Through The Veil

I'd asked for some random story prompt in the Discord channel a week or two ago and this is the result!  I did cannibalized a different deer story prompt to combine them together.  Kinda.  I hope y'all enjoy it!

Water sloshed in the squat wooden tub, rocking back and forth, dangerously close to splashing over the side.  Mary focused on her task as wisps of hair, escaped from her bun, swayed before her eyes.  She sat on a log her father had dragged over to the riverbank a month before.  His axe had carved a simple seat for her, keeping her from her knees and saving her back for the rest of her chores.  She still went to bed with pains that kept her awake later than her older brothers and younger sister.

"It's bitterly cold today," Sarah hissed as she dragged her father's shirt through the river.  She rubbed the fabric together and then tsked as she stared at a persistent stain when she pulled it from the water.

A single snowflake wafted through the air, missed by both as they continued their work.  Sarah carried the shirt over to her own tub and dropped it inside.  She reached for her pouch, where she kept her soap and her eyes watered from the sharp scent of the lye.

"Oh.  I- I hadn't noticed," Mary said when she suddenly realized Sarah had spoken to her.

Sarah looked to her right, first at her friend's face and then down.

A single thread of blood hung just beneath the water in Mary's tub before the girl's motions dragged it down.  Her furious scrubbing against the washboard dispersed the red, diluting it until nothing was left.

Sarah dropped her soap back into the pouch before sliding over.  She grabbed Mary's wrists but the other girl continued to shove her hands beneath the water, dragging her knuckles over the hardened wavy metal surface.  Sarah was pulled forward until she jerked back.

"Sarah!  What in the world are-"  Mary asked, shocked at the interruption.

Her hands were a deep scarlet, mottled with white and her knuckles were raw.  Blood welled from the scrape at the base of her middle finger.

"You're freezing," Sarah said with a hushed voice.  "Mary, your hands are colder than the river."

"It's- it's fine.  I can't feel it," Mary mumbled.

"Likely can't feel anything," Sarah told her with a sharp frown that slowly faded to concern when she looked from the other girl's hands to her face.  Mary's eyes were averted, down and to the side.

Sarah settled her palms against the back of her friend's hands. She pressed them together and then bent her fingers, gently forcing Mary to roll her fingers together until her knuckles touched into little fists.

Without another word, Sarah leaned in and inhaled.  Her lips parted, opening in a soft 'O' as she breathed out, warming her friend's hands.  And again.  And again as her own warmth leeched slowly into Mary's fingers.

"It burns," Mary said and her words were nearly lost to the rushing river.  Still she refused to look back at her friend.  "A little."

"That means it's working.  I swear you-"

Sarah's words cut off when she noticed the bruise on the inside of Mary's wrist.  Strings held back their sleeves, leaving their forearms bare and a single dark mark, sickly yellow with a purple core, stood out on the girl's pale skin.

A second, smaller bruise showed on her forearm.

Mary tried to snatch her hands away, but Sarah held tight.  Tighter.  Pulling her friend's hands to her mouth where she planted a gentle kiss on her friend's thumbs before settling their hands against her breast while bowing her head.

"Your father?" she asked.

"No," Mary said, far too quickly.  "He wouldn't."

"Moses," Sarah sighed, closing her eyes.

The boy wouldn't leave Mary alone and nobody would stop him.  He was larger than most adults, and more aggressive.  Most feared him and his abrupt rages.  All of the girls were terrified of his advances and secretly relieved when he'd focused on Mary.

The girl bit the inside of her lip.  Her fists trembled.

"I'll never be free of him," Mary whispered.  "I heard mother tell father we should wed and pray that would settle him down.  If he had a family.  If he had children.  I- Sarah, I can't.  I can't.  I don't-  I can't stand the thought.  If it calmed him, I could sacrifice myself for the village, but I've seen the madness in his eyes.  He would consume me and his own children.  And I don't even-  I don't-"

"We could run," Sarah told her.  Her heart raced at the idea.

How many times had she dreamed of it?  In the silence of night, finally alone with her own thoughts and fantasies - how many times had she dreamed of a lifetime with Mary?  Growing old and older together, content in their joined lives.

