One of the handsome young goat-ish men held Sophia's hand to steady her as her knee tried to collapse at the step up from the path to the entrance. He reminded her a little bit of Derrick, with the too-perfect eager-young-man helping-the-old-lady manners, but not quite so much. The other satyr opened the door and they ushered her into the spa, where a pair of nymphs took over, shooing the males away, then (with the assistance of a privacy screen) helping her to remove her garments and don the soft terrycloth robe that was trademark of all spas. They made sympathetic cooing and hissing sounds when they saw her knee and ankle swelling up and brought her a fizzy drink. There were two of them, one with pale green hair and a name-tag that said "Laurel" while the other had dark green hair and a name-tag that said "Ivy."
"This has some pain relief and anti-inflammatory benefits," the one with pale green hair said. "It's one hundred percent herbal, with a little bit of our spa magic!"
Willow tea bark and poppy sap are indeed herbal, and it tasted bitter so she swallowed it quickly. The pain receded after a few moments, and she felt herself relaxing.
"Now, let's start with one of our rejuvenating poultice wraps," the nymph with the dark green hair said. "This will help your knees and ankles too."
They began with her feet, wrapping them separately in a cloth like cheesecloth, and packing a sort of 'mud' that smelled like herbs and spices, then putting more on top. Once her feet were wrapped, Ivy covered her eyes with slices of cucumber and gave her a light mud facial, as Laurel continued wrapping up over her calves and knees, and then they said, "Hold still, we're moving you to a better chair for this."
Strong hands picked her up and she was transferred, and then they removed her terrycloth robe, covering her with a linen sheet which they moved around while they completely mummified her in the strong smelling, skin tingling herb-and-mud poultice. In the background she heard a relaxing and soothing music begin, notes on some stringed instrument and light drumming that was both relaxing and invigorating. The smell of the herbs, the lack of visual inputs, and the soothing sensations of being lightly massaged through the bandages let her drift off to sleep as the music played.
The music was a full orchestra, and she felt cold and tingly. She was sitting outdoors under a starry sky, with a warm breeze that felt lovely on her skin. She couldn't really see the people around her. There was a bright light from overhead that shone onto the stage far below, but she could see it quite clearly.
"Hello. My name's Murphy," the woman sitting next to her said. She was a peculiarly monochromatic person, with an open and friendly face, and an athletic body that made Sophia remember her college years and her roommate, who had helped her "experiment" with love of different kinds before she met John and fell in love. Murphy looked a lot like her, in fact, except for the whole black-and-white thing. The white hair and night-black skin was totally not her college roomie.
"Hi, I'm..."
"Sharon. I know. I'm your consultant. We're going to find your dream body and see how we can make it something you can achieve in your waking life."
"Oh? Well, why are we watching the theatre?"
"Your husband's about to perform as the Nemean Lion in our little play-on-passion. Do you like cats?"
"I love cats. John's allergic though," Sharon? wait, SOPHIA said.
"Sharon is better. You went by it in college, right?"
"Yeah. So yes, I adore cats."
"Well, don't worry about John being allergic for now. This is about you, not so much him."
"OK."
"Now, tell me about your ideal self. This is all a dream, so don't fret about it being strange."
"OK. I used to think I would grow up to be a boy. I always wanted to have muscles like my Daddy. He was a bodybuilder, but he died in an accident when I was thirteen. Mom insisted that I start behaving like a proper girl then, or I'd never find a proper husband."
"Did you date boys or girls?"
"Oh, boys only, until college. I had a wild fling my sophomore year with my roommate, but she changed schools the next year. I'd met John then."
"What kind of boys?"
"Mostly the ones in sports. Mom was angry that I wasn't a cheerleader, but I was so much better than that. I was a track star, I tried to be in gymnastics but we couldn't afford it, I did get into swimming. I got a basketball scholarship that paid for part of my tuition, so she couldn't complain about that. John was a work-study student who did the books for our teams, and he desperately wanted to be one of the jocks, but he just lacked the basics. He wasn't bad, but he never did sports before he came to college, and it didn't take. He started to be athletic and he came down with mono during the second half of our junior year, and then he had to focus to catch up. And when we graduated and got married, well, there wasn't any team sport we could do together. So we gradually lost it -- me more than him when I got pregnant with Derrick, because I came down with gestational diabetes."
"And, that's all terribly un-dreamlike. Let's pretend that none of that happened, that your kids were easy-peasy."
"OK."
"Look, John the Lion is getting drunk."
"He was always funny when he was drunk in college. Not stupid or gross like some guys. Wait, woah. He looks really buff. "
"Yeah, that's mostly the lion suit right now. You know it was always his dream to be your hot guy, right?"
"Yeah, I kinda love that about him."
"Well, we'll give him his dream if you still want him when you have your dream. And if he still wants it."
"O... Kay?"
"So you wanted to grow up to be a boy? We can almost accomplish that."
"What do you mean?"
"Did you know that Hermes and Aphrodite had a child together?"
"No? Wait, wasn't Aphrodite married to the forge guy?"
