, at this point.”

“Good thing I don’t look like much of a princess, then,” Lonna retorted, with a small shrug.

In truth, Liliath had a point. She could hide her wings, her tail, and her horns - but not her yellow eyes, or sharp canines. Even if she wore a hood, there might be people who’d recognize her.

It wasn’t like she was in danger, though. The smart ones would be too scared of what her mother would do, and the stupid ones… 

Well. She could take care of herself.

“I imagine you can take care of yourself,” Liliath laughed, as if reading Lonna’s mind. “I would ask you to go easy on my people, though, if trouble were to arise.”

“...You really care about them?” Lonna asked, frowning. “I always thought nobles were too busy living it up to care about what happened to the people on their lands.”

“Perhaps some are,” Liliath answered, shrugging her shoulders. “I always thought it was foolish to ignore the needs of those who feed us. Which is why I’ll ask you again to go easy on them.”

“Fine. If that’s all? I kind of wanted to go out a bit.” She glanced toward the end of the hallway, where the guards had stopped to gape. When Liliath’s own eyes flicked to them they snapped to attention, and a small smile touched Liliath’s face.

“Not quite all,” Liliath informed Lonna, reaching for her belt. Lonna tensed as Liliath’s fingers brushed past her sword hilt, but that wasn’t what she grabbed. Instead, she pulled from her belt a small pouch, which she tossed to Lonna.

It was surprisingly heavy, when Lonna caught it. “This is…?”

“Coin. Fifty crowns to be precise - it should be more than enough to try a few of the local delicacies.”

“It should be enough to buy a local house,” Lonna replied, staring at the bag. “Why, by the trees, are you giving me all this?”

“...The guards informed me that you were haggling for clothes when they found you.”

“Yeah. And?”

“If you’re to be seen as the queen, at the end of all this, you need to present yourself as one now,” Liliath explained. “The people who see you as the princess, as you walk down the street - they should see you as a figure of wealth and power. They should not remember you as the girl who couldn’t even afford a nice dress.”

“Sorry to break it to you, but I’m not exactly the type that exudes royal presence.” Not that this stopped this from slipping the pouch under her cloak, and into a pocket.

“It’s never too late to learn,” was Liliath’s response, a small smile on her lips. “Now - I believe we both had somewhere to go?”

Lonna nodded, slowly, walking past the guards, down the hallway, and out the door.

There were another two guards outside, who glanced at her curiously at Lonna as she exited, but otherwise said nothing.

“...Guess slipping out unnoticed was never going to happen,” Lonna muttered to herself, walking down the steps of the manor, and toward the town.

***

 “Tell me what these are called again?” Lonna asked, staring suspiciously at the plate of food the tavern keeper had given her. 

“Kraken balls,” the man responded, for the third time that evening. A tall man, whose thickset arms were covered in hair, he glared down at the cloaked figure who’d taken up a stool at the bar and ordered a plate of his “finest food.”

“But they’re not actually… you know… Testicles, right?” Lonna asked. “You promise, right? Because I will eat most things, but even I have some standards.”

“Like I could afford to serve a set of those,” the man snorted, shaking his head. “Look. Eat them or don’t. I have other customers to see to.”

Lonna responded by poking one of the lightly breaded balls with her finger. Then, with a bit of hesitation, she popped it into her mouth.

It was delicious. Juicy and warm, and more than filling, by the time she’d finished eating the first she was already reaching for the second. By the time she had finished the fifth, she had already ordered a second plate. It was only after eating her third that she finally slipped out of the tavern, belly full and belt pouch… not at all lighter. In fact, since she’d received change in helms and caps, it was actually a bit heavier than when she’d entered.

“What am I supposed to do with this sort of money, anyway?” she groused to herself, shaking her head as she walked down the road. She supposed she should be saving it for the journey. She did hope to avoid going into too many more towns, but it wasn’t like they could avoid people altogether during the journey. Money might very well come in handy. Even if they hunted their own food, and built their own shelter, there was a chance of their clothes getting torn beyond repair or one of them falling sick and needing medicine, or just… Anything, really. 

She was lost in thought, thinking of all the potential uses for her coin, when she bumped into a figure even smaller than she was, sending them sprawling across the ground.

Instantly, another figure stepped out of the shadows, this one just ever so slightly taller than Lonna herself. “What do you think you’re doing, walking without looking where you’re going?” the new person demanded. “If you’ve hurt my brother - I’ll… I’ll report you to the authorities! I’ll make you pay for his medical bills! I’ll-”

“Relax,” Lonna interrupted, rolling her eyes at the tirade. The girl giving it to her couldn’t have been more than thirteen. She was dirty, filthy really, and her clothes were so covered in patchwork that it was impossible to tell what color the original clothes had been. Her cheeks were gaunt, seeming to indicate she’d gone a while without food.

Her brother, lying on the floor, looked almost the same. A touch less thin, perhaps. Most likely the girl was doing her best to keep him fed, at cost to herself. He was also moaning, faintly, and clutching at his arm. “It hurts…” he whispered. “It hurts…”

Lonna did not speak, choosing instead to study the boy. She did know a simple healing spell. It wasn’t much, but it would work on minor injuries. She could use it on the boy… but speedy healing took it out of a person, and it didn’t seem like he had much to give.

Besides which, as someone who’d undergone quite a bit of pain herself, it was pretty obvious to Lonna that the boy was faking.

“So what’s the plan?” Lonna asked, eyes flicking to the girl. “Talk up how much trouble I’ll get in with the guards, and then demand I hand over some coins to keep your silence? Or maybe he was supposed to steal my purse when I bent down to give him a look over?”

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about!” the girl insisted, but her voice cracked ever so faintly.

Lonna smiled, in response. “Tell your brother to get up. I’ll pay for you two to get a bath, and some food in you, but that’s it. I don’t respond to extortion.”

The boy had stopped moaning at some point. Now he was staring fearfully up at Lonna, while his big sister walked cautiously around Lonna to reach her brother.

“Who are you?” the girl demanded after a moment. “If - if you really think we’re trying to cheat you, why are you helping us?”

“Because I feel like it,” was Lonna’s blithe answer, rolling her eyes as she did so. She wasn’t going to say it was because they looked too pathetic to ignore. “Also, you seriously need to work on your con artistry. What if I didn’t even have any coin on me? What if I refused to pay? Did you even have a backup plan?”

“I… I’m not admitting to anything,” was the girl’s response. She lifted her chin as she spoke, staring defiantly. “I’m not going to let you trick me into-”

“Yes, yes, whatever you say,” Lonna interrupted, rolling her eyes again. “For now, we’re getting you to a bath. And then some food...”

“The public baths are closed,” the girl replied, in return, frowning. “They closed hours ago.”

“...Fine then. I didn’t want to do this, but…” The girl flinched back at Lonna’s words, but all Lonna did was crouch on the ground and start to etch some symbols onto the road with a piece of chalk. “Relax, would you? It’s a basic cleaning spell. I use it on myself all the time.” Saying so, she regarded the symbols she had drawn for a moment, gave a firm nod, and then bisected the symbols with a circle.

`”Stand in here,” Lonna ordered, but the girl only stared back at her with defiance in her eyes. “For the love of the Majesty Trees, do I need to show you it’s safe?” she demanded, stepping into the circle herself. Bending down to touch the first symbol she had drawn, she poured energy through the drawn lines, causing a flash of light.

When the light cleared, every speck of dirt that Lonna had picked up during her travels had disappeared from her, leaving her clean and refreshed. 

“Now you,” Lonna insisted, stepping out of the circle.

“...Why would you do this for us?” the girl asked, for the second time.

“Just get in the circle, before I change my mind.”

The girl glanced at her brother, who was still laying on the ground. Her brother looked back, fear and wonder lighting up his eyes in equal measure. After a moment’s hesitation, the girl stepped into the circle, and Lonna lit it up again.

