Through the Desert
You plod along but the sands seem to stretch on for an eternity. The near silence makes you abundantly aware of your new body. It feels like you have a thousand muscles you didn't have before. Your haunches tense and release with each step. Your hips sway from one side to the other as your footfalls naturally tip in front of one another. You're moving like an animal and a feminine one to boot.
Each step leaves a paw print in the sand that is deep and gives suggestion of how much your new, larger form must weigh. The sand between your toes feels unusual and the way grains slide up beneath your fur makes you itch in a way you've never felt. There is strength in being this thing, but there is a surplus of peculiarities that make it all too strange.
I'll simply find this fruit and be back to myself, you think. You don't have any desire to stay as this creature. You find it all very distracting. Your own tail flicks against your hips and startles you now and then. Your nose tickles, but you have no hands with which to scratch it. Your chest feels heavier now. Your fur-covered breasts are large and humanoid and leave you feeling embarrassed, imbalanced, and just a little empowered. You can look down to see them whenever you like, but the oddity that they are lined with rich, dark fur and the reality that they are yours and not those of a beautiful woman abates you.
They jiggle when you walk and you are grateful for a time that no one else is around to see them. Yet your relief dwindles the longer you trod over the seemingly endless desert.
"Hello?" You call out, but no one greets you. The sound of your voice is still startling to you. You sound so soft and lilting that it barely seems real. You'll just have to endure until you can find this strange tree.
Though the desert, it seems, has little to offer. It feels like you've been walking for hours. The heat is not as intense as it should be because your fur insulates you, but even still you can feel the warmth getting to be too much. The thick pink pads on your toes burn from the sands and you know you could use a drink of water.
For a moment, you contemplate digging through the sand until you dig up something to take to the genie instead of the fruit. Perhaps he would take something like a sand dollar as payment for a teleportation spell so that you wouldn’t have to walk all the way through the desert to the forest’s edge, or maybe for a charm that would keep you from dehydrating is this horrid heat. The silliness of that waivers quickly and you choose not to exert your energy. There was no telling that he would even appear if you ventured back to the oasis. He hadn’t been courteous enough to help you more before you set out, so it was unlikely he’d do so for some unrequested token.
You travel for a long while. Walking feels more natural now. Pushing your weight from paw to paw, using hind and fore legs in sync grows rhythmic. You learn to step more lightly to conserve strength and lessen the quaking of your lean frame and generous bosom. Your joints don't fight against you when you step down. Your balance has improved. It's as such that you feel lighter and your motions almost effortless. You think you might be able to walk on your hinds now, but you decide against it. It's simpler this way. When you are human you'll return to your rightful posture.
Your fur is starting to become a comfort too. The way it falls is almost unnoticeable. The ripple of it in brief wind sends shivers up your spine. The private places on your body are soft and don't wriggle or shift in discomfort like your old ones. You're tempted to learn more about yourself, but you feel it better not to get attached to new things. You'll be a man again in no time.
Even still, just as you're getting used to your body, you fear you may be ended in it. The sun is at its highest point and it’s seeping through your fur and lighting your new body on fire. A little shade would provide the greatest ease.
Written by on 23 March 2019