Chapter 8

When I woke up, I felt like absolute shit. My head hurt so much and my stomach was so queasy that I didn’t want to move. But I also felt so thirsty that I thought I would die if I didn’t get a drink. After a few moments I decided I wasn’t going to fall asleep or, better yet, die, so I rolled over onto my stomach and pushed myself up. The nausea hit stronger and I had to close my eyes. I wasn’t going to throw up. I wasn’t going to throw up. After the nausea receded to less imminent levels, I opened my eyes. There was a big sweat stain on my pillow. Gross.

I squirmed around so I was sitting on the edge of the bed and took another break. It was at that point that I realized I was in nothing but my panties. I quickly glanced around and instantly regretted it as my headache spiked. To my relief, Dorsa was the only other person in the room. She was sleeping on her stomach. She didn’t seem to be wearing anything at all. I hurriedly averted my gaze. Had we…? Mom, has your boy finally become a man? I glanced down at my breasts. As a woman? I tried desperately to remember what had happened.

I remembered the show and being invited to drink with Igor and his friends. My memory started to fragment then and I could only remember a few things after. Mostly they were of laughing and having fun. Also the nasty taste of that wine. What had the alcohol content been to do this to me? I didn’t think I drank that much. Nothing suggested Dorsa and I had done the deed but I also had no memories of getting to the room. Hopefully we had just gotten undressed before we slept because we were hot or something.

The door opened and I quickly covered myself. Kriv walked in with a pitcher of water in one hand and a plate with two small loaves of bread. Even though I wanted the water like nobody’s business I said, “Wait, Kriv, I’m not dressed!”

“I know,” he said, stepping into the room and closing the door with his hip.

A horrible thought occurred to me. “Did you sleep in here with us last night?”

Kriv nodded and walked to me without apparent concern. “Where else would I sleep?” he asked. So he’d seen it all. Sorry, Mina. I guess it was kind of inevitable traveling with him like this. I took the pitcher and drank from it. I guzzled it so desperately that the water started trickling out of my mouth and down my chin, neck and chest. God, it was good. When I ran out of breath, I handed it back to him and took one of the bread loafs. As I nibbled on it, Kriv said, “Your clothes are over there,” he said, pointing at a small pile on a little end table. My skirt and bra were neatly folded. That was good. It suggested that me and Dorsa hadn’t torn each other’s clothes off in a fit of passion.

I stood up, waited for my pulsing headache to lessen enough to be tolerable and walked to the pile. Holding the remaining half of the loaf in my mouth, I picked up my bra. Just because he had seen them didn’t mean I was comfortable parading the girls around. When I picked up the bra, though, it slipped apart. One of the side straps had been torn away from the cup. “What happened?” I shouted, though it was muffled by the bread. I glanced over my shoulder at Kriv.

He looked down, seeming faintly embarrassed. “I couldn’t figure out how to take it off and accidentally tore it.”

The bread fell to the floor as I gaped at him. “You took it off me?”

He nodded and, strangely, no longer seemed embarrassed. “You were twisting around and sweating in your sleep a lot last night. I thought you might be more comfortable with less clothing. I would have taken off your other pants too but after I tore your bra I was worried I might tear those as well. Your clothes are strange.”

I sighed with a mixture of relief and frustration. At least it hadn’t been sexual at all. But now what was I going to do? As busty as Mina was, I didn’t think it was a great idea to go sans bra. Maybe I could get it sewn up. A town this size had to have a tailor or something right. I set it down and searched around. My blouse wasn’t there. “Where is my blouse?” I asked.

Kriv shrugged. “Somebody took it, we think. A souvenir maybe.”

I put a hand to my face. What had possessed me to take it off last night? My sandals were next to the end table. Why couldn’t they have taken those damn things and left me my shirt? I pulled on my skirt and considered pulling up higher. Maybe I could use it as some kind of tube top until I found something better?

The door opened and I quickly slapped my hands to my chest. Did they not knock in Pekel? Aliya walked in with a man. He was tall and slender, in a white vest and black breeches. He had shaggy white hair and frost blue eyes. And cat ears. That triggered my fuzzy memories. He had been at the table with Kharkov and the rest. Revaz. His name was Revaz. There was something else but it slipped away from me.

“Finally up?” Aliya asked, hands on her hips and a mocking smile on her face.

“Do people not knock in Pekel?” I asked somewhat pissely.

