As the dancers gathered around the card table, several wondered where Ettie was. A general murmur of consensus followed that she needed to be at the table.
Gwen grinned, and spread the cards on the table, face down. Ettie’s face smiled up at everyone from the backs of the cards. “She’ll be here, alright. Who’s ready to play?”
That drew a general cheer, until Donna announced she was reducing the stakes. “The winner still gets an anything,” she clarified. “Any change she wants, of unlimited duration if she wishes. Usable on herself, not anyone else. She also gets to nominate a willing friend to change with her. The loser cleans up.”
“That’s it?” called Tawny, who’d acquired arms and now looked like a fairly normal catgirl unless you happened to notice the head-shaped bulge at her waist. “There has to be something more fun than that.”
Donna shook her head. “I’ve had more than my fill of actions with rather too permanent consequences of late. No more permanent involuntary changes, I want out of the ‘stuck forever’ business. Well, at least in the malicious sense. Silvie gets to keep her wings, Vanessa her tail.”
Tawny pointed to brass mouse-statue sitting on the table. “And what about her? She’s stuck like this, if I heard right.”
With a sigh, Donna nodded. “She wanted this so badly, I didn’t have the heart to say no. This wasn’t someone else’s choice, it was hers. So the winner gets a pet mouse to turn into whatever they like.” Several of the players cheered at that.
“That’s sending an awfully mixed message,” complained Tawny. She held up a hand to forestall Donna’s reply. “But I don’t care. Does this mean we can make our own side bets that involve permanent changes?”
“Yes. I’m more than happy to change anyone who asks, for as long as they want as long they agree to the change. That includes ‘turn me into what the winner of our bet wants’, if you like.”
Tawny’s eyes lit up. “Oh! Can I get Carmen changed back to normal, then? I think we’ve just figured out how to decide who gets to absorb who next.”
As her change started, Sandy asked for her corset, Erin, to be restored for much the same reason.
Everyone crowded around the table as Donna dealt the Ettie-cards. Due to the size of the crowd, she’d added a few extra suits to the deck. In addition to the now-usual rabbits, vixens, cats, robots, breasts and wings were tentacles and glass. When Vanessa played the eight of tentacles she giggled. “Maybe I should have saved it so I can be an octopus mermaid later.”
“Why wait?” asked Donna as Vanessa’s arms started to divide, drawing even more grins from around the table. Vanessa set her cards down until the changes finished, then scooped them up in her tentacles.
A few cards later Nissa played the six of boobs with a grin and said, “hit me”. Donna grinned back as breasts sprouted down the big dancer’s torso.
The game got very interesting after that. Tawny played the six of vixens, and figured ears, hands and feet made six. After her change, Carmen’s ace of vixens got her a tail. As play progressed around the table robotic limbs became a theme, followed by glass parts. Vanessa’s next play was the eight of rabbits. She nodded to Donna. “I think you should change for this one.”
Donna giggled, and let her body flicker to a big plush bunny with four sets of ears. “How’s this?”
The grins around the table were answer enough. By the time the last card was played, Donna was a mish-mash of a dozen different changes, each piled upon the last. She had five different species’ worth of limbs, and a robotic scorpion’s tail to top it all off.
Sandy and Erin tied for last. Neither had played a card, and since they were sitting next to each other that left them with exactly the same pawful of cards. “I guess we’re both becoming corsets, then.”
Donna laughed. “If you want. But you can’t wear each other like that.”
Sandy and Erin looked around the table, asking if there were any volunteers who wanted sexy new corsets. Everyone there had seen how Erin looked on Sandy earlier, and each and every one raised a hand, paw, or tentacle.
“Fine. I’ve set you up to slowly change back into corsets,” said Donna. Then she waggled a finger at them. “But you’ll stay catgirls until after closing so you can clean up. No sneaking out on that obligation.” The catgirls looked comically abashed as they agreed.
Tawny had managed to edge out Carmen in the final round, and she decided that she wanted Carmen’s swishy vixen-tail.
“Just the tail?” asked Donna with a poorly-hidden grin.
“Yep,” said Tawny. “Erase the rest of her.”
“Awww, boring!” pouted Carmen.
“Okay, okay,” relented Tawny. “Erase her, but make it look cool. Sparkly!”
“Much better!”
