Chapter 74: 74: Admiration

Ryn led me through Esra’s garden until we got to her big tree house. Or should that be trees house, since there was more than one tree used to make it? Was there any clear rules on that matter? Damn, I really missed the internet. Then again, I would have probably started a big argument between some very opinionated people on the topic.

It was a nice tree, not as good as Ryn’s though, in my opinion. Maybe that was just because I considered her tree to be home nowadays. I even had my own room! Something I hadn’t had back in Avonside, that’s for sure. Space in a functional building was kind of a hot commodity back there. Oh, I wondered how close we were to Avonside now?

Thump. Pain, all over my face and chest.

I staggered backwards, small arms cartwheeling for balance before Ryn caught me and pulled me upright again.

“Careful of the doorway, Tiny,” she said, brushing at my forehead and looking for a wound. “Damn, I guess it was too much to hope for that you’d be coordinated with such a massive change in height.”

I blinked and glanced around, how had I missed the doorway? It was right there… was it because I was so short now? My strides were certainly shorter and it took more time to walk around… maybe it was… I stared out into Esra’s grove and froze.

“What’s wrong?” Ryn asked her tone that of worry, and when I didn’t reply, she prompted me again, “Tiny? You okay?”

“The fruit ruined my eyesight,” I said in a flat, pained voice.

“Your… eyesight?” she repeated, and I glanced back to find her inspecting me anxiously.

Looking back out into the grove, I could see it now. Things were more blurry than before, but not enough that I’d noticed it immediately. Then there was the glowing plants, they were doing this weird thing where they had glowing diagonal lines coming out of them that faded as they got further away from the source. Basically lens flare but a little more subtle.

“Yeah, it’s more blurry than I remember… and… I don’t know,” I shrugged glancing back over at her. She was in focus at least, being right next to me.

She raised an eyebrow. “How blurry? Because if it’s enough for you to miss something as obvious as a big square doorway, we might have a problem.”

I felt another blush coming and glanced over her shoulder just to make sure. Yup, perfectly visible. My eyes dove for the ground like a soldier suddenly coming under fire.

“Not blurry enough to miss the door, then?” she asked with a little laugh and a friendly pat on the arm. “Alright then Tiny Daydreamer, let’s go in the door properly this time yeah? While you’re still paying attention.”

Gah! This was so embarrassing! I was so useless! What kind of guy was bashful and weak and pitiful like this? I’d always been an embarrassment to the ideal male. I’d been strong and tall before, with a young but handsome face… but inside I’d been nothing but a quiet nerdy shitty excuse for a male.

“This way, little uh… brother?” Ryn asked, faltering as she reached the part of her sentence where she needed to gender me.

I shrugged. I don’t know. I’d never been a very good guy, maybe I should just give in to the whole body change? The fruit seemed to think I’d be better off this way… and it had done the same to Ryn and she’d known she was trans… fuck. Dangerous line of thinking. Let’s just go with girl and not think about the implications for now. My thoughts were enough of a mess without that shit. Troy’s explanation of transgender stuff had been scary enough without it applying to me.

“Sister,” I finally sighed in defeat, nodding for her to continue.

“Alrighty then, sister, let’s go get all that gunk off you,” she said with easily identifiable false cheer. I could see the worry in her eyes. I’d seen her worrying about me before too, and everyone else. Even Sprinkles had been keyed into my depression. I missed Sprinkles. The cute bunny wouldn’t be able to follow me into my grove either...

Esra’s tree didn’t have any huge fancy atrium or anything, just a small room that led into a corridor. We took a right turn into funny looking plant door down the hall and walked into the bathroom. The centerpiece was a large gently steaming rock pool, although all the stones had been smoothed out so they wouldn’t be rough on the skin. It was a lot like Ryn’s setup other than that, with little flowers for lights and a rack full of more towels off to the side.

“Hop in, I’ll get you a clean towel for when you get out,” Ryn told me with a gentle pat on the back.

Letting my dirty towel fall, I did as she asked, gingerly dipping a toe in to test the temperature before sliding in properly. Oh, that was so nice. For the first time in a while, I felt myself consciously smile.

A splash next to me wiped it off my face even as my heart began to thunder in my chest. Deep breaths, deep breaths… you’re safe in here, you’re safe in here… God I hated it when there were loud noises I wasn’t expecting.

Ryn had just hopped into the bath too, although wearing her underwear, rather than being naked. Still, another blush rushed onto my cheeks and I quickly looked away. She was really, really hot, and that bra and panties didn’t really hide the rest of her. I was completely naked too, had been all this time and… it was very strange to be naked around her.

“Oh my goodness,” she sighed, her tone somewhere between amusement and exasperation. “You can look at me, it’s fine. You’ve been naked this whole time! And I know it’s super fucking cliche of me to say, but we’re both girls here now.”

“Yeah, they always say that in gender bender manga, don’t they?” I said with a reluctant laugh. Then my eyes widened and I actually did turn to look at her. “Oh no! We’re a trope! This is totally the onsen scene with the older sister! Please don’t try and wash my back!”

“I won’t be touching you, don’t worry,” she grinned, leaning back into the bath and closing her eyes. “Honestly, I’ve been training all day and I need a break. A bath sounded good.”

“Training? Like, in magic?” I asked, curious now. Normally she used the word studying when it came to magic.

