Free 02. Riders of the Winds by Jack L. Chalker

looked—well, like, Daddy." And then she did start to cry, but just a little, for Sheka's sake.
    Sam shook her head and said what comforting things she could. Damn it, they didn't just have one whammy, they had two, and the loss of their parents and brothers was perhaps more devastating than even the brutalizing, since it was those very people who could have helped them over the ugliness. Sam got them into bed and turned out the light and went back to her room. She felt a little like crying herself at this point, but at least it wasn't over her own problems this time. Something like this would knock the self-pity right out of you.
    The next day, Sam ate a prodigious breakfast and then was off for her own trip to the examiners. They seemed a bit gun shy after the girls; they provided a man and a woman for her, the man well up in years, gray-haired and cherubic, the woman maybe in her forties and with a real professional look and air.
    They introduced themselves as Halomar and Gira; he was a healing magician, she an alchemist. They gave her a surprisingly thorough physical, even using a primitive form of stethoscope, and they wanted blood and urine samples. Sam didn't like that part—she knew that body samples were useful to black magic here and that giving some of your own free will was almost putting your life in another's hands, but there was little choice.
    Halomar did most of the physical, but it was the woman, Gira, who took the samples and also sat down to ask some questions while the magician took notes on a worn pad.
    "Your name is Susama Boday," she said more than asked.
    "Yes."
    "That is a married form, but both names are feminine."
    Sam shrugged. She had decided not to give excuses or long-winded explanations anymore. "Yes, I have a legally registered statement of union at Tubikosa. My wife is still missing somewhere in the Wastes."
    "Hmmm ... It takes courage to do that in a strict place like Tubikosa. I can see why you were leaving. I take it that you are comfortable with it, though, and that you have no self-doubts about your nature and orientation."
    Of course / have self-doubts, you asshole! And I'm decidedly not comfortable when I'm put on the spot like this and forced on the defensive like I'm some kind of Sheka's freak!
    "Yes," said Sam. "She's also an alchemist, by the way. Want to fool around?"
    The alchemist started slightly, then realized she was being baited and regained her cool composure. Still, partly to help his colleague, Halomar decided to step in.
    "Were you aware that you were under some rather strange spell?" he asked.
    Sam nodded. "It didn't put on this weight but it keeps it on."
    "Ah! So that's the basis. It was quite complex. You should be careful, though. It is very strong, and it would take an Akhbreed sorcerer to lift it, and even then with difficulty. You can't keep any weight off at the level you were when it was imposed, but you can still gain, and what you gain if kept over any period of time will become part of the curse and will stick. Your height is seventeen point four krils and your weight is a hundred and two and a fraction halg. In other circumstances we would say that was dangerous."
    Sam did some quick mental calculations. She knew she was around five one—she'd always been damned short—and a halg she figured once was about two and a half pounds. Jeez—two fifty-five, and that was after days of starvation and exercise!
    "So how am I supposed to keep it there?"
    "Exercise daily and vigorously," he told her. "All you can. It is all you can do. Your heart is surprisingly strong, your lungs are moderately clean, and your blood pressure is surprisingly normal for one of your weight. Considering all you've been through, I would say that was incredible. Exercise will certainly help."
    "Your periods—how are they?" the woman asked.
    She shrugged. "I used to have 'em pretty bad but they've been mild and just spotty since I gained all this weight. I guess that's the one bright