Inheritance

Part 2. Chapter 24: Restrained

Taylor pulled her knees to her chest. Before she could stop herself, she relented. "...Come in."

Them opened the door and his face immediately brightened when he saw that she was okay. The small, four-foot-tall waif sat on the side of her bed and said to her, "Taylor, I would love to help you learn to use a bow, and I also have information for you about how to kill the doppelgangers."

Taylor replied with her voice dripping with sarcasm, "oh?"

"Yes. The key to it is that you have to put the flame in their hearts out which makes them vulnerable, and then you'll be able to finish them." Them explained.

Taylor looked around curiously. "Where's your obnoxious wisp friend?"

"Sleeping. Are you even listening to me, Taylor?" Them asked, looking at the blue-colored wall.

"I'm listening." Taylor murmured--although truthfully, she was only half-listening.

Them spun around and faced her. "Did you and Pollyanna have a falling out or something? Why isn't she protecting you?"

She wasn't sure whether they were her tears or Eory's, but they nonetheless streamed down her cheeks as she replied, "because she doesn't want me, she wants Eory. Nobody wants me."

Them watched her cry for a moment, and then he slowly inched closer to her. "Eory's your... Male self, right?"

Taylor collapsed on her belly and nodded with her face in her pillow.

"Taylor..." Them whispered.

He grabbed her by the shoulders and rolled her over. He hovered over her—keeping one hand by her torso for balance and using the other to thumb away the tears that kept cascading down her cheeks. "I want you."

Her eyes roamed over him intensely, she ran a graceful hand up his surprisingly muscular arm and he shivered with anticipation.

He wondered if she would let him kiss her, and he thought it was worth a try. He leaned in, but she giggled and pushed him down playfully before his lips could touch hers.

Them rolled his eyes but couldn't help but grin and be happy to see the semblance of the Taylor he loved back.

Her grin slowly became a frown. "You wouldn't want me like this. Trust me."

"I really don't care, Taylor. It's all in your head. I am curious as to why this... Fracture in your identity has come about, though." Them wondered as Taylor released him and she went back to hugging her knees.

Taylor tapped on her arm with nervous fingers as she gathered her thoughts.

"Arrozans must be powerful, strong, outgoing, commanding, and relentless. I heard my mother tell my father that. Mother thought I was a weak—even for being as young as I was—and she told my father that the sooner she made me into a boy, the easier it would be for me. It's actually a common practice for Arrozans; when a child is seen as being too weak, the parents will take steps to change the gender of the child because it will hopefully make them into a different and stronger person." Taylor closed her eyes and felt nothing but hatred for her mother as she allowed herself to seethe for a moment.

"I don't understand how fairies can change genders so easily?" Them asked as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I can't believe I never knew all this about fairies..."

Taylor looked up at the ceiling with a wistful smile. She reached far back into her memories and retrieved a memory of her brother. "According to my brother, Gershom, the fairy kingdom that we Arrozans first came from is a place fraught with environmental dangers at every turn. Many men would often die when they went out to hunt, and the women would often far outnumber them because of it. Eventually, the females of the species began changing genders because there were so few men left that they had to. Being able to change genders has remained effortlessly easy, even for fairies in Maribel, unless the proper precautions are taken."

Them reached back through his own memories and remembered when he had briefly visited the fairy kingdom of Farrah.

"I remember visiting the fairy kingdom, once. I must say that Maribel fairies are extremely different from fairies originating from Farrah." Them cleared his throat awkwardly. He didn't want to add the fact that many of the fairies who lived in the fairy kingdom were savages in comparison. "But what are these precautions that have to be taken?"

Taylor thought about it intensely for a moment—wondering if she could remember everything Gershom had told her. "All I remember him saying is that changing the gender of the child is much easier early on and that one of the ways it's accomplished is through never mentioning the child's previous name and constantly reinforcing the gender the parent's want them to be. Most of the time, the child will forget that they were ever a different person."

There was a solid moment of thoughtful silence as Taylor thought she could hear rain drizzling overhead again, but she knew there was none.

Them sighed as he kept a respectable distance from her on the bed. "I can't believe you turned out to be the last Arrozan. I would have never guessed it when I met you on the dream plains..."

"Why not?" Taylor was wounded. "Have I not demonstrated myself to be as powerful and strong as one?"

"You have, but..." Them blushed a little. "You seem too sweet to be one."

Taylor snorted. "Don't be ridiculous... I am not sweet... When have I ever been sweet to you?"

Them laughed in response and realized it was true that she had never been particularly sweet to him—but there was something in her demeanor and in the way she spoke that was innocent.

"Can I ask you something, Taylor?" Them asked as he clenched and unclenched his fists.

Taylor waited—not feeling the need to answer.

"How is it that you were Eory when I met you, but now you are Taylor again like on the dream plains?" Them inquired. "If your mother wanted you to be a man, how is it that you have survived all this time?"

"I was..." More tears came unbidden to Taylor's eyes as she remembered when Kori used to brush her hair.

Them glanced her way compassionately but knew better than to coddle her.

"I was raised in a cage for most of my life..." Taylor managed to choke out through an uncomfortable lump in her throat. "By a waif. She didn't know that she was supposed to constantly reinforce Eory's manhood, so I managed to stick around in the back of Eory's mind—I clung to life... But now, I..."

Them had never seen the fiery Taylor so upset; he had never seen so many tears come out of her eyes in one sitting. He loved Taylor when she was strong, immovable, and wild, and he had never seen or even known that she had a vulnerable side to her.

Gingerly, Them opened his arms for her—not actually expecting her to throw herself into them—keeping his eyes down as he did so.

His arms remained open and tense for many moment.

The silence between the pair was deafening.

Them was jolted but delighted when Taylor launched herself into them at full force and knocked him over in the process.

She wouldn't ever admit it to herself, but part of the reason she had made a game out of him earning a third kiss from her was because she was so inexperienced in the matters of love.

Kori taught me nothing. I'm too scared to let you kiss me. Taylor thought to herself.