by Liam Lawson
“Sure, that makes sense,” Winnie said. DISAPOINTMENT.
“If you want to help me practice my spells some time you are welcome to,” Trorm said.
Winnie frowned and he didn’t need the sunglasses to read her confusion. “Isn’t that, like, what you’re doing tonight?”
He shook his head. “This really is just a study session. We’ll be reading and discussing theory from our classes.”
Winnie’s ears drooped. “Oh.” They perked back up. “Well, maybe I’ll finally understand half those fancy words you use when you cast.”
The Roaring Stag was Trisha Madden’s tavern. She’d unofficially given Abigail a quiet corner in the back where she could study, which Abigail had happily begun to share with Trorm. The wait staff and bartenders had initially been wary of him, as had Trisha herself, but he’d proven himself in their eyes and had since become a welcome regular addition.
If Abigail had not given her blessing, he would not have brought Winnie. She might be his girlfriend, but this was Abigail’s space. He was grateful that she had chosen to share it with him and intended to respect her dominion.
He stopped short before reaching the table. Abigail sat there, tossing back a handful of blue braids as she readied a cup of tea—a secret specialty of the Roaring Stag. Her notes and text books were spread out before her, along with some colorful flyers. A symbol Trorm didn’t recognize was emblazoned upon the flyers and striped like a rainbow. If he didn’t know better, he’d say it was a religious symbol. It was also on a badge pinned to Abigail’s hoodie. She was smiling and she wasn’t alone.
Nymal sat with her, also smiling as she sipped from a steaming mug of tea. Books and notebooks were spread out before her just like Abigail and she too had several of those flyers. Trorm tried very hard not to think about Nymal’s sister and whatever she was up to. He would not force her into a position to choose between honoring their friendship and supporting her sibling.
“Ooh,” Winnie said as they reached the table. “Did you join the church of Oana?” She gestured at the symbol on the flyers.
If Trorm used his imagination he could maybe imagine the symbol to be a serpent twined about an orchid. It was exceptionally stylized, and he couldn’t tell if it was just his own bias or if the decision had been deliberate, but it struck him as being highly reminiscent of a woman’s genitals. Considering what little he knew of Oana, that might be the case. Sex was a major part of her portfolio, which now that he thought about it, was probably why Winnie so readily recognized the symbol, though she was a follower of Fuxdas, a fertility goddess.
Abigail laughed while Nymal jerked upright and went stiff, staring at Winnie.
“No, nothing like that,” Abigail said. “But the acolytes of Oana did help to sponsor the LGBTQ rally this week. Nymal and I are volunteering.”
“This weekend?” Winnie pouted. “What about the big game?”
“She’s a cheerleader,” Abigail faux whispered to Nymal.
“Of course, she is,” Nymal said under her breath, though not so quietly that the rest of them couldn’t hear her. IRRITATED.
“Hope you don’t mind,” Abigail said brightly, looking up at Trorm. “We were already volunteering together, and I found out she’s in class with you and invited her to study with us tonight.”
Trorm shrugged. This was her place. She could invite whoever she wanted, and Nymal would be a good study partner if their work together on the group project was anything to go by. “Works for me.” He sat and Winnie climbed into his lap. He pulled over one of the flyers. “What’s LGBTQ?” He didn’t think he could pronounce whatever sound that combination letters were supposed to make together.
“Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer,” Abigail said. “I’m bi, by the way.” CHALLENGING.
Trorm knew of these terms, but not a great deal. They weren’t really things his people tended to concern themselves with. A person was a person and what they did was more important than who they slept with unless it was proof of dominance. So really it might be more accurate to say that his people were more interested in who was being slept with rather than their gender. No, that wasn’t quite right, either, he mused. Gender did play a powerful role. He’d have to give it some thought if he was asked to explain. It might help if he had a better understanding of what this was supposed to mean. For example, why did Abigail feel like she was readying for a battle according to his sunglasses?
