In Which Teodrin Gets the Facts

February 6, 1194

"Let me guess: you're looking for Deian."

Was he? Deian was the most well-known of the forest-dwellers, and perhaps the one Teodrin had most expected to find. But, he'd known that Deian hadn't been the only one.

"Uh... I guess it didn't have to be him specifically."

"Good. I'm Ylwa--and I'm here because I get the sense that you don't want to be fucked with, which is what Deian does. I'll be honest with you, but not everybody likes that. Not everybody wants to hear the truth."

Teodrin swayed, pawing at the snow with the toe of his foot. He was twenty years old. He would be graduating from the university in June. He was desperate enough to seek the help of unstable humanoid cannibals where human doctors had failed. "I don't care if I like it. I need to know."

"All right, then. What seems to be the problem?"

"It's, uh..." Shit. Even to a feared creature in the heart of the forest, it hurt to say it. "...reproductive bits. They're stuck somewhere--up, somewhere."

"At your age?" Ylwa frowned--not a human frown of sympathy, but at least she didn't seem to find it humorous as he'd feared. Then again, she'd said she didn't care to fuck with him. "Hmm. Not sure what I can say about that. Mind if I... take a look?"

"What?"

"Relax. I can sense the vibrations in your body with my hands. You don't have to take your clothes off--so I still pity you humans, not being able to keep warm without those wretched things."

"So... you'll just touch me, then?" He'd never much liked the idea of a naked woman touching him, but Ylwa, he could tell, had no more sexual interest in him than his cat did.

"Do you mind?" He shrugged. She placed her hands just above his pelvis and worked her way upward. "Hmm... nothing yet..."

Upward. Further out. "No... no. Oh!" Teodrin's heart skipped. But, it was premature. "No, too big. Hmm..."

She bit her lip, fingers drumming on his abdomen. Then--a light of inspiration in her eye, she drew her hands inward. "That's it!"

"What's it?"

"Well..." Ylwa stepped back and inhaled, eyes shut in mingled tact and exasperation. "Look, you humans have this unusual obsession with binary categories, so I don't know how well you're going to take this. I'm still not going to lie to you, but if you'd rather not know, here's your chance to walk away."

If she put it like that, then he was doomed to spend the rest of his life worrying even more. "I can't not know anymore."

"All right, then." She pursed her lips and looked him in the eye--at least, from what he could tell, given her lack of pupils. "I'm not really sure how to say this, but something must have gone wrong while you were growing inside your mother. Some sort of chemical imbalance in her womb, maybe. You, uh... you were supposed to be a girl."

"What?!" The FUCK?! "But I--what--I have--I mean, I'd know if--I've got--"

"A penis, yes. You've also got ovaries and a uterus. They're not of any use to you without a vagina, but that doesn't change the fact that they're there."

"Well, can you... get rid of them?" She had magic! "Switch them out for other things?"

"I could." She crossed her arms. "But I won't."

WHAT. "You have to! I can't live like this!"

"Yes, you can. There's nothing wrong with you." He doubted he'd find a single person who agreed with that statement. "Look, it's your body, and I have no qualms about helping you do what you want with it. But, you need time to think about this. I don't want to turn your ovaries into testicles just for you to come and bother me again in a year because you've realized you're not a man after all."

"But I AM a man!" He had to be! He couldn't be... nothing.

"Maybe. Gender isn't determined by parts, you know. It's in your soul, or at least the current state of it. And it's not limited to male and female. Maybe one day, you humans will understand that."

"But they don't! No one does!"

"The sad truth of your world. Maybe you would be happier with a man's anatomy--or a woman's. Or maybe you'll decide that you're fine with your body as it is. The important thing is, now you can make an informed decision. Now, run along and take the time to make it."

"But--"

"Don't even. I'm not going to fill your scrotum just because the world has you believing it needs to be filled. Take a few months. Think about it. Finish your studies, graduate, figure out who you are and what you want from your body. Then, if you want me to make any adjustments--" Ylwa turned around and began to walk away. "--let me know. And don't think I won't be able to tell if you don't truly want it."

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