Emily averted her eyes from the woman's gaze, bracing herself for a scolding about her immodesty. But instead of this, the woman produced a rge, multicolored bnket and handed it to Emily, a kind and sympathetic look on her face. Emily took the bnket gratefully and wrapped it around herself.

  "Sorry to intrude," said the woman, a slight creature who wore her silver hair in a in loose bun. Her face was dominated by an enormous pair of circur eyegsses and her stature greatly diminished by a severe hunchback. "I overheard your conversation, and, well, I could see you were in need of something to wear. I am a seamstress, the proprietress of a dress shop nearby. Perhaps you could accompany me to my shop and find something to your liking? I'll include this bnket with any purchase."

  Emily nodded, pulling the bnket tighter around herself. The woman had clearly also taken notice of the bag of gold coins on the table and was angling to get her own share of them. But then, Emily had been intending to spend her first money on clothes anyway. It had just become much more urgent now.

  The seamstress introduced herself as Maribel. Talyndra gathered the stray coins into the bag and went off to settle the tab. She returned shortly with a mischevious grin, saying, "You should have seen the look on the bartender's face. Don't think they see many gold coins here."

  "A reason to be vigint," Aria said, drawing to Emily's side as the tter carefully rose to her feet, csping the bnket tightly in her hands.

  Emily was reassured by the weight of the Stoneshell against her chest and the cold, new feeling of the Bronzeband around her upper arm—the merchant's spell had allowed her to keep that, as well as the parchment she'd used for her notes. Perhaps she should have written things on her clothes as well. She stuffed the notes into Zephyr's book and gave it to Aria to hold. Apart from the other indignities, nudity meant never having anywhere to put things.

  They followed Maribel out of the tavern, avoiding the looks of longing and disappointment on the countenances of many of the patrons. Emily blushed at a couple of wolf-whistles, increasing her pace.

  Outside the tavern, several people stopped to look at the strange group as they made their way down the road to Maribel's dress shop. They seemed to be, in equal parts, marveling at sight of a living statue and a wood elf in her natural garb, and trying to figure out whether Emily had anything else on underneath her bnket. The cobblestones were hot against her bare feet.

  Maribel ushered the trio into her small, sunlit shop. A bell chimed above the door as Maribel opened it. The shop's walls were lined with bolts of cloth in numerous colors, and a subtle scent of vender suffused the air. Assorted mannequins dispyed everything from drab cloaks and tunics to eborate and colorful dresses.

  "Let's get started then," Maribel said, once the door closed behind the group. Her eyes sparkled and she rubbed her hands together with excitement.

  The sight of so many different outfits in one pce, and the knowledge that she likely had enough money to buy any of them was intoxicating to Emily. Under normal circumstances, she loved a good clothes shopping outing just as much as any woman. After spending the st few weeks alternately naked and poorly dressed, she felt like a wanderer in the desert who had just discovered an oasis. Her whole body decompressed, releasing stress from muscles she hadn't realized were tight, and she smiled dreamily at the beautiful array of fabrics before her.

  After a short period of deliberation, Emily decided that she would start with a dress. A colorful dress consisting of purple, brown and blue fabric near the back of the shop caught her eye. "I'd like to try that one, please," she asked Maribel, sticking an arm of her bnket to point to it.

  Maribel's eyes traced Emily's pointing arm and settled on the dress. She regarded it briefly, and then looked back at Emily's bnket-cd form. "An excellent choice. Fairies!"

  Maribel cpped her hands twice in quick succession, and the air was alive with whooshing and buzzing. Emily watched in a amazement as the dress was lifted from its rack by a pair of tiny gossamer wings and began to float towards her. "Oh wow!" she excimed.

  Then she felt a tug on her bnket. "Whoa!" Emily cried, as the bnket was whipped away from her frame, leaving her standing naked in the middle of the dress shop. But before she had time to say anything else, a mass of fabric descended over her face. "Mmph mph!"

