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I staggered in to the refitter's establishment around noon and dumped Renna on the floor as gently as I could manage. It was only as I entered that I remembered the call pendant. The greeter recognized us, and said, "What's wrong?"

I toppled into a chair, panted a few times, then said, "She was going to kill herself."

The greeter said, "Choices are all on you. But you do get one checkup regardless of cause. Do you want to use it now?"

I said, "Yes!". Renna, still passive, acquiesced.

We did not have a long wait. Agau shuffled in and beckoned us back. "Many people get severe body dysphoria after changing. That's the opposite of what we're trying to do. So let's find something better for you."

Renna seemed to actually notice him. This bothered me in a way even as it was enormously relieving.

I said, "There's nothing wrong with the ..." I wasn't even clear where I was going with that thought.

Agau halted me. "It is a fine body. It isn't fine for her. That's the end of it."

I was sorry I had said anything. Attempting to get up was agonizing, so I shifted naga-form. My legs would recover more slowly when phased out, but I wouldn't need to feel it so much. If I went full snake to do the same to my abs, I'd be mute. That wouldn't be okay.

Agau had led us all the way to the rear, and we came into a cluttered office. He pulled out the catalog I had picked from. "All right. What is most important?"

Renna mumbled, "I don't know."

Agau sniffed for a moment and held up one finger/claw. "Miss, let me check something. Come this way?"

We followed him out and down some stairs into his storage chamber. Boxes stacked in neat rows, like a giant's library, filled the room. It was eerie to think about what was in these boxes - unoccupied bodies. Fortunately, the bright and well-distributed lighting kept it from being spooky. At the end of the row of boxes, there was a workbench and a wooden bed with straps. Renna got quite nervous as we approached it, but Agau said, "Don't worry, that's not for the living. You, I just want to check with... this."

He held up what appeared to be a huge brass lollypop with a string coming out the side. After a few moments of incantation, the string flew up and twisted itself into a knot, then the device was still again.

Agau examined and untied the string. "Hmm. I'm very sorry that I didn't catch this earlier. The body I gave you is defective. The next change is free."

I pointed out, "We already get a free change."

Agau clarified, "Those are for matters of taste. This is necessity. This body weighs down the spirit. Its original owner had committed suicide. Normally, that's not a problem. This time... it carried over. Rare, but it happens. We should get you out of there right away."

Renna sighed and nodded.

"I only have three ready for a rush like this. And it's a good thing your psychic profile is extra-compatible, or we'd only have one option. Keep in mind this is temporary. One is this body I'm in right now. 1:2 anthro to badger. Male, 40 years, 5 feet. Left knee has occasional shooting pains."

"I think I'll pass."

"Right. The second is over here." He shuffled over to one box and pulled up a sheet of paper tied to it. "A 2:3 anthro housecat. Female, 30 years, 6 and a half feet. Good condition but for a lot of piercings with no jewelry in them, and... oh, we healed that. That's all."

"Well, what's the third?"

"Quarter ton weretortoise. Turns human rarely - the week surrounding every new moon."

I said, "That's pretty frequently."

"I'm sorry, I meant every lunar eclipse."

"Oh. That's hardly ever."

"Anyway, her apparent age is 150 years. I trust you'll take the cat?"

Renna nodded.

Agau got to work right away, opening the box.

"Gods!", "She's huge!" were my and her initial reactions, respectively. The cat had a thick coat of well-trimmed orange and yellow fur. She was wearing a high-hung skirt which covered her belly-placed nipples - it was sort of a far-under-the-shoulders strapless dress. On her feet were some complicated slippers with turquoise beads on them - since her feet were very catlike, they had to be quite complicated to fit on comfortably and securely.

"When you're ready, just lie next to it comfortably."

Renna took that in and said, "Let's go." She wriggled up on the table and got herself comfortable for the transfer.

Agau chanted, and momentarily Renna took the cat's hand. After a few minutes, Renna quietly joined the chanting. Then the cat joined, and their voices grew to equal parts. After a few more minutes, Renna quietened, then the cat quickly dropped out. Of course, by that point, it would be more accurate to say that the vacant naga body quietened, and Renna quickly dropped out; but even more accurate would be to say that it was just Agau chanting with all three bodies.

Finally, Agau closed the incantation, and opened his eyes.

They both still lay there.

He clapped the cat on the shoulder. "Come on, sleepyhead. Time to get up."

Renna rolled off the box and I was facing her belly. I stared up. Even if I had been in human form, she would have been head and shoulders above me. She murmured, "Wow, this is different."

