Donna paused on the edge of the crowd.  The Crimson Kitten was silent behind her, but in front of her the audience at the Blue Vixen was still energetic, cheering on what looked like a dancer made entirely out of glitter.  After a moment, Donna recognized both Ettie’s dancing style, and Gwen’s magical handiwork.  A glance offstage showed Gwen was watching her protege, watching and tweaking her form from time to time.  Donna fed her more power, and grinned as that turned into a flurry of changes.

The song came to a crescendo, and Ettie burst into sparkling confetti, drifting down onto the stage through the final bars.  The cheering got even louder, and money showered onto the stage with her.  Gwen emerged from the shadows in a low-cut janitorial outfit, pushing a broom.  Soon she had Ettie and her earnings pushed into a single pile.  Ettie rose from it, human once more with sparkling silver skin, bowed to the crowd...  And then at Donna’s nod to Leo, the music started once more.  She flicked into existence on stage, tall, surreal, crystalline, and started to dance with her friends.

While they danced, Donna’s power flowed out through the room.  She set a fragment of her attention to limiting it, trickling magic to those who most wanted a change.  The changes were made deliberately fragile, so they would fail in an hour or two, as she’d promised Arwen.

Donna shattered herself into a dozen crystalline fragments, flowing and spinning around Gwen and Ettie as they danced.  Where power was metered carefully to the audience, the power on stage glowed brighter than the stage lights themselves.  Gwen’s body became as transcendent as Donna’s, crystalline and perfect, but still humanoid.  Gwen reflected her changes in Ettie, her body flowing from human to feline to serpentine, crystalline and metallic and once what looked like nothing but animate feathers.

Leo extended the song, then chose the perfect moment to bring things back to earth.  All three were in matching crystalline forms, and they bowed to each other then the crowd as the coruscating lunar light slowly died.  

“Thank you everyone,” said Donna softly, yet her voice was heard in every corner.  “Enjoy your gifts, and be good to each other.”

They chimed their way offstage, then Gwen and Ettie hugged Donna tight.  “That was magical!” gushed Ettie.  Then she giggled.  “Even more so than usual, I mean.  This is wicked.  Is this what it feels like for you all the time?”

Donna smiled at her enthusiasm.  “Not always.  The good bits, yes.”

Ettie frowned, looked to Gwen then back to Donna.  “And the bad bits?”

“Self-doubt, mostly,” said Gwen.  “OK, and ghouls.  Those have been bad bits.  Healing people in the hospital, however...”

Donna chuckled, and bowed formally to Gwen.  “Yes, my anchor.  That is next.  And will be good for me, I hope.”  A box formed in her hands, stuffed full of magic crystals.  “Something to tide you two over until next we meet.  Have fun.”

Ettie’s eyes shone as she stared into it.  “Oooooh.”

Gwen laughed.  “We will, never fear.  C’mon Ettie.”

“Wait!” called Ettie as Gwen pulled her away.  “What about a permanent change?  Please?”

Donna nodded.  “Gwen will choose the form, and I will settle it.  Unless you feel ready to give it a try, Gwen?”

“I’d feel safer if you did it... but...  It would be right if it was me, wouldn’t it?”

Donna nodded.  “I’ll watch over you, and keep you from erasing Ettie out of existence.”

“I wanna try that someday!”  Ettie laughed, then mock cowered at Donna’s fierce gaze.  “Oh no, don’t erase me oh mighty Goddess!”

“You’re as mad as the rest of us,” said Donna with a grin.  “You’ll have your chance to vanish, Gwen will see to it.  But first...”

Gwen studied Ettie for a time, then nodded.  Change poured over her, turning faceted crystal into colourful curvy transparence.  When she was done, Ettie looked like she was made out of rainbow glass, colourful stripes of every colour swirled into a dizzying whole.  Ettie cheered, and gave Gwen a big hug.

“And... done?” said Gwen.  “That...  Really wasn’t all that hard.”

Donna surveyed Gwen’s work.  “Not bad.  There’s still an echo of her body, a good nudge would send her back.  But she’ll stay like this.  You’ve got a light touch with it.”

