"Oh my little girl is awake again" Paula's mother said. "Did you have a nice nap Paula? Or should I say Paul?"
"I had a strange dream" Paula said not even registering that her mother had said Paul.
"I told you that it wasn't a dream Paula" Hannah said with a sigh. "Did you listen to anything I said?"
"It wasn't a dream?" Paula asked.
"No it wasn't" Hannah said. "I need to work with you so you can tell the difference between what is a dream and what's not."
"Miss Thompson why don't you go get changed since it's time for the party" Paula's mother said. "Paula I'll help you get changed here if you want. I know you might be a little embarrassed undressing in front of the girls since you used to be a fifteen year old boy."
"You remember me as a boy?" Paula asked.
"Yes I do" Paula's mother answered. "It's strange though, I remember you as a boy in the back of my mind but my memories of you as my little Paula seem to cover my memories of you being Paul a bit."
Paula knew what her mother was talking about. She too could remember herself as Paul but she had to dig a little bit for those memories. It was much easier to just remember herself as Paula. She thought about what Hannah had told her in her dream about her memories being easier to access then Paul's. She didn't really understand what she was saying then but she understood now.
"Hannah can explain it to you Mommy" Paula said. Just then she felt an urgent need and said "I need to go potty bad Mommy."
Fortunately the ladies room was close by and Paula had just sat on the toilet when her bladder let loose. 'That was close' Paula thought 'I almost wet myself again and then Mommy wouldn't be happy.'
"Don't forget to wipe" her mother said as Paula's bladder finished emptying.
"I have Paula's clothes Mrs. Miller" Hannah said coming into the ladies room.
"Thank you" Paula's mother said. "Now go get changed for the party."
Paula's mother helped her get dressed and then had her wash her hands. They then headed out to the party.
When they entered the studio Paula saw that the other girls were around the cake her mother had bought that morning. Her mother cut the cake and started handing out the pieces. Of course the birthday girl got the first slice and when she did Paula said "Happy birthday Sara."
"Thank you Paula" Sara said. "That's so sweet of you to say that. How are you by the way? I was so scared when you just fell to the floor like that."
"I'm ok" Paula said. "I was sleepy then but I'm awake now."
"Well that's good to hear" Sara said "but please don't scare us like that again. Ok?"
"Ok I won't" Paula said. Then she thought 'I couldn't help it. I needed a nap.'
As the party progressed the girls played a few games and Paula was able to play some of them too. She didn't care if she won or lost, she was having so much fun that it didn't matter. Of course the party couldn't go on forever since the girls still had school tomorrow and Paula was a bit sad when it ended.
On the way home Paula's mother stopped at McDonald's and they grabbed some supper. When they got home this night was a little different than the previous two. Hannah and Jenny were there and her mother was talking to Hannah about what had happened.
"Ok Hannah" Paula's mother said "tell me what you know about what happened to Paula or Paul I guess I should say. I can remember Paul but my memories of Paula seem to be covering them."
"That's because Paul was a fifteen year old boy who was transformed into a four year old girl" Hannah started to explain. "You remember Paul because Paula's collapse gave me the opportunity to cast a spell to let you remember Paul. Since we are now in a reality where you had Paula instead of Paul it's natural for you to remember Paula easier."
"How did Paul transform into Paula?" Paula's mother asked.
"That's because Paul had found a medallion that can transform people" Hannah said.
"This medallion transforms people into four year old girls?" Paula's mother asked.
"It can transform anyone into any age or gender" Hannah said. "It usually works by wearing the medallion and touching an article of clothing to it. If the article of clothing had been previously worn by someone then the medallion would turn them into a doppelganger of the person who had worn that article of clothing. If the article of clothing hadn't been worn before then the medallion would turn the person into someone who could wear that article of clothing. That's basically what happened to Paul, he touched a leotard for a four year old girl to the medallion and it transformed him into Paula."
"But why do I have memories of Paula when it was a simple transformation?" Paula's mother asked.
"Because this medallion causes reality to shift" Hannah said. "It originally wasn't meant to do that. Originally it was only meant to transform people into other people. Somewhere along the line that ability was added to it."
"Who created this medallion?" Paula's mother asked.
"The name of the shaman that created it is lost" Hannah said. "But I do know that the shaman was from the M'barduu tribe in Central Africa during the ninth century."
"Why was this medallion created?" Paula's mother asked.
