Bran has a lot to sort out with his life.

Mom took it about like I expected her to.

"Are you sure, Mr. Hastings? Isn't that a sort of permanent change?"

Michael looked at my mom as if she'd grown another head. "Yes, Ms. Monroe. That's the point. Your son needs to..."

"She's not..."

"He's right here, Mom. You said you'd live with whatever the therapist told us. This is what he's telling us."

She looked at me, and for a moment I saw disgust on her features. She smoothed them out, but I knew in that moment. My mom talked a lot about how good of an actress that she was in college, before she fell in love with dad and married.

Now, though, I knew. I knew for a fact that she was a good actress. The moments that she'd given me yesterday, the support she'd seemed to hold, she truly believed that no one would actually support me in this. She thought they would support her in her belief of me.

She thought little of me. She thought I was unnatural.

Well, that was fine by me as long as she actually took me to my appointment with the endo.

"Mom, I get that you dislike what I am. This is something I can live with. I'll be gone in three months. As long as you keep authorizing my treatment we'll have no problems."

My mom nodded at me, and I smiled at her. She wasn't the only one who could act. I'd live out my time, but that was it. Maybe, in time, she could accept me for who I was, but not now, it seemed.

Michael gave me a sympathetic look as we left. I just smiled and shook my head.

The endo took my blood, blood pressure, height and weight, and so on. Then he gave me a shot and we left. I didn't feel any differently, but I guess it takes time for these things to work their magic.

I went back to the forge when we were done. I didn't want to spend any more time with my mom than I had to. The fact that I now had a job made that so much easier, and it might also make my moving out easier as well.

As I was working, with nothing else to occupy my thoughts, I realized I'd never had a discussion with Gregor about pay.

"Hey, Gregor?"

"Yes, Bran."

"Well, this is a bit awkward, but..."

"Spit it out, boy."

"Do I get paid for doing this?"

He began to laugh. I smiled, but I was still worried.

"Incidentally, why do you ask?"

"Because I need to move out of my house in three months and I'm a bit worried about...finances...and things."

"Yes, Bran. You're my employee. Trust me when I say I've never had as enthusiastic an apprentice as you are."

I looked at him with a grimace plastered on my face. I wasn't sure about what he was saying and whether I should take it as a real compliment or not.

"It's a good thing, Bran. I've had a few in the past. Most of them quit before we finished a weekend event. Not only did you make it past that, but you showed up this morning."

"You mean someone would actually agree to be here and not show up?"

"This is hard work, if you haven't noticed."

I laughed at that, "Yes, Gregor, I've noticed. It's also kind of fun."

"Fun?"

"Yep. I love watching you work...I mean not watching you," I said, blushing, "I mean watching the pieces as they're shaped into something useful. I like the sound of the hammer as it hits the metal, the feel of the bellows pump in my hands, the head of the fire...basically I just love everything about the forge."

"You're crazy...just like me," he said with an infectious grin.

"So...I am willing to do this without pay, but that means I don't eat and I'm on the street."

"You're serious about that, aren't you?"

"Doing this for the fun of it? Yes, I am."

"Well, then, you'll be happy to know that you have a very well paid position."

He went on to explain benefits, wages, and everything else to me. I was surprised at the amounts and quality of what he was offering.

"You can afford that?"

"If I weren't involved with the EHA, then chances are I'd barely be making it. As it is the money I make on repairs alone pays for you."

I was shocked. Not including whatever the medical, dental and so on cost it meant that he was making more than thirty thousand a year just on repairs to things he'd made for EHA members.

I stood there with my mouth opened and he began to laugh.

"You mean to tell me you seriously had no idea how much this job paid when you started?"

I just shook my head, unable to process anything else.

"I like you, kid. You're ok. Let's get your paperwork done so that we can make sure you actually do get paid...or more specifically so that the IRS does. You really don't want to be hit for back taxes with what you're making."

I chuckled at this. We filled out the paperwork and then got back to the fun stuff.

