The Kid and the Assassin

Chapter 1

Finley Foster sat up in their bed.

They had been dreading this day from the brink of their existence.

Well, not particularly, ever since their parents announced that they were no longer going to homeschool their five children this past session break.

Now it was the season of migration, which during the sessions began.

Finley hopped out of their bed and jumped to the double doors that led to their balcony.

They had woken up just in time to see the multi-colored dragon whales flying overhead in the pink, lavender, and periwinkle blue sunrise, singing a tune of joyous melodies.

Numerous other houses were lined up, crossing each other, tall, almost resting in the clouds with their height. Walkway bridges hung suspended between the buildings like a maze.

This neighborhood alone probably had around two hundred thousand people living in it.
Which is why there were so many other balconies crowding the skies.

Finley leaned against the elegant ivory rails on their balcony, their head tilted upwards to watch the hundreds of whales dancing through the air of the planet Lysandra.

They closed their eyes, swaying to the wails of the gentle beasts, before their sister nearly scared the crap out of them by touching their shoulder.

"Geeze, Koi, it's just me." Finley's oldest sister Helene soothed, joining them in watching the whales.

The name koi meant young one, which Finley didn't always appreciate given their appearance of being of similar size to a nine year old.

It didn't help that the rest of their family was generally tall.

"Have you decided yet?" Helene asked quietly, her tone as peaceful as always.

Finley tore their eyes away from the whales to look at their sister for a moment.

Helene had the same mocha skin color as Finley did, but that is where the similarities ended. Helene had a pointed chin, unlike Finley's rounded one, and large lips with long thick eyelashes.
Her hair was long, the color of the sea, and woven into a wavy plait.

Finley shook their head. "I just don't know what is truly me yet."

"You . . . don't necessarily have too decide, it'll just make things more difficult later on." Helene replied, her forehead wrinkling in concern.

One may wonder what exactly the two siblings were discussing.

As such on the planet of Lysandra, every Java, or person, was born with the ability to shift themselves into different genders.

At the age of eighteen however, their Council of Elders, otherwise known as Rulers or the Senate Collective, tried to have everyone pick a side, because the older a Java became, the more dangerous it became to shift between genders.

So they attempted to enforce that everyone by the age of consent, which was eighteen years of age, was to pick a sole gender to dwell as.

  There were some exceptions, rather few however, that were strong enough to be able to do this during their elderly age of a thousand years old.

It was almost like a Java could only shift so many times before their body broke down and remained one gender.

And by the age Finley was, the age of sixteen, most Java had already selected which gender they wanted to live as.

Yet Finley couldn't decide between which they liked to live better as.

As a male, they felt more confident. However as a female, they felt more comfortable.
They didn't want to have to choose between being in comfort or being more confident in their abilities.