By Artalis

This is The Tale of Kelly Alexander. The author of this work is Artalis, please email him with any queries.The material contained here is the property of Artalis and is used with permission by Candlekeep. Candlekeep claim no rights of ownership to this work and associated material.

When Alex woke up his head was throbbing and all he could see was shadows. His skin felt oddly sensitive cool and damp and he was laying on his back on something soft.

For some reason, despite the pain he felt charged with energy; like he could leap to his feet with next to no effort…It was an odd feeling indeed.

He sat up with a groan only the groan didn’t sound quite right; it was too…high…and soft. The shadow lifted from his eyes with a slight tickling sensation as his hair fell away but it was…black…and softer than he remembered and finer too…

“What the hell…”Alex murmured to himself but the voice that met his ears was not his own. It was delicate and high definitely in the soprano range.

“That’s odd” he thought to himself. It was then he realized he was sitting on the ground in the midst of a forest glade.

He glanced down to get his feet under him and what he saw made his world spin. Extending out from beneath him was a pair of shapely, slender legs covered by a snow white silken gown or robe or something. The bare feet that protruded from under the shimmering white cloth were positively dainty. Tiny compared to what he expected to see.

For a full minute at least he stared, uncomprehending.

Gradually a sort of hysteria began to rise within him. This was just so wrong… He literally could not process it right away and when he finally he began to understand his world began to swim again. As the hysteria began to raise so did his voice. A shrill keening wail issued from his mouth and it literally hurt his own ears causing him to clamp his mouth shut.

He was breathing heavily now confused and terrified and completely unable to handle what his rational mind was telling him. So, of course, it shut down.

Alex fainted.

When he woke up everything came rushing back to the forefront of his mind. Alex immediately felt the panic rising within him again. He breathed deeply trying to master his reaction out of an instinctive desire to control the situation. He didn’t even open his eyes yet.

A few moments later, he had regulated his breathing into a comfortable rhythm despite the anxiety he still felt. He began to pay attention to the sounds around him. He could hear his own heart beating though it sounded strange to him. He also could hear the wind gently passing through the leaves of the trees. Somehow he knew it was only a gentle breeze, nothing that he should have been able to really pick out but there it was.

Sitting up and propping himself up on his hands, he found moving easier than he was used to. Again there was that energy and ease of movement that had been so obvious before. What was more he could literally pick out each individual blade of grass by touch easily and feel the little beads of dew coat his hands, hands that had delicate slender fingers and were tipped with long nails.

Alex swallowed hard and sighed “Yep…I’m a girl alright…” trying to joke himself out of a panic attack. But his voice was not “HIS” voice at all. Rather it was a gentle melodious and light sounding one. Immediately he was struck by how lovely it was as it came to his sensitive ears.

Finally he steeled himself and opened his eyes. Vibrant colors leapt into his mind and the individual leaves on the trees 30 yards or more away were plainly visible, practically announcing themselves to his incredibly sharp vision. He raised a hand slowly and carefully to his face, still wet with dew, “Ok, no glasses…” he muttered

He gently touched the smooth soft skin of his new face, not a single bump or imperfection could he detect there. The skin was soft and smooth like a little kid. He looked at the hand closely; it was pale, almost white. The skin was fine and smooth and even his new sharp eyes could not detect any pores.

His eyes traveled up the slender wrists to the arms covered in shimmering white silk and he slid his other hand over the fabric in appreciation. “Mmm nice…” he murmured in that soft pretty voice bringing a faint smile.

His gaze followed the arm up and finally his new torso came into view. Panic again. The scintillating white gown or whatever he was wearing covered the swell of a pair of nicely rounded breasts. He swallowed hard and felt dizzy again.

Closing his eyes Alex resumed his breathing slowly and carefully. Gradually he brought a hand up and gingerly, almost guiltily ran his hand over his torso. “They’re real all right…” he said in a shaky voice made even higher with the beginnings of hysteria.

“Center yourself Alex, get your sh*t together” he chided himself “Just deal Kelly. Just deal.” he spoke fiercely determined to stop his mind from doing cartwheels.

Surprisingly he did just that. Opening his eyes again he looked around taking in the scene around him.

Not too far behind him lay a body, scorched and burnt by the look of it.

“Oh sh*t” came the small pretty voice again.

For a moment Alex stared over his shoulder, chin resting on the fine white silk robes that covered it. A gentle breeze stirred the long black hair into face caressing his cheek and he noted that the grasses around the body were scorched and burnt too.

A general sense of horror ripped through Kelly’s mind. His thoughts went off on their own “Somebody’s dead…nearby. I have no idea where I am or whose body this is I’m in… Shit, what do I do?

“You get up and deal dummy that’s what you do” Kelly said aloud in that sweet sounding melodic voice. The words sounded strange though…wrong for her mouth.

“Lle desiel?” came the voice again Kelly had meant to say “Are you ready?” to himself, but it had come out naturally in fluid roll of syllables that were nowhere near English but somehow he knew the meaning.

“Elvish” Kelly said nodding to herself and standing easily. It was so strange; she moved so easily he thought, seeing the body as someone else entirely.

With a strange-feeling easy grace she walked towards the corpse laying in the grass. It had been human he could tell that by looking at it.

