Martin had watched balls occur on TV in the past, and had taken someone to his senior prom, but of course being the one in the dress was new to him, along with an influx of new people into the palace he had been told were royalty. After panicking about being polite, Atropos laughed and told him that manners were far too mortal a concept, and that he as himself would fit in just fine. He remained skeptical of that, given that his self was now female, much shorter, and very much not human, though the last part might indeed help with the whole ‘fitting in’ part.

He looked down to the heels he was wearing now, created by Atropos, “until you can create your own,” as she put it. He was surprised that he was more weirded out by the idea of being able to create matter out of nowhere than he was that he would just willingly wear high heels. After all, being able to create matter was nowhere on the top of the list of weirdest things that had happened to him in the past day.

Atropos insisted on teaching him dance lessons, informing him that while manners weren’t important, dancing properly very much was. Fortunately, he seemed more in tune with his body than he ever had before. Combined with his new abilities, he seemed to pick up the dances just in time for the ball to begin. Atropos rushed him out, dragging his hand along as they came out into the main corridor.

The main hall had been converted into a proper ballroom, complete with ribbons strewn across the balcony. At the center, of course, were Proserpina and Hades, welcoming the new guests as they arrived. Proserpina looked up to see the pair coming towards her, as she waved, motioning them over.

“Well isn’t this lovely, Proserpina,” Atropos said cheerily, as she marveled at the room, “I’m impressed with how well you do the decorations!”

“And I am impressed with how you do the decorations on Lady Martha,” Proserpina replied, grinning at Martin as he turned his glance aside, a little embarrassed by all the positive attention he was receiving.

Proserpina smiled and then made a loud whistling sound to the hall, quieting the murmuring in the room. She cracked an even bigger grin, and then launched into the speech, “Friends of the Court of the Underworld, we welcome today a new sister for our dear friend Atropos, Lady Martha!”

The room broke out in applause as Atropos motioned for Martin to wave. Martin waved his hand, mustering as much confidence as he could, looking over the crowd of tree-people, and mer-people, and well, regular people, but he was sure they weren’t human. He calmed his nerve and lowered his hand.

“And with that,” Proserpina spoke up once again, “let the ball begin!”

Immediately, music from lyres and lutes filled the air as people began to dance. Martin looked around nervously. He didn’t know when he’d be expected to dance. Atropos had told him, “In due time,” but he knew that with Atropos, that could mean any time. Just as he was getting lost in thought, he saw a tall woman in a white robe walk up to where the four were still lounging.

“Lady Martha,” she asked, “I don’t mean to be too presumptuous if you’ve already got someone in mind, but would you make this first dance mine?”

Martha–MARTIN, he reminded himself, was thoroughly hot and bothered by this point. As he looked at her thin features, her beautiful face and tender lips, with deep aquamarine eyes, he found himself sighing in an almost cliche way. As he fell, fainting, to the side, he found himself regaining consciousness in her arms, as she stared down at him intensely, with a caring look.

“Yes,” Martin managed to say in the midst of the tension, “I would like that very much.”

She led him, with a good deal of force, to the center of the room, and as they both curtsied at each other, he suddenly noticed something about the people around them: all women. She, or he or, god damn it, it was too hard to keep up with pronouns that didn’t fit her body, she, made a mental note to ask Atropos about that later.

The music picked up shortly thereafter, and she began to trace steps that were muscle memory as of fifteen minutes ago. It was a good thing, indeed, that they were, because she found herself almost entranced by her partner, the lovely woman in white. Eventually, the dance finished up and she found herself not wanting for it to end, as much as she hated to admit it on the surface level.

Fortunately for Martha, her partner seemed equally willing to have another dance together. As others switched off partners, they remained squarely in place, exchanging intimate glances, followed by shy grins and blushing cheeks. As the music continued, and stopped again, they found themselves sharing an unspoken, “one more dance”.

As the last dance of the night wrapped up, the two dancers crept closer together, ending in an embrace. As Martha looked up at her partner, she felt compelled to do something with her mouth, but not to say something, but what to do–

She felt her partner’s lips press against hers, and the embrace tightened. She felt absolutely afloat, and made a few unbecoming noises as they withdrew from the kiss.

As she glanced into her eyes, Martha realized that she’d never asked the stranger her name. Now seemed as good a time as any to ask. “I don’t believe I got your name earlier, miss?” she asked, breathily and lightly.

