Wendyl was sad to see them go, but admitted she was too exhausted to do much that day. The mood improved slightly as Ann promised they’d call in the next couple days, and the woman had happily flipped her sign to “Closed” as they walked out.

“We’ve got a big feckin’ day tomorrow,” Kat sighed. “I’m all fer turnin’ in early. Thoughts?”

No one disagreed, and they caught a carriage back to the palace.

----------------------------------------

Ann had a restless night. Dreams of shadows haunted her. A forest of snow and steel, with a dark shape hunting her. Before anything too important could happen, she started awake.

“Shit,” Ann panted, holding her head. She was sweating, and she wiped her forehead with a hand. “What the fuck was that?”

She looked to her left. Kat was still dead asleep, as normal. Her hair had gotten bunched up above her on the pillow, and the moonlight glinted softly off her exposed scales. Ann reached over, then flinched. Her claws were out. She pulled them back, then gently stroked her girlfriend’s neck.

Kat stirred in her sleep, mumbling something incoherent.

Rosalyn was still out, too. She’d somehow wound up turned around with her legs stuck over Ann’s and her head hanging off the side of the bed.

Gently, Ann reached over and pulled her back up, settling her head on the pillow. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ N()velFire.net

“Mmm, thnks,” Rosalyn mumbled. “You ok?”

“Bad dream. That’s all,” Ann whispered back. “Go back to sleep.”

“Mk. Love you,” Rosalyn said as she pulled the covers over herself, stealing a portion from Kat.

Ann sat there, her heart still calming down. That dream was different than normal. It wasn’t reliving the bus attack, or some other made up nightmare. Too real. Shit. That’s gotta be the Warping starting to show itself, Ann thought. I thought, with me being so exposed, I wouldn’t have to deal with it like Kat did. Guess that assumption was wrong. Orenous, you there?

Silence.

Cool. Well, if you get this message, leave a reply after the beep, cause I really don’t like that this is happening. Just need to make sure whatever you’ve got going on in my soul or whatever is still holding up. K-thanks, bye. Beeeep.

That was stupid, Ann chided herself with a shaky chuckle. Now what? Not like I can really do too much with this. Kat could talk to the thing in her with Rowena’s spell. Maybe I can get her to do the same thing? Doesn’t help me now, but that’s a plan. Plans are good. Get her to do that day after tomorrow? Should work. Not like she’d ever refuse. Still worried about that, too.

Ann groaned, her head filling with things she needed to do and figure out. Oh screw it. I’ll just study some more. She reached over Rosalyn and pulled over a sheaf of paper. It was the notes that Illana had sent her to study noble families and their connections. It took a while, but eventually the names began to blur, and her eyes drooped. Gently she put the papers back, and snuggled in between her girlfriends. Rosalyn’s arms sought her warmth, and she happily tugged the woman closer.

Sleep came to her, and the rest of the night passed in peace.

----------------------------------------

Breakfast was a busy affair. Orlana bustled in, wearing her breastplate today, said a brief greeting, and ran off to hold court. 

Kremdol stuck around longer. He made sure to reinforce the importance of being truthful in their testimonies, and that they weren’t on trial. This was particularly pointed at Ann and Rosalyn, who were both finding it difficult to eat with their stomachs tying in knots.

Junia came and went almost as quickly as her mother, and didn’t say much.

Before long, messengers from the court arrived to retrieve the witnesses. They were officious looking people, with sleek black suits emblazoned with a balanced scale. Ann thought the Inlon in the group looked a little silly, but kept that to herself.

Their carriage was reinforced, and not terribly comfortable. Ann saw metal bands running the exterior and found several inside as well. This thing was meant to protect people and get them to their destination in one piece. No cushions protected their rears as it bounced along the cobblestones of the city’s streets.

“Disembark,” ordered one of the messengers, opening the door. “Apologies for the rough ride, highness. High profile case. You understand.”

“Aye, it’s fine,” Kat said, waving him off. She was dressed in a clean shirt embroidered with her family crest, and linen pants. She’d decided against leather today to afford more comfort when sitting for long periods of time.

“Let me help, my lady,” a woman said, holding her hand out to help Rosalyn get out. The Druid was dressed in her usual robes. They were the fanciest thing she owned to wear, and Ann could appreciate the additional comfort they provided the woman.

