"Do you think blue's my colour?" Alexia exited the changing room and twirled, allowing that beautiful deep blue frills that surrounded her to puff out and settle gently into place. The way her golden hair glistened in the sunlight as it moved and the way her eyes were exactly the same shade as the beautiful dress and the way her cheeks were slightly flushed with the excitement of getting a new dress made Alexia completely irresistible. She flashed a beautiful smile at her brother before moving forward to examine herself in the mirror.
Alisar rolled his eyes, their darker shade reflecting his darker mood. "I cannot believe you are doing this."
Alexia smiled sweetly, noting happily that the other male customers in the costumer s shop were completely enamoured of her. "I need something pretty to wear for the hatching."
Alisar got up from his resting place on a trunk and came up behind his older sister. He pulled the hair away from her face and whispered in her ear. "And if you are not equipped to wear that lovely dress when the hatching occurs?"
The blond girl pouted slightly, but the sparkle never left her deep blue eyes. "I suppose we'll have to come here again tonight." She crossed her arms and sighed softly. "It s a damn nuisance buying two complete sets of clothes."
The taller man sighed and smacked his head against the wall. His short brown hair hiding his green eyes. "That is the only thing putting you off about this whole thing, isn't it Alex?"
The girl rolled her eyes, and snorted, no longer trying to give every man in the building a heart attack. "C'mon Dragon. Give it a rest. Every day and every night you lecture me. I'm beginning to think we should just go with this." Alexia re-entered the change room, counting her marks. "If I get the dress I might have to settle for a little lower quality suit." The blond sighed again. "Those dragons better hatch whilst the sun is still up, that's all I can say."
Alisar ran his hands through his hair. "There is something deeply and psychologically wrong with you brother." Now that the beautiful girl had retreated behind the curtain, the two siblings were relatively alone and Alisar felt it safe to emphasize the fact that Alexia was in reality, Alexander, her older half-brother.
"There is nothing wrong with me. I'm adapting. As you should be too Lis. For Faranth's sake, you haven't even got a decent outfit picked out for the hatching. You seem to deny the fact that half of your time you are male." Although she sounded like she had come to peace with her new body, Alexia still blushed every time she saw herself unclothed. She was comfortable with picking out dresses, but was still a good distance from being comfortable with the funny urges this new body was sending her.
"It will go away!!" Alisar was an idealist. He was convinced that if he didn't believe in something, it didn't exist, or it would go away. Denial came naturally to him. "It's a passing thing."
Alexia snorted. "Dragon, Dragon, Dragon." She popped her head out, a mischievous smile on her face. "But you can have so much fun with that body. Granted you don't make as handsome a figure as I do, but with those muscles I'm sure you could round up some nice Hold girl..."
Alisar turned as red as an angry dragon's eyes and clamped his hands over his ears. Even if he was taller than Alexia, he was still the younger. In either form, Alisar/Alisa was still inexperienced in the ways of love. "I can't believe you! I won't believe you!" Closing his eyes didn t seem to be helping the matter, and probably made him look foolish, so the big man finally decided to open them. "Besides, I don t think you would ever stoop to...to...that with a man."
Alexia counted the marks and decided the gorgeous dress was worth it. She considered Alisar's accusation as she clothed herself in the old frock she'd received from the Headwoman back at Adanuk. She remembered the Harper she had seen singing in the dinning hall two days previous. She remembered how she'd felt when he'd asked her to dance with him. Afterwards, during the night, Alexander was extremely ashamed of himself, called himself many unflattering things and vowed never to think that ever again. Yet, even now, the memory of his smile sent a shiver down her spine. "Maybe..."
Alisar, mouth agape, sputtered for a few moments, at a completely loss of what to say or do. Finally, still beet red, he stormed from the dress shop, determined to never talk to Alexia again.
The blond beauty sighed and examined her figure in the mirror again. She had to admit she was breath-taking even in the old, worn dress. "I shouldn't have said that. I shouldn't have thought that. Dragon's confused enough with the whole issue. She doesn't need to be thinking about that. She's too young anyways." Alexia sighed again. "Lis is confused enough about what to do with her female body, she doesn't need me confusing her male body for her."
Alexia set the dress aside and began searching for something for Alisar. She had a gut feeling that the hatching would occur during the day, it seemed appropriate for them to impress as their new personalities considering they were searched that way. As she picked out a lovely tan suit for her brother she had to smile. "Hey, I had a women's intuition."