"She was later, but she and Hermes had a thing for a while early on. She couldn't handle it though. She had a crush on the bad boy Ares, and Hermes was a bad boy in his own right, and so wasn't willing to share then. Of course, things have happened in the meanwhile, and now Hermes and Ares are an on-and-off thing, while Aphrodite is married to Hephaustus. But Hermes and Aphrodite, they had a child."
"OK... why does this ..."
"The child's name is Hermaphroditus. Neither male nor female, but the best features of both."
"And this is..."
"Something you might think about. You all have at least one sponsor while you're here with us. Derrick has three sponsors, with another waiting. John has two. Julia has four sponsors interested in her."
"Oh. Are you my sponsor here?"
"One of them, but you, like the rest of your family, also have Hebe, the goddess of youth and the prime of life, and her husband Hercules will sponsor you if you want him to. You could also be sponsored by the demigoddess Hippolyta, who is part of Athena's division."
"That sounds lovely. What's the catch?" Sophia's more mature, adult nature surfaced for a moment. There was usually a catch if you didn't ask all the questions first.
"Well. Athena and Dionysus are rivals. John's sponsor along with Hercules is Dionysus, the god of wine and the harvest."
"And that would be a problem. I don't want to offend anyone, but I'd like to stay with my husband, even if there are other changes, if we can."
The grey-eyed woman sitting on the other side of Sophia whispered, "I'm not offended. You may still have some of my gifts, though not so many, and in return, you'll have more from others."
Sophia turned to look but there wasn't anyone there. On stage, the lion was roaring and it sounded ... real. Sophia looked at the shadows on stage. It looked to her more like the lion was giving head to the "Hercules" than him being beaten.
"Hmm. Do I want to be bothered by that, or turned on? It's technically cheating, but ... nope, still hot, I like it," she said to herself, thinking of all the men who saw nothing wrong with women being together for their amusement.
"You need to decide, though," Murphy said. "You don't want to be sponsored by Athena, so do you want Hercules or Hermaphroditus to be your sponsor?"
"I don't want to stop being Mom for my kids, so I guess Hermaphroditus?"
"OK," Murphy said. "Time to wake up. You won't believe what's happening right now."
Sophia woke up... and she felt like a total mummy. She was still wrapped in the mummy-cloth herbal wraps, but they'd taken the cucumbers off her eyes. She was "standing" at an angle, supported by a bench, and she could see a reflection of herself in the mirror. There was a tall, broad-shouldered man with muscles like a swimmer, but unusually large pectoral muscles, and somewhat wide hips, wearing a breech-clout and a band across his chest. Or maybe not a man. Sophia couldn't talk to ask.
There were satyrs and nymphs helping with bandages -- but they weren't removing them. They were adding them, and shaping them and packing them into the semblance of the musculature a medium-weight bodybuilder would have -- or one of the very rare women bodybuilders who had the genetics for extreme muscle. The woman/man was putting in fine details over the surface; the lines and striations, the gentle swell where there was enough padding to smooth out the harsh angularity without making Sophia look fat or distorted. It was like a muscle suit. And then the work got a bit personal as a visible cleft was depicted in front, and then over that, an arched phallus, not erect but large enough to be promising, but without testicles.
"Into the oven," Hermaphroditus said, in a pleasant high-tenor voice. "Half an hour on very high heat. Don't worry, dear, this won't hurt too much. No worse than a good workout. Oh, and your gender pronouns will be the plurals. You're not going to be a 'that' with non-functional parts from a different sex. You're going to be fully functional both, and so you use the plural."
They laid a cloth over her eyes and she felt some pushing and adjusting, and then she was laid flat on something that probably should have felt uncomfortable. It was warm, all around her, and then she felt like she was melting and the clay in the wraps was hardening up and they were flowing together. As the heat increased, the sensation of being larger, more muscular, like college only even better, and then she felt something connect up in her that said she -- they -- had finally grown up to be a boy like their Dad wanted and a girl like their Mom wanted, without being a disappointment to either of them.
The warmth grew more and more intense and they felt like they were getting harder and harder, turning to stone almost. There was a burst of applause from somewhere in the distance, and then the sense of roaring flames went away, and they still felt red-hot... not in pain at all, though there had been pain it hadn't really mattered. There was a roar from nearby.
"I wanna see my wife!! Geddouta my way!"
"Someone stop him!"
"Hey! Lion buddy! C'mere, let ol' Herc take a look atcha."
The noises subsided briefly and then Sharon felt themself moving, something sliding under them. A moment later they were flipped up and falling, and they landed with a splash and a loud boiling and a wash of steam that bubbled and seethed and took away the crusty layer that surrounded their body. They were floating, though not as much as expected -- they didn't inhale yet because they could feel the water streaming in bubbles off them as they gave off heat and the pool carried it away. Presumably the warm water would provide someone a nice bath later, as it was starting to drain off, and sprays of water were washing over them, chipping away at the last baked-on parts. The water was cold in their pussy and across their dick... Oh. OH! That was new. They got up off hands-and knees into a kneeling position, and tried to wipe the goop off their face but before they could do that, there was a strong spray pushing at it, washing through their hair and down their chest. It felt different. Both heavier and tighter. The water washed over their eyes, and they blinked until vision came clear.