“Combat situational magical awareness,” she grumbled, flicking some water across the large bath for emphasis. “Mind-bendingly boring and tiring. But necessary… I need to be better, I need to be able to… nevermind, don’t matter right now,” she told me, trailing off into a sad, uncertain tone that had me wondering if she was okay.

Of course, I didn’t have the confidence to ask if she was doing okay. “Sounds… fun,” I mumbled instead.

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“Not really,” she said, a smile returning to her face.

I didn’t really know what to say. I never knew what to say.

My gaze drifted down a little and I felt a sigh slip out. Regardless of her vulnerability just now, she still looked so unconsciously self assured, with her beautiful body, long legs and just… everything. Eyes closed, relaxing, thinking about her day’s training or whatever. Then, underneath all of that, she wielded ungodly amounts of power.

Why couldn’t I be like that? Why was I such a nervous wreck so often? I mean, I knew she wasn’t perfect, I knew that she had a lot of emotions going on like anyone else, but still… she was amazing. Me on the other hand?

There was a time when I’d thought I had a crush on her, when I first saw her in that back alley courtyard. I’d never met her at Avonside, but right then I’d thought she was amazing. Facing off against us and forcing us to talk.

Then she turned out to be such a bright person, full of life in a way that lit up any room she was in. It took me until meeting Mer to realise the distinction between a crush and just being envious of someone for who they were. I wanted to be like Ryn so badly, strong and vulnerable at the same time, cute and scary. She had a depth of emotion that was awe inspiring to see sometimes. It was her duality of strength and weakness that I envied. She was a great person and I wanted to be that too.

“Wash your hair, Tiny,” she told me without opening her eyes, breaking my train of thought.

Tiny. Why didn’t I hate that nickname she was using? I’d lamented being shorter than her just a few minutes ago, yet now it had me feeling… not good, but unconcerned, calm even?

“I don’t hear splashing,” she chided me, although there was a smile on her lips just the same. “Less brooding, more head dunking, cutie.”

“Fine,” I grumbled, dunking my head under the water as I’d been told. It totally wasn’t to avoid letting her see my blush at being called cute. Definitely not.

I shook my hair around for a few moments, feeling the water magically rinsing it. What an odd feeling. When I burst back out of the water, Ryn was up and standing in the pool, giving me the weirdest look.

“What?” I squinted at her, suspicious as all heck.

“Are you ready?” she asked, a mischievous glint in her magenta eyes.

Oh this was more than suspicious now. “For what?” I asked, preparing to jump out of the bath if I needed to.

“This!” she exclaimed, and cast a spell with a flourish of her hand.

I was halfway out of the pool before I saw what she’d done, and it froze me in my tracks. Slowly, I let myself sink back into the water as I stared in awe. She’d created a mirror out of thin air, and within that silvered window... was a girl.

She was short, obviously, with huge eyes the colour of polished rosewood. Her hair was a wild mass of curls in the same colour, appearing dark brown where the light wasn’t hitting it, while almost ginger where it was.

She… no wait, me... I was… I was so pretty. Not like Ryn, not in that dark and mysterious elfin way that she was. No… I was pretty in a small, cute sort of way. Except… there was a slight resemblance between us. We had the same gentle tilt to our eyes, the same long eyelashes, the same nose and lips. There might be more to that sisters thing that I’d thought.

I shifted my head to the side experimentally and watched with a racing heart as my curls bounced and bobbed, just barely brushing my tiny sloped shoulders. My eyes went to those shoulders, tracing the delicate line of them before I found my collarbone, stark and defined under soft, pale skin. A breath shuddered out of me as I felt a minor wave of dizziness.

My small perky breasts bounced ever so slightly with the breath, and I jerked my gaze back up as my cheeks flamed bright yet again. Except… the blush looked incredible on me. Rosy cheeks framing my high cheekbones and bringing out the reddish umber of my eyes. Oh my god… I was pretty! Why did that make me so happy?

Reaching up to poke at my cheek, I glanced over the top of the mirror to look at Ryn. “I’m… pretty?”

“You definitely are!” she smiled gently, moving around the mirror to sit next to me on the rock ledge. “Did you notice the resemblance?”

“I did… we look… sort of similar,” I agreed, meeting her eyes through the mirror. Except she was still taller and way more intensely beautiful than I was.

I found my own gaze in the mirror now, and something strange happened. I’d never really considered my previous male good looks to be something worth noting… but looking at myself now, a girl… I smiled. I smiled because yeah, I might not be a bombshell like Ryn, but I was cute and pretty in my own way, and I liked that?

“Like it, huh?” Ryn teased, echoing my thoughts as she gave me a look that was way too knowing for my liking.

“No,” I grumbled, and felt a flutter go through my heart when I saw my own pout in the mirror. Oh god damn it, I was extremely cute. This was… a lot to handle.

“Suuuure,” she grinned, easing back into a relaxed position and closing her eyes again. “Tell me when you’re done with the mirror then.”

“Not yet! I’m not done yet!” I blurted, then frowned annoyance at her when I realised that she’d been baiting me. She was already getting in on the older sister teasing! This was… well she was definitely an improvement from my mundane older sister back on Earth actually. Fuck, another smile! Where were they coming from?

“Take your time, Tiny,” she said, again with that gentle, knowing tone of voice. “Take your time.”

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