[DND] [FIC] Tuhka

Eyyyyyy here's the first of the original fics I have planned (and the quickest one to do)! It's based just a short time after the happenings of this transition comic. Enjoy!

He’s getting better at recognising his own reflection.

He touches the smooth surface of the mirror, unable to believe that this isn’t an illusion. It’s not. Dampness gathers in his eyes but this time it’s from something other than utter despair whenever he sees himself.

Waking up in his new body each morning still astonishes him, and he takes in stride the lessons it forces him to learn, grateful that he can. He trains himself to avoid low-hanging doorways and tree branches with mild success and his appetite has increased at least three-fold, though it could just be a secondary effect of the magic...he’s not convinced it isn’t his current size requiring him to burn through the pantry as furiously as he is. 

Ooria, bless her, tries to adapt as well and as cheerfully as she can but he still feels guilty for how tired, how exhausted she is after performing the ritual. He cleans up the mess he made, and the messes he continues to make while settling into his much larger frame and ungainly limbs. His hands are so big now, his tail has thickened that much more, his horns never seem to end and he’s clumsier than he used to be...it sometimes frustrates him—he’s impatient to be useful again. 

(A small part of him, the abandoned child in him, believes that Ooria will no longer find him worth keeping.)

He journeys into town for the first time as himself, nervous and excited and terrified. Wearing a patchwork outfit he has had to fashion from a collection of his old clothes and with a little magical help from Ooria on top to make them look presentable. 

He purchases components to replace the ones Ooria used for his spell, he restocks on the supplies he has eaten through in the short time he’s been this person, and lastly he visits the local tailor to commission something that will hopefully fit him.

Thoughts drift away as he stares at all the swathes of fabric and bolts of material...he is lost. His anxiety upon leaving the safe, comfortable cabin he shares with Ooria returning in full, overwhelming him. What am I doing? What if I’m making a mistake? What if—?

“May I help you, sir?” comes a soft, inquiring voice.

Blinking out of his reverie as quickly as he’d entered it, he turns to the source of the voice; a dark-haired female halfling with several pins in her mouth, at least five different tape measures haphazardly flung around her neck and gaze expectant towards her potential customer.

He answers her with a relieved and blinding smile. 

When he returns home to their little cabin in the forest clearing, he finds Ooria puttering around the living area, obliviously trailing her knitting from where she’d accidentally pinned it to a corner of the dress she’s wearing. He’s overcome with a fondness so intense that it brings tears to his eyes. 

He carefully sets down his purchases and surprises Ooria by kneeling before her and tucking her into a tight embrace, face and emotion hidden in the soft downy feathers of her neck. Ooria makes a little startled sound, muffled by his shoulder, but winds her arms around him as best as she can all the same.

“Tuhka?” she whispers.

A tear trickles from the corner of his eye despite his efforts to contain it. 

“Thank you.”