About average height and a little scrawny she thought, looking at the body with a detached analytical mindset that he didn’t realize she possessed. The corpse was dressed in dark gray robes and had a scraggly brown beard though it was burnt and discolored from whatever had killed him.

The point of impact was at his chest. That much was readily apparent. A huge hole had been burnt right through his robes and fused part of them to his torso. There was an acrid smell of burnt flesh but there was also another smell in the air which part of Kelly’s mind recognized as lightning.

He seemed to have a pouch on his belt but it had been burnt all the way through. Kelly looked at him and wondered what the hell happened here but nothing came to mind. He wasn’t sure if his body’s previous owner had been involved or not but since there wasn’t a mark on her she thought not.

Kelly stared at the body, a sense of loss growing as she thought about the dead empty vessel before her feet. She turned away and walked back to where she had woken up and looked around.

A few paces away a new-looking backpack lay in the grass, it had a wide flat roll tied to the bottom like a deflated sleeping bag or something and looked to be stuffed sort of full. As she looked at the pack she also spied something brown protruding from underneath it.

Kelly walked over and picked up the pack, finding that it was hefty, but manageable. Underneath it was a miniature harp looking thing…a lyre, as her mind recognized it. It was beautifully carved out of a dark brown wood that had gold highlights in the sunlight.

She picked up the lyre and smiled as her small delicate hand closed around the familiar feeling wood. Slipping an arm through the pack strap and settling it into place she shifted the lyre into her left hand and cradled it easily in the crook of her arm.

She stroked the strings of the lyre idly and the notes that issued forth were pure heaven to her ears. Kelly picked at a few of the strings individually without really knowing what she was doing and before she realized it she was playing a song of some kind. The notes came from somewhere deep inside, someplace that she couldn’t identify, but the results were undeniable it sounded lovely.

Settling the pack on her back more fully and getting the other arm through it, she looked around trying to get some idea of which way to go.

Kelly didn’t know where to go but she wanted to put some distance between herself and the body just in case any cops came around asking questions to which she wouldn’t have the answers. In her experience the boys in blue didn’t particularly care for “I have no idea” defense.

Carrying the gorgeous lyre under her arm she turned in the opposite direction from the corpse and simply started walking.

Her sharp eyes picked out many different types of trees, some familiar, some not, as she walked barefoot through the grasses. Kelly’s small feet looked quite odd to her as she looked down at them while walking. They certainly were not the size twelve’s he was used to. They glided over the grasses lightly with the little blades caressing the bottom of each foot. It felt quite nice actually.

After a few minutes Kelly emerged from a small cluster of bushes into a clearing with a dirt road running through it. She looked down the road first to the right then to the left.

Upon glancing to the left she saw a team of horses approaching pulling a wagon. A small figure held the reigns as it approached and Kelly could see another wagon behind it rolling in her direction.

Kelly watched carefully as the caravan drew closer and she could finally see the man driving the lead wagon well the midget really. He was small and rotund with sandy brown hair and wore old fashioned looking clothing breeches and a waistcoat with a vest and shirt. He looked rather harmless really Kelly thought.

Just then a rider came up along side the caravan on horseback followed by two others. As the figure drew near Kelly began to get that now familiar feeling of panic again.

The horse was ridiculously huge, Kelly was staring at it’s shoulder as it approached and it would have actually had to bend down to bite her which it looked like it might do at any minute as it eyed her with what seemed to be innate hostility.

As big as the horse was the rider was huge too looming over her like a building from horseback and as Kelly stared up at him her heart quailed. Swinging easily from the saddle the huge man alit on the ground with an audible “chink’ of armor and weapons. He was huge, well over six feet tall with light gray skin and fangs that protruded from his lower lip frighteningly. As tall as he was he was nearly as wide too, muscular in ways that Kelly had only seen on body builders. He wore some sort of armor made of leather with spikes poking out all over and had a hand axe on each hip and a giant double bladed axe on his back.

Kelly couldn’t help but flinch a little and back up. The guy was scary. “Hold” he said in a voice that sounded like he gargled with gravel.

Kelly froze and looked at him, she knew somewhere in her heart that this was pivotal. She looked up at him and saw those savage teeth, narrowed black eyes and absolutely had to do something.

Kelly swallowed hard and began slowly “Hello sir, how are you?” Her very soul was put into those simple words pouring forth sincerity, kindness and respect in full measure. She looked up into the humorless eyes of the massive warrior and smiled softly, though somewhat timidly.

Something shifted in the back of Kelly’s mind suddenly. She felt her instincts making her reach out with her mind and gather something to herself. Her vision shifted and she could see strange eddies and currents all around in colors and shades that she could only begin to name. So much to take in… Again though her subconscious reined her in, she reached out with her mind, her hands wanted to pick at the threads and shape them but she knew she couldn’t move lest the fanged armored guy turn her into mincemeat.

The threads gathered and strange words ran through her mind, her mouth wished to speak them but she kept still and quiet as she stared way, way up at him.

“Who’re you?” the rough rumbling voice came again and a huge hand rested on the haft of a hand axe at his side.

Suddenly though, his expression softened and he gave a toothy grin. “C’mon lil lady don’t fear” he urged in a slightly softer voice.

