“Caitlyn…”

After Caitlyn’s departure, an eerie silence descended upon Elena’s office, only broken by the sound of Emily’s tail softly swishing back and forth, brushing against her uniform. She stayed stock still otherwise, staring unblinkingly at the door with her face frozen in worry. Her mouth hung slightly open, and a soft whimpering sound escaped from her lips.

What… do we do now?

Her hand began to shake as I held it, and I felt her fingers go cold as they intertwined with mine. Though her grip on my hand was still strong, her shoulders began to slump, and any energy she still had seemed to dissipate. My heart began to sink as I looked up at her, curling back in on herself as she reeled from Caitlyn’s reaction.

She said that she wasn’t going to say anything, but…

It felt like a weight started pressing down on me, pushing me further and further away as she recoiled. Every movement she made caused my heart to sink even lower, whether it was her ears folding back, or her shoulders tensing up. My own hands began to quake, as it got to the point where it started to become unbearable. Without thinking, I moved.

“Eep!” she yelped, as I let go of her hand. “Wh-what are you…”

I… I just hugged her. Before I realised what I was doing, I had quickly hopped in front of her, and wrapped my arms around her. Pulling her close to me, I squeezed my arms tighter around her torso, resting my head against her shoulder. I… I don’t know what else I can do…

“F-Flora–you…” Her body seemed to heat up as I clung to her, and the swishing sound emerging from her dress increased in speed. Her shaking gradually slowed down as she held her arms out awkwardly in front of her, as if she didn’t know what to do with them. Tilting my head up ever so slightly, so that I could see her face, I watched as her cheeks slowly turned pink.

She let out a small squeak as she spotted me staring at her, her eyes darting back and forth under my gaze. Her face quickly began to shift from pink to red, and her breathing became more and more raspy as her mouth hung open just a tiny bit. I looked away, relaxing my shoulders slightly as I rested my head against her chest.

...Her heart is beating so fast. What else can I do? Seeing her panic like this, it’s...

I squeezed her tighter, trying to ease her anxiety as she continued to fidget, her arms flailing in small circles at her side. “It’ll be fine,” I cooed, closing my eyes as I gently rubbed her back. “We don’t have to worry about Caitlyn. Even if it takes her some time to adjust, I’m sure she’ll be fine with it… and with us.”

“Th-that’s not–Flora!” she stammered, her school dress being pulled this way and that as her tail buffeted against it. “It’s not–that’s not what I’m worried about!”

“Is it Amelia?” Lifting my head up off her chest, I stared up at her again, watching her gasp slightly as we made eye contact. “We can go and check on her, if you’re worried.”

“N-no–it’s not…” Her shoulders suddenly tensed up as she stubbornly looked away, fidgeting slightly as if she was trying to wriggle free from my grasp. “Elena, why aren’t you saying anything?!”

“Should I be saying something?”

“No, but–nevermind.” Emily sighed, exasperation clear on her still-red face as she turned back to me. “Did you… really forget about–”

Her voice cut off as she quickly clamped a hand over her mouth. She looked away, staring up towards an empty corner of the room as she let out another sigh, muffled by her hand.

“Forget about what?” The gears turned in my mind as I tried to figure out what she was referring to, and I stepped back, unwrapping my arms from around her body.

“No–just… forget it.” Still averting eye contact, she shakily stepped away from me, making her way towards the door while seeming like she could fall over at any moment. 

“Okay… if you’re sure.”

She mumbled as she paced back and forth in the empty space near the door, glancing up towards it every so often.

“...she’s not even–like… just forget about it, she’s–” Halfway through her muttering, she suddenly stiffened, her ears flicking upright and alert. She stood stock still for a moment, staring at the door leading out into the corridor, before yanking it open and dashing outside. “Amelia!”

“Wai–Emily? What happened?” Following her out of Elena's office, I watched as she wrestled with a nearby doorknob, restlessly bouncing just outside the bathroom Elena had previously directed Amelia to.

“I heard Amelia cry out. She’s–” Her voice cut off as the door suddenly opened, and she quickly ran through. “What’s going on? You okay?”

