Jal leaped from level to level down the tower before Sage Elvan could stop it. In less than a minute it was on the ground floor, rushing from room to room looking for a door. Jal’s heart raced and its feet were a blur as it flew over the ground. Without thought as to where it was going, it sprinted through the farmyard.

Taryn had been cutting up vegetables. She went to the door and saw Jal race through the snowdrifts.

Stunned by Jal’s speed, she touched the communicator on her shirt. “Jan, what is going on? Jal came through here like a Haybuti cheetah.”

“I told it that we were going to Nik so it could have a haircut.”

“Well, it’s long gone. Went west toward the village. I would guess it’s at the Burying Field by now.”

“It’ll come back, when it calms down.”

“Jan!” The inflection in her voice sent the message that Jan was being ridiculous. “It’s a child who doesn’t know its way around the area. When Jal finally stops, I’m pretty sure that it will have no idea how to get back here.”

“Then follow it! Fetch it home.”

“You fetch it home. You’re supposed to be the parent here.”

“I’m working.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re not,” she laughed. “The two of you were sitting there talking this entire time, I’m guessing.”

“What if it won’t come?”

“You’ll have to help it calm down, Jan. If you’re taking Jal for a haircut, you’re going to have to help it prepare. It seems to me that the child hasn’t ever had a haircut. I’m betting Jal put its hair in those ridiculous-looking ties because it doesn’t know what to do with it. It needs a good scrubbing.”

“You don’t think it’s ever had a haircut?”

“No. You know it grows slowly the first few years and then suddenly goes haywire.”

“Would you meet me at the speeder, please? I need you to help me convince Jal that this is the best thing to do.”

She sighed. “I’ll come along. But you’re doing most of the convincing!”

Jal had been sprinting at its top speed for nearly an hour before Tarryn spotted it far past Ebonbell. She slowed the speeder. “Jal’s headed toward the shrine. Isn’t it nearly the hour for the bells to ring?”

Jan checked its timepiece. “It is. What do you suggest?”

“I wonder if the sound will distract Jal from the panic that it seems to be in.”

“Maybe.” Jan looked at her. “Mere mention of a haircut causing such panic! This is ridiculous!”

“Jan, stop. If Jal hasn’t had its hair touched or handled as a baby or small child, it hasn’t learned how to deal with the sensitivity.”

The bells at the shrine began to sound. Jal come to a sudden stop. It looked around and followed the sound to the shrine. It was watching the acolytes pull the ropes when they arrived. The last note was still resounding when the acolytes turned to go inside. Jal followed them.

“Jal,” Sage Elvan caught Jal’s sleeve. “Jal, come with us.”

Jal looked from Sage Elvan to Taryn questioningly. “Where are we? What happened?”

“Let’s go home.” Sage Elvan and Taryn led Jal to the trees where they had parked the speeder. “We were talking about a haircut, and you ran out the door.”

“A haircut.” Jal’s voice was filled with fear. “Someone’s going to hurt me. I asked for sanctuary, and now you’re talking about someone hurting me.”

“Your hair is very sensitive,” Taryn stated the obvious.

“I want to teach you how to care for yourself,” Sage Elvan told Jal. “I’m guessing that your hair is so long that it touches the ground.”

Jal said unhappily, “It’s longer than that. It hurts when I touch it. I cry when I clean it. I don’t know what to do. My Mom tried to comb it when I was little, and I screamed and screamed. It hurt for days after she did that. I never let her get close enough to touch it after that.”

“Let us help you,” Taryn said. “I have some calming lotion that we’ll put into it before we go to Nik.”

“We’ll stop at the chemist’s before we go to the salon,” Sage Elvan said matter-of-factly. “There’s a medicine you can take that will make it so it doesn’t hurt.”

“Medicine?” Jal looked at Sage Elvan suspiciously.

“Many children take the medicine in order to tolerate the pain.”

“When was the last time you washed it, Jal?” Taryn asked. Do you take the ties out of it when you shower?”

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

“I do take the ties out. It takes a long time to wash and dry. It’s been a few weeks.”

“We need to wash it before it’s cut,” Sage Elvan said. “Or the ladies won’t touch it.”

Jal suffered terribly that afternoon. Sage Elvan took Jal into its own shower and demonstrated for Jal how it washed its hair. Jal’s sobs were heartbreaking for the sage to listen to. It was nearly time for the evening meal when they emerged from the shower. “My head is going to hurt for weeks.”

“I’m so sorry you’re in so much pain. I have something that will help you,” Taryn said. She sprinkled willow bark powder into a cup of chamomile tea and stirred it.

“I hope this works.” Jal guzzled it down. The three of them sat together after dinner. Taryn and the sage reviewed the itinerary for the next few days while Jal stared into space.

“You could go to bed,” Taryn said. “That tea should be making you sleepy.”

“It’s not. I feel like someone is pounding on my head.”

Taryn went off to her room. Sage Elvan read for a long time as Jal sat with its head in its hands. “It’s time to sleep,” it finally told Jal. Jal walked slowly up the steps to the fifth level. It was finished brushing its teeth when Sage Elvan came into the room. “Very good. Nice and tidy. It will be easy for Taryn to clean. You have only this handful of charms?”

“Yes.”

"After your haircut, I will show you what to do with your trimmed hair. Then you can put the charms on it.”

“You use the hairs that are cut off?”