When the light cleared, the girl’s dress was still a patchwork but her skin was clear and her brown hair was no longer matted and filthy. She looked at herself, wonder in her eyes for a moment, before giving her brother and a firm nod.

Soon both of them were clean. Which meant now Lonna only had to deal with the fact that they were starving.

“Now that you’re clean, it should be easy enough to get you fed,” Lonna declared, turning away from them and gesturing for them to follow her. Although her back was to them, she could still sense their presence with magic, and knew they were standing stock still.

The boy was the first to break, getting to his feet and starting after Lonna.

“Bek…” the girl protested.

“I’m hungry, Travi,” Bek responded. “I know you don’t trust strangers, but… I don’t think she’s a bad person…”

Travi hesitated a moment, but then she jogged up to grab Lonna’s hand. “Please,” she begged. “Slow down? Bek can’t walk very fast…”

“Fiiiiine,” Lonna sighed, slowing her pace and resisting the urge to smile. “But only because we’re not going very far.”

Their destination was an inn, right next to the tavern from earlier. The innkeeper had been getting ready for bed, from the nightgown she was wearing, but her scowl turned into a smile when Lonna held up a crown and asked for a room with two beds, and some food.

Soon, Travi was poking at her own kraken ball with a finger, sniffing it suspiciously, and then popping it into her mouth. Only after chewing and swallowing did she finally nod to Bek, who eagerly bit into his without a single complaint or worry.

He probably didn’t even realize his sister had been checking for poison.

“So how’d you two end up living on the streets?” Lonna asked, after the siblings had eaten enough to fill their shrunken bellies. “Town seems prosperous enough - does the countess not have an orphanage?”

“No, there is one,” Bec told her.

Travi shot her brother a glare, and then sighed. “There is one,” she confirmed. “But it’s only for citizens. Our mother was a traveling merchant - she died of illness, while visiting the city. She left us some money - but it ran out quickly…”

“We don’t even have enough to pay the entrance fee if we leave the city,” Bek added, ignoring his sister’s glare as he volunteered more information.

“So in other words you’re stuck,” Lonna murmured. “Not enough money to get anywhere, and if you even try you won’t be able to get into town again. That right?”

The siblings nodded as one.

Lonna sighed. “I know a farming village - in the Mirra Valley. Your mom ever take you out that way?”

Travi and Bek exchanged glances, both shrugging haplessly. 

“...Guess not. It’s pretty small. But. If you can find your way there, I’m sure the villagers would help you out. If no one else will, you could find someone named Vellos - mention my name, and he’ll take you in.”

“Thanks,” the girl murmured, “But I don’t even know how we’d get there.”

“You’ll need to book passage, of course,” Lonna responded, shrugging her shoulders. “I’ll leave you a few gold coins. Enough for the trip.”

“...Why?” Travi asked, suspicion evident in her voice. “And don’t tell me it’s-”

“Because I feel like it?” Lonna suggested, cracking a small smile. “Maybe I just know what it’s like to be hungry and alone. You’re doing a good job looking after your brother… but it shouldn’t all be up to you. You’re a kid, too, you know.”

“Am not,” Travi protested. “I’m thirteen.”

“Yeah?” Lonna asked, pursing her lips. “Well then, miss thirteen year old, you should know enough about the world to know you never turn down a helping hand when it’s offered.”

“I know enough to know nothing’s free,” Travi replied, eyes stubbornly locked on Lonna’s. “What do you want from us?”

“...Someone took me in, once, when I was thirteen and alone. Maybe I’m just returning the favor, the best I can.” The response was more honest than Lonna had intended, and she found herself averting her gaze from the girl.

The suspicion in the girl’s eyes seemed to grow worse, from that, and after a moment Lonna sighed. “How about this, then: I want to know about the runaway princess.”

“The… runaway princess?” Travi asked, blinking in surprise. “You mean Princess Lonna?”

“That’s the one,” Lonna confirmed, a small smile on her lips. “I heard she’s in town.”

“I heard rumors,” Travi admitted, “but…”

“I hear she eats children,” Bec whispered, voice low. “I hear she swoops in through windows on dragon wings and eats children who don’t listen to their mothers…”

“She does not,” Travi insisted, but her voice shook faintly. “I heard she is part dragon, though… She sounds terrifying.”

“Not the sort of person you’d want to meet on a dark night, huh?” Lonna asked.

Both siblings shook their heads.

“Why do you want to know about her?” Travi asked.

“I don’t know. Guess I just…”

“Felt like it?” Travi suggested.

“Yeah. Something like that.” Lonna gave back an easy grin. “Anyway. Mirra Village, in the Mirra Valley. Book yourself passage with a merchant heading that way - and tell them…” Lonna hesitated, here. She’d said to give her name, but after that conversation…

“Tell them L with the red hair sent you,” she decided, at last.

“Ell?” Travi asked, a little suspicious. Slowly, though, she nodded. “And you’ll really leave us coin for the trip? Just because you feel like it?”

“And in return for what you know about the princess,” Lonna reminded her. “I want to hear everything you have to say about her.”

As it turned out, Travi had a lot to say about Princess Lonna. Stories about how she’d eat children notwithstanding, there were tales about she could burn people to a crisp with her breath, and how her bloodcurdling scream announced certain death. Not to mention the stories that she’d only run away so that she could sneak about as Sorissa’s eyes and ears.

Lonna listened to them all, burning into her mind just how people saw her. Just what she was up against, if she did become queen.

Eventually, Bek let out a yawn, and Lonna held out a hand. “That’s.. Enough stories for tonight,” she told them, a small, strained, smile on her lips. “You should get some rest.”

Travi nodded, stifling her own yawn.

Despite the room having two beds, the children curled up on a single mattress.

Lonna, for her part, blew out the lantern before moving toward the door. In the doorway, though, she hesitated, remembering her promise to leave them coin. She wasn’t sure how much was needed for the journey, though. “...Trees forsake it. I never was good with money…” she muttered to herself, before sighing and reaching into her cloak.

Not knowing how much they’d need, she withdrew a handful of crowns from the bag.

The rest of the purse, she left for the children.

Melissa lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. The events of the last day kept shifting through her mind. Discovering her identity as a girl had felt more like a revelation than a true surprise - a puzzle piece she’d always known was missing had simply clicked into place.

Realizing she was the heroine… She was still trying to process what that meant, exactly. In a way, it didn’t change anything at all. Her goal was still to defeat Sorissa; to do so, she still had to gather the Lunargent Scale, and the mythical weapon known as Quecaw.

Everything had changed, though. If Melissa was the heroine, then she couldn’t afford to rely on the power of her companions as she had so far. She needed to learn how to fight, how to use magic, and how to stand on her own two legs. Otherwise, she’d never be able to take Sorissa’s head.

Can I really kill someone, though? Melissa asked herself. She’d pledged herself toward Lonna’s cause, knowing full well Lonna wanted from her. Although she’d tried her hardest not to dwell on it, she’d known from the start that her mission was to kill someone.

The problem was that the queen was no longer just an abstract figure in Melissa’s mind. She was a mother. Lonna’s mother. How could Melissa kill Lonna’s mom? Even if Lonna herself seemed to want it, Melissa was scared that Lonna would change her mind once she saw her parent’s bloody corpse.

Melissa had chosen to fight Sorissa for four reasons. 

The first was to get back her old body, now a moot point.

The second reason was that she’d wanted to go back home - but while Melissa hadn’t exactly stopped yearning for the safety and comfort of her old world, she wasn’t sure that going back in her current body was really an option. She had no identification, for one thing. No way to explain where she’d been. It was possible her fingerprints had remained the same but, even if she managed to convince people that she and David were one and the same, she'd be hard pressed to explain how her body had changed so drastically. If she wasn’t willing to turn back, then going home might be out of the question.

