Fat Girl in a Strange Land by Bart R. Leib, Kay T. Holt Page B

instead of petals. In the centre of the blossoming wings, a slender, naked figure with pistil-like arms and legs and… Oh! Definitely male.
    “You going to stare me all day or are you going to sort yourself out?” he hissed.
    “I’m stuck.”
    “You’re not,” he argued with a dismissive flutter.
    “It’s a long way down,” she protested.
    “Just let go.” Tanny spluttered a series of incoherent objections. The orange blossom boy placed a delicate finger on her spit glossed lips and she fell silent. “You have no wings, Princess Tangwystl,” he whispered, “but there is fairy magic in you. It will do you no harm to let go.” He swooped gracefully down. “Let go!” he called up. The twine about her waist released on command. Now all that held Tanny was the strength of her arms.
    It will do me no harm to let go. Tanny closed her eyes and opened her hands. She fell with incredible speed, limbs flailing, curls flapping. Orange Blossom Boy dove alongside her, giggling. She made futile efforts to grab him — either to use his wings or to kill him for tricking her.
    Tanny braced for impact, but when impact happened, it was rather less impactful than expected. She landed on her generous bottom and simply bounced. She bounced over a berry patch, through a daisy bed and finally came to rest, with soft recoil, against the orange blossom tree.
    “There you are,” greeted Orange Blossom Boy in a told you so voice. He appeared larger now — the size of a human child — perched on a low branch, dangling twig-like, greenish-brown legs, wings resting against his bare back.
    “Yes,” Tanny murmured, breathless from her springing fall. She struggled to her feet, checked for damage, found none. “Thank you, err…”
    “Maddon.” He bowed slightly.
    “Are you a fairy?” She didn’t want to assume. Maddon rolled his eyes and hopped off his perch to stand before her. Tanny wished he would sit on the branch again. She had only seen naked men in pictures. Not that Maddon was a man, but he was male…with strange male parts. She blushed.
    “You’re obviously not a fairy,” Maddon sneered, looking her up and down. “But there is something fairy in you, Tangwystl.” He examined her closely. Tanny shifted self-consciously under her shift, then remembered something.
    “I left a bag at the bottom of the tower.” Dropped actually. It contained clothes, a bedroll and other useful items. Tanny turned toward the tower to retrieve it, then collapsed against the tree in a wave of dizziness.
    “Easy now,” warned Maddon. “The world is bigger than you’re used to.” He ran a soothing hand across her forehead, steadying her. She flinched. Tanny wasn’t accustomed to physical contact.
    “I need my bag.” Tanny leapt up easily, feeling lighter on her feet. Maddon’s doing?
    The world is bigger than you’re used to. Yes. Big…and colourful…and wild. She walked through the daisy bed she had bounced over, and the flowers took off like a fleet of tiny, stemmed helicopters to circle her, fluttering flowery eyelashes. Stones scuttled out of her way, bumping clumsily into each other, then uncurled like beetles and stood on surer feet to march beside her. Lithe figures of women peeled from the barks of trees, shook out leafy heads of hair and joined the parade of strange creatures.
    When she reached her bag, two Treewomen held Tanny’s kirtle by the shoulders. They began to dress her while several Daisies laced the sides rather more tightly than Tanny was used to. Maddon laid a circlet of flowers on her head.
    “You look as if you belong already,” he admired.
    “Belong?”
    “Bit of fresh air and exercise in the garden,” he continued. “That gown might actually fit you in a few moon’s time.” Tanny ignored the insult.
    “I’m not staying.”
    “Where are you planning to go?” Maddon sounded offended.
    “Caertraeth.”
    “Why?”
    “To see my family. Aberfa is dead now. Surely her curse died with