"And where?" Mary said with a bitter laugh.  "They know us in the villages.  They'd send us right back.  They know Moses and are even more afraid of him."

"They can't all know," Sarah replied.  "There has to be somewhere far enough away that-"

Twigs snapped, drawing their attention.  Sarah felt her heart leap to her throat.  Bears had been spotted, hunting before they burrowed deep against the cold.

It was worse, of course.

"Mary!" Moses shouted from the edge of the woods behind them.

His shirt was open with his suspenders down against his sides.  He stumbled, falling against a tree next to him while shaking his head.  Sarah was certain she could smell the alcohol despite their distance.  His cheeks were red with it and she gasped as, for a brief moment, his bloodshot eyes appeared to be pure crimson.  The boy's head hung.  Drool fell from his lips until he snapped his head up and took a shambling step forward.

"No," Mary said, exhaling as if the word took her last breath.  Her last hope.

Sarah clenched her hands and pulled, standing as she did.  Mary came with her, dragged up against her will but too shocked to resist.

They ran.  Sarah twinned the fingers of her left hand into Mary's right hand while pulling her other free to allow them to be nearly side-by-side.  Moses roared behind them and fell, barely catching himself.

"We can't!" Mary yelled as they splashed through a narrow part of the river.  "We'll only make it worse!"

Sarah refused to answer and, instead, held Mary's hand even tighter.  She began to pray, begging the Lord to hear her plight and to speed their way as Moses gave chase.  He was as powerful as an ox, and nearly as wide with pumping muscles the size of tree trunks.  As drunk as he was, he closed the distance quickly.

"You have to let me go!" Mary shouted while tugging at Sarah's hand.

"Never," Mary whispered before resuming her prayers.  She dared not look behind.

The thunderous sound of Moses crashing through the underbrush grew closer with every step until the hairs stood up on the back of Sarah's neck.  She was certain, with every labored breath, that she would feel his hand close over her nape, dragging her to the ground.

Branches converged before her, blocking her sight of the path ahead.  Sarah yelled wordlessly and leapt, pulling Mary though the thicket... only to fall and tumble.  She grabbed Mary, wrapping her arms around the other girl, pulling her back against her chest.

Moses followed but stayed on his feet.  He leered at the girls and stopped, planting his feet in the rich, black soil.  The boy knelt with a cruel smile on his lips.

"You-" he hissed, raising his hand with his finger pointed towards them.  He reeked of alcohol and rancid breath.  "You."

"Please don't hurt her!" Mary pleaded.  "She didn't know!  She... doesn't..."

Her voice slowed and faded as she stared at the tip of Moses' finger.  The boy followed her gaze and his brow became furrowed when he noticed the butterfly resting gently on his fingernail with brilliant gossamer wings slowly beating in the warm air.  An impossible array of colors swirled over the surface of the creature's wings.

None of them spoke.  They all held their breath and watched in wonder as the delicate creature flicked its wings and took flight, drawing their attention.

"Fuck!" Moses cursed.

The girls snapped their attention back to him.  Back to the tip of his finger as the dirt covered flesh faded from brown to gray and began to bubble and swell.  A slit appeared and opened, allowing a new butterfly to crawl forth from the fleshy pupa.

Green tendrils snaked through his forearms, up to his elbows and beneath his torn shirt, only to reappear on his chest.  He opened his mouth to scream but his bloated, tubular tongue peeled back and a butterfly stepped onto his lip before launching itself into the air.

Sarah kicked her heels into the dirt, pushing both girls back.  Mary screamed but Sarah tightened her arms around the girl while her own eyes grew wide.  The boy's flesh was popping and with every new butterfly swirling in the air above them, he became lesser.

He fell, reaching out towards them with suddenly sightless eyes as his clothes writhed and squirmed and slowly deflated as butterflies crept out and soared into the air.

Laughter surrounded all of them suddenly.  Little tittering voices overlapping each other from hidden places in the darkness of the trees.  Sarah's head whipped around.  She swore she saw movement at the corner of her eyes, but when she turned to look for it, nothing was there.

"Oh God!" a tiny voice cried out in a mockery of Sarah's mental prayer.  "Save me!"

