**Author's Note: For some reason they don't e-mail me anymore when my story is reviewed so I thought no one was reading it. But I realize now that you are so I will continue.
Chapter Four: More Change
I came to to find not only Turn Key but also a lovely couple. I sat up slowly and felt dizzy. Turn Key put his hand behind my head. "Easy girl. See, I knew they'd find us. Averia, meet Chlorine and Nimby." I was still kind of shaky and couldn't manage to talk. Luckily the lady, Chlorine didn't make it necessary for me to have to.
"Hi, Averia. Welcome to Xanth. You don't know how excited I am to have you here and finally meet you. You see, you are almost like a daughter to Nimby and I." She smiled warmly at me and her gaze met mine. I had a vision of an cherub smiling.
"That's weird." I thought. All three looked at her.
"What's weird?" Turn Key asked.
"Oh, did I say that out loud?" I started to blush. "It's just that well...when I looked in your eyes Chlorine...I...I saw...I saw a smiling cherub. Usually it's a clear picture of something real but this was like a little cartoon. What do you think it means?"
"Well, some magic mirrors use that to represent true." Turn Key offered. Chlorine looked at Nimby, who nodded.
"That's exactly what it was like. That may be your talent. Seeing truth." Nimby nodded again. I looked at him.
'Weird, he doesn't talk.' Nimby nodded. "Did I say that out loud?"
"Say what out loud?" Chlorine looked perplexed. Nimby shook his head no. I looked at him again.
'Can you read my mind?' I asked silently. He nodded. "Ummm...I have a question. I thought you told me that Nimby was a dragon-ass? He looks like a human male to me." I looked at Chlorine and once again saw the smiling cherub.
"Nimby chose to appear like this to make it easier. He will change now if you don't mind because he is more comfortable like that." And as Chlorine said it he did.
"He looks just like he did when you told me, Turn Key!" I was shocked.
"What do you mean...looks?" Chlorine asked.
"I looked in Turn Key's eyes and saw him...both of you...and you look exactly the same."
"You said you looked in his eyes?"
"Yes"
"And you saw the two of us?" she began to walk towards Nimby.
"Yes" I saw Chlorine place a hand on Nimby's shoulder. "Why?"
"Your talent. It's to see the truth by looking in someone's eyes. That's very powerful indeed. Sorceress level I would guess." At that Nimby nodded. "We should have known that though...since you have part of Nimby with you. He has very powerful magic." I started to ask what his talent was but he shook his head.
"Well," Turn Key said, "I really must be going now. I have to tend to my duties." I was sad to see him go. "Goodbye Averia, it was a real pleasure. I will miss you."
"I'll miss you too." I hugged him and felt tears coming to my eyes. We let go and he turned and walked away. I once again had new guardians to get used to.
"I know this is hard for you Averia. I'm so sorry. We knew Pia and Edsel and were sad to hear of their passing. And to now have to once again switch guardians after you've only just gotten used to Turn Key. But Nimby and I promise to take good care of you and we know you'll love Xanth." Chlorine looked upset and lost. I knew she was right though.
"Well one thing I definitely don't like is this whole fainting thing. I've never done that before." Chlorine looked at me with shock on her face.
"All Maidens faint! It's part of our nature."
"So this may happen more often?" I did not like that idea at all.
"Of course. You do know how to blush right?" I was embarrassed by her words and realized I had a lot to learn about this new culture. The heat began to rise in my cheeks. "Oh!" Chlorine exclaimed. "You blush brilliantly!" This caused me to blush even more furtively. "Now we will be heading to the North Village but you CANNOT enter the Village dressed like that! I will go first and get you some proper maidenly attire, like mine. Come, hop on Nimby's back and we will be there soon." I looked at Chlorine's attire, a beautiful, very clingy, very revealing dress and then down at her own out fit: Jeans and a T-Shirt.
