Harlan formed the body, and in her lower chest was a large gem.

Everything was ready, and then suddenly he had a realization.

“You don’t have a soul.”

“That shouldn’t be an issue, should it? You can just take a piece of yours and cultivate it in the body for a little while.”

“That would be the case, but I can observe that male and females across all sexually dimorphic species have slightly different souls.”

“You could just say you need a woman's soul.”

“I find that when I am doing work like this, I think more clearly if I speak in specific terms.”

“Alright, find a woman.”

“The Cast army didn’t have any women who I could justifiably use. And I am unlikely to find a willing subject.”

“I’m sure anyone would give up a little piece if you asked.”

“They would feel coerced by my authority and do it even if they didn’t want to. I don’t want to be the kind of person who asks like that.”

“Then find someone who will, someone in their own position of power who you trust to answer honestly.”

Harlan made his way to her office.

“Joan, can I have a little piece of your soul?”

She looked up from the report in front of her and rubbed her eyes.

“I seem to have drifted to sleep again.”

“It isn’t as sinister as it sounds.”

“You know what, why don’t you just explain this, because I am confident that you have a good reason.”

“Whole truth?”

“As much as you feel should be said. We should have at least one person who we can actually talk to about this.”

“As an infant I instinctually cast magic to bind my mother’s mind to my own and she has been living inside of me since then. She was not a good person and she rejects who she was, and has now taken the name Dawn as a metaphor for how she has changed who she is. Now she wants a body because she wants to be able to help me as more than a voice in my head. I made the body and placed a large crystal in the chest to facilitate the transfer from mind to physical form. I can’t use my own soul since the souls of men and women are different in subtle ways and I don’t fully understand the implications of using my own soul for her body.”

Joan closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat.

“I’m not dreaming am I?”

“If you’d rather, I could just pretend that I never came here, you’d take a short nap and it would be a dream.

I need it from someone who I trust and trusts me because you must choose to give up a little bit of your soul. I’ll just go and ask Mercedes-”

She all but leapt from her chair as she slammed her hands on the desk.

“You can't let her do that. You know how she is, always scheming, I don’t know what she would do, but she’d use this against you one day.”

Harlan sat in the chair across from her.

“If you are going to do this we can leave now, and in half an hour or less you can be back here.”

“Really?”

“It isn’t hard for me to take just a little bit from your soul, you’ll feel a little odd, like a cold stone is inside of your stomach, but it will pass. Other than that, there shouldn’t be any adverse reactions.”

“Let’s get this over with.”

Anyone who saw the pair move through the streets could tell the woman was nervous, but Harlan always tried to project an image of strength in public.

Moral was better since the bathhouse was nearing completion, but rationing was never a popular choice.

An old Dague man, branded on his forehead, approached them.

Joan stepped in front.

“Stand down.”

“As you command. Speak your mind.”

The old man kneeled, the movement clearly troubling his old bones.

“Your majesty, I’ve heard reports that you are seeking something, I offer my services as an old scout.

My body is useless to you as it is, but if you turned me to one of your soldiers, my life would have meaning after death.”

“Nothing of you would remain, I would gain nothing from killing you to make another golem.”

The old man’s eyes drooped.

“I’m very sorry to have bothered you then, your majesty.”

“Stand.”

Harlan helped him with telekinesis.

“If you would give your life, then I could still have another use. Come to my home in the evening, and you might still get your wish to act as a scout.”

“Of course, your majesty.”

Within the basement of his home Harlan had the body laid out on the table, cloth covering her sensitive areas, but otherwise was left unrestrained.

“She was Half-Dague?”

“No, she was human. But in this land, she would rather be something else. She said that she liked the way Dague looked, but she also liked her skin in a human tone.”

“How will you explain her presence here?”

“I will tell people that she is my aunt, that is the relationship that we have decided upon since she rejects being my mother as she does not feel right to claim that title.”

“This is a very complicated family of yours.”

“Yes, and that is only the half of it. I can feel your anxiety, are you sure you still feel comfortable doing this?”

“Why are you so insistent on my feelings? I’ve already told you yes.”

“One can say yes to something that they don’t want to because they want to avoid upsetting another.”

Harlan leaned on the table and overlooked his mother’s new body. He could see the face that he knew from her, the nose and ears were what he had inherited from her.

“No, that’s bullshit, I’m just scared about what I would do if I stopped asking people I care about for permission.”

“And that is why despite some discomfort, I am willing to help you. Please, let’s get this over with so we can both resume our work.”

It took only 10 minutes for Harlan to gather bits and pieces from around her soul so that once it was fed inside of the gem it could be grown into something close enough to a prime soul that it could be linked to Dawn’s mind.

For now the body was sitting under an array that was pulling in mana not unlike the ones used to power the Reinoan communication boxes.

Harlan was running his hands along Joan’s body to check that there were no adverse reactions.

“I thought you didn’t like touching.”