The third reason she’d had for taking this mission was to save this queendom from its ruler. That desire hadn’t changed. She’d seen what the town of Ife had been reduced to under Sorissa’s reign, and while she understood that Liliath’s feelings toward Sorissa were mixed, nothing in the countess’s story had convinced Melissa that Sorissa was a good ruler. She needed to be deposed.

Did she need to be killed, though? If she could be defeated, if she could be made to abdicate, if the throne could be passed to someone else… Wouldn’t that be enough?

The fourth reason Melissa had accepted this mission was because she’d wanted to see Lonna’s smile.

It wasn’t enough to make the queendom safe for people at large. While she did want this to be a world where people could laugh, Melissa really and truly wanted it to be a place where Lonna could hum. Sing, even, if she wanted to.

Melissa knew she was missing a lot of information. She didn’t know what had driven Lonna to stand against her own mother. She recognized that Lonna was hated, but she didn’t really know why. Because of her mother? Because she was half dragon? Perhaps both.

Regardless, Melissa could tell that Lonna had suffered. Yet still she stood against her mother. Whatever she had or hadn’t done to deserve the people’s hate, she was standing with them against her own mom. Melissa didn’t want to trample on that sacrifice, but... She didn’t want Lonna to sacrifice her own smile for the sake of everyone else’s

There’s too much I don’t know… Melissa complained, internally, to herself. What drove Sorissa toward evil? What caused the rift between the princess and the queen? Would the people be satisfied with Sorissa’s imprisonment, or was her head on a pike truly the only option before them? The only one who could give her clarity was Lonna. There was no point in turning things over and over in her head without asking Lonna what she thought. Melissa knew that.

Really, she should go to Lonna’s room and ask the girl directly. That was the only way she’d be able to put the questions to rest. Melissa knew that, too.

Melissa also knew that she wasn’t ready to face the girl again, just yet. Not so soon after that kiss.

She could still feel the sensation of Lonna’s lips against hers. Soft and sweet, yet filled with so much desperate need. It had felt nice, but at the same time it had terrified Melissa beyond belief.

Melissa had only just found out that she was a girl. She didn’t know Lonna that well, didn’t know herself that well, and she was apparently on a mission to kill Lonna’s mother. There was a lot she needed to sort out and she really hadn’t been expecting the kiss. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t enjoyed it, and she’d definitely appreciated it, but she wasn’t sure she was ready for a romantic relationship. With anyone. Not yet.

The moment she’d tried to express that, though, Lonna had shut down. The feeling of rejection had been clearly written in her eyes. The pain and hurt on her features had caused Melissa to stutter and stammer as she tried to explain, and though Lonna had claimed everything was fine when they parted, Melissa knew that wasn’t really the case.

It didn’t change things. Everything Melissa had said was true. She really wasn’t ready for a relationship. She really was interested in getting to know Lonna a bit better. Maybe they could even  go on a date, if Melissa truly did end up sticking around. But a kiss? This early? She wasn’t ready.

She wasn’t.

“So much for protecting Lonna’s smile, though...” Melissa sighed, flopping onto her side without lifting her head from her hands.

She stayed in that position until she fell asleep.

***

Using one hand to rub the sleep from her eyes, Lonna stretched her other arm toward the ceiling. It was a slow, lazy awakening, reminiscent of days long gone. That, and the sheer softness of the bed, brought back memories Lonna wished would stay buried. 

“You slept in,” Talith remarked. He was by the room’s only exit, with one heavy clay hand directly pressed against the wooden door as if to keep it from being opened. Actually, Lonna was pretty sure that was exactly what he had in mind.

“Sorry for making you keep watch,” Lonna said. While her brother didn’t need sleep, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t grow bored keeping an eye on her all night. “You could have woken me up, though.”

“I would have, if anyone actually bothered coming to the door,” Talith admitted, shrugging one of his round, rock-like shoulder joints. “Guess the countess didn’t mind you sleeping in.”

“Princess perk,” Lonna responded, dryly. “Or maybe the servants are still arguing over who has to deal with the dragon.”

“Someone’s bitter,” Talith remarked, raising one side of his monobrow. “Your night out went badly?”

“I wouldn’t say it went badly, exactly…” Lonna admitted, scratching at the back of her neck. “I got a good reminder of how the world sees me, is all.”

Between Tabitha and the orphans, the last twenty four hours had really driven home what the denizens of this world thought of her, and it wasn’t pretty.

The runaway princess. The half-dragon disaster. If she was only Sorissa’s daughter, there might have been some hope of changing public opinion. It might have been possible to convince the masses to judge her as a separate person. But nobody was going to trust a half-dragon. Nobody was going to give a chance to one of those beasts, who had once enslaved all the sapient species of this continent.

Well. What of it? Lonna thought to herself. At the end of the day, none of this was news to Lonna. Yes, it was a bit hard seeing her inner thoughts so brutally confirmed, but it was nothing she hadn’t already known. She could handle it.

“So it went that bad?” Talith asked, removing his hand from the door and walking toward Lonna. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I told you, it wasn’t… all bad,” Lonna muttered, reaching down to the floor to grab her green cloak. “I talked to a couple kids. Found out how people are talking about me. Apparently I eat naughty children, among other things.”

“Lonna…” Talith lifted a hand toward her, but then hesitated, unsure of what to say.

“It’s fine, Talith. I’m used to it. I’m ‘the runaway princess’ after all.” She flashed Talith a smile, reaching into her cloak as she did so and drawing out two bits of twine. These she used to tie her red hair into two buns, forming one around each of the two brown antler-nubs that marked her dragon heritage.

“...I’m going to go see Melissa,” Lonna declared, walking past Talith and toward the door. “Assuming I can get someone to show me the way, anyhow.” 

“Really?” Talith again lifted one side of his monobrow. “You aren’t going to try and kiss her again, are you?”

“Of course not,” Lonna denied. “She’s made it pretty damn clear she isn’t into me, after all.” 

That wasn’t exactly what Melissa had said, and Lonna knew it. It was only that Melissa wasn’t quite ready to think about romance, not that she had no romantic interest in Lonna. Still, it was of cold comfort to Lonna, who knew that Melissa intended to leave this world behind.

Talith, for his part, looked as if he wanted to say something. His mouth opened, and closed, but, in the end, the only thing that escaped his throat was a sigh. 

“...Don’t look at me like that,” Lonna muttered, pulling the door open. “I’m fine. Honest.”

Talith looked like he wanted to argue, more, but stopped himself when he saw the maid standing in front of their door.

She was a harpy; specifically one with brown hawk wings stretching behind her back. She had black hair, cut at shoulder length, and golden eyes that seemed as cold as the metal they resembled. She was standing in front of the door as if she’d been waiting there for it to open, and she lowered herself into a curtsy the moment it did so. 

“Princess Lonna,” the maid said, dropping her black skirts and straightening stiffly upright. “Countess Liliath would like to formally request your presence for breakfast. Also invited is the heroine, known as Melissa.”

“Sorry, but I make a habit of skipping any meals my brother isn’t invited to,” Lonna informed the maid.

“Your.. brother?” The maid glanced at Talith, still inside the room, then nodded. “Then if the countess were to include another place at the table, you would come?”

“Maybe,” Lonna agreed. “Why don’t you go ask your mistress, while I go see the heroine? Meet me there in, say, twenty minutes?”

“I am supposed to take you directly to the countess,” the maid protested. “I’m sure if your brother were to follow, however-”

“Are maids really supposed to be making those kinds of decisions?” Lonna interrupted, cocking an eyebrow. “You might get in trouble with the countess if you don’t do everything by the book, you know.”

“My mistress cares for results first and foremost,” the maid declared, with confidence in her voice. “If the two of you would kindly follow me?”

Lonna glanced at Talith, who only shrugged his broad shoulders. It didn’t seem like the lapsi had any ideas on how to get out of this. Or maybe he simply saw no reason to get out of it? The countess wasn’t asking for anything unreasonable, and going along with her wishes was probably the easiest way to meet up with Melissa. With that in mind, it was actually pretty obvious what Lonna needed to do.