The mocking smile was replaced by anger. “We don’t when we’ve been here all night protecting the virtue of two silly girls that got drunk off their asses last night.” She jerked a thumb at Revaz and said, “He stayed up all night watching over you.”

Revaz shrugged. “Only because you asked me, Aliya.”

“What happened last night?” I asked, a sinking feeling in my stomach.

Aliya raised an eyebrow. “You don’t remember?” She shook her head and sighed. “If you want to get that drunk, I’m hardly one to criticize, just, make sure you are around people you trust. Not four strange men.”

I broke out into a cold sweat. What had happened last night? Even though I obviously had no experience with a woman’s sex, nothing felt hurt or sore so I was pretty sure the absolute worst hadn’t happened. I was scared to ask what had.. It was the last time I was getting drunk in Mina’s body, though/ I promised myself that. I wiped the sweat away from my brow, forgetting for a moment that I wasn’t wearing anything up top.

“Can I ask you a question?” Revaz said. His voice was deep yet soft, like a cat’s purr. “Why do you have those bars through your nipples?”

I clapped my hand back to my breast so hard that it hurt a little. “What?” I gasped.

Revaz shrugged. “I’ve never seen something like that before.” He wasn’t embarrassed or sorry like I would have been. He also wasn’t secretly desperate to know. Just curious. I remembered thinking he was cool when I first met him. Damn it.

“They’re just jewelry like my other piercings,” I said. I thought about adding that they made nipples a lot more sensitive but just thinking it made them stiffen under my hands. Son of a bitch! “Can I have a shirt please?”

Aliya glanced at Revaz and he shrugged again. “Some little freak ran off with her shirt last night and the little fox tore the undershirt when he was trying to get it off her.”

Aliya glared at Kriv. “Why did you take off her other shirt?” I wondered if my universal translation was acting up. Did they honestly consider my bra a shirt?

“She was hot,” Kriv explained. He was glaring at her but that was just his normal expression. He didn’t seem defensive.

Aliya frowned but I guess she let it go because she turned back to me and said, “I don’t have anything else. My stuff is back at the sept house. I’m also not sure it would fit you.” Aliya was smaller than I was. By my own admittedly amatuer understanding, I’d say a full cup smaller.

Revaz stripped off his white vest and tossed it at me. I had to let go of myself to catch it but I quickly swung it on. It hung about to my waist and the armholes hung down to my ribs. I frowned as I tried to find some way to close it. “Doesn't this thing have some buttons or closures or something?” Aliya and Revaz glanced at each other and then both shook their heads as they looked back at me. Seriously? After a moment of thought, I hit upon the idea to tie the ends of the vest together the way some girls did to show off their midriff. It was long enough that I didn’t show any stomach but it did leave a lot of cleavage and sideboob. No, this wasn’t going to do for long. It was better than nothing but only just.

Still, I owed Revaz a thank you. I glanced up and saw him standing completely at ease with no shirt on. More at ease than I would have been in a T-shirt, back in my original body. Of course, his torso was densely packed with lean muscle and mine had...not been. Between the body, his shaggy white hair, frost blue eyes and delicately-boned yet masculine face, he would have to beat girls off with a stick if he ever got sent to my world. Even the cat ears and fangs would probably only make him more desirable. Damn it. I kind of hated him but also I hoped he liked me and wanted to be friends. Just like back home. I sighed. “Thank you, Revaz, but I’ll need something more than this. Is there a tailor or something in his town?”

Aliya looked at Revaz. The tiger man thought about it. “I think so. I’ll go ask Kharkov where to find him.” He glided out of the room with grace that was all cat.

“How are you going to pay, though?” Aliya asked.

I shrugged. “I’ll figure something out.” I’d played enough porn games to know what that sounded like but there was no way I was doing anything like that. This was Mina’s body. I needed to treat it with more respect than I had last night. Also, I was a man! A man, damn it! I needed to remember that. I glanced at Dorsa. She still seemed completely out. I could see her breathing so she wasn’t dead. How much had she drunk? But if she was still out, I was taking her breakfast. After the money we’d made for this place last night, Kharkov and Elvina could afford more than two tiny loaves for us.

I had eaten the other bread and steadily drunk my way through the rest of the pitcher when Revaz returned. He had the location of the tailor. We decided he would take me there while Aliya babysat Dorsa. Kriv decided to come along with us. Elvina and Kharkov were back in the kitchen when we came into the common room and I wasn’t sorry to miss them. When we got outside, I squinted at the sun and saw that it was already noon or a little after. How were we going to convince that jerkass couple to let us stay another night? Even if it had been earlier, Dorsa was dead to the world and I felt like death warmed over.

