The dog darted away as it saw Eydva taking a step toward it, bounding a few trees down the line. “I’m coming,” she promised it. She swiped at her face, wiping away the last trace of tears that had been stuck there, frozen to her cheeks and into her eyelashes. She inhaled deeply, taking the crisp air into her lungs. She wheezed with the effort, following curiously after the dog, coughing quietly to herself.

The dog started to trot. Eydva was worried she wouldn’t be able to keep up, but she realized as the distance between them grew, the dog’s dark fur stood out against the hazy white of the fluttering snowflakes as it trotted between trees and bushes. And the sheer size of the dog… you could probably see it from a kilometer or two away.

She parted a huge wall of brambles that she’s seen the dog slip through, ignoring the thorns digging and scratching into her hands and arms. She stumbled into a clearing, catching herself on her hands and knees. She looked up, and her mouth dropped open. In front of her stood a statue. It depicted an impish man, horns protruding from his head. He held aloft a mask covered in intricate scrollwork, sporting an impressive set of horns that curled back from the front. Beside the figure was a dog, one that was oddly similar to the one that had lead her here.

She dusted snow and dead leaves absently from her legs as she moved forward, marvelling at the statue. “Has this always been here?” she wondered aloud, shielding her eyes from the sun that had decided to shine down into the clearing, from behind the statue.

“Well, well, well look what the mutt dragged in..”

The voice come out of nowhere. It was unmistakably male, but high and sing songy, with a strange accent she couldn't place.

Eydva gasped, squinting against the sun up into the statue’s face. She could have sworn…? Did it… no, of course not. Right? She cleared her throat, feeling foolish, “E-excuse me?” she said tentatively.

There was a huff of annoyance. “I’m behind you deary,” the voice said.

Eydva turned with a start. “...?” The only thing behind her was the large dog, who had appeared behind her somehow her and was now sitting on the ground, its massive form blocking the only visible path back out.

“Are you speaking to to me, big doggie?” she asked, taking a careful step towards the beast. It stared at her… silently.

“Don’t be silly,” she scolded herself.

There was another sigh, this one more annoyed than the last.

“Thank Oblivion no. He’s not. I AM.,” the voice said. An arm popped out a few trees down the way, attached to a small man that Eydva didn’t recognize. He had golden hair atop his head, from which a pair of… strangely familiar…  horns protruded.

Edyva looked at him curiously, then back at the statue, then back at the man.

The man shrugged. “Just a coincidence, I assure you.”  He took a step forward, and bowed low before her in an exaggerated manner. Eydva wasn’t sure if that was just his way, or he was making fun of her. He was clad only in a white robe and seemed to be even more ill-dressed for the weather than Eydva was, though he didn’t appear to be suffering for it. The huge dog came closer as well, trotting to join the man at his side.

Under normal circumstances, she would not have put herself into a situation such as this. She looked around, checking her surroundings. There were very few escape routes. No one was around to save her.  On the other hand, the love of her life had found another woman and would never be hers.  She had nothing to lose… what did it matter what this stranger’s intentions were? She shrugged to herself and came closer, reaching out to touch the dog as it came within arm’s length. “What are you doing here?” she asked up at the man, as she crouched around to scratch the dog under his chin.

The man crossed his arms nonchalantly and leaned against a tree with his arms folded.

“Me?  I’m here for you deary. I was just hanging about and I heard coming a mile away.” he said. “The true question is.. what are YOU doing here?  You seem like a girl with everything to gain and nothing left to lose.”  He said it in his strange singsong voice without a hint of sympathy or pity, instead there was a sense of anxious anticipation in his words, like he wanted to say more, but was holding himself back, though his face betrayed nothing of whatever was going on in his head.

He was right, she thought to herself.  Eydva nodded mournfully. “I..I can’t go back home,” was all she said. She stood up, stretching. Her body was stiff and sore from running all day, the chill of the weather settling heavily into her bones. She shivered, wishing she hadn’t been so rash as to have forgotten her coat and scarves. The large statue of the man and dog was silently staring back at her.

