I wrote this one as part of a story exchange with Eric. I followed his wishes in the transformations and some of the clothing. Otherwise the story is all mine.

Maggie

  

Women's Circle

by

Maggie Finson

  

Dan Hastings couldn't tear his eyes away from the group of young women chatting in the lobby of restaurant he has stopped at for dinner during a particularly grueling road trip. As groups of young women went they weren't all that extraordinary. A slender blonde, a petite one with Raven hair, a taller redhead who had the build to carry her height well, and the last with rich brown hair and the sweetest voice he had ever heard.

There were a few things, though, that made them stand out besides the obvious attractiveness of each one. All had long, beautiful hair, and blue eyes. But it was their clothing that had drawn his attention first. Each woman was dressed exactly the same as her companions. Snug blue shells that showed off that they were women and not just girls, with black silk tees underneath the shells to hold the views given by the low cut shells to a minimum, knee length black skirts that looked to be of silk too hugged their hips and bottoms delightfully for male eyes, legs covered in dark, gleaming hose, and wearing black pumps with about a two inch heel.

Deciding they were in some kind of uniform, Dan wondered where in such a small town as Fairmont they could all work that would require such smart looking attire. Giving that up as a senseless exercise for an already overtired mind and imagination he tried getting back to his meal.

But something about them kept drawing his eyes back to the group who seemed oblivious of his sometimes intent regard. A feeling that he couldn't explain was clamoring at the back of his mind that these young women were something special, something that he had been searching for over the years and never really found more than rumors or outright hoaxes about.

"Nah." Shaking his head and forcing himself to pay attention to his meal, a very good hot beef sandwich made with real mashed potatoes, Dan dismissed that near premonition with a chuckle. "I've been on the road for a solid week. I'm worn out, need my vacation, and am starting to imagine things because of all that."

Still...

"Excuse me?" A soft, velvety voice interrupted his reveries and Dan looked up to see the slender, and very pretty blonde of the group standing at his table wearing a small frown.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you it isn't really polite to stare? Especially at women you don't even know?"

"Umm." Caught, and reddening under her clear blue eyes regard, he drew in a breath before trying to respond. "Sorry. I've been on the road for a while and was actually just spacing off there. I do apologize for seeming to stare at you, it wasn't intentional."

"Looked like a pretty intense spacing off to me." The pretty young woman retorted, then smiled briefly. "But I guess that'll do for an apology right now. Telling the truth would have worked better, though."

"Ok, I admit it." Dan let out a sigh of capitulation. "I was staring. Sorry, it's just that I am tired, and all of you dressed in the same outfits just intrigued me is all. I didn't mean to insult any of you with it."

"That's a little better." she allowed her smile to grow a bit as she ran a hand over her outfit. "We're all in a -- call it a club -- and these are the club uniforms. We wear them to our meetings."

"Well you all look really nice in them." Dan replied, trying to smooth over his faux pas with a compliment that was genuine. "That's another thing that attracted my attention, to be honest."

"Thanks. I think." The blonde grinned, then held our her small, slim hand. "I'm Agatha Powers, by the way."

"Dan Hastings." He took her hand gently and felt a small thrill almost like an electrical shock as he shook it. "I am sorry about the staring."

"We cleared that part up, Dan." Agatha returned with another smile. "Just be careful about that in the future. Staring at people can have all kinds of consequences, not all of them as pleasant as our little conversation here. Keep that in mind, if you would in the future."

"Um, right." Dan winced, thinking she had just put him in his place, even if gently while wondering if she had a jealous boyfriend or husband. "I get the point. Thanks, and tell your boyfriend I didn't mean anything by it, please?"

"Oh, I don't have one of those currently." Agatha laughed softly causing her waves of thick honey blonde hair to ripple. "And I'm not really looking at the moment."

"Too bad for the guys around here, then." He blurted out before thinking, then blushed.

"You look like a man who needs some rest pretty badly." Agatha seated herself across from him without being invited in a gracefully sensuous series of motions and whisper of silk against the vinyl of the bench. "Are you going to be staying here in Fairmont at all? If you are, I'd recommend the Bell, Book and Candle Inn. It's modern, has plenty of vacancies just now, and also has a pretty good dining room for guests."

"Bell, Book and Candle?" Dan perked up a bit at that name and Agatha chuckled at his reaction. "Oh it's kind of silly, I know, but Constance, the owner and landlady of the place, just loves that old movie."

"I'll give that some thought." Dan glanced at the reflection of his almost haggard face framed with short brown hair in need of cutting in the window and nodded. "Thanks, I do need some rest and was thinking of staying over somewhere close."

"Tell Constance that Agatha sent you, if you do." The young woman slid out of the seat and gave him a smile. "She'll give you a discount and fuss over you like a lost child returned home. But come to think of it, she treats all her guests that way. You'll like her, I think."

"Thanks again, ummm MS. Powers."

"Just Agatha, Dan Hastings." She smiled briefly before adding. "I'd just hate to have someone find you in a pile up somewhere down the road. You get a good night's sleep and enjoy your stay in Fairmont. I have to go now. Bye."

She glanced over her shoulder at him while leaving and gave him a smile that held volumes, none of which even hinted at invitation. For some reason, Dan had to suppress a shudder when she did that, but still found himself watching in fascination as Agatha and her friends left the restaurant.

"Talk about mixed signals." He muttered to himself while picking up the check to pay for his meal and leaving a standard tip for the waitress who had been so attentive until Agatha had walked up to him.

Jill, the perky waitress who had served his table took his credit card with a smile and ran it through the slot in the cash register. "I see you met Agatha."

"Yeah, sort of." Dan shrugged. "Interesting lady."

"That she is." Jill responded with a little sigh while handing him his receipt. "Lucky for you the impression she got in your meeting was a good one."

"What's that mean?" Signing the register generated credit card slip and handing it back to the woman, he gave her a curious look.

"Oh nothing important." Jill smiled brightly at him. "She can be a real nasty bitch with people she doesn't like is all."

"You know, I kind of got that impression myself." he answered as he tucked the credit card back into his wallet.

"Well, you came through it ok." Jill grinned. "She kept her claws sheathed with you. Take care, Mr. Hastings."

"Thanks, and the food was great here, along with the service."

"I'll be sure and tell Dad you said so." Jill smiled. "He's the cook and owner here and always enjoys getting complements from the customers."

"Well, any he, and you get, are deserved." Dan put in before giving her a wave and heading out for his car.

He felt eyes following his movements as he paid the bill, spoke with Jill, and left the restaurant. It was a feeling that refused to fade even as he unlocked the door of his new, but road dirty Celica and got into the car.

* * * *

"That one recognized us for what we are."

"Nonsense." A soft voice answered with authority. "He may have felt something, but gave no sign of knowing what he was feeling."

"You shouldn't have told him about the Inn here." Another spoke.

"Look, he was going to stay overnight anyway. At least at the Bell, Constance can keep an eye on him for us."

"What happens if he decides to stay for a while?" a hesitant one put in.

"We'll deal with it when it comes up. He's no threat to any of us, and won't be."

"You'd better be sure of that." The first voice insisted.

"I am."

* * * *

The Bell, Book and Candle was, as promised, modern and had a very comfortable looking lobby with exits leading into a well cared for dining room, a polished wooden stairway leading up to where he was sure the rooms would be, and the office.

"Can I help you?" A pleasant middle aged woman questioned as he looked over the surroundings. "I'm Constance, by the way and run this place."

"Yes, I think you can." Dan replied with a smile while wondering if all the women in this town were pretty, or if they just kept the unattractive ones out of sight. "Agatha suggested that I come here for a room tonight, so I thought I'd check."

"She did?" Constance smiled in delight. "Well come on in and let's get you a room, then."

The woman continued her friendly chatter as Dan got checked in, and drew him out on a number of things. "What brings you to Fairmont?

"Oh just passing through on business." Dan replied. "I just finished up a really big job in Chicago and wanted to see something besides city and interstates, so headed this direction on my way back home."

"Well, I hope you have enjoyed the trip so far." Flashing another smile, she questioned. "What do you do for a living, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Oh it's nothing really earthshaking." With a small self deprecating shrug he told her. "I work on installing computer systems, then getting them to do what the buyers want them to. Just finished up a long job and had some time on my hands. Which is why I chose to come this way instead of taking the shorter way home."

"Well, you sure do like someone who needs to relax for a bit." Constance nodded while handing him a key card. "You're in room 201, it's right at the top of the stairs, but I'm afraid there's no one here just now to carry your luggage up for you."

"Oh, that's no problem." Dan found himself smiling back at the woman's infectious good cheer. "I don't have all that much stuff to carry."

"Good." Constance answered briskly. "Breakfast is served from six in the morning till nine, and is part of the fee you pay for the room. Other meals are available, but cost extra. Local phone calls are free, long distance is added to you bill. And we do have computer connections to the internet in each room. Plus Satellite Television."

"Sounds great." Dan held back a yawn. "But truthfully, all I want tonight is a hot shower, and some sleep."

"Then that's what you'll get, dear." Constance smiled. "This is nice quiet place for things like that."

"Good, oh, when is checkout time?"

"Any time before three P.M. is fine." The woman answered. "If you stay longer than that, I'm afraid I have to charge you for another night."

"That sounds fine." Dan nodded. "Could I get a wake up call at, say, seven A.M.?"

