“What happened to you?” Says Eue-Lysae, taking Morziwayn’s face in her hands and carefully brushing dirty brown hair covering a black eye away.

  “New body, old clothes.” responds Morziwayn, her missing front teeth causing her speech to be lisped. It has been a terribly unenjoyable last week for her.

  “No; I figured that much.” Eue-Lysae leads the women into the common room. “What do you think you’re doing? out in the hall.” She hisses at Arn. He has shown up with Faerthryne for the past decade. Klerwye had let him into the common room; unfortunately, Eue-Lysae does not—but he tries every year.

  Morziwayn sits down on one of the couches, Eue-Lysae joining her. Faerthryne pauses at the archway into the kitchen, listening to the coven as they chatter and make breakfast.

  “Come join us.” Eue-Lysae pats the couch.

  “I’m going to help your girls—I have no desire to hear her recount her last week again.” Faerthryne enters the kitchen; warm greetings follow shortly after from those who recognize her, as well as her introduction to Faey.

  “Would you like a change of clothes? or a bath? You... ummm... smell like the damned.” Eue-Lysae would rather smell burned hair and charred flesh than the stench of Morziwayn. “Actually... I’m not suggesting. Come with me, please.”

  Morziwayn nods and stands.

  “Wait by the door for me; I have some old clothes you can wear for now.” Eue-Lysae scurries off to her third-floor suite, returning shortly after with a wicker basket full of clothing. These will be much too large for her. “Faerthryne, I’m taking Morziwayn to the bathhouse; please watch them for me.” She knows nothing will happen. “And do not invite your friend in.”

  “I will not.” Faerthryne waves her hand, dismissing Gyrshke from her own home.

  With her good arm, Morziwayn opens the door for Eue-Lysae and smiles to Arn as he appears with the hallway. She closes the door behind her and Eue-Lysae as the two make their way to the bathhouse.

  The wooden door shuts behind them, and Eue-Lysae locks it. “The water should still be warm; Elspeth and Ilsch were in here less than an hour ago. Tell me what happened.”

  Morziwayn removes her hat and hands it to Eue-Lysae and begins to retell the story of the past week. “Well, I went to sleep on the 25th and awoke in this body. Can you help me with this?” She had been able to take her cloak off at the river just fine; unfortunately, the torn blouse beneath it was a different story. Eue-Lysae helps Morziwayn’s arm from its sling and carefully pulls the blouse over her head. Continuing to talk as she undressed. “Thank you. I’m assuming ‘I’ died in my sleep—which happens; that body was quite old and had been unusually sickly for a maiden prior; it must have caught something. Anyways, I had woken up in a new body; this one, I would assume, had belonged to a girl named Euri—this was what the woman shaking me was saying.” She stops and gets into the water.

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  “So, I woke up and did the usual explanation: ‘Hello, I am Morziwayn, and this body has been chosen to be my vessel for the rest of its natural life.' Now, usually people react calmly or feel blessed that their daughter had been chosen as my vessel, but this was not the case. The father was out—I guess working with the animals, as this was in Northern Brachb?sc, which wasn’t too bad, as the last house was only a day’s walk north—so I had spent most of the morning with the mother; she seemed quite accepting. The father, however... not so much. The mother explained what had happened. He said he needed a moment and stepped outside, returning shortly with an axe; at that point, I knew I wasn’t welcome. Now, I’ve been murdered a few times—having your skull split with an axe isn’t exactly fun; you can feel it in there, really weird.” She pauses. “Can you clean my hair for me?”

  Eue-Lysae obliges, beginning to fill a bucket and getting a bar of shampoo.

  “Thousand thanks. So, I like this vessel; it’s cute—and I barely made it to Beorgrud in time anyway—so I ran past him, trying to make my way to my old house as quickly as I could. He chased me for about two kilometers before giving up when I fell down a hill and into a river—probably assuming I died. Which is where my teeth went, why my arm’s broken, and why my clothes are in such poor shape. I managed to get out and make my way home before night, dragged my body into the woods, and got my hat—could you get someone to wash that for me? and my horse and made my way to Beorgrud to meet up with Faerthryne. Now I’m here, and safe to say, I will not be visiting.”

  Eue-Lysae laid out her old clothes and placed Morziwayn’s old ones into the basket; not a single piece is presentable, even after a good washing. You might need to take her into the city and get her new clothes. “Who did the sling?”

  “I did; it's a cloak from Euri's cloths.” Morziwayn stands up from the large in-ground tub and begins to pad her shoulder-length red hair dry with a towel with her good arm.

  “Please, let me do that; don’t hurt yourself. We need to take you to a doctor.” Eue-Lysae rushes over and takes the towel from Morziwayn and finishes the task for her.

  “It’s not a bad break.” Morziwayn starts to argue. “It only hurts when I move it; that’s why I didn’t try to set it.”

  “No, we will take you to a doctor, Luhnylla—”

  Luhnylla appears behind Eue-Lysae at the mention of her name. “Believes we should take you into the city to get you new clothes.” She walks across the white-tiled floor to Morziwayn. Leaning in, she takes Morziwayn’s face in her hands and squishes her cheeks with her thumbs, moving them in circles. “You’re as cute as a winter quail—even with your teeth. We can go shopping on Gekaryna’s coin.”

  “Gekaryna?” Morziwayn asks. “Athalric’s daughter?”

  “Yes, she is now the queen.” Eue-Lysae responds, helping Morziwayn into one of her old dresses. She had gathered the clothing quickly; luckily, the brown pinafore dress works and looks quite good on the new body as well as begins easy to put on without having to move the broken arm much.

  “Oh... I’m sorry to hear that. I like Athalric. When did this happen and how?” She never really left her house, only if she needed to. It was quite a hassle making her way out of the forest surrounding her grove; she had planted the trees nearly three centuries ago as a way to keep unwanted guests out—not her in. So, news tends to reach her slowly.

  “Nearly a maiden ago, the coronation was on the 17th. You will be seeing her tonight.” Eue-Lysae hands Morziwayn her hat.

  “Yes, I’m excited to see her; she always dresses as me each year.” She places the hat on her head and goes to the large full-body mirror on the wall. It might be time to have this hat altered—just a bit; the silver trim does not work as well as it used to. “I have somewhere I would like to stop first in town.”

  “Only if we can get you to the doctor first.” Eue-Lysae responds, picking up the basket.

  “Fine.”

  Luhnylla vanishes, and the two head back to the common area.

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