It wasn’t a surprise that Ferrand found himself sitting next to Ilduara at the table, with Guillen and Teoda across the table, Ximeno and Vituccia at head and foot. After all, Ximeno and Vituccia didn’t know there’d be any reason for anything else.
The food wasn’t appreciably different from what he’d have had otherwise, but the company was a world apart. Here, as always, he felt safe and included and accepted, and that made it easy to relax and be a part of the conversation.
“I don’t know how you talked my father into going along with Jos and I being out for the evening,” he said to Vituccia, “but I am really glad you did.”
She just smiled. “Family need to look out for each other, and you practically have been for years. Not much longer and you will be officially, too. Has he decided about the mill yet?”
“He doesn’t seem inclined to commit to anything.”
“Typical,” Ximeno said. “No matter. You’re living with us for the moment anyway, and we can put you to work until it all gets sorted out.”
Ilduara had, at Ferrand’s request, told her parents she wasn’t comfortable living in Giefroi’s house; they had, without hesitation, offered space at the inn indefinitely. It could potentially be a little crowded, although less so with Teoda moving out, but he was grateful.
“Is Aelfeva planning to put up with his moods?” Vituccia asked. “Or are the Glaedwins offering another option?”
“I haven’t heard,” Ferrand admitted, “but I don’t think Josceran would take the chance. Aelf is too likely to growl back and it’ll escalate, and that can’t go anywhere good.”
“Don’t worry about letting that secret slip,” Vituccia said calmly, just as Ferrand bit his lower lip hard—a little too relaxed! “We had a conversation earlier with Einwulf and Melisend, while you were out. Ximeno knows about Aelf. I believe that Giefroi is now the only one who does not.”
“That’s damned powerful magic,” Ximeno said. “Haven’t seen anything like that since, ah... a very long way east, by the great rivers, actually.”
“I don’t think you’ve actually seen her yet. It is impressively powerful. And yet, Aelf is very much still Aelf, and I agree with Ferrand. Being dutiful and respectful is likely to run out if she’s constantly forced to deal with general unjustified ill humour, and I can’t imagine Giefroi reacting well to a woman under his roof being impertinent.”
“No,” Ferrand said. “It would be... unpleasant all around.” To say the least. He wasn’t sure both Giefroi and Aelfeva would survive it.
“How’s Aelf handling that?” Ximeno asked. “Pass me the bread, please, Teoda. Usual magic rules, that some part of the person under the spell has to accept it?”
“Yes,” Teoda said. “From what Rich told me, Aelf has not for a single moment actually panicked, although she’s understandably at a complete loss when it comes to some practical issues.”
“I wouldn’t have expected it,” Guillen said, “but I’d swear she’s actually happier as Aelfeva, somehow. Maybe not happier, this whole situation has too many twists and turns. Maybe... more comfortable?”
Teoda nodded. “That’s a good way to put it.”
“Jos?” Ximeno asked.
“Knows everything,” Ilduara said. “Probably more than the rest of us, since as usual he’s the one Aelf’s willing to talk to, even more than Guillen. Jos seems to have run into some northerner magic while he was away. He’s refusing to voice an opinion and saying he’ll just accept whatever Aelf decides. And... and Leofeva, of course.” The haste of the last words suggested that she’d nearly slipped as well.
“Of course. Well, that’ll be an interesting explanation to the rest of Rosebridge. Hope they both know we’ve got their backs.”
“I think they do,” Teoda said. “Aelf does, for sure. You’re accepting this really easily.”
Ximeno chuckled. “I’ve seen a lot, love. By the great rivers, they’ve got a goddess with a myth about her daughter being taken to marry the underworld god, and the daughter’s twin brother offering to take her place for half the year. The folks who work in the temples, priests and sacred prostitutes and artisans and all, are women while the brother’s supposed to be in the underworld and men while the sister is. It’s a huge public ceremony twice a year, massive collective magic. They serve for... I think it’s thirteen years, and they can retire on either side of that ceremony that they choose to—some want to be back in their original sex, some choose to stay as the other one. The more devoted lay followers just dress and act that way, switching in honour of the twins. The whole country had to abolish gender-based laws because the cult’s huge, probably a third of the population follows that goddess at least loosely.”
“How would you be able to tell if men are marrying women?” Guillen asked. “Among the followers, I mean. Do the temple workers get married?”
“Not sure if the temple folks can marry while they’re serving. You can’t tell, among the followers, and it’s rude to ask. They don’t consider it relevant, since the twin brother’s with the lord of the underworld half the year and it’s generally considered fine. The twin sister has a companion who travels with her, born or maybe made with boy and girl parts, can’t recall the details, but they say that anyone born that way is special and can travel between the worlds. It’s an interesting cult, lots of fascinating stories that break a lot of what some cultures call rules. Most powerful healers I’ve ever seen, too, I saw one of their priests pull someone back just after I’d swear he stopped breathing, and they managed to save his arm, even.”
“It’s a shame it’s so far away,” Guillen said. “It would take months to get there and back.”
“With some rather risky ground between, unless you went the long way around, all the way south and then east. I’d rather you didn’t. We’d worry about you.”
