Walking had become an entirely new experience for Jon.
Everything felt so strange and different with his changed body that he was almost experiencing sensory overload. The bizarre feel of the soft fabric of his dress rubbing against his smooth skin, the odd dissonance of feeling cool air on his chest even though he was technically fully clothed, the way he had to plant his feet thanks to his heeled shoes, the way his head tended to want to bob up and down with each step thanks to the weight of his long ponytail...and that wasn't the only part that was bouncing.
He could barely focus on where he was going, and the castle was a labyrinth of doors and hallways. His task was made even more difficult by the small, dainty steps the dress forced him to take. Thankfully, he rarely ran into anyone, but when he did he could swear that he could feel their eyes on him. As if at any moment they would break out into laughter, knowing that he wasn't really a woman.
Turning a corner, he suddenly heard loud, raucous laughter, and one laugh that sounded a bit different from the others.
He came to a wide pair of double doors that had been thrown open, and found the source of the sound. Inside, there seemed to be some sort of mess hall filled with laughing men, many of them wearing bits of armor, and in the middle of them all, standing on a table, was a brown haired girl in a forest green outfit he realized was Karyn.
"Why, it's our princess!" She proclaimed at the agape figure of Jon, waving a tankard of unidentifiable liquid in his direction. This was met with cheers by many of the men, who Jon now realized were in varying states of alchohol induced incoherence. Karyn quickly silenced them.
"No, no. She doesn't need cheering from you lot. Clear out of here and give us a bit of privacy." There was some moaning and grumbled complaints at that, but they did as she said. Jon was glad. Many of the drunken men were looking at him in a way that he now realized no one in the hall had dared to. For the second time today, he decided that he'd just experienced the most embarassing moment of his life.
But his gratitude was short lived as he remembered what she'd put him through earlier that morning. He stalked over to her as she climbed off the table.
"You're adjusting well." Karyn remarked as Jon arrived. He stammered a bit, confused, until he realized that he had been holding his skirt in a feminine way as he walked over. He quickly let go of it and blushed.
"I could say the same of you! You know that the bookmark forces me to use Allaria's mannerisms. What were you thinking, having them wake me up like that? I had to pull off a convincing Allaria and I barely even knew where I was!" He exclaimed, accusingly. Karyn was not impressed.
"It was just a joke. You're going to have to act like Allaria anyway, might as well get a good start, and there's only one way to learn. Besides-" Karyn taunted, walking closer and stumbling a bit as she did. "-you can't tell me this isn't incredibly cool."
"You are drunk!" Jon realized, shocked.
"Yeah, so what? No one's here to stop me, and it's expected. All my men were drinking tonight to celebrate our arrival at Kornost."
"At...where? Your men?" Jon was lost.
"Oh, right! You just got up! I've got to tell you everything I've found out!"