"God!'

"God!"

"Gooood!"

"Good!"

"God!"

"Goad!"

"GOAT!  GOAT!"

"The last were goats!" one voice whined over the cacophony of other voices.

"That was a donkey.  The girl was a HEE-HAAWWW HEE-HAWWW not a GOOOOAT!" another replied before roaring with laughter.

"Grk-" Moses said.  Sarah turned, screamed and covered Mary's eyes as the boy's head collapsed in a pile of mucous-covered butterflies that shook themselves clean before joining the others filling the small area.  Nothing remained of him except for his clothes and his stench.

"P- P- Please!" Sarah yelled.  "Please don't!"

"Puh puh puh puh puh!"

"Pah pah pah pah!"

"Ha ha ha ha!"

"What's your name, girl?"

"Name!"

"Name!"

"What's your name?"

"Give us your name!"

Sarah clamped her mouth shut.  Her skin crawled at the change in tone and direction the voices took.

"What's happened?" Mary asked.  She wet her lips and pulled the hand away from her eyes and then groaned as she spied the clothes lying flat on the ground before her.  "Suh-"

"Shh," Sarah told her, clamping her hand over Mary's mouth.  "Don't.  Don't say it.  They want our names.  I think- my Nan always told stories, before she passed years ago.  Don't give it to them.  They'll take it from us and we'll lose ourselves."

"Booooooring!"

"Boring!"

"So boring!"

"Boring!"

"Boar?"

"Too late, too late, Mother's already decided!  Too late!"

"BORING!"

"Oh!  Oh!  Another!  By the mushroom tree!  An old man!  Go!"

Buzzing sounds sawed through the air as if a million locusts took panicked flight.  The girls pressed the butt of their palms to their ears while hiding their faces until the sounds faded and they allowed themselves to look.

Most of the butterflies remained, hovering around the clothes on the ground.  A few ventured further, alighting on nearby branches.

Sarah pulled Mary up until they both stood and they backed away from the shimmering, flapping cloud.

"We- we have to go back.  We-" Mary swallowed and groaned and pressed her hands against her stomach.

"Through here," Sarah said, taking the other girl's hand once more to lead her through the thicket to-

A verdant valley filled her vision with bright sunlight flickering through slow moving clouds high above.  The forest they fled through was nowhere to be seen and while a river was far in the distance, it was fed by a waterfall running down an enormous cliff that didn't exist in their world.

"Sarah," Mary moaned as she looked around.

Sarah reached up to scratch her nape while nibbling on her lips.  Muscles twitched in her lower back as she stepped away, turning into the clearing to find another path.

She was at the edge of a massive forest with towering trees laden by heavy vines that created a wondrous webbing covering the trees as far as she could see.  The sky above was filled with flying creatures of various sizes until a monstrous, jagged winged beast appeared, scattering them all with a roar.

"Sarah, where are we?" Mary whined.  She pressed her hands against her stomach again and groaned while slowly falling to her knees.

"Mary?  Mary, what's wrong?"

Mary pulled at the laces on her gown, loosening them in a rush until she could struggle out of the heavy outfit.  She threw it aside and leaned forward, stretching her legs out behind herself while arching her back with her head raised.  And then she collapsed and rolled to her back.

"Off!  Off!  It's too tight!" she fussed, rolling while pulling at her outermost petticoat.

"Mary, just tell me what's- Mary!"

The other girl pulled at her skirts, tumbling and rolling in the dirt as she discarded one and then the next, leaving her in her shift and plain gray stay.  She sat up and back against the heels of her boots while her fingers tore at the strings holding the stay together.

Sarah opened her mouth but shut it just as quickly.  Her hand crept up to her neck and she scratched herself again, digging her fingernails into the soft brown hairs spreading over her nape.

Mary leaned back and her shift lay flat against her belly beneath the stay.  The fabric was moving.  Lifting in a tiny, smooth mound.  The girl rocked her shoulders to let her unlaced stay fall to the ground.  Finally, she pulled at her shift, gathering it in her hands to raise it over her body.

Her unkempt pubic hair was thicker as more hair infiltrated and spread throughout, creeping past the wild curls and out, tiny little white spikes growing in thick clumps towards her hips and up.