Donna laughed, and nodded. “Indeed. One sparklestorm, coming up.” Glitter poured over Carmen’s body, hiding it entirely in a shimmering cascade. Only Carmen’s fluffy red tail protruded, swishing wildly as the heap slumped and dwindled. As the pile of glitter shrank, the tail grew as if absorbing it. After a few moments, all that remained was the tail, glimmering with remnant sparkles.
Tawny picked up the tail with some effort, and attached to her rump. She gave it an experimental swish, then the tail reached around and baffed her in the face. “Hah! She’s still got some control. This’ll be fun!”
The tail then proceeded to wrap itself tightly around Tawny, immobilizing her. That just made her giggle even more. “C’mon, Carmen. Let’s go dance!”
The rest of the variously-changed dancers decided that was a great idea, and they trooped out en masse. As they left, Beth dashed back into the room carrying a large plush rabbit in her arms. “I’ve got Clarence!” she declared. “I want him to be the friend I get to change with my winnings.”
Donna looked at the bunny. “And you accept this? I’ll turn you into whatever she asks, but you can veto the change.”
The plush rabbit wiggled out of Beth’s arms and hopped to the ground. “Yes, please. She told me about her plans on the way down.”
“Waitress bodies for both of us,” said Beth without hesitation. “Really cute bunnygirl twins, tall, not dumpy like me.”
“You’re not dumpy!” protested Clarence. “You’re cute!”
“Okay, sexy bunnygirls then. Tall, thin, more of a muzzle than most of the girls went for.”
Twin bunnygirls appeared in Donna’s hands, each about a foot tall and sparkling with magic. Their skin was pale as snow, and their ears were just as white with a hint of blush on the insides. Sapphire eyes glittered from white lapine faces. Beth grinned and nodded. “They look beautiful. Perfect.”
Donna ducked her head, but smiled. “You’re welcome. Anything to your baseline body, other than the control crystal for the headband?”
Beth looked over at Clarence with a grin. “Nah. He loves me the way I am. Right sweetie?”
Clarence nodded slowly. “But... do you love me the way I am? Short and fluffy and...”
“And massively cuddleable? I...” Beth hesitated. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want more. Even just once in a while, to be the one cuddled up in your arms instead.”
Clarence licked his lips. “So... can you make this body like the waitress bodies too? With a headband, all that?”
Donna nodded. “Sure. But what is your real body going to be, then? Back to human?” she asked doubtfully, peering at his face.
“Clarence?” asked Beth as his hesitation drew out longer. “What do you want to be? I won’t be mad.”
“The robe,” murmured Clarence, abashed. “If it can be made to use the headbands, that is?”
Donna’s gaze went distant for a beat then she nodded. “Sure. I’ll tuck the crystal into a pocket, so when you put a headband there, it’ll work.”
“Please?” asked Clarence, looking over at Beth. “You can be the plushie when you need cuddles.”
Beth smiled at him indulgently. “Sounds good to me, if you’re in a waitress body at the time.” She turned to Donna to ask blushingly if then waitress bodies were able to make love.
Donna grinned. “They are, indeed, fully functional.”
Clarence giggled at the quote, which drew a look then a headshake from Beth. “I guess that’s my anything, then. Permanent, if you please.”
The bunny-waitress models expanded, and lost their shimmer. Donna handed over their headbands. “Yours to keep. Or add to the pool at the restaurant if you like. I suspect there will be more than a little trading done. If you’d like to make a list of other forms they’d like, I’ll add more next month.”
Next, Donna handed over a fluffy bathrobe, headband tucked in its pocket so Clarence was still in his plush bunny body. Clarence brushed a paw over the robe, and grinned. “I can feel both?”
“I figured you wouldn’t need the shutoff, considering. Go have fun, you two. And if you ever need any tweaks, just ask.”
The cute couple thanked Donna profusely, then headed up to their apartment. A minute later, the bunny-waitress bodies woke up, waved to Donna, and headed off as well.
“Time to change Ettie back?” asked Gwen when Donna was done. She was holding the deck of Ettie-cards in her hands, idly shuffling them.
“You haven’t changed her back yet?” asked Donna with a grin. “She’s your shiftypet, remember.”
Gwen rolled her eyes. “Are you really going to cut her off? She can’t change back on her own because of you.”
“Ask her if she minds.”
One of the cards grinned up at Gwen and shook its head.
