Oh,the plan had gone off as hoped. Alexandria was now a city full of Burmecians, there had been confusion, panic, dismay, searches for a cure... for all of one day.
Lugh had underestimated the adaptability of the Alexandrians, as well as just how potent his spell was. Across the kingdom, those who had been given life-changing injuries during Kujas raid had found themselves healed, albeit now Burmecians. Even those born with mobility issues were given new leases on life. Even the old and wrinkled humans had apparently run into a bonus - Burmecians remained very agile even in later life, so the oldest humans that once had aches and pains were at best a little stiff.
And those without any instant benefits were discovering other bonuses to their changes. Almost no one was upset - except the Kingdom's cats!
One irate moggy glared at Lugh as she tried to drown her sorrows. Somehow she'd trapped herself female... er, he'd... gha!
Lugh groaned, confused by what she... he'd done to himself.... herself.... And irate that Alexandrian beer was closer to water with a funny aftertaste than real ale!
"Why couldn't I have been a Qu, they don't have gender pronouns?" She muttered
Zidane had been out of the kingdom for a few days, and with Freya, Fratley, and King Puck in tow, had returned. They sat now in Garnet's chambers.
"...And as far as we can tell it does seem to be permanent. I've dispatched some people to Daguerro to research into the matter, even just what spell may have been used, but I was hoping that you may.... Puck, are you listening?" Garnet said.
"Hm? Breast. I mean, yes," The King of Burmecia said, to a groan from Freya.
"Your Highness, please stop staring at the Queen's chest."
"Freya, I can't help it, she was pretty for a human and now she's super-friggin' hot!"
"This kind of thing starts wars, Puck!" Freya snapped, making the King eep and cower in his seat.
"Ahem, in fairness, Freya, you have been giving Steiner some glances..."
"No I haven't! I've been looking at Beatrix too!"
"Ha!" Beatrix cheered, accepting five gil from a grumbling Steiner.
Freya's blush was still not enough to shake Puck's terror, but did mean she did miss the brief grin on Fratley's face.
"Ah, anyway, Queen Garnet, I shall have my librarians study what they can to see if we might have some useful shi.... books, but..."
"Brahne totalled most of your archives," Zidane sighed.
"Yeah, that."
"I feared so. It would seem once more we suffer for Mother's wickedness," Garnet sighed.
Garnet had asked to speak to Zidane alone, worry on her face.
"What's up, Dagger? Something more wrong than the whole transformed thing?" He said.
"Well, yes. I mean... is there any issue you have? With me, now?" She worried.
"...No?"
"But I've been changed from who you fell in love with!"
"No you haven't. You've just got a different look now, like when you had the haircut! You're still beautiful, Burmecian or Human. Plus, I get to play with your tail now!" He grinned.
'Nailed it, score one for brutal honesty!' he thought as she kissed him happily.
"One thing, though," he said as they eventually broke the kiss.
"Hmm?" Garnet wondered, a little worry creeping back.
"Do Burmecians have another word for their species other than just Burmecians? This is gonna get even more confusing if Alexandria's mostly Burmecians now."
"...Ah".
They found King Puck and his Dragoon guards. Fratley and Freya seemed to be blushing like teenagers.
"....Did they talk to each other about how they both find Beatrix and Steiner hot now? Because it looks like they did," Zidane noted,making both actual Burmecians stiffen in shock, and their king laugh.
"Yup! Anyway, I've sent off a message through Mognet, I'll have a tally of what we have left soon. We're hoping to stay for a few days to try settle things down, but I have to say, most of your people seem pretty okay with it all," Puck noted.
"To a point. Some aren't happy but we have problems keeping people off the rooftops just now," Garnet noted.
"By the way, is there another name for the Burmecian species?" Zidane spoke up.
"Cleyrans used to call us all Nezumi, but it's an old dialect. Still, maybe if you used that to refer to all Alexandrians it'll make things easier."
"Very well, I'll issue advice to the people. From this moment on, we are the Alexandrian Nezumi."
"So we're still the only Burmecians in Alexandria!" Fratley noted.
"There's an ambassador around here somewhere," Beatrix noted, and looked up.
"Hi?" The Ambassador said from the chandelier.
"Steiner, tell them to hurry up on Project Nohang..."
A week later, and though no luck in searching for what had even caused the spell, for none had thought to ask the aspiring drunk in the tavern. Lugh had grown bored of Alexandria's ales and had departed, meaning that she took her secrets back with her to Burmecia.
Life had become somewhat routine again. Soldiers patrolled, but in long jumps rather than marching. The markets were busy, the cheesemongers doing a good trade - though Dali Blue Cheese was basically ruined, the mould upset the newly-dubbed Nezumi of Alexandria, but unlike their smaller nonsapient rat distant relatives, it wasn't fatal. Nor were a few other things.
Zidane walked through the markets, now a little dismayed he and Garnet's usual 'go in disguise to have some non-royal time' trips were broken by virtue of him being one of the few non-Nezumi in the city now. So they'd just stopped bothering with disguises, Steiner and Beatrix following.
"So, we've got all the dairy farms in the country planning expansions since they're behind demand, that Treno pizza joint is doing great now, Beatrix reports her troops are thirty percent more efficient on average, and the Knights of Pluto are doing similarly well," Zidane noted.
"Quite. In fact all this seems to have done is mostly cause some inconveniences for a short spell. I'm quite used to it myself," Garnet noted.
"I'm not complaining either, it's great having you able to jump up onto roofs with me," Zidane noted.
"And honestly, we just need to reinforce the roofs a bit for safety, citizens really do seem to prefer the jumping highway," Beatrix admitted.
If Lugh had overheard the senior leaders of Alexandria opnely admit that his/her plan's ultimate result on the morale and sanity of the kingdom was 'meh' and 'booming Dairy sector', s/he would likely have remained very angry.
As it was, she was happy to be drinking real ale again, trying to forget her whole disastrous effort.
***
OMAKE
"Why couldn't I have been a Qu, they don't have gender pronouns?"
"Actually, we do, you'll fi.... oh, with a U, my mistake," A Burmecianised Alexandrian said.
Lugh looked at him.
"What are you on about?"
"Oh, don't mind me, Lugh, I'm just a noncanonical cameo from Star Trek based on an obvious joke. I'll be leaving now," Q said, and vanished.
Lugh stared down at the beer, reconsidering the earlier 'weak as water' statement.