Finally Kelly felt better feeling the situation was under control and she smiled back. “Ah…Kelly the name’s Kelly” she said in a friendly tone.

“What’ve we got Krell?” called out a voice from the wagons. Kelly turned her head to the sound and saw another small person standing on the buckboard of the wagon. This small person had a slightly different look about him than the other though. Kelly could immediately tell that he was quite sure of himself and he looked to be in charge.

His outfit was of much finer cloth and was brightly colored giving the impression of a cheery enough disposition. Though everyone knows what they say about “appearances”

Krell looked back over his huge spiked and armored shoulder and said “Nothing, just a scared lil elf-girl. Cute but not dangerous.”

Kelly blushed profusely and looked away. She was embarrassed and just a wee bit intimidated. She found herself rather at a loss for words actually, quite unused to being called “cute” in any context by anyone especially a male.

“You lost missy?” the huge warrior rumbled.

“Yes, very much so” she answered carefully, glancing up timidly from underneath her silky ebon bangs.

“Alright then, ya headed ta Waterdeep? I’ll see if the boss will let ya tag along…” he offered solicitously.

“Thank you sir, you are quite kind.” Kelly nodded. She was very exact in her speech, making certain to leave any weird little idiomatic references out and speaking very precisely and respectfully. It would be useful to be on this guys good side after all he looked like he could wreak quite a bit of havoc should the need arise.

The massive tank of a warrior led his mammoth horse away heading back towards the wagon where the short guy in the brightly colored clothes awaited. As he walked away Kelly noticed the other two mounted warriors behind him who had crossbows loaded and resting on the pommels of their saddles. The men looked pretty normal other than the fact that they wore armor and had crossbows pointed in her general direction.

Kelly marveled at the size of the horses, it was as if they were riding giant versions of the ones she’d seen on TV. The two men looked at her strangely and murmured back and forth between themselves with slight smiles.

The looks made her uncomfortable and she turned away looking over at Krell and his boss as they spoke. She couldn’t hear the words that were exchanged but she could see the little guy nod his assent to something and call up to the driver of the first wagon in some strange language that she didn’t recognize. The driver answered back in the same tongue and beckoned to Kelly towards his wagon.

Kelly looked over at the mounted crossbow-wielding guys and then at Krell, who gave her another toothy grin and shooed her towards the first wagon. Kelly could tell that the grin was meant to be encouraging but it was really quite intimidating.

Kelly nodded respectfully and walked briskly to the lead wagon looking up at the short fellow at the reins. She had seen enough westerns to know how to get to the buckboard of a wagon and stepped lightly on a rung of the wheel and grasped the side lightly with her hand. It was easy to pull herself up into the seat, surprisingly. Apparently this body was actually stronger pound for pound than her old one.

She looked at the driver and saw that he was mildly portly and weathered and had bare hairy feet of the same curly brown that was on his head. He was sweating slightly from sitting in the direct sun with no breeze to cool him. It took Kelly a moment but she realized she was looking at a real live Halfling.

He offered her a hand up and out of manners she took it finding his hand quite a bit smaller than hers. Oddly though, as she took a seat next to him she realized that he wasn’t quite as small as she would have thought a Halfling would be. The buckboard was a bit larger too than she would have thought and her bare feet dangled freely over the front.

“Ah…thank you, sir” she said softly

“Bah, tink nothin’ of it, miss” he said with an odd accent. “I’m, Glim, what’s yer name?”

“Kelly, my name’s Kelly” she answered softly

“Well Kelly, yer about four days outta Waterdeep. You don’t look like yer dressed fer travlin’ though. How’d ya git out here wit’out a horse and no trav’lin’ clothes?”

She looked over at the Halfling driver and smiled weakly and said “Glim my friend, I have no idea. I’m a bit confused…I just woke up not far from here and don’t remember a thing…” She thought it best to stick to a story that eliminated the need to answer questions for the time being. Besides, strictly speaking it wasn’t a lie or anything; she really didn’t remember anything about this place before she woke up in that clearing.

Kelly looked down at her feet avoiding the Halfling’s eyes and saw something was odd but didn’t immediately know what it was. Then it came to her. They were clean, spotless actually, and so were the robes covering her legs.

“Humph” he said as he looked sidelong at her “Yer not lookin’ like you’ve been out here long… Yer completely wit’out mem’ries?” he asked gently

“I’m afraid so yes…” Kelly answered starting to feel guilty.

“Poor thing” He said sympathetically “Ye’ jest stick wit’ us Kelly, we’ll get yer ter Waterdeep at least. Safer than out here”

From the back the brightly dressed Halfling’s voice rang out and Glim flicked the reins sending the horses lurching forward.

Kelly rode along in silence mostly, still in shock from what was going on around her. And not the least of her problems was that she was a girl. Kelly had no idea where she was except there was a nagging familiarity with the name Waterdeep.

As the wagon bounced along Kelly tucked her lyre under the seat in between some blankets and began rummaging through the pack she had brought with her looking at the various items she found and eyeing them critically.

Chief among her discoveries was a small sack of gold coins which she showed to Glim and asked “Is this a lot of money?”