“I can’t channel absurd amounts of power like you, you mean.  Still...  How many changes like that could I do with this box of crystals?”

“A couple, at least,” said Donna, surprising even herself.  “Huh.  I guess permanent changes might be on the table off nights after all...”

“They always were,” said Gwen.  “For those willing to use silver.”

All three of them made the same face, then laughed at each other.  “Now go, your doctor friend is up late enough as it is.”

Donna bowed to Gwen once more.  “As my Priestess commands.”

Gwen was still rolling her eyes when Donna disappeared.

* * *

Donna found Doctor O’Brien in a break room, talking to an older man she didn’t recognize.  When she appeared, the second man startled, and nearly dropped his cup of coffee.

“Donna, meet Dr. Michaelson.  He’s the Chief Medical Officer of this hospital, and has some questions regarding our mortality statistics.”

“Or rather the lack thereof.  You promised me answers, Colin.”

“The first answer is m… seriously?  She just appeared out of thin air and you still don’t know?”

“She could have been hiding.”

Donna raised an eyebrow.  “A skeptic, eh?  We’ll see about that.”

Summoning an apple out of thin air was waved off as sleight of hand, as was turning it into an orange.  Donna’s frustration found outlet in transforming her into full Goddess mode, a crystalline figure tall enough to brush the ceiling.  “Magic is real, you imbecile.”

“Now, now, there’s no need to be nasty about it.”  Dr. Michaelson paced around Donna, studying here and apparently unfazed by her appearance.  “Living crystal?  How is that even possible?”

“Magic,” said Donna, simply.

“No such thing.”

“What?  But I just…  How can you deny the evidence of your senses?  Hello, pillar of living crystal here.”

“Only when you have eliminated all possible explanations should one consider the impossible.  I could have been drugged.”

Donna glared at Dr. Michaelson.  “Now you’re just being stubborn.  We can discuss magic around you now, you’ve seen enough.  Would it help to transform your hand into a...”  She studied him for a moment.  “Hm, wouldn’t have called that. An alligator’s claw?”

The CMO put his hands behind his back quickly.  “No, that’s... that’s not necessary.”

Donna chuckled softly.  “Ah, so you do think I can do it.  Not really the point any more.  Doctor O’Brien?”

“Just call me Colin.  Right.  So, Donna is the cause of our recent ‘luck’ in patient outcomes.  I’ve guided her to the patients in greatest need, and she transformed the worst of their maladies away.”

“I see.  Why only the worst?”

Colin sighed.  “To avoid exactly this sort of attention.  Having cancer patients go into full remission instantly, or someone with a broken leg get up and dance... you can see where there’d be some difficulties explaining it, no?”

“Yes, that would be a problem.  More of a problem, anyway.”  Dr.  Michaelson turned to study Donna, who’d returned to human form while they were talking.  “Do you have any medical training whatsoever?”

“I suppose it wouldn’t be helpful to mention my engineering PhD?” asked Donna lightly.  At the glower she got in response, she sighed.  “No.  But I can clearly see what’s wrong, and what needs to change to restore the patient to health.  You should stop smoking, by the way.  The crap that’s built up in your lungs...  No cancer that I can see, though.”

Dr. Michaelson harrumphed, crossing his arms over his chest.  “That’s hardly proof of diagnostic skill.”

“Then look to your own numbers, Benjamin.  Every patient she’s helped has gone home healthy.  Every single one.  I gave you the list.”

“And a copy of that so-called ‘waiver’ you had them sign.  It’s a far sight from any kind of informed consent.”

“How can we inform them properly when they don’t know magic exists?  I did the best I could do.”

Donna stepped in between the two men, growing larger once more.  “Are you going to argue for what’s left of the night, or can I actually do something useful?”

Colin stepped around Donna.  “There are twenty-six patients here who might not survive another week, never mind a month.  They’ve all got signed waivers on file.”

“Insufficient waivers,” grumped Dr. Michaelson.

