"Dad, I'm leaving."

"Leaving what, Starshine?"

     "Leaving the Royal City. If I leave, maybe people will stop... maybe they'll forget, or at least move on, and let you get on with your life."

"No. No. That's not... I don't care what they say about us. You don't need to flee your home to protect me. You don't deserve that. If one of us has to leave-"

     "What if I want to go?"

"...why would you?"

     "Why did Mom?"

"...you've never asked me that before."

     "I know."

"She didn't have a choice, Starshine. She left to protect us."

    "Is she alive?"

"I don't know. I don't know. We may never know. I just know she wouldn't want us to go looking."

     "If that's really what she'd want, then I promise I won't look for her. But I still think I should leave, Dad."

"You don't need to go anywhere. We'll be fine."

     "Maybe we will. But, Dad. I don't want to live like that. I want to see the world. I've been thinking about that for a while. I like it here, but there's nowhere for me to go, in life, if I stay."

"Ah. I see. You're finally outgrowing me. I suppose I should be proud."

     "Don't. It's okay. I know I still need you more than you need me. If I'll be okay on my own, I know you will be too."

"No you. Heh. Alright. But if you're doing this, you're doing it right. It's been long enough since you got Floating Runes that you should be able to handle one more installation. I want you have Attack Magic to defend yourself with out there, okay?"

     "Absolutely. I can do that."

"Right, that's my little spellmonger."

     "Can we do it today?"

"Never change, Starshine."

This is a dream.

But the gift I shall place in your path is not.

You have become glorious, little mage.

It is time to show that glory to the Realm.

On the day she sets out, Kale stops her as she goes in for their Last Hug. He presents his trusty Judgement Rod to her instead.

"I want you to take this."

     "Your staff? But you use that every day!"

"I'll make do. You might need it out there more than I will. I want you to be safe."

     "Okay, Dad. I'll take good care of it. I love you."

"I love you too, Starshine. You're strong. Your mother would be proud. Protect yourself."

     "I promise."

Kale holds his daughter tight for a long, long moment. Then she kisses him goodbye, and turns away.

On the outskirts of the City, but still inside the outer walls, Eelesia pauses as she passes a storefront. She isn't sure why she stops, except... it's like she's seen this, like she had a dream about seeing this, and in the dream she...

Eelesia steps off the road and into the shop. She ignores the clerk, and the eclectic collection of merchandise, following her odd sense of dreaming deeper in, toward the back.

She sees the magic in it, feels the magic in it, long before she lays eyes on it. In the back of the shop are tables piled high with knick-knacks and clothing, all the tables but one. One table is entirely bare, except for the gorgeous black and pink sheer leotard with matching thigh-high leggings, matching gloves, and a pair of hairpins. Shiny black fabric makes up the side-forms of a corset and the frills of a barely-there skirt, but those sides are connected by the sheer, almost transparent, front, back, and crotch. Just above the crotch, a recognizable magic tattoo pattern. Pink ribbons form an 'X' over where the belly button would go, wrapping around beneath the shiny black sides to curl up the center of the chest area.

It's moving.

The gorgeous, daringly sinful outfit is wriggling around on the table, and on closer inspection, is nailed in place with steel nails driven through it into the wood. Looking closely, the black fabric is more like skin than cloth. The 'ribbons' are more like strands of muscle, glistening and slick. The sheer centerpiece is less 'very-thin-cloth' and more like an organic membrane.

It's alive. It's alive and it's in pain.

     "Hey wait! Don't-!"

Eelesia has already reached out, her hand coming to rest on the cool flesh. And it definitely is flesh, not fabric, now that she's touching it. It stops struggling, as soon as she makes contact, and she feels it in her head, whispering feelings of relief and admiration and please-take-me-with-you.

     "Ah... huh? It's not...?" The clerk slows down as he arrives, looking back and forth between Eelesia and the living outfit in confusion.

The muscle-ribbon closest to her hand bifurcates in a few places and short tendrils of pink flesh reach out to coil around Eelesia's wrist, whispering feelings of this-place-hurts-me and you-feel-like-home.

"How much?" Eelesia asks, using her eyes to project nail-removing-and-flesh-healing rune circles around each nail.

     "It's free!" the clerk blurts, intimidated by her spontaneous silent and motionless spellcasting. "Just take it. You're the only one it hasn't tried to fry since it came in, thing's more trouble than it's worth..."

"Okay. Can I have some privacy please?" She doesn't want to strip naked in front of someone who'd torture her new companion.

The clerk gives her space. She left home in a plain shirt and a sturdy pair of pants, selected for ease of washing rather than any of their other properties. Clearly this living black mage outfit would be superior in every way except modesty. The trade off is more than worth it, but as she tosses her mundane clothes onto one of the tables and picks up the sheer leotard made of living flesh, she can't help blushing a little.

This is the new her. This is how everyone she meets will see her from now on. A sexy dark mage, calling out to you with her body.

Hesitant, she pulls the leotard up and on. It's warm and snug and impossibly comfortable, melding to her skin. It'd feel like she's wearing nothing at all if it holds still, but it squirms against her skin and squeezes her body as if hugging her. The leggings and gloves are just as nice, and just as lewd. Nothing about her body is left to the imagination, the living flesh of the outfit constantly shifting pressure across her body to squeeze her flesh into the best possible presentation. She adds the hairpins to her hair, and steps out.

Making the clerk give her privacy had been pointless, since he's getting an eyeful now. And so will everyone else who sees her. The pink womb tattoo on the front of the sheer membrane flares, and a bolt of arousal surges through her, accompanied by a whisper in her mind that feels like, well, raw exhibitionism. Eelesia sends back amused resignation.

Eelesia leaves the shop, feeling embarrassed as heads turned to ogle her, but also light, optimistic, and excited to see new things. She passes through the last city gate, and out into the wider Realm.