I just stare at her, confused. “I don’t know what that even is? Those are Arudian Glyphs and writings.”

That gets me a glare, and I wither. “At least… That’s what I thought it was.”

Tasii cuts in, “You two can debate it later. For now we need to decide on a route.”

Tasii, Kque, and Jevita begin going over a map together while me and Yrelia sit quietly. The knots in my stomach loosen a bit.

Hopefully my translation work will sort of match up to the care they’ve given me. I catch myself looking back at the Dune Wall and the tallest building of Lyttoral that still peek over the farmlands behind us.

Nearly every step I take will be the farthest I’ve been from the temple. I realize as a buzz of fear and anticipation runs along my spine.

A growl from my stomach catches Yrelia’s attention and she nudges my elbow. “You should eat, It can be hard to get a good meal along the road.”

I nod, and make sure to eat some of the still juicy, if a bit cold, food.

It only takes them a little bit to decide on a course. I twinge internally a few times when they mention needing to take one path over another to avoid the duenna, and although I don’t think I hear any annoyance or anger in most of their changes, it still spoils my appetite.

I help as much as I can to pack up the remaining food and beddings. Almost as soon as we finish, I’m startled as Lule’s feathers stand on in and the giant bird rises. My foot catches and I begin to fall. Lucky for me Yrelia is close and catches my arm to steady me.

Lule stretches both little wings alongside his feathers before letting out a trilling series of chirps.

Yrelia reaches out and pats the big bird, “Ooh big stretches!”

Lule hoots down at her, then one big eye fixes on me and I freeze.

Yrelia must feel my tension because she slides her hand down to my wrist and gently has me hold it up to Lule, palm down. He moves to the hand and bends that long neck down until his eye and beak are hovering next to it.

A few tense seconds pass and I whisper, “I don’t think he likes me.”

Then Lule lets out a low gurgle, and before any panic can set in he leans his big head into my wrist, nudging it. Then he bends his head back, presenting his feathered under neck to us.

“Lule loves everyone who will give him Scrutches!” Yrelia pushes my hand up beneath the feathers until I can feel the soft skin beneath. Sliding her hand up to hold my palm she guides my fingers in a gentle, yet firm pattern.

Lule studders out a hoot and trill, and I relax.

“He um… is he really super friendly?”

“All Quelekita are.” Her voice turns a little more… childish? “But Lule is the nicest, aren't you!”

She guides my hand to scratch a little faster, and Lule presses harder against my it. Soon he’s thumping one foot on the ground in pleasure.

“If you don’t stop he’ll bug you all day today for more.” Tasii warns from behind.

Yrelia giggles and we pull away. Lule shakes and looks down at us, and I’m certain I’m about to find out how a Quelekita pesters people for more attention.

But then Jevita is behind us holding half of a big bumpy purple fruit about the size of my head.

“Breakfast time!” She calls up to him with a smile, one of the first I've seen from her.

Yrelia guides me to the side as Lule pitter patters his feet in excitement and begins to peck at the big thing. Jevita drops the fruit and it lands with the hard shell upward. At first I think it was a mistake, but then I watch as Lule happily pecks and bites at the hard outer shell. Eventually there is a crack and the thing is in squishy lumps across the grass. That only leads to Lule showing me just how precise and flexible his two foot long tongue is. Within half a minute every chunk has disappeared down that long neck.

“That’s… wow.” I mutter to no one.

“Yup.” Jevita reaches up to catch his harness and begins to guide him back toward the path.

We all follow as Jevita leads the way.

Other than the wind through the grass and Lule’s occasional hoots and tutters, it’s a quiet walk for the first few hours. The day is warm at first, then it gets hot. I always burned easily, and I expect the same with my sparse attire, but I’m surprised to find the heat only slightly uncomfortable.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

After a few hours, Lule perks up and begins to pitter patter his big feet and floof his feathers at Jevita.

“Yeah yeah,” She tries to sooth him, “I know, I hear it.”

Then I hear it, a river gurgling further ahead. Within the next few minutes it can be spotted, and a path to a nearby beach near our path.

Lule almost drags Jevita as he barrels forward in excitement, but she seems ready for this and hops up to hang from the side straps. Luckily he only wades up to his knees before dunking his big head and beak beneath the waves, so no luggage hanging from his torso gets soaked.

By the time we arrive at the beach Jevita has convinced Lule to come back to the shoreline so bags can be unloaded. We all work together to disengage the luggage and stack it well away from the water.

Tasii reaches for the harness, but Jevita waves her off and lets Lule run back down into the water. “It’ll be fine.”

Kque wrinkles her nose at Jevita. “I’ll get the food ready if you’d like to wash up first? Maybe make sure Lule gets his feathers combed and cleaned?”

Jevita rolls her eyes, but doesn’t argue. Only moves to a different bag to pull out a big weird toothed comb that barely resembles the one Yrelia used on me. And a big leather pouch.

