"How do you make clothes with magic?" I asked.
Lily and Iris look puzzled about this question.
"What do you mean?" asked Iris.
"You know how you make your dresses disappear and reappear? How are you doing that?"
Lily and Iris both seemed to be thinking hard for a few moments.
"I just put it away and then get it back out," said Lily.
Iris looks like she doesn't have anything to add to that.
I have to wonder what they find so confusing about my questions. It's like they never thought about it in these terms. I suppose this kind of thing is so natural to fairies, they hardly recognize what they are doing. I imagine it's like asking someone how to breathe, but without having words like 'lung', 'chest', 'mouth', or 'air' to describe it.
In my experience, thus far, magic includes an indescribable sense to perceive it, an indescribable feeling to understand it, and indescribable appendages to manipulate it. We just don't have words for these things.
Anyway, the fairies apparently don't make their dresses with magic, they store and retrieve their dresses with magic. My quest for clothes remains incomplete, but magic storage sounds super useful, too. I don't think asking the fairies about it will get me much useful information, but watching them do magic may give me some insight. On top of that, I'll be experimenting with magic a lot.
Before lying down to sleep, I told the ladies not to wake me in the usual way for a couple hours to see if I'll wake up on my own. That was a mistake.
"Whoa! Holy shit!"
I awoke high in the sky, looking at the treetops far below me. Out of panic, I pulled my arms in and pulled in two fairies with them. Then, it was clear that Lily and Iris were carrying me by my wrists.
"Hey, don't struggle so much! I almost dropped you." said Lily.
Okay, I can't panic right now, gotta stay calm. I took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. I wouldn't say I have a phobia of heights, but I suspect that I fear heights more than most people. So this is an especially unpleasant way to wake up.
"Could we fly a little lower?"
"Oh yeah, sure."
I don't think they had a reason to be flying so high. That's frustrating.
"Where are Emily and Enna?"
"I dunno, back there somewhere."
"You left them behind?"
"This journey was taking too long. It's boring."
"I understand, but I want us to stay together." I might have been angrier about it, but Lily and Iris could still drop me.
"We're getting close to the elf village now, how about we wait for them there?" asked Iris.
"Yeah, alright. That should be fine." That's probably where Emily and Enna would look for us, anyway.
We seem to be flying very quickly, so it will probably take a while for the amazons to catch up. The air rushing over my body is another reminder of my involuntary nudity. It feels good, in a way, it's invigorating. And surprisingly, I'm not getting cold. Now that I think of it, I haven't felt cold since I arrived in this world. Is that another reincarnation perk or is it just nice weather?
For the next 20 minutes or so, I did breathing exercises to stay calm. Then, we arrived. What came into view was a tall wall made of twisting, tangled vines and foliage. We flew up to a comparatively normal looking gate with platforms above it on either side.