“See? Though I suspect she’d like you to change her into something new and fun.”
Gwen nodded, and soon Ettie was growing back into a recognizable shape. She protested when she realized she’d become ‘normal’, and between the two of them soon settled on a shiny metallic blue vixen form for the balance of the night.
Donna grinned at the result. “Very nice indeed. You’ll do the club proud.”
Ettie bowed to her neatly, then dragged Gwen and Donna (with all her extra limbs, ears, and tails) up to dance.
Donna laughed through the entire dance, as did much of the audience. She had too many limbs, too many everything to be graceful. Comical, however, she could manage in spades. To improve matters, Leo dug up a copy of ‘Misconception’ to play for the second half of their set, and Donna modified her body to better suit the song, leaving her in even more chaos by the end.
As the trio left the stage arm in arm in tentacle, Donna’s body simplified and reduced itself to that of a glittering crystalline woman once more. Gwen tutted. “Boring. Do something more creative.”
Donna shook her head. “Later, maybe. Arwen’s bringing some of her clients, I’ll be meeting them next. Think you can keep up with the fantasies for a bit?”
Gwen grinned. “Sure thing, as long as you keep the power flowing. I’ll even let Ettie have a little when she asks nicely.”
Ettie giggled. “Oh, so it’s you I have to butter up to get pretties now? Works for me.”
Donna winked at Gwen while Ettie was turned away and mouthed, ‘have fun’.
Gwen rolled her eyes again, causing Ettie to turn back to Donna. “What?”
At Gwen’s mock-glare, Donna nodded to both. “Fine. I’ve decided to make you Gwen’s acolyte rather than my own. You two have a lot of fun together, okay?”
“Okay!” chirped Ettie. “Does that mean I get to be in the cool fantasies?”
“Yes,” said Gwen with a smile, putting a rainbow-furred arm around the metallic blue vixen. “That it does.”
“Yay!”
Donna smiled, gave them both a hug, and headed off. Rowan told her that Arwen and her clients were waiting in the Crimson Kitten’s private room. Donna grinned. “So is that private room 4, after the Kitten closes?”
Rowan nodded. “And the main space is room 5. Haven’t worked out rates for it, and I’m assuming you can keep it clean once we’re done. Because there’s already a request to fill it with water for a mermaid scene.”
“Shouldn’t be a problem. Want me to fill it now, or wait until I’m done with Arwen?”
Rowan waved her off. “Go do some good. We don’t have any way to get to room 4 when 5 is in use. Yet. If you wanted to add a secret door while you’re there, that’d be a big help.”
Donna bowed low before Rowan, a grin on her face. “I live to serve.”
“You don’t do either,” snorted Rowan.
Donna made a face at her. “Don’t be mean, or I’ll make the secret passage go through the sewer tunnels.”
“Talk to Arwen about that, too.”
Donna sighed, and nodded. “I probably should at that. It’s starting to bug me more and more. I’m forgetting what breathing and eating are like.”
First, however, were the clients at hand. Arwen had two familiar faces waiting with her in a room that proved to be quite a bit bigger than the oversized closet of room 3. The space itself was large enough to allow something over a dozen people to eat around a large central table. That table had been moved aside to make room for a small collection of more comfortable chairs.
Donna had settled herself into a form that would pass for human before entering, clad in a dress made of shimmering crystal. “Good evening... well, good middle of the night, anyway. Amanda, was it?”
The woman nodded, as did the realistic doll sitting beside her.
“Not all is well in paradise, I take it? Does Carey want your doll to...” Donna looked over at Arwen in alarm when Amanda burst into tears. “What?”
“Your stunt with the switches.”
Donna winced. “Oh. Sweetie, I’m sorry. I thought if you had a chance to experience...”
“That’s just it,” rasped Amanda. “I did. Not just once. Over and over. God help me, we had sex as doll and husband every night, and I felt every bit of it. I... I haven’t told Carey.”
“What?” cried Arwen. “He doesn’t know?”
“Why do you think I came to you alone? He loves all the attention. And God help me, I love being the doll while she’s giving it to him.”
“But I thought you couldn’t stand being with a guy after a few weeks of the swap,” said Donna in confusion. “I don’t...”
“I can’t touch him. If anything, it’s even worse now. If we brush against each other at breakfast, I flinch. I have to get rid of her. I have to know...”
