It was a dramatic first month for William, who had been accepted into the castle. Confusing and difficult tasks were handed to him left and right. Along with the horrible news of yet another disappeared child. None knew where it went, but one thing was for sure. It didn’t come back, neither dead nor alive.

William had been assigned to the cleaning team, that dusted and polished the castle into shape. It was while he was hitting a carpet free from dirt, that gossip entered his ear, “Have you heard?.. The new lord of Halbal castle, found his mother’s corpse in the hall, first thing in the morning… They say she was cruelly murdered, with her throat clumsily chopped in half!.. But it is unknown by whom… Ghastly isn’t it?”.

The other servant agreed, “Truly, horrible news… To think that we all envied her fortune for having such a wonderful son… But it wasn’t just her, who entered the castle was it?.. I wonder if the rest of his family will survive the turmoil that lurks in Halbal..!”.

William glanced after the two servants passing by and wondered: Can it really be true?.. I thought it would take more to kill that nasty hag… Can’t say that I’ll mourn her. I only hope that her youngest sons won’t share the same fate as her…

A delicate girl with golden-brown skin, appeared before William and greeted, “There you are, Mirabelle. Have you heard the awful news?.. The ones about your former master?”. William nodded while he continued to beat the carpet, “Yeah, I heard them Remony… Twuly a shame”. William added in his thoughts: That I didn’t get to see it play out myself.

Remony lifted her lips with a jeer, “You don’t mean that, do you?.. I’m pretty sure that you wouldn’t mind if she fell of the drawbridge naked”. William felt his eyes burst, “W-what!? Who said I ever wanted to shee her naked!? That would be a nightmare!”. Remony laughed heartily and helped William finish the job.

“So how is castle-life treating you?”. William panted a few times, from beating the rug too hard repeatedly and said “At least it’sh better than staying with that Grettel… Although, it would be nwice if you’d let me off once in a while…”.

Remony chuckled again, “Why? I’m merely trying to help you learn. Is knowing how to write really that bad?”. William blinked with a dumb stare as he replied, “Yes! It hurts holdwing the quill for so long and none of your words makes any sense!”. Remony stopped beating the carpet, before closing the distance between them.

Her face slowly turned sour as she lectured, “Mirabelle, you should learn to appreciate what me and lord Halbal is trying to do for you… Paper doesn’t fall from the sky. It’s expensive to use. Therefor you gotta keep it together and learn quickly so that we can cut down the waste”.

William huffed, “I am trying… It was just never my fworte. But I promise you, I won’t give up, even if it bores me to death”. The girl, that wasn’t much older than William, made a powerful nod, “Good!.. Then let’s practice here”. William studied Remony with a perplexed stare, “...What are you dwoing?”.

Remony flung a long stick masterfully around. After showing off a few tricks, she began carving symbols with it down into the dirt. With the last stroke she said, “Your turn”. Then she handed over the unique quill. William took it without thinking. As he rolled it between his palms he couldn’t help but comment, “Remony… You’re really sly!”.

As they performed the act of student and teacher, dust began to settle on their clothes. Not before long they were as dirty as the carpets they were meant to clean. Remony wiped out the last scribble on the ground, before suggesting, “Let’s stop for today and head back to our room”.

****

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It was nearing nighttime, when soft flesh crawled beside him on the bed. It was quite the different feel compared to his trim brother. Remony playfully touched William’s hair and asked, “Will you let me do your hair? I really love how fluffy it is… And then maybe you can do mine?”. William rolled his eyes at her and replied, “No thanks… I don’t like my hair dwone… Anything that has with dressing up and making oneself more attractive, ish something I’ll pass on”.

This statement made Remony stand up in bewilderment. Her reflection was caught in a bronze mirror, that in turn got her full attention.

She ran her fingers through her hair as she asked, “But why? Isn’t it fun? And besides, it’s a good thing to know how to present oneself… What if you someday meet a cute guy, hm? How will he notice you if you wear the same boring outfit and droopy face?”. William flung the quilt over his head and became a laundry ghost. From the thin fabric he uttered, “That’s exactly my pwoint! I’d rather go unnoticed”.

Remony thought that this was unheard of! So she attacked the little creep and giggled, “Huh!?.. Mirabelle, you really are an odd one…”. As they tumbled, a short laugh escaped the human cocoon.

When he stopped resisting her fiddling fingers, calmness passed over both of them. Then Remony added, “And you know? I don’t mean it’s because of the fact that you don’t like to dress up… It’s more because you seem to be afraid of what you are… A woman”.

William turned completely silent. He was afraid of the destination this topic was heading towards. Remony felt that she had hit the target, smack-dab in the center. So she lectured him, “Don’t spurn it! Being a woman is a good thing! Especially in these times... We have to embrace our womanhood and make our mothers proud”. The human wrapped underneath her, squirmed slightly to free its head from suffocation. The face that was peeking out, was filled with worry, “I don’t understand, why aren’t you afwaid?..”. Remony lifted her eyebrows with puzzlement, “What do you mean? Afraid of what?”.

William felt his gaze flicker about as he told of his mother’s sad fate, “Do you recall the recent bandit attwack?... I... During it, I heard my mother get forcefwully taken. They inflicted a lot of pain onto her… The sole reason being that she was a woman… And after that… She got pregnant with...”.

Remony knew that there was more to be said, so she only added in a quick, “I remember… It was indeed awful”. William continued, “Yeah… It was. I’ve really tried to keep my mind off of it, but I can’t helb seeing that scene in my head repeat itself…”. William shook his head as if to remove the thought.

Then he spat, “Simply thinkwing about it makes me really frustrated! Because my mother… She didn’t survive it. And I… In the end, I just don’t want to end up like her… To be overcome by weakness… All in all, I think being a female is terrifwying!… Just how!? How can we protect ourselves against the world?.. Do yuu know how!? Is that why you’re so confident!?”.

The poor girl that sat on top of him, was smitten with the same frustrations. She truly wished that such knowledge was in her hands… Remony replied after some thought, “I don’t know either… Some look for a strong partner to protect them for life… I’ve even heard of a young woman, who carried poison to fling on her attackers. Sadly it didn’t end well… But one thing I do know. Is that an ally can make you stronger and give protection. Both physical but also emotional support.. You know in short: A friend!”.

Remony found the little face that tried to hide and said to it, “So ease up a bit, okay? Because we’re friends now… And I never abandon my friends… So tell me everything that bothers you and in return you’ll listen to my complaints as well… Deal?.. For, come on! That’s what friends are for, right?“. William gazed at this little miss sunshine.

Her words were truly beautiful, thus he couldn’t help but agree, “It’sh a deal”.

“Huzzah!”, she exclaimed while hugging the poor ghost to death. As William was getting tossed around, he took the time to ruminate a bit on Remony’s solution to his plight…

It was true that a friend or two would raise his sense of security. But nonetheless, he still didn’t feel entirely safe… There were just too many unknown factors at play, for him to feel safe in this role he was given. This hateful role of a female…

A small chuckle almost escaped his lips. Seven years had passed by since he possessed this body and he was still strongly clinging to his former identity… At first it was out of habit. But after pouring his heart out to this girl, he realised that there might be more to it…

Remony released the poor creature, then she went up to kill the small flames surrounding them.

As darkness devoured the room, William clenched his fists. He had thought of a temporary solution, that would be his light in these dark times. The solution being: That as long as the question to his fear went unanswered, he would build his courage and might on the values he had fostered from his past life...

Basically, the thing that would protect his fragile female self would be his lingering manhood!