“Oh, yes. A Stafriez’s hairs have power in them. After they are cut, the hairs will each turn one color and stop changing. The various colors have specific kinds of power.”

Jal went to the bed and pulled the sheets back. “What sorts of power?” It climbed into the bed.

Sage Elvan sat down next to Jal. “Agility, precognition, and hearing. There are others.”

“It’s magic power?”

“They’re not magic but are special abilities that the Stafriez are born with. I’m sure you’ve experienced all of them already.”

“Yes.”

“Is the pain lessening?”

“No. Maybe we should wait several days,” Jal proposed.

“No. You would recover from getting clean, but then you would struggle again after the haircut. I think it's better to do it all at once. Please try to get some rest.” The sage patted Jal on the shoulder and went to the door. “Lights off.” The lamps around the room turned off and the perimeter of the floor glowed softly.

Jal lay in bed for several hours with its head pounding. “This isn’t working,” Jal spoke out loud. “I can’t sleep.” It got up and went to a window. Both moons were covered by light clouds. The visible stars shone brightly. Jal tapped on the wall below the window and made a bench to sit on. The territory around the tower was quiet and moonlight reflected off the bits of snow.

Jal paced back and forth with its head aching. “There’s got to be something I can do to distract myself.” It picked up its electronic tablet and sat down to read. A few minutes later, it stopped, unable to focus, and began to walk around again.

The tower spoke, “You could decorate the walls instead of pacing holes in my floor."

“I could? I could. Lights.” The room lit up. Jal wasn’t sure where to start. It drew a pattern on the wall. “How do I erase it?”

“Place your hand on an area that hasn’t changed, then wipe it across the wall.”

Jal cleared the wall and began again. After some practice, it drew a forest with leaves on the trees, and a merkylan flying in the sky. In the middle of the night, Jal finally lay down and slept.

The following morning, Taryn, Sage Elvan and Jal transported to Nik. They went to

the chemist, where Jal swallowed the medicine Sage Elvan handed it. They crossed the street, went down several blocks and turned. It wasn’t long before they walked through the door of Goldi’s Locks.

Taryn had called for an appointment, and Jal was led directly to a chair and was covered with a cape.

“I’m going to touch your hair. Are you ready?” Jal could feel exactly which hairs were gathered. The hairdresser made the first cut of several hairs.

“Ouch,” Jal said calmly.

She took another snip. “Ow!”

“That’s not so bad, is it? I’ll just take steady little snips that you can tolerate.” She caught another group. The scissors slipped and she cut a bigger portion than she intended.

“OW!” Jal yelled.

As she continued, Jal’s calm demeanor changed. It began to complain and whine.“Here are the strands.” She handed the hairs to it, trying to keep it calm as the back hairs were thicker than the sides. Jal’s hair began to turn colors and it began to cry. She turned the chair slowly toward herself and cut the other side. “Good. Very good.” She handed Jal more hairs and tried to distract it with silly chatter.

Jal felt her touch the hairs on the top of its head and gritted its teeth. At the next cut it screamed in pain. “Stop! Stop!” Jal shrieked. She kept cutting. “Nooo! Stop! You need to stop!” She cut the longest hairs and handed them to Jal. “I thought you were supposed to listen to your customers! No!” The hairdresser wanted very badly to quit but knew that would simply prolong the pain. Jal let out an ear-shattering high-pitched scream of pain. A mirror shattered, and then a window. “You’re killing me! Killing me!” Jal began to beg. “I’ll do anything you ask me to! I beg for your mercy. Just leave the rest. Please!”

Another high-pitched scream echoed through the salon. As a lady entered the building she shook her head, “Another Stafriez child is getting its first haircut.” Jal screamed in agony for the next several minutes.

Finally, the stylist was finished. “There. That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

“That was horrible! I could feel each hair as it was cut.”

“You know, if you would have taken medicine ahead of time, it would have been less painful.”

“I did take it.”

“How old are you?”

“Five.”

“Five years old and your hair was down to the floor! Why didn’t you have a haircut sooner?”

“Because it wasn’t a nuisance!”

“How often do you handle it?” Jal looked at her. “Do you take the braids out and comb it once or twice a week?

“Are you kidding me? It hurts to have someone look at it, let alone touch it.”

“If you comb it daily while it’s short, you’ll build up a tolerance to the discomfort.”

“Discomfort? Why don’t you just say pain? I wish someone would have told me that when I was little.”

“Try this when you get home. Rub it on the cut ends. The pain will go away by tomorrow. Next time, take two or three of those pills. You’re very tall and it will take more medicine to affect you because of your size.” She gave Jal a tube of lotion.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll see you in about six weeks.”

“Not if I can help it!” As Jal, Taryn, and Sage Elvan went out the door of the salon, Jal said to them, “I learned my greatest weakness today. I must learn to deal with my hair and build up a pain tolerance or it will be my downfall.”

“Yes, and only you can say when it can be cut.”

“What did Stafriez do before the ointment and medicine was invented?”

“The same thing we do now when we’re no longer metamorphs.”

“What’s that, cry silently?”

The sage laughed. “We meditate!”

“You meditate your way through a haircut? Are you serious? Someone inflicts pain on the most sensitive part of your body and you sit there silently?”

“Are you always so dramatic?” Tarryn chuckled.

“No. Except when it comes to my hair.”