“I can get rid of the doll, the switches, whatever you like. But if I do, what are you going to tell Carey?”
“Please? I have to know what’s her, and what’s me. This is so confusing.”
Donna nodded, and the doll evaporated. “The doll is gone, and the crystal that was relaying its senses to you is gone as well.” For good measure, pale lunar radiance washed over Amanda. “You are yourself, untouched.”
Amanda stared at Donna and the tears started to flow once more. Donna looked over at Arwen helplessly. “What now? I have clue what I’m doing.”
“Finally she admits it!” snapped Arwen. “You need to either leave the delicate cases to me, or spend some time getting trained. You’ve done more harm here than good.”
“No she hasn’t,” whispered Amanda.
“What?” asked Donna, half a beat before Arwen echoed the question.
“I can’t reach for him. But I loved it. I don’t want to fuck him through the doll, I want to do it myself. Whatever you put in the doll... can you put it in me?”
“Amanda,” cautioned Arwen. “Think about this. You’d be giving up control of your own body.”
Amanda nodded, tears still dripping. “Yes. I don’t care. Please?”
“It’s already growing back. Do you want switches on your neck, or some other trigger?”
“Donna!”
Donna glanced over at the psychiatrist. “I give people what they want. Sometimes what they need. This is both.”
“And you just know this?”
“Yes.”
Arwen sighed, and waved her hand vaguely at Amanda. “Well, she’s not crying. That’s a start. Please leave her some semblance of control.”
Donna nodded. “Of course. Amanda, look at me. It’s ready. I just need some idea of how you want it to work. A remote control?”
Amanda shook her head rapidly. “No! I could lose it. Someone else could find it. I want to be able to turn it on. Only me.”
“Not Carey?”
Amanda bit her lip, and looked over at Arwen. “I want to. But if you think it’s unhealthy, I won’t.”
Arwen studied her. “Talk to him. Bring him to talk to me. If you want to give him this kind of control over you, you have to let him know what’s going on. You should do that anyway. This is a crutch, Amanda. You could do this without it.”
Amanda shook her head even more violently, hair flailing around her. “I can’t! I can’t I can’t I can’t. Don’t you see?”
“Tell me.”
Amanda twisted one hand in the other, looking from Arwen to Donna and back again. She settled on Donna. “I’m gay. Don’t ask how I fell in love with a man, but... what?”
Donna chuckled softly. “Oh, sweetie. Believe me, I have some idea how that goes. ‘Course, I had magic making things even more complicated. And it does make things more complicated, because it gives you so many more options. But know this. I will do whatever you ask, if it’s for love.”
Amanda smiled at her radiantly. “Thank you. Can... can you make a control that only Carey can use?”
“Easily. Maybe the simplest would be a trigger phrase. A pet name, perhaps.”
Amanda blushed and looked at her lap. “I like it when he calls me ‘pet’.”
“He might set you off by accident if you use something so simple,” cautioned Arwen.
Amanda bit her lip. “I... would like that. If it didn’t happen somewhere public.”
“Only at home, only with the two of you in the room. Sure, easy,” said Donna. “How long should ‘pet’ mode last? An hour? Two?”
“All night?” asked Amanda.
“Is that really what you want?” asked Donna softly. “It’d be very limiting. The crystal will have control, just like the doll. Except it’ll be your body, with you trapped inside it, only able to watch and feel as it runs the show.”
“I want to sleep beside him again.” Amanda turned to Arwen. “Is that so much to ask?”
“You’re turning yourself into a virtual slave to get that. I’m worried that you’ll find it traumatic. You have to talk to me every day. Every day, Amanda, no skipping, until I’m sure you’re not going to make matters worse.”
Donna nodded in agreement. “If Arwen says it should go, I can turn it off. Can’t actually get rid of it fully until the next full Moon, but I can reprogram it if you wish. Maybe back off the control level if you start feeling comfortable with Carey again.”
Amanda giggled a little too loudly. “That won’t be necessary. The idea of being his pet is such a turn-on... Could you make it stronger?”
“Yes,” admitted Donna. “I could give it a pet-play program that would make you act like a domestic cat. But the way Arwen is looking at me, perhaps we should save that for another time.”
Arwen unclenched her hands. “Do you really want to be his... plaything?”