“Then get me sufficient ones for next month.  Do the math.  Twenty-six ICU patients.  How many will die if we don’t intervene?”

“Between three and seven,” sighed Dr. Michaelson.  “And none if you intervene.  Go.  I’ll have your forms next week.”

Donna hugged him.  “Thank you.  I don’t think you understand how much I need this.”

He chuckled softly.  “I run a hospital.  You’re not the only one with a calling.”

As Donna and Dr. O’Brien walked from patient to patient she mused on that last.  Five patients in she asked him, “Do you think I have a calling for this work?”

“You have a knack for it, that’s sure.  Calling?  That’s between you and whatever you believe in.”

Donna sighed, closed her eyes for a moment as she transformed another batch of cancerous cells.  “No metastasis in this one, she’ll be fine.”

“Good.”  Dr. O’Brien scribbled a note for his files.

As they moved on, Donna confessed that she did not know what she believed in any more.  Too much of what she’d known to be true had been overturned by learning magic was real.  She also admitted that she was becoming distressingly comfortable with the people that were treating her as a figure to revere.

“Can you blame them?” asked Colin.  “You’re performin’ miracles.  Especially here, where miracles are in short supply too damn often.  Even doctors get that, you know.  Save a person who seemed like to die, and suddenly you’re a ‘miracle-worker’ in their family’s eyes.  T’other ones bring you back down to earth, though.”

Donna sighed.  “I have too many on that side of the ledger, too.”

“Not from the way I see it.  You didn’t kill those poor folk living near the hospice.”

“I could have saved them, if I’d...”

“No.”  Colin stopped, turning to face Donna.  “Don’t go there.  You did the best you could at the time, with the skills and knowledge you had then.”

“I guess...”

“Don’t guess.  Be sure of yourself.  You can’t second-guess the past, or know what would have happened if...”

“I can,” said Donna softly.  “I know exactly when and how those people died.  I hesitated, unwilling to...”

“To what?”

“Pay the price I paid anyway.  My humanity.”  Donna’s body flickered from human to crystalline and back.

“Don’t do that where people can see!” hissed Colin.  Then he sighed.  “Sorry.  Reflex.  Is the price so great?  You can do amazing things.”  He gestured to the next patient.

Once Donna was done she sighed.  “I know that now.  Then... I was scared of what it might mean.”

“It’s okay to be scared.”

“Even when it gets hundreds of people killed?”

“Sometimes especially then.  Don’t beat yourself up over the past.  Have you done better with what you learned?”

Donna nodded.  “Much, much better.  I’ve become very efficient at taking down ghouls.  Killing them.”

Colin raised an eyebrow.  “You don’t sound happy about that.”

“Getting sick of having to kill them.  They were human once.  Yes, they have to die, but...”  She sighed.  “Some of them even thank me as they die.”

“For the love of...  Why is that making you mope?  If so, you’ve done them a good turn.”

Donna snorted.  “I guess.  Hard to see it that way when they’re crumbling to ash in front of you.”  She wiped a tear, then looked down at it, surprised.  “Huh.”

“Didn’t know you could still cry?”

Donna shook her head.  “I’ve lost so much.  I’m going to try spending the next week in a real human body, see if it helps.”

“Sounds promising.  C’mon, if we can get these last few done quickly, there are another fifteen at Vic General that ol’ bossy-pants doesn’t know about.”

Donna grinned, and set to with renewed vigour.  Colin found the flight to Victoria General Hospital in a microscopic jet to be exhilarating, and his excitement proved contagious.  Donna made more than a few entirely unnecessary maneuvers just for the fun of it.  Soon enough, the other fifteen were healed as well.  Flitting through the ward as invisibly tiny specks proved much faster than walking.

Donna returned Colin to Royal Jubilee Hospital with an hour left before Moonset.  She let her attention diffuse through the city, feeling the imaginations and dreams of the dozens she knew well, and with less clarity the intentions of thousands of others within her reach.  Gwen and Ettie’s use of magic was impossible to ignore, they were having such fun Donna couldn’t help but notice.  Gwen felt her attention, and invited her in to play.

