As soon as we returned to Infirmary One we placed our new clothes and weapons on the beds that had been assigned to us for the duration of our stay at Eden Base. I looked at the sword lying there for a long while, taking in its appearance and wondering what I had done to be stuck with something like that. Why couldn’t I have gotten something delicate and pretty like Autumn had?

No, my weapon was huge, utilitarian, sturdy, and had a hilt meant for two hands. Except for its sheer size, nothing was interesting about it. It was so long that I had to wear it at an angle, not only to draw it properly but also so it didn’t drag along the ground. I guessed that if I put the tip on the ground that the pommel would be around eye-level and the blade was as wide as the length of my hand from wrist to fingertips. It was thick too, thicker than my fist in the middle before gradually becoming razor-sharp at the edges and tip. It was a weapon for hacking, impaling, and using brute strength to one’s advantage.

I barely noticed when the others stopped gushing about their new gear and Karina jabbed me in the ribs. “Hey, Snow, I know that’s a pretty badass weapon but we have things to do. I have no idea how you managed to draw that monster one-handed like you did, but you can get to know it better later. We should all get cleaned up and looking presentable for when the other recruits arrive if we want to make a decent first impression.”

“I… uhh… sorry, girls,” I replied after a moment. She was right. Apparently, having your body completely rebuilt is a messy and sweaty process and, while Sira had given me occasional sponge baths while I was in my haze of agony for three days, I still felt pretty gross and wanted to clean up properly before we met anyone new.

With that in mind, I followed the others into the lavatory and the showers that awaited us within. For the first time in my life, getting clean didn’t make me feel wrong or hate myself. Looking at or touching my body didn’t fill me with that familiar sense of self-loathing because I didn’t have that horrible thing between my legs or broad shoulders and flat chest. It felt like my body for the first time ever and I took the time to explore and familiarize myself with it as we washed.

My mind slipped gradually away from my new weapon as I lathered my soft skin and ample curves. My breasts were a bit more than a handful and filled me with pride and a strange sort of excitement that reminded me of when I got turned on in the past but without that hideous thing between my legs making its presence uncomfortably known. Instead, my nipples got really hard and I could feel this pleasant warmth building up between my legs. Curious, I started to lather the folds down there as well, only to be greeted with a pleasant feeling as my fingertips brushed something that felt like a small nub.

I let out a tiny moan of pleasure and could feel my cheeks flushing as it caught the attention of my three companions and Autumn and Karina teased me about finding the magic button. After that, I finished washing as quickly as I could, though my much longer hair took a lot of work to clean thoroughly. At least I wasn’t alone in that since Autumn’s hair was as long as my own when out of the braids that she had had them in when we first met.

Things probably would have taken even longer but there was the liquid soap and something that Sira had told us was called a conditioning shampoo that made things faster and, in addition to getting us clean, kept us smelling nice as well. They weren’t anything like the rough bars of soap that I was used to using for cleaning. Sira had told us that they were made by Alchemists in the capital and would keep our skin and hair both soft and healthy.

They were among many things that the capital sent every month as supplies from the taxes earmarked for the Angel Corps. The monthly supply airship contained things like that soap and shampoo, various everyday supplies and raw materials, fish from the Missippi River, and things like eggs, milk, and other dairy products from the farms around the capital. There were so many new and strange things that Sira had introduced us to or told us about and the capital sounded amazing, I couldn’t wait to see it first hand.

Autumn took longer than me washing up since she had to use a knife to shave the stubble growing at the sides of her head to just over the height of the arch of her eyebrows, but once she was finished she found the rest of us drying off. We didn’t even need to use towels to dry off, well not too much, since there were these floor-to-ceiling metal grates just outside the shower that we could stand in front of that blew warm air to dry us off when they were activated. It took a while to get our hair dry this way, and we had to be careful to comb out any tangles, but it was a lot faster than using a towel for everything.

I was watching the Fay deftly split and then braid her hair into over two dozen separate braids, weaving in dark green beads and leaf-like ornaments when the shaved sides of her head made me think of something. Male Animen often didn’t shave anything, to them, it was getting closer to their animal roots. A lot of women only allowed hair to grow on their heads, ears, and tails, they shaved their legs and under their arms whenever they had need though because they liked the feel of the air or soft clothes on bare skin and it looked cleaner and more attractive to them. I hadn’t started growing facial hair yet but I had begun shaving any leg or body hair that I grew just like the women of the village to look more feminine.

