BLOOM:When The World Was Born.

Chapter 3. THE GIFT

The sound of splashing water overflowing from the bathtub filled his ears as he eased himself into the most comfortable position. His long strands of red hair was now wet with water sticking to his bare skin like magnets refusing to move. Somehow he was able to gather all its length and tuck it over to the left side of his pale shoulder.
Scooping some water into his palms he watched as the water fell back into the tub escaping through his slender fingers.
He then laid back his neck resting upon its edge and drifted into his thoughts.

"Our tribe...was blessed with a very special gift passed down throughout our generation. It was the power of gender. The people of our tribe experience gender change at the age of fifteen and eighteen. Our gender at the time of birth and prior to fifteen mean no value to us. But once the gender evaluation at the age of eighteen becomes definite, the classification of our sex becomes irrevocable.
If the sex of a child at birth is a girl, that very same girl can turn into a boy at the age of thirteen, then revert back to her original gender at the age of eighteen. The same happens to the boys. The probability of this gender change happens to nine out of ten people. Our aunt shila is an example. This is the most general and common gender transformation active in our tribe.
But there had been some rare cases where the altered gender change remains the same despite reaching pass the final gender evaluation age. This happens to two hundred out of thousand people in a year. Ruby and i are perfect examples. But....."

A sigh left his tinted red lips.

"Unlike Ruby, who had bloomed into a full pledged woman and now goes by the name Rebeica, i have.....my appearance remains unchanged. Its like as if a girl is living with a male body. Ofcourse i lamented. Even Ruby,when she woke up as a girl on her fifteenth birthday she was devastated. She wailed and wailed,stopped eating for days and locked herself into her room refusing to step out until she turns back into being a boy again refusing to accept the bitter transformation. Only when mother gave him hope informing him about the final evaluation age did she managed to calm down. Surprisingly even when she turned eighteen and her body did not revert back she was calm and collected. She must have sub consciously realised and accepted the truth instead of keeping her hopes high. Even i did not expect my body to change back so to keep myself away from sorrow i unknowingly started to adjust to my body. The disappointment caged within my thoughts never left through my sealed lips.
Living my life as a man wasn't as bad as i had thought it to be...
But although we have accepted who we are i know that at times ruby still ponder over this matter. She wanted to be a man just like father.
As for me............."
He stopped his thoughts from digging in further and deeper. Restraining his wandering mind he recollected his posture and stood up to leave the tub.
Fetching the clothes that hung on a wooden board he put it on and left the bathroom.

The sun set and disappeared behind the lofty mountains. It had passed the time of twilight and was ready to welcome the night. The houses were lit with lights to keep away the dark.
A figure walked through the gate of a certain house. Another figure stood by the gateway to receive her.

"How are Rebeica and Rose doing?" Rosemary asked her sister.

"Well...Ruby is still..given that she is full of vigor she has been doing quite well in her lessons. She plays around and messes a lot which is normal for girls of her age. She is slowly learning to be independent. While Rose on the other hand, he is a boy with few words but he has a lot of things going on his mind. And yes he is still being a good brother to our ruby. I personally feel that our rose is still quite soft for an adult boy." Shila replied her with a smile plastered on her face.

Rosemary chuckled. "Good! Did you relay my message to them?"

"Yes. They are waiting for your arrival at the main chamber. Ruby was jumping in joy with the news of your return. The moment she heard the news she ran to share her joy with rose. Gosh, her expression was really something. Very similar to an exploding firework."
As the two continued the walk to the main chamber they talked about the twins. Time to time the maids would greet them welcoming the return of their mistress in joy.

When they arrived at the chamber her dear children greeted her with warm words.

"Mother! Welcome back."

A smile left her lips at the sight of their faces beaming in joy.
She tugged them into a long hug.

"I had been away for a few days and here both of you are. Stop making that face. Just when will you two grow up."

Rebeica pouted. "You had been away for three days. Three whole days!" She exclaimed the last part in great agony.

Shila laughed at her. "My god ruby just how old are you? Nineteen. A nineteen year old girl missing her mother and pouting at her absence just for three days. Tsk"

She glared at her aunt. "I am only nineteen. Its the juice of youth reserved for the young. An old woman like you will not understand."

Shila chuckled at her response. Everytime she got the chance to tease her niece she would leave no room for excuses. Despite rebeica's hoarse replies she knew that she liked being teased by her. Afterall she was one of those people who had spoiled her rotten.

Rosemary and rose looked at each other and sighed as rebeica got busy in a staring or rather a glaring contest with shila.

"Alright thats enough ruby. We have an important matter to discuss. Now sit down. Shila you too..."
They immediately complied.

"Well its too early to be discussing on this topic right after coming back but the sooner i inform you of this news the better it will be." She paused for a bit and then continued.
"These few days i had visited the green hills to rectify on the details of the hundred year ceremony with Lady Sherry."
Rose and rebeica flinched at the mention of the ceremony out of the blue. Ofcourse they knew what the purpose of the ceremony was but they had no idea that the time for it had come again.

"You already know about the fact that the Dragon lord supports the lost souls by aiding supplies on our request despite our refusal of bonding ties with the mainland.
With the hundred year ceremony approaching it is inevitable that i will be leaving the lands of the lost souls for atleast a month with shila, which was also the field of my concern. So i had to meet lady sherry to consider the members i will be taking with me. And we came to a concrete conclusion that the main family members within the tribe will be accompanying us to the Royal palace of the Omega dragon kingdom."

"The lands of the dragon kingdom? You mean the real ones? Reallyy? Really...that...that's a great...its like a dream come true...to visit the kingdom with you three....uwwaahhh...i can barely restrain my excitement" Rebeica rejoiced at the pleasant news. While rose was also clearly surprised.

"Rebeica this is a very serious matter. Although you can enjoy the voyage please do restrain yourself for the sake of us. Or by gods she will run out of control" shila irked at her in concern. But the latter had no time to refute her words this time because she was too busy being happy.

"Mother" rose called for her. "Is it really okay for us to go? Will we really be going with you?" Although he did not look as excited as rebeica the amusement hidden behind his calm facade could not conceal his happiness at the thought of travelling the dragon lands with his family.

"Yes my son. Also Lady sherry will also be bringing along her son and daughter with her as well. We will be leaving together my dear rose." Rosemary assured her lovely son.
At the confirmation of her words he let out a small smile.

"You look tired. Don't tell me you are still feeling sleepy after all the naps you had taken today?" Shila commented at the state of his sleepy eyes.
Rebeica was ready to open her mouth but before she could rosemary remarked at him casually.

"Well he is a growing boy so sleeps are a daily necessity for him. Since you are tired we shall end this meeting here and discuss the rest next time."
He wanted to protest a bit but he was indeed feeling sleepy so he decided to follow.
Thus the lazy red hair went to bed early right after dinning with his family.
Laying down on his bed he thought in silence.

"Mother is still calling me rose. Even ruby and aunt shila. Despite my change in gender she decided not to change my name and told everyone that i was still her darling rose no matter i was a girl or a boy. But sometimes i wonder if she knows that i really wanted to stay as a woman and become a wonderful mother of children just like her....i wanted.....very deeply....deeply..."

And like always his mind drifted into his unvoiced thoughts as he lost his consciousness thinking about these matters.