“Sorry,” she declared, without the slightest hint of guilt in her voice, “but I’m going to have to turn you down. I want to have a private talk with the heroine before breakfast. How about you lead me there, and we’ll head to the countess together after a little chat?”

Lonna had no reason for going against the countess. She had plenty of reason to follow the countess, actually. Whether it was to meet up with Melissa, to avoid offense, or just for the sake of securing the countess’s good mood, there were a lot of merits to doing what the maid asked.

Still, Lonna refused to do what was asked. She didn’t have a single good reason for doing so, but she did have a single, overwhelming, bad reason for her decision: she was in a horrible mood, and she felt like being contrary.

Faced with this needless needling, the maid stared at Lonna for several moments before dropping into another curtsy.

“If that is what the princess wishes,” the maid declared, “then it will be my honor to see to it. Shall I lead you to the heroine?”

“Quickly, if you don’t mind.” Lonna lazily laced her fingers behind her head as she spoke, a languid smile on her lips. “We wouldn’t wanna keep the countess waiting too long, after all.”

“Of course, Princess. I will be sure to let my mistress know of your concern for her schedule.” The maid curtsied, again, and turned. Without so much as a glance behind her shoulder, she started to walk swiftly down the hallway.

Lonna hurried after. Hurried being a keyword, as the maid’s long legs allowed her to set a fast pace without seeming the slightest bit rushed, herself. Lonna, struggling to keep up on her shorter legs, stubbornly refused to ask the maid to slow down. In her mind, she had entered a sort of battle with the harpy maid and it could only end in either utter victory or crushing defeat.

Eventually, after leading Lonna through a series of hallways, the maid came to a halt. Lonna, who’d practically been forced to start jogging in order to keep up with the woman’s walking pace, stopped as well. Somewhat grateful for the break, but trying not to show it, Lonna took a moment to study the area they’d found themselves in.

They were some distance away from Lonna’s room. She was pretty sure the maid had made the route needlessly complicated, either to keep Lonna from memorizing the route or to sadistically force Lonna into walking a longer distance. Perhaps both? Lonna couldn’t rule anything out. The fact that her room wasn’t next door to Melissa’s in the first place was suspicious, too.

It was possible that the countess was simply treating them differently due to their different stations. It wouldn’t have technically been inappropriate for the countess to stuff Melissa in a servant’s quarters, or some such. The lush brown carpet under their feet, the fancy vase against the wall, and the painting of a former count set between two nearby doors, seemed to indicate that this area was at least as fancy as the area where Lonna was housed, though. If not more so…

So why were Lonna and Melissa separated? Perhaps to keep them from slipping away, together, during the night? Lonna knew that the countess didn’t get along with Sorissa, but she couldn’t help but be suspicious of the woman’s motivations all the same. She still remembered what the countess had said, when they first arrived, after all. If Liliath became convinced that Lonna and Melissa were more a threat to the populace than Sorissa, herself, they’d be turned over to the queen in a heartbeat. Lonna was sure of it.

If she found out that Melissa had turned down Lonna’s initial attempt at romance, would that shift the countess’s thinking? Would she realize that the future she wanted, with Lonna as the queen and Melissa as her princess consort, was too far fetched to come about? Would she turn on them? If so, they might be in trouble. Lonna still wasn’t at full capacity when it came to her magic - she had gathered maybe a third of her breath back, thanks to food and sunlight. 

That was more than enough to blow the manor to smithereens, but doing so while also protecting Talith and Melissa from the flames would be a bit of a stretch. If she had a better grasp of spellcraft, she’d have more options - custom, written spells were by far the most efficient way to use one one’s Breath, after all… But wishing for what couldn’t be was pointless. Lonna had only raw power at her disposal, not intricate spell weavings.

With that in mind, Lonna’s power was probably best kept as a deterrent, at least until she’d gotten more of her breath back. Actually, if things got bad enough that they needed to escape in a rush, wouldn’t it be best to just destroy walls in a straight line until they found their way out? In which case she didn’t really need to worry about memorizing the layout of this place. 

Though. Come to think of it…

“Why’d we stop?” Lonna asked her guide. She’d assumed they were at the destination, or practically so, but the maid had yet to indicate a room. In fact, she had been standing stock still for the last minute or so, arms at her side, palms flat against her thighs, a patient expression on her face.

“I thought that you would wish to regain your composure, after the long walk here, before greeting the heroine,” the maid explained. “It wouldn’t do if a potential suitor saw you flustered and out of breath, Princess.”

“You…” Lonna’s teeth ground against each other, a physical representation of Lonna’s self restraint. If her lips were closed, she could neither breathe fire nor utter a spell. She could still gather light, of course, but she tried very hard not to think about blasting super-concentrated light at the woman who’d put her in this position before expressing concern. Was her love life just a joke to the people in this manor?

“You seem to have murder in your eyes, Princess.” The maid tilted her head to one side as she spoke, and she tapped a finger against the upper corner of her mouth. “Are you the sort to take it out on me? Perhaps you’ll ask to have me tormented on the dinner table? I have been wondering how many of your mother’s proclivities you share…”

“Do not call that woman my mother!” Lonna snapped. For a moment, the room grew noticeably dimmer, as bright light gathered in Lonna’s hands. Then, slowly, the light began to fade again. “I am not Sorissa.”

“...So you’re fine with being accused of vile behaviors, but being compared to the queen is a line too far? You certainly are troublesome, aren’t you, Princess?”

“Yeah, I get it. I’m the tiny terror who’s going to gnaw off your limbs and burn your bones, right? Think of me you wish. But whatever crimes you think I’ve committed, or will commit, they belong to me and me alone. They’re completely separate from Sorissa being my… Creator.” Lonna looked away as she spoke the last word, not quite able to meet the maid’s eyes. She knew as well as anyone that she couldn’t separate herself entirely from Sorissa. All the same, she didn’t want to recognize the woman as her mother. 

“I see, I see,” the maid murmured, before dropping into another curtsy. “It was rude of me to test you like that. My father often told me that I mustn't judge people on their parentage, but considering the nature of your parents I had to wonder just what sort of daughter they had managed to raise. I’m sure they’d be disappointed to know they didn’t raise a monster.”

“I can’t tell if you’re complimenting me, or trying to get me to rip your throat out,” Lonna complained, gnashing her teeth together. “Who the hell do you even think you are?”

“Ah. Perhaps I should have led with that? My father is Baron Schmell. I am his first daughter, Marindell, but since I was born of a commitment ceremony I am sadly bereft of titles. Hence my placement in this manor as a maid, as it would happen.”

“Barn Schmell?” Lonna tried to remember if she’d ever been to the man’s estate. Her life had been a flurry of visits to various estates, back then, but baron’s were low enough in the pecking order that they likely hadn’t warranted a direct visit. Even if they had, they wouldn’t have bothered to introduce Lonna to this girl, who’d been born outside a proper noble marriage contract. 

“We’ve never met, Princess,” Marindell said, as if reading Lonna’s mind. “My father has done his best to keep out of your - out of Sorissa’s sight.”

“Seems a shame to undo all that work by putting yourself on my bad side,” Lonna pointed out.

“But you are not the queen, Princess,” Marindell countered. “And I can’t help but think it’ll be a blessing, being known by you. If not now, then one day.”

“Known for raising the tree's own thorn in my side, you mean,” Lonna groused. “Fine. You’ve made sure I’ll remember Baron Schmell’s name. And given me time to catch my breath. Now tell me how to get to Melissa?”

“It’s just around this corner,” Marindell promised, leading Lonna around the corner.

Lonna stared after her a moment, memorizing every detail of the girl from behind, before following. She would remember Baron Schmell - but only through his connection to Marindell.

It wasn’t every day Lonna met a girl with so little fear.

***

Melissa woke, stirred by a gentle beam of light that shone through her unshuttered window. She moved quickly, from there, swinging her feet down off the bed and reaching for her shoes. 