"No problem, dear." Constance made a quick note and set it next to her phone. "If there's anything else you need just call or come down and ask. Oh, there is a soft drink machine in the hallway up there, with tea and coffee available in the dining room if you prefer."

"Works for me." The man smiled back. "I'll just go park the car and get my stuff upstairs. Thanks for the hospitality."

"All part of the service." Constance grinned. As she moved away from the desk he noticed that she had held her figure very well, and moved with the same kind of easy grace that Agatha had shown. Even in what appeared to be her forties, Constance was a strikingly beautiful woman.

* * * *

"Bell, Book, and Candle." Constance answered her desk phone shortly after Dan had carried his two soft sided suitcases up the stairs.

"Hello Agatha, dear!" she listened for a minute, then nodded. "Yes, he just went up to his room. I gave him number 201."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure he is just a rather pleasant fellow who is over tired from work and travelling, dear" Constance answered another question then added. "He seems to be very nice."

"Well of course I'll do that for you." Constance agreed as if whatever question she had been asked was needless. "You say he noticed? Now that's interesting. Perhaps it's just that he's so tired. On the edge of sleep many people perceive things they wouldn't otherwise, and that poor fellow was close to dropping by the time he got here."

"Well, I'll certainly stay alert to the possibility, Agatha." the woman assured her caller.

'That's fine, dear." Constance finished. "I'll give you a call in the morning and let you know how things are going. I really think Selena is over reacting in this case. The man builds and programs computers, for heaven's sake. With that kind of profession he would just be the last kind of person I would choose to really pay attention to things that aren't both modern and tech related. You take care of yourself now, and I'll talk with you tomorrow."

Constance placed the phone back in its cradle, then paused long enough for a thoughtful look up the stairs before getting ready to lock up for the night.

* * * *

The room was both spacious and comfortable in an old style way that seemed to welcome him into itself. The adjoining bath had a large tub with a shower and whirlpool included in the thing. He Dan lost no time getting out of his things and under the soothing beat of steaming water from the shower head. Drying off with a remarkably soft towel for a hotel of any sort, he slipped into a pair of briefs and tee shirt, leaving his discarded clothing on the floor to be picked up later.

After crawling gratefully into the queen sized bed and turning off the bedside lamp, he let out a contented sigh and was almost immediately sound asleep.

* * * *

They were standing in a circle lit fitfully by candles spaced around the outside of their grouping. Agatha was there, along with the three companions she had been with inside the restaurant. There were others he couldn't see all that well because of the flickering light and surrounding darkness. The women were singing, a sweet compelling song with words that he couldn't understand but still compelled his attention.

Their song abruptly stopped, and all those gathered turned to face him. What he noticed first was that all their eyes were blue, and glowed with internal light independent of the candles or dim moonlight. Agatha's face seemed to grow in his vision until it dominated his view of things as she spoke. "Didn't I say it isn't always safe to stare? Now you've done it and we'll have to make sure you don't tell anyone what you've seen."

He turned to run, or tried to do so. Only to find himself frozen in place as the slender blonde approached him with a wicked little smile as she began making motions in the air in time to a chant from the women gathered behind her. He couldn't even scream out his terror.

* * * *

"Ahhh!" Dan sat up in the bed covered in sweat and at a loss to tell himself where he was for a second or two. As his sleep induced panic washed away he realized that he was safely in the hotel room he had rented earlier. "Man, I've been letting the job get to me, I guess. That was one weird dream."

He sat up for a few minutes, gathering his wits, and nerve before falling back into a dreamless sleep.

* * * *

 

Dan awakened early, still recalling the odd, and halfway frightening dream with a shudder. He shook his head and muttered to himself while heading for the bathroom. "Just chalk that one up to too much time on the road and work, I suppose."

His lean face seemed a little less haggard in the mirror that morning, with the dark circles from lack of sleep fading at last. Shaving seemed to be a bit easier than it had been over the past while, with his usually tough beard giving in to the razor without the usual struggle, but again, he was at least partially rested that morning so wasn't just going through the motions on automatic as he had been.

After washing his face, combing his tousled brown hair into a semblance of civilized appearance, and gathering his dirty clothes from where he had dropped them the previous night, he wandered back into the room proper to get dressed.

Checking the small clock set on a bedside table, he noted that it was not quite the time he had requested the wake up call, so picked up the phone and called the desk.

"Good Morning, Mr. Hastings." Constance's voice cheerfully came over the phone and he wondered if the woman ever slept at all, or had a grumpy side at all.

"Morning." Dan responded with a smile that he knew she couldn't see but still felt almost compelled to show at hearing her voice anyway. "I just wanted to save you a call. I'm already up, but had a question. Would it be a problem if I stayed another day or two? I just realized how tired out I really was, and thought I'd give myself another couple of days relaxation time if you don't have the room booked for someone else."

"Problem?" Her voice chirped back with a laugh. "Not at all. You stay as long as you like. Oh, breakfast is being served in the dining room now. Why don't you come down and share a cup of coffee with me at least?"

"Be down in a few minutes." Dan put the phone back in its cradle wondering why it was that he felt so good about staying in the little town of Fairmont for another day or two. Deep in his subconscious, old longings stirred, stretched their figurative limbs, and began to awaken.

* * * *

"I take it that you like Fairmont." Constance made it a statement rather than a question as Dan savored the best three egg and ham omelet he'd had in years.

"Well, it's nice and quiet here." He answered between mouthfuls of breakfast. "Truthfully, I kind of needed to find a place like this for a while. You know, to recharge my batteries and just be able to relax for a while."

"Well, this town would be good for you in that case." Constance smiled from behind her coffee cup. "Nothing much in the way of bad things seem to happen here, and it is generally a quiet place except for the local kids, but that's pretty much to be expected isn't it?"

"Kids are going to be kids." Dan agreed as he took another sip of the aromatic coffee the Inn's proprietor had personally brought him. "No matter where they are."

"A truer thing was never spoken." Constance chuckled. "But overall the kids here are good ones."

"Kids are in most places." He nodded with a sad expression. "It's the outside influences that turn them bad."

"Yes, a shame isn't it?" Constance let out a small sigh then changed the subject. "You have the look of someone searching for something, Dan. Do you mind my asking what that might be?"

"I don't really know." Came the answer as he gave the idea some thought. "I never really thought about it much, you know? I just feel like something about my life isn't all that complete, or right. I don't know, it's hard to explain because all of it is pretty unformed in my own mind."

"Oh, I'm sure you know what it is, dear." Constance smiled. "Just give yourself some time to think without all the pressures of your job and life out in the larger world and it might come clear for you."

"Maybe you're right." He really wanted to change the subject. The idea of what he was really searching for, the thing missing in his existence, was one he had actively pushed down for a long time and bringing it up at all was very uncomfortable. "I'll see if some real quiet time might make things a little clearer for me."

"It will come in it's own time, dear." Constance nodded with another motherly smile. "Don't try and force it."

"I suppose that's right." He agreed with a small smile. "I'm not about to kill myself over it. When it comes it comes."

"Right you are, dear." The woman gave him another of her beautiful smiles and reached across the table to pat his hand. "You just try and relax for a while here. I'll work to make your stay both enjoyable and restful."

"Thanks." Saying that, Dan moved his chair back from the table and started to stand. "I think I'm starting to like it around here already."

"Fairmont is an easy place to like." Constance nodded. "So long as you aren't looking for big city action, or lots of excitement."

* * * *

"Hello, Agatha." Constance spoke into the phone she had gone to once her guest had gone back upstairs. "I think you may be right about Mr. Hastings, but the poor dear either doesn't want to admit his desires or really isn't consciously aware of them. I did some checking up on him earlier this morning by the way."

Listening to the other person for a few seconds, she went on. "He has no family to speak of, and is an independent contractor working for a rather large computer company on individual contracts. He gets a new contract for each job, and has down time between each contract. Evidently he is very good at what he does, but there is nothing pressing that would require his personal attention just now."

"Oh yes, you read him right on that, Agatha." Constance agreed with something the other had said. "Dan Hastings is basically a very good, caring person. I think that he would be an excellent candidate. You might tone the dreams down a bit, you know, make them a bit less threatening? I heard the poor man scream last night and I was downstairs in my study when he did it."

"I agree, make them more pleasant for him over the next few nights." Constance nodded with a satisfied little grin. "As for the changes? Well, let's just keep them going gradually for now. That way if he decides to bolt, the damage won't be all that great from the first few days."

"All right, I'll keep you posted on things, Agatha." she answered before replacing the phone in its cradle and thinking about her newest guest. Dan, dear, I know full well what it is that you've been searching for all of your life. Please accept what is about to happen to you as the gift it is meant to be.

* * * *

Dan spent a pleasurable day just wandering through the town. He was surprised at the amounts and variety of goods for sale in the shops until one shopkeeper told him that the entire county shopped there. Still, the merchandise he saw on the shelves was never anything less than the absolute best offered anywhere else, even the large cities he usually spent his time in.

The one thing that bothered him all day long was a persistent itching all over his body. It wasn't bad enough to be more than a bit uncomfortable, but at times the sensation did mar his enjoyment of the day a little. Only a little, though, and he purchased a tube of skin cream to ease the feeling before returning to the inn and getting cleaned up before going out for his evening meal.

One thing he saw continued to intrigue him that evening. Several other women dressed exactly as Agatha and her companions had been were in the restaurant. The blonde who had upbraided him about staring, then suggested he stay for a day or two was not one of them.

