Of Trolls and Homecomings Alis Interludes

From Reydala

1: The Gender Monologue

Timeline: Day One - 24th of Chiarore

For Alis, her cloak was a matter of pride. It was worn not for style, but for practical use. After all, it's much harder to identify someone when it's hard to make out their shape and figure other than just seeing cloth. From that perspective, her cloak was serving its purpose. From a more prideful, less disciplined perspective; this cloak was only making things more confusing.

The young girl walked quietly to her assigned room within the Baequi'via manor. She had broken off from the others for the time being and decided to take a few minutes to meditate and recollect her state of calm. This largely was a result from trying to comprehend how exactly Syllae was so convinced that Alis' gender was male, rather than female.

It took no time for the Avenger to get to her room, have gone inside, and locked the door behind her. To put it lightly, the quarters were a bit extravagant. The room had elegant decorations and was much larger than any person might need. Alis walked over to the large four poster bed and placed her great sword on it. She then sighed and took off her gray cloak, revealing the simple clothing that allowed for ease of movement she always wore. As she tossed her cloak onto the bed, the various gadgets, gizmos, and vials kept inside rattled.

Having discarded her personal armor, Alis walked over to a large mirror on the side of the wall and took in her reflection. Her face still looked worn from the long sea voyage, easily the avenger's least favorite method of travel. Exhausted or not, she still looked her own age; if anything slightly younger than her sixteen years. As she studied herself, she couldn't help but wonder how Syllae was under the impression that she was a young man.

“...From every angle, a woman.” She muttered quietly, as though to reassure herself.

On a normal situation, being thought to be a young man might actually have been in Alis' benefit. If she were to carry out a covert mission, being sighted in an obscuring cloak would allow a bit of a cushion, where she would be harder to identify than a person without. Still, that is from a distance. From close proximity the cloak would only have made her face somewhat harder to see. It shouldn't prevent a person from determining gender, after all.

Also, she said a few words to Syllae. Granted they might have been limited in number, but she heard Alis' voice. It wasn't the voice of a young man. Maybe a young woman, but not a young man at all. The voice should have been the most obvious giveaway of gender. So maybe it's just a misunderstanding.

The young woman rubbed a few strands of her blonde hair between two fingers. It wasn't as long as Katrin's or even Aelthir's, but it also wasn't short to the point of not being somewhat feminine. Would having grown it longer prevented Syllae's confusion? That might not have been an issue, though, as her hood had been up the whole time.

When on a mission, Alis always viewed herself as just an extension of her sword. But that was a mission, this was different. This was an experience that she knew, should she be referred to as “Sir Alis” the rest of this trip, she would never hear the end of it.

“...So what if I don't have the best curves in the world...” Alis continued to grumble to herself. She walked over and threw back on her cloak and made for the door. At least one thought could easily get her through this – even if she was getting it bad just from Syllae's misinterpretation, Aelthir's had to be getting it a hundred times worse from everything.