“All changes are permanent,” Elfa assured her. She raised her eyebrows. “Why? Do you not like what the Mists have done for you?”
“Oh no—I like it! I really do,” Em assured her. “Though, I do still want my clothes to wear,” she added. Though her face was looking much more relaxed than it had, she did still have some stretch marks and she still wasn’t thin. So she didn’t care to go about flaunting herself in the nude.
“Truly?” Elfa looked disappointed. “Well, if you must have clothing, I will see what I can do,” she said.
“Thank you. Er, I hope I haven’t offended you,” Em said, apologetically. “It’s just…my people aren’t used to going about naked, that’s all.”
“I understand.” Elfa nodded. “Excuse me, I shall return with clothing for you in a moment.”
She left Em to examine her new hair some more and when she came back, she had a pile of white fabric in her blue hands.
“Er…what’s this?” Em asked, when the bathing attendant handed her the fabric.
“Why…it is the clothing you requested,” Elfa said, widening her purple eyes. “Try it on—I believe it will fit,” she added.
“Er…but what happened to my clothing? You know—the dress and underthings I took off?” Em asked, raising her eyebrows. “I’d be more than happy just to put them back on,” she added tactfully.
“Oh, but you cannot wear the same clothing you had on before you entered the Mists!” Elfa looked horrified at the thought. “That clothing was steeped in the misery and anxiety that the Mists drew out of you. You don’t want anything of your former life to touch you now that you are Purified—it would be a sacrilege!”
“It would?” Em felt her heart sinking. She hadn’t liked the navy-blue dress with silver accents before, but now she longed for it. And what about her sensible black pumps that had gone with it? They weren’t very stylish but they were quite comfortable.
But Elfa was shaking her head firmly.
“Now that you are Purified, you must wear only clothing that is also pure,” she insisted. She nodded at the pile of white fabric in Em’s hands. “Go on—adorn yourself in your new clothing.”
Em sighed. There appeared to be no help for it. She looked at the garment some more—it appeared to be some kind of dress, but it was made of many, many loose strips, all about the width of her finger and all sewed together in horizontal rows.
I shall look like I’m wearing a set of Venetian blinds! she thought, and hoped that the strangely sewed white strips would cover her adequately.
As it turned out, they didn’t.
The thin vertical strips hugged her hips and bottom fairly well, but to Em’s dismay, they gaped open over her breasts. If she wasn’t extremely careful, the pink points of her nipples kept peeking through. Like someone parting the shades to look out on the street, she thought dismally.
But when she pointed out the problem to Elfa, the bathing attendant only shook her head.
“I am sorry, but this is the most modest clothing I could find for you, Minister Oxley,” she said. “We Rigellens don’t believe in clothing that restricts the natural view of the body. If we wear any at all, we make certain it is made in such a way that our bodies can breathe with it on.”
Well, her body was “breathing” all right,” Em thought, looking down at her breasts again. So much so that she looked like a living peep show!
But since Elfa seemed insistent that it was either the Venetian Blinds dress or nothing at all, she supposed this was the best she was going to get. It stayed mostly decent, she found, if she just kept her arms straight down to her sides and didn’t move them at all. This meant she was moving rather stiffly, like a robot, but that simply couldn’t be helped—it was better than flashing everyone she met.
“Very well,” she said at last. “I suppose there’s no help for it.”
“I am afraid not, Minister Oxley,” Elfa said humbly. She brightened. “But do not fear—once you meet the other couples who have come to participate in the Mineral Rights Trials, you will see that you have on much more modest clothing than most.”
Em bit her lip. Somehow she had forgotten there were three other couples all vying for the Rigellen mineral rights. And now she not only had to face Rarev in the skimpy dress which flashed her nipples if she so much as moved her arms a fraction, she also had to meet these other strangers. Well, wasn’t that just absolutely fabulous.
Remember why you’re here, Em, she told herself sternly. You haven’t come for a fashion show—you’re here to get enough Yillium so that the Monstrum Kindred can protect the Earth. So buck up and get on with it!