Even so, he couldn't shake the feeling that the three he saw that evening were watching him surreptitiously, whenever they thought he wasn't looking in their direction. The gooseflesh rose on his forearms even if it had only been his imagination as he insisted to himself it was.

* * * *

"Are you all right, dear?" Constance questioned with concern in her voice and written across her face as he entered the Bell, Book and Candle. "You look a little drawn."

"I think I may have picked up a bug of some kind." Dan responded with a sigh. "It was probably incubating for days and just decided to show up now. I don't feel that bad, just a little tired yet."

"Are you feverish?" She questioned solicitously.

"No, not really, just have a rash or something starting up is all. I picked up some antiseptic cream that should take care of the problem." He answered with a smile for her concern. "Do you always treat your guests like they were your children?"

"I suppose it's that old Jewish Mama syndrome." She laughed. "And I'm not even Jewish. I just like to seen my guests taken care of, is all. I'd hate it if you got sick while you stayed here. I'd feel almost responsible for that."

"Not to worry." Dan let out a small chuckle. "It isn't anything serious, I'm sure. Just some oddball allergy or something I picked up is all. I'm sure, I'll be all right."

"Well, if you need anything, or if it gets worse, don't forget you can call me." Constance nodded. "I know people who can do some marvelous things if you are sick."

"Thanks, anyway." Dan was becoming a bit uncomfortable with her offers of care, so headed upstairs with a wave and a forced bounce in his step. "All I need is another good nights sleep and I'll be fine."

"All right, dear." Constance gave him a cheerful smile and a small wave as he climbed the stairs.

* * * *

He dreamed again that night. This time there was more definition to the images he saw, women, seven of them now, standing in a circle and calling someone. "Dan, come to us, come and receive our gift."

Agatha stood forward, holding out a hand while wearing a smile. "Dan Hastings, you have wished for things that life will not give you. Your search is over, now. Come to me, and find what you have sought for so long. Come to me, come to us."

"What do you want?" He questioned, able to find his voice this time, and finding that he was able to move. But for some reason he didn't want to. "Why me?"

"You know." She answered and the others echoed her words. "You know, you know, you know."

"I don't know anything." He stammered. "Please, tell me what it is you want from me?"

"Look to yourself." Agatha told him sternly. "The answers are there, only waiting for you to find them again."

"What was lost will be found." The others softly chanted. "Once found will make one whole. Come to us, Dan. Come to us. Come..."

* * * *

Dan sat up in the bed with a start, but no shout that time. The itching had stopped, to his relief, but once he reached to turn on the bedside lamp, a look at his arm stopped the motion in mid reach. "What the?"

In the moonlight coming through the window his arm appeared smooth, hairless and a little thinner. Thinking it was a trick of the light, and his groggy state from waking so abruptly, he shook himself mentally then lowered his head back to the welcoming softness of the pillows and returned to sleep. Without dreams that time.

* * * *

"Wow. That one wasn't as bad as the other night, but it was still really weird." Dan mumbled as he worked his way out of bed and padded to the bathroom for his morning ritual of shave and shower. "Oh man, I wasn't dreaming this after all."

Staring into the mirror in disbelief, he ran a hand over his cheeks and chin. There was no trace of a beard at all on his face. Even the little dings and scars he had accumulated over years of using a razor seemed to be gone. His reflection stared back at him with a flawless complexion, lacking the enlarged pores he had become accustomed to seeing every morning, and appearing soft as a young girls.

"What in the world is going on here?" His arms were bare of hair as well, and did look thinner to his eyes. On second look, he did have light downy hairs on his arms, but nothing like the longer, darker hairs he had gone to bed with. I wonder..."

His legs were pretty well denuded of hair, too. And were slimmer and smoother than he was used to seeing. The only word he could come up with to describe them as they now appeared was sleek. Smoothly muscled, slim, and hairless. His legs now looked like something he would have admired on a pretty woman. "This is not happening."

A very careful examination of his full length reflection in the mirror mounted on the wall next to the bathtub showed his original estimation was pretty accurate. His legs were slimmer and feminine in appearance, and his arms were thinner. Was he imagining it, or were his hips just a bit wider than they had been, and was his waist just a touch narrower?

"This is unreal!" reaching up to touch his hair, he noted yet another difference. It was thicker than he remembered, and seemed to be getting darker. And was brushing against his shoulders when he distinctly recalled it being inches shorter just the night before. "What is going on here?"

Memories of long repressed desires surfaced briefly, but he pushed them back down without thought and out of long habit. He looked years younger, and felt better than he had in years. "Sheesh. I have got to get out of this place."

Getting dressed was illuminating, too. His shirts were several sizes smaller, and his pants had changed subtly. Narrower at the waist and noticeably wider at hips and bottom. Even his shoes were two sizes smaller, and had become loafers that looked like either a man or woman could wear them. "This is too weird!"

Going downstairs he stopped at the desk intending to check out and get away from whatever was causing him to change, or make him think he was. Constance looked up from the desk and smiled at him. "My, you do look better this morning, Dan. I'm glad a good nights sleep was all you needed after all."

"Umm, yeah, I do feel better than yesterday." He admitted with a grin. "I think this place may be good for me, I haven't felt this good in a long time, you know."

"I'm happy you like it here, dear." Constance beamed. "Is there something you wanted?"

"Uh," Suddenly, he didn't want to check out just yet. Something inside himself, soul, subconscious mind, whatever, urged him to stay another night at least. After all, he was feeling wonderful for a change, not dragged out and constantly having to force himself to go through a day. "Not really. I just wanted to say thanks for the concern last night, is all."

"Oh, that's no problem. Are you going to have breakfast this morning?"

"Oh, I don't know." Dan wondered what had happened to his usual appetite, and shrugged. "Maybe some juice and a roll. I'm just not all that hungry this morning."

"Oh, that's fine. With your trim figure I can see why you don't eat a lot for breakfast." Constance nodded. "Come on into the dining room and I'll join you and have a cup of coffee while you have your juice and whatever. We can chat some more while you do."

"All right, that sounds good." Dan found himself saying, wondering if the woman had noticed the changes he was sure had been worked on his body overnight. But she acted as if he was the same, other than having been a little ill the previous night, as he had been since checking in to her establishment.

None of the staff seemed to see anything different about him either, greeting him by name and the morning waitress brought him a cinnamon roll, milk, and a small glass of orange juice without being asked.

"Oh, sorry, it's the same thing you had yesterday and I just had the idea it was a morning ritual for you." The girl, Evvie, blushed when he questioned her about it. "If you want, I can bring you a menu."

"No, that's ok." He found himself giving the girl a smile of reassurance. "This is fine, thank you. Wonderful in fact."

"What was that about, if you don't mind me asking?" Constance tilted her head while giving him a curious glance. "I sat at this same table with you yesterday and you had exactly the same thing for breakfast then as you have now."

"Oh, I guess I'm still a little muzzy from the way I felt yesterday." Dan temporized, knowing with a small thrill of fear mixed with excitement that he had had a large omelet for breakfast the previous day, with a side order of sausage, toast, and no juice.

"Well, when someone sleeps really hard, that sometimes happens, dear." The woman nodded sagely then smiled again. "Well, I need to get back to the desk, we have a large group coming in later today and I need to have things ready for them. You enjoy your day, dear, and I'll see you later on."

"Ok, Constance." Dan nodded as he sipped the juice with more delicacy than he ever recalled using before. Instead of the almost slurping it down without pausing for breath he had generally done in the morning for years, he slowly savored the slight bite of the fresh squeezed orange juice. And nibbled at the roll between sips. Once he was finished, Dan dabbed at his lips with a napkin before leaving a modest tip and rising to leave.

No one he had seen the day before acted as if anything was different about him at all, which he found very unsettling when every glance he got of himself reflected from store windows told him he was different in appearance, if only a little overall.

"Hello there, Dan!" Agatha smiled in greeting as she walked towards him from the entrance of a shop. "I see you decided to stay a little longer than one night. You must like it here. I can see that our town seems to agree with you."

"I guess so." He answered, noting that she was not wearing the outfit that had caught his attention the first time he had seen her. Instead, she was wearing a stylish lavender sundress that hugged her slim, but pretty figure quite fetchingly. "How are you?"

"Fine thanks. You?"

"Oh all right. Just a little confused at the moment." Came the answer before he could hold it in.

"Really, confused in what way?" She tilted her head in what almost seemed to be secret amusement.

"It's hard to explain." Dan searched for a way to voice his knowledge of the physical changes he had gone through recently without sounding completely insane. He settled for finishing rather lamely. "I just feel different than I did when I came here, is all."

"Well, you do look more rested than you did the night I caught you staring in the restaurant." She smiled. "I'm happy that our little town seems to be so good for you."

"I kind of wonder about that." He admitted with a slight uneasiness. "I think being here has changed me."

"Oh has it now?" She asked with a slight lift of an elegant eyebrow. "I would think the slower pace and quiet would work changes in just about anyone with sense. Especially someone who works under the kinds of pressure you do. Why a few days here would work almost magical changes in a person if they were looking for a change of pace and somewhere to recharge their batteries. I've seen it happen before. Some people just seem to be renewed after visiting us here. It's really gratifying to see when it happens."

"That may be it." Dan nodded uncertainly. "I do know that I sure feel different than I did when I first got here."

"Then you're one of the lucky few who experience that in a lifetime." Agatha assured him with another sunny smile. "If I were you, I'd just enjoy it and let the angst around here renew you. You sure looked as if you needed it when you first arrived among us."

