“If anyone picks on my sister, I’ll beat them up!” Brahma insisted fiercely. Of course, it would have been more dramatic if he hadn’t been a winsome elf maiden at the time, but Tarre certainly approved of the sentiment.
“Yah!” she cheered. “Hugs you!” Proving that she was a swift learner, the little cutie wrapped her arms around her brother’s legs, tripping him over. “Ohh!” she cooed, then scrambled for better purchase. The new humanoid forms were proving to have all sorts of advantages in sibling relations.
“Look, Aesthy, it was just a joke,” the wilting shrub quavered. “Really. I can fix it.”
“You have done quite enough, ‘Gadabout,’” the willowy elf matron told the shrubbery imperiously. She shook out her dress once more, then checked the long silver tresses plaited up in tailed buns on the side of her head. “Teaching my son to turn into a girl,” she muttered darkly, “when you know I wanted to show him off. Turning my daughter into a dark elf when we’re visiting a village full of high elves. Honestly, your sense of humour is simply appalling, Galanthyr.”
“So what do we do?” the apparent wood elf maiden asked between his sister’s attempted huggicides.
“We go as we are, Brahma,” Aesthyrondalarurai decided firmly. “There is simply no time to teach you a new form, and if any highnosed elves have complaints about Tarre’s appearance they will answer to me.” Her icy tone foretold doom for anyone so foolish.
“Alright. Let’s go,” Brahma declared.
“Not yet,” Aesthyrondalarurai contradicted. “First, we have to make you two presentable. Those clothes will have to go.”
“What’s wrong with these things?” Brahma asked as he looked down at his brown leather jerkin and black satin tights. “Is it the boots? It’s the boots isn’t it?”
“No, it’s not the boots,’ his mother stated. “Well, yes it is. It’s the whole ensemble really. It’ll all have to go.”
“Then what’ll I wear?” Brahma demanded. “Humanoids have to wear this cloth stuff, I’m pretty sure. Their skin’s too soft and smooth to go without. I mean look at it; my skin feels so soft and silky smooth.… Yuch!”
“You’ll wear a dress, of course,” his mother replied as she began to pull bales of cloth out of her purse. “A flowing gown with a nice plunging décolletage; this emerald silk, I think, to set off your hair. I intend to show off my children one way or another!”
“Do I have to?” Ranma complained. “I mean, walking around on two legs is hard enough without all that material swishing about. Can’t I wear something shorter.”
“Certainly not!” Aesthyrondalarurai declared with a snap. “No son of mine is going to wear a short skirt to a formal gathering! Daughter. Whatever! You will decorate that female elven body appropriately, young drake!”
“Yes, Mother,” Brahma sighed. Oh, fuss and bother. “But would’t it be faster for me to learn…”
“Off with those old things,” Aesthyrondalarurai interupted as she advanced with an arm full of cloth and a gleam in her almond-shaped eyes. “This will only take a minute. We don’t want to be late!”
Three hours later, Aesthyrondalarurai had shaped the cloth into six different patterns before being satisfied.
Then she repeated the process for Tarre, and Brahma was glad he didn’t have to put up with ruffles.
Next his mother insisted on doing their hair, and introduced them to a bizarre form of war paint. Brahma would have preferred wode; it would have been far less complicated and involve much less primping and pouting.
After that she dipped into her horde and decorated them with sparkly trinkets. Brahma didn’t see the point, but at least his mother was finally pleased with the result.
At long last they were on their way.
“Brahma, do be a dear and carry Tarre. We’ll never make it on time if she has to walk all the way.”
“…” Brahma muttered pointedly.
“What was that, young lady?”
“Nothing, Mother,” Brahma sighed. “Come along, Tarre, up you… oof!”
And so they set off. Brahma and Aesthyrondalarurai walking, swishing their skirts as they went, Tarre on Brahma’s back snoozing and nibbling his ear, and Galanthyr trotting along behind them as fast as his little gnome legs could carry him.
“No,” Brahma insisted. “One passenger is quite enough!”
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:40)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.