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I set my eyes on Renna for the first time, again. Her eyes were the same. Her eyes were still the same. The rest... gone was the black straight hair, deep tan skin, which had melded so smoothly into her brown and white scales.

This freckled pallor jerkily meshed into green and black; the white belly was a better fit, but barely. And topped with red hair, it was a color clash. The new body wasn't even in good shape.

"You don't like it." That was a second thing - she sounded the same, probably because the voice is shaped by the mind. And she sounded very disappointed.

"It'll take some getting used to."

"I don't like it."

"You're still alive, that's what matters. When that ruffian gutted you, I never thought you'd make it."

She stared at the ground, then her tail. "How? I don't understand. I thought it was my snake form that held me alive, but this isn't mine either."

"I don't know. And I don't think we should be asking too many questions."

"How did you pay for this? They got all my travel money. At least we have what you were holding, and the certificate."

This was going to be awkward. "I... sold him your body. It was perfect. So perfect he offered to pay in kind. You live; he'll restore it to health and put a paying customer in... everyone wins."

She stared at her hands. She was about to cry, I could see it, feel her loss of control finally sinking in. I reached out and she pulled away, wrung her hands and flung them. "And the snake? Could I at least have had..."

"No, Renna. That's not how it works. I tried. I really tried."

"Is this body at least healthy? Not someone jumping a disease, right?"

"I have his guarantee. Your body is good as far as he can tell; and if it isn't fine, then we have the call pendant."

"Oh, we get to keep that?" I could just see her taking that apart once it wore out.

"Yes. And considering that I would have taken the deal even without the guarantee... it seems to be more a point of professional pride than anything else. And if this guy has anything, it's pride."

"I suppose..." She looked at the join of scale to skin. "This is really awful. I... It goes up instead of down." Her gesture clarified: the scales covered her belly rather than starting where her hips would be. "I don't even have a belly button in naga form! What is this?"

"It's not that bad. And look on the bright side."

"I'm alive, right."

"And you got rid of that tattoo!"

She managed a little laugh, and patted the blank patch on her upper arm where it would have been. "I kind of miss it already. I can't imagine what I look like. Where's a mirror?" She looked around the adobe-brick room, scanned past the mysterious diagrams painted on the wall, the old and scuffed but bright light-fixtures, the door, the cabinet. The door to that was glass, but it was cheap cloudy glass, not reflective.

"A mirror? Umm, well, you look very pretty."

"My old body was about a ton of silver prettier, based on what you sold it for." That was a substantial exaggeration. The trade-in had put only around two hundred on the account, not a thousand.

"Well. I know who's inside. I guess that helps." She lowered herself from the table and went to the box containing her clothing, cleaned and dried. "I've had enough. Let's get out of here." She laid the gown out on the ground. When she found the new holes ripped in it, she stopped for a moment to shake her head and tisk. Then she slithered into it.

She squirmed for a moment. "Famir, I can't shift."

"What?" "I try to change and nothing happens. Like a muscle was cut, or something. Maybe I just haven't found the right set of 'muscles'." She took off the gown and pulled on her vest. It was tight, especially in the bust, but she could still wear it.

"Bet you'll like that difference," she said, gesturing to her breasts as she put on her bracelets and suncloak.

"It's just different. You were in the perfect range before, on the small end. Now you're on the large end." This fit with what I had always said, so she shrugged and seemed to accept it.

A knock on the door, and doctor Agau scuffled in. Reena, never having met him while conscious, coiled a little, defensively. For one thing, she was unaccustomed to badgers, and aside from scale, opposable digits, and vocalization, he was not at all heavily anthropomorphized. He didn't seem to notice her alarm, and merely twitched his nose. "How are you settling in?"

"Can't change form. Is that normal?"

"For that variety of naga, yes. Is that all?"

"Well, if I find anything wrong..."

"If it is unacceptable and preexisting, I'll find you a replacement free of charge, or if you wish to stay, assist you in working around it. Just clasp the pendant, intending to contact me."

"Well, we're travelling. We won't be around long. Is it long-ranged?"