"I did at that." The rueful admission was drawn out almost unwillingly as he agreed with her. "Truthfully, I was burning out big time and was actually thinking of taking a long stretch between contracts after I got home."

"You see?" The blonde gave him an infectious grin. "It's working on you already. Is there anything that you really need to be back home for immediately?"

"Not really. My rent is paid up for the rest of the year, and the utilities come automatically out of my bank account. As for people, there really aren't all that many that I'd miss a whole lot for not seeing for another little while."

"Well good!" Agatha touched his hand companionably. "Then you just spend as much time as you want here. You're welcome you know."

"I've gotten no other impression from anyone I've met here." In fact, most of the residents didn't treat him as a tourist or short term visitor. Instead he found himself being given the kind of attention a long gone resident of the place would receive after returning home. Strangely it felt good to him in a way that he couldn't quite get hold of, other than being comfortable with it. In spite of his worries about the perceived changes in himself that no one else seemed to notice at all.

"Good." Agatha smiled again. "If anyone treats you badly, you just tell Constance or me, and we'll set them straight for you. We like having you here, Dan, and hope you decide to stay for a while yet."

"Oh I think I probably will." He answered, then finished. "Stay for awhile, I mean. I was going to check out of the Bell today but got sidetracked before I could do it. Now that I think about it, I'm kind of glad I didn't check out."

"Well, fate takes a hand in things off and on, you know." The young woman answered with a chuckle. "Maybe you weren't supposed to leave just yet."

"Maybe not. Maybe not."

"Well, I have to get going." Agatha apologized. "I have a large gathering tonight that I'm still preparing for. I'll see you again, though."

"Bye." He waved as she started moving down the sidewalk. He found himself watching her with an interest that he wouldn't have shown earlier. Instead of her obviously interesting aspects for a male, which he had noticed the first time, he was looking over her dress, shoes, and the way her hair bounced when she walked.

"Man, what's getting into me?" Shaking his head in puzzled half amused surprise, he went on. "Could be the changes I'm going through are more than just the physical ones that no one but me can see."

* * * *

Back at the Bell, Book and Candle, Dan consciously began to take stock of what had happened to him since checking into the place. The changes that no one else seemed to notice were unsettling enough, but his own internal alterations were more so. Like the way he had watched Agatha earlier in the day. He hadn't been watching her figure so much as what she was wearing and how she wore it. And the shop windows that had managed to catch his eye that day were all ladies clothing, women's shoes, household items, or crafts. He could never recall being interested in any of those before coming to Fairmont.

So What was happening to him? And why wasn't he more frantic about it than he seemed to be. In fact, why on Earth did part of him seem to be eagerly accepting any and all changes he was going through? Not a large part, but enough that the rest of him was not in a panic over things at the moment.

The parking lot of The Bell, Book and Candle was almost filled when he returned later that afternoon. The vehicles in the lot were all either newer models or carefully restored vintage cars. As he parked his own two year old Celica, he noticed a mint condition 1956 Chevrolet, an even older MG, and several Rolls Royce Silver Phantoms there.

"Now this is really odd." He mumbled to himself. "Not one of these cars is worth less than some people's houses. I wonder what kind of convention, or whatever, is going on to draw so many affluent types to this little town?"

The really strange thing about all the cars, aside from their monetary worth, was that every one of them gleamed as if they had just rolled off the showroom floor.

"Oh, hello there Dan!" Constance called from the desk and a crowd of young women talking like old friends catching up on years of experience apart from each other. "Did you have a good day?"

"Yes." His answer came so easily that it actually surprised him. "I just kind of wandered through the central business district most of the morning, then ran into Agatha this afternoon again. She mentioned some kind of gathering she had to be ready for this evening. Is that what's going on around here right now?"

"That it is." Constance nodded cheerfully while handing out keys to the ladies waiting at the front desk. "It's kind of a ten year reunion going on for the next several days."

"Oh, what kind of a reunion?" He found himself watching the group of women heading up the stairs with their baggage and thinking that he may have fallen into a meeting of professional models they were all so good looking and well dressed.

"It's a gathering of circles, dear." Constance answered with a smile. "Each circle is from a different town in the surrounding states and is dedicated to helping people who really are in need."

"Oh, a charitable organization?" Dan nodded, making sense of all the expensive cars outside and the elegant dress of the new guests. It was a group of women with more money than they could use themselves who made a pastime of sharing it out to people in need one way or another.

"Kind of." The proprietress agreed with a wide smile. "We all work at keeping things running smoothly in the towns where we live, and try to make sure the other people living in them don't have to suffer unnecessary hardships in their lives."

"That's kind of an ambitious aim for a group to have, isn't it?"

"It is." Constance agreed. "But that's what every lady here has dedicated her life to doing, and for the most part, we manage fairly well at it."

"Commendable of them, and you." He answered, actually feeling a bit uncomfortable about subject for some reason he was unable to define to himself. "Well, I'm headed up for my room now. Will it be too crowded for having dinner here tonight?"

"Oh, not at all." Constance assured him. "All my new guests are going to a dinner party at Agatha's home this evening. "The place will seem quite deserted in another hour or so, I promise you."

"How many of them are there?" Dan questioned, then colored at his nosiness. "If it isn't impolite to ask, that is."

"Oh, thirty of them here." She replied with a shrug. "The parking lot here isn't a really big one, so it seems more crowded than it really is you know."

"Ok, well, I'll be down later for dinner." He answered. "Right now I feel like taking a short nap."

"You do that, dear." The still bustling woman replied with a wave. "You are here to rest, right?"

"Yes I am." For some reason, Dan was nervous about all the women sharing the accommodations with him, and actually imagined a tingle like a small electric charge running up and down his spine as he climbed the stairs to his room.

* * * *

The tingling had become more intense as he entered his room, centering in his chest, with little surges to his crotch that spread to his hips, bottom and stomach. "Oh, man. It would be nice if I could feel just relaxed in this place. Every time I come in here I get to feeling almost sick. Wonder if I'm allergic to something in the place?"

The odd feelings slowly subsided, but didn't really go away as he listened to the other guests talking and moving in the hallways. Still the day had been a good one up to that point, and he really did feel better than he had in a long time, even with the odd feelings, twinges, and slight discomforts. "Maybe I'm just noticing little things more now that I'm not so tired I ache from that."

Not worn out, but sleepy from the day's pleasant activities, he kicked off his shoes and laid down on the bed. The physical changes in himself that no one else appeared to notice nagged at his mind as he settled himself, and the man idly wondered why he kept pushing that particular worry to the back of his mind.

"I should be terrified, or at least more worried than I am just now about this stuff." He told himself while trying to work up more than the bit of concern he was feeling over the whole thing. "Also I really ought to be more than a little curious about just why I'm finding myself so comfortable in this town. Guess some places just hit people that way, but even so..."

Truthfully, he not only felt very comfortable in Fairmont, for reasons he couldn't exactly pin down, he actually felt at home there. Like it was a place he had left long ago and found again recently. Deeply buried in his subconscious mind, the same something that had started coming awake earlier, stretched, looked around, and began looking for a way back into the light.

Dan, unknowing of that, slipped into an easy slumber.

* * * *

He seemed to be floating in this dream, and it was a very pleasant sensation, warm, relaxed, and at peace with himself.

There were no visions or dreams in that short sleep, simply a whispering voice that urged him to accept the gift he was receiving and finally allow his restless inner self to have the completion it had craved for so long. Soothing tones combined with softly whispered words assured him that all would be well, and that he did, indeed, belong in Fairmont as he had started to feel. You're home Dan. Be at peace with yourself and accept what is to come. It's all for the best, and for your well being. Trust in that, dear one.

* * * *

Dan awakened refreshed and feeling a great sense of anticipation over something he had no real conscious idea about, just that he felt things were going to change for the better and stay that way for him at last.

In the bathroom, he gave himself another critical looking over, were his hips getting bigger? His shoulders seemed to have shrunk a little more, and his arms were even slimmer than they had been that morning. "Nah, I'm just looking for things that aren't really happening is all."

His hair, though, had darkened even more, and gotten thicker while creeping sown past his shoulders. That was something he could qualitatively measure and he did with a small grimace. Thinking it may be some kind of prank, he reached up to feel for his scalp under the new mass of hair and wasn't truly shocked to discover that he wasn't wearing a wig. It was his own hair, firmly rooted in his scalp. A quick tug and yelp of pain further confirmed that for him. Shaking his head and feeling the new weight of his thicker, longer hair move, he whispered. "A person's hair just doesn't grow that fast, and change color while it does. What is going on here?"

But it felt right to him. More right than anything had over the past few years.

He experienced a few moments of anxiety when he thought of what people might think or say when they saw his longer, changed hair. Or the rest of the changes he had gone through over the past day or so.

Very conscious of the weight of the hair on his shoulders and the way it felt whenever he moved his head, Dan gathered his nerves and left his room. The few people still in the halls, all women, were too intent on getting themselves to the gathering Constance and Agatha had told him about to notice a halfway feminine male with thick, glossy dark hair reaching past his shoulders. Still, none of them had seen him earlier and he was still more than a little nervous about the reactions of people who had seen him before.

Constance greeted him as if nothing was different. "Did you have a good nap, Dan?"

"Yes I did, thanks." He answered, then couldn't resist asking the woman. "Do you notice anything different about me?"

"You look more rested." Constance told him with a shrug. "Otherwise, no. Why?"