Lucia and Bren filed out next. The pair were in white shirts and black pants. Their shoes, though, differed with Lucia in tan while Bren wore black.

Ann was last and simply wore her best kilt and blouse. Like Rosalyn, she didn’t have much in the way of court ready clothing. Her paws hit the cobbles as her tail swished behind her in anticipation.

The courthouse was a massive building. Mixed white and black marble ran up the pillars of the front facade, which was set into the wall of the mountain. An angled piece that would be a roof, if the building needed one, topped the pillars, and housed carved scenes of justice and law. A man standing before two people, offering up things Ann couldn’t quite make out from a distance. She guessed it was a king or something like that passing judgement.

“So, uh, how’s this work?” Ann asked, following the officials.

“We will show you to a waiting room adjacent to the courtroom. An official like us will come to fetch each of you in turn. Once finished, you will be dismissed.”

“So we don’t get to go in and see how things are going?” Ann asked as they were ushered through an ornate wooden door.

The foyer of the building was gorgeous. Polished stone floors gleamed in the lantern light as people rushed to and fro. Ornate metal railings lined four sets of stairs in each corner of the room. Looking down, Ann saw a massive version of Kat’s family crest set in arranged stone at the very centre. On the opposite wall from the door, a set of desks were set up for clerks to speak to citizens requesting information and other business. In the middle was a statue of Queen Orlana, imperious as ever, in full armour.

Ann’s eyes tracked the statue as they walked through the room and were ushered out. “That’s your mom’s full set of armour?” she asked Kat.

“Hm? Oh, aye. It’s prettier not carved o’ stone. They couldn’t ever get the glowin’ right.”

“None of the pieces she wears every day glow.”

“Not if she doesn’t want ‘em tae,” Kat shrugged. “Can ye imagine sittin’ down fer breakfast an’ blindin’ yer family wit’ yer clothes? I made ‘er turn it on all the time.”

“Here. You five? will wait here until called. Once your testimony is provided, you are free to return or join the gallery. Until then, you will not be permitted to leave this room,” the official explained. With a deep bow, he closed the door behind him.

It was at least an hour or so, Ann’s impatient brain told her, before anyone came to get them. She’d started pacing, bored out of her skull. She’d mentally gone over the list of nobles Illana had given her a dozen times, played some games with Rosalyn that only needed their hands, and arm wrestled Kat half a dozen times. The room was just a few couches and chairs, water in a pitcher with glasses, and light fixtures. A warm fire was set into the wall as well.

Ann just about jumped out of her skin when the door opened. An official in the same black uniform stepped in. “Katlyn Farragher, if you please,” the woman bowed.

Kat gave Ann and Rosalyn a quick kiss before following the woman.

“God damnit, I’m going to go crazy,” Ann complained. “I need something to focus on. Something to do.”

“Well,” Bren said, with a pause. “We could practise your Warped skills. See what ludicrous things you can get up to.”

“As long as you don’t think they’ll mind a pile of hair,” Ann said.

“This is still a kingdom under the Farraghers,” Bren reminded her. “That can be swept under the rug fairly easily.”

Ann stared at him, and his perfect poker face didn’t give her any clues on if he knew what an awful joke he’d just made. They’d be doing some sweeping, for sure.

“Fine. So, let’s just start with this,” Ann said, and used Minor Cosmetic Mutation to drop the fur above her knees. “Cool, I can look like I did before. Honestly, I could even lose the strip down my back, but I kinda like it. Now, let’s do the fun one.”

The next moment she was completely devoid of hair and fur. With a rustling, and intense itching, the replacement strands grew in. Once she was done, her hair and fur were bright purple with gold highlights. She had the same shaggy, wild hairstyle, but let her tail grow out a little longer than normal, and added some extra fluff to her ears.

Lucia sat up, watching intently. “Exotic.”

“Oh yeah, we set this up before you joined. This is going to be what I look like most of the time after I reveal who I am. Well, at least when I’m being all official.”

“Like colourful bird, attracting attention,” Lucia nodded. “Understand. Normal colours when you want quiet?”

“Pretty much,” Ann confirmed. “Now, this next part’s always a bit painful.”

