Dressed for Adventure

After staring at Helena for a moment longer, Troy snapped out of it and handed her his cloak. While the transformed witch wrapped it around her body, he scrounged up some fabric and used his wand to create a simple skirt. Once she had put that on too they sat next to each other on the bed, Helena's hands folded in her lap.

For a while neither was sure what to say. "I know you said you won't send me away," Helena eventually stammered. "But if you take me to the healers they won't want me to leave until they can counter my spell. So I don't want to go yet. I promise I'll let them look at me when we get back, but for now can't we just stay out here and continue your research?"

"My research? But that could take weeks! We've already been out here for a while and I haven't found anything." Troy shook his head. "I'm calling it off. I'll just write my report based on what I got out of the books."

Helena almost shouted. "No! We're in the woods because the books barely cover the topic. You'll get a terrible grade if you don't do your own research. Listen, I know you're looking for frost nymphs. I can help you track them down if you just let me stay here with you."

Troy frowned. "How would you do that? I've already tried every known method of tracking and nothing came of it."

"Not every method! I've looked at your books too and they say frost nymphs have a faint, but distinct smell. My nose might be sensitive enough to detect it in the mist."

Troy wanted to refuse again, but the girl looked so eager to help. And her mix of human and cat features was surprisingly cute. It was hard to say no to her. "Even if we found them right away, it would still take me a while to research them. It wouldn't be very responsible to keep you here."

"Troy, I've been fine for weeks. I don't think one or two more will make me turn into goo."

Poor word choice, Helena realized, uncomfortably aware of how gooey she felt between her legs. Having Troy touch her fuzzy ears had really set her off. Fortunately Troy's mind was elsewhere, and he reluctantly agreed to her proposal. "While I was out I did find a glade that may have been visited by nymphs, but there was no sign of them in the surrounding area. I supposed it wouldn't hurt to see if you smell anything."

Helena jumped up. "Great! Let's go!"

Troy stood up as well. "Slow down. It's cold out, and you're not wearing a lot."

"Oh, right." Helena remembered that she was barefoot. But that didn't take long to remedy. A pair of Troy's socks were magicked to fit her, narrowing but also lengthening to reach her knees. A pair of slippers turned into furry boots. And the loose, oversized shirt she was wearing pulled itself together to create a sweater that, while still loose, fit her a lot better. Along with the skirt and cloak, she looked like a cute bookworm. A cute bookworm who happened to be half cat, but that only made her more interesting, Troy found.

Grabbing a new cloak for himself, Troy opened the tent's flap and stepped out into the mist, catgirl familiar close behind him. He hoped he wouldn't regret giving in to her.