"Oh, just wondered." Dan responded. "I feel really different is all, and was just wanting to know if anyone else noticed."

"Well, you do look much more rested than when you first checked in here." The woman replied with a smile. "I think our little town is good for you."

"Yeah, I know." He let out a long sigh. "Have you noticed anything else about me? Different, I mean from when I checked in here?"

"Like what?"

"Oh, physical things, like my hair." Dan gave a small shrug as he broached the subject that was really bothering him.

"You have beautiful hair, dear." Constance assured him. "Any girl I know would love to have your head of hair, it's so glossy and soft looking. Do you do anything special with it?"

"Not really." Dan shrugged. "It just does that all by itself. I brush it, keep it clean, and don't worry much about it."

He wondered why he had said anything like that, since he had never given such care in taking care of his hair. Up until very recently, he had kept it short and just washed it, combed what there was of it, and not worried about it.

"Well, I can tell you this much." Constance smiled at him. "You have beautiful hair, and I think it is much better cared for than you like to admit. It's nothing to be ashamed of just because you're a guy, you know."

"Oh, I'm not ashamed of it." He assured her. "I just do what I need to so it stays halfway civilized and don't really worry about it after that."

"Sure you do." The woman chuckled as if he had made a good joke out of the conversation. "Hair like you have takes work, and nothing you can say will convince me, or anyone else, otherwise."

"Whatever." Dan found himself patting the newly sprouted mane and making sure it fell properly for the best effect while wondering why he was doing it, or even how he knew the ways to do that. "Guys aren't supposed to give so much care to their hair, after all."

"But you obviously do." Constance told him with a nod. "And it shows."

"Thanks." He responded with the uneasy feeling that she actually knew what was happening to him but wasn't letting him know she did. "What's on the supper menu tonight?"

That ended the uncomfortable conversation as she went into detail about the dining room's offerings for guests that evening. It was with no small amount of relief that he left her to enter the dining room and ordered the stuffed pork chops with fresh asparagus spears in cheese sauce.

The meal was wonderful, especially with the break he got from worrying about the changes he was undergoing just by enjoying the well prepared food.

Following the meal, he was inexplicably tired again, so returned to his room without speaking to anyone. Once there, he turned on the television and worked his way through the channels to see if anything interested him. He finally settled on a fashion show on The Women's Channel and settled in to watch the models show off not only the garments they were wearing, but their lovely bodies.

Once that was over, he still watched as another program about hair styles and care of the hair, along with proper makeup styles for each shape of face came on. For some reason, he had to fight an urge to practice some to the techniques he saw on the show. The only thing that prevented him from doing so was that he had none of the makeup, or hair care tools needed to try the methods out for himself.

"Man, is it that late?" He asked no one as he heard the other guests begin to filter back into the place and noted that he had been watching the shows for several hours with a yawn. "I need to get myself to bed here."

Before he did, Dan sat in front of the mirror of the vanity in the room with a hairbrush he didn't recall having earlier, and brushed his hair until it shone. With a contented sigh, he undressed, padded into the bathroom to brush his teeth and use the cleanser he didn't remember buying either on his face. Once those actions were finished to his satisfaction, he almost fell into bed and was asleep before turning off the bedside lamp.

* * * *

There were even more women in the group he dreamed that night. Each of them seemed to be sizing him up, as if he had asked to marry their favorite daughters, or wondering why he was present at a gathering of females. All of them were clad in the snug black skirts, blue shells, and black tees he had first seen Agatha and her companions wearing.

Even weirder, as each one looked his way, her eyes took on an intense blue glow that hid pupils, iris, and whites completely. Dan's insides churned under their unflinching regard and he tried turning away from it without success.

"Don't be afraid." Agatha emerged from the group, her own eyes holding the same unearthly glow as the other's did. "If we had meant to harm you we would have done that by now. All you need do is accept. Simply accept."

"Accept what?" He stammered out while the women formed a circle around him and Agatha then began softly chanting. "What is going on here, and what are you doing to me?"

"All in its proper time, dear one." Agatha gave him a warm smile. "When the time is right, you will understand, and know what to do. Come to us then, Dan. You'll find us when it is time, or we will find you. It really doesn't matter. For now, relax, rest, and take what we give you without questions I can't answer for you yet."

"All right." He answered slowly, feeling strange stirrings in both his body and mind. "But this should be scaring the crap out of me. Why isn't it?"

"We're helping you with the adjustments, dear." Agatha gave his arm a gentle pat and smiled at him again. "Just allow the flow of things to carry you along and things will be fine. I promise."

"Why can't I seem to leave this place?" His question sounded almost plaintive even to him, but he hadn't even considered getting in his car and driving away since that first morning. That was something he knew would have happened under any normal circumstances, so why had he stayed when doing so was causing him such problems?

"You can leave here anytime you like, Dan." Agatha soothed, then added. "If you really wished to do that. Do you?"

"Nuh -- no, I guess I don't." Came his half hesitant response. "But I don't understand why that is."

"You've come home, dear. That's all."

"I've never been here before." His protest masked the fact that he felt what she had just said so strongly that it nearly terrified him.

"That doesn't matter, you know." The woman's blonde hair was stirring in a breeze that he couldn't feel as she replied with a slow smile. "Most people never find their true homes. Be glad that you have. It is a rare gift given to only a special few, after all.

Settle in and let things happen as they will, Dan dear. You'll see I'm telling you the truth."

"All right."

"You have to go now, sweetheart." She urged him out of the circle as if he were a child in the midst of an adult function and needed to be sent to bed. "This place isn't for you yet, and the dispensation we have for you to visit tonight is running out. Sleep well, and I'll see you in the morning."

"But..."

"Go now." She gently, but firmly ordered him. "You can come back tomorrow night. But your time is up for now. Good night."

That time he actually felt himself, or his soul, being pulled back to his sleeping body. But he didn't start awake once he returned, just mumbled something in his sleep before turning over and dreaming no more that night.

* * * *

Things had changed again, he knew before even opening his eyes to the morning sun streaming in through the window overlooking the town's main street.

His hair was longer and had darkened to a Raven's Wing Black during the night. The thick strands he first saw laying against his pillow shone with good health and care. When he carefully sat up, the hair fell in thick, soft waves to the small of his back while the unaccustomed weight of it tried pulling his head backwards until he made an unconscious adjustment to its presence.

There had been more changes. His hands had become slimmer. They were smooth and soft, with long slender fingers and were quite beautiful. Except they were the hands of a woman on his arms. Not that those arms looked at all out of place with the hands.

His feet were smaller, even delicate in their shape and size now. With trim feminine looking ankles leading to smooth curves of calves and thighs that gleamed in the light.

Walking was different, because of the smaller feet, and he was sure his hips had widened on top of everything else. Dan made another small mental adjustment and the slightly swaying gait that his new shape demanded became almost normal, at least he could walk without falling, or careening into furniture and walls when he did.

His heavier, longer mass of hair also added to his problems, it swung in time to his new gait, and kept getting in the way. He impatiently pushed it back off his shoulders in a very feminine gesture then tossed his head to make sure it was all flowing down his back instead of twining around his arms and tangling him up.

Shower time was a revelation, again. His hips and bottom had expanded, not enough to be actually considered female in appearance, but with the definite beginnings of feminine curves showing in them. His waist was smaller, and seemed to be higher up than it had been, while shoulders and arms had again narrowed and lost all the male muscle definition he used to have.

"Aggh!" The forceful stream of water from the shower actually hurt his skin, and he was forced to turn it down several times before reaching a comfortable stream. "Wow, I've never been that sensitive before. My whole body is getting softer as this goes on."

Without thinking about what he was doing, he began washing his mass of thick, soft black hair with a shampoo he didn't recall purchasing, then took a very long time rinsing to make sure all the suds were out of it before applying a generous amount of conditioner to it. Again, he couldn't really recall buying the conditioner either.

If he thought his hair had been heavy before, when wet it dragged at his neck like a half ton of soaking wet cloth, and slapped at his bare back when it wasn't clinging there. With an internal sigh, he wrapped a towel turban-wise around it to keep it out of the way and to start sopping up some of the water it had absorbed. That act was performed without really thinking about it, and when he stopped to consider what he had done, it shocked him. He'd seen women do that, but never tried it himself. Of course, till recently, with his short hair, that hadn't been necessary.

Grumbling about that, and worried that he was actually losing his mind and simply hallucinating those things, he went to the sink to brush his teeth. And came to another abrupt stop after looking at his face in the mirror.

It was still his face. Sort of, anyway. The jaw line had smoothed and softened, while his cheekbones were high and more defined than before. A small, straight nose now graced the center of his softer looking face, with large looking blue eyes framed with thick curling lashes and thin arcs of dark brows that showed no sign of being plucked. Even his mouth looked fuller. His throat hadn't escaped the changes either. Now it was slim, smooth, and without any trace of an Adams Apple.

All that, even without the long dark hair framing it, showed a remarkably pretty face that barely avoided being too feminine for a man to have. "Oh, brother. I have got to be dreaming all this stuff. That's the only logical explanation for my not being in an absolute state of panic here."

Thinking that way caused him to wonder why he would dream such a thing in the first place. Though part of him knew the reasons and was gleefully watching all the transformations as they happened, he still refused to look too closely into that aspect of his personality.

"Wonder if I have any clothes that fit by now?" He muttered while padding back into the bedroom and opening up the closet to check. What he saw in there caused him to let out another long, drawn out sigh. "Guess so."