I ducked through the door behind her, worried about Amelia, but froze as I saw her in front of me. A relieved expression was instantly pasted on her face as she spotted me, and she jumped towards me, grabbing my hand as I was about to run outside thanks to the very unexpected sight I had just witnessed.

“You said you’d explain what happened to me!” she exclaimed, pulling me back as I tried to leave the room.

“Yes, but…”

“Please–I… I don’t know what’s going on.” As she spoke, one of the vines sprouting out of her back wiggled towards me, curling around my hand and trapping me there. “You said you knew, so…”

I know I said that, but… why are you only wearing a bra and undies?!

 

Once we had both calmed down somewhat, and Amelia had finished insisting that she didn’t mind me seeing her in her underwear, we set about trying to figure out the details of her transformation into a dryad.

“I-I think I can… control them.” The vines surrounding her waved back and forth as she spoke, seemingly in sync with her breathing as they splayed outwards. 

“What happened to all of those green lines, too?” Emily asked, her ears twitching curiously as she circled around her. “They’re all gone.”

“I-I don’t know–I think… they went away when the vines popped out of my back.” Amelia twisted her head around in an attempt to look behind herself. “A-and there’s this weird–like… I don’t know… on my back. I-I can’t get a good look at it.”

“Woah–yeah, that’s… what is that?”

Near the middle of her upper back, her skin gave way to what appeared to be a mass of bark, forming a sort of indent into her body. Short, green lines wormed their way through it, spiralling into a whirlwind shape around the green, wiry mass of vines in the centre, the ends of the lines stopping just as the bark changed to skin.

“Hya–” Amelia twitched as Emily pushed aside a few of the vines sprouting from her back, trying to get a closer look at where they were emerging from. “Th-th-that really–that feels so weird!”

She stumbled forward, her shoulders shaking as her expression contorted into one of disgust. For the briefest of moments, thorns appeared to materialise along the vines as they waved around behind her, as if trying to protect her.

“S-sorry!” Emily jumped back at the sight of the thorns, flinching as they twitched menacingly towards her. 

“No–it’s…” Amelia quickly spun around, waving her hands out in front of her defensively. “I-I’m sorry–I can’t control–ack!” She flinched as a few of the vines carried the momentum from her spin, whipping around and hitting her in the face.

Pausing for a moment with her eyes wide from the shock, she then burst into laughter, her infectious giggling slowly spreading to Emily and I, too.

 

“Haa.. s-sorry about that–um…” Once our laughter had died down, Amelia wiped a few tears from her eyes. “I-It still feels so weird to…  I don’t know–like…”

“To have new parts of your body?” Emily jumped in where she left off, her ears wiggling excitedly.

“Yes–that!” she exclaimed, her vines stretching out to match with the increased volume of her voice. “It’s… I can feel them moving–it’s like…”

Reaching a hand out, she grabbed one of the vines, pulling it in front of her as she carefully inspected it.

“...This is such a weird sensation.” She narrowed her eyes, watching it twitch as it tried to pull itself away. “I can tell it’s a part of my body, but I’m not used to it. You get used to–it gets better, right?”

“It does, luckily.” Emily tilted her head forward, as if presenting her ears towards Amelia. “My ears and tail felt very strange at first, but… I’m used to them now. And I don’t get startled anymore every time I see them.”

“Ahh–and, um…” Amelia turned to me, briefly looking up and down my body. “Flora–you don’t… nevermind, don’t worry about it.”

“Oh, Flora had it even rougher than I did,” Emily interjected. “She had her… no, she should tell you herself, if she wants to.”

“I-if she wants?”

I shrunk back under Amelia’s curious gaze, fidgeting as I watched the vines wave behind her. I can just imagine them curling into the shape of a question mark… no, focus!

“I-I guess I can tell you a bit about what happened,” I relented, jumping back in surprise as a bright smile instantly jumped onto Amelia’s face. “B-but only a bit!”