The dirty white sneakers were the only clothes left to her from before the transformation, and Melissa took a moment to appreciate the fact that her shoe size hadn’t changed too much in the transformation. She wasn’t strictly opposed to getting a good pair of boots, but she was fairly sure that medieval footwear wouldn’t have the same level of arch support as her own sneakers. 

Well, feet were the one thing Clatarra hadn’t measured, so Melissa was fairly sure it wasn’t a problem. Though, thinking of Clatarra, hadn’t the girl given her something? Something for Lonna…?

“That’s right…” Melissa murmured. “The spell. To stop Lonna’s mom from… spying… on her…” A slow flush crept across Melissa’s cheeks, upon realizing she’d forgotten something so important. She hadn’t had pockets, so if memory served…

Blushing, faintly, Melissa reached into her cleavage, and pulled out a folded piece of parchment. The spell was written on it, multiple symbols connected by a circle of ink. Melissa wasn’t really sure how to read it, but Clatarra had claimed it would shield Lonna from spying for a day, each time she cast it. Considering Lonna didn’t even think it was possible for her to be spied on, didn’t that make this a really precious piece of parchment?

“And I just stuck it in my cleavage like it was nothing…” Melissa rubbed the back of her head, trying to hide her embarrassment. There was really nothing to be done for it, though. Between realizing she was a girl, and getting kissed, it had totally slipped from her thoughts.

“W-well, guess I better tell Lonna about it…” Attempting to laugh off her mistake, Melissa reached for the doorknob, and pulled the door open.

Standing on the other side was Lonna, her fist raised as if to knock. Melissa and her blinked in surprise at each other, both of them taking a hurried step back upon making eye contact, and glancing away from each other. If they’d bothered to look at one another’s faces, they might have noticed that they were both blushing.

After a few moments of awkward fidgeting, during which Melissa wound hair around her finger while Lonna squeezed lightly at her own arm, it was Melissa who broke the silence.

“Lonna… About the kiss, I-”

“It’s fine,” Lonna interrupted. “I just got caught up in the moment.”

“Are you sure?” Melissa tried to search Lonna’s eyes, but Lonna stubbornly refused to meet her gaze. “Lonna. I wasn’t trying to reject you. You know that, right? I just need some time to sort out what I’m feeling.”

“I said I get it, alright?” she did meet Melissa’s gaze with those words. There was anger in her eyes, and hurt.

Melissa knew she had caused that hurt. She wasn’t sure what she could do to get rid of it, though. She simply, truly, wasn ‘t ready to start dating as a girl yet.

“I get it,” Lonna muttered, again, looking at the ground. “I understand. So I need you to understand that getting turned down is gonna hurt for a while, alright? And having you walk on eggshells around me is just gonna hurt more. So… Just… pretend like nothing’s the matter, for a while, would you?”

“Just… Pretend?” Melissa parroted back.

“That’s right,” Lonna confirmed. “Just until we can put things behind us for real. It’s not like we can stop spending time together, or wait it out. The only thing we can do is pretend it doesn’t bother us until it really doesn’t. And by then, who knows? Maybe you’ll be back on your world!”

“I’m… Not sure I want to go back to my old world, actually…” Melissa looked away from Lonna as she admitted this, choosing to study the brown carpet beneath their feet. “I don’t want to change my body, anymore, which means it would be kind of complicated to go back… I do still want to defeat Sorissa, for everyone’s sake - and I want to use her library to look into how to send a letter home. But. I don’t think I want to go back myself…”

“Is that so?” It was difficult to read the emotions in Lonna’s voice. Her face was a carefully composed mask of neutrality, as well.

“I… After everything is done. I was hoping we could go on a date,” Melissa admitted, scratching at the back of her neck. “If that’s something you still want, I mean?”

“...You should be careful about giving people false hopes, you know,” Lonna warned. There was a lonely wistfulness in her voice, an ache that caused Melissa to unconsciously reach toward Lonna, before dropping her hand. There was nothing she could do. Nothing she could say, beyond what she’d already said. It was the only offer she had to make, and if Lonna didn’t believe it was possible, then…

To Melissa’s surprise, however, Lonna looked up at her with a bright smile on her lips. It didn’t seem fake, at least to Melissa. 

“Alright,” Lonna declared. “I’ll work you to the bone to make that future a reality! Me and you, kissing beneath the moonlight. Keep that goal in mind and keep working hard!”

“A-alright,” Melissa promised. “I’ll work hard for a future where you can smile like that, all the time.”

“Uh-huh. As long as you’re working to beat Sorissa, I guess I don’t have any complaints. Your promise isn’t what I came here to collect, though - the countess wants to see us both.”

“Liliath wants to see me?” Melissa asked, surprised.

“...Liliath, huh?” Lonna narrowed her eyes, faintly. “You’re getting pretty close to her, aren’t you? I thought you were of common birth, but you don’t seem to think anything about getting close to royalty.”

“Well, we didn’t really have much in the way of royalty where I’m from,” Melissa admitted. “So I guess I just don’t take the whole thing that seriously? I can try to be more formal, if you want. Princess.”

“Don’t call me that,” Lonna warned, scowling. “It makes me see like I’m nothing more than my title. Which I didn’t exactly ask for, for the record.”

“Sorry,” Melissa apologized, nervously wrapping a bit of hair around her index finger. “I’m… Honestly, I’m still not entirely sure what to make of everything,” she admitted. “There’s so much I don’t know about you. I can tell that things must have been hard on you, but other than that… Everything is a mystery.”

“Well, maybe I can remove some of that mystery after breakfast,” Lonna suggested. “When we don’t have anyone waiting. And when we hopefully have less of an audience…”

“An audience?” Melissa asked. She hadn’t been aware of anyone but the two of them.

At the question, however, Lona sighed and pushed the door further open. Behind her were a black haired harpy maid, and Joanie the rabbit sapphi.

“Yup yup,” Joanie interjected. “I’ll be guiding you to the countess’s chamber this morning. Guard and guide, I’m earning my keep this week. If you’ll follow me?”

“I, as well, will be guiding you,” the maid declared, dropping into a curtsy. “My name is Marindell; a pleasure to meet you, heroine.” 

“Wait a second,” Melissa protested, holding up a hand. “I just got up. My brain’s not even fully functional, yet. And…” Wasn’t she forgetting something? That’s right! “I had something to give to Lonna!”

“Something to give me?” Lonna frowned faintly at this news, glancing behind her at the company who’d come with them. “Is it okay to talk about in front of company?”

“Well… I don’t think waiting is a great idea,” Melissa confessed. “It’s uh… It’s sort of. A spell?” Melissa explained, holding out the parchment. “Clatarra - that is, the tailor’s daughter? - she told me it would shield you from a spying spell? Which is apparently on you. ...She gave it to me, yesterday, actually, but after everything that happened I kind of forgot about it.”

“A spying spell?” Lonna asked, skeptically. “Give it here.”

Since Melissa was still holding onto the spell, she simply lifted the parchment up for Lonna to take. Lonna did so, taking it somewhat brusquely and unfolding the parchment. 

Scanning the spell, Lonna turned the square of paper from side to side. As she did so, the annoyed scowl slipped from her face, replaced by a look of abject horror.

Finally, after returning the parchment to its original position, Lonna slammed the spell against the door. The topmost symbol on the circle lit up, as she did so, the light traveling through the circle of ink to ignite every other symbol on the page. When the last symbol lit up, and the circle completed, there was a flash of light so bright that Melissa was forced to look away.

This process repeated itself four more times, before Lonna eventually folded up the paper, and put it in her pouch. “That tree-forsaken…” Lonna muttered to herself. “She better not have been spying on me last night, or… branch and root, I’ll kill her myself!”

“What happened last night?” Joanie asked, curious.

“None of your business,” Lonna snapped, before seeming to think better of it. “I mean… It was something personal, is all.” Melissa was sure of it, this time: Lonna was blushing.

