Raphael hesitated outside of the door to Lilith’s room. Inside, Lilith was…healing, or something. Raphael didn’t quite get it, the whole “fractured soul” thing going over her head. But, according to Kali, Mae was back from training, and she would do just fine for what Raphael wanted.

For the millionth time, Raphael almost chickened out, but she managed to keep her nerve. She had to tell herself that the “Lilith is resting” excuse was just that; an excuse. Kali had assured her that, even if Mae moved it around, there would be no adverse effects on Lilith, so Raphael had chosen to soldier on.

She knocked at the door and then tensed, waiting for the reply.

“Come in.”

Raphael slipped inside, gingerly shutting the door behind her. “Um…I…have a request.” She said slowly.

Go on, Mae said, switching to telepathy now that she could see her visitor, I’m listening.

“Could you, uh…turn me back into a boy and have Kali remove the mental alterations? Just for a day? I was talking with grandpa and he said that this would be the best way for me to, you know, figure things out.”

Of course. I can do that now, if you would like.

“That’d be great.” Raphael replied, relieved.

Would you like to be conscious or unconscious for the process?

“Um, unconscious, I guess.”

Very well then. Please sit on the bed. When you wake everything will be done.

The moment Raphael was on the bed, she was out.

---

Raphael woke up feeling…the same. There was none of the flood of relief he had been expecting, no great sense of “rightness”, nothing.

Is everything feeling normal? Mae asked. No weird sensations or anything?

“No, everything’s fine.” Raphael said distractedly. His clothes were a little tight, but other than that he would barely have noticed. He left the room with a mumbled thanks and made his way over to Alex’s room. He paused in front of the door, apprehensive. The last time Alex had seen him like this, he was nothing more than a spoiled brat, so he couldn’t help but feel nervous as he knocked.

Alex opened the door slightly and poked her head out. “What’s…oh. You better come in.” She said, opening the door all the way to allow Raphael passage.

Once inside, Alex scooped Raphael up and carried him over to the bed. She sat down, placing him firmly in her lap, posture indicating that she wasn’t easily going to let go. “So,” She began, “Is this a “chosen to go back forever” thing or a “trying it out” thing?” She asked.

“Um…just for a day.” Raphael mumbled. “Grandpa said I should try it and see how I feel. Then, try being a girl without any of the mind stuff and see how I feel.”

Alex stroked Raphael’s hair soothingly. “That sounds like a great idea.” She said. “Tell me how you’re feeling.”

“I feel…the same but like…nervous. That’s…weird, right? I mean…this is me. It’s how I was, so why should I be nervous about going back?”

“I don’t think so.” Alex replied, “You only really met most of these people while you were a girl, so of course you’d be nervous to have them see you as a guy. Perfectly natural. Or…are you nervous about something else?”

“I…think that’s right?” Raphael said, “I don’t know. It’s hard to tell.”

Alex grabbed his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “If you want, I can come with you and we can say hi to everyone, then see how you feel after.”

“That’d be good…thanks.”

So, the two went around and greeted everyone else. To Raphael’s great relief, no one particularly seemed to mind. Well, none of the adults, anyway. Emily was a little more hesitant than them, but Raphael supposed that he probably deserved that.

“Um…” He said, looking down. “I…already said this, but sorry. I was awful to you while you were my maid. I…I’m not like this because I’m backsliding or anything. I just have to figure myself out.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She said frostily, “But actions speak louder than words. If you’re really sorry, then show me.”

Raphael floundered for a bit before rallying. “Uh, um, I…could be your maid, err, butler, then. For however long you want. I won’t complain no matter what you ask me to do, so you can treat me just how I treated you.”

Emily raised an eyebrow. “An interesting proposition, but I’m afraid I can’t accept that.”

“Then–”

“I wasn’t finished. I don’t need a maid or a butler or whatever you want to be, but I would appreciate some assistance with managing my duties as Lilith’s maid. To that end, you will be my coworker-slash-assistant. Understood?”

“Understood, ma’am!” Raphael replied, saluting.

Emily rolled her eyes. “You’ll start work as soon as you’ve “figured yourself out”. Once you have, come to me and we can begin fitting you for a uniform.”

“Uniform? I…no, I said I wouldn’t complain. I’ll do that, ma’am.”

“And don’t call me ma’am. Emily works fine.”

“Yes, Emily. Um…can I go now? I still have a couple more people to talk to.”

“Yes, you’re dismissed.”

Raphael turned to Alex, who looked like she was holding in laughter. “Alright, let’s go.”