The body revealed was not really familiar, but they didn't know if they were horrified or thrilled. The chest was huge, the nipples large and sensitive, and the abdomen covered in tight muscle, but not shredded out, despite the six-pack and the visible muscular vee at the hips. A well-sized dick stood out and was becoming erect at the surge of male hormones in their body, but below it, they felt the presence of their cunny, though tighter and harder muscled than before. Their thighs were thickly muscled and shapely, their arms had biceps and triceps that most men would have been proud of, yet the skin was sleekly hairless and a dramatic copper-tan. They flexed a bicep experimentally, and it rounded up quite nicely into a baseball-sized mound.
"Holy ..." they heard the bass growl behind them, and then "hic! Oh man, I think I had too much wine. Sharrry, is that you?"
It was, and wasn't, John's voice. It was his intonations, but deeper and with a purr that struck them with a tingle that felt delicious and ... well, not 'naughty' but aroused.
"Yeah," they said, with their new low-tenor voice. "I'm gonna turn around. Don't freak out, OK?"
They turned, and John ... well, he wasn't wearing a lion costume so much. Rather, he was a lion... and at the same time a human, and one who appeared to be clearly sponsored by Hercules, given the mass of muscle he'd become. He was also taller, though it was hard to tell how much because he was sitting cat-style, legs folded up and forearms holding him up, with his tail lashing behind him. His hair was all over the place, shaggy and red like when he was younger, and his ears stuck out hugely, but unlike the slightly goofy and winsome look they gave him when he was younger, they were somehow impressive... and still goofy.
He tilted his head sideways as he considered them.
"Waow. You know, I always had a thing forrr guys with muscles. And athlete girrrls. You look marrrvelous, Sharrrly," he growled. "But do you still want a hairrrball like me?"
Sharon answered by leaping at their lion and trying to figure out how to kiss him with the slight muzzle he now had.
"Ah, the sanctity of marriage honored," a woman's voice said. The woman smiling at them nodded to the attendants, "Bring appropriate robes. We can bless their union again, for old times' sake."
"Psst," one of the satyrs said, leaning in to whisper, though John could hear it just fine. "We can't do the full blessing, pregnancy at this stage would be a disruption."
"Oh, hush," the woman laughed. "The Nemean will not become pregnant. Though Hermaphroditus will need to teach their new protégé the art of balancing gender so as to prevent becoming a mother again."
Hermaphroditus called over from where they were helping to gather the spent magical mud and herbs into baskets, laughing, "I've taught Sharon what they need to know. It will come naturally."
The attendants returned with a leather kilt for John and a cloth kilt for Sharon, with a band that they could put around their chest if they wished - though they didn't have actual fatty-tissue breasts, merely extremely large pectorals, and the large sensitive nipples. Perhaps the band would help with accidentally brushing them across things. The happy couple was led to a chapel-like place, though it had a large parabolic solar mirror on the north wall, rather than a stained glass, and a table made of black marble with some small statues on it, and an incense brazier. They were accompanied by Hebe, her two sons, Hercules, and Hermaprhoditus, and Dyon showed up from somewhere with a pitcher of wine and a chalice.
John was almost sober by this point, but clearly that was not going to last.
"Do you want your children to take part in the ceremony?" Hebe asked, and John and Sharon looked at each other.
"We're going to go dirrrectly off to have sex," John pointed out. "What childrrren of any age want to know that their parrrents are about to go have sex?"
Sharon giggled, and John joined them in laughing.
"If you could, have someone tell 'em we renewed our vows, but they don't need to be here, because it will all be goopy stuff."
One of the satyr attendants bowed. "You'll be performing the Great Blessing of Hera then? I'll go inform your offspring."
The other satyrs looked at each other, and then the nymphs, and said almost in unison, "Will we be needed further?"
"No, you can go about your business," Hera said. They sprinted off almost as if panicked.
"Sillies. I wouldn't bless any of them with children - they're not married."
"And you two," she continued, "Already have two wonderful children."
"Thank you," Sharon and John said together.
The rest of the ritual was fairly simple. Hera directed them to face one another, wrapped a cord around their hands, touched their heads and hearts with a wand from the table, and then waved the wand, and the cord disappeared, seeming to melt into their bodies. Then she served them both a bit of the wine from the chalice, and shared that around with the remaining guests. John felt something itch on his back, and shuddered. A pair of wings sprouted and grew into place.
"Oh! One of your ancestors was a priest of mine," Hera said. "You're a Lion of Hera, my dear. I won't require you to guard my temple, but do please take your beloved on a flight once your instincts kick in."
John and Sharon bowed -- it seemed appropriate -- and stepped backwards through the door of the small chapel. Then they realized that it was actually one of the paintings in their suite, and that they were in their suite, and that there was a bed over there.
"Why don't you show me what I've been missing so many yearrrs," John said, and Sharon picked him up and they carried him to the bed and there was pouncing and a number of things that neither of them had ever expected to experience.