She paused as a triumphant feminine cackle from outside the room suddenly interrupted her rant.
“Hourra!” Via’s voice called out from several rooms down the hallway outside. “At last! The beautiful language one sometimes speaks through their nose is now mine, and I can now read all their famous works without help! Les Mis and Monte-Cristo, here I come!”
I looked away from the direction of the exultant voice and back at Breena, choosing to remain silent.
“That,” the tiny light said, after inhaling again, “was very much also your fault. She will be happy about that for weeks, Wes. Do you realize it? Do you realize how often she’s going to speak French to me now, and expect me to be impressed, every single time? No matter how uninterested I’ll look? She did the same thing when she started to learn English, and Stell had to step in and give us both ground rules. You’re making us fight again, and we already all fight too much as it is.”
“I apologize for making you fight with your other bodies, Breena,” I said dutifully, wondering how long it would take her to realize that I was naked, and finally deciding that I had given up being uncomfortable about this sort of thing myself. Something similar happened every time I went to sleep, anyway, so unless I wanted to contact the Challenger Human Resource office and make a harassment claim, I’d just have to roll with it until Stell made up her mind over what our boundaries actually were. “And I apologize for not giving you a warning on what I was about to do,” I continued, leaning back in the bath, while still making sure everything under my chest was still covered with water. “I was overwhelmed with the notifications I had received, and felt like I should hurry up and make a decision. And this morning was such a weird start, so I didn’t think to contact you. I’ll try not to let it happen again.”
“Right,” Breena said, bobbing slightly. She had enlarged just enough to enable me to make out her humanoid shape and a hint of her face. “That was on me. I’m used to close contact with you and forgot that things… change,” she said uncomfortably, “when I get bigger. I also wasn’t expecting to be able to reach that size, since I’ve become a Sunrise Sprite. Being bigger is kind of weird. But you’re right. Now that I can reach human-woman size—well, short human-woman size—we should maybe have a few boundaries. Especially since I literally can’t clarify certain issues you’re concerned with,” she added irritably. “But yeah. If I’m near you, I’ll be more careful about my size when we sleep. And I’ll start giving you more privacy when you change and stuff. Not that I was peeking or anything before,” she quickly added. “In fact I try to be super-careful about that.”
“Great,” I said dryly, still resting against the edge of the bathing pool.
Say, Teeth spoke up in my mind. Are we going to tell her that we’re naked, orrrr…
Not this time, I told him. This time, she brought this on herself. It’s not like she has a reason to believe I’m wearing an underwater burka.
Isn’t that called a burkini? Teeth asked. I was torn between telling him to shut up and asking how he knew that, so I just settled for ignoring him.
“I mean it, Wes,” Breena insisted, still talking to me as she floated over the pool. “I know Stell and the rest of her has tried to give you some strict boundaries—Merada excepted,” the little fairy grumbled, “that sugar-drugging cheater. Don’t ask me to explain that. Anyway, it’s true that if we’re trying to establish some kind of boundaries for you to follow, we should reciprocate. So I’m going to talk to the other Satellites, and we’re going to try not to be so flippant about your own privacy, especially with regards to your body.”
“I appreciate that, Breena,” I said as I put away the small bar of soap I had been holding. It was actually one that had already been available here, instead of the one I had shown Via along with my magic portable tub. I had examined it earlier and found it to be fascinating, since it was actually just a small stone with cleaning magic scripted into it.
“Good,” Breena said in a relieved tone, still apparently oblivious. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, you’re safe with us. Even Merada would never try anything without your permission—well, I mean she tattooed you while you were unconscious, but she would never try anything else without your consent. You know, the other stuff.”
“I figured as much,” I answered, my face still deadpan. I realized I hadn’t washed my hair yet, and idly considered asking Breena if she knew where the shampoo was, or if they still had any left after a couple thousand years.
“This isn’t to say the rest of us find you unattractive,” Breena quickly clarified, waving her tiny hands. “Stell’s actually worried you’ll get that impression, to be honest. Though maybe she didn’t want me to tell you that. Too late. But that’s not true, either. It’s just that today made it clear that a few boundaries can be a really good thing, and might actually help us protect each other’s feelings more. Especially with all of the other things going on right now.”
“Absolutely,” I agreed with a nonchalant nod, “we’re responsible for the safety of an untold number of lives. Other duties and powers are forming for us all every day. I know we both count as teenagers or young adults for our respective races, but it would be ridiculous if we couldn’t handle something like this, after everything else we’ve faced.”
“And that’s why I’ve already started working on it,” Breena said happily, seeming pleased with herself. “I came up with a list of all the behaviours I should change. For instance,” she began, ticking off her fingers, “no more passing out in a food coma after hitting whatever dessert table we have on hand. That doesn’t mean I’m going to eat less, it just means I’m not going to eat everything at once, and then be in a position where you’re forced to carry me around for a bit. People always tell our race that we get loopy after consuming a certain amount of glucose, but it’s never been a concern any of us have taken seriously. Because why would we? But the point is, since there’s a risk I might say something inappropriate in my sleep, I’m going to make that VERY BIG sacrifice to avoid making you uncomfortable. Not to make you feel guilty, just to make sure you know that I’m serious.”
“Well, thank you for that, Breena,” I replied genuinely, because she really did start to get a little friendlier with me when she was sleepy and overloaded with sugar.
“You’re welcome,” she said brightly, continuing with her list. “Okay, next, I’m going to give you some space whenever you change into your equipment. I can still help you out with studying the magicky stuff about your gear, but I’ll step out for a minute whenever you have to change.”
“Wait,” I realized, narrowing my eyes for a moment, “you weren’t doing that already before?”
“Of course!” the tiny pink woman said quickly. “I mean, I didn’t always fly away immediately, because you wear so many layers of protection, on top of so many different weapons. We could field at least three people with your current get-up alone, not counting all that backup junk you carry, but yeah. From now on, whenever you’re changing anything at all, I’ll either leave or ask you when you want me to leave. Because me walking in on you naked, or even partially undressed, without your permission, is super not-okay. Because you wouldn’t ever do that to me or one of my other bodies.”