Their impromptu meet and greet continued for a while longer, before eventually they ended up in front of Thiala’s door.

“Thiala, it’s me.” Raphael said as he knocked. “Can we talk for a minute?”

“You sound weird, Raphi, are you sick?” Thiala asked, “Come in, though, I’m just packing.”

Thiala was currently in the process of getting ready to move back in with her parents now that the threat to her freedom had passed, so she hadn’t been around much the last day or so. Fortunately, Nuwa was working on creating something that would allow Thiala to teleport in and out of the place at will, so it wasn’t like they wouldn’t be able to see each other anymore.

Raphael opened the door and stepped inside. “Um…”

Thiala looked over from the box she was filling, then froze. “Raphi? You’re…still Raphi, right? You’re not going to…”

“I’m…still Raphi.” Raphael said uncomfortably. “I’m not going back to how I was before. I just needed to…figure things out.”

“Why?” Thiala asked, tilting her head, “Weren’t you happy already?”

“Yes, but…that was the problem. It’s…hard to explain, I don’t know if you would understand. It’s like…um, like I was worried that I was only happy because of the mind thing. That I didn’t actually want it. So, um, I had to test that out.”

“Oh. Yeah, I don’t really understand, but…as long as you don’t start being bad again, it’s fine.”

“That’s good. Um…do you need any help?”

Thiala shook her head. “No, I’m almost done. You go figure yourself out or whatever, I’ll come say bye before I leave.”

“Oh. Thanks.” Raphael mumbled, grabbing Alex’s hand and leaving.

And with that, they had officially said hi to everyone awake. So, they walked hand-in-hand back to Alex’s room.

“How are you feeling now?” Alex asked once they were inside.

“Better.” Raphael admitted, “But…”

“But?”

“But…I don’t know. I’m just confused.”

“That’s fine.” Alex said, drawing Raphael into a hug. “Let’s just see how you do tomorrow and take it from there, alright?”

---

Raphael once again woke from being altered by Mae. She felt…the same. No, that wasn’t quite accurate. She felt…empowered. Like she had truly taken the first steps to making her own decisions. It was strange, really. She hadn’t even really decided yet, but the process was good. Before, she had been doing this out of a sense of obligation, at times hiding behind it to mask her own feelings.

But now, she was in control. And, to be frank, she didn’t mind being a she. She was used to it at this point, and it wasn’t actually that different from being a guy. Yet. But, for now, having not gone through puberty, her body hadn’t truly begun to develop in either direction.

Which got her thinking. She had always been annoyed at the sheer amount of time it took for some races to grow, most notably her own. It wasn’t fair that her human classmates had grown so much while she had remained the same. She wanted to grow now, not in decades.

She had resigned herself to her fate before, but now…that was different, wasn’t it? She had a direct line of communication to the one in charge of this stuff.

So, she marched down to Kali’s house, giving a knock at the door.

“Come in!”

Raphael entered, and Kali frowned. “Is something wrong? Do you want the mental…” Kali paused, studying Raphael’s face. “Hm. Better just tell me, then. I’m assuming this isn’t a social call?”

Raphael shook her head. “I want to grow up.”

Kali smirked. “Good news, you’re already in the process. All you have to do is wait.”

“No. I want to grow up fast. Like, as fast as a human. You can make that happen, right?”

Kali’s smirk once again turned to a frown. “Yes, but transforming your body to do that would end up leaving you with a kid’s mind and an adult’s body. You don’t want that, trust me.”

“No,” Raphael said stubbornly, “I don’t. I want both. You could put something in the Racial Classes, right? Something that would let people who take it grow at the same rate as humans?”

“I could…but…”

“But what?” Raphael said, putting her hands on her hips, “You want people to get stronger, right? Then make it so that long-lived races can get strong as fast as short-lived races. That’ll even the gap up.”

Kali sighed. “I suppose you have a point. I’ll think about it, alright?”

“Good.” Raphael said, whirling around. “I’ll be going, then.”

“Hey, while you’re here,” Kali said, stopping Raphael before she could leave, “How are you feeling?”

“Like I’m the one in charge of my life. It didn’t really sink in until I chose to go back to this of my own will, but it feels nice.” Raphael paused, thinking. “Actually, while I’m feeling this confident, can you get me in contact with grandma? I have some things to say to her and I might as well do it now instead of putting things off.”