Up to the soft bulge low on her belly.  The sagging pale skin darkened to pink with every passing second as milk ducts spread throughout the fatty tissue forming beneath the skin, connecting to glands and cisterns.  Four wrinkled patches of skin appeared on the new skin.

Bones crunches and crackled in Sarah's back.  She yelped as skin stretched over the tip of her tail.  It lifted, pushing against her petticoats before sweeping back and forth where it was trapped within.  Hairless but only for a few seconds.  Silky white strands grew from the bottom of her tail while brown hairs, darker at the edges, grew from the back.  She jumped as she felt the hairs tickle her bottom and then yelled, twisting and turning and pulling when it touched something else entirely.

"Sarah, what is this?  What's happening to me?!" Mary yelled.  She reached down, touching her small udder just as her teats began to fill out.  They popped and flexed and twisted, lengthening until all four were as long as the first two joints of her pinky finger.  "Sarah!  It's- it's- oh, Lord, help me, it's an udder, Sarah!  I can- I can feel it!  I- nngh!"

Mary fell forward as if she were shoved and she bowed her stomach down.  Sarah pressed her hand to her mouth as she watched skin bulge, showing segmented bone just beneath the stretched skin.  Dark spots appeared suddenly as scattered hairs grew over the bump of the girls' growing tail.

"Beh- beeh-  BEEEEEEH!" Mary bleated with her mouth open wide and her eyes screwed shut and her fleshy tongue sticking out past her lips.  Her ears flexed, bending under their own weight as they began to expand with black vellus hairs already covering the rounded tips.

Sarah groaned and grunted, falling back against a tree.  She moaned and rubbed her body against the rough bark, grinding her gown and stay into the tree and against the hairs spreading over her back.

"Oh no no no no," she moaned while undoing the laces on her gown.

Cramps lanced throughout her stomach and she grunted and fell.  Her tail moved but was still  restrained by her petticoats.  Instead, it brushed against the middle of her thighs and she shivered at its touch.  Like Mary, she struggled out of her clothes, pulling at her gown and skirts and unlacing her stay until she was left panting on all fours in just her shift and boots.

She could feel it now herself - a peculiar sensation that reminded her of when she dug too deep into her bellybutton to clean it.  A burrowing, pinching sensation.  She sat up and disrobed, tossing her shift aside without shame for being bare in front of her friend.

A thin line of translucent white liquid traced a line down from her lower belly into the thick hairs spreading over her crotch.  White hairs mixing with the black hairs hiding her sex.  When she reached to touch the fleshy bump on her stomach, she instead stared at her forearms.  Patches of white hairs were mixed in with the black ones covering her skin.

An obscenely pleasurable sensation filled her body. She gasped and blushed and touched her belly by reflex, brushing against the teats already dangling in place.  Two were tipped by drops of milk that fell when her fingers knocked against the dark pink flesh.  More milk welled and fell as the teats shook from the growth of her udder.

It was a fullness, as if she'd eaten too much.  That was how it presented itself when her milk came in and her udder swelled.  Her tail flicked and raised, brushing briefly against the hairs still spreading over her back.  It was alien yet forever a part of her now and her mind struggled to connect with it and control it.  When the wide, fluffy tail fell, the air stirred in its passing, wafting against the hairs spreading over her body.

"Buh-" she cried out in surprise, but her hand flew to her mouth and she clamped her dark, shiny lips shut.  Invisible fingers tugged at her ears from all sides, pulling pulling pulling them until they lengthened and the rolled edges lay flat before curving in a gentle arc to the side of her head.  They bent at an angle and then twitched as fine hairs speared through the thin skin.

"Suh- Sarah, what's- what's happening to mee-EEEE?!  BEEEEEH!" Mary bleated again, curling forward to place her forehead against the ground.  Her nose dug a furrow in the loam beneath her as it was slowly pushed out.  Short, spiky hairs pierced her cheeks before laying flat.  The girl rolled her head, huffing as she tried to ease the pain of her bones cracking and shifting beneath her skin.

