Dissonant

“‘Ey, don’t be like that, girlie,” one of the guys said. “We just wanna ‘ave a friendly match, that’s all.”

Before I could find a chance to run off into the forest, the three guys from the village had surrounded me. They were all standing so close, their jeering smiles on full display as they continued insisting on a fight.

I wanted to run away so badly. 

Why were they even out here? The forest had been my safe haven from the rest of the village, away from prying eyes. All of the kids had been discouraged from wandering into the forest, in case they encountered the monster.

Though these guys were around Alvin’s age, so it didn’t apply to them… as immature as they were.

“C’mon, just a quick match?” One of the guys jostled my shoulder, sending me stumbling to the side. “There’s even a nice lil’ space for it here.”

I had brought my two practice daggers, but… no, there was no way. I hated even hanging out with the other guys in the village — they were all so blunt and bullish. 

“C’moooon, girlllllll,” Ben drawled, his hand reaching for my hood.

I quickly drew back, pulling the hood further over my head. If there was one thing I couldn’t let happen, it was him of all people seeing my ears. Who knew what he would do if he did.

How was I going to get out of this?

The three guys continued to approach me, backing me up against the side of the river. Did I have to accept? Did I have to spar with them just to get them off my back? Even as I had refused them, they kept on insisting. And now, there was nowhere left for me to run to.

My ears perked up as two more sets of footsteps slowly began to approach us, treading much more carefully than these guys had. That was Karla! And… Alvin too, from the sound of it. Had she gone to fetch Alvin after our conversation?

“Karla!” I called out, pushing my way between two of the guys and running towards her as she appeared between the trees, Alvin following just behind her.

“Hey Triss,” she replied, waving to me. “I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long… Who are these guys?”

“Oh, you know Karla?” One of the guys stepped forward, rubbing his palms together. “This oughta’ be a good match.”

Karla glanced between my frantic expression and the three slowly approaching guys.

“What do they want?”

I quickly ducked around behind Karla to hide from them. “I don’t know, they keep pestering me for a match even though I said no, and they won’t go away.”

Alvin strode heavily towards them, his fingers brushing across the handle of the practice sword stuck through his belt. “Oi, are you guys buggin’ her?”

Instantly, the three guys’ demeanors changed, as all their confidence seemed to wilt in an instant. “No, we just wanted to spar with her!”

“She’s so cold, turning us down like that.”

“Yeah, it’s just a match.”

“If you guys wanna spar so bad,” Alvin drew his sword, holding it out in front of him, “I’d be happy to take you all on. How ‘bout all three of you rush me at once?”

They fell back, each of them glancing behind themselves at the surrounding forest.

“Hey now… maybe later?”

“Yeah, we got stuff t’ do.”

“We were gonna go hunt some deer.”

The three guys quickly turned tail and fled, continuing along the river further into the forest. I breathed a deep sigh of relief, glad to be rid of them. They didn’t seem to have noticed my ears and tail, luckily, thanks to the cloak.

“You okay?” Karla asked, glancing back at me.

“I-I’m okay,” I replied, slipping the cloak off once I was sure the three guys were far away. “I’m just… glad they’re gone.”

Alvin slumped back against a tree at the edge of the clearing, his hand still caressing the handle of his practice sword. “I coulda’ taken them, I reckon. All three of them at once.”

Karla followed after him into the clearing, flopping down on the soft grass just next to him. “I think that’s why they ran away.”

I wandered back to where I had been sitting before, listening to the two of them chat as I laid down on the grass. 

Hearing them talk just nearby was… comforting, somehow.

Though being alone in the forest was definitely relaxing, it was somewhat lonely. As much as I had always spent a lot of my time alone, I was used to still being able to hear the chatter of people nearby. Villagers training, celebrating the harvests, the thrill of a successful hunt, all filtering in through my bedroom window… 

And my transformation had made me all too aware of it, since my hearing had become so much more sensitive. What once was quiet background noise had become clear conversations that I felt like I was eavesdropping on. And the loud cheers and clashing of practice weapons had gone from sounding like a distant noise to seeming like I was right there with everyone else.

At this point, I was more used to being in the forest with this hearing than in the village with it... and being in the forest without any of it was just... lonely. I missed the quiet lull of activity from before.

But... maybe I’d get used to it in time.

I glanced deeper into the forest, in the direction that the foxes from earlier had run. 

Foxes... From what the other villagers had said, foxes seemed to be much more active at night than at day. They could often hear hunters well in advance, and seemed to be cunning enough to avoid them, which made them difficult to hunt.

If I had… fox traits now, that would definitely explain why my hearing was so strong, and why my eyes seemed so much more sensitive to light.

The tail I had laid next to me gently twitched, the white tip at the end of it quivering slightly. Peddlers had often referred to fox fur as a luxury item, and it often sold well alongside mink fur. A lot of the older guys went out trying to hunt those small meat-eating animals, though most of them returned empty-handed.

That is, aside from my father.

