Prudence didn't know the first thing about being a woman or a witch (other than avoid having buckets of water thrown on you, but maybe that was just wicked witches). Lacking any other ideas, she went back to her apartment, stopping on the way to pick up some cat litter and some tampons. She felt a bond to her new animals that was clearly transcending rational thought.
In order to fulfill their new function, the familiars had telepathy, both between themselves and with Mistress Prudence.
"You seem to be taking this remarkably well." said Jo to Tabitha.
"Taking what well?"
"You wanted to turn every man in the universe female because men were so screwed up, and now you're male? Doesn't that kind of bother you?"
Cats don't laugh, even mentally, but Tabitha was clearly amused on some level.
"In the first place, I'm not a man, I'm a tomcat. Way different. In the second place, why do you think I hated men so much?"
"I assumed a bad experience, or several."
"Nah. I hated men because I could never really be one."
"What!?"
"I cried myself to sleep for three weeks after I found out I wasn't going to grow up to be a boy. It bugged me to see men walking around with the penises I would never have. I checked out the transsexual thing, but I couldn't get a real, functioning penis that way."
"So why didn't you turn yourself into a man when you had the ring?"
"What did you think I was going to do after I transformed all men into women?"
Jo was horrified. "That's awful!"
Tabitha gave the mental equivalent of a shrug. "Yeah, well, I'm a cat. Nobody calls us moral."
They had arrived at Prudence's apartment building.
Prudence still hadn't the faintest idea of how she was going to be a witch, although she knew that that was the destiny Mystra had chosen for her and trying to resist the goddess seemed like a really, really bad idea. She breathed a sigh of relief when she entered her apartment and discovered that it had already been set up with a caldron, collections of herbs, and miscellaneous equipment like a sacrificial dagger and a water dish for scrying. Wait a second, Prudence thought, how do I know what scrying is?
Beside the cauldron was an envelope addressed to Prudence Goodwife. She opened it with trembling hands. It read:
Hi Prudence,
I still haven't entirely figured out how magic is going to work in this universe. Here are a few basic things:
Witchcraft has nothing to do with Satan. If such a being exists, he hasn't introduced himself to me yet. As a witch, you worship me, but you can worship anything else you please as well. Pray to me before performing any major work of magic.
The properties of the herbs I left you with are labeled. Go nuts! I'll be adding magical properties to more herbs and such over the next few weeks. I'll be inputting some magical knowledge into your mind, but some you will have to figure out for yourself. It's more fun that way!
You quit your old job. You now support yourself by witchcraft. You'll be getting clients pretty soon. As a witch you do healings, divination, some minor transformations, stuff like that. Having your familiars around makes your magic stronger. They need to breed to spread the magical gene, so no "fixing."
You are currently a virgin. You can stay one, which means that you will be better at some spells and worse at others. Or you can get laid (men or women--I left that up to you!) and your magic will work differently.
Right now you are the only witch in the world, but I will be creating more. At some point you will take a disciple. Witches are going to be mostly women (around 80%) but the males have the same knowledge.
Enjoy your new, magical world!
The note ended with a complex image that Prudence instantly knew was the sigil of the goddess Mystra.
Prudence looked down to see that Tabitha had laid a dead, bloody mouse at her feet.