His underwear had changed into nylon male bikini briefs in a variety of brighter colors than he would have chosen for himself. At least before all this weird stuff started happening to him. His undershirts were softer and almost silky in appearance, as well.

Getting into them was interesting as the slick material seemed to just slide into place as he pulled on the briefs. Removing the towel from his hair he noted that it was still quite damp, but at least it wasn't dripping any longer. Getting the undershirt on over his head without tangling his hair was an interesting experience, but he managed to get it done after a few abortive tries.

"Man, this is hard to get right." He muttered while making sure the hair was all outside the undershirt then padding over to the vanity where he had a blow dryer sitting. "I wonder how long it'll take to get all this dried off and brushed back into a reasonable semblance of a civilized appearance."

Half an hour later he sat there dreamily running the brush through his newly acquired mane and actually enjoying the feel of the brush running through it and against his scalp.

Reasonably dried, and brushed, the glossy black mass shone with care and good health.

"Well, like I heard somewhere before. It looks good on me."

"Now to finish getting dressed, and hope no one notices how girly I'm starting to look. Like that's going to happen with this face and hair, but I can at least entertain a little bit of hope there, right?"

He chose a long sleeved blue knit pullover and struggled again to get all that hair through the neck hole but managed a bit better that time. A pair of thin white cotton socks that looked way too small when he held them up, fit his feet without stretching, and the Jeans he picked out were just baggy enough to hide his growing feminine charms at hips and bottom. A pair of mens size five Nikes finished that part of the job and fit his smaller feet very comfortably.

Reaching for his wallet and keys on the dresser another thought occurred to him. "What happens if I have to show ID somewhere? I sure don't look like I used to, that's for sure, and it could be a problem."

"Well, why doesn't this surprise me?" He muttered once he'd opened his wallet to check his drivers license and work ID cards. The pictures on all of them matched his new appearance and even particulars like hair color and weight had been changed. "Well at least I won't have problems if I have to show this stuff to anyone."

Stopping to give his hair one last brushing just to make sure it was falling properly and not in a mess, he gave himself a quick once over. "Well, I guess it isn't too bad. I look kind of femme especially with the face and hair, but I'll have to live with it, I suppose."

"Good morning Dan!" Constance called from the counter where she was working and she waved him over once she saw him coming down the stairs.

His altered gait tended to slow him down as he worked his way across the lobby towards the desk and he was almost terrified that one of the women sitting or walking through at the same time would comment on his feminine grace. Except for a few smiles of greeting and softly voiced Hellos, none of them paid all that much attention to him.

"You are looking great!" Constance gushed as he reached the counter. "I'd say that our little town really agrees with you, Dan. You have a glow that's positively contagious now, and your hair has its shine and bounce back. So does your step, by the way. Overall, I'd say that you seem to be really doing well here and that the rest has done you a world of good."

"Thanks, I do feel really good this morning." He admitted while finding that it was true. But even so, he hesitantly broached the subject that had been bothering him so much over the past few days. "Ummm, have you noticed anything else different about me over the past couple of days?"

"Well, other than you've lost those big dark circles under your eyes, and look like you have energy to burn now, no. I can't really say that I have. Is there something bothering you?"

"Oh, it's just that now I'm ready to get out and do some real vacation type stuff, I'm just worried about how people might accept me looking the way I do." He answered with more honesty than he'd planned on.

"Well, Your hair is very long for a man, but it's so beautiful that I can understand why you wear it that way. You do have more of a pretty face than a handsome one, but I don't think you'll run into any problems around here because of either thing." She answered, then gave him an impish grin. "Except for the local women maybe being just a tad jealous of your lovely complexion and hair."

Dan actually blushed at that comment. "I hadn't thought of that one."

"Well don't worry yourself about it." Constance gave him a sunny smile. "You'll probably hear comments like 'that hair and skin is just wasted on a guy! Too bad.' and not much else about it."

"I can live with that, I suppose." Dan found himself smiling back at the woman and waved towards the dining room. "Well, I'm going to get some breakfast. I feel like I haven't eaten in days. Well, maybe not that bad, but I do seem to have a lot of appetite this morning."

"I'll be busy here for a while yet." Constance told him with real regret in her voice. "You just go enjoy your breakfast and maybe I can catch up with you later on."

"Ok, see you later then." He smiled again, then turned to walk into the dining room.

Following a light breakfast of fruit, juice, and skim milk, he left the inn and just started wandering around in the small business district he had walked through the previous day.

He found himself curiously watching his own reflection in the shop windows as he sometimes stopped to look at the wares displayed in them and was slightly shocked to find himself actually staring into a lingerie specialty shop, and then an obviously upscale little dress shop, too. Shaking his head, the man found himself muttering to himself. "Hey, I know I'm starting to look like a girl here, or maybe have for my whole life, but I definitely do not have the right shape for things like that!"

He actually entered a small curio shop, and was browsing through the shelves looking at this knick knack or that one with real interest. Things like that had never really caught his attention before and he briefly wondered why he hadn't been into shops like that before.

"Can I help you, miss?" A voice interrupted his train of thought and startled, he nearly dropped the small figurine he held. Turning to face the owner of the voice, after carefully replacing the object he managed to get out a soft. "I'm just looking right now, thanks."

"Oh!" The young woman who had approached him realized her mistake and looked very embarrassed. "I'm so sorry, sir. It's just that your hair..."

"I know, I get that a lot." He told her, just to ease her embarrassment over the faux pas. "I don't know why I wear it so long except that I like it that way. Got it cut once and felt almost naked once I had."

"It is beautiful." The girl agreed with a smile. "But with your slenderness and facial features I think getting called 'Miss, or Ma'am' would get kind of old."

"Not really." He admitted, quite truthfully since that was the first time it had ever happened to him. "I just try to take it in stride and not let it bother me. Most people are really nice about it once they figure out their mistake."

"Well, I am sorry." She grinned then held out a slim hand. "I'm Elsa, by the way, and own this little piece of heaven."

"Dan Hastings." Taking her hand in his own, and finding that his was as slender and soft as hers he gently gave it a shake. "You have some really beautiful things in here. How do you manage in such a small town?"

"Oh, we get quite a few visitors on a regular basis, Dan." Elsa answered. "Plus there is actually quite a bit of money around here. The farms and ranches in the county generally do really well, so a business like mine doesn't go without customers for long at all."

"I did notice a lot of guests at the Bell, Book and Candle." He answered with a nod. "Do those ladies come here often? To Fairmont, I mean."

"Oh they come in on a fairly regular basis, yes." Elsa nodded. "The Bell usually has a pretty good compliment of guests year round. And the local businesses all gain from that since they tend to shop here in town once they see some of what we have to offer."

"I'm beginning to understand how could be." Looking behind him, he picked up the small silver figurine of a woman in flowing robes holding a staff and looking as if she could suddenly start moving. "I'll take this one for now."

"The Druidess." Elsa nodded with a smile. "You have good taste, Dan. This is pretty expensive though since it's solid silver and the stand is real lead crystal."

"That's no problem." Came his answer as he carried the figuring to the counter then dug in his pocket for his wallet. "I have more money than I really know what to do with, anyway. I might as well use some of it to keep helping out the local economy. Besides, I really like this one."

"Taking his credit card and running it through the machine, she nodded. "Thank you. I do appreciate the business. Let me wrap and box this up for you."

With his purchase in a small bag bearing the logo of the shop in hand, Dan continued wandering around almost aimlessly until his stomach announced that it was ready for another meal.

While looking for a place to eat in the vicinity, he heard a familiar voice call his name and found Agatha beside him. "Out doing a little shopping?"

"Yes." He nodded. "And Hello. But right now, I'm looking for a place to get a bite to eat. Time just kind of got away from me and I'm suddenly almost famished."

"Well, I'm heading for lunch right now." The slender blonde smiled at him. "Why don't you join me?"

"Ok, thanks." He found himself following her into a small storefront that disguised a clean, well kept restaurant that almost looked like a dime story lunch counter from a long past time. "Gee, I'd have never found this place on my own."

"They serve a very good chef's salad." Agatha told him with little grin. "And have absolutely scrumptious malts."

"Sounds good to me." He answered with more enthusiasm than he would have thought possible at the prospect of eating a salad for lunch. "Let's eat."

"Well, it is why we're here, after all." Agatha chuckled.

The pair found a booth and gave their orders, then settled back with little sighs of contentment. Agatha closed her eyes for a moment before telling him. "And the booths are so comfortable that I almost have to fight from sleeping in them."

"Oh yeah." Dan grinned as he worked himself even more deeply into the cushions. "I've slept in worse beds. This is really great, and I had no idea I was getting so tired."

"A day of shopping does that to you." Agatha answered with another smile for him. "Even if you were just window shopping mostly."

"Yeah, I was really surprised to see most of the morning gone when I finally noticed I was hungry."

"So how do you like our little town now that you've been here for a few days?" She questioned once their salads had arrived.

"I think its a really nice place." He answered while pouring his vinegar and oil dressing on the salad. "I'm impressed."

"Good. I just knew you would like it here." Agatha nodded then took a small piece of ham on a fork and lifted it to her mouth.

"I am a little worried, though." He told her. "The place seems to be changing me. In a lot of ways."

"Oh?" Her blue eyes fixed on his and her head tilted with her interest. "How so?"

"Well, it's really kind of hard to explain." He temporized, not really wanting to get into the perceived physical transformations he was experiencing. "It would sound like I'm nuts or something if I told anyone."