Revaz dropped me and Kriv off at a small building that apparently belonged to the tailor and then took off to get a new vest from the sept house. I kind of wished he had stayed with me to ward off the tailor if he tried anything. I thought Kriv could probably protect me but he wasn’t scaring anyone. I hesitated outside of the door for a while but that wasn’t going to help anything.

I pushed the door open and entered the dim building. The tailor, I presumed, was a short newt man a bit on the chubby side. He was slumped on a stool near the back of the room, wearing a very handsome royal blue vest trimmed with gold. It didn’t suit him but it was one of the nicest bits of clothing I’d seen. Point for him being the tailor. There wasn’t much else in the room, just a table with sewing equipment and various fabrics hanging from the walls and low ceiling.

The tailor got up and walked toward us. The way he hunched forward made me think that he was probably older. “Hello, hello,” he said. Then he stopped and his black eyes widened. “You’re the girl from last night. What a coincidence. I was just thinking about you.” His voice was kind of thick like all the newts.

I resisted the urge to take a step back. He’d been thinking about me? That was disconcerting. “How do you do?” I said politely. “My name is Selene and I was hoping…”

Before I could finish, he bustled forward and grasped the hem of my skirt. I squealed and Kriv tried to push him away. The newt man was stronger than he seemed though, because he didn’t move at all. Instead he said, “I knew it. What kind of fabric is this? It’s very much like silk but it’s not quite right.” I honestly had no idea what he was talking about. I knew the skirt wasn’t silk or thought I did. But I didn’t know how to tell fabrics apart unless it was really obvious, like velvet or leather.

I slapped his hands away and he let me but he stared at me, obviously expecting an answer. I decided to lie because I couldn’t think of what else to do. With my most outraged voice I said, “It is silk!”

The newt man studied my skirt doubtfully and rubbed the hem between his fingers again. Since he didn’t pull it up this time, I let him. “I don’t think so,” he said.

“I assure you.” An idea popped into my head. “The man I purchased it from assured me that it was silk!”

“Ah.” He rubbed his chin. “I see.” I could tell he’d thought I’d been duped. Which meant he wouldn’t be asking me any more questions, as I’d intended. “Where did you purchase it, if I may ask?”

“Back home in Althea.”

He snorted. “I see.” He sighed and dropped the hem of the skirt. “Well, what can I do for you?”

“I came here,” I said, with a little outrage still in my voice. “Because my blouse was stolen last night. I need a new one.”

“Oh. Easy enough.” The newt man walked back to his stool. He didn’t sit down but he did lean on it. “Easy enough.” He gestured around. “Pick out a material and I’ll give you a price.”

“About that…” I said. “I don’t actually have any money, right now.” I clapped my hands together and bowed before he could say anything. “But please, I’m really, really need it. You heard me play last night? Perhaps I could play you a song?” I’d come up with that idea on the way over.

“A song?” the tailor snapped. “I heard all the music I cared to last night. I need real coin here. I’m trying to survive!” I cursed. Why didn’t anything work right? I didn’t want to have to use ‘doki-doki’ again. I was a little nervous about using sexual wiles after last night. “However…” My stomach clenched at the way he said the word. Here it came. “Perhaps we could work out a little trade…” Oh, god. I just knew what he was going to ask for. “I want your skirt.”

I blinked. That had not been what I expected. “My skirt?”

He nodded. “Clothing for clothing. Fair trade, right?” He was all innocence. It set off alarm bells in my head. I didn’t think he was trying to get me bottomless. Then I got it. The skirt might have been fake silk but even fake silk was probably valuable as hell here. They didn’t call it the Silk Road for nothing. He really did think I was a chump.

I opened my mouth, about to demand a whole damn outfit in return for my skirt. Then I closed it as a new idea hit me. Perhaps this was a way to solve my lack of top and chronic coin shortage in one go. Not with my skirt but my torn bra was in the backpack I had with me. I had been hoping to get it repaired by the tailor. The bra was made out of very similar feeling material as the skirt. I hoped Mina could forgive me.

I fished the bra out of my bag. “I can’t give you my skirt but I could trade you this. It is silk, just like my skirt.” I didn’t think it was actually silk but it was soft and smooth like the material of the skirt so…

The tailor hurried over to me and took the bra. His fingers ran across it and a flicker of a smile crossed his face before it returned to its normal grumpiness. That was enough, though. He wanted it. If I could persevere through my hatred of conflict, I had him. “Well, perhaps we can work out a deal. It isn’t worth as much as the skirt, though.”