He seemed to be a master at hunting for furs, always returning from each of his outings with a few of those animals. I never saw him prepare the furs themselves, but I’d often see him return home with a huge smile on his face after selling them to visiting merchants.

He never seemed to have any fox furs though, whenever he returned from his hunts. Were they the one animal that he couldn’t catch?

“Hey, Triss,” Karla said, suddenly tapping on my leg. “I know you probably didn’t like those guys, but… you could’ve sparred with them fairly easily.”

“With… those guys?” I had been so deep in thought that I hadn’t noticed Karla shuffling over towards me, so I had to take a moment to calm my racing heart.

“Yeah,” she settled back to where she had been sitting before. “Those guys were pushovers. I was watching their stances, and they looked really unsteady. You could’ve easily beaten them, even with how little practice you’ve done so far.”

“I…” Bringing my knees up, I wrapped my arms around them. “I didn’t want them to… find out about me. About my ears and tail, and… about this body.”

“Ahh, I get it. But still…” Her gaze moved from the furry ears on top of my head, to the cloak that I had bundled next to me on the ground. “That cloak should be enough to hide them. You might need to fasten it a little tighter, that’s all.”

“I guess,” I mumbled. It was still a risk. Going outside anywhere was a risk, honestly. I had gotten lucky with Karla and Colette reacting well when they found out, but they both went to great lengths to hide me from the eyes of the other villagers. Given that, I didn’t want to take a chance with letting anyone else find out... Not if I could avoid it.

As much as I found being in this body a lot more comfortable than before, it had made even just being outside into something dangerous.

“You said I couldn’t spar today,” Alvin chimed in, “but you’re sayin’ she could’ve?”

Karla crawled over to where he sat, poking him in the chest. “You’ve been training non-stop since we got to this village, so I’m making today a rest day for the three of us.”

That explained why Karla didn’t immediately start the training session as soon as we arrived in the forest.

“...I need to be trainin’,” Alvin grumbled, turning away from the playful mercenary girl. “I still haven’t reached my goal.”

“And you’ll never reach it if you keep overworking yourself like that, Al.”

What was… Alvin’s goal? He had always trained like crazy whenever the mercenaries were here, but I never knew what he was aiming for. He was already a more skilled fighter than just about everyone in the village, maybe aside from our father.

Did he want to best our father in a sparring match?

“Look—” Karla reached towards Alvin, clamping her hand down on the handle of his sword and preventing him from drawing it. “Today is a rest day, and that’s final. Your sister is lonely, y’know.”

“Fine, fine,” Alvin threw his hands up in defeat, “but you need to explain the… sister thing. You said somethin’ before, but… what’s going on with Matty—or rather… Triss?”

I flinched as he spoke that name, my… old name. I still hadn’t told him yet. I hadn’t had a chance to, given that I only decided on this earlier this morning. It was still so nerve-wracking though. I had no idea how he was going to react. 

Would he… accept it? That I was going by a different name? Or would he find it weird, since he had always known me as… Matty?

“I think it’ll be better if she explains it herself,” Karla said, turning towards me. “It’s her name, after all.”

“Right. Then…” Alvin slowly stood up, walking over and squatting down in front of me until he met my eye level. “Could you tell me what’s up?”

“I…” I looked away, struggling to keep my racing heart under control. Alvin had seen me like this… in this form, a lot of the time. He’d understand, right? 

I took a deep breath.

“I… My name is Triss. I don’t want to be called… Matty, anymore.”

Even just saying the name felt like I had been struck. I wanted to be rid of it, for good. I wanted… to just be Triss, forevermore. 

“Triss, then,” Alvin said, as if it wasn’t that big of a deal. “It kinda makes sense though, what with you bein’ a girl like that. I can see why gettin’ called Ma—” I flinched. “…That old name might be a bit weird.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. Alvin was… safe. He was one of my allies, and I was very glad to have him on my side, especially after my run-in with Ben and his friends.

“Would that mean…” Alvin continued, scratching his chin. “If you’re settlin’ on… being like that, then does that mean I have a sister now?”

That word caught me slightly off guard. It made sense though… If I was a girl now, thanks to this form, then I’d be Alvin’s sister, rather than his brother. 

As long as I could stay in this form, at least. I did want to turn back at least once more, just so I could fetch a few things from my room without being seen, but… other than that, I was so much happier like this, with this body. And in this body, I… was a girl.

“I-I guess, yeah,” I mumbled. 

“Alright, then,” he said, standing up again and settling back down to where he had been, next to Karla. 

That was a surprisingly... simple reaction. I felt a little less tense at the fact that he seemed so... okay with this — me being a girl, and his... sister — but at the same time, I was taken aback by just how little it seemed to change things for him.

Especially since it felt like such a big change for me.

Didn’t he find it weird? He had always known me as… how I had used to be, and now I was so much different. I wasn’t even… human anymore. And yet, he had accepted it almost casually.

I knew Alvin had been dealing with his own effects from our trip to the crypt, though. What with his strange healing ability and so on. But still, despite all that… 

Would it really be that easy?