Rumi scrambled back towards the desk under the room’s window, slamming into it and wincing as they stammered.

  “Oh gods! Vita?! I thought I was about to be swallowed by a demon gate, ohhhh gods! Don’t scare me like that!”

  Rumi had seen me open two rifts under the men at the bar, so how they could have been surprised to see one open in my room and expect something other than me to come out of it, I did not know. Though I supposed it wasn’t exactly something they had seen every other day; some moderate surprise was to be expected.

  “Apologies, Rumi, I didn’t mean to startle you like that. But this is my room, so… to be fair, you’re technically intruding on me.”

  Laughing lightly, I tried to roll with the awkwardness; if I could utilise the momentum, then maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

  “Well… that’s! True… you’re right. I probably shouldn’t have just waltzed into your room… but! I thought you would be here! And expecting me no less!”

  I smiled through their explanation, wondering if I should spare them the embarrassment or twist the knife a little deeper. Listening to them sputter their way through their words was thoroughly amusing.

  “And… when I didn’t answer your knocks, you decided that simply… opening the door was the best course of action? Rumi… I’m thinking perhaps you were anticipating this a little too much.”

  They flared a deep, vibrant crimson from their cheeks to the tops of their ears before hiding their face in their hands and muffling their scream of embarrassment with their palms.

  “Plleeeaaaasssseeeeee forget everything from the past minute. None of this happened; I’m not here, this isn’t what it looks like. How are you flustering me this badly? Please stop at once!”

  I was thoroughly enjoying myself. But poor Rumi needed a break, or I feared they might pass out from all the blood in their head.

  “Oh! Speaking of blushing, this is a good time to get into our conversation. Please help yourself to a seat. Did you want some water? Something else?”

  They shuffled to the bed and sat on the edge, face still firmly buried in their hands. They shook their head as they sat, so I pulled the small chair from under the writing desk and set it across and slightly to the side of where they sat.

  If I had set it directly in front of them, it might come across as confrontational, and putting myself between them and the door to the room would cause them to feel locked in with me. I wanted this to be casual and relaxed.

  “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. If you hadn’t noticed, you’re incredibly easy to tease, so I just couldn’t possibly pass up the opportunity. If you need some time to settle… this can wait?”

  They pulled their hands from their face, as beet-red as they’d been down in the dining hall. Rumi fixed me with a glare somewhere between annoyed and entertained before gesturing sharply at me with both hands.

  “First you tease me, and now you patronize me?! If I didn’t know any better, this was all just a ruse to corner me and taunt me mercilessly! You scoundrel! I’ve half a mind to haul you into the street by your cursed ear! Ugh! I’ve never been so embarrassed! You better start talking because at this point I’m beginning to doubt you could help me at all!”

  I chuckled softly and shook my head.

  “I promise you that was the last for now. I wanted to cut the tension between us and hopefully bring some levity to things. Understandably, this is an incredibly important topic to you, and I didn’t want to start things off with any grave atmosphere. But I understand, we’ll get to it now.”

  I produced the mask I’d crafted for them and held it up between us.

  “This is the solution I’ve come up with; I believe it would work splendidly to aid you. With it, you will take back control over how others perceive you. You will present yourself the way you wish to. I know it doesn’t look like much at the moment, but once you’ve put it on, you’ll understand what I mean.”

  They reached for the mask, but I pulled it back slightly.

  “But! Before I give you this mask, there are a few things we need to discuss. This is no small thing I do for you, Rumi. And though I like to believe I am a generous man, there are limits to how far out of my way I will go, especially for someone I’ve met mere hours ago. I believe that is fair to say, no?”

  Rumi retracted their hand and looked into my eyes.

  “Whatever price you demand, I will pay it. I said as much before, and I have not changed my mind. I need that mask, Vita.”

  I nodded.

  “I understand that, and you will get the mask; however, there is another proposal here that I think you should hear first. And I would also like to better comprehend your situation. I believe your motivations, but I would be a foolish person indeed to just hand over a mask capable of altering someone’s appearance. Especially to someone with a background in fencing goods in shady places.”

  Rumi looked to the floor, abashed.

  “I understand what you’re saying, and I know how it looks… I don’t know what I could do to prove myself to you, though.”

  I placed the mask on my thigh and leaned forward in my chair, changing my mode of engagement and physically enforcing my interest in Rumi.

  “I will not ask that you prove yourself worthy, or that you’re some kind of saint. We’re all flawed, and we all carry with us deeds better left unmentioned. This isn’t some holy relic that can only be worn by those pure of heart.”

  I waved my hand through the air as if dispersing smoke.

