Flame trilogy; book one: Blue Flame

Chapter 18

"We should reach the city by nightfall!" Dillan yelled out as he rode.

A low cheer ran through the men and the excited chatter of the final stretch grew to a more jolly tone. It seemed that the prospect of a warm bed and fresh clothes. As well as a bath. Even if I had been with them for the last couple of days I could tell that we all smelled... less than adequate to be walking through a city.

Looking over to my sister, who had taken to riding at the front of the column and talking to either Dillan or Aaron, I decided to settle what had been bothering her before we got back to the city. Increasing my pace I moved over to her and lightly nudged her on the shoulder. She turned to face me in surprise, and the same feeling of nervousness and jitteriness washed over her.

"Uuuhhh, hey Blu," she said, "What's up?"

"Can I talk to you for a second... alone?" I asked, looking at the mage, who she had been talking to.

"O...okay," she said.

Aaron smiled at her, before tapping the flank of his horse with his boots and turning it away, trotting over to another bunch of men whom he had been getting to know quite well over the past couple of days.

"What's wrong?" I said to my sister, deciding to get straight to the point, "You've been avoiding me since the attack from that dragon."

She looked at me, before sighing, "I... I know about you and Tyron."

I blinked, a little surprised.

"I saw you two kiss at the end of the battle, and... I was a little shocked," she said.

"Oh... you're not upset are you?" I gulped softly, suddenly feeling a whole lot more embarrassed.

"No, of course not. It's not my choice who you choose to be with," she reassured quickly, "It's just... why didn't you tell me?"

I looked at her, "I... I didn't know what you would think."

"So, you told Aaron... and mum."

"Aaron figured it out... and, well, I wanted to talk to mum about it."

"But not me?"

"I lost you when I became a dragon. I didn't want to lose you again."

"What kind of excuse is that!" she grunted, "Of course you wouldn't lose me again. Yes... I'm a little surprised. I didn't think you would choose another male as your partner, but I can respect that. I'm not an idiot."

I looked down at the ground in shame and guilt. "But.....that's not the whole story."

"What do you mean?"

I shuffled a little awkwardly on my feet, "Well... I'm not all a guy."

"Ha?"

"When I became a dragon... I kinda became both male and female, with... elements of both."

She frowned, "So, transgender?"

"Yeah..."

"What!?" my sister said loud enough that a few of the men looked over to us a little startled, "When were you going to tell me this!?"

"I... don't know," I said, looking to the ground feeling guilty all over again, "When I had my first egg maybe?"

"Wait... have you two..." she looked at Tyron.

"No! Well... at least not yet," I blushed softly.

"Okay," she nodded her head, "Is there any other crazy thing that I should know about?"