Glim looked at the coins cupped in her hands and shrugged “Depends on who yer askin’. It’s a tidy sum, enough ter live on for a bit even in the City of Splendors” he nodded “Jest yer be puttin’ that away Miss Kelly afore somebody gets ideas...”

Kelly nodded and closed the little bag; grinning a little at being called “Miss Kelly” it rather reminded her of “Miss Kitty” on “Gunsmoke”. Kelly used to watch that show with her dad before the bastard had bailed out on her mom. Kelly frowned at the memory and shook her head softly to banish it.

They went on in mostly silence quite some time, Kelly’s mind still trying to wrap around the fact that she was a girl, an elf and was god knows where, riding on a wagon beside a Halfling and being guarded by something that she guessed was a half-orc. She wasn’t sure what happened back there but her instincts said that she had charmed the big fella and that was another element to consider. Kelly knew enough about legends and myths and fantasy to know that charm was beginner spell but the whole casting it by merely looking at the guy had her confused.

She had plenty to think about as they kept bouncing along on the road until Kelly’s behind was aching from the hard wooden seat and the bumpy road. Finally though, as the light began to fade they halted and struck camp at a nice looking clearing.

The guards and drivers worked together like a well oiled machine pulling together firewood and setting the wagons up in a semicircle around it just a little way from the road. Glim set to work on putting the firewood together in a classic tepee formation that Kelly recognized from god knows how many westerns.

Slowly she walked over towards the Halfling her intuition guiding her. “May I help?” she asked as sweetly as possible, sort of liking the persona she was building with these people. She was kind of happy to leave her old sarcastic arrogant mouth behind in her other body, at least for now.

“Well Miss Kelly, I bin givin’ it a bit er thinkin’” he began turning to her with a smile. “I dern’t think you are much fer work. Lookit them pretty hands o yers” he said nodding down at her hands. “I ain’t seen many highborn ladies of yer’ kind but the long nails er a dead giveaway. Yer ain’t the workin’ type Miss and that’s fer sure”

Kelly stared at her long fingernails and then the pale soft skin of her hands. “Hmmm. You would seem to be right, Glim. No calluses. Still I think I may be able to help” She walked forward towards the nice sized pile of wood and after uttering a single seemingly nonsensical phrase and rubbing her hands together. A large hot spark leapt from between her palms and landed among the dried weeds at the center of the unlit fire. Immediately little flames began to crawl up the sticks at the bottom of the soon-to-be bonfire and Kelly could feel the warmth starting to emanate from them.

The halfling arched an eyebrow at her and grinned “Aha! Yer’ a spellslinger!” he laughed with delight “That’s what yer’ doin’ wit yer pristine prettiness out here” Glim looked exceptionally pleased with himself and poked at the fire appreciatively. “Thanks fer the hand there Kelly yer’ a good soul…even iff’n yer not sure who yer are” he added with a wink.

The fire was soon burning away brightly and everyone was pleased to set to getting dinner ready as quickly as possible. Kelly was pleased at the little piece of acceptance that she managed to get from her talents. It was weird though, she felt like she was just “letting go” when she cast the spells, almost as if they had cast themselves. She had always figured that a mage or whatever would truly understand what he or she was actually doing when they cast a spell. Kind of like the difference between a computer Sysadmin and a user. One knows and one is oblivious. Kelly didn’t feel oblivious but she definitely felt...something more towards the more intuitive, feeling side of her brain almost like she was using the magic with her spirit, soul or heart. Whatever you call it.

With a friendly nod towards Glim, Kelly went back to the wagon and got her lyre. She sat away from the fire with her back against the smooth bole of a slightly bent tree that looked rather like a birch, though Kelly didn’t know for sure if it was or not. Kelly spent the early part of the evening alone strumming her lyre, her eyes closed and enjoying the amazing quality of the notes. It was interesting how much came naturally to her she noted. It was almost as if she had a silent partner feeding her information or something, but on a low almost subconscious level. It would have been creepy if it weren’t all so wonderful, she thought.

Idly picking out the notes to “Dazed and Confused” Kelly hadn’t noticed one of the guards approach her spot. It was one of the two who had backed Krell up earlier when she had joined the caravan. He had a look about him that Kelly didn’t like well maybe not a look but more like a feeling. Not to mention the fact that even at the five foot of distance they currently had from each other she could clearly smell him. He smelled pungently of sweat and leather to the point where Kelly worried she might gag. It wasn’t his fault though, Kelly reminded herself. It’s not like they had rest stops around to take a hot shower or anything, still though... Ick.

She pretended not to notice him and continued to work out the song she imagined that Robert Plant and Jimmy Page would be pretty happy about an elf playing their song on a lyre. As she recalled at least Plant was a huge Lord of the Rings fan…

Ignoring him didn’t work. The big smelly guy sat down way too close for Kelly’s comfort. Again she was surprised at how big everyone was. She was sitting right next to the guy and turning towards him put her staring at his upper arm and shoulder. He was wearing the spiky armor like Krell was and that made Kelly uncomfortable too. She was way closer to those spikes than she wanted to be.

“Hey lil lady” he began, smiling at her with slightly yellowed teeth. His eyes were roving obviously over her in a way that make Kelly hard pressed to decide whether to throw up on him or run away. She did neither in actuality.

