Silence

Faith stares at me with a defiant look, and then she closes her eyes. The air starts to ripple around the walls, roof, and floors.

"There," she snaps, "No one can hear us now."

I grit my teeth for to barrage of questions that I knew would be coming. I closed my eyes, and listened carefully for a few moments.

"Now," Faith suddenly speaks at normal volume.

I flinched away from the sound. My eyes snapping open fully to stare at her once again.

"What triggers your transformation?" she continues as she watches me carefully.

"Why would you need to know that?" I shifted to look out the window.

"I can help you avoid it," she has a tint of irritation in her tone as she continues speaking, "At least when necessary."

I thought about it for a good while, and she was smart enough to remain silent while I thought about. There was a good chance that she had already seen what triggered my transformation. Although she might now have recognized what it was since she was hiding in the trees for the whole thing, but at the same time she might use it against me. She was clearly interested in my curse, and ability to transform. I had to assume that her interest would eventually lead to her making me transform intentionally.

"Coins," I finally settled on my decision, "Anything valuable. Gold, silver, and coppers. Even jewelry."

"So you can't take coin as payment," Faith stood there thinking for a long time, "You can't have a fancy sword or expensive clothing."

"It's hard for me to even get near them," I felt almost relieved to be talking to someone about my struggles, "All it takes is one touch, and then I transform whether I want to or not."

"Is there any difference between transformations?" she seemed to be thinking carefully.

"No I transform fully," I laid back on the bed, "Every single time. The only change is determined by what valuable I touch."

"What kind of change?" Faith leans forward completely focused on our conversation.

"Time," I looked at her carefully, "The amount of time I stay in my transformed body. Coppers, silvers, and gold all change me for different amounts of time. Even jewelry, and decorations."

She seemed to think about that for a while.

"When I saw you transform, and when you changed back you seemed to be in a great deal of pain," she started asking, "It seemed to wear off quickly, but does..."

I had already sunk down into my bed, and turned my back on her. She had asked one too many questions.