“I don’t like it when people touch me like you did. I don’t want breasts put up against my back, I don’t want you touching me at all when in the bath at all outside of that tradition that your people have.

And I only accept that because I feel there is a meaning to it that I should accept for the sake of our relationship as friends and as part of this nation.”

“You seem on edge. I know you wouldn’t talk so harshly with me over something so trivial if you weren't.”

“By the end of today, my birth mother is going to be alive again, in a new body. I don’t know how to feel.”

His tone changed.

“Yes I want you here, I’m not saying that I’m just scared of you being my only family here and someone- Of course I trust that you- No, I’m just worried about you.”

He went silent.

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“Alright. Now I need to wait, once that soul has been nurtured to full size and the body has set itself up right, I can move her.”

“How long will that take?”

“Just a few hours. I guess I should go find that old man.”

Harlan found him with other old men in what was once called the slave quarter, but was now just another housing area.

“Your majesty.”

“My work was finished sooner than I expected, we can speak privately about how you could help me now.”

“These men are my old unit, if possible, would they have the same opportunity?”

“If they agree after everything, then yes. But for now, we need to go to my home.”

Harlan brought them down to the basement where Dawn’s body still lay.

“I hope that has nothing to do with this.”

“My aunt has undergone a rather serious medical procedure, one not entirely unrelated. She is just resting now.”

The body was alive and its chest rose and fell with its breaths.

“In what manner?”

“I could bring you back to youth. Now, your life would only be extended a few years as you wouldn’t need to worry about old age directly killing you, but souls for things that do die of old age have a timer, one that I am not allowed to push back too far. But that isn’t what matters here, I want to know why you think you deserve this. And far more importantly, I need to know that you will uphold my conduct while you work.”

Then men had no hesitation.

“Of course, we will do whatever it is that is asked of us.”

“And what did you do for the army before?”

“We were scouts.”

Harlan turned his back and then tossed a dagger near the men.

“No, you were. I’ve seen men who don’t flinch, and I’ve seen men who won’t flinch. You were all spies or assassins, weren’t you?”

“I have no idea what you mean. We simply-”

“You said that you have reports that I was looking for something. Now, that sounds like you had a job that was a bit more than just being scouts.”

The man who first approached him laughed, and Joan gripped her sword, ready to draw.

“I would accept nothing less than to work for a king who can understand. We will do anything that you want, I don’t care if it is-”

“Stop. Whatever you are about to say risks making me change my mind. You are going to uphold yourselves to my standards, and if not, I’ll kill you myself. I don’t just want you to uphold the letter of the law, I want you to uphold the spirit of it. No killing children, no mass poisonings to get a single target.

If I want something found, you do your absolute best to find it without causing undue harm. What is undue will be your responsibility, and I am not going to kill you all after a single failure, I expect that you will make mistakes about what I find to be acceptable and you will need to be corrected. Can you all accept these terms?”

The men kneeled, grunts and popping from the joints were heard.

“I need to know your names. And why haven’t the rest of them spoken yet.”

“My name is D’if, and that is the only one that matters, the rest will do whatever you say, and they don’t like talking to people.”

After an hour of work and screaming that made Joan green, the men were sent to guest rooms to recover.

Harlan moved back down to the basement so he could put Dawn into her body.

“Ready?”

“Do it.”

With just a tap she was in the body that shot up from the table and then doubled over in pain.

“You’ll be alright, it is gonna be pins and needles for a few minutes, but that is just the cost of forcibly calibrating your body. I’ve made a lot of changes to the process of enhancing bodies, and this is just-”

She spoke through gritted teeth.

“SHUT THE HELL UP, I’LL BE FINE.”

He grabbed her hand.

“I know.”

After a few minutes she was still doubled over.

“Gods, it’s like every missed menstrual cycle is coming back at once.”

“Are you alright?”

“Yep, I feel fucking fantastic. Get me some beer, whiskey, ale, whatever the fuck you have.”

Harlan returned in just a few moments. He still found it best to get people somewhat drunk before fleshsculpting people, so bottles were in the room.

She gulped down a quarter of a bottle of whiskey before Harlan took it away from her.

After ten minutes, it was not a gradual decline in pain, there was just a sudden stop.

“Fuck, it is done?”

“Should be.”

“Alright, now-”

In her thrashing around she knocked the clothes that covered her privates off of her and now she suddenly realized it.

“Don’t get bashful now, I designed that body alongside you. I didn’t get embarrassed when you kept requesting to be more well endowed.”

“Yes you did. You were red as a beet the first time I mentioned it.”

“But I did it anyway. Besides, you’ve seen me naked through my eyes before and I figure you are likely to join me and Joan during our baths.”

“No, I actually didn’t plan to do that. Mothers seeing their kids naked is one thing, but what I’ve already seen of you is weird, and I don’t intend to keep doing it. I am quite a beautiful woman, and I don’t want you getting any ideas.”