As we were washing and drying I couldn’t help but notice that none of my companions had needed to do so today. Neither had I, which was a bit surprising after 3 days in bed. Sira had offered to program our nanites to remove any hair in undesirable areas but, like a lot of the things that she had told us, I just hadn’t thought it possible at first. I guess that it wasn’t an uncommon request, even Human women in the capital shaved their unwanted body hair and Sira said that the tradition went back to the old world since she remembered women in the base doing so back then. The only one of us who had declined the offer was Autumn because the Fay don’t grow body hair.

For a moment before getting dressed I just smiled and admired my smooth legs, even the area between them, my arms, and underarms had no hair to speak of. It felt so nice as I put my new clothes on. Even the unfamiliar and snug panties felt nice against my skin, though wearing the strange undergarment was nothing like the loose and shifting coverage of a loincloth. The bra was strange and it took a while to get the hang of it; I had to put my arms through the loops, fasten the clasp behind me, and then adjust everything so that my breasts were settled in the cups and everything was straight. But as strange as these undergarments were they were comforting, like a constant reminder that I was now a woman like I had always dreamed of.

The dress, socks, and boots were much easier to put on and very comfortable once they were on. They were utilitarian and comfortable but showed off my new figure nicely. It wasn’t my first time wearing a dress but it was the first time doing it as myself and I couldn’t help but smile as I gave a twirl, making the skirt spin and my long hair whip around, before posing for the others. I couldn’t help it, now that I was finally me I was filled with this sense of euphoria, and not even my enormous masculine weapon could dim that excitement completely.

“Looking good, Snow, but maybe you should braid your hair with it being so long?” Lisbet commented.

“Hey, braids are my thing,” Autumn teased as she worked on finishing her braids so she could get dressed. She was the only one of us not dressed yet, not that she seemed at all uncomfortable sitting in front of us naked. I had heard that the Fay didn’t have many taboos regarding nudity or sex but it was a bit surprising to see firsthand. The Devilkin were similar in that regard so it seemed that only Lisbet and I were uncomfortable with her casual nudity.

I didn’t know about Lisbet but I was a little embarrassed just showering with the other girls, especially with their friendly teasing about the magic button. It didn’t help that I seemed to find my new friends attractive either. Before, I had tried never to think about that sort of thing since the physical reactions to it in my old body made me want to vomit. Now though, I didn’t have that disgust or dissonance with my body to get in the way and I found myself liking what I saw in those few brief daring glances that I had taken. It was making Autumn’s current state of undress very distracting too.

She wasn’t as voluptuous as Karina or Lisbet were now but her tall and slender body was graceful and had a sort of natural charm to it. She was also very pretty in an exotic way. How was I going to deal with this? We were friends, or at the very least well on our way to becoming so, and I didn’t want to make things awkward for any of us.

“Huh?” I asked, turning my head away from the naked Fay working on the last of her braids to look at Karina. She had just whispered something in my ear and while I wasn’t paying enough attention to catch what she said completely, my ear had turned toward the sound enough to catch her warm breath.

“I said that I can tie your hair back if you want me to, Snow,” Karina repeated, then she nudged me in the side with her elbow. “A little distracted, huh? Autumn and I won’t mind if you look you know, and there’s nothing wrong with liking girls that way. Most Fay and a lot of Devilkin are attracted to both genders.”

I could feel my cheeks burning. “I… uhh… I mean….”

“We had some time to get to know one another a bit while you were still going through your changes, Snow. Autumn and Karina are both into guys and girls and while I don’t see the appeal in girls myself, I don’t really care who you’re attracted to, it doesn’t change who we are inside,” Lisbet pointed out as she handed Karina a pretty blue ribbon from her belongings.

“Just relax, none of us are going to get upset at you for finding us attractive, in fact, I think Autumn has been taking her time on purpose for your sake,” the Devilkin girl said with a laugh as she took the ribbon and began to tie my hair back in a high ponytail. “I think she’s going to try to lure you in for some kissing and snuggling at some point.”

“What?!” I hissed back at her, trying not to get the attention of the Fay in question.

“I want to get to know you better, Snowy, and kissing and cuddling while we talk and spend time together is a good way to do that. My people are really big on physical affection,” the Fay explained as she started to get dressed, proving that she had indeed heard me.

“Wait, Snowy?” I blurted out in confusion.