"Oh, I don't think you're crazy, Dan." She responded seriously. "What do you think has been happening to you here?"

"I'm changing, physically." He blurted out. "I mean, when I came here I didn't have long hair and my hair was brown, not the deep black it is now. And I had muscle that showed on my arms, and I had to shave every day. Now..."

"It doesn't look as if you ever had to shave to me." She responded quietly. "And your hair is so beautiful. So, if you have changed, I'd say that's all to the better. Your complexion is marvelous, and you look like the picture of health to me."

"Oh, I feel great." He answered. "Better than I recall since I was a teenager, actually. But I'm changing more or less in front of my own eyes, and it's almost scaring the life out of me here."

"Well, if you are changing like you say." She thoughtfully answered. "Do any of the changes make you really uncomfortable? Or feel as if they're bad ones?"

"That's the really odd part of all this." He slowly told her. "It all feels so right to me once I get adjusted to what's happened to me in my sleep."

"Ok, then if it feels so right to you why worry about it at all?"

"I don't know, but it just kind of bothers me is all." Dan colored as he thought about it. "I suppose I'm just dealing with things from my past while this is happening. Things that I had to put behind me and keep there."

"What kind of things?" Her question aroused memories that he preferred keeping safely stuck away. "Don't worry, I don't judge people because of what they do with their free time unless it harms someone else, or themselves. You aren't a closet sadist or an axe murderer are you?"

"No, nothing like that." He laughed in spite of his misgivings over telling the young woman about the things he had been so careful to hide away for so long. "It has to do with my size, and general slender build. I grew up getting mistaken for a girl so often that I nearly decided to become one. Didn't go through with it, though, just dressed up off and on until I decided that wasn't such a good thing for me to do either."

"Why did you stop?" She asked with genuine interest while lightly touching his hand.

"Social pressure, For my job, things like that." Dan shrugged. "In my profession, I handle an awful lot of sensitive material, and any hint of being anything other than a completely normal male would ruin me."

"I see." Agatha nodded. "So in order to keep a job you really aren't all that fond of, you hid your real self away from the world? And yourself?"

"I suppose you could say that." He agreed with a guilty little smile. "I just had to do it to keep going you know?"

"Well, I for one find that sad." Agatha replied with another soft touch to his hand. "A person shouldn't have to spend their life in misery because of either social pressure or a job. You have been unhappy, haven't you?"

"Yeah. I have." Dan found himself fighting tears as he finally made the admission. "And with the changes I seem to be going through, I'm happy, and feeling guilty about that."

"Do you have a family?" Agatha questioned. "I mean a wife and children?"

"No, I never could stay interested enough in a woman to date her long enough to lead into something like that. And besides, most women I could have been interested in treated me more like a friend than a potential lover or mate."

"They recognized the real you, then." Agatha smiled gently. "Just like I did that first night when I caught you staring in the restaurant. This place, this town, is magic in some ways, dear. Just let it do it's work on you, and heal."

"I don't seem to have a lot of choice in the matter, do I?" With a half bitter chuckle he shook his head. "I can't even make myself leave."

"That's because you feel like you've come home." She answered, eerily just like she had done in his last dream.

"I've been dreaming, too."

"Everyone dreams, you know." Lifting another small bite of salad to her mouth and taking time to chew it, she paused before finishing. "That isn't unusual. Some people just remember what they've dreamed more easily than others."

"But you have been in them since I started staying here." Dan quietly told her. "You and other women all dressed like you were when I saw you the first time. And they all chant something while you talk to me in them."

"Really?" With a lift of her eyebrow, she gave him a questioning look. "I talk to you in these dreams? What do I talk about?"

"Just things about accepting a gift." Came the response. "And that I've finally found my real home."

"I think you have." Agatha nodded decisively. "Found your true home, I mean. And maybe your true self. Is that such a bad thing?"

"No, not really."

"Then just go with what's happening and don't be afraid. You're a good person, Dan. Otherwise the magic in this town wouldn't have touched you like it has. Believe me on that score and please put your mind to rest over the things that have bothered you over the past few days. Just embrace what you're being given, and let things happen as they will. I'm sure it's all for the best."

"Yeah, maybe it is." Came the hesitant response to that. "What if I was really resisting the changes, if they're really happening I mean?"

"Then you wouldn't change, or at least not very much." With a shrug, she went on. "Or would change differently. It affects different people in different ways, you know. You happen to be one of the fortunate ones."

"I've been wondering about that." He nodded. "It would explain why I'm not getting all panicky over things, or running for all I'm worth."

"It does explain things pretty neatly." She agreed, then looked at her watch. "Oh, look at the time! I got so involved with our conversation I completely forgot I'm having guests again this evening. You think about what I've told you, and don't worry. From what you've said, the things happening aren't terrible things. I'll see you tomorrow and we can talk some more, if you like."

"I'd like that." He responded with a genuine smile. "A lot."

"Then consider it a date." Agatha smiled down at him as she gathered her purse and readied herself to leave. "I'll see you right here for lunch, make it about 12:30?"

"Sounds good, I'll look forward to it."

"Me too." With a wave, Agatha left him to his thoughts.

* * * *

Thinking about what Agatha had told him, Dan found that she had paid the bill, then left the little lunch counter in a half-daze. He hadn't meant to tell her any of that, but the woman seemed to have a talent for drawing people out, at least with him she did.

The remaining afternoon sped past in a blur of introspection and idly staring into shop windows as he just walked without any real goal in mind. All he was sure of was that he needed to be moving, and to think. If he left immediately, would the changes reverse themselves, and if they would, did he even want them to? For that matter, did he even have the real desire to leave Fairmont at all?

The dream Agatha had told him he could leave the place whenever he wished, and for reasons he couldn't quite get a handle on, the man knew that was true. Since that was the case why then had he chosen to stay when each morning brought even more radical alterations to his person and evidently, his life outside of the little town?

"Because I want to see this through to the end of whatever it is that's going to happen." He told himself with a small sigh. "I'm mystified and frightened, but not nearly scared enough to bolt and run just now. Besides, I probably wouldn't do so well out in the world in this half and half state. So, I'll wait it out and see what else is going to happen."

What's happening is that someone, or something, is turning you into a woman. A part of him offered as he continued his leisurely walk. Doesn't that scare you? Or make you want to run to preserve what manhood you have left?

"Not really." He admitted to himself. "I don't really wish for the changes to stop until they're complete, do I? That's why I've stayed, and not gone into some funk over what's been happening since I got here."

And just what does that make you, then? The internal voice was becoming a little strident. Other than some little pansy-boy who wants to be like Mommy instead of Daddy I mean. This is sick and you need to get out of here. No, you need to demand that all these changes are reversed, then get away and forget you ever stopped in this town.

"Shut up." Dan gave his hair a toss, luxuriating in the feel of it as he stopped the internal argument with the internal ghost of his past and its fears of not being what society expected him to be. "I'm staying and I won't argue the point any longer."

Another internal voice, hidden for most of his life, let out a small yelp of joy as he made the decision.

 

* * * *

Constance greeted him warmly as he entered her establishment. "Hi dear. Did you have a nice day?"

"Well, I sure had an interesting one." He smiled back at her, conscious of how easily that expression came to his face lately and not all that unhappy about it.

"Agatha phoned and told me about what you two talked about at lunch." The woman told him, then added as he gave her a worried look. "Don't worry so much, hon. I think what's happening is a wonderful thing for you, provided you're happy with it."

"I'm pretty sure that I'm very pleased with it so far." He agreed to that with another smile. "I'm just not all that sure how to take it yet is all."

"Just accept it for the gift it is, dear." Constance gave his hand a friendly pat. "Seeing you become the happier, more at peace individual you should have been all your life is truly a joy."

"Well, I hope that's the case." He replied. "The change being beneficial for me, I mean. I still have lingering doubts about it all is the major problem."

"Only natural, dear." She replied with another light touch to his hand. "All we're concerned about is that you don't fear what's happening to you here. You do understand that don't you?"

"Yes, I do." Impulsively, he leaned forward to give the woman a quick hug. "I've been searching for something like this all my life and just wouldn't admit it to myself is all. I'm adjusting to having found it, at last, and discovering that I like it, and really wish it was completed already."

"Patience hon, patience." Constance chuckled. "All in its own good time, and that time is rapidly approaching. Why don't you go get a good night's sleep and we'll see what the morning brings you."

"Sounds good to me." Yawning, he realized that he was worn out. Yet it was a good tired, not the exhausted type he had become so familiar with through his life. Something was still driving him, but it was a different something now, and more patient with his own needs and frailties. "Good night, Constance."

"Nite, hon." The other returned his hug. "I'll be here if you need anything, even if it would just be moral support. Don't forget that."

"I won't, and thanks." Stifling another yawn, he waved to her and made his slow way up the stairs.

* * * *

Dan's sleep was filled with voices, soft singing, and a sense of warmth that he hadn't felt since being a small child. Agatha came to him again, wearing a wide smile and hugged him. "Hello, Diana. Tomorrow night will be the culmination of all this, questions will be answered and you will be given a final choice. Sleep well, dear one and be at peace. We are watching over you and no harm will come your way as you do."

She was gone before he could form an answer, or a question. Diana? Had she called him Diana? With that question rolling around in his mind, he drifted back into the comfortable sleep he had been having.