She began to tremble just a bit with the adrenalin that fear produces and looked up at him, asking very politely “May I help you with something?”

“Well that all depends” he said in an attempt to be coy. It didn’t work, nope not at all.

“Depends on what” Kelly asked coolly, her voice dropping the pretense of politeness and losing a little of its niceness.

“Depends on whether ye’d like some company lil lady” he finished “It’s gonna get a bit chilly here right soon and ye might want a big strong man to curl up next to. To keep warm ye know?”

Kelly was appalled, for a moment she was genuinely speechless. Finally she managed to gather herself and said “No. Thank you. I will be fine” as coolly and firmly as she was able. “If you’ll excuse me…” Kelly said shortly, getting up and walking away. She walked a little ways away from the camp towards a brook that Glim or someone had found earlier.

She was fuming inside. Of all the pushy, lame assed, gross, overt, obtuse and ridiculous things to say... she shivered in revulsion. “Haven’t even been a girl for a day yet and some creep’s trying to foist himself onto me…” she muttered. Shaking her head as she approached the little rivulet, she knelt down to get a drink and heard the rustle of leaves behind her.

She turned to look and saw the big man approaching. Her heart quailed; Kelly was all too familiar with the state of women’s rights in medieval times. She was also painfully mindful of how much bigger and stronger he was than her. She looked around quickly and then stood up. Inside, her fears grew as he came closer. She was ready to try the charm spell that she used before but she didn’t know if it would work. The guy liking her and wanting to be her “friend” was most likely the problem, not necessarily the solution. The leer on his face did not inspire hope however.

She swallowed hard and tried not to show any fear. “Please leave me alone, sir. I’m not interested in any company…really I just want to be alone. It’s been a long day.” Kelly tried the high road again hoping that he was a decent guy, just a little pushy.

Without missing a beat he moved in and grabbed her arms tightly while staring her in the eyes. “Yer interested all right… Let me show ye how interested ye are…” he leaned in to kiss her as Kelly leaned back, panic-stricken.

Suddenly a booming voice that sounded like it came up from the depths of hell called out “Tristan! Gods’ help ye man if you make one wrong move! I’ll skin ya alive and wear yer’ pelt for a cloak, you little…!” The voice was Krell’s of course there could not be two creatures that sounded like that.

The man who held Kelly, Tristan being his name apparently looked stricken. A look of confused fear came into his eyes and he looked into Kelly’s and saw nothing but pure rage. Kelly had recovered upon hearing Krell’s voice; it had anchored her in the here and now. She stopped being afraid and started getting angry, very angry.

To the human who had yet to let go of the beautiful elf girl she underwent a startling transformation. Her eyes fairly blazed with anger and the gold flecks amidst the emerald orbs shone with a deadly glittering light. Sparks arced from her fingertips, snapping and popping to match those deadly pools of light that truly were the windows to her soul at that moment.

“Let me GO!” she screamed in a high clear almost painfully sharp voice her hands sending painful arcs of mini-lightning into his stomach. The tiny spikes in his armor acted like miniature lightning rods pulling every errant spark into him.

Letting out a pained yelp he did let go, and as he turned around he was just in time to greet Krell’s giant fist. The man fell to the ground with nary a whimper so hard had he been hit.

Krell eyed her with a stern, concerned look and asked “You ok?”

Kelly glared at the man at her feet, panting and trembling with a mixture of many different emotions. “Yeah, I’m fine” she lied, forgetting her elf persona for a minute and lapsing back into American English.

Krell looked at her curiously and shrugged, “C’mon back. Food” was all he added before turning and walking back to camp.

Kelly followed not trusting herself to be left alone beside the defenseless Tristan.

Kelly walked slowly back to camp, food being the last thing on her mind. She was shaken to the core. It was so utterly wrong…finally she began to understand how careful she needed to be and that this was not a safe place. Still the little lightning jolt she threw was neat and she had a feeling that Tristan wouldn’t push the issue if he ever woke up from the wicked blow that Krell had visited on him. At the very least she doubted he would try anything with Krell around. Kelly decided that Krell was a very nice person to know.

Arriving back at camp Kelly found the rest of the guards, Glim and the caravan boss (whose name turned out to be Arpen Thistletop) eyeing her and Krell with apprehension. She felt very uncomfortable under the weight of all those stares to say the least.

Kelly walked away from the fire and the crew not really interested in food, company or anything other that trying to forget what just happened. Her skin was still crawling as she made her way to her former seating place. She wanted to just sit and get rid of the gross feeling that was unshakable.

Sitting back down and grabbing her lyre she began to pick out “Thick as a Brick” instantly feeling better. She was pleased at how it sounded and enjoyed figuring it out. That lyre was a piece of home, she thought but it wasn’t that was the weird part. Kelly had never seen a lyre before today except for in a book, for this lyre to be so…important to her was just weird.

Well hell everything was weird she was a goddamned elven female! Kelly sighed as she tried again to wrap her mind around what was going on. Every time she tried to analyze it, her mind began to swim and she felt weird, almost panicky. As soon as she just relaxed and focused on the world in front of her everything kind of fell into place and was reasonably copasetic.