Her voice was a bit different, now. Deeper. But I could still pick her out from it.

Agau nodded. "Now, why don't you get settled for a few hours, then make a more permanent pick? Ah - ah - I see you asking. That won't be your one free change either. This is just a temporary."

Renna swished her tail, and ran her pawish hands over herself for a little. "This... is really... weird. But fine. I'll grab that catalog." She hopped a little, then scampered up the steps like a bolt.

I looked to Agau. "Whoa. What was that?"

"This body is the opposite of the old one - it just makes you happy. Useful for taking people off the edge of oblivion in a hurry. Not good on the long term. I'll be counting on you to make sure her big selection isn't seen through a rosy curtain."

"Right. Got it. So, what will you do with that old body? Burn it?"

"Probably. If we keep it, it'll only be for cataclysms, when we'd run out otherwise. Or we could send it to the healers, see if they can do anything. And I'll test it personally before letting anyone else in. You go on ahead, look through the catalog again. I'll close this up."

I went back the way we had come in, and found Renna in the office, leaning way back in the chair, tapping out 'okay', 'bad', and 'good' against the armrest. It really was her. Something had felt off, but that was very her.

"Hey."

She looked back to me. "Hi. I looked through what they have here. Nothing I'm really interested in. But then I found that he has the catalog for Allegos. We're going right through it in a few days. And here..." She opened the page up wider and showed it to me. "What do you think?"

It was another cat, black with a few white spots. 1:1 anthro, 24 years old. I shrugged. "A little on the small side... and I was hoping for naga."

"The purists snatch 'em up right away, so our naga options are slim pickings. But there are some. Look here."

"Gah!"

"Yeah, I told you. And here."

"Well, that one's not bad... oh."

"Yeah, I'd like to have two arms. And it says she has a collapsed lung."

"What about that one?"

"Too expensive. I only have so much credit."

Agau waddled in and raised his fat eyebrows expectantly.

Renna said, "We found something, but it's not here, it's in Allegos. That's on our way to Getta, but whatever I bring there, you'll need to get your body back, right?"

Agau reached for a book and began thumbing through it. "Not... always. Sometimes, other people are in situations like yours, and they want a body delivered. It's tough to move these boxes and keep the bodies preserved properly, so having someone in it and walking is generally best. Let's see how the balances are doing. Hmm. Looks like... Okay. I have a body that could use being sent to Allegos. That'd get it most of the way to where it's wanted."

Renna jumped. "Great! So, if we do that, can I have this particular body?"

Agau licked his lips. "If it is still available. I suggest you find another you can be satisfied with, in case. We don't reserve ahead in this system anymore; it kept leading to disappointments."

Renna bookmarked the Allegos catalog and moved on to the Leomer catalog. "I'll take a look through here, then. That'd be only one day out of the way." It was merely seconds before she had another selection. "Here's a 2:1 anthro monitor lizard. 19 years old."

Agau said, "By the way, especially now that you mention all these changes, here's your paperwork, for if you're going to switch anywhere but here. You ran out yesterday before I got it ready. Slipped right under their noses - so close to the floor. Very sorry about that."

Renna took it and read out loud: "The individual Renna, daughter of blank and blank - Bold and Emmaine - of blank - Getta -, whose psychic profile is projected below, was transferred from her birth body by me, day 187 of year 2499. By examination I determined that she was born in year 2476, between days 120 and the end of the year. She balnk - affirms - this measurement, declaring the day of her birth to be blank - 133. Agau of Rin. And then a list of my transfers. Huh, there was an intermediate I didn't know about."

Agau took the duplicate copy, "I'll keep this on file. Try not to lose that one. No refitter's guild member will move you in to a body younger than whatever you arrive in, without it. With it, you can get up to five years younger than you started. You're going to need it to get into that lizard you wanted. So. How about I call ahead?"

Renna said, "I thought you didn't reserve ahead anymore..."

Agau clarified, "I'll make sure they still have it; and of course they can gently steer people away from choosing it if they know someone's coming out of their way for it. Also, they might prepare it for quick transfer."

I suddenly realized, "Wait. Wait wait. How are we going to pay for this? We got credit with you, not them."

Agau nodded. "It transfers freely within the guild."

"Wow. We don't have anything this... convenient in, well, either Weld or Getta."

Agau held up a finger and started his call. We could see him moving his lips and cocking his head to listen. After a minute, he returned to us. "They'll return the call in a few minutes. I think we're all set here. I need to set up the body you're going to move, and help another patient. Wait at the front desk, they'll relay the return call to you."