Melissa decided not to comment on it, though, since she was blushing, too. She’d just realized that Sorissa might have seen their kiss.

“Well,” Lonna declared, “now that that little issue is taken care of - shall we go see what the countess wants?”

“Taken care of?” Melissa repeated, barely able to believe what she was hearing. “Isn’t it really bad if Sorissa was spying on us this whole time? Like. Won’t she know what we’re after? And where we are right now? And… Everything?”

“You don’t need to tell me what it means,” Lonna grumbled, glaring at Melissa. “If this is real, every bit of freedom I’ve ever had was just some sick joke from Sorissa. When I think about the fact that she might have been watching me, all this time… It makes my skin crawl. It makes it feel like everything I’ve ever done was just some bit of naughtiness Sorissa let me get away with… Which is why I don’t believe for a second that this so-called spying spell spell is real. I mean, I’ve never even heard of a spell like that, before, and some woman you randomly met happened to know of it? No way.”

“Then why’d you cast the spell?” Melissa asked, confused.

“Because it’s harmless to take precautions,” Lonna told her. “...I mean, as long as you didn’t pay for it. You didn’t pay for that, did you?”

“I didn’t pay for it,” Melissa confirmed. “She uh. Also said it’s only good for a day? So you’ll need to recast it tomorrow.”

“Hah. You’ll be lucky if I’m not taking this spell out hourly. The idea of being watched is so horrifying I want to crawl in a hole and die. But if Sorissa could spy on me, there’s no way any of us would be free right now. So it’s probably fine.”

“I… Guess that makes sense,” Melissa admitted, idly tugging at the hair she’d wrapped around her finger. “Clatarra seemed pretty convincing, though.”

“Uh-huh. Well, I’ll say this much - the spellcraft on this thing is good. I saw runes from the sapphi, the lamia, the magi, and the dragons on this thing. Not that I know what most of them mean, but… Just looking at it, it’s practically on par with Sorissa’s work. Are you sure the girl who did this was just a tailor’s daughter?”

“Pretty sure, yeah,” Melissa confirmed. “I mean, the only reason she even did this was so that I’d let her take my measurements.”

“...Seriously?” Lonna shook her head. “Well, whatever. A polished turd is still crap, in the end. Now come on, the countess is waiting.”

Lonna smiled brightly as she spoke, but Melissa couldn’t help but notice Lonna’s hand slipping back into the pouch. Melissa pretended not to see the flash of light that emanated from Lonna’s bag right after, though.

(Author's Note: Sorry this took so long! Depression has been an uphill battle, of late, but I'm proud to have gotten this out <3)

Countess Liliath rose as Lonna entered her study. The instant after the countess left the chair, before the backs of her knees could strike against the wood, the maid smoothly pulled the large seat back. Melissa could tell that the maid must have practiced that maneuver countless times to achieve such precise timing. By rising like that, Liliath showed her respect for Lonna’s station while simultaneously broadcasting her tight control over this manor.

“Princess Lonna,” Liliath murmured, bowing her head. “Melissa, the heroine.” Liliath gave Melissa a small nod, and a smile of encouragement, before turning her attention to the final member of their party. “And of course the princess’s…. bodyguard?”

“He wishes,” Lonna muttered, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “He’s my brother.”

“Your brother,” Liliath repeated. Her voice was flat as an ironing board, and Melissa couldn’t help but notice that the countess was looking over Talith more carefully now. “Adopted, I assume?”

“That’s right,” Lonna confirmed, narrowing her eyes. “Is that a problem?”

“Of course not,” Liliath denied. “But you must realize that being family to a princess is no small matter. People will no doubt try to use your brother to get to you after you’ve taken charge. Are you prepared for that?”

“I’m not prepared for any of this,” Lonna told her, scowling. “I haven’t dealt with nobles since I was thirteen.”

“The basics have remained the same, I assure you,” Liliath replied, answering Lonna’s scowl with a faint smile. “And if you need help reacclimating to nobility, I would be proud to give you some lessons. But I fear all that will have to wait until after you’ve taken the throne.”

“...Sorissa knows we’re here. Doesn’t she?” Despite phrasing it as a question, there was no doubt on Lonna’s face. “When is she coming? Or is she just sending her army?”

“Actually, Sorissa hasn’t said a thing about you,” Liliath said. Despite those words, there was a faint frown on the countess’s lips. “Officially she’s sending a small envoy to Dorith, and she’s simply requested that I house them for a day or two before sending them on their way. But I doubt there’s a soul in the city who doesn’t know you’re here. Once they arrive, they’ll ask about the rumors of your presence, and from there, an investigation will be launched.”

“Will you be alright?” Melissa asked, unable to keep the worry from her voice. 

“I’ll be fine,” Liliath promised, turning her gaze to Melissa. “It’s hardly illegal to meet with the princess of one’s queendom. It’s not as if Lonna was ever officially declared a rebel and a traitor, after all.”

That was news to Melissa, who shot a glance toward Lonna. The glower on the other woman’s face was enough to discourage her from asking any questions, though.

“How long do we have?” Melissa asked, turning her attention to Liliath instead. “Until we have to leave, I mean.”

“The sooner you’re gone the better, alas,” Liliath admitted. “In fact, I’m hoping to have you out within the hour. I called you here to settle the last few details before you leave.”

“Details like what?” Talith asked, stepping forward to stand next to Lonna. His brow was furrowed, and the sockets that housed his glowing red eyes were narrowed in suspicion.

“It’s nothing you need to concern yourself with,” Liliath promised. “Certainly nothing that would cause your sister harm. Or Melissa, of course.” Liliath gave Melissa a small smile of encouragement at the end, but it didn’t do anything to help with Melissa’s nerves.

“Then what?” Lonna pressed, placing her hands on Liliath’s desk. “Sorissa’s people could be coming at any moment. She probably sent them right after the messenger. So tell me - what’s worth risking everything for?” 

“It would seem that you’re in a bad mood,” Liliath commented, apparently unphased by Lonna’s ferocity. “Should I ask what happened?”

“Maybe it has something to do with your maid,” Talith muttered, pointing a thick finger toward the brunette woman standing behind Liliath. It was the same woman who’d attended Liliath during their first visit. So far she’d attended to her mistress with a serene smile on her lips, but when Talith pointed her out she paled.

Countess Liliath lifted an eyebrow at the accusation, looking between Lonna, Talith, and the maid. “I invited Tabitha to serve me today because I understood she had a positive relationship with Princess Lonna. If that is not the case, then I can certainly request a different maid.”

“It’s fine,” Lonna insisted, shaking her head. “If Sorissa’s people are on the way, we don’t have time to spare on stuff like this. You should have had me halfway out the door the moment you got that message from her.”

“An abundance of caution is better than none, but too much and you’ll simply wear yourself out,” Liliath warned Lonna, frowning. “I sincerely doubt Sorissa wants you captured. Unless you think it’s merely an oversight that’s kept her from putting a bounty on you all these years?”

“But she did put out posters for Melissa,” Lonna pointed out. “And everyone in town knows you’re holding her. Unless you have a way of wriggling out from under that accusation, too?”

“I’ll simply say I remanded her to the custody of the princess.”

“And they’ll believe that?” Melissa asked, incredulous.

“Of course not,” Lonna scoffed, pushing up off the desk and crossing her arms again. “...But it’s a good excuse. And even Sorissa can’t afford to press the countess too far. Isn’t that right, countess?” 

“More or less,” Liliath agreed. “I have the support of my people, and control over the seaport. Sorissa will need to carefully consider how far she’s willing to press me - though there’s always the risk that she’ll simply kill me and be done with it.”

“Which makes me question again what’s so important,” Lonna said, turning her gaze back to Liliath. “Why are we here and not fleeing the city?”

“You’re here for this,” Liliath replied, opening a drawer in her desk and pulling out a small wooden box. Removing the lid, Liliath lifted a small glass orb from the box. “I trust you know what this is, princess?”

