A World Beside Our Own

Strange Introductions

Luna and I sit in the club, we talk, we joke, we laugh, we share stories. She’s not much different from me in some ways. Like any teenager, she goes to school, has her own chores, homework, and studies. But then she’s also been in school for over 20 years. As Drow age slower than humans, she can take more time to focus on new things. She knows at least what I do, but more about human history, magic, mythology… oh and she doesn’t sleep. She merely meditates a few hours a day, and then she’s ready for more. I almost feel jealous of her abilities. She can do so much more with her life, and she’s nearly immortal from what she tells me. My mundane existence suddenly feels so short and limited compared to hers. 

After a half hour, two women come up to the table. Luna gets up and gives them a hug, then settles in the seat beside me. The first is a strikingly beautiful tall redhead with curly hair and emerald green eyes. She appears muscular, but like my Drow friend, I feel more drawn to her than threatened. She smiles at me and I almost melt. Her companion or girlfriend (by the way she’s hanging off of the redhead's arm) is a head shorter, with long black hair and crystal blue eyes. She’s slimmer, almost as attractive, and her smile is genuine. They slide into the booth and the redhead extends her hand to me. 

“I’m Rose, this is Diane. Ashanna mentioned you have a bit of a dilemma on your hands.” 

I take her hand, it’s soft and warm. 

“So, are you both vampires?” I ask, leaning against Luna. I don’t know why I trust my dark-skinned companion so much, but she’s proving so far to be safe.

“No, we’re not vampires.” Diane smiles warmly. 

“That’s not the reason we are here.” Rose continues. “Ashanna tells us you are having a bit of a gender crisis.” 

“What about it?” I frown. 

“Well, being transgender women, we have some knowledge and experience with gender crises, and how to navigate through changes in life. So.. Tell me a story about yourself and let’s see if we can help you…” Her smile is calming and her voice gentle. 

“You mean you used to be…” I start with a frown. 

“Boys.” Rose says, finishing my sentence for me. 

“Feels like another lifetime ago.” Diane adds. 

“So, darlin’ tell us your tale.” Rose smiles. I notice she has a southern bayou accent, whereas the raven woman doesn’t.

I spend the next hour spilling my heart out to the three women I barely know at the table. It almost feels therapeutic, as Rose and Dee (as she wants to be called) ask me to clarify the plight of my existence. The bullying, my effeminate nature, the strange dreams I’ve had over the past two years. It all started when I turned 14 and my mind decided I was not like other boys. I’ve always had more female friends than male friends, I’ve been trying to figure out what makes girls so different, and why I identify myself more like them than my male friends. 

I feel like I’ve dumped a pile of emotional baggage all at once, but it feels good to finally get it all off of my chest and out in the open. After it is all said and done, I’m happy but also exhausted. 

“It’s late, even for a night owl, you’ve probably had a long day.” Rose says in a motherly tone. 

“Let me bring him home to sleep, at least until we figure out what else to do.” Luna says with a smile. 

“Good idea, our house is anything but quiet.” Dee says with a grin. 

“I’ll call you when he wakes.” Luna says to them. The women nod and move out of the booth. 

“See you soon, hun.” Rose smiles at me and the two women leave. 

“So what are we doing?” I say sleepily. I’m exhausted now that I got all that out of me.

Luna holds her hand out to me. “I’m brining you someplace safe to sleep, and we’ll talk more about this tomorrow.” 

I take her hand and she pulls me against her. “This spell takes a bit more power. Hold on to me.” I put my arms around her without hesitation. “Tentalmë mardi” she says, and the club disappears. 

I feel like we’re floating in a void for a moment. I ‘feel’ motion without being able to see anything in the darkness. Suddenly the world around me changes and I’m standing on a soft zebra patterned rug. Before us is a grey canopy bed. 

“Where are we?” I ask with a yawn. 

“Home, you’ll be safe to sleep here.” She walks through the semi-transparent glass doors to the hallway and leaves me alone. 

I’m too tired to argue and shed all but my underwear and slip into the comfortable silk sheets. As I drift off to sleep, I think to myself. Why would someone who doesn’t sleep need such a comfortable bed?

Strange transformation dreams fill my sleep that night. I start off as I am now, a tall, thin, blond-haired, blue-eyed male. I am walking through this mystical forest garden with little fae dancing around me. 

“What is your deepest wish?” they whisper to me.

“I want to be a girl!” I say to them. They chant as mist and dust swirl around me.

I can feel my body change, I can feel parts of me grow, parts of me shrink, and when they are gone I have my wish. Only this time, this dream differs from the others. My hands are a dark charcoal grey. I look at my reflection in the nearby mirror smooth pond, my skin is dark, almost black, my eyes but black orbs, outside of my blond hair, I look like Luna… 

I take a deep breath as I suddenly sit up in the bed. I look around a strange bedroom. Sunlight filters in from stained glass windows. My lower body is covered in silver and grey silk sheets. I look to my left as someone in a tall-back chair is typing at a computer. She turns around and gives me that frightful, yet comforting, fanged smile. 