* * * *

It turned out that Diana was now a much more appropriate name for him than Dan when he awakened. The first things he noticed were on his chest, two of them, in fact. He now had breasts, well formed, beautiful breasts tipped with Proud nipples surrounded by fifty cent piece sized pink aureoles. Taking stock of those, he was surprised to discover that having them pleased him immensely. Their weight and sway as he moved was comforting in a way that he couldn't explain to himself, except that the feeling of having them, the sensations as they shifted with his movements, all felt as if things were finally getting to where they were supposed to be.

His hips had filled out and rounded, as well. So had his bottom. Padding into the bathroom with a feminine walk he stopped in front of the full length mirror with a small gasp. Except for the now shrunken member and testicles between his smooth, elegant legs what he saw was a very beautiful young woman.

How he knew didn't surprise him, but the beauties measurements were 34C - 23 - 36, she weighed 120 pounds, and was five feet three inches tall. His face now looked like a woman's, with fuller mouth, softly rounded jaw and chin, and well defined and fleshed cheekbones. The image he stared at in the mirror was nothing short of stunning and the transformed male experienced a real thrill of pleasure that the vision in the mirror was himself.

His morning ritual became a pleasure instead of a necessary chore as he carefully cleaned and explored every little part of his new anatomy. He carefully patted himself dry after the shower, then checked his face in the mirror while brushing his small, even white teeth.

"You are a knockout, girl." He told himself in a dulcet contralto that came out like a purr of pure pleasure. "Time to get dressed now."

That was another pleasant experience, once he got the lacy blue satin bra and panties on he just reveled in the feel of the soft, slick fabrics against his soft, sensitive flesh. The feel of being held and supported by the bra was something he had secretly imagined in the past but the reality was far more intimate and pleasing than he had ever fantasized.

With his diminished manhood tucked underneath, and his testicles pressed gently up into the body cavity they had originally descended from, there was no indication that he was anything other than a lovely young woman, even in the lingerie.

He added a garter belt, making sure that the garters were run through the panties instead of over them so he would be able to pull the panties down if needed. It never occurred to him to even wonder how he knew to do something like that, even if it was very practical.

Choosing a pair of smoke colored stockings, he expertly rolled them up, then smoothed them over his feet and long, beautiful legs. Standing, he fastened them to the garters and admired how they improved the appearance of his legs for a few moments.

A lacy slip matching the rest of his underwear slid over his head and settled into place as he shook himself a little to settle it, then it was time to choose a dress for the day.

Looking over the small selection available, he decided that he would take care of that later on with some dedicated shopping, but ended up choosing a sleeveless white silk dress with a modest neckline that would be both cool and appropriate for daywear on its own. If he needed to dress up later, the matching jacket would make it suitable for evening wear, though how he knew all this was still a mystery to him. A mystery that he wasn't about to question though.

The dress fit his new form snugly, showing of the glorious curves of his body without appearing too overtly sexy. He picked out a pair of medium heeled sandals in white leather for footwear, and was pleased with how they added to the overall outfit.

Small gold hoops in his now pierced ears, a thin gold chain around his neck, and a delicate little bracelet on his right wrist were added, and gave his new look an elegance that was both understated and very obvious. A slim ladies watch on the left completed that part of the undertaking.

He found that the vanity was now supplied with a plethora of cosmetics, but opted for the minimal look, only using mascara to supplement his already dark lashes, then a light, earth toned eyeliner to accent his eyes. A bit of blush, and some dark rose pink lipstick pretty well finished off his first real experience in putting on makeup. The finished look was quite nice, he decided while dabbing a drop of Chanel behind each ear then to his slender wrists.

Pleased with what he saw in the mirror, Dan -- no, Diana, made sure that his ID and keys were in the small white leather purse he had chosen, and on impulse checked what his ID and credit cards said. The picture of a beautiful woman smiled up from his drivers license that now bore the name Diana Connor. The credit cards, and his work IDs all had the identical name, and more importantly, an F on the sex designation.

"Not quite, but almost there." He giggled at himself for no reason other than pleasure in doing it, and left his room for a new day that promised to be a very interesting one.

"Diana!" Constance beamed at him as he entered the lobby. "You look positively wonderful this morning."

"Thank you." He responded with a sunny smile. "I feel wonderful."

"I'm so happy that you do, dear." The woman returned the smile with another of her own. "You are so beautiful it almost hurts to look at you. Going to break a few male hearts once they get a gander at you, dear."

"I'll try to let them down gently." Diana answered with a mischievous little quirk of her mouth.

"Oh, I'm sure you will, honey." Constance agreed cheerfully. "We knew the inner you was a remarkably beautiful person, but this -- this is astonishing."

"Thank you." Diana hugged the woman. "For everything. Agatha told me last night that I would reach completion tonight, and be given a choice. Do you know anything about that, by chance?"

"Oh, yes, but that would be telling wouldn't it?" The other chuckled. "After all, some surprises, even if they aren't such a great one, are better for the unveiling at the proper moment. Don't you agree, dear?"

"Yes, I see your point, but I'll tell you right now that I'm not going back to what I was if I can help it."

"I can understand that." Constance agreed with another long look at the changed Diana standing in front of her. "I'm really very glad you feel that way about things now."

"I've felt that way from the minute I set foot in Fairmont." Diana answered firmly.

"That's good to hear, especially since you seemed so confused and upset with all of it yesterday."

"The upset was simply because I was finally getting my fondest desire answered." Diana told her. "And I was secretly afraid that I was hallucinating the whole thing, or dreaming it."

"What do you think now?"

"It's almost, almost a dream come true for me." Diana quite firmly answered. "The rest of it is going to happen tonight, isn't it?"

"Yes it is." Constance nodded. "But you need to remember that your new self is going to have responsibilities too. Many of those will very likely be as tough, or tougher to manage at times than those you'll be leaving behind."

"Magic." Diana nodded in understanding. "I'm going to have access to magic like the kind that has changed me?"

"That and more, dear." Constance affirmed. "Our circle is growing. A little each year, but we're spreading out. Where we go things just tend to get a little better for everyone, if you know what I mean. We help people in little innocuous ways that actually have a pretty heavy impact once things settle in. Making life in general better for everyone is our chief purpose for being and any misuse of that power is punished quite severely."

"I can see why, if what happened to me is any example of what I might be able to do in the future." Diana thoughtfully bit her lower lip.

"Oh, you'll need to go through an apprenticeship to learn all the ins and outs of the craft, and our rules." The other told her. "But I sensed from the start that you're a natural for this, and so did Agatha. That's why we opened up your inner being and let it take over the outer shell for you."

"I'll never be able to show you how grateful I am that you did." The elegant young woman who had once been Dan Hastings answered with a small chuckle of her own.

"Done and done." Constance announced a bit formally. Diana felt her genitals writhe for a moment, then assume the shape they would have for the rest of her life. "Welcome to The Circle, little sister."

With tears of joy blurring her vision, Diana gave her friend a tight hug and whispered. "Thank you."

* * * *

The Circle was gathered and ready to grow once again as Diana walked, proudly and a little nervously, into the center of the ring of women who called each other Sister.

Clothed in the slim dark black skirt, black silken tee-shirt, blue shell, dark hose and black pumps, just as the others were, she waited for the official end of one life and the beginning of another that promised to be far richer.

"Sisters." Agatha quietly greeted the gathering. "I have asked you here to welcome another who is ready to join in our Circle and work. Diana has awakened to her true self only recently and must go through the ritual to fully join with us."

"Greetings, Diana." Each member of the group spoke in chorus, and the power thrummed through the air as they did.

"Diana." Agatha questioned formally. "Do you accept the gift, and the burden, we have prepared you for?"

"Yes." Diana trembled as the sense of power grew until her bones vibrated in tune with it.

"Do you harbor any wish, no matter how small it may be, to return to what you were before seeking The Circle out?"

"No, I do not."

"Then will you accept the geas laid upon us all to not hinder, but to help those around us with our powers and knowledge, Diana?"

"Gladly."

"Will you strive." Agatha intoned in a ringing voice. "To make the world just a bit better place for those whose care you are given, Diana?"

"Always." She replied, feeling the air around her begin to swirl without the least hint of wind or moving air.

"Then I offer you a choice, Diana." Agatha nodded with a stern expression on her lovely face. "Will you take all that we are into yourself, or will you return to whence you came, knowing full well in either case what it is you have chosen?"

"I choose -- The Circle." Diana answered with only a brief hesitation and then only because she wasn't certain the other woman had finished.

"The, as you have awakened to your true self, Diana. Awaken to your true calling." Agatha waved around the circle. "Sisters, I bid you know the soul of this newcomer in our ranks and judge her heart and spirit as you do."

The Circle became eerily quiet as each pair of eyes around it glowed bright, incandescent blue. The light from all those eyes filled Diana, probed, questioned, encouraged, and finally welcomed her among them.

"Done and done!" Agatha's voice rose to a ringing shout of triumph. "Through change comes power and understanding. As did we all, Diana has found her true self and taken the change with full knowledge and consent. Welcome, Diana. Welcome to The Circle of Tiresias and may you long be a part of it, and us."

"Thank you." Diana answered as her own eyes took on the bright blue lambency the others all held in their own. "Thank you all."

END

  

  

  

*********************************************
© 2003 by Maggie Finson. All Rights Reserved. These documents (including, without limitation, all articles, text, images, logos, and compilation design) may be printed for personal use only. No portion of these documents may be stored electronically, distributed electronically, or otherwise made available without the express written consent of StorySite and the copyright holder.