“Excuse me,” she said to the Rigellen attendant. “But, er, where are we, please? And more importantly, where are my clothes?”
Now that she was out of the soothing, swirling Mists, she found she longed to be dressed again. She felt exposed and wanted to be covered.
“Oh? Do you really wish to be encumbered by clothing again? Even now that you have been Purified and all your worries, and cares have been purged?” Elfa sounded surprised.
“I still do care about being naked, so yes,” Em said firmly, nodding her head without hesitation. “I won’t deny that the, er, purification process was lovely,” she told her attendant. “But I am not a nudist. I much prefer to be dressed. It is a matter of modesty and decency.” And also hiding all her flaws before she had to see Rarev again, she admitted to herself, but did not say aloud.
Elfa gave her a considering look.
“Go and look at yourself in the viewer panes before you make that decision,” she told Em, nodding at the bridal mirror set-up in the middle of the room. “If you are not completely satisfied with what you see, only then will I fetch you clothing.”
“Really?” Em glanced at the five mirrors arranged in a semi circle around the crystal platform. She generally avoided her own reflection other than to make sure she was decent so that the tabloids couldn’t snap an unflattering shot of her. Of course, all the shots they seemed to take were unflattering, no matter what she did, but that was neither here or there—Em simply did her best to ignore what they printed about her and carried on with her duties.
At any rate, looking at her own naked body in the mirrors was sure to be a punishment. She tried to keep in shape, but things would sag and bulge in the oddest places. She supposed it was part of growing old, but it wasn’t a part she especially liked.
“Must I?” she asked, looking at Elfa.
The bathing attendant nodded firmly.
“You must. I will not bring you clothing until you examine what the Mists have done.”
“What they have done?” This gave Em a charge of fear. Had something been done to her while she was floating foolishly around in the swirling-colored Mists? And if so, what?
She needed no more urging to hurry up to the circular crystal platform and climb the three steps to get to the arrangement of mirrors. She looked anxiously at herself from every angle, checking to see if she had suddenly developed a colorful rash or maybe sprouted horns and a tail or whatever it might be that had been done to her.
It took her a few minutes to realize the truth—she had been changed, but not in any horrible, abnormal way. The changes were much more subtle than that—subtle and actually quite agreeable, Em thought.
She looked lighter and freer somehow—less burdened by worries and cares. The frown lines between her eyes had smoothed out and her skin almost seemed to glow, as though she’d had a really expensive facial. Though no facial in the world—no matter how expensive—could have smoothed the lines of tension and care from her face as well as the Mists had.
“Well?” Elfa asked from behind her. “Do you like what you see?”
“It’s lovely.” Em leaned closer to the mirror to examine her skin.
The only change she wasn’t quite sure about was what the Mists had done to her hair. It was no longer iron-gray, she saw. Instead, it had been lightened to a pure, gorgeous silver and since it was so long now, it fell to the small of her back in a thick, shimmering waterfall. It almost seemed to sparkle in the light from the floating chandelier. Em had to admit, it was a striking sight and though the tabloids were certain to make fun of her about it, she decided she quite liked it.
“How did the Mists do all this?” she asked, turning to glance at Elfa. “I mean, my hair looks so different now! And I look so much more relaxed.”
“The Mists simply drain away your anxieties and impurities,” Elfa said, smiling. “The body traps and holds the cares of the mind, to the detriment of both. If you can only release those cares, how much happier and lighter you can be!”
“Well, you’re not wrong,” Em said, still examining herself from all angles. “This is truly wonderful. Er…” She looked at the bathing attendant uncertainly. “How long will it last, do you think?”
“Oh, all the changes the Mists make to you are permanent,” Elfa assured her. “You cannot revert to your former state because the effects of years of tension and anxiety cannot be returned to you.”
“So…the hair is permanent?” Em asked, swirling her long, silver mane around her shoulders. She still wasn’t sure how to feel about the new color. There was no denying it was lovely, but it was also dramatic, which wasn’t exactly Em’s style. “Down to earth” and “practical,” would be better words to describe her. Now she looked like she’d gone to some kind of magical retreat and had her hair done and gotten most of her worry lines smoothed away.