The man smiled at her gently, waiting.  When Eydva remained silent, he slipped from the tree to where she stood facing the strange statue with surprising speed, almost as if he had just appeared in front of her out of thin air.

“YOU are NOT running FROM something. YOU are running TOWARD something. .something you want… something you neeeeeeed…”

“...hey! Don’t start that yet!” A low growly voice declared from behind her.  Eydva started, a hand coming up to her chest in surprise. She was sure there hadn’t been anybody else around...

The large dog came around in front of her again and sat down beside the man. “She stopped petting me,” he complained and pouted.

“He can talk!” she declared.

The man rolled his eyes. “Talk?  By old Sheo’s mad beard he can talk!  The hard part is getting him to shut up!”

Eydva was looking at the pair of them now, in front of the statue. Man and dog in mirror image of the larger stone versions behind them. She looked only once back and forth between them and she felt the ice of fear in her heart.

This was no coincidence. The statue… the man and the dog in front of her. They were the Same!  She recalled a lecture from her mage school days about Daedric princes and wished she had paid more attention. Her eyes went wide and she started to back away instinctively.

“You’re... you’re…”

“Devilishly handsome? Incredibly charming? Generous to a fault? Always willing to help the brokenhearted and despondent?“

“You... you’re... VILE!”  The name finally popped into her head, and it did not taste very pleasant on her tongue.

“BAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... she’s got you pegged!” The dog fairly howled, as he rolled onto his side shaking with laughter till he started to cough.

The little man stood frozen in place, his grin never faltering as he waited for the dog’s laughter to subside. “I would prefer it if you used my full name, deary. It sounds so ...unpleasant…  when you only use the last bit.”

Eydva recalled her lectures now suddenly very vividly.  Daedra were spirits from the dawn of creation.  They had generally sided against the mortal races in the old stories and some of the worst were considered evil monsters bent on the destruction or enslavement of all the races of Nirn. At best they were untrustworthy… at worst, well, she didn't want to think about the worst.

Eydva scoffed a bit, narrowing her eyes at him. “I know what you are,” she told him, crossing her arms over her chest. “And…. and…!” she continued helplessly.

“Mmmm?” he intoned, tilting his head a bit, curious.

Eydva made a sound of defeat, letting her arms fall back to her sides. “And I need your help,” she admitted finally. After all… this particular Daedric Prince’s sole purpose in life was to make deals, and she needed something. Something she couldn’t give herself. But maybe he…

“If help is what you need, help is what you get! Clavicus Vile, The Morningstar! Daedric Prince of Wishes, Bargains and Serenity!  At your service!” He said this with great theatricality as he made his exaggerated little bow again. It was clear to Eydva at this point, it was simply part of his shtick, and he obviously relished any opportunity to perform it, given the chance.  As he stood back straight again, Eydva had the strange but distinct sensation that he wanted more from this encounter than she did.  Which made her feel a bit like she might have at least a tiny upper hand in any negotiations, well, as much anyone could when dealing with the Daedric Prince of Trickery (he’d left that one out).

Eydva watched him carefully, as though he might perform a trick of Magicka in front of her eyes. Turn her into a mudcrab or gargoyle the second she let her guard down. She stood her ground, watching as the dog recovered himself, pacing around them in circles now.

“I like this one.  She smells nice!” he commented, stopping to sniff Eydva’s pant leg. He made a face of pleasure, if such a face could even be made by a dog. It was easy enough to read his meaning.

Eydva snatched her leg away from the sniffing animal. “Your dog is rude,” she said. Well, that wasn’t a sentence she had ever imagined herself saying ever in her life.

Clavicus’s face lit up with validation. “SEE?” he said pointing at the dog first, and then her with obvious glee. “There, I told you so!  I’m not the only that thinks so! I’m sorry my dear, he’s got a mind of his own, old Barbas...”  The dog finally went around and sat back down by Clavicus’ side, watching Eydva with a twinge of consternation. He didn’t know what his master was up to, but he was sure it was no good thing.

