Tanya & Elora: Walking in Another (Dwarf)'s Shoes (Part 2)

Hey folks!

Writing progress is going pretty well this month, so I don't have much to report! So instead of dwelling on me, enjoy Part 2, the conclusion of last week's tale, with a slightly different Tanya and Elora...

Find Part 1 Here!

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“I told you so.”

“I dun wanna hear it!”

An orb of light was moving through the otherwise pitch black night, weaving through trees and stumbling through dense undergrowth. The dark forest path was twisted and tangled, but while it hindered the figure travelling down it, it failed to slow her down significantly.

“Well too bad! I totally told you so and you didn’t listen!” The golden light flickered and bobbed, its glowing source floating around the short figure’s head. “You were all, like, ‘you’re sooo boring, Tay’ and ‘I know everything ‘cuz I’mma hoity toity elfy lady and you’re just a huuuuman’. And now I’m not even a human anymore!”

“Alrig’ already! Crack o’ t’ underwald, dun ye ever let it rest?”

“No.”

Grunting, the figure – a busty dwarf in ragged looking clothing - swatted at her blonde pixie friend. Alas, being a tiny and supernaturally quick, the little fairy creature easily dodged around the swipe and landed on to of the former elf’s head, seating herself amongst the fiery red locks.

“Are we there yet?” She asked, small hands tapping against the roof of dwarf’s skull.

“No.”

“Then hurry uuuuuup.” Hands were joined by feet as she started kicking.

“Y’turned ten times the level of brat y’were at before, Tay. An’ tha’s sayin’ somethin’.” The dwarf picked her way around a prickle bush, batting at stuborn branches with the arm carrying her lantern. “This is t’fastest route to the museum and y’know it.”

“Well I’m sorry, El! Pixies aren’t exactly known for- Ooh, what’s that?” And just like that, the golden girl vanished, zipping off into the forest in a trail of fairy dust.

“Oh fer- Tay! Tanya! Git back here, y’dust brained nightlight!”

This was going about as well as could be expected. The pair had left the Adventurer’s Guild in severe but contained turmoil. Racial transformations had spread through the building like a plague, turning Adventurers into stereotypical parodies of creatures of all shapes and sizes, several of which had possessed brains too small to be anything but violent. But enough people on hand had managed to retain their senses and set up a perimeter, keeping the curse victim stuck together inside the guild hall.

There had been a quick discussion of what to do about the problem, but ultimately only two Adventurers had been sent out to try to resolve the situation (while a few others had been dispatched to carefully alert the local healers of the issue). Elora had been sent – since she had the best idea of what was going on and how to fix it (while also being held responsible for the mess, and thus, eager to not hang around her fellow Adventurers for a bit), and Tanya had been sent with her, since she was usually the best choice for keeping the Sorcress in line.

Usually.

Right now, however…

“Git back here!” Elora hollered, her dwarven lungs giving her a nice bellow that she’d never quite managed to produce back when she’d been an elf. “Or so help me, when I catch ya’ I’ll grind ya’ inta’ pixie dust m’self!”

“Relaaaax.” A familiar voice chirped from behind her. “I’m back! It was just a bunny. Oh, and some birds. And a berry bush!” El turned, stunned that the pixie could be so stealthy, and found her holding out some oozing black berries that were almost twice the size of her hands. “Do you think they’re poisonous?”

The dwarf stared at her, before flicking the berries away. “How t’ burnin’ hells should I know? Do I look like some namby pamby forest lover?”

The pixie paused, squinting at her. Hovering right in front of El’s face, she actually got a very clear view of the small creature – one with mostly human proportions, if only perhaps a tenth of the mass. But said proportions were incredibly clear, because despite Tanya’s repeated insistence on trying to clothe herself, first with a napkin, and then with a shred of stolen fabric from El’s own dress, the blonde pixie was once again naked. Her makeshift dress had long fallen off the fast moving and incredibly curvy fairy, with her seeming not to have noticed, leaving her jiggly tits and peach-sized rear free in the breeze.

“I guess you don’t,” she finally said, before flittering through the air and landing on the dwarf’s head again. “So where are we going?”