So she just stopped trying to figure it out. She just let it go. It was still crazy-weird being a girl now but one thing at a time. Survival was of the formost importance and to survive she would need to know things. Like what spells she could cast and so on. Kelly rummaged in her pack and brought out the journal that she had seen before. It was new and bound in fine-grained leather. She opened the cover and saw letters in elvish that were instantly familiar to her.

“Nenyalitha Adorellen” she said softly. “So that’s her name. Sorry Nenyalitha…I didn’t mean it really” Kelly spoke to herself sort of reverently, taking a slender hand and placing it over her heart. “I promise if there’s a way to bring you back…I’ll do it.”

Looking back down at the journal she saw that the first page had been written in. But it was in a weird script that she’d never seen before. The whole first page had been written but she couldn’t make heads or tails of it. “Figures” she said to herself and closed the book back up. Upon closing the book and turning it sideways to slip it back into the pack a palm-sized silvery disk fell out of its pages into her lap.

Kelly picked up the disk and looked at it. The thing was polished to a high sheen and was highly reflective, showing part of her face in its surface. She shifted the angle and looking into it saw her new face for the first time.

She stared for a good long time, finally muttering under her breath “Oh my god…” She actually had to wait and catch her breath before she could finish her thought “I’m gorgeous” in an incredulous voice.

The image in the mirror looked perfect. A slightly oval fair skinned face was framed by long shiny black hair. The skin tone was incredible; Kelly couldn’t find a single defect, pore or other mark of any kind. Her skin was very pale with an almost blue tint around the edges of the cheeks though one couldn’t really see it without looking for it. She had high elegant eyebrows and the most incredible eyes Kelly had ever seen. They were almond shaped and a deep dark forest green with gold flecks. Kelly was mesmerized.

Kelly didn’t know how long she stared but it was Krell’s massive shadow cast over her reflection that shook her from her intense exploration. She looked up abruptly and blushed, realizing how vain she must seem. Krell held a bowl in his hand and held it out to her. “Here, I had Ered leave the spices out for ye.”

She smiled up at the massive half-orc and reached out to take the bowl. “Thank you Krell, that was very kind of you.” She paused for a minute and then added “I appreciate what you did back there. It’s embarrassing but I am glad you were there, I don’t know what would have happened…” she shuddered visibly.

Krell’s massive hand patted her on the shoulder. Looking at it Kelly realized he could probably palm her head like a basketball. It was scary to say the least.

In a soft rumbling voice he just said “Best not ta’ think of it” and gave her shoulder a little squeeze. He headed back to the campfire and the rest of the crew without another word.

For a bit she merely sat in silence, but gradually the strain came fully to bear on her and she cried quietly. She didn’t know exactly what would have made anything better except just to give vent to her frustration, embarrassment and fear. She didn’t stop crying for quite a bit and rationally speaking Kelly knew she was under a lot of stress and that it was only natural.

She had all but ignored the fact that she was now in an elven female body after spending her entire life as a human male. Now admittedly Kelly had occasionally thought about what it would be like to be a girl but the reality was no amount of thinking prepared anyone for the actuality of it. She’d had no choice but to ignore the change and move on or she’d have gone insane from the strain. The mind or at least her mind wasn’t meant to deal with things like that.

Her tears flowed freely and for the first time in her memory Kelly did nothing to stop them. The strangeness of her situation and her inability to do anything about it washed through her like a tidal wave. There was literally nothing she could do but just bide her time and try to figure things out. And that was only if she could even manage to stay alive that long. It seemed that whatever this place was it was pretty violent, everybody carried a weapon, including herself now…

Finally she grew tired of listening to her own sniveling. Kelly had never been much for giving into her feelings, most of the time she’d been unaware of even having any. Fear though, that was real and this was quickly coming to her awareness that this was no dream. Despite the strangeness of it all, there was just too much detail and awareness. Not to mention discomfort.

What frustrated her the most was that she had simply stood there while that ape of a man laid his hands on her and tried to to… never mind. Best not to think of it as Krell had said, he had a decent head on his shoulders for such a rough-looking character, Kelly thought.

Kelly spent the rest of the evening in solitude while she nibbled at the stew, which turned out to have a great deal of flavor even without any spices. Kelly was amazed by it. The potatoes, carrots and onions were all like some kind of super-flavorful version of themselves. She found she didn’t have much in the way of an appetite despite the amazing stew and was only able to eat half of the bowl before finding herself uninterested in finishing.

She tried to nap a little but for some reason she was having trouble settling, and it wasn’t just the events of the day. Kelly had always been an easy sleeper. Something was just…wrong. Frowning she settled in and played a little bit of “Stairway to Heaven”. As she played the feeling of wrongness went away and she settled in curled up into a ball against the tree and just letting the music flow from her memories.

Strange images flashed through her mind as she lay there. A field of vivid greens spotted with wildflowers lay before her with a herd of unicorn grazing. It was beautiful beyond description and Kelly was only barely aware of these images as they passed, she was transfixed by them, watching them play out passively like a flashback or a daydream or something.