Clavicus watched Eydva as she watched them. He could see her putting her words together in her mind, trying to find the right way to say what she needed to say… delicately. That was where most people went wrong, after all, and if your words went wrong with Clavicus.. Well lets just say they might be writing stories about you for quite some time.  Cautionary tales, mostly.

Eydva opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again.

“...I need your help,” she repeated dumbly.

“Yessssss, yesss you do girl.”  Clavicus said, rubbing his hands together.  “But what is it that you WANT?  You have to say it.  You have to TELL me what you need… you tell me what YOU need, and I tell you what I WANT for it. That’s how this bit works...” he explained to her.

He made a gesture with his arm, encompassing their whole area, and then he flashed a wide grin, that was anything but comforting.

“Ah…” Eydva seemed uncertain, but she looked towards the clearing, back where her old self was. Because she knew. She was dealing with the Daedric Prince of Deals, and no one who had ever done so had been the same afterwards. This moment would change everything. She could even the playing field and make Staan notice her the way she wanted to be noticed, not as just as a childhood friend. She thought back to that scene in Staan’s little family cottage, that beautiful girl on his arm. Eydva had always been rather plain. She often heard people talking about her when they thought she wasn’t in the room and it was usually something along the line of “It’s a good thing she’s so smart...” Boys had never paid her any attention, not that she had particularly cared. She had only ever loved one boy... and had hoped that love would be returned, but apparently he liked pretty girls just like every other man. Well, she would show him! That thought seemed to give her the courage she needed.  

“I want you to make me beautiful,” she said finally. Firmly.  “Oh… but I want to stay smart too?”  she said with less confidence, as she imagined herself in a beautiful, but vapid, existence.  She wouldn’t give up her craft. Not even to win Staan. But maybe she could have both?  

“Ohohoho…!” Clavicus tittered with glee. This was too perfect. Rife with opportunities. “Beautiful, you say?”

“Yes!” she asserted.  “But don’t make me dumb either, please?” she repeated.

Clavicus flashed that eerie grin again. The one that says I’ve-heard-all-this-before-but-I-need-you-to-trust-me-so-I’m-humoring-you. “Yes, yes... cake and eat it too, of course!” he agreed.

He stepped forward as he spoke and began to circle around her. He had to see what he was working with, of course. The source material was important for this kind of work. He nodded to himself as he took stock of her, making a face at this, or looking particularly pleased with that.

Eydva crossed her arms over her chest, unsure what to make of it, and unaccustomed to the attention.

“No, deary....” Clavicus said, tsk tsk-ing.”When I’m done with you, you will not be able to hide yourself. People will want to see you, drink your beauty up, feast upon your loveliness…” he said, motioning for her to drop her arms and to stand more gracefully, with a poise more befitting of the body she would soon be inhabiting. He went back to examining his canvas.

“Beauty... beauty is tricky dear.  It’s in the eye of the beholder, after all...” He smiled, pointing to his glittering gold eye first, and then to her pale green one.  “...and I assume you have a particular beholder in mind?” he asked.

Eydva blushed. “Y-yes…” she said, nodding. She was still not sure how to hold her body, so she let her hands rest awkwardly on her hips.

“Let me guess,” Clavicus said, his hand on his chin in a thoughtful pose. “A boy… someone you’ve know for a long time, but....” he trailed off, squinting his eyes, making a huge play at deep thinking. “He doesn’t feel the same?” he finished, finally. It was the same old story, of course.

“Well it’s beyond even my power to make him fall in love with you, or anyone else for that matter, not my demesne, you understand. But I can make you so beautiful that ANY man, or woman, given that they are inclined towards female companionship, would willingly give over a king's ransom just to be with you,” he told her. Clavicus gave a huge toothy grin and rubbed his hands together.

