Nia

What felt like an hour later, she was dressed in a new robe, this world’s underwear—which thankfully weren’t some slips—and new shoes.

Another gaze in the mirror confirmed that she was looking fine. Too fine. But she needed clothes that fitted her tightly or she’d feel naked. And she wouldn’t want to step in front of the others feeling naked.

Still feeling self-conscious, she walked toward the door and opened it. Renard stood at the other side, an expression on the face that seemed to say ‘finally’.

“Don’t say a word!” She hissed at him, fearing that he’d say something about women needing stereotypically longer to get ready then men. If your reality changed all of a sudden, you’d also take longer!

The monk shrugged and walked down the corridor. He simply radiated the implicit expectation that she’d follow him. With a sigh, she did. It wasn’t that she had anywhere else to go, or knew any other place she could go.

If she was honest to herself, she—no, her whole group—were dependent on the monks here. Not a single one of them knew how to procure something to eat. Or to drink. Or any … whatever currency they were using. As far as she surmised, none of them had any valuable skills.

Note to self: Programming skills are not useful when pulled into another, rather medieval world.

At the end of this long journey through the temple—how insanely big was it anyways?—were two heavy double doors made out of wood. Plain double doors.

Behind them was the rest of her group. There were a few windows that let in the chilly outside air. A few wooden tables and benches stood off to the side. In front of the windows was a row of wooden training dummies.

The other summonees were in a corner of the room and they stood out. Or at least one of them did. They all stared at Ralf. The pseudo dwarf was clad in heavy armor that looked like plate mail and glittered golden. Were they supposed to battle the hordes of an evil goddess or meet with the king? She didn’t know. She had to admit that he did look quite good in it. Like a knight in—literally—shining armor.

He was busy swinging his sword from side to side and over head. After a few more minutes, he walked to one of the dummies and swung his sword. She expected it to make a notch in the wood at most and to be stuck afterwards. To her surprise, it cut the wood cleanly in half. That was some scary otherworldy sharpness. Maybe there was magic involved as well?

“Oh?” Tommy’s voice rang out and the youngster was in front of her just a moment later. He was wearing tight fitting leather clothes, with arm and finger protectors and a bow hung on his back. So he had gotten the role of the archer? “What lovely angel has graced us with her presence?”

Was Tommy hitting on her? That felt all kinds of awkward. Really all kinds. And her mind chose to focus on the worst one. With him suddenly kneeling in front of her, the situation only got worse. And what he ultimately wanted was clear in her mind. Too clear. She knew those desires, and she never wanted to be the target of them.

Now I’d like to have a copy of How to permanently get rid of sex-crazy youngsters in one easy step. Just too bad that that guide hasn’t been written yet.

Then she had an idea. “Don’t you have a date this evening?” She had listened and would use her knowledge against him.

“Yes, I have,” he agreed, “with you.”

Okay, the plan “use your knowledge of their secrets” has been a failure.

“What’s your name?” He smiled sweetly at her.

She opened her mouth and … drew a blank. Why couldn’t she remember her name?

Okay, saying something like Peter, Bernd or Richard right now might make things worse. But why can’t I even remember my old name?

“What’s the problem, sweetheart?” Tom leaned in really close and she stumbled a few steps backwards. What should she tell him? Them?

“I … I’m …” she gulped.

Tommy rose to his feet and took her hand. “Come on, you can tell me.” He whispered the words like a lover.

She gulped, unsure whether she should run away or hit his weak spot. That she couldn’t remember her own name had shaken her.

Where’s your girlfriend? I could really use her presence right now!

“I think you should lay off of her a little. She looks really uncomfortable.” The office lady raised her voice and walked next to Tommy. She had also tight-fitting black clothing. Were those daggers strapped to her thighs?

“Uncomfortable? Why would she be uncomfortable?”

“Have you ever heard of the concept ‘personal space’? Women are very fond of it.”

“Huh?”

“Just back off a little.” She pulled him backwards a bit.

Thank you, office-lady!

“I … uh, sorry,” he murmured. “I was just mesmerized by your beauty.”

A sigh escaped her lips and she shook her head. Tommy had brough an important question up. What was her name? Or rather what name should she choose right now?

“Hello, deary.” The office lady stepped in front of Tommy and smiled. “My name is Tina. Who are you?”

She had to answer the question. Now. What should she call herself? “I … I am … Nia!” It was a spur of the moment decision.

“Nia? An interesting name.” Tina smiled.

“A beautiful name.” Tommy was somehow suddenly in front of the office lady and took Nia’s hand again.

“I am surprised that you’re already here.” Qiin came in, and with him Tommy’s girlfriend. Tommy quickly let go of Nia’s hand and waved at the girl next to the monk.

“I see you’ve acquainted yourself already with the new look of your priestess.” Qiins comment was met with stares. Stares that slowly traveled to Nia.

“Does that mean you are …” Tommy suddenly looked white.

That secret gets you off of me? Seriously?

There was nothing that even so much as pointed at her previous body. Not a single thing.

“So I guess the date today is off the table?”