  There was a flurry of buzzing and fluttering as the dress descended, finally pulling free of her face. Emily felt and saw only the rapidly fpping wings of impossibly tiny fairies as they moved around her, tugging different parts of the dress into pce and lifting her hair out of the back. Though the whole process was quite efficient, Emily quickly decided she would have preferred putting the dress on herself in the privacy of a dressing room.

  In seconds ft, Emily was dressed, and Maribel ushered her in front of a full-length mirror. "What do you think?"

  Emily looked herself up and down and bit her lip. "It's... lovely. But there, uh, seems to be a piece missing."

  The dress had sleeves of purple, tipped with blue and skirt with tan, blue and brown sections, reaching down to floor length. The brown bodice was tight against Emily's midsection. It all appeared expertly tailored and felt wonderful against her skin. But just above the bodice, Emily's rosy-nippled breasts were on full dispy, the Stoneshell hanging just above them.

  "I think it goes quite well with your neckce," said Maribel, as if this was a perfectly normal dress.

  Emily cast questioning gnces at Aria and Talyndra. Was it the fashion in some parts of Thesson for dies to go around in dresses that exposed their breasts? She certainly hadn't seen anyone else doing it so far.

  "I think Emily would prefer something with a higher cut," Aria said diplomatically.

  "Yes!" Emily confirmed. "This is lovely, but I think it's, uh, the wrong size for me."

  "Oh no, it fits you perfectly," Maribel said. "This style is all the rage in the wealthy neighborhoods of Lirethel, you know."

  Aria and Talyndra looked skeptical.

  "There are some things I won't do for fashion," Emily replied, looking down at her bare breasts.

  Maribel nodded and cpped her hands, and the fairies took to the air once more. "Lift your arms, dear," Maribel said, as wings descended onto the shoulders of Emily's dress.

  "Wait, don't you have a changing room?" Emily asked, already feeling the fabric tug upwards.

  "Afraid not, rent is dear in such a highly visible location as this."

  "I—wha—really?" Emily's protestations were cut short as a group of fairies seized her cuffs and, with surprising strength, pulled her arms up by them. Then, all at once, the dress was sliding back up her head.

  Emily shivered at the sight of herself in the mirror, already missing the sensation of fabric against her skin, incomplete as it had been. The rge windows behind her, at the front of the shop, made her incredibly nervous.

  But it wasn't long before the fairies had another outfit hanging above her head, ready to fit. Emily lifted her arms obediently and allowed them to slide it down her body.

  The new dress was far more satisfactory, with an expanse of soft pink fabric that encased her bosoms and ruffled, multicolored sleeves. Below this, the fabric tapered off to a thin strip that went down the middle of Emily's stomach, covering her belly button while leaving her sides exposed. Such a cutaway design would have been at home on a modern runway, she mused, but felt at odds with what was, essentially, a medieval dress shop.

  Still, this was an improvement on the st design, and Emily said as much. Maribel smiled with satisfaction and thanked her, and Emily turned to her companions for their appraisal.

  Aria and Talyndra shared bnk expressions, and there was a hint of blush on Talyndra's cheeks. "Look behind you," Aria said.

  Emily gnced over her shoulder at the mirror and gasped. She had felt and seen that the dress was backless, but only now realized the full extent of that feature. For the gap in the dress's fabric extended from just below her shoulder bdes to beneath the swell of her bottom.

  Emily's jaw dropped and both sets of cheeks went red. She scrambled to cover her butt with her hands.

  "Not a fan of backless?" asked Maribel, her words betraying no emotion. "Odd, clients who don't go for the other dress usually prefer this one."

  Emily shook her head vigorously and the fairies began to fp once more. She was starting to wonder just what the hell kind of dress shop this was, anyway?

  The next outfit fixed both faults of the previous ones. Its chest piece came all the way up to Emily's neck, concealing the Stoneshell from view, and it came with a long blue and purple cape that almost trailed on the floor and hid her from behind.

  However, the fabric of the top stopped entirely below the chest, leaving Emily's stomach and legs entirely bare. "Are you sure this is the whole thing?" Emily asked, staring in disbelief at her reflection.

  "Of course," said Maribel. "Don't you think it highlights your legs? Not many dresses do, you know."