Alisa paced back and forth in the room that she and her older half-brother were sharing. The sun must have set, although you could never tell in this crazy place. Once again clothed in her comfortable leather breeches and tunic, Alisa was waiting for her brother.
The door was flung open quickly and then slammed shut. A huddled mass of blankets entered, and from the swearing, Alisa guessed it was her brother. She tried to stay angry, but she suddenly realized why it was he was sneaking in looking like a beggar. Laughter shattered her bad mood. "And the fairy godmother warned the beautiful maiden that if she wasn't home by midnight..."
Alexander's red face appeared from beneath the blankets. "She turns into a guy and bursts out of her clothes?"
Alisa was still snickering. "All right, so that's not the way the story originally goes, but..." The look on Alexander's face caused his younger sister to collapse into fits of hysterics.
Alexander grabbed his clothes from the trunk and headed into the bathing room to change. "At least you re smiling again Dragon."
"Oh!" The girl remembered why she'd been pacing and waiting for her brother. "Don't think you're getting out of this that easily! I have a nice long talk to give to you."
Alexander sighed and finished dressing. He examined his reflection in the mirror and pulled a comb through his hair. "Can we skip it? I'm pretty sure I've heard it."
A loud thump told him that his sister had thrown something with some force at the wall.
Alex took that as a no. "How 'bout if I lecture myself?" He re-entered their room, put a hand over his heart and spoke in his best imitation of his sister. "You should take this more seriously. Doesn't it bother you? We should try and find a way to reverse this. This will drive us both insane. It must be dangerous. There must be a way to fix us."
Alisa glared. "Fine. I can tell you take me seriously." She threw another shoe at the wall, closer to Alexander this time. "I hope you turn into Alexia permanently! Go get married to some nice Lord Holder and live happily ever after!" Eyes flashing darkly, the girl whirled and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
Alexander sighed and flopped down on his bed. "Women! Pah! I'll never understand them."
All through breakfast Alexia tried to trick her brother into talking to her again, and all through breakfast Alisar pointedly ignored her. The moody younger sibling was not going to forgive Alexander...Alexia that easily. As the two marched back to their room, Alisar not knowing where else he could go and Alexia still trying to make peace, an announcement came that immediately brought them back together.
"Attention: all candidates. All candidates, and interested parties, please assemble at the Hatching Dunes. Candidates assemble at the main entrance, all others please use the nearest available method. No confusion on the sands please. Dragon healers and infirmary personnel are requested to join me immediately in my office." A short click signified that the P.A. system had been turned off and the message was over.
Alexia and Alisar looked at each other, and took off at a dead run for their room. Ignoring modesty, the two stripped off their clothes and changed into the beautiful outfits Alexia had bought the day before. "Hey!" Alisar grabbed his sister's arm and pulled her back. Quicker than lightening, Alisar french-braided Alexia's hair and tied it off with a blue satin ribbon.
Alexia was momentarily shocked. "How did you..." The braid was perfect and it had taken only seconds.
"I used to have long hair, remember. You need to keep it out of your way." Alisar straightened the collar of his suit and smiled. "Thanks."
As they headed back out to the sands, once again sprinting, Alexia had to shake her head. "Men. Huh. I'll never understand them."
"Proceed immediately to the sands indeed." Alisar snorted. "We've been standing here while those beasts have been singing for almost an hour!" The spark of anticipation in the man's green eyes betrayed his true excitement. He was only frustrated that he had to wait. Patience had never been Alisar's strong suit.
"I think it's beautiful." Alexia would have sang herself if she thought it would speed things up. "Besides, I think it's starting."
As soon as the girl spoke the first egg shattered and a rust coloured dragonet entered the world and chose his bond quickly. Alisar and Alexia grabbed each other's hands in eager anticipation. Would their be a dragon on these sands for them? What kind of dragon could deal with their unique problem?
They continued to stand still as statues, frozen to the spot with a combination of fear and excitement. As soon as the two uniquely coloured dragonets made their appearance on the sands, the siblings knew that everything was going to work out okay. The hatchling from Serenath's nest was a beautiful mottled red-brown with glorious golden wingsails, flashing metallic in the light. It turned to the last hatchling from Mrussith's nest, waiting for it's clutchmate to emmerge from it's egg. The two-toned tan shook it's head and spread it's dark green wings. Together they walked forwards to the siblings.
