A month of being human. It hadn't lost its weirdness - or its wonder.

  “Are you having trouble in there?” Lili asked.

  There was no trouble. Thyssa had gotten good at putting on clothes. But…

  “I look weird,” she said.

  This outfit was nothing like Lili’s shining and dignified garb. It had a playful skirt and striped stockings. The strangest part was the hood, shaped like an abstract beast’s head. It evoked being swallowed up in a monstrous form.

  “I’ll be the judge of that,” said Lili. “Or do you know more about fashion than me?”

  “No…”

  “Then let me see.”

  Nervously, Thyssa opened her door. Lili walked in, and started laughing.

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  “I do look weird.”

  “No! It makes you look adorable.”

  “It looks like it’s eating me.”

  “Does it?” asked Lili. She pulled the hood up and down over Thyssa’s head, as if it were vigorously chewing on her. “Monch monch. I guess it does!”

  “That is…good?”

  “Of course! Do you not like my gift?”

  “It’s not that, it’s just…doesn’t it make me look strange and weak?”

  Lili thought to herself. “In a way. We want you to look weak.”

  “We do?”

  “You may be younger than me, but you’re still a grown woman. Strong enough to hurt someone.”

  “I don’t want to hurt people.”

  “I know that, and you know that, but they don’t. The people are stupid, easily scared. All they’ll know is that you were a malform. They’ll be looking for any sign, real or not, that you’re a threat. You don’t want them to find one.”

  “But if I look weak, people will want to hurt me.”

  Lili put a hand on Thyssa’s shoulder. “Is that what it’s like where you’re from?”

  “That’s just what it’s like everywhere.”

  “Have you been everywhere? That’s not very scientific of you.”

  “Sorry.”

  “No one will hurt you here. This is my sanctuary. I make the rules here. And my rules say the weak are protected and nurtured.”

  “I like your rules,” said Thyssa.

  “Then we will get along.”