“No, but I think it is worth a lot,” I said.

“Worth a lot?” the tailor huffed. “It’s damaged! Torn. No, I think I can swap it for a new top for you but only because I like you.”

“Come on,” I said. “You know you can fix that easily and we both know silk is worth a lot more than the fabrics you have here. If I trade you that, I expect coin to be coming back my way.”

“Preposterous!” he snapped. “The article is damaged. And I am still not convinced that it is actual silk.” He tugged at it gently. “It stretches too much.”

“Fine,” I said. This was the moment. You had to be willing to walk away, or so people said. “Give it back to me. I’ll figure something else out.” I held my hand out.

The tailor glanced from the bra to my face and back again. He scowled. “Alright. I will agree to pay a small sum in addition to making you a top. Pick out your fabric.” His eyes flashed. “The sum will depend on the fabric.” I guess he wasn’t done yet.

I just nodded and said, “Of course.” I searched around, touching the various fabrics. Most were cotton, I think, but there were some animal furs as well. The thought of wearing a fur top was kind of cool but I eventually settled on a cotton that was close to the pale pink as the remnants of the nail polish on my fingers and toes.

When I pointed it out to the tailor, he said, “A good choice.” I heard ‘expensive’ when he said ‘good.’ “Now, what kind of sum were you looking for?”

So he was letting me set the price. The problem was I didn’t really have any idea how the currency worked here. I’d noticed brown and silver coins being traded at the bazaar so I assumed I was dealing with the standard copper, silver, gold triumvirate that was common in fantasy settings. I decided just to shoot my shot. Better to come in way too high than too low. “How about ten gold pieces?”

The way his face flushed told me he was genuinely shocked by my price and not acting. Good to know. “Are you out of your mind? I wouldn’t even pay one gold piece for this if I was buying straight out and it were in perfect condition!” Shit, I hope he wasn’t actually angry at me. “Ridiculous. I’m not even sure it is worth ten coppers.” So that was his bid then. Not even a silver. Cheap bastard.

“Fine,” I said, “maybe ten gold is too much but…” I was about to suggest silver but I didn’t know how many silvers added up to a gold. I didn’t want to underbid so I said, “How about just one?”

“Absurd. I suppose I could part with one silver and a couple coppers because I like your face. But that is the limit.”

My mind worked rapidly. Ten coppers, to one silver and two coppers. That strongly suggested that ten coppers equaled a silver so I think I could safely assume that ten silvers equaled a gold. Alright. Simple. I liked that.

I suggested nine silvers and we haggled back and forth until we agreed on a sum of three silvers and seven coppers. It had been four and four but he’d had one last card to play and if I wanted a ‘rush job’ on the blouse so it would be done tomorrow, I had to come down more. Of the two of us, I’d come down a lot more but think I dragged more out of him than made him happy. Of course, I didn’t really know. Maybe he would start laughing himself silly the moment I left.

The last thing he had to do was take my measurements. I expected it to get creepy but the tailor kept it professional. I also learned what Mina’s bust size was. Same as Bulma’s, if my math was right. Kriv and I left the shop right after and Revaz was waiting outside for us. He was wearing a new vest that was white like the one he’d loaned to me but trimmed with black fur. “Is that your fancy vest?” I asked. He glanced at me, clearly not getting the joke. I blushed and looked at the ground. Damn it.

“Did you get things settled?” he asked.

I smiled and touched my backpack lightly. My coins were in there. “Yup.” I glanced back to him and saw that he was armed now with a short sword on one hip and a small axe on the other. Was he expecting trouble?

“Alright, good.” He pat me on the top of my head. It startled me and a shiver ran from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. What the hell? My face was heating. “Let’s get back.” He lifted his hand and turned to lead us back to the inn. I followed numbly. What was that? Just a woman’s reaction to a man’s hand? Now that I looked at them, Revaz had very large hands. Like paws. I suppose that was appropriate. I didn’t know what to think about my reaction to Revaz so I decided not to think about it.

When we got back to the inn, the common room was beginning to fill up with patrons again. Some of them called out to me. Most of it was just general greetings but there were a few lewd comments thrown in. I blushed, unable to help it. I kept my head down and hurried up the stairs. I realized I should have been offended or embarrassed but honestly it felt kind of nice. Nobody used to notice me and now nobody could take their eyes off me. Was I wrong to enjoy it? Probably.