"It's just an ordinary call pendant, no better or worse. I may be busy when you call, but I will get back to you."

She nodded thoughtfully. "Okay. Okay. Can I see my body?"

"Your old body? It is being repaired, not suitable for viewing. Your new body? There is a mirror in the hall."

I took her hand and we slithered out. The hallway was narrow and a bit dim, and became more so as the lights went out behind us. Doctor Agau gestured to the mirror and kept walking. Renna pulled herself up and looked at her face for a minute. Strong shadows from the bright daylight at the entrance cut across her face. She pulled some of her hair down to look at it directly. "Huh." She returned it to its clip.

Then she shrugged and we slithered out the door, squinting at the abrupt brightness.

We headed back towards the inn. Our route took us through the center of the city, and I pulled her on a detour through the bazaar.

"Famir, I really want to get home and get into..."

"A hat." A broad conical hat with a strap was perfect, at least as far as I was concerned. I had found it out here and gotten a firm offer in the morning, after seeing the body she'd be put into. I slid up onto the naga-stand, snagged it from the hook, and put it on her head. "Fetching, and it'll keep you from getting sunstroke."

She took it off and looked at it. "This is ridiculous. They wear these in the north, not down south where I'd come from."

"It is effective, attractive, and cheap." I whispered the last part.

"Well, I'll try it."

The merchant, a panda-man, looked over the table, winked and said, "Oh, good, good hat for such a fine woman. Skin like that burns up in the sun, like that!" He snapped his fingers. "This keeps you pretty and healthy."

I made room for her on the naga-stand, and she joined me. She looked in particular at one of the pictures of rice-farmers also on sale at the stall. A family of ox-folk wore these, and it fit them perfectly. I expected that pointing this out to her wasn't going to be particularly convincing, so I didn't say so. At the last moment, I realized she was trying to find a reflection in the glass, and failing.

She looked at the hat, flipping it over a few times. "Okay."

"Good. Here you go..." I paid.

She put it on properly, and we continued. "That really was cheap. I can't believe they imported it."

"Naw, I saw him making that one for himself. Doesn't really fit the rest of the goods he was offering, does it?"

"Oh. Not really, no."

She finally caught sight of herself in a mirror. "Oh, I look a bit like a flower!"

"Right. It's all good, isn't it? You're alive!" I hugged her, wrapped myself around her until we strained to remain upright. She kissed me, then wriggled to escape. I let go.

"Not so tight," she gasped. "Not as strong as I used to be."

The inn was a converted house, each of the rooms partitioned until the quarters were tiny.

Renna tossed her suncloak into the corner and drew herself up onto the bumpy bed. "No mirror."

"There's a handheld."

"I don't even really want to look. Just to close my eyes, and... kiss me."

I slipped up over her, considered for a moment, and kissed her on the lips.

"It's weird for you, too, isn't it? You've been busy being monogamous against instinct for years, and then poof, I'm someone different. And you're supposed to carry on."

"It is strange, but I know you are you, and that is what matters."

"Then kiss me like you mean it, this time."

I slid up onto the bed and lay alongside, leaning against her. "Is it okay if I close my eyes? Keep talking, you sound the same." She had always preferred me to have my eyes open.

"Just this once. And how are you going to kiss me if I'm still... mm!" Her cheeks felt a bit off, and her ears were smaller. Her hair felt similar enough to pass. "I was thinking of on the mouth..."

So I obliged, starting closed mouth, but then expanding, opening, licking around her lips, her forked tongue. I pulled back.

"What the fuck?"

She stuck her tongue out, looked at it. "No kidding. Forked tongue? Wait a moment, just noticed something." Her fangs flipped down as she unhinged her jaw.

"Okay, what? How did you not notice that?"

She collapsed her mouth back into passable for human. "It just... didn't come up. Had other things to think about."

"Are you poisonous?"

"Not keen on finding out. Look, we can worry about my dentistry later?"

I put my arms over her.

She sighed. "Yeah, there went the moment."

"Well, now that I'm expecting it, I think I'd like to feel that tongue of yours again."