"It was created to protect the tribe from the expanding Islamic empire of Timbuktu" Hannah said. "The tribe had just gone through a generation long war and their warrior class was decimated. In order to protect the tribe the shaman created fifty medallions and dedicated them to the tribal trickster god Zulo. Every adult and the eldest children were able to change into doppelgangers of the tribes warriors."
"Ok that's interesting but how did the medallion come into Paul's possession?" Paula's mother asked.
"To understand how it came into Paul's possession you have to know what happened to the tribe" Hannah said. "The tribe was able to protect themselves by transforming into doppelgangers of their warriors like I said. A generation after this the tribe began it's own expansion. They used the medallions as a psychological weapon by turning captured warriors into females and often returning them to their tribe pregnant. Many tribes surrendered rather than have this fate befall them but some of the tribal were transformed as a warning. Somewhere along the line the tribe had somehow offended Zulo and he withdrew his blessing from the medallions. No one knows what offended Zulo but I think it was because the tribe started using the medallions to conquer instead of just protecting the tribe. Anyways, all those that were transformed by the medallions were transformed back into their original bodies except those that were subject to the restrictions of the medallions. When this happened the tribe was conquered and the conquering tribes, not realizing that the medallions were magical, distributed the medallions among themselves. They have been in circulation ever since that time. Now someone may have dropped the medallion Paul picked up or it could have been intentionally left there."
"What are the restrictions of the medallion?" Paula's mother asked.
"The restrictions I'm talking about deal with women" Hannah said. "You see Zulo wouldn't allow any permanent harm to come from his magic so a woman couldn't be transformed if she was pregnant. You can understand that a pregnant woman transforming would harm or even kill the baby. The other restriction regarding women is that a woman menstruating couldn't be transformed, even into another woman. This is because one of Zulo's avatars was a thrall to N'emdula, the female goddess. It would have been an overriding of N'emdula's power to transform a menstruating woman."
"Well ok but couldn't we have used the medallion to turn Paula back into Paul?" Paula's mother asked.
"We could have" Hannah said "but there is a twelve hour restriction on the transformation. The transformation causes some psychic damage to the body and that needs to heal before another transformation can take place. Besides the medallion was gone before you came back out with Paula."
"What do you mean it was gone by the time I came back out with Paula?" Paula's mother asked.
"When you took Paula to get changed a lady came into the studio" Hannah said.
"I remember you girls saying there was a lady there but that she left" Paula's mother said.
"Well the lady walked to where Paula was sitting and dropped something" Hannah said. "After she picked it up she left. She is a member of the Brotherhood of Zulo and she took the medallion."
"What is this Brotherhood of Zulo?" Paula's mother asked.
"It's an obscure cult dedicated to the continued existence of the medallions" Hannah said. "They claim to be descendents of the original tribe though only about a third are of obvious African descent. They claim that the medallions changed their ancestors racially. The medallions do not work for them but they can sense a medallion. When they do they'll use burglary skills that they have learned over the years to take it. This of course locks the transformed person into their new body but they see this as part of Zulo's role as god of unexpected justice."
"So Paula can't change back into Paul?" Paula's mother asked.
"Not unless one of us happens to find another medallion" Hannah said.
"Just one more question" Paula's mother said. "How did you know the lady is a member of this Brotherhood of Zulo?"
"Because she took the same medallion that transformed me and I recognized her" Hannah said.
"I have to hear about that but right now it's time for bed" Paula's mother said. "Hannah, I hope you don't mind taking a bath with Paula."
"Not at all Mrs. Miller" Hannah said.
"Good" Paula's mother said. "You'll be sleeping in Paula's room on an Aero bed since your sister gets to stay up later than you. Now both of you go get ready for your bath, I'll be up in a minute. You don't mind me being in there while you're taking a bath do you Hannah?"
"Why should I mind?" Hannah asked rhetorically.
"I just thought that you may be a little self conscious about your body" Paula's mother said.
"If I was self conscious about my body I wouldn't be taking ballet" Hannah said. "Besides we're both girls aren't we."
"Yes we are" Paula's mother said.
After their bath Paula and Hannah laid down to sleep. Paula was a little embarrassed about Hannah seeing that she had to sleep with training pants on. Hannah told Paula that she had to wear training pants to bed for two months after her transformation before she was able to regain control of her bladder through the night. This upset Paula but Hannah said she was sure Paula would do much better than she did. When morning came Paula was glad that she hadn't wet herself during the night and thought that maybe she would be able to do better than Hannah had.