Heir to a title. Chapter 28.

Dawn found Callie savouring a welcome shower before preparing for the start proper of 'Fresher's week.' Freshers is the first week of Michaelmas and there is little or no academic work for first year students. It is mostly devoted to administration, registration, orientation, arbitration and detoxification.

After a light breakfast, her first port of call was to the student union building where the various clubs and societies had laid out their stores to attract new members. She went directly to the LGBT stall and started browsing through their literature. Almost immediately a girl approached her.

“Hello, my name's Sam, are you LGBT?”

Callie nodded and smiled as she decided to play a little game. The girl smiled back and asked if she wanted to join.

Callie continued smiling as the girl produced a form and asked her to fill it. As Callie took the clipboard the girl asked politely.

“Which branch are you , 'L or B'; Lesbian or Bi?”

Callie looked up and grinned disarmingly.

“Actually, I'm 'Tee', the one that usually gets overlooked”

Sam's smile fell for a second as face clouded with apology.

“Oh I'm sorry. That was remiss of me, but you know you're as welcome as anybody else.”

Callie smiled and extended her hand to show she was not offended..

The girl visibly relaxed as she resumed gaping disbelievingly.

“Thanks for being so generous about it, I'm truly sorry. It was bad of me to make such a blunder.”

“No harm done.” Callie replied graciously. “There's not a lot of us about.”

“With relief softening her returning smile Sam returned to her welcoming format.”.

“Seriously? You're 'Tee'?”

Callie nodded affirmation and repeated her declaration. “Yes, seriously; 'M-to-F', pre-op.”

“Oh my God, girl are you going to cause a stir!” She turned and called to another LGBT member who was sorting some leaflets behind a screen.

“Billie, one for you darling!”

A tall, pretty girl stepped from behind the stall and extended her hand. Callie noticed the slender hips but little else betrayed Billie. Callie smiled and instead of reaching out to shake hands, she extended both hands and drew Billie into a hug. Billie responded easily and the pair embraced for several seconds before continuing introductions.

When they separated, Callie completed the form then fell to chatting at length with Billie who was already busy on her mobile and advising the other members of the 'tee' branch of the LGBT society that they had an amazing new member. Ten minutes later another senior and a middle year student had gathered and were chatting eagerly with Callie.

“Not many of us compared to the lesbians, gays and bi's are there?” Callie sighed.

One of the seniors nodded wistfully. “We reckon it's because tee-people have that extra socio-medical hurdle to clear during their school years and it's too much of an emotional burden. That, coupled with all the academic pressures to get to Oxbridge sets many tee-girls back academically.”

“That makes sense'” Callie agreed as she recollected her own, very recent, school days. In addition to the usual problems associated with any attempts to transition before eighteen,she also recalled the additional stresses of the legal assault course surrounding the retention of her title. However, she did not mention this. Having a title, especially that of a 'full-blown' dukedom, could often turn people against you.

Eventually, after the introductions were shared over a cup of tea and a biscuit, arrangements were discussed about the following evening and the first societal meeting. Having ascertained dates and times, Callie made her excuses and continued browsing the other clubs' stalls. She had been more than eager to join the transgendered society but there were other fish to fry.

She next found the historical preservation society which, though primarily interested in old buildings and architecture, was also interested in old cars. On learning that Callie was unique in owning a steam locomotive and it being one of the most useful and favourite steam locomotives on the local steam preservation railway, they were delighted to sign her up. Again Callie did not mention her title nor her ownership of Denton Hall, itself a grade one listed building.

A brief visit to the rowing club stall only reinforced her concerns about the complications associated with transgender women and sport. Reluctantly Callie turned away from membership for there were plenty of other sporting activities she could indulge in. Jogging for example, did not require attendance at any specialist venue nor, more importantly, did it require changing rooms and possible accidental exposure of her still present masculinity. Preparations, changing and showering were done from home whilst the activity was often conducted alone.

Finally, Callie joined the nature society whilst still hoping to keep her ownership of the Denton estate and the vast moor with it's SSI status a secret. It was not to be however, for one of the members recognised her from the campaigns surrounding the quarrying. Fortunately, the member approached Callie quietly and the girl agreed to be discreet. Callie had, after all, been instrumental in reducing the impact of the quarry and curtailing its invasion of the main area of outstanding beauty, mainly by allowing for the extraction on the lower slope of her own moorland and the reinstatement of the mineral railway across her land instead of the wider, noisier, truck infested, dusty road.

With the society memberships sorted, Callie was quietly relieved that her ducal title had remained a secret and she decided to take a mooch around her college before preparing for her first visit to the gay venue where the LGBT society were meeting informally each night of 'Fresher's week'. This first night, not being the official meeting she had no intentions of 'dressing to kill' and chose simply a modest figure hugging dress that came to just above the knee and a comfortable pair of heels that matched her clutch-bag. She enjoyed the night for it was good to be treated as a normal individual and not be considered 'public property'. Midnight found her a'bed and chatting on her mobile to her fiancée Maggie who was experiencing much the same situation in Oxford.