Elora twitched. “We already talked about this!”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t listening.”

“Yes you were!” The dwarf glared up towards her own hairline. “Half o’ this was your plan!”

“Oh. Right.” The pixie grimaced, holding her head. “Ugh, sorry. Hard to focus. Pixies aren’t good at remembering things. Or at anything in general, for that matter.” She took a deeply annoyed breath. “Of all of the things for you to turn me into. I thought my own armour was going to crush me!”

“Ey, don’t you be blamin’ yer armour now, that stuff’s high quality smithin’!” Elora shook her head. “Anyways, since th’ dust you call brains needs remindin’, there’s a Gala at the museum tonight. Clara’ll be there – probly has tha’ accursed music box with her even now.”

“So?” Tay tilted her head, trying to focus on why that mattered, but her thoughts were flittering out of her reach like little head fairies.

“So we gotta get to it! An’ destroy it. Or turn it off. Or somethin’.” The redhed groaned, rubbing her brow. Her magic knowledge was feeling a lot spottier than it had twelve hours ago. Some people said that dwarves made fine magic casters, but Elora had always suspected otherwise, and now she was proving her own point. The particulars of how to cast a good fireball were escaping her, but information on how to set up a stable salt mine were steadily filtering in to replace them.

“Okay, okay.” The pixie sighed, trying to focus. “So, this music box, that’s what started all this?” She looked down at her tiny hands, and then yelped as the head she was riding on nodded.

“It was made by Falstein,” El was explaining. “So who knows what it did. Could be anything! She was saying some nonsense ‘bout races ‘walking in each other’s shoes’, all tha’.”

“Okay…” Steadying herself, the glowing blonde pursed her lips. “I’d get how that’d turn an elf into a dwarf – but why am I a pixie?”

“Dunno.” The dwarf paused. Then she frowned. “Wait, dun ye hate pixies?

“Of course I do! Who doesn’t?” The little fairy spun up to her feet and started pacing around Elora’s head, wings fluttering to keep her balanced. “Little mischief loving brats too stupid to understand the consequences of their actions. They’ll do anything to get a reaction, no matter how provocative or rude - like a horde of dockside whores on a permanent sugar high!”

The dwarf snorted. “Ha! Tha’s some spite. Didn’ know ye had tha’ in ye.

Tanya grumbled, folding her arms as she stopped pacing, stomping her foot on her friend’s scalp. “Oh like you’re any better about dwarves.”

“I’m not tha’ bad!”

“Uh huh.” A glowing blonde eyebrow rose. “What was it you called them – ugly rocks with beards?”

“That was a special occasion ‘cuz he was a bastard!” El snorted. “I don’t think they’re any of that usually.”

“Oh no?” The disbelief was palpable.

“Nah, I think they’re permanently drunk lil’ jerks with anger issues an’ a bizarre love of menial labour! Totally different.” The dwarf nodded to herself.

Tay rolled her eyes. There was the El she knew.

“An’ that’s just the men. Have ye seen the women? Mouths that would put a swamp goblin to shame, they curse so much. Muscles so thick tha’ it’s no wonder their menfolk are scared of ‘em! They’d be a scary force if they weren’t so obsessed with baby making and home keeping!”

It should be noted, here, perhaps, that while dark thoughts may have lurked in the distant reaches these Adventurer’s minds, they wouldn’t normally have been so easy to draw to the fore. It was just that, right now, neither woman was feeling particularly charitable to the forms that they had been turned into.

As would soon become apparent, this was something of a mistake. The faint sound of music carried through the air, catching in both women’s ears as a strange tingle began to wash over them.

“Oooh… I feel funny…” Tanya mumbled as she sat back down heavily on Elora’s head – heavier than she should have, with most of her new weight in her fattening ass and swelling tits. “What were we talking about…?”

“Oh fer…” Elora rolled her eyes, then staggered as her balance swirled underneath her. The taste of alchol danced on her tongue, and her dress was starting to rip around her chest. “Ah’m jus’… Jus’ a lil further t’go…”

Weaving and uncertain, the pair carried on into the night, oblivious to the way they were both continuing to change…

-

The gala was in full swing, the event of the season well underway. Glitz and glamour galore, with fine wine, finer dining, and the finest music serenading the guests from all angles. The museum really went all out when it came to trying to charm extra funding out of its patrons.