Lonna studied the orb, seeming confused at first. Melissa could tell the exact moment that recognition dawned on her, though; a small smile appeared on Lonna’s lips, but it disappeared quickly.

“Yeah, I recognize it,” Lonna confirmed. “It’s a breathstone.”

“Correct,” Liliath confirmed, before turning her eyes toward Melissa. “There’s a spell inscribed upon it - you see, here?” Liliath tapped her thumb against an etched design, featuring several runes bisected by a circle. “All you need do is touch the inscription, while I hold the orb. It will probe your breath capacity and light up relative to your total potential.”

“Breath capacity refers to how much magic you can wield,” Lonna translated. “The more magic you can wield, the brighter the thing gets. Commoners usually get it done in a church, but generally only once, when they turn thirteen.”

“So I’ll finally find out my capacity?” Melissa asked, excited. The idea of magic had always been enticing to her, even back in her own world. Spells that let you transform, magical swords that let you fight to protect what was right, enchanted shields that would defend against injustice. A lot of it had been nothing more than childhood fantasy, looking back at it, but she still wanted to know the real deal. If not for the dire circumstances of her summoning, she would have immersed herself in studying magic first thing.

“That’s the idea,” Liliath confirmed, holding out the orb. “Just place your finger within the circle, and we’ll know what we have to work with.”

Melissa nodded eagerly, reaching out to press her finger against the smooth surface of the glass orb. It was warm beneath her finger, and she imagined that she could feel the power pulsing within it.

“Ready when you are,” Melissa declared, grinning up at Liliath.

Liliath didn’t answer. Her eyes were focused purely on the orb, and there was a faint frown on her lips. After a long moment, she let out a small sigh. “Exactly what I was afraid of…”

“What you were… What do you mean?” Melissa asked, worried. Even as she asked the question, though, the gears were already turning in her head. The frown on Liliath’s face. The faint rumbling sigh that emanated from Talith as he looked on. The way Lonna was glaring daggers at the glass ball as if it had personally offended her. And the orb itself, as dim as ever.

“...I don’t have any magic, do I?” Melissa whispered, softly.

“...I’m afraid not,” Liliath confirmed. Her tone was gentle, and she showed no trace of the disappointment Melissa herself was feeling. “It’s a setback, but nothing that can’t be overcome.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Lonna protested, holding up a hand. “Not that I don’t trust you, but there’s no way that the heroine has no magic. I mean…  she’s the heroine.”

“A position we know nearly nothing about,” Liliath countered. “The only thing we know is that the heroine is destined to kill Sorissa. If she doesn’t have magic, we must assume that she’ll find some other way of accomplishing the feat.”

“But… No magic at all?” Lonna’s eyes shifted from the countess to Melissa, who was still staring at the orb. Seeing the forlorn expression on Melissa’s face, Lonna’s own countenance hardened, and she reached out to snatch the orb from the countess.

“Here, one more time,” she insisted, holding it out to Melissa. “I’ll be the one activating it this time”

“Now who’s wasting time?” Liliath demanded, rolling her eyes. She did not try to take the orb back, though, instead gesturing for them to continue.

Melissa hesitated a moment, then slowly reached out to tap her finger against the orb once more.

There was no response.

“...It’s gotta be broken,” Lonna insisted, next, shifting her own thumb to touch the circle. Instantly, the room was bathed in light so bright that Melissa’s eyes began to tear. She squeezed them shut, but it still felt as if the glow was penetrating her eyelids.

A loud crack ended the light show, and when Melissa blinked the spots from her eyes she saw that the orb had broken apart into three distinct pieces. 

“If you’re quite finished breaking valuable magic tools,” the countess murmured, “perhaps we can turn our attention toward viable solutions, instead?”

“Solutions like what?” Lonna demanded, placing the broken orb on the Countess’s desk. “How is Melissa supposed to face the most powerful being in the world when she can’t even use magic?”

“With cunning, strength, and a good weapon,” Liliath answered, calmly, before turning her attention to Melissa. “I have not asked after Lonna’s specific plans, because it is for the best that I do not know them. But I assume that training you in weaponry is among them, no?”

“I… Guess so?” Melissa floundered, glancing at Lonna. There was definitely talk about a legendary weapon, but they hadn’t really discussed how Melissa would learn to use it.

“Talith can teach Melissa how to fight,” Lonna interceded, gesturing to her brother.

Talith’s eyes widened faintly in surprise as if this was news to him, but he quickly covered his surprise and let out a small grunt of affirmation. Crossing his arms in front of him, he looked to Melissa as if he were daring Liliath to argue with his qualifications.

“I’m sure he can fight,” Liliath admitted, shooting Talith a quick glance before turning her attention to Lonna. “But it seems to me that your brother shaped his body with an eye toward brute force.”

“And so what if I did?” Talith demanded, lowering his hands to the ground in order to swing his body forward, a step closer toward the countess.

“Can you wield a sword?” Liliath asked, turning her gaze to Talith. “Or a spear? Without snapping it?”

“...Not exactly…” Talith confessed, in a low grumble. If Talith had teeth, Melissa thought he’d be grinding them together with that answer. “But I know the right grips, and I make for a durable sparring partner.”

“But you can’t actually show her those grips, can you?” Liliath pressed, narrowing her eyes. “And even if you could, your form is hardly suited for showing her proper stances.”

“Do you have a point?” Lonna demanded, placing her hands on her hips and glaring at the countess. 

“I do, actually.” The countess met Lonna’s harsh gaze with a small smile. “I want you to take one of my guards with you. Her name is Joanie - I believe you’re already acquainted with her, Melissa?” Liliath’s eyes didn’t waver from Lonna’s as she spoke, even as she brought up the heroine’s name.

“You mean the rabbit sapphi?” Melissa asked. “Wait. Is that why you’ve had her guarding me?”

“You’ve been planning this all along, haven’t you?” Lonna accused, pointing a finger toward the countess.

“I have,” the countess confessed. She was still smiling, but there seemed to be an edge to it now as if it were merely an excuse to bare her teeth. “Even before our first meeting, actually - from the moment I saw you walking up the path to my manor. I could tell at a glance that our heroine wasn’t a warrior. And it’s become more and more obvious that neither of you have the right temperament or ability to teach her how to fight.” She turned her gaze toward Melissa, and her smile seemed to soften a little. “You have a sharp mind, Melissa, and a strong build. There’s a lot you can accomplish if you have the right teacher. You might learn to take down opponents even your friend Talith can’t beat.”

“And you think Joanie can teach me?” Melissa asked. Lonna looked like she wanted to say something, but kept her mouth shut after a single glance at Melissa. Perhaps because of the resolute look on the heroine’s face.

Despite the confidence that she’d shown throughout the meeting, Liliath seemed to hesitate here. “...She’s the most accomplished master I have at my disposal,” was what she eventually said, but her eyes didn’t quite meet Melissa’s.

“What aren’t you telling me?” Melissa demanded, trying to catch Liliath’s gaze again.

The countess hesitated a moment more, and then let out a small sigh, shaking her head softly. “Joanie can teach you how to wield any weapon you can imagine. She’s shown so much natural talent that it’s almost maddening - the sword, the lance, the bow, even a bladed fan - I had her trained in each, and she mastered them all.”

“So what’s the problem?” Melissa inquired, tilting her head to the side. So far, Joanie sounded like the best teacher she could ask for, but all the same, something was making Liliath hesitate.

“She only learned those weapons so that I’d stop insisting she train in them. When it comes to actual combat, she’s infuriatingly stubborn in her weapon of choice. No matter what the situation, she’ll only enter combat with… Lucinda.”

“Lucinda?” Lonna interjected, arching an eyebrow. “Who or what is Lucinda?”

“That’s what she calls her spear,” Melissa replied, recalling the conversation she had with Joanie. “Is that why you’re so hesitant? Because she’s so attached to her spear?”