“It’s not exactly like that,” said Amanda. “Letting the doll act the way it did, being right there... Making love to him wantonly. Frantically. Desperately. I’d give up anything to have that.”
“It sounds like you need something that just keeps your flinch reflex at bay,” mused Donna. “If you could touch him without recoiling, you’d have everything you want.”
Amanda shook her head. “Ten minutes ago, I might have gone for that. But you’ve put being his dollie for real on the table. After three weeks of that, I know what I want.”
Donna smirked. “I could make your body into silicone instead of flesh, if that’s what you want.”
“Is that really for the best?” asked Arwen.
“I’d rather be real. Just... his,” concluded Amanda after some thought. “The pet thing isn’t necessary, it’d just be...” She stared at the cat-eared headband Donna was holding. “Ooooh.”
Donna handed it to Arwen. “I’m leaving it with Arwen to decide when you get this. Wearing this while in pet mode will take away your doll-self’s ability to speak, and make her act much more feline. The rest of the costume is optional, only the headband matters.”
Arwen stared down at the bundle of cloth in her lap and the headband resting on top of it. “You don’t go for half measures, do you? Fine.” She looked up to see Amanda’s shining eyes staring into hers hopefully. “It appears I have a potent carrot. Come see me tomorrow, with Carey. Explain everything. If the both of you can persuade me that what you’re doing is not causing further harm, I will let you have this.”
Amanda thanked them both profusely, then got up to leave. At the door she cast a covetous glance at the headband in Arwen’s lap. “I’ll tell him tonight.”
“Good.”
Once she was gone, Arwen turned to Donna. “How are you holding up? You made the offer to turn her into a doll without any hint of concern about making yet another person ‘not real’.”
Donna winced. “They’ve been talking behind my back again, have they?”
“Gwen and the others care about you very much. Even Unit Kate does, in her own odd way. She suggested you come spend some time as a serving robot with her at Ray’s. I think she’d like the company, despite spending most of her time in robot mode.”
“I should probably go visit. Though I hadn’t planned to make myself any more of a robot than I already am.” Donna frowned at Arwen’s look. “You think that’d be good for me?” Her skin chromed at the thought.
“Possibly. You could contrast your experience with Kate’s. She likes being a robot. She would welcome even more changes, I suspect. You’ve learned more about autonomous systems, if my previous client is anything to go by.”
Donna nodded, rising to her feet. “But if I’m going to offer upgrades, I should probably go now. It’s kind of late, though.”
“She’s fine. You’re not. Stay.”
Donna sat heavily in the chair once more, chrome flickering and fading, leaving her in a body of crystal. “Not getting out of it that easily, huh?”
“No. Talk.”
Donna shrugged. “I still don’t know what to say. I’ve been this way for three months now. Given that I’m effectively immortal, that sounds like a tiny span of time. And yet...” She looked down at her hands, flexed them as they changed from crystal to flesh, then vanished entirely as she looked back up at Arwen. “I forget the little things. I’m not breathing. My wife likes it, my snoring has stopped... but it’s such a fundamentally human thing to do.”
“If you’re not breathing, how are you speaking? I watched you inhale.”
Donna chuffed a weak laugh. “And when I’m not talking?”
Arwen studied the statue-still crystalline form sitting opposite her. After a minute she nodded. “You’re not just making a point, are you? You have genuinely lost the breathing reflex?”
“No blood to oxygenate,” hummed a voice made from vibrating crystal. “So no trigger from low oxygen or high carbon dioxide. I don’t get hungry, either. Not for food, anyway. The hymn the girls sung earlier, though... I could live on that alone.”
“Hymn?” asked Arwen.
“Vanessa, the sweetie, got them all to sing House of the Rising Sun with some customized words. To me. About me, and them, and this place. I felt their affection, their respect, their faith. At that time, more than any other, I felt like the Goddess I have in the past jokingly claimed to be.”
“And you’re not joking any more?”
“I have disciples. My disciples have disciples, if you count Gwen and Ettie. Ray will have his own soon, too. I have a flock, who I bless with the power that flows through me. I know better than to claim it as my own power, I am but a conduit... but some nights the power lies heavy on me, and the joy of change sings through me.” Donna’s eyes glowing with fervour, causing Arwen to hold up a hand to block the brilliance. “Oops. Sorry.” The glow faded.
