She nearly choked but at last she got the disgusting stuff down, though her stomach rolled afterwards. The remaining balls slid under her fingers but there was no way Kara was eating even one more of them—not after hearing what they actually were.
To her relief, Qi didn’t urge her to eat any more. The next time it spoke, it addressed them in a polite and formal tone.
“Well, now that you have consumed comestibles, please tell me in what way I can help you,” it said, its invisible leaves rustling.
“Would you like to tell Qi about your fangs or should I?” Raak asked her in a low voice.
“I will.” Kara lifted her chin and addressed the seemingly empty air before her.
“Oh, Qi, thank you for your offer to help,” she said politely. “My problem is my teeth—my fangs, actually.” She bared her teeth and pointed to her fangs, hoping the invisible being could see what she was talking about.
“Why are they a problem?” Qi sounded genuinely mystified. “Do not all meat creatures have dentition?”
“Well yes, they do,” Kara conceded. “But mine are long and sharp and they’re really prominent. I’d like them to be the same size as my other teeth, that’s all. Oh, and not so sharp and obvious-looking.”
“Their size and prominence should prove no problem to alter,” Qi said with a confident rustle of its leaves. “However, I fear I must warn you, if you repress that which presently flows outward, it will flow inward instead.”
Kara wasn’t sure what the alien plant person meant by that. Maybe that her fangs would retract into her skull? That didn’t seem like it ought to present a problem, though, she thought. As long as the part of them that people could see got smaller and less obvious she wouldn’t care if the upper part of her fangs were hidden.
“That’s okay,” she said quickly. “I don’t mind.”
“Well, if that is your will, then wish it and it shall be so,” Qi told her.
“Uh…wish it?” Kara frowned uncertainly. If she could have wished away her fangs, she certainly would have done so by now! “I’m afraid I don’t understand,” she said politely. “How can wishing help me?”
“You are in my Palace of the Unseen and you have eaten of my xanthos,” Qi told her. “These have transferred some of my power over matter to your small meat brain. If you wish your dentition to be smaller or less prominent, you have only to tell them to be smaller and less prominent and it will be so.”
This sounded crazy to Kara, but she reminded herself that Qi had been able to call a table and chairs into existence out of thin air. So maybe she could also tell her fangs to shrink.
She was about to do just that when Raak put a hand on her arm and murmured.
“Wait a minute, baby girl.”
“Wait for what?” Kara asked. “I’m finally going to shrink my fangs.”
“I know that’s what you want but I have a bad feeling about this.” He squeezed her hand for emphasis and Kara could almost imagine him looking at her seriously with those silver-ringed eyes of his. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
“It’s all I’ve ever wanted—ever since these stupid fangs grew in the first place,” Kara told him. “Now please, Raak—let me do it.”
“All right.” She could almost see him shrugging. “It’s your body, baby girl and I’ll support whatever you want to do. I just want you to be safe—that’s all.”
“I’m sure I’ll be fine,” Kara assured him a touch impatiently. She was afraid if she didn’t get this done soon, the power of the xanthos would wear off and she would be forced to eat another one of the slimy poop balls—which she did not want to do.
Closing her eyes—though it made absolutely no difference in her vision—she concentrated as hard as she could on the sharp, curving, double set of fangs she had where a human would have their canine teeth.
Smaller, she told them. Shrink down or retract or whatever you have to do but look like a normal person’s teeth! Oh, and don’t bother me so much anymore—I don’t want to have the urge to bite people all the time. Just leave me alone and be normal!
At first she didn’t feel anything but then there was an itching sensation in her upper jaw.
Kara put her fingers up carefully and found that the sharp points of her fangs were blunted. Not only that, they seemed to be getting smaller—shrinking under her fingertips as she felt them.
“It’s working!” she exclaimed, feeling like she might cry for joy. “They’re getting smaller—I can feel it happening! Oh, I wish I could see it!”
“Ah yes, I forgot how much you meat creatures depend upon your sense of sight,” Qi said. “Please feel free to exit my palace if you like so that you can observe your new dentition.”
“Thank you! Thank you so much!” Kara jumped up from the invisible chair, which was suddenly not there anymore the minute she stopped touching it. “Raak?” she said anxiously. “Do you know the way out?”
“Of course, baby girl. We just walk back the way we came until we come to the end,” he told her, his deep voice sounding slightly amused. “Come on—hold out your hand.”
Kara reached for him and soon enough found his large, warm hand gripping hers.
“Thank you again, Qi,” she said formally to the invisible being. “You’ve changed my life—you really have!”
“You are most welcome, meat female,” Qi told her with a rustle of its branches. “Only remember, that which cannot flow outward, must flow inward. I hope that your new dentition will bring you joy.”
“It will! I know it will,” Kara told it. “Come on, Raak,” she added, tugging at the big Unbondable’s hand. “I want to go see my new teeth!”
Twenty-One
They found their way