Donna thanked her mentally for the invitation, but suggested that Sidney might not approve.  She poured power liberally over the two of them, causing their bodies to glow with it, then took her leave.

Donna coalesced at home.  Duncan-bot was in bed beside Sidney, and she opted to leave them be.  She reviewed and integrated his memories, sitting in the living room as she digested them.  He’d had a quiet evening, but she could tell that something was bothering Sidney.  Further along she figured out why - his sense of humor was completely shot.  Just like their kids, he had laughed along at jokes without really understanding why, and Sidney had eventually twigged to it.  Donna giggled at one particularly silly bit where Sidney had abused that tendency for her own amusement.

“So.  There is a difference between people and constructs.  I wonder...  Ah well.  Next month.  Time to be human.”

Donna didn’t take her own advice.  Instead, she spent most of the last fifteen minutes before moonset surveying the house’s defences and adding a few dozen more weapon systems in various hidden spots under the roof and elsewhere.  And up-armoring the windows and walls to the point where she felt they could withstand sustained fire from anti-armor weapons.  Several large chests of magic crystals were created and stored, some to power the more esoteric weapons, most for use later in the month.  Donna smiled down at her power reserve.  Enough to do so many things...

Finally she dug through the drawers in the bathroom and located an old brush of Duncan’s.  She used one of his old hairs to spin up a new body, took a deep breath, and stepped into it.

Duncan shuddered and sighed.  “Ugh.  A week like this?  Really?  Ah well, a promise is a promise.  Hopefully this works.”

As the Moon brushed the horizon, Duncan saluted it.  “And... now I have no choice.  For the next sixteen hours, anyway.”

Since he wasn’t tired, Duncan puttered around on his computer until it was time for the others to get up, then made pancakes.

“I could get used to Blue Vixen nights if the mornings after are like this,” said Sidney with a grin.

“Slept okay, did you?”

Sidney swallowed a mouthful of pancake before answering.  “Robo-Duncan was good company, and warmed the bed up nicely.  But the jokes...”

Duncan winced.  “I remember.  There’s a spark of creativity or something missing.  Might be the lack of a spirit.”

“You remember?” asked Sidney.

“Robo-Duncan recorded everything, and I integrated the experiences when I got home.  Not... quite sure if I can do that tonight, though.  Huh.  Anyway, I’ll leave him with you while I go to work, so you’ll have help with the kids.  And since he doesn’t need to breathe...”

“He’ll be perfect for changing diapers,” said Sidney with a grin.  “Sweet.  He’ll be safe with the kids?”

“Uncreative, but otherwise competent.  He’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

Duncan sighed.  “Keep an eye on him, then.  He can do the heavy lifting, you supervise.  Sound good?”

Sidney nodded uncertainly.  “I guess.”

“See how it goes.”   Duncan finished off his last pancake, gave his wife a kiss, then headed for the door.  “I’ll be back for dinner.”

“Love you honey!” called Sidney.

“Love you too!  Mwah!”

With a smile on his face, Duncan hopped in his sporty little car and headed off to work.  The sun was shining for once, and he was feeling good enough to take the scenic route to work.  The empty road made the usual black SUV on his tail blatantly obvious.  Enough so that he stopped at one of the more scenic points on the drive.  After getting out to get a good look at the sun glinting off the ocean waves, he turned to see Agent Mackie doing the same.

“Nice day for a pretty drive, wouldn’t you say?”

Agent Mackie chuckled softly.  “Thanks for sharing.  I didn’t even know this road existed.”

“I like to switch things up.  The reason’s silly enough, but finding spots like this makes it worthwhile.”

“You’re in a good mood today.  Things went well in Ottawa?”

“Eh.  More stupid power plays.  Ottawa’s ghoul, Henri, was the second to accept my gift.  But some of the others had thralls vying for power, and one tried to off me.  Unsuccessfully.”

“Of course.  And the top brass know?”

“Henri’s working with them.”

Mackie nodded.  “So I’m out of the loop again.  Go figure.”

Duncan filled him in on the basics of the previous night’s adventures to get him up to speed.