Clara Therin wasn’t especially impressed. She’d seen her fair share of celebrations around the world, and had found she tended to enjoy making her own fun rather than being cooped up around a bunch of boring people. But when someone offered to name a wing of their building after you, sometimes you had to make an effort to thank them.

“So delighted you could make it, my dear.” Indeed, the curator had quickly sought her out when she arrived, and pulled her into a walking conversation as they toured the party. “After all, where would our collection be without your donations?”

“Oh, thank you, sir Albernrite, but there’s no need to be so modest.” She gave him a polite smile. “I should be the one grateful that such a prestigious museum was interested in the relics I brought back. There’s not many places that can properly preserve historical artifacts of this kind.”

It was true, to her consternation. These days it felt that everyone was far more interested in embracing the future than preserving the past. Most places weren’t interested in hosting her finds now. Although part of that might have been due to her unsavoury reputation for artefact related accidents…

“A loss for the world,” the curator nodded, before grinning, his glasses flashing. “But a gain for us! We’ll have the finest collection of relics this side of the continent soon, if you continue to make such fascinating finds!”

She laughed at that. “Well I was hoping to have a little more information to share on a particular item I think you’ll be interested in, but the arcanist I was working with had to disappear rather suddenly – I think work must have called or something, you know how it is.”

It was actually a little worrying. It wasn’t like Elora to vanish without saying anything – something important must have come up. She’d have to ask about it when they next saw each other…

“Oh? Something new?” The curator raised an eyebrow.

Ah well. Clara nodded. “Yes – or, rather, something quite old. I was hoping you could help me identify its origins, actually. I brought it with me, just in case…”

-

Lorelai Silverglaive was bored. The night was looking long, and she’d only been on guard shift for an hour, with six more to go. Tonight was a special night at the museum, she’d been told, though she hadn’t been entrusted with too many of the details. There was some kind of party – she could hear the hubbub and the clink of drinks from here – so security needed to be both on full alert, and looking their best.

As a half-gorgon, naturally she’d been assigned to watching the street outside the back doors. Somewhere out of the way and unlikely to be seen. Security ‘looking its best’ never included Lorelai. No one wanted someone with snakes for hair watching them having a good time, even if she didn’t possess even a trace of the petrifying power that made her ancestors famous.

It annoyed her, but she was used to it. She’d been working in mostly human settlements ever since she was a teenager, having travelled south from her homeland in the hope of earning more coin. And the coin had been plentiful enough. Enough to keep her down here. It was worth dealing with frustrating and rude humans for, mostly.

But she was glad to be outside, away from the party. Dealing with that kind of person was just… unpleasant. If they weren’t being rude, they were being curious, and she had yet to decide what was more annoying – the insults, or the questions. Either way, she wanted nothing to do with them.

But it did mean she was out in the cold and dark, with little more than a lantern and the stars for entertainment.

… Or she was, until she caught a sound on the wind. A strange noise. A kind of… singing?

Tilting her head, the half-gorgon looked down the street, following the distant, but growing louder, sound of song.

“- An’ then the sailor he says, yes he said then to me~
That of all o’ his girls, that ‘is favourite I’d be~ hic!
Tha’ he’d show me da’ wunders, we’d go sailin’ dah seas~!
So ah popped of mah shirt an’ ah dropped ta mah knees-!”

Ah. Oh dear. A drunken dwarf. Lorelai had heard the rumours of what dwarves were like, of course, everyone had, but she’d never actually seen one who was so… stereotypical. Drunk, loud, and – oh, very, very muscular, her arms must have been as thick as dinner plates – almost as big as her chest, in fact. The woman’s dress was tight, bulging to the point of bursting around her upper arms, and looked very peculiar – smith’s greaves paired with a flowery apron? Bizzare.

“A gurl, a gurl, in every port! A smilin’ girl, for he~!
But flash ‘im my tats and wiggle mah arse, he’d end up havin’ meeee~eeee~ hic!”

