Moulting Season for Astra?

Fred was the first to notice it when he felt a tickling sensation on his left shoulder. Thinking it was just a fly, he made to brush it off. He stopped suddenly when he realised it wasn't a fly he had touched. Astra, puzzled as to why he had stopped, turned and saw him bending down to pick something off the jungle floor. It was some of her hair! It didn't take either of them long to realise that the ring was making Astra's beautiful red hair fall out.

Astra had many remarkable attributes, the far from least being her hair. Out of them all, this had been the only one she had really been proud of. Regardless of all she had been through it still had managed to retain some of its lustre and shine. Now it was falling out in large clumps. Would she end up completely bald? Or would some of it remain? She would definately prefer the former. For his part, Fred was worried as well as annoyed that he could do nothing to help, and also nor were they likely to find anyone who could help.

Just then, Astra had another thought, and not a very pleasant one at that. Would her hair eventually grow back, or was she going to be bald for the rest of her life? She had seen some cultures who saw baldness as being attractive, though she would feel like a freak. Brave warrior that she might have been, she still found it hard to hold back tears. She kept telling herself that warrior princesses were not supposed to cry in any circumstance, it being a sign of weakness. Also, she thought she would go down in Fred's estimation if she did.

Now of course Fred had been taught similar to this while a young squire. However, all that was now over a year and many hundreds of miles away. Fred would not thing any less of her if she did, and told her as much. Astra still had a nagging doubt about that, though.

1. Would she let go and cry, or keep it pent up and make her condition worse?

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