White hairs grew from Mary's chin, with more emerging around her lips.  Her nostrils moved, lifting horizontally before compressing to thin slits as her nose widened.  Dark bumps rose on the delicate pink skin with more joining them until the tip of her snout took on a sable, pebbled texture.

"Sarah, please," Mary groaned.  She lifted her head with her long ears down and trembling as she turned to look for her friend.  Her pupils stretched sideways and the sclera receded, pushed away as her brown irises expanded.

Called by her friend, Sarah crawled forward on hands and knees while ignoring the pain assaulting her body.  Her thighs bumped lightly against her udder which sent miniature shockwaves through the protruding mound and her teats and nipples dragged against the grass.  The swaying movement of her udder forced droplets of milk to appear at the tips where they clung briefly until the green blades whisked them away.

In any other circumstance, shame would have sent her shrieking for her clothes.  She was bare, except for her boots, on all fours with her tail curling and waving behind her.  Dirt clung to the short hair covering her body with more gathering every second.  Her eyelashes flicked.  Heat swirled around her jaw before pulsing.  She felt as if she'd yawned for too long, and too wide as tendons strained.  Her vision jittered for a brief moment when her eyes bulged lightly away from their sockets.

Sarah kicked her left leg behind her.  She dug her foot into the dirt and shoved harder the second time.  Her toes pressed together within the confines of the boot.  They tingled fiercely, as if ants were swarming over them.  Her big toe compressed, flesh constricting around the shrinking bone while the same happened to her little toe.  The imaginary ants began to nibble and then bite.  Bones moved while flesh melted away and her foot grew slender.  When she kicked again, the boot flew away.

"BEEEEEHHH!" Sarah bleated finally when a loud crack echoed in the small clearing.  Her foot angled sharply downward.  She tried to wiggle her toes but only the center three moved, and barely.  The outer two were shrunken, pulled back into her foot as they traveled higher to create her dewclaws.

Shards of hardened, black keratin appeared on the remaining three toes - hardened little plates that connected to the new growths when they appeared.  The tingling began to vanish as the thick nails spread over her toes to form her new split hoof.  She closed her eyes for just a moment when a prickling sensation formed within her right foot.

"Beeehhh-" she grunted, bowing her head.  She grit her teeth in her aching jaw and continued crawling forward until she could wrap her arms around her friend, pulling her into a tight embrace.

"Sarah, whuh- what's happening to us," Mary asked.  She twitched and then spasmed, kicking her legs out in front of them.  When she pulled them back, her feet slipped through her boots to show canted legs tipped with hooves.

"I'm here, I'm here," Sarah whispered. She pressed her face into her friend's shoulder, sighing as the thick hairs scratched against her cheeks.  Tangling with her own hair as her face pushed forward slowly into a shortened muzzle.  "I'm here, Mary."

The very air rumbled around them and the hackles rose on the back of Sarah's neck.  Her tail lifted, straight up to show the fluffy white on the underside as new instincts forced her to signal her alarm.  Her very bones vibrated beneath her skin.

Sunlight vanished, as if devoured bite-by-bite till nothing remained.  Dreading what she would see, Sarah forced herself to look up at the entrance to the forest.

A wolf stood staring at them.  She could see its curly black fur in the corner of her eyes, but when she focused on it, all she saw was swirling darkness - shadows forming the shape of a wolf that stood taller than her home.  Brilliant amber eyes and perfect white fangs stood out clearly in the wisps of obsidian smoke.

"Oh, God," Mary gasped until Sarah placed her hand over the girl's eyes.  Brown hairs, speckled with white, covered her entire arm up to her fingertips and her nails were thicker and pure black.  Despite the danger in front of her, a spike of fear lanced through her spine as she wondered if her hands would change to hooves like her feet.

Mary began to pray while Sarah tightened her arms around the other girl.  Her own voice failed her when she tried to join the prayers.

A paw as large as a cart thumped into the ground before them.  As dark as the creature was, its claws were a void - an absence of everything. The dirt hissed and sizzled where the tips touched.

Its other paw lifted while its head slid forward smoothly, lips parting to show a mouth too full of jagged, spear-like fangs.

Soft bells jingled in the air and the beast froze.