Just then the large dog coughed, said something under his breath, and then coughed again louder. Clavicus wrinkled his nose, turned, and whispered something to the dog that Eydva couldn't make out. The dog then barked loudly in reply.  The small impish man turned back toward Eydva, frozen smile plastered to his face, but in his eyes she could see he was perturbed.

“As my colleague reminds me, in the interest of full disclosure, pending the binding contract we are about to enter in to, it is my duty to remind you that beauty is usually also fleeting, shallow, and the least of all possible mortal virtues...” Clavicus continued in his sing songy voice as he examined her. “But that isn't going to change your mind is it…”

Eydva knew it wasn't a question, rhetorical or otherwise. It was a statement of the fact of their unique situation. She was literally past the point of no return. Whatever was going to happen next, she might as well throw caution to the wind and go all in. Get EVERYTHING she wanted. Besides, what did she have to lose.

“No,” Eydva assured him with a firm shake of the head. “I’ll do whatever you need me to do, just… make me beautiful. But remember…” she trailed off. It was seriously perturbing her to think that her words could be misconstrued and twisted to turn her into something ugly… on the inside. To become a simpleton, a dullard… well, that would indeed mark the end of everything. Even if this entire plan failed… as long as her mind was intact, she could recover, even if it meant being alone forever.

“Don’t mess with my mind!” she pleaded finally, exasperated.

Clavicus grinned, holding his hands out, palms up in a sign of acquiescence.

“No worries, I won’t touch that pretty little head of yours,” he promised. “At least not on the inside,” he added.

For someone that was so concerned with her brilliance, she wasn’t putting it to much good use. Clavicus expected more, but as always, nobody ever stepped up the challenge, did they? Not that it mattered in the end. This wasn't any happenchance meeting. He had come here, in this place with this girl for a purpose. There were bigger fish to fry, and Clavicus was in need of world class frying pan.

“So deary… beautiful you say, but as we discussed before, beauty is in the eye of… well, you get it.  What do you think your particular “beholder” looks for, physically speaking, in his dream girl?” Clavicus asked, lacing his hands together on his chest in contemplative curiosity.

The question gave Eydva pause. She had never really thought about it before.  What did Staan like? Did he even have a type? She had always just assumed that it was her, but obviously that wasn't the case, was it?  She felt her disappointment and bitterness coil around her heart once more, like some sort of icy serpent. She clenched her jaw, brow furrowing. She he had to think, and she had to think fast, before Clavicus decided to proceed without her input, and she ended up an idiot Dwarf. But she came to the stark realization that she really didn't know what Staan looked for physically, so she decided she would make herself look like what SHE had always wanted.  Her face lit up as she let her imagination run wild. She decided not to compete with the little blonde miss perfect wife, but to surpass her entirely. She would put herself an entirely different level!

“I want to be tall!  Even taller than I am now,” she said with little hesitation, as the ball in her mind began to roll, and pick up speed. She hated the idea of being short almost as much as the idea of being dumb. “...but don't make me a stringbean!” She looked down at her own slender, willowy frame. “I want to have long legs, but shapely!  I want to be tall but also curvy… like the Dibella statues in the temples!”  She was on a explosive roll now. “I want to be busty,  but not out of proportion with the rest of my body. I want to be beautiful... but exotic! I’m tired of being plain. I want to stand out! I want skin that shimmers, not pale and pasty.  I want big beautiful eyes that you fall into when you look in them… and full, pouty lips that everyone wants to kiss… perfect teeth, long pretty nails. I want to be powerful but still very feminine… and...”

She paused to breathe, very much caught up in the moment.

“I want to still have red hair, but I want it darker and redder and longer, thick, and luxurious...” she finished finally, inhaling deeply.

While she was dreaming up her perfect self, she had apparently closed her eyes in reverie, visualizing herself as she went on, because when she opened them again, every single word that she had said was written in gold and sparkly letters as big as her hand, and hanging in mid air as if written on the surface of a giant invisible scroll.