  “What I will ask you to do, though, is to explain a little more to me about how this so-called ‘curse’ works. I know this is all going to be very personal to you, and I promise I’m not asking simply to elicit some embarrassment from you. But I was terribly interested in how it works and how it’s affected you. I feel knowing more about your circumstances regarding it may help both of us to change your life.”

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  Rumi blushed again, wringing their hands between their legs. They exhaled audibly through their nose before licking their lips and speaking.

  “Where do I even start?”

  I opened my mouth to respond, but they cut me off.

  “Before you say ‘at the beginning’, please know that I do have some experience with a dagger. If you enjoy having your tongue in your skull, you’ll think twice about using it right now.”

  My mouth snapped shut, and they continued.

  “I tried asking around, you know? After my family abandoned me. I put feelers out through my network to see if anyone had ever heard even a rumour of someone who could do what I did. But all I ever got back were mentions of some very specific, and very high-level skills granted to a handful of master thieves. It was never a trait or an ability. Never something they were born with.”

  They spread their legs and rested their elbows on their knees as they rubbed their palms together.

  “There was one rumour about a demon that had been slain to the far west, so far beyond the mountains it was a miracle the story even made it back to me. Apparently the demon had settled itself in a small fishing village, living among the people as though it were humen until one day it laughed so hard its face changed shape. That was the closest I ever came to something similar to me. But it was so, so far from here, and the demon changed completely in the story. Hard to say what parts of it weren’t mangled by time and distance.”

  I materialised two cups of water and offered one to Rumi. There was going to be a lot of talking, and a parched throat would get uncomfortable quickly. They took the proffered mug and inspected it before continuing without taking a sip.

  “Of course, I did my own investigating too; keeping track of changes, what caused them, how severe they were, that kind of thing. But none of that information has ever helped determine why I am this way, even the attending healer at my birth was mystified. You see, I… ah…”

  They hesitated before bolstering their courage and ploughed ahead.

  “I’ve got both… you know? For a… man and a woman. You get what I’m saying, right?”

  Rumi was shaking; eyes squeezed shut as they braced themselves as though waiting for a physical blow. But when they heard none of this, one eye cracked open and peeked at me. Realising I wasn’t reacting at all, both of their eyes opened and they stared at me.

  “I-I said I’ve… got b-both… down there. You… know?”

  I nodded, not saying anything.

  “You… wha—I don’t get it. You’re acting as if it doesn’t matter. Like… it’s normal somehow.”

  I hummed before finally responding.

  “Well, I wouldn’t really say it was normal. Certainly, I doubt there are very many people walking around with a set of both genitals. I will agree that it doesn’t matter to me very much. I’ve got no problem with either of those, so the fact you’ve got both isn’t much of a leap. It also kind of makes sense, given your body and mind have a hard time deciding what they want to be at any moment.”

  Rumi shook their head.

  “Yeah, right. Honestly, I probably should have expected that after you turned yourself into a woman earlier. I don’t know why I was expecting you to react differently. I just… Anytime I’ve ever told anything they…”

  Rumi’s gaze grew distant, and I could only imagine the memories they were reliving. I appreciated the effort Rumi was putting into sharing this with me; opening up like this to someone you barely knew was an incredible hurdle to get over.

  “I can’t say that I empathise with what you’ve experienced, Rumi. Likely I won’t ever truly get a sense of how hard your struggle has been. But I want you to know that I accept you as you are. You’re bright, resourceful, quick-witted, and endlessly wonderful to tease. I can’t imagine any reason not to enjoy your company or continue to rely on your hospitality.”

  They dragged their eyes from the floor and looked into mine as I spoke.

  “I think many people come to fear things they can’t understand, and rather than take the time to understand them, they opt instead to destroy them. Which is shameful. I appreciate you sharing this with me; it really means a lot.”

  Their look of bewildered acceptance at my casual dismissal of their admission slowly turned into one of pained relief. They sagged, their muscles going slack and their body slumping in on itself as though a great weight had been lifted from their shoulders.

  “I didn’t think I would ever find someone who just… didn’t care. Or… not that you don’t care; you obviously care, otherwise we wouldn’t be talking. I mean, you don’t hate me… what I am. You aren’t frightened by me, I don’t make you nervous, I can just… be whatever and it doesn’t matter. I can’t even tell you how that feels…”

  Rumi’s eyes glazed over with unshed tears, so I decided to head it off before it could develop further.

  “Hold tight to those feelings; the longer you’re around me, the more casual they will become.”

  I smiled at them, and they returned the look, wiping gingerly at a tear rolling down their cheek.

  “This healer you mentioned, was an explanation ever given to your family? Was anything ever revealed to you through them?”

  Rumi thought for a time before shaking their head.