“Yep, that’s what I’m calling you now. Karina is nice to snuggle with and I think you will be too. Lisbet isn’t really interested in more than hugs and such, and if you really feel the same then I promise that I won’t go any further than that with you, as I have with her. Somehow though, I think you won’t object. It’s not like we’ll be able to do more than kissing and cuddling for the next three years anyway,” Autumn offered with a shrug after she had managed to get into her bra.

“Umm… I think I’m okay with that kind of thing. I mean, we can at least try it and see how it goes, but I don’t think I’m ready for anything more than that yet. I need to figure out a lot of things about myself, I think. What do you mean we can’t do more for the next three years though?” I asked in confusion.

Lisbet was the one to answer my question, well somewhat anyway. “Things were boring here under lockdown while you were out, so when Autumn wasn’t trying to get us into group snuggles we spent a lot of time with Rose’s or Talea’s teams or with Sira’s avatar. They gave us an idea of what to expect at the academy.”

“We’ll be taking classes to learn reading and writing and all sorts of other stuff for half of the day, and our trainer will be teaching us combat for the rest. We’ll be at the academy for three years and while we’re there, there are rules that we have to follow,” Karina added as she sat on my bed beside me. “Rule one: No sex. Completely aside from the possibility of pregnancy, they want us to be focusing on our studies and not the drama that can come with physical relationships that have gone too far.”

“Rule two: No fighting amongst one another,” Lisbet added. “We’re all Angels, so we’re supposed to be brothers and sisters in arms. If one training team has issues with another then we’re supposed to talk to our trainer, who will arrange for a team-on-team battle to put the problem to rest. Weapons in these battles will be set to non-lethal and the winners get to decide on how to address the problem between the two teams. No matter who wins, it’s over after the battle, and holding grudges is discouraged.”

Autumn had finished getting her clothes on and sat on my other side, nuzzling me with a sigh as she said, “And then there’s my personal favorite, Snowy, rule three: All students are to act in a way consistent with a member the Angel Corps. Follow all orders given by a team leader, trainer or teacher when given, help others, protect the defenseless, and when in the public eye act with decorum and protect the secrets of the Corps.”

I had to force myself to focus on the Fay’s words rather than the fact that her body was so close to mine, and how nice that felt. Fortunately, I managed to listen and I was considering what we would be in for at the academy when Lisbet interrupted my musings. “Come on, girls, it’s time for lunch, we can talk to Snow and get to know her better while eating. And if you simply must cuddle to do that then you can sit beside her, Autumn,” she said with a teasing grin.

We were in the middle of eating lunch, with Autumn sitting as close to me as our seats would allow when two people entered the busy cafeteria. The first was a pretty girl around the same age as me and my current table companions. She was wearing a really fancy-looking dark blue dress and white boots and had bright pink hair falling just down past her shoulders.

The other woman looked maybe a few years older than us but there was no mistaking who she was, not to me anyway. She had a very familiar weapon slung over her shoulder and if you took away the age lines, well, I knew who it was instantly. I would know that face anywhere, even if it wasn’t so similar to my new one. I let out a happy squeal and practically jumped out of my seat to run and hug the woman who, until recently, I had known as my Aunt Abby.

“Whoa! Somebody got strong,” she practically wheezed in my arms. I could tell that she wasn’t angry with me though.

The same could not be said for the pink-haired girl beside us. “What do you think you’re doing?! Do you have any idea who this is?!”

Her tone wasn’t just angry, it was downright condescending and I could feel my ears flattening and my tail bristling in response. I turned to glare at her, looking her dead in those pink eyes of hers and barely keeping myself from growling at her. “No,” I snapped sarcastically, “I just go hugging random people who I don’t know all the time. You’re lucky it wasn’t you that I saw first.”

She was staring at me in disbelief, and I didn’t particularly care whether it was out of shock that I talked back or from what I had said. I didn’t give her time to do more than sputter angrily though as I added, “Of course, I know who she is! She’s Archangel Abbadine Bengal, the first Angel, and my au… uhh… grandmother.” I gave the grandmother in question a meaningful look as I said the last and pulled away a bit.

Pinky looked like she just bit into something really sour while ‘granny’ Abby winced. Yeah, we were going to have words about that later. For the moment though the first Angel held me by the shoulders at arm’s length as she looked me over. After a moment she smiled and I could swear that I saw tears in her eyes. “You turned out well, Snow. That strength and the nose are a bit of a surprise, but you’re looking good, happy for the first time since I came to Serkis to raise you. How do you feel, Sweetie?”