  The definition of dress, Emily thought, was being stretched to breaking point by this bizarre garment. She frowned and pulled the cape around herself. "I'd like something that... covers a little more skin."

  "Fairies!" Maribel shouted, cpping her hands again.

  Emily shut her eyes and surrendered to the undressing and redressing process. Surely Maribel had to have a normal dress somewhere in this shop of hers. Perhaps she was just a little eccentric, like many fashion designers back in Emily's own world. If Emily humored her with these strange, incomplete outfits, maybe they'd get to something normal afterwards.

  When she opened her eyes, Emily saw that her request for something with more coverage had been granted. She was wearing a long, flowing dress of red and green that covered her from shoulder to toe. But only on the right side of her body—her left was entirely bare, with only a red string that went around the cinch of her waist to hold the dress in pce.

  Emily sighed. "This would be perfect if the left was the same as the right," she said ftly.

  "That's certainly not what the desinger intended," Maribel said. "Asymmetry is all the rage tely, you know. But I suppose it's not everyone's cup of tea. I'll find you something different." She cpped her hands again.

  The next outfit was a full-length skirt hung loose around Emily's hips. Again, Emily asked if part of the outfit was missing and Maribel looked confused. "This one's the same on both sides, like you asked."

  Aria, who had been watching the proceedings with increased distress, intervened at this point. "My dear dy," she said to Maribel, "I'm afraid that these outfits are wholly impractical for the long journey we have ahead of us. Let us leave off dresses for now and look at some traveling clothes for Emily."

  Maribel's eyes lit up. "Ah! I have just the thing." Once more, she cpped for the fairies. "Practical attire for the traveling adventurer!"

  The long skirt was swiftly repced by an ensemble with hardy boots and gloves, as well as a long, warm scarf. "Good, strong boots made of dragon leather," Maribel said. "And finest sheep's wool to keep you warm on the road."

  The "outfit" did not include anything else. Emily frowned at her reflection. From the right angle, the scarf might briefly cover a nipple and most of her crotch. Standing perfectly still right now, the other end covered her buttcrack.

  "Don't you have any normal clothes?!" screamed Talyndra, who had been rolling her eyes and scowling at the back of the dress shop for some time. "I'm no expert in human garb, but surely no one wears things like this!"

  Maribel staggered back, pcing an offended hand to her chest. "Well I never! To be insulted in my own shop by a green woman dressed like a compost heap!"

  "What did you call me?" Talyndra asked, the menace in her tone barely concealed. Aria had to pce a firm hand on her shoulder to keep her from lunging at the frail old dress shop owner.

  "The scarf is very nice, Maribel," said Emily, desperate to defuse the situation. "And I love the boots, and the gloves too. But surely this outfit comes with some trousers? A tunic? A cloak? And surely some of your dresses cover everything from the neck to the feet? I'd like to try those on, please."

  Talyndra rattled the bag of gold coins. "We're not paying a single bronze until all Emily's bits are covered. Properly covered. If you can't get that right, we'll take our business elsewhere." She made a show of walking towards the door, and Aria followed.

  Emily took a tentative step forward, but quickly remembered what she wasn't wearing. The bnket she'd entered the shop with was nowhere to be seen. Realizing this, she exchanged pleading gnces with Talyndra and Aria. The st thing they needed was to be thrown out of this woman's shop, without even an inadequate outfit like the ones she'd been trying on.

  "Will you now?" asked Maribel. "I don't think Miss Emily's in much of a state to take her business anywhere. Not that that's stopped her before." Saying these words, Maribel's voice had lost the warm, sing-song quality of the kindly old woman and taken on a severe tone, hard enough to cut gss.

  The old dy drew herself up to full height, and locks of pitch bck spilled out from under her silvery wig.

  "Era!" Aria gasped.

  The woman who was not Maribel pushed her gsses down her nose to reveal a pair of golden eyes, fshing menacingly. "I'm hurt that you didn't recognize your old friend sooner, Aria," she said.

  With a loud whoosh, Emily summoned twin fireballs into her palms, instantly destroying her gloves.