“I’m not going to actually go. It just sounds like it would be an unforgettable experience. So... some of that goddess’ priests and all choose to retire as the opposite sex from how they started?”
It didn’t really matter, as far as friendship and support, but it might be that Aelf was less unique than they’d thought.
Ximeno nodded. “I suppose after thirteen years back and forth they have a pretty good idea which they prefer, hm? But I think at least a few join the temple with that as their ultimate goal. Serve their goddess for thirteen years, with the cloister to live in and an obligation to learn useful skills, and retire with the goddess’ blessing and plenty of life ahead still to spend the way they want.”
“Presumably,” Vituccia said, “they grow up knowing that the possibility exists, and if they don’t feel they belong as one, they know there’s a way to become the other.”
“I imagine so. I don’t recall asking. It was a long time ago.”
“I wonder what would happen if someone who would seek that out in that setting, were born in a time and place in which it wasn’t even common knowledge that anyone could want that, let alone have that. Ah well, just speculation. It would be an unbearably dull world if everyone was the same, but I think sometimes it must be difficult to not be part of the assumed majority. More difficult than making a decision to escape, regardless of the risks, and bearing with the frightening moments until the rewards begin to outweigh them. So, whatever it was Herlinde wanted to talk to you about, did you get it sorted out?”
Ferrand met Guillen’s eyes, and saw a question there, in the slight tilt of his head, the marginal lift of an eyebrow. Guillen had said, many times, that he wasn’t afraid of his parents finding out about them; it was Giefroi and to a lesser degree Rosebridge as a whole that had driven them to always be careful about showing affection in front of others, never letting themselves get into that habit so they wouldn’t have to try to remember not to.
There might be no point in telling anyone.
But there might. Even if Herlinde rejected the proposal, there still might. And there was little Giefroi could do even if he found out, since two nights from now, both his sons would be free of him.
So he nodded, just enough for Guillen to see it. Ilduara glanced sideways, smiled, and laid her hand over his briefly on the table.
“Actually,” Guillen said, “she was responding to a request from us that we needed to talk to her.”
“Yes?”
“Leofeva found out about an interesting law,” Ilduara said. “It’s not used often but it’s still valid. It would allow what is effectively a marriage between two men instead of a man and a woman.”
“I imagine that would be a relief. Did she accept that? You’ll be living with us for a while anyway, and we can switch which marriage settlement easily enough, since we had that set aside for all three of you.”
Ferrand stopped in mid-bite, staring at Guillen, who looked back, wide-eyed, then looked at his mother. About all he could formulate was, “What?”
“It’s remarkable,” Ximeno said philosophically, “how often people fail to see something right in front of them solely because they have no idea that it’s possible or they have a vague idea that it is but are looking for the wrong signs. We didn’t know how serious you were and we assumed you had reasons for keeping quiet so we didn’t say anything. Now, answer your mother. Was Herlinde willing to go along with that?”
“We don’t know,” Teoda said, taking pity on them. “Leofeva gave us dates and other useful information, which we passed on, but Herlinde wants to verify it. And we... we met the Queen, she was there too. She’s very young, and acts very sweet and gentle, but I think there are thorns under the pretty perfumed petals and she might be every bit as frightening as Herlinde in her own way. They’re going to look into it and let us know tomorrow.”
“Herlinde told Aelf,” Ilduara said, “that if she does confirm it, she’ll break the transformation spell if Aelf asks. Aelf and Jos still have to get married, but it’s up to Aelf how. But don’t say that in front of her, because I saw her expression when I first mentioned it and... gods, you’d think I’d slapped her or something. Aelf, I mean, not Herlinde.”
Vituccia nodded. “You’ve been pulled back and forth too, Dara.”
“I’m fine,” Ilduara said. “I want Guillen and Ferrand happy. And... um... I’d rather wait for Leofeva to finish her training and come home.”
“Does that law also work for two women?” Ximeno asked.
“Um... yes.”
“Fair enough. So if Herlinde and the Queen decide that these laws are sufficiently solid, things are going to look even more different on Sunna’s Day than we all expected, but it’ll be a genuinely happy day all around. Or at least much closer to it.”
Teoda nodded. “We hope so.”
“You just need her ruling and for Aelf to make a decision.”
“Exactly.”
“And you lot have had all this going on since we got to Blaecstan, and you’ve been dealing with it largely on your own, with your various parents variously oblivious, unsupportive, or completely lost and overwhelmed. Despite that, you’ve managed to force at least a possibility of a better outcome. I wish it hadn’t been necessary, but I’m proud of you.”
“Likewise,” Vituccia said. “You’re doing a wonderful job of looking out for each other, although I’d be more surprised if you weren’t. I suppose we’ll have to wait a little to see how this will work out. I truly hope we have plenty of reasons to celebrate before we head home to Rosebridge.”
“I wonder what would happen if someone who would seek that out in that setting, were born in a time and place in which it wasn’t even common knowledge that anyone could want that, let alone have that. Ah well, just speculation. It would be an unbearably dull world if everyone was the same, but I think sometimes it must be difficult to not be part of the assumed majority. More difficult than making a decision to escape, regardless of the risks, and bearing with the frightening moments until the rewards begin to outweigh them. So, whatever it was Herlinde wanted to talk to you about, did you get it sorted out?”