“Good morning.” Luna says in a soft musical voice. “Did you sleep well? You started tossing and turning… you look as if you woke from a nightmare.” There is a touch of concern in her tone. 

I comb my fingers through my hair and take a deep breath, trying to gather my thoughts. Luna turns in her chair, leaning her shoulder against the back so that she can talk to me. 

“I had one of my transformation dreams last night.” I say, sorting through the events of my colourfully vivid dream. “It starts like so many others. I’m like what you see right now, and I’m walking through some enchanted glade. Multi-coloured fae are asking me what my heart desires, and I tell them I want to be a girl…” 

I pause for a moment. “Go on?” Luna encourages me. 

“They chant in some strange language and there is mist and dust swirling all about, and - when the chanting stops - everything suddenly grows quiet, and the fae are gone.” I look up at her. “Curious. I see a still pond nearby, it’s surface like a mirror, so I step up to the pond and look down….” 

“What did you see?” Luna asks curiously.

“I saw a blond-haired version of you.” I say to her in surprise. “It was my charcoal grey hands and arms, it was my body, and I sounded female, but I wasn’t human.” I say in surprise. 

“Does that frighten you?” Luna asks in a soft voice. 

“I… I don’t know.” I say honestly. “The surprise of seeing myself as a Drow woke me up.” 

“Have you had this dream before?” She asks curiously. 

“No, I’ve had transformation dreams in the past. Where I transform all or in part into a woman. I’ve even sometimes transformed into an elf in a more magical dream, but..” I say confused.

“Sounds like I kept you too late at the club last night.” Luna teases me. 

“But what does the dream mean?” I'm even more confused. 

“It means you may have more options.” Luna says calmly and smiles. “Get dressed, and we’ll speak to my mother downstairs about your dream.” 

She hands me my backpack and I take my change of clothes from there. I somehow don’t feel shy or awkward walking away from Luna, in only my underwear, to change in her bathroom. 

When I come out, Luna is sitting cross-legged on her bed, typing on her phone. She looks up at me and smiles. 

“I’ve reached out to our friends to see when they can join us. Rose currently has some family issues to attend, and should be over soon.”

“Family issues?” I frown, confused, as I fuss with my hair. 

“Rose and her wife Cassandra have three children that they care for. Diane helps when she can.” 

“Three children?” I reply, surprised. 

“Yes, a daughter almost in her teens, and two boys aged 8 and 6. They can be quite the handful at that age.” Luna smiles. “The two oldest look just like Rose, while the youngest looks like his other mother. They’re almost old enough to show their abilities, we’re all eager to see what they will manifest.”

I frown. “So Rose looks female..” 

“But unlike Diane has not yet had surgeries, she wanted a family, and has sired children.” 

“So her wife is…” 

“A woman, and the mother of the three.” Luna finishes for me. 

“How are they related to you?” I continue. 

“Rose is a bard. She met my mother on stage, and they have become close friends since.”

“So they have no problems that you are vampires. Are they not afraid of what you can do?”

“Did you not learn what I told your yesterday? The blood fruit nourishes us creatures of the night, so that we do not hunger after mortal flesh. The women of my family, like the Rivers, are benevolent vampires. We do not feed on humans, we provide entertainment and art to humanity instead. This way we can enrich the lives of others.” 

“Which is why you are so beautiful and alluring rather than fearsome and scary?” I enquire. 

“Exactly.” She stands up and does something with my hair, combing it over. “There, now lets go talk to mother.”

I expected some sort of old Gothic or Victorian style dwelling. Yet Luna’s house is large and expansive. With wide hallways, tall ceilings, and an amazing array of windows. I feel like I’m walking through a modernized architect’s rendition of a small castle. 

The stairs lead to a large open concept room. To right of me is a dining hall, to the left a comfortable lounge area. The hearth is lit, giving light and warmth to the room. Two bays or tower alcoves stand at opposite corners of the front of the house. At one corner sits an ornate globe of the world, something you would expect to see in a museum. In the other corner sits a grand piano. Luna’s mother is playing a beautiful melody on the keys, the song is enchanting. 

As we touch on the bottom step, she stops playing and turns around, smiling. “Ah, you’re awake, it is nearly noon, my child, you must have been so tired.”

“Is that why I feel so hungry?” I say with a shy smile. 

She gets up and gracefully walks towards us. Her motions are fluid, like a dancer. She takes my hand and I don’t hesitate. She leads us through the dining area, through a double archway and into a large kitchen. 

As I sit down at the island, she prepares a brunch for me; I notice Luna going through an archway to the back of the house, into what appears to be a greenhouse. The glassed in room features a small forest of herbs, vegetables, and two strange glowing trees. She comes back with an armful of fruit, which she washes in a bowl. 

“Do you want salad with your omelette, dear?” 

“Sure.” I say with a smile. 