Though it started with:

I,  ______________

Do solemnly swear that I have asked his Divine Majesty Clavicus Vile to to transform me into a beautiful woman as described below:

And it ended with:

In return I will grant His Divine Majesty my _____________ for all eternity.  I attest that I do so of my own free will without coercion or deception on the part of His Divine Majesty and I accept and welcome and all consequences of this transformation as my own responsibility.

Signed,

____________________

“By the Nine... what have I done?” she whispered under her breath, realizing the ominous significance of  the shimmering letters floating before her face.

“The Nine? Pish posh, girl. It’s not the Nine who are about elevate you to the heights of irresistibility!” Clavicus sneered with disdain, his nose crinkled as if he was smelling something distasteful. “Though, if you would rather pray to them for what you want, we can dispense with this whole business.”  

His hand raised high above the shimmering gold words in the air as if he was about to wipe them away with a single swipe. Somehow he suddenly seemed much larger somehow… was he looming over her?

“NOOOOOO!  STOP!  I'm sorry.  I’m sorry. I meant no disrespect.  It’s just a saying!” Eydva cried hurriedly. “I'm not even religious!” she pleaded.

It was the truth, of course. Like most people of the magickal or alchemical persuasion, she preferred to trust in her own skill, knowledge, and the combined accomplishments of the leaders of her field and those that came before her. The scholarly tended not to have too much truck with Gods or Daedra. They knew too much about their history to trust them.

This seemed to calm Clavicus, who seemed to be normal size again, though she never saw him actually dwindle. One moment he just seemed to be taking up less space. Curious...

“Well, then…!, “ he said, grinning and rubbing his hands together, all trace of his former anger evaporated. “Let’s get back to business, shall we?

“Thanks to that incredibly honest and detailed little soliloquy you delivered earlier…”

He gave a quick little series of claps in Eydva’s direction, as if to applaud her performance, though she wasn't sure if he was mocking her or not.

“We ALL know what YOU want. So now it's time to get down to what it is that I want… from you.”

He was pointing at that blank line hanging ominously in mid air.

In return I will grant His Divine Majesty my _____________ for all eternity.

“What shall we fill in here on this lonely empty line, hmmm? The tit-for-tat, the-this-for that… the proverbial QUID. PRO. QUO.”  He said musically, having gone back to his customary sing song cadence from before.

Eydva knew this was coming. She knew what Daedra always wanted. They only trafficked in one currency that mortals possessed.

“You want my soul,” she said flatly.

“HAHAHAHAHahahahahohohohoho… hohoho…!!”  Clavicus burst forth in laughter. Almost uncontrollably so. He kept laughing till he was coughing, much like the dog had earlier, practically doubling over with it.

This sudden eruption of laughter was not what Eydva had expected in the slightest. She felt like she should be insulted. Miffed even. She marched straight up to Clavicus, indignantly puffing up. It was her turn to loom over him.

“Hey. That’s not very nice!  What's wrong with my soul? I'm… I'm young… and… pure… and… well...” She couldn't think of anything else to say out loud.  She had been about to declare: “And I’m not really even using it anyway….” but that didn't exactly bolster her case for its value.

His laughter was finally dying down as she stammered the case for her soul. He took a deep breath and looked at her sheepishly, waving his hands.

“So sorry, my dear...” he apologized, bending low in his favorite exaggerated bow again. “I did not mean to offend. You have a simply lovely soul! And under normal circumstances I would happily take you up on such an offer, but alas, I have my reasons I want you to keep yours, at least for now.”

“But  I don’t have anything else… Unless you want… my….”

Suddenly her eyes got big as saucers. There were tales she recalled; salacious tales, off limits to the younger students, but Eydva was quite skillful at persuading librarians to allow her access to just about anything in their collections, “for academical research purposes only” of course.  When she needed a break from all her vigorous studying of actual school subjects, she often snuck off to that section. She had read many stories of Daedra and their unnatural appetites for coupling with young nubile mortals of just about any species, in return for various favors and boons.