"You dare?" a gentle voice asked.  Though quiet, there was a force beneath the steady words.

Sarah turned.

He - for despite his appearance something in her brain spoke his gender to her.  No, she realized as she sniffed deeply.  His scent.  His musk.  It was decidedly male, though how she knew, she couldn't properly explain how she knew.

He was dressed in layers of open silken robes that draped over his broad shoulders.  His nose was flattened against his face with delicate lines curving outward to subdued slits for his nostrils.  The male's pointed ears slid against his temples until they aligned with his jaw.  Angled, almond-shaped eyes with narrowed, horizontal pupils stared at the wolf in a clear challenge.

Thin, long whiskers jutted from the white fur covering the man's chin.

Branching antlers jutted away from the side of his head.  Tiny bells were tied to the horns with red threads.  They chimed, quietly, when he glanced down at the two girls and then back up at the beast.  Four broad fingers gripped a simple staff.  It was plain but smooth, as if carved from a single fallen branch and no symbols adorned its surface.

A low growl preceded a rush of air tingled with the scent of rotten meat.

"This is my forest," the man said.  He lifted his staff and then slammed it to the ground.  Despite the soft dirt, a loud crack filled the air and the beast took a reflexive step back.

"These are my daughters," the man continued.  He stepped forward, raising his staff before thumping it into the ground once more.

The trees groaned around them.  Twisting and bowing their limbs, leaning towards the wolf.  It retreated while glancing around and its tail curled between its legs.

"And you dare to threaten my children in my own domain?"

Roots slid through the dirt.  Once freed, they lashed out as quick as a whip to grip the wolf's leg.  It howled and the girls screamed.  Their long ears trembled against the onslaught of sound.

Bones snapped.  The wolf struggled, pulling its paw backwards but the roots held tight until the beast bent forward to gnaw at its own leg.

"Enough," the man said, in the same even voice.  The roots unwound but writhed atop the soil, ready to reach out once more.

The beast held its position for a moment with its broken paw raised.  With a powerful huff of air, it turned and fled, dissipating into the sunlight.

"Please, s- sir," Sarah called out.  She hugged Mary more tightly against her chest.  "We- we aren't- we stumbled here by-"

He knelt before her, pressing his knees to the ground and dirtying the flawless silk fabric in the process.  She watched, enraptured, as he raised his hand and touched her forehead with a single finger.

"I see," he said, withdrawing his hand and standing once more.

He stared down at both of them and his eyes softened even as his voice remained the same.

"I am the Shepherd," he told them.  "And this is my forest.  Your new home."

"No, sir, please, we- we came here by accident.  We were fleeing from-"

"What name will you give me?" he asked her softly, interrupting her rambling, fearful speech.

"M-  Agnes, sir," Sarah said. Her ears bounced at the lie and red touched her cheeks beneath the hairs covering her muzzle.

"Agnes," the Shepherd said, as if savoring the word.  "I saw the encounter.  I saw how you were remade.  I saw your life, as brief and hard as it was, in your own land.  I saw-"

He stopped and glanced at Mary and the edge of his lips twitched.

"You cannot undo what was done," he told her.  "Return is nearly impossible and would do nothing to change who you are now.  A power greater than mine has altered you.  That power has remade you down to your very soul."

"This," he said, gesturing at them.  "This is who you are now."

"No," Mary groaned with a soft whisper.

"Come," he told them.  "Deeper into the forest.  Away from the chaos.  Towards safety.  I'll guide you and watch over you.  I'll introduce you to your brothers and sisters and others."

"Sir, please," Sarah said.  She felt her tail flick and her ears tremble, betraying her apprehension.  "Will we truly be safe?"

"Child," he said, thumping his staff gently into the ground.  The bells attached to his horns chimed and, for a moment, she remembered a sunny day at home with her brothers chasing her and laughing while her mother and father smiled from a distance.  A warm, happy memory she often recalled during difficult moments.  "I am the Shepherd.  Few stand above me."

He turned.  Sarah stood and Mary took her hand in return.  The girl's hooves sunk into the dirt while Sarah slipped her right foot from her boot.

"A moment, sir, please," Sarah begged.  The Shepherd looked over his shoulder but nodded.