And she was coming this way. Oh dear. Now, Lorelai did not very much care for the people attending tonight’s gala, but she was quite fond of the money she earned working for the museum, and she had no desire to terminate her contract through incompetence. Which meant she’d have to steer this woman away from the building – preferably off the way she’d come, not towards the front doors, at that.

“Miss, I-” She took a step towards the wandering woman, hand raised to halt her in her tracks… But it didn’t quite work out that way. Because, as she discovered half way through that first step, her shoelaces had somehow tied them together. “Gah-Oof!”

“Heeheehee~” A tinkling, bell-like giggle filled the air as a golden glowing ball zipped around the fallen guard’s head. “I got you, I got you~ Did you see me? You fell~!”

Groaning, the half-gorgon looked up, her many eyes blinking as her hair peeked out from under her helm. Was that a pixie? Of all the- where the hell had she come from? You almost never saw the little pests this far south, not in this season. And most had the sense not to bother people who didn’t wander into their territory!

“Not funny, you little pest,” she hissed, rolling over and scrambling to sort out the mess they had made of her shoes. “Get out of here before I eat you.” Her hair snapped threateningly.

Of course she wasn’t going to actually eat a pixie raw. That was just to scare her off. And it worked, the little blonde ball of light shrieking, before zipping away to hide behind the approaching drunk – which at least had the benefit of interrupting her off-key singing.

“Gack! Oi! Watch where y’flyin’, ye sky rodent!”

“El! El! She’s gunna eat meeeeeeeeee! Waaaah!” The pixie whirled around the dwarf’s head at a frantic pace, before shooting down the front of her dress to hide, squeezing between her tits.

“Oi! Stop that, yeh-Argh!” The redheaded drunk scrambled for a few moments, pulling at her collar to try to pull the small creature out, but soon enough had to give it up as futile, settling for glaring at the guard. “Now look what’cha did.”

When a half-gorgon rolls their eyes, there’s a lot of irritation conveyed. “Ma’am, please move along.”

But it wasn’t to be. The dwarf shook her head. “Nah, nah, see- Hic! Oooh, now why’s dere two of yah… Anyways, look, ah got somethin’ important ta’ talk to… Ah, now who was it…”

She snapped her fingers, trying to jog her memory. It didn’t seem to help. After a few seconds of swaying snapping, Lorelai finally snapped herself.

“Miss, go home. You’re drunk.”

The dwarf gasped, scandalized. “How dare! Ah’ve not touched a drop all night! Ah’m dry as ah desert stone!”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I can smell the booze from here.” And her hair could taste it. Not a very pleasant sensation.

“Nah, nah.” The redhead waved a hand. “Dwarves just smell like that. An’ anyways, ah’m not a dwarf, ah’m a... a… Uh… I forget. Less of a shortarse!”

This was getting ridiculous. “Ma’am, if you don’t move on, I’m going to have to call the town guard to remove you.”

She still wasn’t paying attention, swaying on her feet and stammering about trying to remember… Well, who cared who she was trying to remember? The half-gorgon had had enough, about to step forward and shoo the woman off personally – when a glowing light popped its head out of the dwarf’s collar.

“You were looking for that rich idiot! The disaster lady! Clara whatsherename!”

“That was it!” The dwarf roared, surprising the guard into taking a step back. “Clara! We’re here ta’ see Clara! ‘s, like, an emergency, like!”

Lorelai stared for a moment, before shaking her head. “Lady Clara Therin is a guest of the Museum at a private event. You’re not going to disturb her, or any of the other guests, now please leave.”

Ordinarily she might have been inclined to try to send a message to the party to see if Lady Clara wanted to speak to whoever was calling for her, but there was no way in hell she was doing that for a drunk and her pet pest.

The dwarf still tried to protest, though. “Nay, nay, look, dis is an emergency, like. Ifin y’no let us in, ‘til be a calamity y’ain’t nevah seen d’like o’ before!”

How scary. If only she didn’t hear it every other week from every random Adventurer charging around through town. Museums got a lot of that kind of visitor. “Well I have absolutely heard that one before, ma’am. You’re not getting in.”