The elven ears that Arwen had acquired during Donna’s rant did not. Arwen touched them, and smiled at Donna. “It’s okay. I’d be tempted to keep them if I had hair thick enough to cover... that wasn’t an invitation.” Arwen’s hair lengthened and thickened, growing wavy and rich enough to cover her ears.
“Sounded like one to me. I can make this change last, for the asking.”
“It’s a distraction from the work I’m trying to do with you. Please, Donna. There’s nothing I can motivate you with, you have to come to this yourself.”
Donna chuckled warmly. “You have plenty to motivate me with. Your patients, for one. I haven’t seen any of them in months. I liked that work, giving them their proper bodies. What happened?”
Arwen pursed her lips. “You’re deflecting again. Would doing that work again help?”
“I should like to ground myself in real problems, not ‘I want to be a doll’, yes. Your people want to be human. So do the ones in the hospital, I’ll be doing that later. I hope it will help some, too. Ghouls and fantasies do not, so much.”
“If you wanted to make yourself human, could you?”
Donna nodded. “For a time. I tried something like that earlier, infusing my body with matter so it would be more stable and not blink out of existence the moment I got distracted.”
“Did that work?”
Donna sighed. “Until I got distracted, and flicked my mind elsewhere. But if I were to do it at the end of the night, I could spend a few days truly human. Mostly human, anyway.”
“Then I recommend you do that. Spend time human, reconnect with your family and friends the way you encouraged Amanda to. You’ve gotten too used to your robot doubles, but you can make better bodies than that.”
“Yes, doctor,” said Donna with a grin. “Take one human, and see you in the morning.”
Arwen chuckled softly. “There. You sound almost like yourself again. Good. And do see me in the morning, or evening, or whenever you can. I know you’re busy. I will make time for you.”
Donna nodded firmly. “I will. And now it’s your turn to answer the question you avoided? Why haven’t I seen more of your patients?”
“Because of Olivia. And Robin.”
Donna winced. “I knew that was a bad idea. She wanted it so very badly, though. But who’s Robin?”
“Last February, one of my transgender clients decided to jump the gun. She’d heard about the Blue Vixen somehow, and went there. I don’t think she even paid for a fantasy – she just changed while in the audience. Then she did something stupid, and scared herself so badly she chose to discontinue treatment. She finally came back last week, more timid than before and doubting herself more than ever. I haven’t even managed to get her to open up about what happened that night, not in any detail.”
Donna cursed softly. “I am sorry. More than a few nights I’ve let the crowd have a taste of change. Should I stop? I’m not sure I can. I could put more limits on it, so they’ll change back within the hour.”
“Just be careful, please? I know you see it as no big thing, but most people aren’t ready to have their reality upended. Robin was close to being ready, and still reacted badly. The others I’ve been working with... they’re not ready. Just... throwing them into the change would be irresponsible.” Arwen looked over to Donna with pleading eyes. “Wouldn’t it? All my training says ‘go slow, be sure’. But it’s based on incorrect assumptions.”
Donna disappeared from her chair, appearing beside Arwen to give her a hug. “I can’t answer this for you. But shouldn’t they know what choices they have, rather than stumbling into the Blue Vixen unprepared?”
Arwen returned the hug and buried her face in Donna’s long hair. “I don’t know. I’ve approached it with them sideways, as one has to do when talking about magic. All of them would love it if there was a better way... Can we show them, without putting a permanent change on the table?”
“Of course. Permanent is only an option on the night of the full Moon. But I can show off little changes any time the moon is above the horizon. Best if it’s within a week of the full Moon, though.”
“I’ll think about it,” said Arwen, patting Donna’s back softly. “Thank you. The ones you have helped are all ecstatic with their new bodies.”
Donna blinked back to her chair. “I’m glad to hear that. Thank you. Can I give you anything else before we go?”
Arwen shook her head tiredly and yawned. “Not unless you can give me four extra hours of sleep tonight.”
“Manipulating time itself is beyond me. I could refresh your body, but then you’d find it hard to sleep.”
Arwen grinned. “Tempting, but I’ll live with the consequences tonight and have an extra cup or two of coffee in the morning. I’ll manage.” She stood up, pulling Amanda’s treasures to her chest. “Though if you could make a headband for me...”
Donna grinned. “Anything.”
Arwen left for home clutching a rubbery pink headband, with the rest of her treasures in a newly-created velvet bag.