She walked on awkward, bent legs, nearly falling several times as she tried to gather their clothes.  Her tail brushed against her thighs and ass as she moved and she had to adjust her arms to move several times when they brushed her udder and teats.  When she held their garments, she stood confidently on her new legs, waiting for Mary to find her footing.

They followed the Shepherd with hearts racing and their ears twisting to catch every errant sound until they passed the treeline to stand before a vast plain filled with groups of-

Sarah's eyes narrowed and she leaned forward with her tail flicking behind her.  There were giants there, as well as little people, if people had fur and horns and forked tails and a myriad of other features.  Boar-like people lounged and grazed while a large flock of sheep, standing on two legs, moved slowly between the groups.  It was impossible to take it all in at once.  Impossible to catalog the different shapes everyone wore.

A few curious types looked their way.  They all bowed and bells jingled when the Shepherd nodded his head in return.  More turned to them and began making their way over and the Shepherd greeted all by name.

"S-  A- Agnes," Mary whispered, pushing herself into Sarah's side nervously.  Sarah clutched their clothes with one arm while wrapping the other around the girl.

"It's okay," Sarah said.  None of the - she hesitated to call them people but lack of vocabulary left her with no other choice - none of the other people wore clothes and she blushed furiously while averting her eyes.  She told herself they would dress as soon as possible, regardless of these people's customs.

"It's okay," Sarah repeated.  A small sheep girl bleeted and approached, closer than the rest with a wide smile on her black-tipped snout.  "I have you.  I'll keep you safe.  I won't ever leave your side.  Not ever.  I- I-"

Sarah clenched her jaw.  She would tell her.  In time.  There was nothing stopping her now.  No family to disapprove of her.  Of either of them.  When the moment was right, she would tell Mary, even if her feelings weren't returned.  She would accept it either way, with pain or happiness.  The burden of keeping her feelings hidden grew heavier every day and here, now, was the chance to tell her, without fear of the village's fury and disdain.

A small triumph through terror, whatever may come of it.

The sheep girl leaned in far too close to sniff Sarah's neck and then gently butt her head against Sarah's shoulder, pushing her off balance until Mary leaned in to hold her in place.

"S- s- s- sorry," the girl, covered in curly white wool, stuttered.  She dipped her head shyly.  "I- I- I'm Nkiruka of the Igbo.  What- what year is it from where you-"

"Stealing them for yourself, girl?" a deep voice asked before laughing.  A bull-headed man, two heads taller than the three women, bowed his horned head briefly.  "My name is Guillaume.  Well, no, that's not truly my name but I foolishly lost mine when I arrived, charmed as I was by- well, I can't remember.  It was all stolen from me with my name.  However, I'm certain she was charming.  And Guillaume feels like it suits me."

His laughter was rich and even Sarah smiled in return as he took her hand to press his velvet-soft black lips to the speckled hair covering the back of her fingers.  He let the hand go before turning to Mary.

"Welcome," Guillaume said.  "Please allow me to show you both around and introduce you to those that matter."

"You- you- can't- I- I was here first," Nkiruka told him.  She shuffled from one foot to the other but stood her ground.

"Ahh, so you were," Guillaume sighed while releasing Mary's hand.  "I leave them in your capable hands, Nkiruka, but please allow me to accompany you until you introduce them to their new herd."

"They don't have to stay with the herd," Nkiruka said.  "They can go wherever they want."

"Truth," Guillaume huffed, nodding his head.  His twin horns, as thick as Sarah's forearms and curving upwards to sharp ivory tips, swung through the air.

With their clothing gripped tightly against her body, Sarah followed their guides and Mary clung to her, tickling Sarah's neck with her twitching ears.  Sarah could feel the warmth of the other girl flowing into her where their bare bodies touched and it grounded her.  On a sudden impulse, she turned and kissed the top of Mary's head.

The air tasted sweet and the warm sun caused her black nose to glisten while her tail periodically wiggled behind her.  Sarah smiled and followed as the weight of her old life lifted from her shoulders.

Clothes dropped from her arms a piece at a time, scattered behind the two girls as they melted into the waiting, excited crowds.