When she prepared to go to the local LGBT general meeting for that second night, she decided to dress down. Simply a pair of black leggings that accentuated her slender, shapely legs, no tights, a pair of kitten-heeled sandals and a tight fitting tee-shirt that failed to hide the outline of her bra and breasts. The outfit was designed to accentuate her feminine shape for she knew she could easily pass as a 'lipstick-lesbian'.

Heads turned as she entered the bar area for unusually, it was well lit. The only sounds were those of conversation which dropped to a hushed murmur as she stepped intrepidly through the door alone. One of the other Tee-people recognised her and immediately got up from their table to welcome her.

“Hi again Callie, what d' you want to drink?”

“Lemonade and lime please, no ice.”

The older girl went to buy the round while Callie was invited to sit. There were several other girls that Callie learned were not students but residents of the city and surrounding country. The club catered for all LGBT members locally and during Freshers week it was well attended as many new students savoured their first real opportunities to explore their sexualities and gender needs. At seven o'clock precisely the club president called the meeting to order and for the next hour, various club officers explained how the club was organised and what agendas the club pursued.

Finally, new club members were invited to introduce themselves if they wished. On the written agenda that each new member had been given on entry, Callie was pleased to learn that three other tee-people had also entered the university that year.

“That doubles the academic membership of our branch!” Callie chuckled quietly to herself as she sat waiting for her turn to present herself if she wished.

Whilst waiting she casually scanned the members and was extremely pleased to see an old familiar face from her school days at Eton; Michael, her gay friend and just about the only genuinely close friend throughout her days there. After any new lesbians had introduced themselves, the gays were invited to do so and Callie was hugely pleased to see Michael boldly join the queue that had gathered by the presidents table on the low stage that provided for entertainment in the pub when it was used for other venues.

When Michael stood to speak Callie could not resist giving a little wave and when her action caught his eye from the the raised stage he smiled broadly and gave a little wave back before declaring himself.

“My name is Michael and I am a first-year physics student. Today I am coming out and I am immensely pleased to meet an old school friend in the audience.”

He continued for the allotted two minutes then left the stage to join Callie who had moved seats to the end of her row. When they met they hugged each other tightly as the rest of the assembled members looked on approvingly. He then sat beside her as they waited for the 'tee-people' to introduce themselves.

As Callie rose to join the short tee-people queue Michael squeezed her hand.

“Be brave girl,” he whispered.

Callie smiled and returned the hand squeeze before stepping up to introduce herself.

“Hello everybody. My name is Callie Denton, I'm reading maths and I've been 'out' since I was thirteen, though my family were pretty much aware of my transgenderism since I was very young.”

There was a slight murmur of interest which did not surprise Callie. Many gay men still misinterpreted transgenderism and presumed that transexuals were also homosexual. Callie was philosophical as she sensed the interest and she reassured herself that such men would soon learn through the society that transgendered people were every bit as varied in their tastes and sexualities as all other segments of the population. She spoke briefly about herself for a few more seconds then returned to her seat.

As she sat, a gay male student in the row behind her leaned over and asked her 'if she still had her male bits'. Callie pursed her lips angrily but Billie had already risen to berate the intruder for such a rude and invasive question.

“What's it to you?” Billy demanded loudly enough for the whole meeting to notice.

Heads turned as the other student sank back into his seat and cringed with embarrassment while Callie stood up to explain. All eyes followed as she became more visible and addressed the whole meeting from the floor.

“Well it seems that, even amongst what I would reasonably have a right to presume are the more intelligent members of the human race, some of us here still appear to think that transgendered people are public property without any rights to privacy. I would like to correct that misapprehension here and now! I thought I had done quite enough just now to explain who I was and what I am. All other details about my life and person are as private as anybody else's. I am NOT public property and my personal circumstances are strictly between me and my closest intimate friends. That's all I have to say about myself whilst for everybody else's benefit, I might suggest that this club organises a debate to explore LGBT rights to privacy whilst educating those who, it seems, need educating. It would do no harm to place the subject on the agender for the Cambridge Union debates so the issue might enjoy a wider exploration and debate.”

Having finished, she turned and smiled at the president's table and thanked them for indulging her and allowing her to speak without invitation or prior notice to the committee.

As she sat again, there followed a thunderous crash of applause as hands started clapping and suddenly, Callie became a little self conscious. She had risen in something of a fit of pique and now she felt a bit stupid.
She turned to the student who had sparked off the incident and started to apologise for embarrassing him but an older wiser head simply rested a hand on her shoulder and spoke softly.

“You've no need to apologise young lady, it needed to be said and you did well. Might I suggest at some later date you join the union debating society.”

Callie remained silent for she still felt a bit stupid at attracting so much attention so early in her university career.

'So much for going stealth!' She silently scolded herself.

There followed a brief question and answer session then the meeting dissolved it's formal procedure and the members mingled amongst each other. Callie mingled mostly with Michael and the tee girls though several lesbians made a point crossing the floor to introduce themselves. Callie sighed with some small dissappointment that despite her brief speech, some lesbians still seemed to presume she would naturally be attracted to other 'lipstick lesbians'. Fortunately, she managed to hide her irritation whilst gently intimating that she had no interest in any lesbian relationships. In her own mind, she saw her releationship with Maggie as an essentially platonic affair despite its intensity and durability.

For the second night she collapsed on her bed and chatted briefly to Maggie before falling into a deep slumber.