She watched the unicorn graze and a young elven girl with golden hair walk out to the herd slowly, the gentle breeze sending her hair fluttering out behind her. As if in slow motion all but one moved away, and the girl was left alone with the magnificent creature. Carefully the two walked towards each other and the girl’s hand caressed the muzzle of the pearly white creature. The steed moved a few steps closer to the slightly built elfling and lowered its neck to her. The girl slipped cautiously onto its back and the two came trotting towards her. The girl on the unicorn’s back looked radiant, a smile lit her face with happiness only seen when a lifelong dream is fulfilled.

The scene changed to a gorgeous palace, a throne room with a magnificently beautiful woman sitting upon a highbacked silvery throne in the center. Along each side of center carpet was a row of elven knights clad in gleaming plate mail. The woman stood and began to approach her and suddenly Kelly was overwhelmed with such sadness as she had never felt as she met the woman’s eyes. Centuries of sacrifice lay in those limpid pools and Kelly was humbled and overwhelmed by her presence.

Again the scene changed. This time to a ship made of white wood with a prow resembling a great swan moored in a harbor with gulls flying overhead. Now the feelings shifted to a different sort of sadness, more of loss and regret than anything else. A handome elven male beckoned her aboard.

Other visions followed, some passing too quickly to make sense of and others simply feelings or more faces without names.

Before she knew it, morning had arrived and the first rays of sunlight were breaking through the branches and warming her face. She blinked a few times rapidly and realized that she felt totally refreshed and enervated.

Kelly stood and stretched, finding Krell already awake sitting with his back to her talking to someone in a low voice. She approached the massive warrior to find the person that he was speaking to was Tristan. As his eyes met hers he immediately looked away and Kelly froze as her heart leapt to her throat. Krell turned and saw her approach and held up a hand to stop her approach. “Give us a moment, Kelly” he rumbled quietly.

Kelly nodded and walked back toward the brook that she had found earlier. After taking a look around, she then set to the rather oddly difficult task of relieving herself. After some very weird, complicated, moments all was taken care of and Kelly found to her chagrin and pleasure that she was immediately clean before she could even begin to attend to that matter herself.

“Aha” she murmured “That’s why I always feel like I just took a shower…these robes must be magical…”

Kelly ruminated on the possibilities and it seemed likely that the robes were indeed enchanted. As a matter of fact she was sure of it, though she had no idea why.

After getting a nice long drink from the brook she made her way back to camp and was greeted by the one thing in the world she wanted least to see. Tristan stood waiting patiently with his hands clasped behind his back and Krell standing a few paces off to the side.

“M’lady?” he asked tenatively “May I speak wit ye?”

Kelly looked over at Krell inquisitively and the big warrior nodded his approval. She turned back to Tristan and with a quirked eyebrow she replied “Yes? What can I do for you, Tristan?” her voice was cool as ice and her eyes matched it well as she eyed the oddly no longer smelly human.

“I’d like to beg yer forgiveness milady” he began as he kneeled in front of her. His hands still strangely held behind his back.

“Oh?” she asked with a slight edge of mockery in her voice. “Has Krell put the fear of death in you? You weren’t very apologetic last night now were you?”

“Ah no ma’am I wasn’t but I understand better now…how it feels to…well… to be afraid. Krell…explained some things to me”

“I bet he did” Kelly almost giggled “Well as long as you promise to keep your hands to yourself and to only kiss women who are actually interested in you, I have no problem accepting your apology. I’m curious though…what’s behind your back?”

Grimacing slightly he moved awkwardly to bring a scabbarded blade around from behind his back. It was long and thin and Kelly recognized it immediately as a rapier with a swept hilt. “I know you’re a spellcaster but I thought a nice light weapon might help you feel more secure…something you could use without much difficulty but still defend yourself with.”

Kelly reached forward to take the weapon in hand and said “Thank you Tristan, that’s actually very thoughtful of you. I appreciate it and accept it gladly.”

She took the blade and swept it free from the scabbard eyeing it critically and nodding. “-and if you ever touch me again I’ll be sure to use it on you” she grinned gently. “Oh and by the way…don’t take this personally…It’s not about you. I don’t like men.” Kelly then turned on her heel and went back to her spot back by the tree sliding the blade back into its scabbard on the way.

She picked up her lyre and made her way back towards the wagons pausing to buckle the rapier around her waist. It felt weird on her hip but not entirely alien. It was as if she had worn something like it before.

The rest of the crew were breaking camp and readying to leave. Soon they were underway again and Kelly resumed her place at Glim’s side in the front of the caravan. He chuckled at the sight of the rapier at her side and nodded with approval but no more was said of the unfortunate incident.

The day passed exactly as the one before had; quiet, long and bumpy as all hell.

The camp set up took a minimal amount of time again and Kelly was amazed at how efficient the whole enterprise was.  Everyone had a job, knew what it was and did it without delay. Kelly helped with the fire again contributing at least to some degree feeling a bit better about her contribution. This evening however she was feeling a little better about everything in general and decided to stay with the group, closer to the fire.

 Just as they were settling down for dinner Krell looked up and quickly turned around, standing in one smooth motion. “Somethin’s out there” he said in his low rumbling voice.  

Without a word the three guards who heard him were on their feet with crossbows in hand cocking them with practiced smoothness.  

Kelly watched the perimeter of the little clearing carefully trying to lend her sharp eyes to the search when a voice came out of the brush.  