“So, it’s like, a collection of labels all put together to say who you like to have sex with?” Winnie asked before Trorm could.
That surprised him. He’d have thought she’d have a better understanding of this than him considering how much she loved sex. On the other hand, therianthropes didn’t put a lot of stock into labels. As he understood it, they pretty much just did what they liked. Hence Winnie’s exceptionally high count of sexual partners before him.
“It’s more than that,” Nymal said. “It’s about identity. They proclaim to the world who we are.” CHALLENGING. Same as Abigail. Interesting. Was it the same battle they were preparing for? That would explain why they’d so readily joined forces.
Winnie cocked her head and leaned back into Trorm’s chest. The effect did cute things to her ears and he enjoyed the feel of her body pressed to his own. “How does who you like to sleep with determine who you are? I mean, I like sex with Trorm a lot, but I’m like, more than just a super-hot sex machine.”
Nymal turned red. ANGRY.
Trorm cleared his throat. Something about Winnie’s questions was angering Nymal. He needed to head this off quickly. “Perhaps you could explain the significance of the labels?” he asked Abigail. “For example, I thought that gay and lesbian were synonymous.”
“Not exactly,” Abigail said, glancing at Nymal and Winnie. NERVOUS. “A gay person can be male or female, but only a female can be a lesbian.”
“Is the distinction significant?” Trorm asked.
Abigail thought for a moment. “You know how all evocation spells have their basis in the manipulation and focus of energy?”
He nodded.
“But not all energy is the same,” Abigail went on. “All spells that generate and focus electricity are by definition from the school of evocation, at least before spell layering and the application of casting templates. That might make it a bit more complicated but I’m trying to simplify this. So, like I said, all spells that generate electricity are by necessity evocation, but not all evocation spells generate electricity.”
Trorm nodded again. There actually were other types of spells that could generate electricity, but he took her meaning. “I suppose that makes sense. Though I wonder if it can be simplified so much? Forgive me, but it seems like a lot more than just an energy type is put into these labels.”
Abigail smiled. “That’s fair, I suppose. People, like spellcasting, are always a little more complicated than we like to think.” PROUD.
What did she have to feel proud about? Had she won some kind of argument that he didn’t know about?
Winnie shrugged and leaned forward off of Trorm, resting her elbows on the table. “I still don’t get it. Are you guys saying that, like, lesbians make electricity? Because those aren’t the kind of sparks I see fly when girls kiss.”
“Why is she here?” Nymal demanded, crossing her arms to glare at Winnie, whose ears shot straight up. “If she can’t understand a simple metaphor using basic magical definitions, how is the cheerleader supposed to help us study?” ANGRY.
Winnie’s ears drooped. “You know, maybe she’s right.” She twisted around in Trorm’s lap and their lips met. She kissed him harder, sliding her tongue into his mouth, pressing her body fully into his. It was all Trorm could do not to pick her up, throw her atop the table, and take her right there.
“I’ll see you later,” she said, pulling away to stand up. “Wouldn’t want to be a distraction.”
By the time Trorm had enough of his senses back to p
rotest she was out the door and Abigail was glaring at Nymal. ANGRY.
Nymal’s face burned red. EMBARASSED.
“That was my friend and Trorm’s girlfriend you just insulted,” Abigail said.
Trorm was suddenly reminded just how tiny the elf was. It was easy to forget because everyone seemed small to him in Aflana, and Abigail was not a tall human. Only compared to the diminutive, willowy elf, her human curves and muscle made her significantly bigger.
“This…this was a mistake,” Nymal said, shoving her things haphazardly into her book bag and fleeing the tavern.
Abigail shook her head and blew air through her lips. “That could have gone better.”
Chapter Nine
Lancaster’s class dragged on the next morning. Usually Trorm enjoyed the professor’s lectures. This day wasn’t one of them. It was a remedial lesson, reviewing everything that they’d gone through while doing their group projects. The professor had not been impressed by their theories, helped in no small part, Trorm suspected, to his own terrible performance and his paper’s similarity to Nymal’s. Tibbs hadn’t shown up.