“Cassandra,” the woman replied, smiling, “and you can call me anytime you want.”

Cassandra handed Martha a sheet of paper with what looked like a sigil on it, as she winked and disappeared into the crowd. Martha blushed, she had been so focused on dancing with Cassandra she’d almost forgotten about everything else that had happened that day. She paced over to where Atropos was now standing alone, cupping her hands with glee.

“Oooooh dearie, what is it, what is it? Did she give you her sigil??” Atropos asked, effervescing with excitement.

“She did, I think, I can’t make heads or tails of this,” Martha replied, muttering.

Atropos took a look at it and grinned. “Ooooh, Cassandra, one of the Naiads, very nice catch! Though I’d say she caught you, more than anything.”

Martha blushed as she remembered falling into Cassandra’s arms, finding herself smiling just at the memory. As she turned to see Atropos smiling, she sighed. As much as she hated to admit it, a lot of her old life wasn’t exactly amazing, and Atropos had given her the opportunity for a wonderful experience, and had mentored her a lot along the way, in her own way.

Martha pulled Atropos into a hug and said, “thank you,” as she began to cry, not fully understanding why.

Atropos embraced Martha in return, and replied, “Of course dear, anything for you.”

As they released, they both made their way to the exit. Hades and Proserpina were by the door, saying their goodbyes to the last of the guests. As Martha walked by, Proserpina smiled and said, “it was especially my honor to welcome the newest threadcutter to her new inheritance.”

Martha smiled in return and thanked her for the dinner, as Atropos summoned a portal before them, presumably to return to her home. Both ladies jumped through, and Martha found herself nearly stumbling as she made her way out of the portal.

“Getting reoriented to the space will take some time,” Atropos said, “I suggest you lie down for a bit.”

Martha nodded and found a couch in Atropos’ living room to lie down on. She felt tired in the “worn out” sense, but noticed she didn’t feel sleepy at all. She turned to look at Atropos and asked, “can I sleep still?”

Atropos nodded, “Only if you want to, though. Sometimes I find it best just to read a book instead, it’s up to you!”

“Well in that case,” Martha said, “I’d rather ask you questions.”

Atropos shrugged and asked, “What do you want to know?”

“Why were there only women at the ball?” Martha blurted out, realizing too late she’d asked the wrong question first.

“Oh dearie,” Atropos replied, “the point of the ball was to play matchmaker with you, of course! That’s why ladies were there, every lady in a whole number of realms!”

“T..they were there for me?” she said, blushing.

“That’s right, dear. It’s not like an arranged marriage, if you’re worried about that. You and her were just drawn together by your natures lining up, that’s all, and the universe loves it when matches like that are made. In other words, you could say it was a match made in heaven,” Atropos said, smiling at Martha’s reaction.

“But, isn’t the Underworld Hell?” Martha asked.

“Well in a sense of speaking, yes,” Atropos replied, “but only in the sense that the normal sort of bad people go there. But of course, good people go there too, it’s a matter of perspective.”

“Where do the weird people go?” Martha enquired in response.

“Oh, well, that depends on how weird. Those who believe their specific flavor of deity’s getting them into a special heaven no one else gets into, well, they get what they wish for. An afterlife all alone,” Atropos said, flatly.

“That sounds frightening,” Martha replied, “can’t they ever get out?”

“Well of course they can, dear!” Atropos said, “They just choose not to, they’re stubborn like that.”

Martha nodded solemnly, then thought for a few seconds. She knew she had another question floating around in that head of hers, she just had a bit of trouble coming up with it. Oh! Right!

“Can we go shopping sometime soon?” Martha asked, “I really want to get more clothes.”

“Martha, you do realize you can make your own clothes now?” Atropos said, eyebrow raised.

That’s right, she could! In fact, she could probably make guy clothes. Just because she was in this body now didn’t mean she had to conform to the expectations about it. And yet, the prospect of wearing a dress like the one she had on right now, maybe with a few less gemstones, was very enticing.

She found herself blushing as she imagined seeing Cassandra again in one of those dresses, before she came back to the sound of snapping.

“Earth to lovergirl, shopping, yes or no?” Atropos asked yet again, snapping her fingers, “If so, we’ll run a few more errands on the way.”

Finally hearing the question after snapping out of the daydream, Martha nodded. Whatever shopping and errands looked like, it couldn’t be as crazy as what they’d just done, right?