It didn’t take long for Dave to run into Chad. As always, Larry and James were following right behind him. Larry was kind of a muscular guy, and he always wore a black flat cap to cover up a bald spot. Also, Dave now noticed, his eyebrows were very thin. James was fairly short and kinda pudgy with curly red hair. Of the lads, Dave had always found him the easiest to get along with. The three of them were sitting outside at one of the communal tables, enjoying a drink in the midday sun. 

Dave thought back to the five of them- himself, Chad, Larry, James, and Arin - playing hide-and-go-seek in the piney woods he’d just returned from. Chad had insisted those woods were their secret hide-out, no girls allowed. In the decade and a half since then it felt like so many things had changed. 

“Dude, that was the loudest fart ever,” laughed Larry.

And many things had stayed the same.

“Hey guys, I had a talk with your witch.” Dave pulled up a chair beside them. 

“Holy crap, Dave, I was worried you weren’t gonna make it out of there.” Larry’s attention immediately shifted away from whatever gross thing they were talking about. His eyes were wide and fearful. “Did you see that snake-beast?”

“I did. Actually I had a cup of coffee with her. She seemed perfectly pleasant,” said Dave, gently. “I talked with the witch, too. They don’t seem to have any interest in Rodehills at all.”

“You drank a witch’s coffee? That’s pretty gutsy.” said James, taking a sip of his drink.

“If they don’t care about being here then why did they come here?” Chad asked with an accusatory tone.

“They didn’t come here, they came to the woods a couple miles away.”

“Our woods,” he mumbled.

“Look, if you guys have made up your minds about what these people are like, then I’m not going to be able to change them. But I went down there, I came back, and I’m totally fine.” Mentioning the curse wouldn’t help Dave’s point. Besides, he might be able to hide the whole thing until he decided on how he wanted his body changed permanently. And if he couldn’t hide his current curse, he could just explain that it was an accident.

He stood up. “I’m going to go see if the sheep pen fences are holding up, you guys go do what you want. I just hope you have the sense to not go looking for fights for no reason.”

“Whatever,” said Chad, leaning back in his chair. That was as close to saying “I’ll cut it out” that Dave was going to get. 

Dave wandered around the town, looking for anything that needed to be done. For having such an eventful morning, he still felt surprisingly energetic. He didn’t find any work to do, and so started walking back home, when someone waved him over into a corner between two buildings.

It took a second for him to notice it was Florence. She was a local tailor, dressmaker, and a good friend of Arin’s. Dave had grown up alongside her as well, but he and Florence had simply never happened to find any things to really talk about, and subsequently were never very close. When she and Arin visited, it was mostly at her place. She was a larger woman, with possibly the best sense of dress in the village. Her hair changed constantly, but always looked amazing. Today she was wearing elven braids.

“How was your trip to the witch’s house?” she asked, clearly thinking about something else.

“Did Chad tell the entire village already?” Dave laughed, not because anything was funny, but because he could feel the dour shift in the air.

“Yeah. You know how he is. Can’t keep his mouth shut about anything. Ever.” She looked past Dave towards the table Chad had been at.

“Yep. Witch’s house was fine. She’s a real witch. And I think she’s dating this cow-snake creature, they both seem nice.” Dave held back a sigh. “Is this actually about Arin?”

“Well, yes and no. It’s just been over a year, and we still don’t really know why.” She crossed her arms, but realized what that body language communicated and uncrossed them. “I’m sorry. I’m not doing this to confront you, or pick a fight or anything. I suppose I just wanted to touch base with you again. You don’t owe anyone an explanation, not even Arin and certainly not me, but I was just wondering if you feel like you’re ready to talk.”

Tension filled Dave for the second time today. He shook his head. “I don’t think I can really say any more than I did before. Arin is still my best friend in the world, but I’m just not the person they think I am. It’s not like I don’t want to talk to them, I’ve just never been able to put together what to say.”

“Okay.” Florence nodded. She looked at the ground and waved her hand. “I’m sorry for bringing it up so suddenly, I had no real right to, it’s just been on my mind again lately. I don’t know what I was thinking by mentioning it.”

“It’s okay.” Dave didn’t appreciate the bad memories being dug up, but he knew it was confusing and hard for them. It was confusing and hard for him too. 

“Do you need a hug?” she offered. To his knowledge, it was the first time he could remember her asking.

“Yeah.”

The two hugged for a moment. He had to bend down to hug her shoulders. When they stopped, Florence started heading back to her workshop. 

“Hey,” he said, thinking about the witch’s promise, “I just want you both to know that I think things are going to start becoming clearer pretty soon.”

She nodded and walked away. He decided to head back home. 

When he got inside his house, he saw Arin lying on the couch, reading a book. They were wearing a gorgeous floral dress, likely one made by Florence. 

They put down the book and sat up to make room on the couch. They asked, “So, did you get cursed by a witch?”