“I confess myself disappointed,” Lancaster said as class began to wrap up. “I expected more out of you all. Consider this next assignment your chance at redemption as we move forward. You will take what you know and apply it. Next week you will present me with a functional spell template. If not, the one designed in your group project, then at least a variation. The key here is that it must work. That’s all.” He stared them all down. “A functional spell template. Show me what you are now capable of as individuals.”
His gaze fell on Trorm and lingered there for a moment. “Class dismissed.”
Trorm gathered up his belongings and left. He pulled out his phone in the hallway and texted Tibbs, letting him know the details of the assignment. Where was he? He shook his head, it was probably nothing. Tibbs didn’t take these classes nearly as seriously as Trorm did and he’d been incredibly busy lately.
When he looked up from his phone, he found Nymal hurrying down to the hall to his side. “Hey,” she said.
“Hey,” he said back.
“So, um, that’s a hell of an assignment,” she said, tucking a lock of blonde hair back behind a delicately pointed ear. “Pretty advanced stuff.” NERVOUS.
He nodded.
“So, I was thinking, maybe you’d want to come by my place to work on it tonight? Share notes, since we’re working from the same materials, you know.” Her cheeks flushed pink.
“No, thank you,” he said.
Her mouth fell open into a tiny ‘O’. “Okay. Yeah, you’re right. It’s probably not a good idea, since he’s wanting to test us on our individual prowess.”
“I think it’s a good idea. It would be advantageous to share our resources and your apartment would be optimal.” He wouldn’t have to worry about his absent door or the comings and goings of his host family.
Nymal shifted from foot to foot. CONFUSED. “So…you want to, then?”
“Allow me to clarify,” Trorm said. “I am mad at you.”
“Oh,” Nymal said. He hadn’t realized elf ears could droop.
“You put me in an awkward position with you and your sister. I supported you. We are allies,” he said. “Or I thought we were. Last night you were rude to my girlfriend.”
“I…I wasn’t that rude,” Nymal said, cheeks pink as she tried to straighten herself up. EMBARASSED.
“You were angry with her,” he said. “You were looking to pick a fight. Allies don’t challenge one another’s…” he trailed off. He’d almost said wives. That would not have gone over well. Not only was polygamy strongly frowned on in Aflana, but that was not the relationship that he had with Winnie.
She took up the position of true submission, a voice whispered in the back of his mind. He crushed it flat. It didn’t mean the same thing to her that it did to him, or an orc woman. She had not yielded to his conquest of her. She had simply taken up a position that she enjoyed.
“You were rude to my girlfriend,” Trorm said instead. “By extension you were rude to me and attacked my honor.”
“It wasn’t…I didn’t…” Nymal shrank in on herself.
Good. Trorm departed without another word.
It wasn’t a long walk back to the Madden residence, which was fortunate. He wanted to get a head start on that assignment. It would have been good had he been able to honorably take Nymal up on her offer. He’d only have a limited window during which everyone would be out of the house. Having access to her notes also would have been nice. Supposing her crazy sister didn’t show up again. Just what was that thing that had attacked him and the team at practice?
He shook his head and put it from his mind. There was a task that needed doing. Trorm set up in the living room and got to work. He estimated he’d have about two, perhaps three hours if he was lucky, before the house became a hub of activity. He was not lucky.
An hour later Abigail burst into the living room hounded by Lilian.
“Let it go, Lilian!” Abigail cried out, storming past Trorm on her way to the kitchen.
“I will not,” Lilian snapped. “Do you have any idea—”
“Do you?” Abigail interrupted, whirling upon her older sister in the entry to the kitchen. Lilian pulled up just shy of running into her little sister. Trorm didn’t think that he had ever seen Abigail so angry.