She pulled her skirts close about herself protectively as she looked at him.  Was he leering? She was about to exclaim something about how she was not that kind of girl... and if THAT was what he wanted, well he could just take himself and his rude dog and go straight back to Oblivion or wherever it is they both came from, because she was having none of it. She was about to. But she stopped. She could see in his face that he had already read her expressions, and she did not wish to have her body insulted along with her soul by another spontaneous fit of Daedric laughter.

In the end, she simply looked at him and pointed at herself and silently mouthed the word “no?”  but as a question.  In response, Clavicus simply shook his head in disapproving admonishment like a teacher declining an over amorous student.

“No my dear, though you are lovely now, and even more you’ll be after I’m done with you… well, THAT particular proclivity has never been part of my… my...“  he trailed off trying to find the word he was looking for.

“Idiom,”  the dog volunteered, helpfully.

“Yes! That! Although... when I am done with you, even I may not be able to turn you down were you to be so generous as to give me an offer!”  He smiled and winked at her, as if to make sure she knew he was joking.  But Eydva was anything but sure at this point.  Though relieved she would not be trading her womanhood for her new beauty, she was at a loss.  What on all of Nirn did she have that Clavicus could want?

“I don’t know what else I have that I can offer...”  she said plaintively and a little sadly. Maybe the deal would fall through after all.

“Oh c’mon, deary.  Of course you do!  What do all fresh young people starting out in life have, that even I don’t?” he asked her.

“You want to take my youth? But you can’t make me old... I can’t be beautiful if I’m old!” she said.

Tears were springing unbidden to her eyes.  What a fool she had been, thinking she could get the better of a Daedric Prince! A moment ago it seemed like she had had everything she ever wanted in her grasp… and now… it was all turning to dust and running through her fingers.

“Your you--? No, no, no, girl. Now look here. I’m not trying to screw you over, okay?” His voice had changed, no longer sing song, it was even and steady. The act was dropped.

“For once…” the dog said over his shoulder, NOT helpfully.  Clavicus gave him a look that would have frozen any mortal being into stone.  But Barbas just rolled over and resumed digging for the thing that was causing that spot just above his tail to itch so badly.

“Yes, I know.  I have a reputation for not always giving people the most fair handed of deals.  But did it ever occur to you that most of those people you read about in the books were greedy, egoistic, self-centered idiots who needed life to teach them, and the other mortals who would read their tales hundreds of years later, to just be HAPPY for once with what you have?” Clavicus asked her.

Eydva looked down at him, still teary, with newfound appreciation at first, but then she frowned again. “But doesn’t that mean I should just walk away from this whole thing right now and go be a lonely spinster for the rest of my life and just… be... happy… with what I… what I… have?”  She was plainly sobbing by the end. Bawling uncontrollably actually. She slumped to the ground and curled into a softly heaving ball.

Clavicus looked mortified. This wasn’t going at all as he had planned. He was in the awkward position of having to comfort the person he was trying to make the contract with... otherwise NOTHING was getting signed, and that was something he was simply not accustomed to. Somehow several many thousands of years of dealmaking with mortals had not prepared him at all to deal with this one lone, tall, willowy, plain, but very smart girl.

But Clavicus was a closer. He would get this deal if it killed him.

“Look, how can I explain this to you… those people… the ones in the stories. They were bad. They were stupid, okay?  Bad, stupid people get bad, stupid deals.  Do you see now?” he said, trying to be as convincing as possible. “Are you bad?” he asked her.

Eydva swiped at her cheek and shook her head side to side. She was many things; headstrong, ambitious, mebbe even a little obsessive, but she had never thought of herself as bad.

“And we both know you are far from stupid… with all your intellectual gifts and talents, right?”

Eydva nodded again.  Clavicus was in front of her kneeling down on one knee, and offering her a hand. She hesitated, but took it, and he gently tugged her back to her feet.

“You are good, yes?  And nearly as smart as Ol’ oily Hermy himself, I’d wager. Good, SMART, people get good. Smart. Deals!” he finished confidently as he led her back over to in front of the sparkly golden words still hanging expectantly in the air in front of them. He was about to close on this one. He could feel it!