Alexia, Alexander, whoever you are, I'm for you. The voice coming from the red-brown/gold was neither male nor female.
Alexia knelt beside her new bond, showing no care for her beautiful new dress. She threw her arms around the hatchling. "Dryslydth!"
Alisar, or do you prefer Alisa? Anyways, come feed me! The two-tone tan/green rubbed it's head against the man's leg. Even Alisar couldn't tell if the dragon was male or female.
"Dadlth." Alisar lifted the dragonet easily, but was acutely aware that come nightfall Dadlth would have to walk. "Let's go."
The siblings looked at each other and smiled. They could see the confused looks on the faces of the crowd and knew they'd have some explaining to do later. That would be fine, save for one thing. They were just as confused as the others, only it didn't matter to them anymore.
"Why here?" Magika recognized two cross-gender hatchings. She knew there was something odd about the two dragons, but she couldn't remember what. Dadlth and Dryslydth had already had most of their weyrling training at the Healing Den, but with so many dragons in classes at the same time, Baeris was trying to move them to their permanent homes as quickly as possible. The Weyrwoman of Adanuk had been rather shocked to be roused from her slumber, only moments before sunrise, to meet the two seeking a position in the Wings of her Weyr.
"We were Searched here. We figured it was appropriate." Alexander flashed her a winning smile. His good looks could often disarm the opposite gender.
Magika was not disarmed. "Really?" The Weyrwoman had a good memory for people and she didn't recognize either of them. "You musn't have been here long."
"One night ma'am." Alisa knew that Magika wouldn't fall for Alexander's silly charms. "We just didn't have anywhere else to go."
"We have our papers from Baeris." Alexander handed the Weyrwoman two neatly written forms in the Master Healer's handwriting.
Magika yawned, and shuffled through the sheets. Hyth, find Media.
You think they're lying? The Sr. Queen didn't want to leave her dragoncouch. Why would they lie? Besides, we could use them.
I don't think they're lying...I just...don't recognize them. Magika could see the holes in the Winglists, she knew they needed every rider they could get.
You're not infallible rider-mine. You might forget somebody. The golden dragon got a new, malicious idea. Maybe you're just getting old rider-mine.
Magika grit her teeth, trying to let her company see her rising anger. Hyth, -love-, MEDIA!
The dragon snickered as she alerted the Headwoman to the Weyrwoman's demand. Media was already up and about. She informed the dragon that she was on her way over and she had no idea who Alisa and Alexander were.
Magika sighed. You like them?
Do I think they would make a nice addition to the Weyr? Yes. Do I think they are hiding something? Yes. Do I think they would tell you if you asked? Maybe. There was a moment of silence as the queen conferred with the two weyrlings. Take them. The Sr. Queen rolled over and went back to sleep.
"Okay..." Magika wondered who she'd give the two newcomers to. When organizing her wings, the Weyrwoman tried to keep the male dragons with the other male dragons and the female dragons with the other female dragons. It kept everybody's minds on the business at hand and nobody decided to have a flight in the middle of fighting. "Red-brown and gold Dryslydth and Two-toned tan/green Dadlth, ridden by Alexander and Alisa..." Magika looked up to see if she had the information correct. In that moment she realized she had no idea where to put the two. "Not to sound impolite or anything, but are your bonds male or female?"
The two siblings looked at each other blankly. "Well...it's kind of hard to tell..."
Magika raised a brow. "Hard to tell? I'm pretty sure they'd tell you if you asked."
"Not exactly..." Alexander began, when the light of the sun began to creep over the horizon.
To Magika's surprise, the two people before her seemed to catch that brief glimmer of light and reflect it back. Soon looking at them was the same as looking into the sun and the Weyrwoman was forced to avert her gaze. She looked back at the two, and her jaw just about hit the floor. "By the first egg..."
Standing before her were a male and a female, but not the same sister and brother that were with her before. The two seemed to have switched gender. Memories of the cross-gender hatching came back to her. The female with beautiful blond hair smiled. "You see the dragons are a little confused."
Magika was too stunned to speak. At least now she knew why the two had been wearing loose-fitting robes.
With a sharp knock, Media bustled in. "Now who are these new dragonriders you've found us Weyrwoman..." The elder woman trailed off as she recognized the two before her. "Oh! I do know them! I remember. Alisar and Alexia...well why didn't you say so! Magika, your silly beast is going dumb, couldn't even get their names right..." The Headwoman was completely oblivious to the fact that Magika hadn't spoken and the fact that Alexia and Alisar looked as if they were going to break into hysterics. "Well, where have you stuck them Magika?"