“Yeah, actually.” said Dave, sitting down. “But please don’t tell anyone.”

Arin raised one eyebrow and looked Dave up and down. “I can’t tell if you’re joking.”

“Not joking. It was an accident, mostly, but apparently at some point my body is going to change? When it does I can go back down there and make it better, so it’s all good.” Dave shifted around on the couch, not sure if he should go into any more details. He pulled the little glowing warp crystal out of his pocket. “I’ve got this thing. If I break it it’ll teleport me straight to the witch’s house. Hopefully she and her partner can do what they need to to make it right.”

“Hmm.” they said, looking over the little crystal in Dave’s hand. They still looked disbelieving, but leaned cautiously back away from the crystal. “Well, I suppose if something goes wrong with your curse, let me know.”

“I will. And please don’t worry about me too much.” Dave half-smiled. “Also, I’m serious. Don’t let anyone know. If they find out, Chad might freak out or something.”

Arin’s face switched from incredulity to concern. “Yeah, believe me, I wouldn’t wish Chad on anyone.”

“Thank you.”

Arin got up and walked to the kitchen. “I think I’m going to make myself a salad for dinner, you think you want one too?”

“Actually I’ve been really craving protein. Do we have any bacon left?” Dave’s mouth watered at the thought.

“You want bacon twice in one day? That doesn’t sound healthy.” Despite the warning, Arin reaching into the icebox and pulled out the paper wrapping containing the pork slices.

Dave bolted off the couch and into the kitchen. He practically stood over Arin, waiting for them to hand the bacon over. He hadn’t realized he was that hungry. When Arin gave him the package, he unwrapped it, pulled out a pan and began cooking right away. The wonderful smell filled the whole house and his whole head, in a way that it never had before. It felt peaceful and exciting. He had never been more enthused to eat anything.

Next to him, Arin began tossing lettuce. The kitchen was small, too small for them both to really cook at the same time, which Dave hadn't really considered. He was closer to Arin than he felt he could be right now, especially with the conversation he’d just had with Florence. Arin reached for a fork and accidentally bumped their shoulder into Dave’s upper arm. They’d done that many times after they had first moved their beds together, and had seldom done it since Dave moved his away. He felt tears welling up, but couldn’t let himself cry. It had been too long, and things would be too awkward now.

 Dave took a step aside to let Arin get what they needed, and Arin soon finished their making their salad and moved over to the table. Dave finished cooking the bacon, moved it onto a plate, and headed for the door.

“You going to eat outside?” asked Arin before taking another bite of lettuce.

“Yeah, it’s been really nice out today. I’m probably going to stay out to watch the sunset.”

“Okay. I might be in bed by that time, so if I am, goodnight.” Arin gave a little wave.

Dave waved back, and closed the door behind him.

The bacon was wonderful. Strangely, it smelled so much stronger than it had in the morning. And it tasted like a meaty heaven. He bit into another slice, but noticed that doing so felt strange.

 He rubbed his tongue on the back of his teeth. It felt normal, until he got to his canines. They were longer, thicker, and came to a finer point. He pressed his thumb against his tooth to check. All four of his canines were definitely sharp. This must have been the result of the curse, but he had no clue why being smaller and cuter would affect his teeth.

Still, excitement coursed through him. This was the first confirmation that he was actually being changed by a curse! It was wonderful. If Millicent really could transform people, then he could become whatever he wanted. He might even be able to become a-

A-

A girl. 

Dave’s head hung low as the sun set over the horizon. There was really no use in denial any longer. Not when actualization felt so close. Dave set down his food as tears began to flow. He’d wanted that as long as he could remember. The second Chad said a witch was around, Dave had wanted the opportunity to see if he could change his body. That had been part of why he volunteered to go visit her in the first place. The vague hope that things would play out almost exactly as they had.

She’d known she could be a girl at any time, Arin had shown her that much was possible. She could at any time say that she was a girl, and begin using “she/her” pronouns- like she had already begun doing in her head. But she hated her body, she hated its size, its shape. She had hated the way her stubble rubbed against Arin’s beard when they kissed. Perhaps she would have admitted her gender to herself at some point, but knowing so many of the things she hated could be changed, and potentially so soon, caused that already-leaking dam to break. 

Dave rushed around to the other side of the house, the side facing away from Rodehills and towards the circular forest, so no one could see her cry. The sun set quickly, and darkness fell, though alleviated by the light of the still-full moon. The beams of moonlight gradually calmed her.

She stayed outside the whole night. Far off in the distance, she heard wolves howling. She wasn’t worried about that. She was far too worried and far too excited about the various ways the future could unfold.

In an amount of time that felt both like forever and like no time at all, the shifting tones of sunrise began to appear. Finally, the lids over her red, watery eyes began to grow heavy, and she wandered back inside and into bed.