  "You haven't changed at all, young Emily," Era said disdainfully. "Still destroying your clothes so that you can shamelessly funt that nubile body of yours. Enjoying every bit of the attention, of course. When I heard the murmurs about a naked woman in the tavern, I just knew it had to be you."

  "What?" Emily asked incredulously. "I was naked in the tavern for all of fifteen minutes before you appeared!"

  "Port Turon is also quite far from House Isolde," Aria added.

  "Don't think I haven't been tracking you since you spurned my hospitality," Era replied. "The Stoneshell gives off a powerful magical signal, easy enough to find if you know what to look for. The difficult was in narrowing it down. I knew you were on this coast, but if not for Emily's compulsive exhibitionism I wouldn't have been able to find your exact location."

  Emily blushed and stammered, unsure if she was more angry than embarrassed or embarrassed than angry.

  "I'm very proud of this little dress shop ploy," Era continued. "There really is a Maribel, you know, and this really is her dress shop. It was terribly kind of her to lend the pce to me, was it not? Though I don't know that she'll approve of the alterations my fairies made to some of her stock."

  "I knew those weren't real outfits!" cried Talyndra.

  "The fairy thing did seem a little odd," added Aria.

  "Forgive me for having a little fun pying dress-up," said Era. "For such a shameless little strumpet, you do squirm and blush an awful lot, Emily. All side-effects of your arousal, I'm sure."

  Emily's eyes widened as she realized the significance of wearing clothes given to her by Lady Era, and she yanked the scarf from her neck and threw it violently to the floor.

  Era sneered. "Is even that too much modesty for you? Or are you worried that I've enchanted these outfits? Worry not, for even a witch of my skill would not have had time to enchant a shopful of clothing."

  Emily blushed and squirmed in her boots, briefly contempting putting the scarf back on. But her hands were once again full of fire, and she dared not let her guard down in front of Era. "What do you want?" she growled.

  "You know very well what I want. The Stoneshell. Give it to me, and I will leave you and your friends alone. I'll even let you leave with one of these dresses—one that my fairies haven't altered. Maybe without such a dangerous magical artifact around your neck you'll be able to avoid burning it."

  Emily unched a fireball at Era's head.

  The shop immediately exploded into motion. A deafening buzz permeated the air and all around the women were gossamer wings, fpping furiously. Emily could feel her hair whip around her as if blown by gale-force winds as the fairies converged into a shimmering wall between her fireball and Era's expressionless face.

  The air was filled with high-pitched screams as the gossamer wall took the full impact of the fireball. A smell like burning rubber permeated the room and Emily felt as though she would be sick.

  "Murderer!" Talyndra screamed, her green face turning red.

  Emily's blood ran cold for a moment, before she realized that Talyndra's considerable anger was directed at Era.

  "You forced them to do that! A binding enchantment! I can smell it!"

  "But of course, Leafy. They are my fairies, to do with as I please. I would encourage you to prevent your friend from killing any more of them."

  Emily was staring at her empty palms, the fairies screams still echoing in her mind. "K-killing..."

  In a few bold strides, Era closed the distance between herself and Emily. She id a cold hand on Emily's bare shoulder. "Did you think this was some kind of game? Flinging balls of fire at people who were mean to you, just to get them to stop? Did you not realize the incredible destructive power of the cursed artifact around your neck?"

  With her free hand, Era took the Stoneshell pendant between her thumb and forefinger, lifting it and rubbing it gently.

  Emily sniffed loudly, wiping tears with the back of her hand. She could feel an increased tightness against her left upper arm, where she wore the Bronzeband.

  "I can free you from this responsibility," said Era, caressing Emily's shoulder gently, her fingers lightly brushing against the Bronzeband. "Free you from this curse. All you have to do is let it happen."

  "Don't listen to her!" shouted Aria.

  "Of course Aria would want you to keep wearing this thing—she never lets you wear much of anything else, does she? Hush, listen, child." Era stared into Emily's eyes, holding fierce eye contact. "Do you not think it possible that our Lady Aria did something to deserve her current predicament? It is not just anyone who becomes cursed to live forever as a statue, you know. Did you ever consider that she was using you? What kind of person meets a poor, naked girl far from home and immediately asks her to embark on a dangerous quest? Ah!"