 

“Wait–you can fly?!” Amelia listened with great interest as I relayed most of what had happened to me during my transformation, save for the whole… gender thing. “That’s so cool!”

“Hey–keep it down,” Emily interjected, staring worriedly at the door. “What if a teacher hears us?”

“O-oh, sorry–um… that’s really cool, though. Flying seems like so much fun.”

Pulling the orb of spirit energy I had created during my demonstration back into my hand, I started spreading energy through my body. “It’s… a bit more like floating, honestly. It’s not–like, graceful, or anything.”

“Still, that’s…” she gasped in wonder as I lifted myself up off the ground, slowly gliding in circles around the outskirts of the room. “It looks so fun… and you can just do this–like, whenever?”

“I can, but normal people can’t see me while I’m floating. From what I know it’s some weird thing to do with… materialising my body, or something.”

“Hmm…” Narrowing her eyes, Amelia focused her gaze on my hair, humming as she carefully inspected it. “I thought it was like this before, but… is your hair glowing?”

I landed back on the ground, tracing my fingers around a clump of hair and pulling it in front, so that I could see it. “Yes, it is. It glows when–both my hair and my eyes glow, when I use my powers.”

“I thought so.” She glanced between Emily and I, the vines slowly retracting back into her body as she relaxed. “Your hair looked like it was glowing on Monday, too… when I first saw you. That was why I pointed it out.”

She fidgeted with her own hair as she spoke, flinching for a moment as she spotted the green lines weaving their way down her skin again. “I… I was surprised that Caitlyn didn’t say anything, because now that I look at it… do people not see the like, reflective colours in it and so on?”

“I don’t think so, no. To other people, it just looks silver.”

“O-oh, that’s…” The flower on her head seemed to droop slightly as she looked back at my hair, though it perked back up soon after. “They’re missing out… it’s so pretty. Don’t you think so, Emily?”

“H-huh?” Emily flinched as her name was called, and she glanced around the room distractedly for a moment. “U-um, yeah… I think so too.”

Her cheeks briefly went a soft shade of pink, and she had a slight smile as she quietly continued. “Her magic, too…”

Amelia looked between the two of us, a smirk flashing onto her face as she noticed Emily's smile. “Emily, too… it took me a while to notice, but… are your ears actually invisible?”

“I-I’m covering them with illusions, so… normal people can’t see them, but we can.”

“Ahh, right. I thought I could see… something before, like at the end of Monday, but I didn’t know for sure what it was. Now that I get a good look at them, though…” Her voice took on a slightly teasing quality as she sneakily glanced at me. “They look so fluffy, and soft. Don’t you think so, Flora?”

“I guess so…” What does she mean? I thought for a moment, trying to decipher what she was referring to. I have run my hand through her tail before, and it was very soft, but… and earlier I remember thinking that her ears looked–

The events from today at lunchtime suddenly jumped into my head, breaking my train of thought. My cheeks began to flush as I recalled the image of Emily leaning over me, and I averted my gaze, unable to look her in the eyes. Is this what–she asked if I had forgotten something. Is this what she was talking about? And I just–

“Woah–wait, you okay?” Worry was clear in Amelia's expression as she stared at me, hunching down so that she could see my downcast eyes. “I’m sorry, that might’ve been a bit–”

“I-I’m fine!” I yelped, reeling back. I had just… in all the chaos of Amelia’s transformation, I had completely forgotten about what happened! And in my worry about Emily, I had…

The soft sensation of hugging Emily returned to the forefront of my mind, and my cheeks continued to heat up, the strange tingling feeling of embarrassment flowing throughout my body. And I had just hugged her, without thinking… after that happened! Of course she would…

Peeking towards her, Emily and I made brief eye contact, before we both looked away. Of course she would react that way… it’s embarrassing! It’s… A slight pang seared at my heart as I watched her avert her eyes, looking everywhere around the room except at me. I want her to look at… no, what am I thinking?!