She stuck it out. It was long enough to reach out and touch my lips. We tongued for a while, nose-tips touching, and the mood returned. I relaxed into it a bit, letting myself enjoy being with a woman who wasn't Renna, while she really was. And so exotic, too.

I loosened her top's back-strap, then leaned back and began working the laces. Rather than merely loosen enough to let it come off over her head, I completely unlaced it and freed her breasts without making her move.

"Look at that belly I've got. What a tub of lard."

"Excuse me..."

Silence fell. She sighed and sat up, started re-lacing herself. The turns fell in different places than they had. "Well, that's better. If I'm an elephant, I'm going to at least change the straps on a mouse's clothing. And we're already days behind, anyway. If I'm stuck as a naga, I'm not even sure we can make it to Getta before the end of the year. Close our account and let's go."

"It's almost evening, and I paid for tonight already."

"I just want to get out of Rin, all right? It already killed me once." While this was an exaggeration -- perforce, as ressurrection would be impossible for another five hundred years -- it definitely gave the right feeling.

"Ah. Going."

I went down and found the innkeeper's wife. I did not deflect her questions very artfully, and I didn't want to get into telling a long story, so I just left her thinking that I had dumped Renna overnight. Worse things have happened, I figured.

The only downside to that was that as Renna passed by she flexed her claw sheaths menacingly; but she held back.

We set out, and Renna tired quickly, before we even made it out of the city. She pushed on, though, determined not to be weak.

I made a halt at the first decent stopping place, between two large rocks not far from the river. She didn't complain. I wasn't doing so well myself. For long distance travel, we would usually shift to human form -- the best earthbound form in the world for covering long distances -- but since she couldn't, I wouldn't either.

She wasn't in the mood to resume making out. We lay there in our blanket, staring at the stars. I put my tail across her belly; she set it aside. I didn't know what to say.

After a long time, I had to say something. "It'll get better."

No response. I asked, "What are you thinking?"

"You don't like me anymore."

"What are you talking about?"

"You could have hired some horses."

"With what money?"

"We're going to run out quicker buying food, if we keep at this pace."

"First off, we only put in quarter day or less travelling. Of course we didn't get far. Second, I can hunt."

Silence.

"Third, if you wanted to ride, you could have mentioned something about it back when we were somewhere vaguely near horses! We've always decided these things together, why put it on me alone, now?"

A pause. "Well, now that I say it that way, I guess you have other things on your mind."

"Famir, stop talking."

So I did. I meant to resume after a while, but I fell asleep.

The next morning, I woke up first. I shifted full snake, went down a rabbit hole and came back with breakfast. Renna was awake, but hadn't moved yet. She remained still as I started a fire and scrounged up some carrots. She finally raised herself to turn the spit.

I looked up from my cleaning. "Is it that bad?"

She didn't reply.

"Is it the attack that's bothering you, or the change of body?"

"Eh. No. What's wrong with you, Famir?"

"Nothing with me. I'm just sad that you're so sad and quiet. Something has to be wrong."

"You don't look at me the same. You wanted to close your eyes. Am I that ugly?"

"Oh come on, Renna. You know you're not your pretty face. I only want you, and I'm just not used to your new body yet. It'll come, in time."

"I can't wait. Seriously. I need some support, here. I'm feeling very lonely."

I went over and hugged her. Even when it was time to take the rabbits off, I only reached over with my tail, not letting go of her.

"Ugh. Such a heavy breakfast."

"What do you mean? Seems ordinary to me."

"That was then. New body doesn't want it."

So she had the carrots, and I the rabbit.

On the road to Allegos, she just became more and more despondent. I took to leading, to get her to speed up. And then I noticed I didn't hear her behind me. I turned, and she was coiled up ten lengths back, staring at her knife.

I shifted human and sprinted. She dropped the knife. I picked her up. "Okay, that's it. We're going back. Something is wrong, and the answer's back there. Will you go, yourself, or... all right then."

And so I had to carry her. She was indeed much heavier, but I managed. Part of her tail was dragging on the ground, which lightened the load. But more importantly, I had purpose. This was all wrong, and I was going to fix it.