“So what DO you want from me?”  Eydva said more calmly, still patting her cheeks dry. Her tears had cleansed her of her pent up emotions. She felt stronger, more confident in herself again.  He wasn’t so bad, it seemed.  Maybe he wouldn't do her wrong?  It didn’t hurt to hear him out.  She decided to stop guessing and just wait for him to spell it out.

“Honestly, child, I’m really starting to like you, and if I could just give you what you wanted, at this point, I would happily dispense with this whole business…”  he waved a hand dismissively at the golden words.  “...but we both know that’s just NOT my… idiom… either.  I am a DEAL maker, not a gift giver.  My power comes from the deal.  And so to that end, we have to fill this bottom line.  All deals come with a price!  And this one is no different, regardless of my growing personal fondness for you.  But what I want from you is special, and something even you will never know if you will miss. What is it that the fresh and young like yourself have in abundance?  They... YOU .. have... potential.” he pointed a finger at her heart.

“Potential?”  Eydva asked him. Not quite understanding, but trying hard not to overreact this time.

“Yes!” said Clavicus clapping his hands together.  “You have the potential to walk out of here right now and go and be whatever and whoever you want to be!  I cannot tell you whether it would be a good life or a happy one. There are far too many factors at work. But it would be the life you were headed for before you met me,” Clavicus explained.

Eydva thought hard about that for a second or two. The life she WOULD have. Of course, life would go on. With or without Staan (and the thought of that caused her heart to clench), life WOULD go on, she wasn’t so disillusioned to think otherwise.  She was a rising and talented new alchemist, a very respectable field, and she had her whole life ahead of her. But Staan?  No.  A life without Staan was unthinkable.  When she looked back on all her hard work and all her accomplishments it was ultimately all on behalf of Staan. She wanted to do well so she could out from under her grandmother’s thumb, and they could be free and happy together. And that wasn’t going to happen if things stayed the same.

Clavicus continued. “Your life, after I am through with you, I promise will have just as much potential, if not more. Beauty does open certain doors, and very rarely closes any. So in essence, you are literally giving me the thing you would logically have to give up to get the thing you wanted anyway!” he said delightedly.

Eydva’s spirits were lifting. If she was beautiful, and still smart, she wasn’t really giving up anything, was she? And it might be her only chance to get Staan!  But not so fast.  She had to make sure there were no loopholes or fine print.  This was Clavicus Vile she was dealing with, after all.

“So you just want what I was going to be? I mean... if I didn't’ take the deal?” she asked him carefully.

He nodded.

“That’s all?  You don't’ need to me assassinate some king later with untraceable poison, or give you my first born, or---”

“No.”  Clavicus cut her off firmly.  “Only what is ON the contract is binding.  Neither you or I can alter the deal once it is signed.”

“Then I am ready,” she said resolutely, standing as tall and grown up as she could muster.

“Excellent!” Clavicus beamed as he plucked a large black feather quill from mid air.  He gestured to her to hold out her hand, and before she could react, he quickly jabbed the sharp end of the quill into the tip of her middle finger.  It surprised her, but it didn’t hurt, and she watched in fascination as the feather turned from black to red as it filled with what presumably was her own blood. Eydva wasn't skittish about such things anyway. Alchemists routinely dealt in liquids and other substances that would put even a Falmer off their meals for a month, and blood, including your own, was all too common as a called for component.

When the quill was full, he pulled it out and he handed it to her with a flourish. One last little exaggerated bow.  She held it gingerly, as she stood to her highest to sign her full name to the top of the invisible contract. At this, Barbas got up from sniffing his own paw, and began to pace curiously around the two of them.  Much to her surprise, as she lowered the quill, it met resistance. The surface was there, you just couldn’t see it. She carefully wrote out her full name and then bent low to fill in the blank at the bottom with “My Potential.” As she wrote, the red drained from the quill till by the end there was little left.

