Oak in Grey Hollow

Chapter 3 - A Day in the Life

As the cart rumbled along towards the next village, Mira continued her reflections on her initial meeting with Oak in Grey Hollow. Of course, by now she knew the import of her ‘dream’, but at the time she passed it off as caused by a bit of bad rabbit stew. But she’d had quite another surprise the next day…

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The breakfast was perhaps a bit meager, but still better than anything she’d eaten as a beggar. Hollow then had her help set up a large tent in preparation for any visitors that might drop by. In essence, it was simply intended as a private meeting place where Hollow could converse with his customers without eavesdroppers. However, it had the right mystical aura when he had applied certain perfumes and incense within.

When that task had been completed, Hollow took down two outfits from the doors of the cart. One was a rather mundane set of breeches and blouse in a drab grey and tan, but the other was something else entirely! Jewels sparkled and the fabric was in various shades of translucent purple, the entire thing light as a feather.

“This,” Hollow explained as he laid the dress out on the table they’d set within the tent, “is yours. You will wear this here, as my servant. It may be, perhaps, a bit over the top - but the local citizens are impressed by such finery, and I expect will be somewhat more amenable to parting with their coin when they see you in this as my devoted servant!”

“Servant?”

“Oh,” he replied, a bit chagrined. “Assistant?”

“Let’s go with assistant,” she agreed, giving him a warning look. “Can I try it on?”

Hollow’s snout wrinkled. “Um… perhaps a little clean-up first? I need it pretty badly, and you even more than me!”

She nodded, and they headed to the stream, Mira carrying the mundane clothes that she would wear into town later, while Hollow brought a small basket containing towels and some vials and other odd objects that she didn’t recognize.

When they got to the stream, she eyed Hollow warily, not sure exactly what Hollow expected of her here.

“Now this,” he said, handing her a slippery yellow object, “is what we call ‘soap’. Rinse yourself first, then rub it all over vigorously. Then a final rinse should do. As for your hair, this vial contains another cleaning agent made specifically for cleaning hair. Do the same - rinse, rub it in, then rinse.. And… do it twice. I think you’ll need it. Finally, this white vial contains a finishing agent. After washing with the first, do one more round with this.”

She took the objects and examined them, sniffing at the ‘soap’. It smelled surprisingly good!

“So how do you know much about hair, Hollow? You haven’t got any!” she pointed out.

The enchanter surprised her by stripping naked while he responded, and she looked away reflexively.

“Ah, but Anabelle does!” he said as he splashed into the stream behind her. “Besides, you’d be surprised how many requests I get from humans regarding hair troubles! These cleaning agents were some of my first forays into the alchemical sciences. Took some experimentation, but I finally hit on an excellent combination of ingredients. Leaves your hair shiny and supple! And best of all, there’s no magic involved!”

“Experiments?” she asked, setting the vials and soap down. She heard splashing behind her and turned to see Hollow dunking himself under the water.

He rose out of the shallow stream, shaking himself and began applying the soap vigorously.

“Well,” he said as he bathed, apparently oblivious to any modesty issues, “we’d best not talk about that. I assure you there was no permanent damage! And one of the gentlemen actually preferred being bald anyway! Say, are you going to use that soap or not?”

Mira drew in a deep breath. “Um… Hollow. Do you expect me to bathe right here with you?”

He cocked his head to one side. “Well, yes. Why not?” he asked while washing his chest. She saw the blue symbol slowly begin to disappear from his chest. And then something extraordinary happened…

Mira shook her head to clear it, not at all sure if what she was seeing could be real. Meanwhile Hollow continued washing, now sitting in the stream and cleaning his feet.

No, she corrected herself mentally when rubbing at her eyes didn’t change what she was seeing. Hollow was cleaning HER feet. Hollow was now unmistakably a female Argonian.

“Well?” she asked Mira, her voice now significantly higher in pitch. “We haven’t got all day!”

MIra finally shrugged and did as she was bid, and soon she was in the stream bathing herself as well. The water wasn’t too cold, but it was a bit bracing. She sat and began washing her legs too, still debating exactly how she should ask Hollow about his… her?... transformation.

“Hey Mira,” the now-enchantress asked. “Do you think you could help me put my ward back on when you’re done? I can do it myself, but it’s a bit tricky. It’s just a circle and a five-pointed star, drawn in a special kind of soft blue magetallow wax. Doesn’t have to be perfect, and I’ll do the enchantment part.”

“Um… sure Hollow,” she agreed, “when I’m all done. But, I thought you said the ward was there to keep you sane?”

“Oh, for certain it is! Why, I couldn’t last an hour in this way. Even now I get the strangest feelings! Frankly I don’t know how you women manage it. But then, it’s all you’ve known I suppose.”

Mira debated if she should get mad about that comment or not - perhaps later, when she’d gotten to know her employer better. Instead she rinsed herself and went to the side of the stream, grabbing the first vial and pouring a bit out before rubbing it through her hair. It began to lather.