“Curse ye an’ yeh snooty snake snoots! Crack dah rocks outta yer head an’ listen tah meh!”

“Okay, enough of this.” Lorelai took a menacing step forwards, drawing herself up to her full height. “You will not be disturbing the gala tonight, ma’am. Now please, either leave quietly, or I will escort you to the guardhouse myself.”

At last, the redhead looked nervous. She backed up. “Uh… Look, yeh really dun wanna do tha’.”

Her pixie friend, however, had the opposite reaction. She zipped up out of her hiding place, flittering around the pair’s heads, giggling like a loon. “Oooh, do it do it do it do it! It’ll be so funny!”

“Tay!” Now the dwarf was really starting to look alarmed.

The half-gorgon twitched one final time, before her hand lashed out with the speed of a striking snake. “Listen here,” she growled as she snatched the fairy out of the air and dragged her in front of her face, clenched in her scaled fist. “You little-!”

Flash!

Lorelai blinked. Suddenly, the hand in front of her face didn’t look very scaled. It looked pink and soft. Weak. And… Was that nail polish?

“What in the heavens is this…?” Someone was speaking – and after a moment of confusion, Lorelai realised it was her. “What-What have you cretins done to my voice?!?”

Her hand shot to her throat, unthinkingly releasing the giggling pixie. Again, the skin around her neck felt soft and giving – not the hard, firm scales she was used to. And she sounded so… So ridiculous! All of her words came out melodramatic and haughty in an indescribably awkward way.

“Well ah warned ya’.” The dwarf folded her arms.

“Told you so~ Told you so~ Told you s-Hey wait!” The pixie zooming around them suddenly swivelled to a stop, tiny hands on fattened hips. “How come you gotta be a human! I wanted that! Not fair!”

“H-human…?” Lorelai croaked. No. No, that was impossible. But…

But looking down revealed yet more of this pink, flabby flesh. Bulging breasts were trying to push their way out from under her chainmail, drawing it up almost painfully tightly around her chest, and her hips had split the leather of her pants. Plus she was no longer seeing or tasting things through her hair, which had turned long and golden.

Her jaw dropped. “I- I look like one of those human snobs they slide out at every one of their stupid parties! One of those moronic bitches who’s always asking me if I’m one of the exhibits or where the nearest rich guy is! No one could take me seriously like this!”

“Oh aye.” The drunk dwarf nodded understandingly. “Ah see ye’ know yer humans. Ah getcha, ah how hard it be t’ deal with ‘em.”

“Hmph.” The pixie crossed her arms, sniffing disdainfully. “You’re both dumb if you ask me.”

“Well ah didn’, did ah?!”

But Lorelai couldn’t seem to stop her hands from exploring her new body, feeling her new, soft curves sliding under her palms. “You- Heavens, you’ve turned me into a total bimbo…!”

There was a hint of music on the wind.

The former half-gorgon’s eyelids – her human eyelids over her non-slitted human eyes – fluttered. Her clothing shimmered, and then shifted, melting from the armoured uniform of a guard to a seductive golden dress with a plunging neckline – which plunged even deeper as her chest expanded again.

A fuzzy, sparkling fuzz descended over her mind, like her brain was being dipped in that pink bubbly alcohol they liked to serve at parties, and it wasn’t coming up for air any time soon. Her lips spread into a dazed smile.

“Ohohohoho~” She found herself laughing, as a fan materialised in her hand, just in time for her to snap it open and flap it towards herself, generating a nice breeze. “Now whatever am I doing out here with the filth? I’m totally missing the party~!”

And with that, the newly blonde woman spun around, threw open the doors she was supposed to be guarding, and strutted inside.

There was a moment of hesitant silence. Elora and Tanya both looked at one another, neither entirely sure what had just happened… before they both shrugged their shoulders and hurried after her.

-

By the time they arrived, the Gala was in chaos. Creatures of all shapes and sizes had filled the museum’s halls, with almost no logic or reason to their presence.