Jevita begins slipping off her shoes and looks over to me, “You should wash up and help me with the big floofball.”

I hesitate as she continues to strip off her shirt and pants, Terrified at the idea of being alone with her and still uncomfortable around Lule. “Oh uh… I was thinking I could help get the food–”

“Yeah no. Three is more than enough for that,” Jevita looks me up and down, sniffs, and scrunches her nose. “It takes two to clean him, and you smell about as rank.”

I feel my cheeks heat up and look to the others for help. Tasii sighs, but doesn’t even look up. Yrelia just shoos me with a hand as she seems to furiously go through one of the bags.

Jevita finishes slipping out of her undergarments, drops them into a sack along with her other clothes, and heads toward the river. I hesitantly follow and covertly sniff myself. Oh yeah, I’m noticing the build up of sweat and the general ick smell, though I’m not sure I’d call it rank. It’s… weirdly sweet smelling which is weird.

I strip and drop my clothes into a pile as I approach the water. And as the cool waves wash onto my feet and ankles I shutter and move faster to join Jevita and the bouncing ball of energy that she’s trying to wade toward. The water feels great in contrast to the heat. Shame it only seems to come up to my belly at its deepest.

She’s stopped a good distance and stands naked with the comb in one hand and the leather pouch in the other, and I’m able to get a full view of the tattoos on her skin. They don’t just sit atop her head, but also snake down her neck and across her back. I lose sight of them beneath the water, but they seem to even curl about her hips and move down between and around her legs.

She glances back over her shoulder and catches me staring, and I hope my skin hides some of my embarrassed blush.

“Sorry!” I say quickly as I move up beside her, “I’ve just never… um… I like your tattoos.”

“Thanks.” She replies flatly and looks back to Lule. I do the same, but not before I notice that the tattoos also weave across her chest and belly.

She seems content to wait as Lule bounces and flutters his feathers and wings in the oncoming waves.

“Make sure to put your dirty clothes in the sack so we can wash them in the next town.” She eventually says.

“I don’t have a spare set.” I shrug, happy to have a change of subject. “I’ll wash them in the river when I’m done.”

Jevita sighs. “Yrelia will have you something to wear by the time we’re done.”

I glance back toward the group on the shore. Tasii and Kque seem to be organizing food things on a blanket they set out, but Yrelia does seem to be going through some bags on the opposite side of the pile.

“I… she’s being really nice to me.” I look over to Jevita. She has lowered herself to a squat and only her shoulders and head are above the waves. I do the same, and I guess part of this duty is to wait for Lule to finish playing and bathing.

As I enjoy the cooling waves against my new body I consider things. I’m so accustomed to women treating me a certain way depending on their roles. Sangoma instructed, protected, and handled the daily schedules. Frekia and duenna cleaned, cooked, guarded and generally handled that sort of daily maintenance for the temple. The only group that wasn’t there to oversee or manage were the women who came to become mothers.

We were treated a lot like this Quelekita. I realize with a strange mix of mirth and… I don’t have a word that matches my feelings. A sort of annoyance at how little control I was trusted with? We never had a choice, were never part of the conversation about our future.

But I’m not a male anymore. I never was, not really. All that mattered was that I could help make children. But now… I’m completely useless. Aside from maybe being able to help translate that book, but that was only realized this morning. So... Why is she being to nice to me? Why are the rest letting her?

“I don’t get it.” I mutter.

Jevita doesn’t answer, just gives me a side eye. Lule has stopped pouncing around at this point and moves to settle down into the water like us. Floofing out his big feathers and taking big gulps from the river.

“Okay. Let’s get started.” She holds out the pouch to me.

She rises, and proceeds to teach me how to clean a Quelekita. The pouch is full of a sweet smelling washing goop that Jevita has me rub over Lule’s feathers while she soothes and scrutches him to keep him still. Then we work together to rinse it off and she shows me how to use that big comb. It’s all pretty simple, and I only get a bit of a scare while doing it. I must have pulled at a feather because Lule jerked and let out the mother of all hisses. I tripped and made a big splash, but it got a laugh out of Jevita and Lule didn’t seem to hold a grudge once I gave him some scrutches.

After that Jevita leads him from the water and leaves the pouch with me to wash myself. I enjoy washing away the day of sweat and grime and finding my new skin beneath. I always hated my body hair, and was so glad when Sangoma got an alchemist to mix potions to tear it away and keep it from growing back quickly. But it always left a black stipple, and eventually returned. Coarse and horrible. But now there's just…nothing, and I love it.

I can tell my frame is different too. I think I’m a little shorter, with weight moved more about my hips and thighs. But… and this is weird, I feel stronger than before. Not like… big or bulky, but my muscles have a sort of subtle density that wasn’t there before. This explains why I was able to run so hard and long the other night.

It’s then that I think to notice my reflection in the clear water.