“So you’re really going to spend the week human?”

Duncan nodded, turning back to the view.  “Days like today make it feel good.”  He sucked in a deep breath of ocean-scented air.  “A good day to be alive.”

* * *

The next night, shortly after moonset, Duncan felt a tug on his bond to Gwen.  He sent an image of a question mark, and got an image of a slim younger man in reply.  Duncan recognized the face and the silk draped around his neck.  Jeremy.

Sidney was not pleased to hear that Duncan wanted to “flit off” to the Blue Vixen to see one of Donna’s regulars.

“He’s a sweetie,” said Duncan.  “Didn’t Gwen ever tell you about him?  He faced me down when the predator was riding my shoulders - you remember when I spent a month as a catgirl?  Then later, we played literal cat and mouse.  I turned him into a mouse, myself into a cat... and we played tag in the private room.  It was hilarious... and one of the farthest from actually sexual fantasies I’ve ever been involved in.”

“So what does he want?”

“Gwen didn’t say, she just sent me a mental image of him.”

“Tell her to call.”

A few seconds later the phone rang, and Sidney picked it up.  “Hey Gwen.  What do you want my husband for this time?”  After a pause she laughed.  “Really?  Awesome, that’s great for you.  But what’s this about...”  Sidney shook her head as she listened.  “Huh.  Fine, he can go play.”

Duncan smooched his wife on the cheek.  “You’re the best.”

“And don’t you forget it!”

Duncan physically drove down to the Blue Vixen for the first time in months.  Longer, if you didn’t count the times he’d done the drive as Donna.  As he’d done on his return after giving up the Moonstone, he walked in the front door and paid the cover charge.  Gwen met him before he made it to the bar, and steered him over to one of the more secluded lap-dance tables.  Jeremy was waiting there, and looked at the man across from him curiously.

“I’m spending the week in my original body, for tax purposes.”

Jeremy chuckled.  “You sound enough like her...”

“I think the days when I can keep the connection a secret have passed.  What can I do for you, mousie?”

That made Jeremy’s grin grow even wider.  “Now I know you’re her.  I want to dance, up on stage.”

“That doesn’t need my intervention,” said Duncan, looking over at Gwen.

“It does if I want to do it full time,” said Jerry, matter-of-factly.

Duncan raised an eyebrow.  “I would prefer to refer you to Arwen before diagnosing gender dysphoria.”

“Oh, I’m not trans.  I just want to dance up there.”  Jeremy stared up at the stage longingly.

“And we’re a topless club,” noted Gwen, “so…  Boobs are kind of a requirement.  Most of us dance with pretty skimpy panties on, hard to hide anything.”

“But far from impossible,” said Duncan.  “How do you feel about retractable bits?”

Jeremy shrugged.  “I guess.  Can you do the same with the breasts?”

“Sure.  Not a lot of point, though.  None of this will last.”

“What?  But today’s the full moon!”

Duncan shook his head.  “Last night was.  Don’t rely on printed calendars, check an astronomical website.  Or call ahead.”

“Well, fooey.  Just make me a girl, then.  I can handle a week or so, easy enough.”

“You don’t sound keen on it.  I can set it up so you’ll change back later tonight...  Gwen here should be able to change you back once the moon rises each night.”

Jeremy grinned.  “That sounds better.  Thanks.”

Duncan chuckled.  “You’re welcome.  May I ask why, though?”

“Donna, mostly.  I’ve been here and watched her dance.  Some of the others, too.  There are some fantastic dancers here.  But...” Jeremy fingered the scarf draped around his neck.  It was looking threadbare in the corners.  “You gave me this.  I’ve been practicing with it ever since.”

“Practicing pole-dancing?” asked Gwen.

“Well, more Donna’s veil-dance.  One veil isn’t really enough to do it justice, so I use some scarves.”

Duncan chuckled.  “We have lots here.  You can dance with as many as you like, and I bet Rowan would let you take them home for a modest sum.”

Jeremy’s grin made his answer clear.  Shortly thereafter, he became a she, and was escorted backstage by Gwen.