  Era released the Stoneshell pendant, as it had suddenly become too hot for her to touch. Emily smirked, her tears subsiding. "I'm not going to take this from the woman who tried to ensve me." The Bronzeband had begun to shift, slowly spinning around her upper arm. She could also feel the Stoneshell vibrating against her cvicle.

  Era frowned. "I was hoping we could put that behind us. But if not, well..."

  In the next moment, several things happened at once. Era made a grab for the Stoneshell pendant. Aria dove towards Era to stop her. Emily expelled a fiery breath she'd been holding in. The fairies soared into action all around them, their collective buzzing combining into a deafening roar.

  And then floor of the shop colpsed.

  As the floor gave way beneath her, a scream escaped Emily's lips. The world turned upside down, and her stomach lurched painfully. Darkness swallowed her whole, punctuated only by the brief, terrifying glimpses of the crumbling shop interior. Rolls of fabric unfurled like ghostly specters, mannequins plunged beside her, their limbs filing in silent agony as they disappeared into the abyss.

  The others screamed as well, and Emily cried out for Aria and Talyndra as she continued to fall. Her hair whipped around her face, and the cold air whooshing past her bare skin chilled her to the bone.

  Fear gripped Emily in a cold iron vice. Every second seemed to stretch into eternity as she fell. Every fiber of her being longed to grab something, to cling on, to save herself, but she was surrounded only be empty space. All was dark and the air was growing warmer. The smell of earth and musty dirt filled Emily's nostrils.

  As she continued to fall, Emily felt the Bronzeband spinning faster around her upper arm. At the same time, her descent slowed, almost imperceptibly at first. Stone hands seemed to reach out from the emptiness all around, their touch surprisingly gentle against her skin. It was a bizarre sensation—soft as silk yet unyielding—slowing her fall until she was drifting downwards like a leaf on the breeze.

  The Bronzeband was protecting her.

  Emily's descent continued to slow, gradually, until she found herself not falling, but sitting on a mound of smooth stone, her feet dangling at its sides. Her descent had slowed so gradually that she hadn't even noticed the transition from air to ground until the stone mound started making her butt feel cold.

  Emily lit a fire in one hand and saw that she was in a rge cavern. A blue scarf y sprawled beneath her. Emily dismounted the mound and picked up the scarf. With a bit of creative knot work, she fashioned it into a highly immodest outfit, covering just the essentials. It wasn't much, but it was more clothing than she'd had the st time she'd found herself alone in a dark cavern. At least this one was above water.

  The cavern stretched out before her like a gaping maw, its walls slick with moisture that reflected the faint light from Emily's fire, casting eerie, dancing shadows. Stactites hung from the ceiling like ancient chandeliers, dripping slowly onto the uneven stone floor below. The air was thick with the scent of earth and stone, a mineral tang that filled her nostrils and reminded her of rain-soaked soil.

  There was no sign of Aria, Talyndra, or even Era. She called out the names of the first two, but there were no replies beyond the echoing of her own voice against the cavern walls.

  Emily held the fire in her right hand up to the Bronzeband. It had stopped rotating now, but a new carving had appeared in its center, dominating the geometric mountain shapes below it. It was a seashell.

  On an unspoken, intuitive level, it was clear to Emily that the Stoneshell, her magical protector, had now formed a bond with the Bronzeband, and both had worked to protect her from Era. Why they had done so by plunging her into this deep cavern and separating her from her friends was a question she did not have an answer for.

  Emily longed for a word of reassurance from Aria, or a rowdy cheer from Talyndra. They had fallen too. But without the Stoneshell or Bronzeband to protect them, would they be okay? A horrifying vision of shattered marble appeared in Emily's mind's eye and she shook her head vigorously to dispel it.

  The others were fine. She had to believe that. And she had to find them.

  Up ahead, the cavern narrowed into a tunnel the size of a hallway. Emily adjusted her scarf and walked towards it, guided by the fme in her hand.