  “There was speculation about many things. At first, they thought the healer had done something to me as I was delivered. Then there were accusations that my mother had conceived with someone—or something—other than my father.”

  Their lip curled as they mentioned their father.

  “Then they moved to believing I was some kind of cursed abomination—that the family line had been tainted through some divine method for crimes they did not know. Really, I suppose it doesn’t matter which of the theories is true in the end. All of them would have resulted in the same fate for me.”

  I took that in and mulled it over before asking another question.

  “So, about the actual change, then. You mentioned you started tracking it? Was there anything you learned from that? Obviously not why you changed, but did you learn anything about how?”

  Rumi’s eyes lit up slightly, and they wet their lips in anticipation of speaking at length.

  “Ah, yes! Right! So essentially what I’ve learned is that I have these… cycles, I guess. Periods of random length where my mentality… flips? It’s not gradual either; one moment I feel like a man, and the next I feel like a woman. And it is always one or the other; it’s never a mix of both! Sometimes those periods will last days upon days upon days, while other times it’ll only be half the day.”

  Rumi was gesturing animatedly as they spoke; life seemed to inflate them as they continued to explain what they’d discovered.

  “I have no control over those cycles, but I know that during the warm seasons I spend more time feeling like a man, like I am now. But! Even when I’m going through a period of feeling like a man, I can still express feminine traits! I believe this is what you caught earlier downstairs. As for what causes the physical change… I’ve no idea what mechanism is driving it. I don’t know how my bones and muscles shift the way they do; I don’t know how my hips broaden or my shoulders narrow. I just know that it’s a response to something, like intense emotions or… physical stimulation.”

  Rumi sipped their water and then continued.

  “I can’t feel the change happening, which is why I need to be careful to moderate how I feel or what I experience. I think what tripped me up downstairs was witnessing those two men simply fall through the floor along with my stools, and then your… charm…”

  Rumi blushed once again, their voice becoming somewhat husky as they spoke. I also noted that their features were slowly shifting into femininity; where before it was a slight plumping of the lips, now it was pronounced. Their jawline narrowed and eye ridges rose; their ears shrunk slightly and flattened.

  Their nose shortened and rounded at the tip while their cheekbones rose further and their eyelashes grew. It was incredible and endlessly fascinating to observe since it was utterly seamless; it wasn’t even like the shifting of sand or the settling of water. It was as if it had always been that way, and through a trick of light, you were viewing it from another angle suddenly.

  I slowed my perception of time and ran a battery of scans across their body as the changes occurred.

  Nothing of note could be detected beyond the power crystal resting undisturbed next to their liver. The crystal couldn’t be responsible for this, though, since it was a condition Rumi had since birth, long before it would have formed within their body. If anything, there was a little excess warmth being generated by the muscle and skin shifting and resting. Coming back to regular time, they continued on.

  “Pardon me for saying this, but… I think you might be the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen… I’ve a hard time even looking directly at you. When you speak, I feel myself go weak at the knees, and… even with your clothes on I can tell your body is something no normal humen could have. I could feel this… pull when you came into the inn. Something was dragging my focus to you. I don’t know what it is, but it’s turned me into an absolute mess around you.”

  Was I really that attractive now? I’d seen myself from just about every angle, and while I could appreciate the physique my God had granted me, I didn’t find myself particularly beautiful. Handsome, perhaps, but not beautiful.

  “That’s incredibly kind of you to say, Rumi. And if we’re handing out compliments, then I have to say, I was struck by your looks as well. Even while you were maintaining your neutral appearance, I couldn’t help but think you looked incredibly beautiful.”

  I hadn’t intended it as anything but a compliment, but as I spoke, Rumi’s lips parted slightly.

  The barest whisper of a moan passed over their lips, and their pupils dilated. I didn’t know if that was a response to endorphins or if there was some kind of outside influence I was having over them, but it was quite a visceral reaction to a compliment.

  I glanced down to see that Rumi had curled a hand around their thigh so tightly that their knuckles had gone white. Finally, they broke their stare and, with a well-hidden lip bite, soldiered on through the conversation.

  “A-anyway… normally I’m much better at holding back my feelings, but there’s just something in your manner that makes it impossible. The hardest part right now is that I feel like a man, and yet…”

  Almost as if some unseen force had grabbed their chin, their head crept back up, and their eyes once again found mine. I could sense the same feral intensity that Armela had just prior to our first time sleeping together. But whereas she had spent several days around me, it had only been a matter of hours for Rumi. We barely knew each other, and only moments before I’d outright expressed my wariness of trusting them.

  Something unnatural was taking place. Either that, or my ‘charm’ was far more effective than I’d given it credit for. But with my experiences interacting with people, I doubted I’d suddenly mastered the art of seduction, let alone subconsciously.