The ditzy blonde who’d let them in was arguing with a slime that had taken over the dessert table. Harpies were nesting in the rafters, occasionally swooping down to carry off unfortunately light-weight targets. A Sphinx had several nervous looking guests cornered, and was asking them riddles one at a time. An elven commune had apparently taken root in the natural history wing, and they were periodically firing arrows at everyone who wandered too close.

It was pandemonium. And in the middle of it all…

“Why does this always happen?”

… Was a distinctly normal looking Clara Therin, watching the madness unfold around her with bewildered confusion. “I don’t understand!”

For a moment, Elora considered ignoring her and heading for the bar to wet herself down (and see if there were any strong, virile looking lads about who might provide a good home for her) but she could see there seemed to be an argument brewing between a black dragon and small army of mer-people, so she decided to check in on her friend while that sorted itself out.

“Oi!” She waved as she staggered over to the blonde. “Why ain’t ye turned too? Tha’ ain’t fair t’all!”

The archaeologist looked over at her, her confusion not abated even one little bit. “I don’t know! I was getting a refill of my drink, and suddenly this was all just happening! Anything could have caused it!”

Ha. El might have been a drunk and a dumbass dwarf, but even she knew better than that. “Nah, nah. I’ll tell ya what dun it – it were that music box o’ yers.”

Clara blinked. “My music box…? But I left that with the curator. Wait, how do you know about it?”

“Dun ye recognise me? ‘s me, me.” The dwarf hiccupped, content that she had explained the situation perfectly.

“She’s El,” Tanya the pixie chimed in, landing on her friend’s head and pouting. “Why aren’t you changing though? No fair, I wanted to see what you’d be!”

“Huh.” The blonde stared at the naked fairy for a moment, before deciding, deliberately, to ignore 90% of what she’d just said. “Wait. Elora?”

“Tha’s the one!” The drunk dwarf pointed, rising up on one foot and nearly falling over. “Da’s whut I could’ne remember.”

Clara stared. “What happened to y…” Her question trailed off as she looked around. “Oh. Oh, I see. Uh. Wait, my music box called all this?”

“Yeh.” The redhead nodded. “It said somethin’ about peace and ham between all races or somethin’, and then ah looked like dis.” She gestured down to her very fully figured dwarven figure.

Clara’s eyes widened, and then she clapped. “Really? Fascinating!”

“Oi! Not what I wanna hear, Clara!”

“Told you she was weird,” Tay grumbled, making daisy chains out of Elora’s hair. “Told you, told you~”

The normal sized blonde flushed with embarrassment. “I- of course. I didn’t mean… Oh, but this is fascinating though! I thought we were under attack by magical protestors or something, but you think it was caused by one single artefact? Mass controlled polymorphus transformation on this scale? That’s amazing!” She put her hand to her chin, her party dress swishing as she began to pace back and forth, thinking the matter over. “And if it’s as you say, a spell to increase the different races’ understanding of one another…”

“Did I say tha’? I dun remember sayin’ tha.” El looked to Tay, who just shrugged.

“… Then it must choose the race that the target has the most animosity towards, and turns them into that race to teach them a lesson!” The archaeologist gasped with delight. “What a splendid moral device!”

“Oi!” The dwarf smacked her friend’s knee. “Dun go callin’ it tha’!”

“Right, right, of course.” Again, Clara had the grace to look embarrassed. “Sorry, it’s just- I mean this might be the find of the century! I can’t imagine any other magical relic that could do this!”

“Ah can.” El grumbled, folding her arms. “It were made by Gods Damned Falstein.”

“Oh!” The blonde gasped. “Really?”

El nodded.

Clara considered that, rubbing her chin. “You know there was a rumour that my great great grandfather was married to her for a little while. Maybe that’s where we got the box from…?”

“Oh! Or maybe…!” Tanya flittered down from her nest, zooming around Clara’s head. “Maybe maybe maybe- Uh.” Then she paused, finger to her cheek. “I forgot what I was gunna say…”

“She was gunna say maybe that’s why it dun work on ya!” Elora finished with a roll of her eyes.

That idea, at least, was enough to make the blonde go pale. “Oh. Oh, you think I might be descended from…? Oh dear…”

“Dun jus’ ‘oh dear’, do somthin’!” Elora snapped.