“I feel amazing! Though after three days of agony, I think that anyone would feel amazing. I heard you got stuck in the capital while I was out,” I replied with a smile, purposely ignoring the seething girl with pink hair and eyes. I was curious, but I wasn’t about to admit it after our ‘introduction’. That is not a normal hair or eye color, even among Seed-borne, which meant that she was probably like me.

Granny Abby looked from one of us to the other and let out a soft groan. “Yes, Her Majesty had a request for me and we needed to discuss the details, and by the time we were done the base was snowed in and I had to wait things out at the palace. Me and Heather here took the veetol back and the other new recruits should arrive with the base’s monthly supplies on the airship in a few hours.” She paused a moment, letting out another nearly inaudible sigh. “Why don’t you go finish your meal with your friends, Snow? We’ll grab something to eat and come join you, we have some things to discuss.”

“Sure, we’ll wait for you then… grandmother,” I replied only slightly awkwardly before turning and heading back to the table where my friends were waiting and watching.

“So… that looked tense,” Lisbet said as I sat down, her eyes following the pair I had just left as they went to get their meals.

“We could hear her yelling at you from here, who does she think she is anyway?” Karina added with a grumble.

“Yeah, talking to our Snowy that way,” Autumn put in with a pout as she leaned closer to me and put an arm around my waist as I started eating again. “If you hadn’t put her in her place I would have…” The Fay girl trailed off, apparently thinking it better not to finish that sentence. I had heard that the Fay could be vengeful and I worried that she might have a problem with not holding a grudge once we started at the academy.

Soon the other pair joined us at our table, my grandmother sitting to my left while the girl sat opposite her. We all sat there for several minutes in silence before the Archangel among us finally spoke. “Girls, I’d like you all to meet Heather Wilson, eldest daughter of Her Majesty, Queen Sabine Wilson. Heather, this is my granddaughter, Snow Bengal, and her friends; Autumn Dawn, Karina Lorelei, and Lisbet Angora.”

Oh shit. I just probably pissed off the heir to the throne of Misota. I was starting to feel pretty tense about that until she added, “Like the four of you, she is here to take the Angel Elixir and join the Corps. Unless there are no other female heirs, daughters of the Queen who display Seed-borne gifts are given the choice to serve as an Angel instead of taking the throne.”

“Yeah, I had so much choice in the matter,” Heather replied bitterly, angrily stabbing one of the veggies on her plate with her fork. “I’ve been kept in the palace most of my life because of my hair and eyes, can’t have the Humans of the kingdom thinking that the heir is part Demon after all. There would be revolts. Since my sister was born this has been the only choice open to me.”

My grandmother gave the not-princess a stern look. “You seem to have exercised your power of choice just fine, Heather. You all but demanded that I be your trainer when I made it quite clear that I usually work alone and had no interest in teaching.”

“She what?!” I snarled, shattering the clay mug in my hand.

“I wanted to learn from the best if I was going to do this! She’s the best!” Heather snapped back at me defensively, staring at the mix of juice, blood, and broken mug remnants falling from my hand. I’ll say this for nanites, they’re effective little things, I could already feel my hand tingling as it healed from the cuts and Autumn gently took my hand to ensure that I wasn’t seriously hurt. The cuts weren’t all that deep anyway, they barely broke the skin, were healing fast, and I had other concerns at the moment.

“Well, I hope that all of you can get along because I’ll be training all five of you once Heather is finished recovering from the Angel Elixir,” my grandmother announced, earning a gape-mouthed stare from every single one of us. “Normally the training teams are made up of four members, but after Heather here ‘convinced’ her mother that I should train her, Her Majesty and I talked about a little idea that I had.”

“What? I wasn’t told about this,” Heather said uncertainly as she looked from our new trainer to each of us.

“You are the student, and I am the trainer. I am not required to tell you anything until I feel the time is appropriate,” my grandmother said pointedly. “Usually, an Alchemist like you wouldn’t even be allowed to have the Angel Elixir, and neither would a Tinker like Lisbet, without approval from a senior Angel first. You would both be learning to work with others like yourselves in the labs or the capital. I was considering five-man teams for specialized missions before I took leave to raise Snow and your training team will be the test to see if this format will work. The two of you will train to use your gifts to support the rest of your team in ways that other teams wouldn’t have access to on long-term missions.”