Then, she signed her full name name at the bottom in the customary scrawling style that all alchemists develop.  At the moment the quill left the invisible surface after the last sweep of her signature, it turned completely black and then evaporated in a puff of smoke.

“Let’s do this,“ she said firmly. She turned expectantly to face the gleeful little horned man who was again rubbing his hands together.

“Yes. Let’s!” he agreed and he clapped his hands together with a thunderous boom, as the entire contract exploded outwards from behind her, and then coalesced back into a shimmering silver light in front of her. It hung there in mid air, pulsing and shifting colors through all the spectrum of the rainbow before settling into a  dark pulsing purple. She stared it, wondering what kind of Magick it held, when suddenly the purple light swarmed forward over her, engulfing her completely. She had no idea her… transformation… would be happening so soon! She hadn’t even mentally prepared yet.

It tingled, but it did not hurt. She was a bit alarmed, though, when she found her feet no longer on the ground as she slowly lifted about three feet into the air. She tried to remain calm, but her heart was beating harder and harder at the unnerving feeling of hanging in mid air. And that was how she felt… she did not feel like she was floating. She felt like she was hanging, as if some invisible being were holding her up by the scruff of her neck.  And she was rising!  She continued to be pulled upwards till she was nearly seven feet off the ground.  She looked to Clavicus for some assurance, but his back was turned and he was walking… away from her?

Only the large dog stood facing her from below, not even five feet from where she had started to make her ascent. He had a (sad?) look on his face, at least she assumed it was sad. It was definitely not a happy face...

She called out to Clavicus as he hurried away. “Wait.. where are you going?  Why are you leaving me like this?” she asked desperately. She couldn’t stop the fear from seeping into her voice by the end.

“WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME???!”

The little man paused, and turned around slowly as she rose even higher. The tingling sensation was getting stronger, and she had the strangest feeling, of it deeper down, in her bones themselves, as thought it had seeped inside her. Her skin felt tight, like it was stretching, too small for her body. Or maybe her insides were too big for her skin?

He looked at her, and he spoke.  He spoke in the same carnival manner he had before, but bolder, bigger, as if he was talking to an entire audience of spectators. His voice boomed and filled the entire clearing, and then less then suddenly, instantaneously, he was RIGHT THERE.  Standing in mid air in front of her only a foot away.

“Why you are getting everything you ASKED for, my dear!” He pointed at her dramatically and he put an emphasis on “ask” that made her heart skip a bit and her stomach drop. “You will be beautiful beyond compare, exactly as you specified! Your mind will remain as sharp as ever! And I promise you, you will be ANYTHING but short!” he promised her.

He was gesturing broadly with his hands as he talked, as if he was performing on a stage, and he took his little exaggerated bow again at the end.  With his face still down she heard him all but whisper.

“There’s only one teensy. Tiny. Little. Problem…”

He did not raise from his bowed position, but as he slowly raised his head toward her, Eydva was startled to see there was something wrong with his face. He was grinning, but the grin was too wide and too tall, inhumanly so, and it had too many teeth, and though they were straight and flat they were far too large, like a grin carved on wooden jester doll. It was a clear and deliberate reminder to Eydva that the man in front of her was no man at all, but something beyond her understanding from a world outside her own, and just as that terribly large over toothy grin was about to open and say something, the dog interrupted.

“You forgot to ask for it not to hurt,” he said from the ground below them.

“ENOUGH!” Clavicus bellowed, in a voice that shook the ground, the statue, the trees and bushes. His face was normal again. He looked at her, and she thought she could see in his golden eyes flickers of remorse… concern…

“I’m sorry, my dear, but there is no other way,” he said resolutely, palms open in oblation. “We forge ourselves through fire, blood, and tears. You are becoming something more. More than you were before. That always hurts.” he said solemnly.

The dog and his master suddenly vanished, and Eydva was alone.

“Wha---” Eydva tried to call out to them, but was cut off mid word as the tingling sensation inside her bones suddenly began to burn.