“Hello the camp!” the man’s voice called. For a moment Kelly didn’t even realize that it was in English. In that split second her whole world changed again as she tried to still her pounding heart.

Krell growled back “Common, Dammit! Come out with hands up, open and empty or ye’ll be a pincushion.”  

There was a brief hesitation and the man called something back in common as he walked into the firelight.  Kelly didn’t know what he said because she was utterly numb from the realization that someone else from Earth was there. She watched him step forward and stared without realizing it.  

He was very tall, with short, dark, wavy brown hair under a fedora and green eyes. Kelly noted that he walked with a strange sort of precision, every step placed carefully by habit apparently. He was thin but not overly so and looked somewhat tired. His clothing however was what truly grabbed her notice.

He had boots and a cloak of slightly different shades of gray from each other but his blue jeans and t-shirt were what caught her attention. “He brought his own body with him…” she thought incredulously as she stared intently frowning slightly in concentration. She noted a very nice rapier at his right hip and a black sheath was strapped to his right leg below a rather large dagger.  

“If this is a dream…it’s a complicated one” she mused to herself silently.

Kelly kept her cool, outwardly at least as the tall man entered the camp. She watched him carefully, her gold-flecked eyes picking out details in his expression and manner that she never would have noticed before yesterday. She noted that he too was assessing everyone, she could tell in the way his eyes traveled systematically from one person to the next, hesitating for only a second on any one person, except her.  

When their glances met Kelly’s first impulse was to look away like she had been caught at something. Instead though, something kept her still and she met his glance with a cool, uninterested-seeming expression that was utterly natural-looking. Inside she was afraid, wondering what the hell was going on if this guy was some Dimensional Police agent sent to drag her back to the ridiculously mundane, boring, mana-bereft world of her birth. Or perhaps something to do with the dead body back in the glade that she had been in such a hurry to put distance in between her and it. Either way she wasn’t giving anything away. Not yet anyway.

 So instead she met his gaze with cold elven arrogance that somehow came naturally. Again there was that silent partner working within her. Kelly wondered if it was the poor Nenyalitha lady who had written her name in the book. But if she was inside Kelly’s head why didn’t she speak up? All she ever got were vague feelings and instincts; on the whole it was a little scary to say the least.  

All night she watched him carefully, sometimes pretending to not be but other times she just stared trying to figure out what his game was. She kept just inside the range of her hearing which was pretty impressively sharp and listened to him. She smiled gently as he gave his name which was Jack Archer, normal enough for either world Kelly noted with ironic amusement.  

The rest of the night passed easily enough but Kelly stayed closer to Krell this time hoping that her proximity to the huge warrior would stave any attempts by this unknown neighbor of hers from back home to bring her back. She propped herself back up against the wheel of one of the wagons and softly plucked out a tune trying to put something to music sheerly out of instinct. Part of her was kicking herself but she just couldn’t resist the temptation as she played around with Tolkein’s poem a bit and checked to see what kind of Terran she was dealing with.  

Gil-galad was an elven king

Of him the harpers sadly sing

 The last whose realm was fair and free

Between the mountains and the sea  

His sword was long, his lance was keen

His shining helm afar was seen

 But long ago he sailed away

And where now he dwelleth none can say  

For into darkness fell his star

In Mordor where the shadows are  

To his credit Jack didn’t start or stare or anything of the sort instead seeming to take it in stride, but Kelly began to get a rather uneasy feeling that fun and games would get her into trouble with this one. Those eyes missed nothing; there was an almost disturbing amount of clockwork going on back there behind them she thought. She’d best quit playing and mind her business lest she sell herself out cheap.  

Gradually Kelly relaxed and allowed herself the luxury of that sweet meditative state that brought her a nice refreshed feeling. It was kinda weird not laying down to sleep but she really liked the images and impressions that she relived through her hostess’ past. They came and went like falling leaves before a window in autumn. There were so many years and so much to remember, it was a wonder that these elves didn’t lose themselves under the weight of them all.

Kelly awoke to find herself among the first stirring and she looked around to see if their guest was still with them. He was.

She eyed him with something that must have looked like disdain as she wondered what would happen next. She found herself resenting his presence, wishing he weren’t here it wasn’t like there weren’t enough men here anyway, she thought.  Why couldn’t it have been a nice girl from Iowa or something? Kelly was in dire need of some good old fashioned cuddling, she was alone and scared and at near her wit’s end; but there seemed no break in the near future.  

Kelly was kind of taken aback; this kind of thinking was very unlike her. For as long as she could remember she had been completely self-reliant. Even in the worst of situations she hadn’t looked for help from anyone in years and years. It seemed that her new body or her roomie upstairs was affecting her. That was scary…very scary indeed. Kelly put her arms around herself feeling the sudden chill of fear. She rocked back and forth a little without realizing it, trying to keep herself together.

Absorbed in her thoughts Kelly didn’t sense Jack’s approach until he was next to her.

He cleared his throat and looked at her as if checking something before speaking in a soft baritone that sent a soothing sensation over Kelly’s frazzled nerves “Ah, are you cold or something..Milady?”  He leaned in solicitously as he asked, obviously concerned.