“That’s it!”, Hollow said, climbing out of the stream and laying on the grass sunning herself while she waited for Mira to finish her hair. “Work it in good and deep.”

Finally when she’d applied the second vial as well, she climbed out of the stream and took a towel to dry herself off, while Hollow took the other.

“Now, if you don’t mind…” Hollow said, handing her the blue wax.

“Let me get dressed first, Hollow,” she said, determined that - as bizarre as this morning had already been - she was at least going to be fully dressed when Hollow became male again.

“Please, can you hurry up?” Hollow said. “I’m feeling very weird already.”

“Only just now?” Mira thought as she pulled the blouse over her head.

She took the wax and began to draw a circle across Hollow’s no-longer-flat chest. It was surprisingly difficult! It didn’t help that Hollow began to laugh when she started on the star.

“Hold still! Jeeze!” Mira protested, and Hollow tried to get herself under control.

“Okay, I think that’s got it.”

“Thank you Mira!” Hollow said, then closed her eyes and began to murmur something. When the incantation was finished, Hollow was male again. The transmutation hadn’t been some slow change, but instantly Hollow’s chest was flat again, and other parts weren’t.

Mira’s blush was instantaneous as well. Her eyes shot skyward.

“Oh, that’s so much better!” Hollow said, his voice back to what she had come to consider normal.

He began to dress again in a new, duplicate set of clothes while Mira’s mind began to race.

“Hollow…” she began.

“Yes?”

“That ward… it… makes you male. But without it, you’re female. What were you originally?”

He stopped and turned towards her, tying his boots. “You know… I’m not really sure.”

“I mean,” she continued, “if you are female without the ward…”

“Sorry Mira, I really can’t remember. I’ve done a lot of experiments, some on myself. I think I remember coming up with the ward after one of those experiments, but… I’ve been a lot of things. I was a True Neutral once! It was… boring.”

“I imagine so,” she laughed.

Then she looked at her old pile of clothes. Hollow looked at them too. Then he looked at her and shook his head. She left them, the last of her old life now truly left behind.

When they got back to the cart, Hollow dug out about 10 smallish posters and handed them to Mira, instructing her to post them in the village about a mile farther up the road.

“Make sure the arrow is pointing back this way though,” he added as he untied Anabelle from the side of the cart. “Take it from me, you don’t get much business the other way! Then, when you’ve put them all up, hurry back here. We’ve got to get you ready before they start coming!”

“You’re letting me take Anabelle?”

“Oh, yes. A girl on a horse is a lot less likely to be hassled than one just walking into town on foot. Besides, Anabelle insists. Try not to talk to the locals though, if you can avoid it. Mystery is one of our biggest draws. These poor village folk don’t get much of that.”

“Got it,” Mira said. “No saddle?”

“Sorry, no. Anabelle doesn’t like them. But she’ll keep under you, won’t you Anabelle?”

In response, the horse looked at them dumbly, then went back to grazing.

Hollow helped Mira climb up, and before the sun had crossed noon, she was off down the road at a plodding pace, but faster than walking.

The village was a quaint little place. Most of the people were inside, though a couple were out on the main street, eyeing her suspiciously. However, as she began to hammer the posters into place, others began to emerge - the children first of all.

“An enchanter! Mom! A traveling enchanter! Can we go see him?” one waif called to his mother.

Mira didn’t hear the response. She was already off to post the last advertisement up. However, she did grant the village some respect after that. The kid could read at least!

And then she was done and heading back down the road where she’d come from.

“Wait here, Missy!” called a man from a doorway. “You can’t just nail up a sign on my gate post like that!”

Hastily she considered. She could just ride out of town and ignore him, but it wouldn’t do to have these people upset with her and Hollow already. She pulled in Anabelle and climbed down.

“Sorry sir,” she said, bowing low. “I’ll take it off right now…”

“Now hold on missy, I didn’t say you had to take it down. I just want some compensation is all!”

“I’m sorry,” she said, keeping her head down. “I.. don’t have any money.”

“Oh, that’s alright,” he said, his voice softening. “Can I get a discount?”

At that, she brightened up considerably. “Oh yes sir! Certainly! I’ll see that Hollow gives you a 10 percent discount on any purchases!”

“That’s more like it then. Well, tell this…” he paused to squint at the poster, ‘“Oak in Grey Hollow’ I’ll be expecting it when I drop by tonight.”

“I will,” she assured him, then went back to Anabelle. But she soon found she couldn’t climb upon the horse by herself. There were some snickers from the villagers as she tried to jump, but the horse was simply too big and there was nothing to hold on to. She considered grabbing onto the horse’s mane, but something told her that would be a bad idea.

Then, amazingly, Anabelle lay down, allowing Mira to climb on her back easily. As soon as she was onboard, the horse rose again and started trotting out of the village smartly, hooves prancing high in the air as the villagers looked on in wonder at the trained horse.

For her part, Mira was as surprised at the others in the change that had come over the old grey paint. Perhaps she’d underestimated the horse after all!