Stepping inside I realized who they were selling for. And it seemed to be every non human race in existence. The walls were lined with suits made for centaurs and satyrs, gnomes and elves. Approaching a rack where some simple shirts hung up, it was segmented by race and then size. All of the same shirt design, a simple white tunic to hang just above the respective knee. But the fabrics were different, thickness different for each race. I couldn’t tell which was intended for what, as I could only assume the names were written out on top. But the actual craftsmanship on each one was so particular I couldn’t imagine the work that went into them.

“Need help finding anything?” A voice called from beyond the rack. Peeking around I noticed a masculine individual standing by the front desk, and when he began to wave two arms raised from his one side. “Ah you must be new. Pleasant to meet you, the name’s Sid.” As he began to step around the counter I began to see his other set of arms. Three on each side. And a large round protrusion hanging from his lower back. He was wearing a fine tan shirt that fit him very well without being baggy and seemed to wrap around his scaled tail. His pants seemed like typical trousers or workman's garb, clearly worn but not dirty. “Ah, now you're the shortest dwarf, or tallest gnome, I’ve ever seen. Doubt I have much that will fit you, but if you just give me a few moments I can have that fixed.” He picked up a few of the shirts hanging by the rack I was looking at and made off to the back before I could say anything in protest. After hearing the beginning of scissors and clattering I decided it best to just find Q and Maud.

Maud was easy enough. “What are you doing still standing at the doorway?” She had decided to make the threshold her temporary home while we were here.

“I already have clothes that fit me well enough, and after seeing how that arachnid handled your interaction I doubt I want to step much further in.”

It felt odd seeing Maud put off by someone just for being a bit forward. “Wait, arachnid? What’s that?”

“They are humanoids with spider anatomy. They can vary quite drastically from individual to individual as they have high genetic inconsistency. They take great pride in this and tend to flaunt their differences among one another in social situations.” The longer she went on the more distressed she seemed to become.

“Maud, do you not like spiders?”

“What?”

“Well you don’t seem to like spider people.”

“Arachnid.”

“Yeah you don’t like Arachnids.”

“What gave you that idea?” She was smoothing her dress a lot more than usual. Actually I don’t think I’ve seen her smooth her dress before now.

“Well you looked really uncomfortable describing them just now.”

“Ah miss I have your shirt done! And you must be a variant merrow. Do they get cold, or do hats make them restless? I’ve heard different answers so I always need to ask.” He seemed to be referring to Maud’s head tentacles. Instead of answering, Maud walked outside. As she stepped through the door I could feel a cool breeze flowing inside for only a moment.

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“Hey is everything alright?” Q came to the front, took a single look at the shopkeeper and rushed outside yelling “I’m really sorry about that!” It seemed Q meant it for him.

“Ah damn another one walks out just like that. I should really learn to hold my tongue.”

“I’m sorry what just happened?”

“Here let me show you to a changing room while I talk.” He waited until I was fully in the room by myself to start explaining. “Ok so how much do you know about variants?”

“Nothing? I’ve never heard the term before?”

“Oh? But your friend is very obviously one?”

“Not really friends, we met yesterday.”

“Ah, then let me guess. ‘This isn’t what I was told a merrow looks like.’ A thought like that cross your mind?”

“Yeah, almost exactly.”

“That’s a variant. They just look a little different from the average individual of their race. For humans that’s as simple as height. For Arachnids we might have a spider for a lower body or just a thorax, all in one family. Different races have different odds of having variants. Humans are the average funnily enough, with Arachnids being on the upper end of the spectrum. Merrow are typically seen as the lower end, with entire families being identifiable by fin patterns and colors. There being a variant Merrow isn’t unheard of, but they take great pride in their uniformity. Also the opposite of us Arachnids. A variant Merrow would be kicked out of the shoal and forced to move onto land into a pod of other variants. Merrow society doesn’t even have a name for them, they try to forget they even exist.”

“Oh, but if she was raised on land then she shouldn’t feel bad about looking different right?”

“We’re talking about a society that would kick you out if your back fin doesn’t have the right number of curves in it. She’s not even a fish. Even on land she probably got treated poorly. I’d be surprised if she was even in the pod for more than a couple years before being forced to leave.”

“So why was she uncomfortable talking about you? And other Arachnids? Sorry about that by the way.”

“Probably because in the short time she was there they ingrained how wrong being different is, and still sees my people that way despite being mistreated for the very same reasons. And don’t apologize. She was better than the last Merrow I had in here. Nearly had to call the guards to get them to leave.”

I realized I had kept standing in the changing room long after getting into the new clothes. The shirt felt just right, hugging me where it should and hanging everywhere else. The pants had just the right amount of flexibility for bending down.“I wish I could help her.”

“You can’t. You aren’t a variant. Right? You’ve never been stared at uncomfortably just for the way you look, or told it would be a blessing to see you die where you stand?”

“I can’t imagine people saying those things to Maud.”

“Neither can I. It’s what my last Merrow guest said to me, and I’m not even one of them. I can’t imagine what she was told. Now if you’re done in there you better just leave those clothes. I don’t want to see my finely made breeches and shirt smeared with soot before they leave the store.”

I glanced one last time in the mirror. The shirt and pants were new, white on top and light brown on bottom. The only thing truly lifted from my last outfit and brought over were the potion bottles hanging from the same belt. It was staining the pants a little but that was fine. I wasn’t leaving them behind. Most were empty at this point, but they could be filled again. “Yeah I’m done.”