“Oh ew, the eye part,” Rosalyn groaned.

“Eye?” Lucia asked before Ann’s world went dark.

The migraine set in as she tried to keep her balance. Not being able to see if she wanted was more disorienting than she thought it would be. Slowly, her eyelids were forced open as her old eyes pushed free. Ann heard a gagging noise from Lucia’s direction and grinned. Suddenly, her vision was back, and she looked down, picking up her old eyes.

“Awful,” Lucia groaned.

“Doesn’t feel any better. How’s it look Rosalyn?”

“Did you change something with them? They don’t look exactly like you had them last time. Kinda like… hearts?”

“Bingo,” Ann laughed. “Wanted to make it even more obvious who I was representing. I also added a bit of bioluminescence to them so they glow. It’s doing funky things to my vision, but I’ll get used to it. Purple glowing hearts inside the glowing golden irises. Little specs of green in there just to show the old me. Like it?”

Bren came over, inspecting her. “You said it’s affecting your vision?”

“Like a corona. An aura of light around the corners. It’s messing with my peripherals, but the centre seems ok.”

Bren reached out and prised open an eyelid. “Hm. I see the problem. You made the glowing parts too close to the iris. Give yourself a ring where it doesn’t glow, and it shouldn’t affect your vision.”

“Awesome. I’ve also been thinking about adding some patterns to my fur, but haven’t quite decided on that yet.”

“Too much,” Rosalyn piped up. “The giant purple wolf lady with glowing eyes is going to be crazy enough for people. Don’t get too far in the weeds.”

“Yeah, that’s fair,” Ann shrugged. “So. Requests?”

Half an hour later, there was a knock at the door. 

Ann had gone through half a dozen transformations, exploring the limits of her body. She’d grown teeth as long as her fingers, and in pointed spikes. Bren had her grow them out until she couldn’t, or her jaw just wouldn’t let her. It was an oddly terrifying feeling, being forced to keep your mouth open with your own teeth.

Besides that, Rosalyn and Lucia had her go through a few different routines of various hair colours and styles. Lucia, while clearly revolted by the process, had asked her to change her eyes a few times. First to a pair that were like hers, just to see what it looked like, then a cat, a falcon, an actual wolf. The falcon and wolf were disorienting. She could see some things so much better, but far worse in other ways. Rosalyn asked her to try out sheep’s eyes as well.

“Oh, gods, I can see everything around me, but I can’t see up,” Ann groaned, swinging her head around. “This sucks!”

“Prey animal,” Lucia explained. “Need peripheral, not vertical.”

“I wonder. Can you try a reptile’s eyes? Do you get the supporting structures or is it just the eyeball itself?” Bren wondered.

Ann shrugged and initiated the change. The pain was getting a little better, or she was getting used to it. She wasn’t quite sure. Eventually, she got her sight back.

“Oh fuck me, that’s trippy,” Ann gasped, looking around. Everything was crisper, anything that was green, like the patterns in Rosalyn’s robes and Lucia’s skin stood out in even brighter contrast. Reds, the few that were present, also stood out to her new senses. Ann blinked and felt just a single eyelid cross her vision. “Guess I get stuck with only one set of eyelids for now. Wait, what the hell is that?”

A new colour crossed her vision. Looked… different. Like a filter had been dropped over her vision, then it was gone again. It took her a moment of blinking, trying to focus on the sensation, before she nailed it. “Woooah, that’s UV light,” Ann gasped.

“UV light?” Bren asked. “What is UV? Oh, and what is bean-go while I am asking questions?”

“Easy one first,” Ann said, looking around the room. “Bingo, one word, b-i-n-g-o. There’s a song about a farmer’s dog with the name, actually. I’ll teach you later. I have no clue where it started, but it was a communal game where everyone had a set of squares with numbers on a card. Someone would draw numbers, and if you got a row of them first, you’d call bingo. It’s essentially a lottery. Old people went crazy for it.”

“We have similar, but use letters,” Bren nodded. “And the UV?”

“It’s a spectrum of light that humans can’t see. UV is short for ultra-violet. It’s a wave of light that the sun gives off besides the normal visible light. Have you ever gotten a sunburn?”

