Chapter 12: Toiletries

The dowager led us back to the tent, perhaps to make sure we arrived safely. Or just to prevent further attempts at fraternizing.

“You two!” She had new bodyguards waiting for me. “Ensure these . . . ladies . . . enjoy a quiet night. As for you,” she turned toward us, “get a good sleep and quickly.” Then walked away.

I briefly wondered what the dowager did at night, but then her word choice hit me. Ladies? Plural? My stomach dropped at the notion of spending the night with four giggling teenage girls. Fortunately, three of them said their goodbyes and headed off to another tent. Only Sapphire followed me in.

“Finally! The day is done and we can talk.” She jumped into a hug. “I was so worried for you.”

“I’m ok, really.” I gave her a strong squeeze, hoping that would placate her. With luck, she was only here to ensure I get tucked in and all that.

“I can’t imagine!” She whispered into my ear, her lips so close they sent tingles up my neck, “What did they do to you?” and I pulled back quickly at the feeling, but she held onto my hands.

“Ah, nothing. I mean, tied me up and all, but-”

“You’re sure?”

“Ok, I think I was hit on the head pretty hard.” I gave her the story about smashing that first soldier, the wizard and I making our escape.

“You crushed his manhood with a giant stone?” She laughed, a delightful, musical sound, tinted now with the schadenfreude found on the other side of sexism.

“Yeah! Yuck, the thought of that makes me want to wash. But, yeah, he didn’t get far.”

“That’s a relief! You just seem so different.” She pulled off each of my gloves, then bent down to pull the dress off.

“Hey, whoa, I can undress. I’m all good, I got this. You can head to your tent now.”

“This is my tent.”

“I thought it was mine. Where’s my tent?”

“Yeah, you must have gotten hit hard. This is our tent. Mistress of the bedroom, remember?”

I found myself wishing for the internet again. No idea what mistress of the bedroom meant, except that the title sounded more like it belonged in a brothel than with a princess. Given that Sapphire was busy undressing me, I had to assume it meant she was my personal caretaker. Earlier she followed me to the toilet, by my side whenever she could be.

It was no wonder they served me alcohol all day. How can anyone deal with this lack of privacy?

“Alright,” she said, “toiletries and into bed.”

“Yes. Toiletries,” I replied, wondering what that meant. Hopefully, nothing too infringing on my person.

She led me by the hand over to a desk, the same one they’d dressed me in front of before. It now had a bowl of water atop, several brushes and whatnot beside it. Saph picked up a toothbrush-like thing, dipped it into the water and into a kind of paste. “Open wide,” she said, pointing it at my mouth.

I put my hand on hers, then took the toothbrush, “I got this. Alright? This, this I can do all by myself.” Its bristles were forward facing rather than perpendicular to the brush. It took a little getting used to – I tried spinning it, vibrating and just moving it back and forth – but the brush did the trick. My mouth felt like fresh limestone until I rinsed. Cleanliness!

“Yuck, that was gross.”

“I know, but it’s better than having rotten teeth.”

“Your turn!” I rinsed off the brush, stuck it back on its container, half expecting her to use it right after me, but she had her own. I breathed a sigh of relief. There was only so much I could handle in this primitive, godforsaken place, and sharing toothbrushes was my line in the sand.

After that, we washed up without much out of the ordinary – just using this water bowl – then took turns at the toilet, Saph not leaving during my turn, something that slightly bothered me, but I could apparently do nothing about, and Saph went around extinguishing the candles, and into bed. Naturally, given all this and her title, she climbed in with me. Putting the metal spoon that looked like a pointy hat on the last candle, the lights went out.

“Goodnight,” I said.

She giggled, embraced my body in a spooning like position and whispered, “Goodnight, Princess Cayce.”

Ok, ok, I was hoping for privacy, but that doesn’t appear to be in the cards for a princess. Close my eyes, feel what remained of the alcohol, try to fade to black. With any luck I’d wake up to a save and exit screen. Then I was going to find the devs and lay into them.

Her hand started moving. On my stomach, soft and slow. At first, I tried to tell myself that I was imagining things. Nope. She slid her hand up toward my breasts.

“Whoa!” I sat up, scooted back, putting some distance between us. “What are you doing?”

“I . . . I’m welcoming you home.” She sounded hurt, “Cayce, what’s wrong?”

Yikes. Right, I remember being that age and having those thoughts. Two girls, isolated from normalcy, this made sense. Definitely not appealing to an adult. Sapphire was no more than a child in my eyes. I really wanted to stand up, toss her clothes at her and say, ‘get dressed. I’ll buy you an ice cream.’ But there were guards outside that would prevent that. And no Ben & Jerry’s around for miles.

“Saph,” I started, trying to diffuse this, “I can’t. I’m sorry.”

“Something did happen to you. Out there.”

“Yeah, something really did, something I don’t understand yet.”

“It’s ok,” she said, her hand on my arm, “let’s sleep and you’ll feel better in the morning.” She rolled over, facing the other direction and I lay back down on my back, staring at the ceiling.

More ‘good nights,’ and pleasantries. What a different world to find myself in. I’d have to alter the sleeping arrangements. Maybe post guards inside the tent. Mistress of the bedroom indeed!

Yet I couldn’t sleep. I was getting the pieces of the puzzle, without seeing the whole. First, the wizard. He’d said the enemy army had come for me. Why? And could I trust him in that claim? I hadn’t seen any evidence of it – no assassinations or attacks on this encampment.

Second, the dowager. Apparently, she was after power. And gained some great measure of it with the deaths of the royal family. That didn’t bode well, but the prince was my protection there. It seemed he kept her power in check somehow – knowing how would be very helpful. It was probably political mixed with the patriarchy. Good friends to all, going to be the king, never loses a battle, that sort of thing. Yet despite him, I was in the shadow of her power. She had no issues ordering me about, demanding I perform as she pleased. No real threats of punishment, but I felt like she was setting me up for some fall from grace. The kind of contrived problem that only the contriver can fix.

Worse and more disturbing, I felt normal. This small girl’s body, indistinguishable from me. Me, as a person. What did I do before becoming this person? I couldn’t recall, only that I had, indeed, both been transformed and transplanted. What I had was a strange and frightening feeling. I was me before becoming this girl and I was still me. Or again me.

Yet I knew the prince wasn’t my brother. Nor was I born into this world. I could remember things like airplanes and computers and nanotech. If it was a video game, was it glitching? Like, plugged into my brain and messing it up kind of glitching. If it was not, how would I solve this situation?

I had no answers. Only hints of problems. No way to address them until they became more clear, more real. Dangerous.

At some point, I slipped away leaving my unconsciousness to work the solutions out.