“What date are you talking about?” Tommy’s girlfriend stepped into their little circle and stared at the youngster. She had also changed into new clothes. Gone was the revealing outfit. Instead she was clad in long robes that were ornately decorated. She looked like a completely different person.

“The one with you, of course?” Tommy’s forehead glistened with sweat.

“We didn’t have a date scheduled this evening.”

“We didn’t? I might’ve mistaken the day then.”

The girl kept staring at Tommy for a while longer.

Should I let your behavior slide? No. After you’ve made me very uncomfortable for this long, I think I deserve a bit of payback.

“But you’ve invited me to a date this evening!” Nia did her best to play a hurt girl. Her acting wasn’t sincere, and she was sure that everyone would roll their eyes at that.

Tommy’s girlfriend was convinced by her bad acting, though. Within a second she was in front of Tommy and had left a red hand print on his right cheek.

After that, she turned around and left through the door.

“Please, Sonja, it’s not how it seems,” he called and went after his girlfriend, but not without giving Nia a ‘You’re dead’-Look.

“I am impressed.” Ralf left the corner with the destroyed training dummies and joined their round. “By both his stupidity and your chess move. Your acting needs a bit of work though.”

Nia rolled her eyes and sighed. “I know. He just made me feel very uncomfortable …”

“I can guess. Especially since you were male before.” Ralf smiled.

“No,” Tina interjected, “every woman feels this uncomfortable when treated like that.”

“Really?” The pseudo dwarf raised an eyebrow. “I mean, he acted very cringe, but I thought women like being courted.”

“Only by men we like. And we usually don’t like every man.” Tina shook her head. “Let me give you some free dating advice: If you imagine what you want to say or do to a woman as being done to yourself by another man, and you find that thought uncomfortable, chances are very high, that the woman finds it and you uncomfortable, too, and will remember you as that one guy not to get near to, forever. An introduction like that will kill your chances instantly.”

“Huh?” Ralf blinked a few times. “When I tried a cheesy pick-up-line with my wife, she laughed and liked it.”

“Then you were in luck that she liked you before.”

Nia let out another sigh. “Well, not talking to girls doesn’t help either.”

“Of course not.” Tina shook her head.

“Then how would one go about it?” Nia was curious. Not that she had had her eyes set on anyone. But she had this innate desire not to be alone.

“Shouldn’t you learn how to speak with a guy, now?” Ralf raised an eyebrow.

Should she? The thought alone sent shivers down her spine.

“Let her date whom she wants to date,” Tina answered sternly. “If she wants to be with a man, let her. If she wants to be with a woman, then let her be with one. There is no need to conform to antiquated beliefs.”

That’s a relief.

“As to how to talk to a woman? Treat her with respect. Ask whether she would like some company, listen to her when she speaks. Just act around her as you would act around a good friend.”

“That sound too easy.”

“You wouldn’t believe how many fail at that simple task, because they only think about their end goal. Which is usually to get her into bed.”

Nia thought about that for a while and nodded in understanding. Right at the moment she had no desire to sleep with anyone. Which could be due to her being female now. Then again, the thought of doing things like that with a man was even appalling right now.

“Why the change though?” Ralf asked and looked at Qiin. “The rest of us just got new clothes. Well, I got a magical sword, too. But we? We were left unchanged.”

“We had to establish a connection between your god and ours. This connection had to be sealed by magical means. She has become the conduit of that connection.”

“Couldn’t you do this with an amulet of some kind?” Nia asked. She stared at Qiin, who kept a stoic expression. Long moments passed in silence.

“No.” That non-answer felt like he was talking bullshit.

“So you could have?” He didn’t meet her gaze. The silence stretched once more. Tina and Ralf joined her in staring at the monk.

“Well, we could have. But then you would have needed to learn how to draw that power from the amulet. Which would be much weaker. Too weak to oppose the minions of a goddess.”

“Really?” Nia threw her hands up. “You thought sacrificing me, or rather my sanity, would be a good idea when trying to defeat a goddess?”

Once again, Qiin didn’t meet her eyes. “We thought you might want to deal with this quickly.”

“What?”

“You misunderstand the difference in power. With years of practice you could, maybe, draw on a third of the power you can do now.” That was a big difference, for sure. But she still felt indignation at all of this.

“That sounds like an excuse.” She crossed her arms.

“I assure you, that we didn’t have any other choice ourselves. I apologize for not informing you beforehand, but we feared that this would have led to problems.”

“You can be damned sure that it would have. Pulling others into your problems is a dick move!”

“As I said: We didn’t have any other choice.” Qiin sighed and shook his head. “We’ll be doing our best to prepare you for the task ahead. Which means we will instruct you in your talents from tomorrow onward. We have only one chance after all, and we have to make it count.”

Gee, thanks. Though don’t expect me to pray to any gods.

“So.” Tommy was back in the door. He was rubbing his left cheek that was now sporting hand print as well. “How long will this shit take? I want to get back home as soon as possible. Between my chick and this impostor, I am fed up with women and your world at large!”

Qiin sighed. “I think it’s best you rest for today. Let me guide you to your room.” He put a hand on Nia’s shoulder.

She shrugged it off with a growl. “Just lead the way. I hope for you that I can lock the door.”