“Alright, well if you can make jokes then it isn’t a problem.”

“When do you think I can stand up?”

“Step off of the table, but be careful. Do you mind if I get some other work done while you get used to your body?”

“Do what you need. How long until I’m completely ready?”

“I’d say a week until you are combat ready.”

“Good, because right now, I feel pent up, and I want some action.”

As Harlan put gem to steel, making daggers, communicators, and sets of very simple shifting armor, Dawn wanted to talk just to get used to talking.

“So, what are you going to tell the spies?”

“They are scouts until I say otherwise. And since I now have more than one of them, I would like to send them in a star formation to search for anything related to the Pixies. Five men, five directions.”

“And Joan?”

“What about her?”

“Well, you and her might-”

“Do you remember what our first argument was?”

“Doesn’t ring a bell.”

“Don’t bullshit me. You wanted me to go after Adina, to find a vice so I had something to drown my sorrows with. So I am going to make this really fucking clear, I don’t want you playing matchmaker.”

“Fine.”

“Is it?”

“Of course, but I also want you to know that I am going to be making my own choices now, and you probably won’t agree with all of them. So don’t threaten me or cut me out of your life when we clash.”

“You know I would never do that.”

“And do you remember what you did to end that argument? You cut me off, you left me sitting in a darkness where I couldn’t even tell if time was passing, I couldn’t even think in that place.”

“I didn’t mean to do that, I didn’t know.”

“What I am asking is that you don’t fly off the handle to protect me from what I do. You might be able to do that with Adina or Zella or whoever, but I am a grown woman who finally has a body. And you know what, I feel fucking fantastic now, I hated controling yours, and maybe it was just the soul mismatch that you talked about. I FEEL-”

“Your hormones are going to be out of control for a few days. I’m not going to blame you for having weird reactions or being petty or having a god complex for a little while. It is just another consequence of the changes to speed up your acclimation to having a body.”

“Oh.”

“So please, stay in the house for just a week. Oh, and it probably doesn’t help that you have been drinking already.”

“Alright. No more drinking, no going out.”

“I know you are planning an escape already, so just be careful.”

“So I can go out?”

“You said it before, you are a grown woman, and you are feeling certain urges. Just remember that you can rip a man limb from limb, and think about whether it is worth putting someone else's life at risk while you are still recovering from being a ghost in a shell.”

“You suck the fun out of everything.”

“I know.”

Dawn went for a one handed vertical pushup.

“Be careful.”

“No, I want to know exactly what I can do and then get a little bit farther than that.”

“Did I get that from you, or did you get that from me?”

“Shut up.”

Harlan let her bend and contort and run around the small room like a child as he finished up the last of the equipment.

“Since you are so fit right now, is there anything that feels wrong that isn’t from you getting abnormally used to your body so quickly?”

“Maybe you just got better at doing this. But I think my horns are a bit long.”

She got back on her feet and rubbed them. Each horn was a pristine white and sharply rose from her temples.

“But I do love being this tall, you finally look like a little boy to me.”

Harlan turned the sigils back on and reached up to touch the horns, bringing them from six inches down to four. Then he decided to give himself his own horns, and they would be six inches.

“Are you trying to compensate for something?”

“You know I don’t need to.”

She scrunched her face.

“Now you know how it feels, I am not comfortable with your joking about me like that.”

“Fine. Now can I get out of here to get drunk and drag some poor bastard to my bed.”

“Being open is nice, but now you are making me nauseous.”

“Don’t try to fight a war you can’t win.”

“Let’s go stretch your legs, I need to see Joan and Mercedes.”

Along the way they ran into D’if, who had taken to youth like a duck to water.

“I was coming to see you, I would like permission to stretch my legs.”

“Follow us.”

His eyes scanned Dawn.

“You look better when you aren’t unconscious on a table.”

“I’ve been told that before.”

Harlan stopped.

“Is there a problem?”

“I’m going to make something clear. If both of you decide to do something, do it somewhere that I am not going to see or hear. Dawn, you know the spells that can block my mental senses, so use them.”

When they made their way to Mercedes' room Harlan tossed the shifting clothes on her that splashed like liquid metal as the soulsmithed chainmail slipped under her clothes and she shrieked at how cold they were.

“You’ll get used to it. He did the same shit to me not ten minutes ago.”

“Who are you?”

“I am his aunt, Lady Dawn Fomoria.”

“Wait, Harlan doesn’t have any family here. And he isn’t a Dague.”

“There is a long story there, why don’t I tell you some other time, alright?”

“I… Of course, Lady Dawn.”

“Mercedes, I am going to visit Joan to give her a shifting suit like what I’ve just given you. Would you like to come?”

“Of course.”

Harlan noticed the stares from the people as they walked down the street.

People didn’t even notice Mercedes walking behind Harlan due to the eye-catching equipment that the man wore and the beautiful woman who bore resemblance to their king and had full horns.