Duncan waited at the bar, sipping a fruity non-alcoholic drink.  Gwen sent mental images of how cute Jeremy had turned out, and how she looked practicing with seven veils.  Duncan chuckled, and watched a few familiar faces do a turn up on the stage.  He even broke a twenty at the bar so he’d have something to toss to the dancers.  Monday nights were slow, but they were still giving it their all.  

When Jeremy strutted on stage, announced as ‘JJ’ (which was a distinct exaggeration of her cup size), Duncan’s jaw dropped.  He’d expected timidity from his favourite mousie, not the confidence of a professional.  Jeremy owned the stage, though she made little use of the dancing poles.  Instead she put on a show that looked like a fusion of ballet and bellydancing, with the veils used artfully for good measure.  Each one that fell got a cheer from the crowd, but she was still half-dressed when the first song ended.  The next was faster paced, and the last veil dropped to the closing bars, leaving Jeremy in a full split on stage, skin sheened with sweat.  She didn’t even look winded.  Duncan joined in the applause, and tossed the remainder of his small bills on the stage.  He saluted Jeremy as she stood up, and got a smile in return.

As Duncan was turning to go, Gwen grabbed his elbow.  “Got another fun case for you, if you’d like.  Someone else you played with before.”

“Do tell...”

So that was how Duncan found himself in a private room with a vaguely familiar couple.  The guy had asked for his girlfriend’s breasts to be inflated, and had gone home as a blowup doll in reply.  They’d both had fun, she claimed, though the guy looked less sure.

“It’s my birthday tonight,” claimed the girl.  “He offered to become anything I wanted.  Can you turn him into an inflatable doll again?”

Duncan nodded.  “That’s easy enough if he doesn’t object.”

“I’m good with it.  She made good use of me, though it’d be nice if I had some vibrating parts.”

“Oooh!  Yeah.”

As his body started changing, skin becoming glossy and soft, she asked, “Can I make this last longer?  A week wasn’t enough.”

“Uh...”

Duncan shook his head.  “No permanent changes tonight.”

“But it’s the full moon!”

“Sorry, you should really call ahead if it’s important.  I think it’s even on the answering machine.”

“I’m glad,” whispered the half-doll. “Not sure I’d ever be human again.”

“Pfft.  Like you even want to.”

“I...”  The transformation completed before the doll could answer.

“He totally wants this,” said the girl, confidently.

Duncan shook his head.  “He doesn’t.  Treat him right.”

“Or?”

“Or I won’t change you next time you ask.  I can see the look in your eye.  You’re the one who wants to be stuck as a doll.”

“I...  I...”  The girl blushed, snatched up her transformed boyfriend, and rushed away.

Gwen giggled.  “Oh, they’ll be back alright.  Maybe we can get them placed in a sex shop as a matched set.”

Duncan snorted with laughter.  “She’d like that.  And be the time she’s done with him, I suspect he’d agree.  I’d still rather not turn people into things forever.”

Gwen smirked.  “Who says it has to be you?”  The way she touched her bra made Duncan’s eyes go wide.

“Are you wearing Ettie?”

“She insisted!  She’ll wear me later, don’t worry.  Thanks for sending us an extra crate of crystals, though.”

“You’d used half of the box I gave you before the Moon set!  It’d be terrible if one or both of you got stuck...”  Duncan snickered at Gwen’s speculative look.  “I’ll turn you into silks and put you in the bin in the green room, I will.”

“Please?”

Duncan flagged down Nyssa after the change was complete, and handed her the silks.  He’d made sure they couldn’t hear very well, so his whispered suggestions to make sure they got well used and well teased wouldn’t be overheard.  Nyssa giggled.  “I’ll give them a good home.  How long will they be stuck?”

Duncan brushed a hand over them with a wistful smile.  “Just for the night.  I’d join them, but I have promises to keep.”

Nyssa gave him a chesty hug.  “Don’t be a stranger.”

“Just be strange,” added Duncan.  He waved as Nyssa headed off, and whistled cheerfully all the way back to the car.