My experience with this sort of thing, a close relative subtly hinting that they know something is up and they are safe to come out to, is that it makes it paradoxically harder to do so. It's harrowing to feel like a part of yourself which you thought you were keeping hidden has been seen, regardless of the context. And the act itself creates a pressure to come out that adds stress to the whole situation. And, well, my stress reaction at least is to become less verbal.
That said, I'm glad that these kids all have at least one set of fully accepting parents. I think I've yet to see anything from Vituccia which I'd fault her for, and while Ximeno obviously had a part in causing this whole sequence of events by being unable to resolve this issue with the other dads (one suspects that were it just him and Aelf's dad that this would have been long resolved by now), he clearly has a great deal of care for the happiness of his children, and has taken lessons learned from his days traveling the world and seeing other cultures to heart
Yeah, it's really rather depressing, that the honest desire to reassure someone that it's safe to open up can actually make that person feel cornered and panicky instead. I'm sorry you had that experience. Masks and camoflauge and, above all else, the undeniable need for them mess up lives too much.
At least in this case, Aelf isn't there and is too confused to feel like she's hiding. I suspect there have been conversations before among the two same-s*x pairs about whether to tell, with no conclusions reached.
As for this family, I like them. Vituccia feels like she has stripes of being romantic and independent and outspoken and pragmatic (Ximeno isn't the one with experience running an inn!) and she figured out her priorities ages ago: happiness > tradition
When the issue of the bridge first came up, they'd only been living in Rosebridge maybe fifteen years or so at most, making them absolutely newcomers (small towns, limited mobility), which could make it socially a bit sensitive for Ximeno to press the others on the subject. They have, however, had a decade to stop procrastinating. Everyone's busy, everyone works a lot, most of us have stumbled over something we just don't want to tackle, and I absolutely understand preferring not to spend time around Giefroi Denisot if you can avoid it, but c'mon, guys, get it together. Letting that repeatedly slide was a major mistake.
But yes, he definitely wants his kids happy, and given the amount of time he spent teaching Aelf and Richold and the Denisot boys to use a sword, they're practically ALL his kids. (Leofeva less directly, I suppose, but she's probably been around frequently spending time with his daughters.) I honestly don't know whether he joined the military originally out of necessity due to lack of options, or to travel and explore, but he definitely seems to have enjoyed discovering how diverse the world is!
Oh that's some cool world building.
Thank you! Persephone spliced with Inanna and Cybele and a sprinkling of gender-bendy magic. I read too much mythology...
The only way I can keep myself from wanting to go write a story about that area is to keep looking at my to-do list and reminding myself not to add to it!
Hmmm I wonder:
since magic in this setting seems to work on consent(even if kinda loose consent) does that mean undoing it also does and as such the spell wont be able to be undone manually now even if Aelf tries to say she wants to be a boy again?
I guess we'll know soon :D
I'm going to just wander away whistling nonchalantly now, with no comment.
Seven chapters left to resolve this!
Well we know that the cat lady (her name is complicated okay?!) Cannot be "cured" of her curse because she thinks of herself as a cat...
@Kaosubaloo That is true. There is no part of Sadrilde that actually wants to be just a human.
Which would interfere with any attempt at making her not-a-cat.
This is what good parents look like
I like these two - it's maybe easier for them in ways, they've already broken major social rules in their own lives to get to where they're happy, but they don't actually HAVE to apply that message to their kids and their friends.
Okay so these are the COOL parents — who fortunately seem to also be good parents, too!
The elder Glædwins seem to be good parents, but moderately traditional and not especially open- (NOR closed-) minded, the sort nobody would regret having, but not really the kind that make you say “I wish everyone had parents as awesome as mine”. Which the Cristovals DO.
The elder Denisols, though… I have to admit the only reason I even have Jehanne’s name down is that I saved the image from chapter five to keep track of who’s who, that’s how much of a nonentity she seems to be, while Giefroi seems unusually, if not remarkably, unfriendly, and the closest to an antagonistic archetype rather than a full person.
The backstories of the various parents suggested different sorts of reactions to the situation. The unconventional couple have already had to evaluate how much to value rules when they broke them to reach their own happiness, and at least aren't hypocritical enough to hold their kids to different standards. The traditional couple who have never had a good reason to question the rules, and in fact have a vested interest in upholding them, love their kids and want them safe and happy but are left floundering about how to handle all this.
As for the Denisots... Jehanne's been dead for something like a decade and immediate presence fades, and she was, to say the least, rather repressed by Giefroi while she was alive. Giefroi himself is actually based on several real people my roommate/best friend/alpha reader and I have known ("Okay, so, given the situation, what would X and Y and Z do?") and the sad thing is that some people effectively turn themselves into living walking stereotypes.
@Prysmcat
…and the sad thing is that some people effectively turn themselves into living walking stereotypes.
I hate that this is a true and real thing.