Magika scribbled down their names in Ishi Wing, a male wing, but she figured Alisa...Alisar looked tough enough to handle it. The mild-mannered T'nir could deal with them and not lose his sanity. Magika needed time to think...and talk to Mystic.
Media clucked her tongue as she saw the placement. "This brute of a man will handle Ishi fine, but Alexia?"
Magika realized the Headwoman didn't know about their interesting condition. "I'm pretty sure she'll manage."
Media nodded. "Whatever you think is best Weyrwoman, of course. Follow me. I'll show you to your rooms. I'm afraid you'll have to be separate right now, but if you apply for a double room I'll see the Weyrwoman pays attention."
"Thank you Weyrwoman." Alexia stood up and bowed.
Alisar nodded his head. "Yeah, thanks."
Magika waved as they left her office, following the sound of Media's idle chatter down the hall. "This is all I need."
Hyth found this all very amusing. Look on the bright side. At least they're not flying.
"Knock on wood." The Weyrwoman rapped her desk twice before shaking her head and heading back to bed. This was too much to think about before breakfast.
"C’mon Dry!" Alexia crossed her arms and flipped her braid of blond hair back behind her where it was supposed to be. "What in Faranth’s name are you doing?"
The red-brown-gold dragon snorted indignantly and appeared on the dragonledge. You shouldn’t rush me. I just didn’t feel like getting up. Dryslydth fanned its wings and shook its head. I don’t feel like going down to the lake. There are too many other dragons there.
"Well I can’t give you a bath in my tub anymore, so it’s either the lake or...or maybe I could take you down to the ocean." The rider hadn’t thought of that before. "You’ll have more room, but it’ll be a longer walk for me...unless you want to carry me down."
Dryslydth snorted. It did not want to put on the dragonsaddle, get a bath and then put on the dragonsaddle again. I’ll meet you there. Maybe I can keep company with the water dragons until you arrive rider-mine. The red-brown queen leapt from the dragonledge and soared into the air, preparing itself to between.
You certainly are proddy lately. Alexia switched to telepathic communication as the dragon was out of earshot. Getting ready to fly or something?
Don’t be silly, only females fly. The dragon’s eyes whirled blue. It always found this game of ‘guess the sex’ amusing.
So you’re male love? Alexia knew she wouldn’t get a straight answer, she never did. In fact if Dryslydth ever did come out and admit to being either male or female, Alexia would probably die of shock.
The dragon bugled before disappearing. No.
C’mon Lis!! Let’s go to the ocean!! The two-tone tan green whined loudly in its lifemate’s mind. I don’t wanna go to the lake!!
Alisar, who did -not- want to walk all the way to the ocean, glared. "No. The lake is fine enough for a bath. You just need to be clean for the stupid wing inspection tomorrow morning."
And where is bathing water more plentiful than in the ocean...where waves will help you scrub and there’s no one to bother us. The dragon nudged its rider with its head. Please Lis...
"Why do you want to go to the ocean so much? The lake always was fine before." Alisar was packing his bathing equipment. They were going to the ocean. The man had no resolve when it came to arguing with his lifemate.
Dry’s down there and I wanted to talk. The dragon fanned its wings and waited for Alisar. It knew it would never be forgiven if it left without permission.
Alisar rolled his eyes. "Why do you two talk so much? You’d think I couldn’t make pleasant conversation."
The dragon’s eyes flashed mischievously Well...
Alisar’s eyes grew darker as Dadlth watched. "Yes?"
That’s really amazing how you do that Lis. Anyways... I just like talking with Dryslydth, because it’s nice talking to someone like me. The dragon moved to the dragonledge, hinting at its rider that it was time to go.
Alisar waved his hand, letting the dragon know that it was free to leave. "So you like to chatter like girls?"
Dadlth bugled, shaking its head. No. We like to discuss things like intellectuals.
"Hey Dragon, fancy meeting you here." Alexia didn’t sound surprised at all. In fact, after seeing Dadlth appear in the water beside Dryslydth, she wasn’t the least bit surprised to find her younger half-sibling undressing on the beach.
Alisar stretched his well-muscled half-nude body. "Hey Alex." As he spoke, Alisar folded up his pants and shirt, leaving only his bathing trunks. Alexia was already in the ocean up to her neck and smiling too much. "Are you naked?"