“Training how?” Lisbet asked.

“Of the five of you, only Karina and Autumn don’t know your reading, writing, and calculating numbers. While they are learning that you will be in the labs learning to use your gift creatively, how the veetols and other equipment work, and how to make repairs or new gear. Heather will be doing the same in the alchemy labs, learning what Sira calls chemistry, and becoming familiar with various materials so she can alter or create them when necessary. Snow will be learning Demon fighting tactics and other skills that she will need as your team leader,” my grandmother told us sternly.

“You’re making her our team leader? Why not me? Is this because…”

Our trainer quickly cut off Heather’s protest. “I am not and will not show favoritism to any of you. You wanted me as a trainer so we are going to do things my way and I will be working every one of you harder than you ever imagined possible. If you don’t like that, then you can tell Sira that you’ll be working in one of the labs instead of taking the Elixir. The team needs a combat leader. Snow already has combat experience against a Demon, she can keep her head and think creatively in high-pressure situations, and she cares about people. Now do you still want my training, or will you just be another Alchemist in the labs? This is the last time that I will have my decisions questioned.”

I wasn’t sure about this being the team leader thing. I didn’t care about being in charge, I didn’t even really want to be and nearly protested myself but I knew that my grandmother was never going to back down once she had made a decision like that. Heather looked from her to me and then back to her again before slumping back in her chair defeated. “I… want your training, Archangel Abbadine. I want to be an Angel.”

“Then finish eating so I can take you up to Sira and she can get started on your dose before the other recruits show up,” my grandmother told her gruffly. “And none of this Archangel Abbadine shit, if you try calling me that in combat you’ll be dead before half of it leaves your mouth. You will all address me as Trainer or Wingleader from now on.”

“Yes, au… Wingleader,” I replied, stopping myself from calling her Aunt Abby as I caught her glare. This was going to be hard to adjust to. I had barely gotten used to the idea that she was my grandmother rather than my aunt.

The others quickly added a “Yes, Wingleader!” of their own to show that they understood as she looked me and my friends over.

“You were all issued new clothes, am I to understand that you were issued your weapons as well?” she asked. At our uncertain nods, she glowered at each of us in turn. “And where are they then?” Oh, she did not look happy, though Heather sure did.

“We left them with our belongings in the infirmary, Wingleader,” I told her after a deep breath. “Sira said that we couldn’t activate them until our trainer allowed it.”

“From now on, you wear your weapons everywhere except when sleeping or bathing, and even then you keep them within arm’s reach. An Angel without their weapon swiftly becomes a dead Angel. This is a harsh world and Demons will not wait to attack until you’ve fetched your weapons, do you understand?” Her tone was colder than any ice that I could create.

“Yes, Wingleader,” we all replied dismally, looking down at the table. By the spirits, I just wanted to smack that smile off Heather’s face.

“Heather! Less smirking, more eating! Sira is waiting,” my grandmother scolded. Then her tone softened. “Girls, Snow already knows this but if I am hard on you it is only because I don’t want to see you hurt or dead because you weren’t prepared. Save Heather and Snow, I tested each of you personally and I think that you all have great potential but the moment that you chose to take that Elixir and become an Angel, you chose a dangerous life. If I have to be tough on you to prepare you to survive that then I will be, because if I don’t then you’ll be soft and we’ll all regret that far more than a bit of hard work.”

After that, our meal was finished in relative silence. Our trainer ordered the four of us to return to the infirmary, get our weapons on, and wait for further orders while she took Heather to go see Sira about programming her dose of Angel Elixir. She and Heather would join us once the latter was given her dose and ready to be put to bed to wait out the changes. While there, our trainer would also be getting all of the information on each of our weapons from the AI.

I wasn’t happy about that; I was even less happy about putting the damn thing on again. It wasn’t that it felt heavy, I just still thought it was too much like something that a guy who was overcompensating would use and it hurt to be assigned something like that when I finally became my real self. Also, the harness was uncomfortable and awkward, squeezing my breasts between the straps until Karina helped me adjust them a bit. The straps, not the breasts. This was my new reality though, I had chosen this and so far the positives outweighed the negatives by a fair margin. I just needed to keep telling myself that I loved my new body and friends and that having a weapon that I hated and Heather on our team were the prices for that happiness.