“No,” Lucia said.

“Yes,” Bren and Rosalyn responded.

“Lucky Lucia over here,” Ann giggled. “Anyway, that’s because of UV light. It’s really intense and can bake your skin if you get exposed to enough at high intensities. You can get cancer from it, but it also helps your body make vitamins. Rosalyn, Lucia and I should actually have issues in this cloudy environment because our skin is darker. It makes absorbing the light for vitamins harder. You and Kat, with your pale skin, are better for this climate.”

Bren was scribbling madly in his notebook. “And why would a lizard need to see this light?”

“Um, shit. I think it has to do with hunting? Maybe? Honestly, I’m not sure. I can see stuff weirdly clearly with it, but it doesn’t do more than normal vision. Maybe the darks are darker? I’d have to mess around with it,” Ann said, scratching the fur behind one of her ears.

“For now, return to your normal form. It is near time for someone to fetch the next of us, and I would rather not explain why a purple wolf woman with reptilian eyes is in the room when she did not enter,” Bren said, snapping his book shut.

“Aw, come on. That could be funny,” Ann laughed.

“Or it could get the guard called on us, ruin plans for your reveal, and cause a considerable amount of panic that a Warped had infiltrated,” Bren said flatly.

Ann sighed, but swapped everything back to normal. They shoved the fur and hair behind a couch, agreeing whoever was last would burn it before they were called in. Ann tossed her assorted extra eyeballs into the flames, taking grotesque interest as they bubbled and popped.

A knock at the door. “Annita Kronforst? You are hereby summoned to bear witness.”

“Here,” Ann said, walking over.

“Are you aware of the procedures you are expected to observe?” the official asked.

“Not a clue,” Ann answered honestly.

“Address the Magistrate as ‘Your Honour’, answer all questions truthfully, only speak when spoken to or requested to speak. You will be asked to swear to speak the truth upon Illdall in this particular case. From there, the prosecution headed by the Kingdom’s representative will ask you several questions. Once that is finished, any questions the defence has will be offered. Address only the Magistrate, the prosecution, or the defendant. You will be dismissed by the magistrate once the process is complete. Questions?”

“That clears them all up. Thanks,” Ann said.

“Very well. Follow me,” the woman instructed. She led Ann down a hall and through a small wooden door. Ann had to duck slightly, her ears scraping the top of the frame.

The courtroom was massive. They’d entered just to the right of the judge’s platform. He sat elevated behind a marble desk with wooden accents. To the left and right of the desk were cubbies and seats for various support staff. Scribes and clerks scratched at paper with quills as she walked past. In the centre of the room was an open circular space with a simple pedestal set at the very middle. As with everything, the treetopped mountain crest of the Farragher house was artfully crafted into the stone floor. Surrounding the space she was being led through was the gallery. Walking from the magistrate’s desk, she saw two groups, one to the left and right. Looking them over, she guessed that the prosecution was to the left, and defence to the right. The presence of several scruffy men and a rather disheveled woman mostly confirmed that they were the accused. Above this all were the spectator seats. They were absolutely packed, and Ann could feel the weight of their stares as she walked. 

Ann was guided onto the pedestal at the centre of everything, and stood facing the magistrate. The surrounding railing hissed as wood grew in and closed off the entrance, keeping her in place.

“Order!” the Magistrate, a very trim human with a waxed white beard and impressive moustache, called. “Annita Kronforst. I understand you are new to our customs. Have the proceedings been adequately explained to you?”

“Yes, Your Honour,” Ann replied.

“The court will be lenient in any breaches of etiquette, but you are expected to correct any behaviour upon notice. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Your Honour,” Ann said again. She figured that was more than fair.

“Very well. At this time, the court calls upon Annita Kronforst, mercenary by trade, and companion to Princess Katlyn Farragher to bear witness to the consequences of the crimes committed by the defence. Please, swear upon Illdall that you will tell the truth lest you invoke his ire.”

Swearing by Orenous would be more impactful for me, but they don’t know that yet, Ann thought as she raised her right hand. “I swear under Illdall’s protective gaze to tell only the truth.”

The magistrate smiled and nodded. Good, she’d done that right.

“Your oath has been heard and recorded. Prosecution, the witness is yours.”