"I wasn’t expecting company! Until Dadlth showed up." Alexia pouted. "If you want to bring me my shirt..."
Alisar picked up his own neatly folded shirt and trudged into the water. "Here. Your shirt won’t cover you all. Besides, you need it to get back into the Weyr."
"I don’t know." Alexia grinned. "I think the watchdragon would let me in quickly."
"If it were male!" Alisar walked farther out in the water until he could no longer touch the bottom. He relaxed and floated on his back for a while, comfortable with the presence of his sibling and their dragons.
Alexia began to bathe Dryslydth when a shrill whistle pierced the air. The water wing was coming in from their exercises. It was nearing dinner time.
Alisar, who was shocked to hear the whistle, sighed. "Would you believe that I’m finding this whole turning back into a girl thing very annoying?"
"Why?" Alexia was grateful that her dragon was only a modest 24 feet long, slightly bigger than Dadlth at 21 feet. She had no idea how the queenrider’s managed, and finally decided that queens must not get as dirty.
"Because when I’m a guy, I only have to worry about covering my bottom." Alisar swam over to Dadlth and climbed onto his lifemate’s back.
Alexia laughed, understanding completely. Even if their predicament was a little inconvenient at times, such as explaining to a beautiful greenrider why he was sneaking out before dawn, or informing that brownrider that no, she couldn’t wait until after dinner, it was useful. Alexia/Alexander knew how to deal with women and men, as friends and lovers. It was wonderful insight into the human mind. "Well, you remember as well as me what happened when Mystic tried to fix us."
Alisar snorted. "I’d rather stay broken."
The mage had done her best, but the magic that had bewitched them seemed to be impossible to dispell. Even when the enchantment had left the two riders, it had only moved on to other people...specifically Mystic and Magika. An attempt to dispell the two leaders resulted in innocent by-standers getting enchanted. Finally, after a brief period as plants, Alisar and Alexia decided they could live with this.
Most of the Weyr was still oblivious to their predicament, including Media, but those who needed to know, knew...and those who had been accidentally enchanted when Mystic’s dispell went crazy knew as well. The two were getting used to being mysterious, it certainly made friendships more interesting when you were dating a person by day and listening to gossip from them by night. Alexander, and eventually Alisa, could both finally admit they’d gotten used to, even enjoyed, their time as Alexia and Alisar. Magika had suggested that maybe it wasn’t a curse anymore after all. Mystic had agreed, but wanted a promise they wouldn’t reproduce until after she figured out exactly what was happening to them. She didn’t want to risk the chance they might have children with their same unique problem.
The two had promised to be careful, with Alexia adding, "Unless of course my dragon flies."
It was not known whether the two unique dragons would fly or not, and a person would go crazy before they ever got an answer out of Dryslydth or Dadlth.
As the sun dipped below the waves and both Alisa and Alexander returned to their original shapes, Dryslydth and Dadlth decided it was time to head back to the Weyr. They always seemed to try and change the subject when their riders spent too much time debating their gender.
"Dad." Alisa pulled on her brother’s clothes, her own not fitting her anymore. "Are you male?"
The dragon, expecting this question shook the water from it’s head and snorted. Are you?
"No. Not originally...well not inside...ugh." Throwing up her hands in surrender, she turned to Alexander. Being older and wiser he should get a straight answer.
"C’mon Dry. No secrets between lifemate’s remember?"
I’ve never lied to you rider-mine. The dragon smirked as it fanned the water from it’s wings.
Alisa pointed at the two enigmatic dragons. "This is the last time I’m going to ask it and I expect a truthful answer! Are you male or female?"
The two clutchmates looked at their riders, looked at each other and smiled.
Yes. No.
Alisa hung her head as Alexander laughed. "Well that settles it. Let’s have dinner Dragon."
"Doesn’t it bother you that they won’t tell us?" Alisa let her taller brother put his arm around her shoulders as they walked back to the Weyr.
"Not much. If it was important, we’d know."
Alisa sighed. "It is important."
Shall I abandon my soul’s mate... ...and my heart’s desire... ...over something so trivial as gender?
Alexander smiled and Alisa glared. "Now I’m scared."
"Why?"
"They made sense."
Read their candidate story!
Alexander/Alexia impressed Dryslydth and Alisa/Alisar impressed Dadlth at The Healing Den.
Background from Morion Designs.