Luna nods and heads back into the greenhouse. She comes back a moment later with a handful of leaf lettuce and other greens. Luna prepares the salad as her mother puts the greens into the omelette, adds a slice of cheese and gets the prepared salad, adding it to the plate before giving it to me. 

“My name is Ashanna.” She says as she puts the plate down. “I apologize that there is no other meat with your brunch, but we are vegetarians, eggs are the most meat you'll find in this house..”

“You avoid meat so that the smell of blood does not tempt you?” I enquire.

“Quite observant of you.” Ashanna says as she makes some sort of fruit salad for her and Luna. The bulk of the fruit seems to be that sweet smelling metallic fruit Luna was drinking last night. As she portions out the fruit to her and her daughter, she looks at me. “I would offer you some of this, but sadly blood fruit is poisonous to most mortals.” 

I look over at the strange, glowing trees. “I've heard of blood oranges, but that tree... It’s not native to this world, is it?” 

“No, they brought here it from another dimension to help vampires quell their blood l**t during the Blood Moon. Then they discovered, regularly consumed, it quells our thirst all the time. Since then, a few of us care for the strange delicate trees so that they can nurture those of us who do not wish to harm humanity.” 

“I can’t believe there is an entirely alternate society that has been living under our noses all these years.” I say in surprise. 

“It surprises you that magic and paranormal creatures have existed all this time? Where do you think humans got the stories of vampires, and werewolves, and mermaids?” Ashanna asks me, and I shrug. “As humanity has developed, we have grown more cunning in blending in, we’ve lived among your kind for millennia, yet few have noticed.”

“So.. Why me?” I ask, puzzled. “Why show all this to me?”

“You’re different.” Luna says, while she eats her meal. “There was something about your aura that drew me to you.” 

Ashanna looks at me for a moment. “There is something about the child’s aura, it’s not quite what we see from those that are magically adept though.” 

“A hidden bloodline?” Luna asks her mother. “It would explain the transformation dreams.”

“You mean there’s something more to my dreams than just hopeful thinking?” I comment, catching on. 

“Perhaps.” She looks at me curiously. “How long has it been that you have felt different?” 

“At least two years now, maybe longer.” I say thoughtfully. 

“Do you remember the chanting from your dream?” Luna asks me. 

“Something about ‘moriquende’, and ‘eternitime’ is all I really remember. They kept repeating something like ‘lorimar ahim’…” I say with a frown, trying to remember, they kept repeating that line. 

“That sounds elvish.” Ashanna says thoughtfully. “Lariomar ahim, means ‘hear the voices’. Were there any elves in your dream?” 

“No, they were small little fairies.” I say. 

“Fae are sylvan creatures, they share a common tongue with our ancestors.” Luna says. 

“Good. You have been keeping up with your studies, my daughter. You might help solve this puzzle. Hopefully, you will have the same dream tonight and we can get you to tell it to us in your sleep.” Ashanna looks thoughtful. 

“You can do that?” I say, surprised.

“It’s difficult to enter another’s dream realm, and I will only be there as an observer. You won’t be able to talk to me, your dream self may not even recognize me.” She says, looking into my eyes. 

“It’s better than constantly wondering what my dreams are. My parents made me sound like I was going crazy!” I say with exasperation. 

“Dreams often hold a message or meaning. If we can find out what that is, then we may unlock your true nature.” Ashanna says softly. 

I feel something rubbing against my leg and look down. A black cat mroews at me in question. I reach down and the cat closes its eyes, pushing up against my head, scratching. 

“Ungo seems to like you.” Ashanna smiles. “She rarely takes to strangers.”

“After sleeping in Luna’s bed last night, I probably smell familiar.” I say thoughtfully as I continue to pet the cat, rubbing against me. 

The cat hops in my lap, cuddles in and purrs as I continue to pet her.

“It’s more than that, I think.” Ashanna observes. 

“My friend Ruby calls me the animal whisperer.” I smile as I coo at Ungo and give her lovings. “Cats and dogs are always friendly with me.” 

“What’s your last name, Simon?” She asks. 

“Greenwood.” I say without hesitation, giving the cat a soft belly rub.

Ashanna looks thoughtful. “Interesting.” 

“Does that mean something, Emenya?” Luna gets curious now that she’s done the dishes. 

“It sounds like a modernization of an old elvish druid surname.” Ashanna looks between the two of us. “But with the centuries it may or may no longer hold any significance.” She looks at me. “Does your family originate from the Old Kingdom?”

“From the north of the isles,” I reply, recalling my family history. “It’s because of my Celtic origins that I have blue eyes and blond hair - so I was told.”

“Interesting indeed.” Ashanna smiles. 

There’s a glimmer in her eyes that makes me wonder if there is something about human history that I’ve never been told before. And that’s when I realize that - while there is no white or iris to their eyes - the black orbs are just as expressive as anyone else’s and I can tell a lot about their mood and thoughts in their faces.