Trorm had taken off his sunglasses to study and reached for them now. That angry gaze fell on him and she pointed a finger. “You touch those sunglasses Trorm Coldstorm and I’ll transform your desktop into a browser window permanently set to gay minotaur gangbang porn!”
Trorm put his hand down.
Abigail whirled on her sister. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to have a part of yourself you can’t express? To always know you’re different? Gods above, at least you and Mom have the same skin tone.”
“This isn’t about that!” Lilian said. “You’re my sister. You’ve always—”
“And always will be,” Abigail interrupted again. “So as my sister, why can you not be supportive in this? Mom and I have been more than supportive of your calling with Thodos.”
Lilian’s face reddened. “That is different! I’m a paladin and what is happening now isn’t a calling.”
“No, but it is a form of self-expression,” Abigail shot back. “One that is deeply personal to me.”
“I understand that,” Lilian replied. “I respect that. But why in all the frozen hells do you have to express yourself through Oana? She’s a goddess of hedonism!”
“I don’t see anyone else stepping up to support us?” Abigail said, baring her teeth. “Certainly not Thodos.”
The redness left Lilian’s face as she went very still. Trorm could almost feel the cold she was suddenly radiating. Abigail had crossed some kind of line in her eyes.
“I guess fighting for equal rights doesn’t count for much next to orgies in the street,” Lilian said flatly.
“That is not what I meant,” Abigail said. “And there’s not going to be an orgy. You’re overreacting.”
“Am I?” Lilian asked, crossing her arms. “It’s interesting that Oana’s temple is only now getting involved that everyone’s more accepting. Where were her acolytes thirty years ago when being gay was illegal?”
“You know who was enforcing those laws?” Abigail said, not backing down. In contrast to her sister, her voice was growing more heated. “The followers of Thodos.”
“Who were also paramount in seeing those laws changed,” Lilian said. “We need laws or else society breaks down.”
“And that’s what you’re afraid of now, isn’t it? That maybe, just maybe, I’m stepping outside your purview,” Abigail said, pushing in closer still to her sister. “You’re afraid that now you won’t get to be the hero anymore. I’m stepping out of your shadow and that scares you. It’s upsetting the order you’ve helped establish.”
&nbs
p; Trorm dearly wished he already had his sunglasses on. He’d come to understand that while he’d learned enough to get a good picture of human culture in Aflana that picture had been painted in broad strokes. The intricate details, such as the ones that would help this exchange make sense eluded him. Was the next step an honor duel? Abigail was smart and resourceful but very much not a fighter. Lilian would demolish her and he wasn’t sure if he was expected to take sides or not. What was his role here? To bear witness, to act as judge, or to be the peacemaker?
The latter made the most sense. Humans, for all that they could readily match orcs in ferocity and aggression actually seemed to prefer not to take the violent course of action when possible. If there was a fight between the sisters there would be no winner. The loser would resent the winner and the winner would feel terrible for winning.
His hand fell to his staff. Trorm didn’t think he would need it but better to have it at hand and not then the other way around. Besides which, it leant him an air of authority and confidence. He stood up.
Both girls whirled on him, eyes blazing. He was suddenly very glad he’d grabbed his staff and very nearly cast his shield spell out of reflex.
“Forgive me,” he said gravely. “This matter, it revolves around the…” he paused to remember all the letters. “LGBTQ rally this weekend?”
“This is between—” Lilian started to say but Abigail cut her off.
“Yes.” She glared at her sister and tossed her blue braids back over her shoulder. “Lilian doesn’t like that I’m going to publicly declare my sexual orientation and help support others who are doing the same because Oana’s acolytes helped to fund and organize the rally.”
Lilian glared at her sister. The ice in her eyes was a stark contrast to her fiery hair. “You don’t want to keep this between us? Okay. Fine.” She turned on her heel and stalked off past Abigail and through the kitchen. A moment later, he heard the sound of the door opening and then closing.