Belenor closed her eyes and massaged her temples. Talking with Brandille was not going to make her headache go away. Brandille, like all Tryker people, was a small, light-skinned being with particularly childlike features. Of course, at nine years old, it was not uncommon to still have a baby face. But Trykers, unlike the Fyros, retained a childlike appearance once they became adults. Only the secondary sexual characteristics, such as hair, voice, hips or chest, were evidence of maturity. Belenor opened his eyes and looked at the youthful face still facing him, which had not lost its amused look. He couldn't help but smile in turn to Brandille. She was his only friend. Or HE was, for that matter. For Brandille had no defined gender. As she often said it herself, her gender identity changed with the wind. If Belenor had taken the habit, with her agreement, of gendering her in the feminine, the Trykere accepted completely that one genders her in the masculine. Brandille straightened up in turn and sat cross-legged on the writing desk. Her body swayed from right to left.

:''"I had a strange dream, yes. It involved our last History class, my young parents, a Kami visiting me in my infant bed, and the Black Mask!"