Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
From: aaron@space.ualberta.ca (Aaron Humphrey)
Subject: [R] Mistletoe[Rameshan]: The Switch
Message-ID: <1992Aug24.185113.254@kakwa.ucs.ualberta.ca>
Date: Mon, 24 Aug 1992 18:51:13 GMT

Mistletoe opened the folded note that Ornigan had given her.  'Tonight' was all
it said.

So he'd gotten word from Amaan.  They would be leaving tomorrow for Pashar.
Time for a little walk in the garden, then.

Juhlavi's garden was little-frequented at this time of night, which was one of
its advantages.  Another was the fact that access to Juhlavi's apartments was
possible through windows a scant thirty feet up the wall.  Of course, the
gardeners were careful to make sure that none of the trees or vines grew in
such a way that anyone might climb up them and into the window.

Of course, there were some things in the garden that the gardeners had little
control over.

When Mistletoe entered the garden, she stopped and looked around to see what,
if anything, was different.  She didn't expect to notice anything, since the
Kelsie had been instructed to hide herself so that even the gardeners, who
were minutely familiar with the garden and would notice anything unusual,
wouldn't think her suspicious.  Finally she called out softly, "Kelsie?"

A rock at the entrance of the garden shimmered and then quietly reformed into
the shape of the Kelsie.  "Thank Lugh.  Do you have any idea how >boring< it is
being a rock?"

Mistletoe hushed the Kelsie.  "Do you see that window up there?"

"The one to Bronwen's apartment?  Yes...I suppose you want me to fly you up
there or something."

Mistletoe shook her head.  "No, I don't think you have enough mass.  But I
think you could do a convincing ivy..."

The Kelsie sighed.  "I was afraid you'd say that.  All right, here goes."  She
walked over the wall and put her arm against it.  Her arm turned green and
developed leaves, clinging to the wall.  Then it started growing upward, and
her body started disappearig bit by bit as if the arm were sucking it up, which
it was, in a sense.  Finally the Kelsie's body was totally gone, and a single
vine of ivy reached up the wall to just beside Bronwen's window.

Mistletoe surveyed the vine.  "Some handholds, please?"  A few bits became a
bit rougher and wider.  "Thank you."  Then she started climbing.  She wasn't a
wood elf by any means, but she was better at climbing than the average human.
Maleiu would have done better...can do better.  Then she stopped thinking and
just concentrated on climbing.

Finally she stopped, just below the window.  She checked the position of the
moon and cursed.  They only had about fifteen minutes before Juhlavi came for
his nightly visit--assuming he kept to his usual schedule.  Praise the Gods for
neurosis, Mistletoe thought--Juhlavi's schedule rarely varied, even to the
minute.  He had bought several expensive Ydoinais timepieces to ensure this.
Well, now or never.  She swung herself into Bronwen's room.

Bronwen sat up.  "Who's that?" she said, in a loud voice.

Mistletoe shushed her.  "Hush, Bronwen, it's Mistletoe.  I've come to say
goodbye.  And to ask you one more time to come with us."

Bronwen shook her head.  "It's no use, Mistletoe.  I'm happy here with Juhlavi.
I don't love him, and he doesn't love me, but it's all I can hope for.  I've
seen what happens when you fall in love, and I swear I won't do it again!"  She
paused.  "I am going to miss you and Ornigan, though.  I don't suppose you can
come to visit?  No, I suppose not."  She sighed.  Then she glanced at the clock
on the wall.  "Juhlavi will be here in a few minutes.  You'll have to leave."
Then she did a double-take.  "How did you get in?"

Mistletoe didn't answer, except to empty a packet of powder into her hand and
blow it into Bronwen's face.  Bronwen opened her mouth in outrage, and then her
eyes rolled back and she collapsed backward onto the bed.

Mistletoe proceeded to strip Bronwen naked and then put her into a robe like
Bronwen's own.  She's gotten fat, Mistletoe thought.  Maybe the Kelsie can lose
some of that weight for her.  She then hefted Bronwen, grunting slightly, and
carried her over to the window.  "Here's Bronwen," she whispered.  "She's
gotten a bit fat, so be careful."  The vine reached up and took the drugged
woman's body, lowering it gently to the ground.  It then did the same for
Mistletoe.

When they were both on the ground, the vine returned to the form of the Kelsie.
"God, is she ever fat.  Are you gonna make me look like that?"  Mistletoe
nodded.  "Well, Bronwen's gonna have the fastest weight-loss program ever in
the next few days."  The Kelsie concentrated on Bronwen's form, then slowly
shifted her features and body to match hers.  As the Kelsie's mass increased,
that of Bronwen slowly decreased until Bronwen was as slender as Mistletoe
first remembered her.

"Great," Mistletoe whispered.  "Now get up into that room before Juhlavi comes
in and wonders where the hell his concubine is."

The Kelsie pouted Bronwen's face slightly.  "How long do I have to do this?"

"Until we send you a message.  You'll know."

"Great.  I just >love< indeterminate tasks."  She concentrated again, fixing
Bronwen's configuration in her mind, then shifted back to the vine, crawled
up the window and back into the room.

And just barely in time.  She heard the door open and Bronwen exclaim, and
Juhlavi's cackle at seeing Bronwen deshabillee.  She shuddered at what she was
putting the Kelsie through, and then turned to Bronwen's limp form.  "On your
feet, woman," she whispered, and Bronwen slowly got to her feet.  The hypnotic
had taken effect, and the paralytic had worn off.  She pulled the hood over her
companion's face, and marched the two of them back to her room.  None of the
guards gave them more than a cursory glance--two women returning from a walk
in the garden.  None of them watched as she hustled Bronwen into her room and
under the bed.  "Stay there, and sleep until I wake you," she commanded.  Then
she settled into her bed for a mostly nervous and sleepless night, until she
relented and took some of her own medicine.  Her sleep thereafter was
dreamless.

--
---Alfvaen(a.k.a. Nysinra, rot13 Psycho)
"While we talk, I will hit your head with a nail to make you
 understand me"  --Ivor Cutler
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