“Attached doesn’t even begin to describe it,” Liliath warned. “She held a commoner’s handfasting with it.”

Lonna let out a short bark of laughter at that, and even Talith chuckled a little. Melissa, however, only frowned.

“A  commoner’s handfasting?” Melissa, she echoed back. “That’s like marriage, right?”

“It’s a type of marriage, yes,” Liliath confirmed. “It’s not legally binding, like the contracts we nobles use for our handfasting arrangements. There’s rarely even a written record of the event. But in the eyes of the majesty trees, it’s quite sacred. Joanie truly has married herself to that weapon.”

“If that’s all it is, I don’t have a problem with it,” Melissa promised, idly wrapping a strand of hair about her index finger. “No offense to Talith, but I might learn faster with someone who can show me what to do.”

“I’m not convinced,” Talith protested. “This whole mission is insane enough already, we don’t need a branch with loose leaves.”

“That’s quite the harsh evaluation,” Liliath remarked, arching a thin blonde eyebrow at Talith. “But if you have a problem with my judgment, you’re certainly free to pick among my guards for yourself.”

“But we’re bringing someone with us no matter what, right?” Lonna said, narrowing her eyes at the countess.

The right corner of Liliath’s lips pulled ever so slightly upward in response, but she didn’t say a word.

“I think it’s fine,” Melissa declared, deciding to interrupt before things could get more heated.

The interjection caused Lonna’s eyes to widen in surprise. Her lips pressed against each other to form a thin line, and it was obvious she wasn’t thrilled about Melissa interfering, but she only nodded for Melissa to continue.

“I like Joanie,” Melissa explained. “She’s sort of… weird, I admit. But I have a good feeling about her. And I trust Liliath.”

“Wonderful,” Liliath declared, even as Lonna opened her mouth to argue. “If the heroine is on board then I see no further need to delay here. Joanie is waiting for you in front of the manor, alongside your horses. I took the liberty of providing you with some supplies, money, and a few good weapons - I’m sure you’ll find everything in order when you make camp tonight.”

“Just like that?” Lonna complained. “You get what you want and we’re out the door?”

“You were the one who pointed out how tight time is, Princess Lonna,” Liliath reminded her. “We have no way of knowing when Sorissa’s people will arrive. And I’d rather not have to rush you out the back door.”

“...Fine. We’re leaving.” Lonna spun on her heel with those words, practically stomping her way toward the door.

“Oh, but I do have something to discuss with Melissa,” Liliath added, just as Lonna was pulling open the door. “I trust you won’t mind if she stays behind a few minutes?”

“Discuss whatever you want,” Lonna snapped back. “I clearly have nothing to contribute, anyways.” 

Lonna was out the door before the countess could argue. Talith hesitated a moment, then silently moved to walk out the door as well, closing the door behind him.

“...Why are you being so mean to Lonna?” Melissa asked the moment she and the countess were alone.

“Because she’s the princess,” Liliath responded as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. “She is going to be in charge of all of Resperan. With luck, she may even reunite Auroris as a whole.”

“And that makes it a good idea to get on her bad side?” Melissa asked, confused and more than a little exasperated. “Is it because Sorissa’s her mom? Or because she’s half-dragon? Because neither of those things is her fault.”

“None of this is her fault,” Liliath agreed, softly. “But all of it is on her shoulders. She is the only one who can unite this broken world. The only one who can fix things.”

“Then why are you so mean to her?” Melissa asked, again, stepping closer to the desk. She placed her hands on the cool wood, wrapping her thumbs about the edge of the desk and tightly squeezing. “Even if you hate her, for whatever stupid reason, shouldn’t you be trying to get on her good side?”

“I don’t hate her,” Liliath said, laughing softly. “I don’t even judge her. As you said, her parentage is hardly her fault.”

“Then why?” Melissa asked, for the third time, staring into Liliath’s green eyes.

The countess returned the gaze without flinching, a sad smile on her lips. “Because she can’t let it get to her.”

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said,” Liliath said, sighing. “Her role is to be the queen of our continent. Her duty is to heal our broken world. It’s a hard, harsh task that lies before her. One that she never asked for. One that she’s imminently unqualified for. And one that will set her against people far crueler than I. She needs to learn how to control her temper, or she’ll never succeed.”

“So… what? You were testing her?” Melissa asked. “...Did she pass?”

“She did not,” Liliath confessed, with a sad shake of her head. “But she didn’t fail, either. She simply has a long way to go. And you, I fear, are the only one who can take her there.”

“...Me?” Melissa demanded, nonplussed. “What do you mean? What am I supposed to do?”

“Be with her,” Liliath answered, softly. “Even if it’s only as her friend. That girl needs to feel like there’s someone truly in her corner.”

“Then why couldn’t it be you?” Melissa asked. “If you were nicer to her, then-”

“My job is not to be nice to royalty,” Liliath interrupted. “My job is to watch out for my people. To that end, I am willing to use her, abuse her, or even betray her - whatever it takes. Something she understands.”

Melissa opened her mouth to protest, but then closed it, unsure what to say. Liliath’s gaze softened faintly in response, and when she spoke next it was in a softer tone.

“The princess needs you, Melissa. She needs someone in her life who’s there from choice, and affection, rather than necessity or political guile.”

“She has Talith for that, though,” Melissa pointed out.

Liliath just shook her head. “The sort of love she craves is not something a sibling can provide.”

“...Oh.” Melissa wrapped another strand of hair around her finger, giving it a nervous tug. “And if I can’t give her what she needs, either?”

“Then we might have nearly as much trouble with our next queen as our current one,” Liliath warned. “But I didn’t ask you to stay behind so that I could talk about Lonna. I wanted to talk about you.”

Melissa gestured to herself, blinking in surprise, and the countess nodded with a faint smile.

“You’re disappointed about not having magic, aren’t you?” she asked, cutting straight to the point.

“...A little,” Melissa admitted, surprised at the question. “I mean. I didn’t even think magic was real a few days ago, and now it is - but I still can’t use it.”

“And on top of that,” Liliath added, “you have to fight someone who can. It must be quite distressing.”

“...I don’t suppose you asked me to stay because you have a way around it?” Melissa asked, a faintly bitter smile on her lips.

As expected, the countess gave another shake of her head. “I do not.”

“Then… Then what am I supposed to do?” Melissa asked, her voice barely a whisper. “How am I supposed to win?”

“By entrusting your all to those who have put their faith in you,” Liliath responded, pulling open a drawer to her desk. She pulled out a dagger with a silver hilt and a pure black sheath. When she turned the hilt toward Melissa, Melissa noticed the inscription of a kraken on the pommel.

“This blade bears my family crest,” Liliath explained, speaking softly. “By carrying it with you, you’ll be making your connection to me official. Simply revealing it will be enough to prove that you have the backing of my house.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Melissa protested. “The queen-”

“Will likely have me locked up, depending on the scenario in which this comes into play,” Liliath admitted. “Perhaps worse. But if your need is ever great enough, I want you to have the option.”

Melissa stared at the blade for a long moment. “Why are you so nice to me?” she asked, at last, turning her eyes from the blade to the woman who offered it.

“Because the fate of my world lies in your hands,” Liliath replied, meeting Melissa’s gaze. “It doesn’t belong in them. This is our problem, which you simply got drawn into. Yet here you are, all the same, with our burden in your hands.”

Melissa stared at the dagger for a long moment, before finally reaching out to take it. “Thank you. I still think you should be nicer to Lonna, though. If she’s really going to be queen one day, then she’s going to need people around her who she can trust - people who know how politics work.”

“I’m aware of that, yes,” Liliath agreed. “Have I done something to make her distrust me?”

“It doesn’t matter if she trusts you if she can’t stand being around you.”

“...I’ll keep that in mind,” Countess Liliath murmured, after a long moment.

Melissa nodded, slowly, before turning toward the door and the princess on the other side.