“A-anyway,” Projecting my voice throughout the room, I tried to take charge of the situation, pushing my embarrassment aside as best I could. “Amelia, y-you have to–we have English in a bit, and…”

“Oh–that’s-” Her eyes widened as I pointed that out, and she frantically looked around the room. “What’s the–there’s no clock in here… what’s the time? And how am I going to–”

She flinched as the vines popped out of her back again, waving around behind her while she panicked.

“What am I supposed to do to hide these? I can’t…” She stopped for a moment as she stared at her arms, now conspicuously missing the green lines from before. “I… if I could control them, I could…”

Emily sprang into action as Amelia whimpered, quickly moving behind her. “I have an idea. It might feel really weird at first, but… this might be the best way for you to hide them.”

“Wh-what are you–hya!” Covering her mouth with her hands, she stifled a shriek as Emily got to work, deftly bundling a few of the vines together. “A-are you… braiding my vines?”

Within less than a minute, Emily had looped the various vines sprouting from Amelia’s back into a single braid, letting it gently hang behind her. Though they had seemed to resist at first, they slowly settled down as Amelia stayed as still as possible, taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself down. She slowly twisted around, flinching as the heavy braid swung back and forth.

“Th-that’s… I think that’ll work. I can’t…” She groaned as she tried and failed to look at her back, eventually slumping forward and turning to us. “Does it look okay?”

“As long as it stays like that during English, you should be fine,” Emily replied, looking behind herself at her school dress. “I mean… no one’s noticed my tail making my uniform look weird or anything.”

“Flora?” 

“Y-yeah… it looks fine.” Just put your clothes back on!

 

After slipping her school uniform back on, Amelia twirled around in front of us, stopping after a few spins to gauge our reaction.

“H-how is it?”

“It’s great,” Emily said, circling around her. “I don’t think anyone will notice.”

Save for the flower on the side of her head, which Amelia said that she would try and pass off as a fancy hair clip, the only sign of her new transformation was a few stray green lines on her thighs, which were now hidden under her uniform.

“It’s–I can feel my uniform pressing against them… i-it’s not too bad, though.” She shifted back and forth on her feet. “I’ll get used to it in time… I hope…”

As we stepped outside, we ran into Elena, who had just left her office with a folder in her hands.

“Oh,” she stopped as she saw us, leaning back against the wall to give us room to hop into the corridor next to her, “how’d it go?”

“I-I think it went well,” Amelia replied, brightening up. “I should be fine from here.”

“That’s good.” Elena scratched at the base of her back, under her lab coat. “If you ever need somewhere to hide, or wind down, feel free to come to my office.”

“Thank you.”

Wait, before I forget–

“U-um,” As Elena lifted herself off the wall, about to walk down the corridor, I called out to her. “Elena?”

“Hmm? What is it?”

“Have you seen Zoey, recently? We haven’t been able to catch up with her, recently.”

“Oh–uhh,” she flinched as I mentioned Zoey’s name, as if caught off guard. “Don’t worry about her. She’s fine.”

“O-okay… if you’re sure.”

 

*****

 

My mind was elsewhere as we lined up outside our English classroom, my thoughts still stuck on trying to decipher Elena’s reaction to my question.

She was acting weird… Zoey’s been a little strange recently, too. Always running away when we ask to hang out. Did something happen to her?

“Caitlyn!” Emily called out, distracting me. Looking up, I saw her waving to the person in question, who was just about to reach our line.

She hesitated slightly as she saw us, raising her hand to wave in return. “H-hey. How did… things go?” Her voice was quiet as she responded, and she constantly glanced around, avoiding eye contact.

“They went well, I think.”

“Th-that’s good.”

The conversation fizzled out as the two of them awkwardly stood next to each other, both shifting awkwardly back and forth on their feet. Amelia, sensing the mood, ducked behind my back, peeking out nervously at Caitlyn.

“Um–is everything… okay?” she hesitantly asked, almost whispering in my ear.

She’s not… I think she just needs time to adjust, that’s all. We dumped a huge amount of information onto her, and it’s a lot to take in. 

“It’s alright,” I responded, not completely confident in my own words. “I think… it should be fine.”