'I don't wear dresses except when we'd go to a fancy restaurant. And I can't fit into something that small. My fat would bulge EVERYWHERE.' Nimby shook his head. That made me mad. I was used to my thoughts being private and for him to know what I was thinking and then contradict it was annoying. Nimby shook his head. "That will be great Chlorine, thanks." I smiled at her and then looked at Nimby who nodded affirmatively. 'I hope you're happy, now.' I thought to him. He nodded again and then motioned his head back to tell me to climb on. Chlorine was already on his back and I climbed on behind her. It was an odd feeling at first but I soon got used to Nimby's gait. We did not seem to be moving that fast but the scenery was whizzing by and before I knew it we were stopping outside the village.
"I'll be right back." And she went into the village. I decided to use this time to try to find out more about Nimby. I turned back to him and saw a man. I was frightened until I realized that he had merely returned to man form so I would be more comfortable speaking to him. Man-Nimby nodded. 'Thank you for taking me in' He nodded again. 'But what are you exactly? Turn Key said that each person has only one talent but you seem to have at least two.' I looked into his eyes and saw...nothing. Man-Nimby shook his head. 'You can block my...talent?' He nodded. 'You must be very talented indeed.' He nodded again. 'Will I ever know who you are?' He shrugged. I wanted to plow further into this creatures mind but Chlorine came back.
"Here ya go!" she handed me a small slip of fabric. It was silky and green in color. "It matches your eyes!" she said. I wondered how anyone could be so happy all the time. Man-Nimby smiled knowingly. "Well, go and try it on! I want to see how it looks." Chlorine pushed me behind a grove of trees that moved and intertwined to block me from view.
"Whoa! The trees just moved."
"I know. That's what they are supposed to do. Now take off your hideous clothing and put this on." I self-consciously removed my shirt and revealed the black bra I had on underneath. "What is that!?"
"What?"
"That thing. It looks like an Algae-bra but it's different."
"It's just a bra. I got it from Victoria's Secret."
"Who is this...Victoria?"
"Nevermind."
"Well, we don't wear those here." I looked at her pert chest and wondered how she could go without a bra. I looked into her eyes and saw a wand.
'Ah, it's magic.' I then removed my jeans and heard Chlorine gasp.
"Oh my goodness! What lovely panties you have! You must NEVER let any male see those. They would freak out for sure."
"What?" I looked down at my underwear. They, too, were from Victoria's Secret. They were my favorites, Purple Tiger Stripe. "What do you mean 'freak out'?"
"It's hard to explain..." Chlorine started. I decided to try out this new talent again and looked in her eyes. I saw an image of Chlorine and Man-Nimby. The image of Chlorine pulled up her skirt, revealing her panties and then the image of Man-Nimby froze.
"Huh, just seeing underwear does that to a guy? Why, back home, when I'd do plays we'd all share one dressing room. Guys saw our panties all the time and NEVER reacted like that." Chlorine was absolutely abhorred.
"Men saw your panties? And didn't freak our? Mundania is strange indeed. Now remove that...thing and put on the dress." I turned my back to her and removed my bra. I then managed to squeeze into the dress. It's décolletage was lower that anything else I had ever worn and I felt so...exposed. But sure enough there was no need for a bra. "Turn around and let me see." I did. "Oh! You look beautiful." I knew she was lying so I looked in her eyes. But I saw the smiling cherub which meant she was telling the truth. "But we must fix your hair." She walked over to a chest sitting inside the ring of trees that I hadn't noticed before. She pulled out a couple of things and came back over to me. In her hand she held what looked like a comb and set it on my head. It started moving around and then suddenly stopped. She took it off my head and then placed a mask over my face. I felt like I couldn't breathe but it was only a minute before she took it off. "There! Perfect." She lead me over to a mirror above the chest and had me look in it. I was shocked by my own appearance. I actually did look attractive and the dress wasn't really all that uncomfortable. The front of my hair was pulled back and the rest hung down my back in curls. I realized what the mask had been for...I now had on makeup. "Come on, Let's show Nimby."
