Page 29 of Partridge in a Bear Tree

"That's different!"

The partridge thrust an image of shining, glittering rocks into Penny's mind. She stared at them—and staring at the inside of her head was an Experience—and then groaned. "No. Not shiny, starry rocks. Rock star."

She had never had the sensation of complete, befuddled blankness filling her skull before. There was a vast, echoing emptiness in which the idea of 'rock star' bounced around and found nothing to connect to. Having found nothing, the concept simply faded out of the partridge's mind entirely,incomprehensible and therefore apparently unworthy of any further contemplation.

Penny, quite clearly, and without all that much to attach it to yet either, thought,Oh, no.Unlike the partridge's dismissal of rock stars, though, that little 'oh no' lodged itself in the side of her mind, waiting for more things to stick itself to.

Ashley was smiling at her. "You're getting used to hearing it."

"I really don't think I am," Penny said dubiously. "But Im going to have to, aren't I?"

"I think it'll be easier after you've had some rest," Ashley murmured. "Come on upstairs. I'll make up the guest bed for you. Yes, the guest bed," she added firmly. "You need sleep and some time to adjust."

Penny wanted to protest, but the truth was, Ashley was right, and she was unconscious the minute she hit the pillows.

"Penny?"A gentle tapping at the door and Ashley's cautious voice woke her in the morning. She had a moment of disorientation, not helped by the partridge yodelingARE WE LOST?!?!?!?!inside her skull, before she remembered where she was and—belatedly, despite the birdbrain yelling in her head—what had happened.

She groaned. "Not dead. I think."

"Can I come in? I have coffee."

"Oh, bless you." Penny sat up blearily, scrubbing her hands over her face and tugging the oversized t-shirt she'd borrowed to sleep in up to cover her shoulder. "Yeah, come in."

Ashley came in wearing a snuggly-looking sweatshirt over jeans and bunny slippers. She handed Penny a large mug ofcoffee, and stood awkwardly while Penny slurped down the first sips before gesturing to the bed. "Go ahead, sit. It's your bed."

"But you're using it." Ashley smiled as she sat, though, and tucked her hair up into some kind of twist that looked adorable and exactly perfect for a sleepy morning.

Although she seemed suspiciously bright-eyed and perky, now that Penny was awake enough to really look at her. "What time is it?"

"Eleven thirty. I've been up for a couple of hours. Maggie and Conri are going to stop by around one. I thought we might try?—"

A hopeful flush of heat rushed through Penny and was squashed when Ashley went on with "—practicing shifting with your clothes. I tried forgetting my clothes and getting them back this morning, a few times. I lost one pair of pyjamas and a slipper," she said, lifting her foot to look sadly at the bunnies, "but the second time it worked, so I think I can talk you through it."

"You only lost one slipper?"

"One of them came back the first time I tried to fetch them. It was my favorite," she said, still sort of sadly.

"You have a single favorite slipper…?"

"I'm sure that's perfectly normal," Ashley said with a sniff.

Penny laughed and drank enough coffee that she wasn't in danger of spilling any when she leaned over a bit to bump her shoulder against Ashley's. "It is. Totes normal. Okay, yes," she said more hesitantly. "I think we should try the clothes thing. I'd really like to get that dress back if I can."

"Right." Ashley pressed her lips together. "The thing is, um. I think you're going to have to start naked."

Penny's eyebrows shot up. "I like how this conversation is going."

Ashley blushed and put her face in her hands. Muffled, she said, "Not that I object to that direction, but it's not what Imeant. If you shift while wearing clothes, then the ones that will most naturally come back with you are the ones you were wearing when you shifted. So if you want to try to retrieve that dress…"

Penny giggled, caught a glimpse of Ashley's blushing cheeks, and giggled again. "Right. Okay. So talk me through it while I finish this cup of genuinely very excellent coffee?"

Ashley lifted her head, still pink of cheek. "I've been thinking about it all morning. It's hard to even figure out, because I've been doing it since before I can remember, but I think basically what happens is I think of my clothes as part of myself. They're not, obviously, but for shifting purposes, they kind of are."

Like feathers!the partridge said with enthusiasm.If we shifted without our feathers we'd be NAKED.It provided an image of a plucked chicken. Or, Penny guessed, a plucked partridge. They looked a lot alike. Aloud, with a grimace, she said, "Like feathers. Or fur."

"Exactly. Although if we shift naked we aren't furless when we shift, but never mind that, that complicates things. So…" Ashley held her breath. "So really I think you should probably just try shifting naked a few times to get used to what it feels like. You were pretty freaked out last night. With justification!" she said as Penny bugged her eyes at her. "But I think getting a little bit used to what it feels like will help when you try to bring your clothes back."

"Okay, yeah, no, that makes sense. Okay, fine. Starkers it is."

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