“Alright. Alright.” Clara took a breath, and tried to put that troubling thought behind her (not helped by her pixie friend zooming around the room, singing ‘She’s a Gods Damned Falstein, She’s a Gods Damned Falstein~’). “Let me just take a look at it…”

Now in something of a hurry, the blonde quickly stepped over to the sphinx. “Excuse me, curator, may I see that? Thank you…” She said as she pulled a very familiar box out from under the great creature at its nod. “Now let me take a look at this.”

Click!

Almost as soon as she opened the box, the light within it snapped off as her fingers hit some kind of hidden switch. The voice of Gloria Deloria Falstein echoed through the room. “Maintenance Mode engaged! Disengaging World Peace Mode. Have a nice day!”

There was a shimmer and a flash.

Suddenly, the monstrous chaos that had consumed the gala vanished. A collection of confused looking humans, allied races, and in particular a certain half-gorgon all looked around in confusion. From the back of the room there was a crash and an ‘Ow!’ from a hardy blonde as she crashed into a table, suddenly back to her full mass and no longer capable of flight.

And in the middle of it all, an ecstatic Elora felt her head, shaking fingers desperately stroking the pointed tips of her ears. “Oh thank the forces! You did it! You really did it!”

“Uh.” A nervous looking archaeologist tried to avert her eyes from her friend. “El? Clothes.”

The newly tall and pointy eared elf looked down. Her clothing had clung on through most of the night’s festivities, but had not survived this last transition, crumbling to threads and dust at her feet. She was completely naked.

“… Oh like I care.” She folded her arms, practically daring people to ogle.

Abruptly, a very different kind of chaos enveloped the gala.

-

“Well… I feel I should apologise for all of this.” The morning of the next day found Clara bowing to a much more conservatively dressed Elora, stood on the steps of a fancy wooden carriage. “I really never intended for any of that to happen.” She sighed. “I seem to be saying that a lot these days.”

Elora just smiled, patting her friend on the shoulder. “I’m just glad you managed to turn it off. Most Gods Damned Falstein stories end way worse.”

“I suppose.” The blonde still didn’t look happy about it. “I’m not sure how comfortable I am, knowing that one of my ancestors might be the most infamous mage of all time, but I’ll try to make my peace with it. And I’ll start by getting this music box to a safe place where it can be studied without danger.” She patted her bag, strapped firmly to her side.

“Now that, I’m happy to hear.” The elf grinned. “I checked in at the guild hall. Looks like everyone else turned back when we did. I guess the curse stays connected to its source, so you saved everyone when you turned it off.”

“That’s a relief.” The blonde nodded. “So embarrassing, though…”

“Hey. It was a little embarrassing for you. For everyone else, it was humiliating!” Elora sounded weirdly happy about that. “Thanks to you, I’ve got blackmail material to hold over Tay for years!” Ah, that might explain it.

“I… Happy to help?” Clara sighed, then shrugged. “Either way, don’t worry. I’m sure no one will turn this thing back on until they’re completely sure it’s safe.”

Giggling, the elf leaned forward and gave her friend a kiss on the cheek. “Just look after yourself as well, okay?”

The blonde smiled. “Okay. And next time I’m on the continent, we can catch up properly.”

“I’ll bring Tay! She can make sure nothing goes wrong. Or if it does go wrong, it can happen to her first~” The two exchanged one last hug, before parting, the archaeologist vanishing into her cabin as the elf waved from the street.

Clara waved back as the carriage set off, before leaning back in her seat. Ugh. It had been a busy night and she hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep. Maybe this would be a good chance to catch a nap, before boarding her ship to the next continent in the afternoon?

That seemed like a reasonable idea, so she lay her head back, closing her eyes, and took a deep breath. It wasn’t long before she entered a light slumber – she’d always been good at sleeping on the move.

And in her bag, buried deep under layers of protective seals, a small music box quietly clicked.

“Maintenance period concluded. Resuming World Peace Mode! Have a fine day, everyone, and may love and understanding bloom for all!”

Elora paused on the street, looking back over her shoulder. Her ears were starting to tingle, and… had she just heard the faint sound of music?

… Gods Damned Falstein…