Kali laughed. “That’s an awfully high bar to clear in the middle of all of this, but I can do that. I can get you video now, if you want. Let me just make sure she’s not in the middle of something”

Raphael nodded. “Please do.”

Kali stared off into space for a moment, then snapped back into focus. “Nope, not doing anything. Starting the call now.”

There was a brief wave of dizziness, and then a vision of Raphael’s grandma appeared in front of her. She appeared to be laying down somewhere, but she quickly sat upright and looked towards Raphael.

“Raphael? What’s going on? This better not be a trick, or I will come for whoever’s messing with me.”

“It’s not a trick, grandma. I just need to have a talk with you.”

“Have you finally come to your senses, then? I see you weren’t able to convince those idiots to turn you back before you left.” Elenoa sneered. “I suppose I can find it in my heart to forgive you. Where are you? I might not have as much influence as before, but I can still arrange for someone to pick you up.”

Raphael shook her head. “No, grandma. I think you’re the one who needs to come to her senses. But that’s not what I want to talk to you about. Instead, I’m going to tell you about how our future is going to be, got it?”

“No, I don’t ‘got it’,” Elenoa snarled, “You don’t tell me what to do. I’m in charge of you, if you hadn’t noticed.”

“Not anymore. I’m disowning you, grandma. You’re a nasty, spiteful narcissist who’s got her head stuck so far up her behind that she’s mistaken the scent of her own filth for perfume. I don’t want to talk with you until you realize what you’ve done wrong and are ready to apologize.”

“Listen here, brat, I–”

“No. I’m not listening to you anymore. Oh, and my friends were more than happy to change me back. I just chose to stay like this, and I’m choosing to stay like this from now on. Goodbye, grandma.”

“Our conversation is not over, you whelp, I raised you, and this is how you repay me?! I should come over there and drag you back myself, and then I’ll–”

The transmission cut. “I think we both could see where that was going.” Kali said. “I can call her back if you want, but I don’t think either of us needs to hear more of her bile.”

Raphael nodded. “I’ve had enough of that for one lifetime. Thanks, Kali.”

“Anytime. Anything else I can do for you while you’re here?”

Raphael shook her head. “I’ll be heading out, now.”

Kali grinned. “Before you go, what was the whole ‘mistaken the scent of her own filth for perfume’ thing supposed to mean? It sounds insulting, sure, but I’m not sure I quite follow the logic in that metaphor.”

Raphael blushed. “I just got caught up in the heat of the moment. I was trying to get at her thinking the wrong thing was right, and I was already going with the whole head up her behind thing so I just sorta said something.”

Kali laughed. “Alright then. I’ll have to write that one down. Run along, then.”

And Raphael did. Literally. She ran all the way back to Alex’s room in a state of…she didn’t even know. Panic? Exhilaration? Both? Whatever it was, she frantically knocked on Alex’s door, barely even waiting for a reply before she threw herself into the older woman’s room, and then into said woman’s arms.

“Um…everything alright?” Alex said worriedly. “You seem riled up.”

“I don’t even know.” Raphael giggled, “I just…did it! I just went out there and said how I felt!”

Alex stroked Raphael’s hair, “That’s great, but to who? About what?”

“To grandma, about how I felt about her!”

Alex raised an eyebrow. “That’s very brave of you. What’d you say?”

“I told her that I was disowning her, and that I was going to stay a girl for however long I felt like it, and that she couldn’t do anything about it.”

“You disowned her?!” Alex replied, shocked, “That’s gutsy. What are you planning to do, then? Are you going to go back to Tunem’s academy once you decide to move out of here? You don’t exactly have anywhere to go now.”

Raphael froze. “Um…I just figured I would stay here with you guys, forever. Um…do I have to move out?”

Alex shrugged. “No, I just was wondering what you would do if you decided you did want to.”

“Uh…I’ll think about that later.” Raphael replied, “I’m sure I can find somewhere now that we can probably expand in Haven.”

Alex looked down at the girl she was holding, picking her words carefully. “Now that you’re…free, if you want…I could, you know…officially adopt you. I already like taking care of you, so I just thought we could…make it official.”

Raphael froze, thinking that through. She liked Alex, a lot. Alex made her feel…safe, and Alex was always there for her. She made Raphael feel loved. So, in that case, her choice was obvious. “I would love that…mom.”

Alex squirmed, blushing. “Then let’s go talk with Kali or Mae, I’m sure they could get the paperwork taken care of.”

Raphael nodded, hugging Alex, no, her mother, closer. “I love you.” She whispered.

“Love you too, sweetie.”