"No this is what I call pumping iron," I said the next time that I was doing bellows work.

Gregor laughed so hard that I thought he was going to pop a blood vessel. I joined in. It took us about fifteen minutes before we were able to get back to work, but it really cemented my relationship with Gregor.

We worked this way Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. On Friday we moved the pieces he would be working on up to the campsite. I stopped in at the admin building and they changed my status to that of a working professional. Just like that, for as long as I stayed working with Gregor, I got free access to the camp. That would save me a sizable chunk of money each year.

The weekend didn't have much going on, mostly more drill and a couple of light skirmishes, but nothing like the all out battle of my first weekend here.

The next few weeks settled into a routine. Monday through Thursday we worked at the forge near the city. Friday we moved everything up to the camp, and then we were at camp until Sunday afternoon.

This isn't to say it was boring in any way. I loved the work. It stimulated me in a way I never expected. My muscle growth bothered me, which is to say my lack of growth. I was getting stronger, and what little fat I had was melding away, but I wasn't bulking up any. I had a killer set of washboard abs, though, and I was getting definition in other areas as well.

In addition to work, our weekends at the EHA were a lot of fun as well. We had campfires under the stars, good food, and pleasant company. There were skirmishes in the woods, night patrols, and everything else you could really desire out of a LARP weekend.

Toward the end of the weekend, at the end of this idyll the queen requested I join her in audience.

"How goes the training, Prince Bran?"

"Well, I almost feel confident in taking them to war."

"Good. Next week, then, we go to war."

The bottom dropped out of my stomach, but I smiled a feral smile at my queen and mother. "We take the war to them next week," I said.

We gathered all the elves together and told them what would be happening. We wanted to get as many of them into camp as early as possible. Full scale assaults weren't allowed until after 8pm on Friday.

That would mean we had two hours to get it, get geared, and get our butts to the human settlement.

We had a couple of things going in our favor, not the least of which was the fact that elves were never the aggressors. Most of the times that people assaulted on Friday, they waited until dark before they actually attacked.

---
If you were going to wait, then you should wait until the hour before dawn. You'll have enough light to see by, and your opponent will be at his weakest.

No, we would be attacking before sunset. Normally, that is the worst time to begin an attack. Light conditions would be getting worse the longer you fought. The enemy would still be awake and alert.

However, I had to factor in things that traditional tactics didn't include. People who LARP are using their preconceptions more than their perceptions. They expect people to follow the same patterns that they always follow. If most people attack in the middle of the night, then they expect you to attack in the middle of the night.

Also, at eight people are still wandering into camp. While the registration opens at six, it is open 'til ten on any given Friday. People can register after those time periods, but they just do it in the administration office.

So, in attacking at eight, we would be attacking them at less than their full strength with most of our strength.

---
That week seemed to drag forward at a glacial pace. I still loved my work, and I was even getting to work on some pieces of my own, a couple of buckles and a handful of nails, but I was looking forward to the assault and could barely keep my excitement contained.

The tasks around the forge were getting a lot easier, but I was still as skinny as a rail. It was good for my elven aesthetic, but it upset my self-image.

I wanted to be the guy with the rippling muscles, not the pencil-necked geek. Don't misunderstand, I was gaining strength. I was benching reps of two fifty on a regular basis. I could dead lift almost three hundred, on a good day. I wasn't fatigued nearly as quickly at the forge. It's just that I was still very skinny.

Friday arrived and we made our way up to the camp around four. We wanted everything at the forge before six so I could begin to get everyone situated and ready for the grand assault.

They began to wander in just after six. Eolmir and Adrondel were my two primary lieutenants. We would be splitting the army into three equal groups. Adrondel would hold his in reserve for the second phase of the attack. I would be heading in first from the north. Eolmir would attack from the south shortly after I got their attention.

We organized them into their armies, and around seven thirty, assuming we had everyone we would be getting, we moved down to the rally points.

By this point there were still a couple of people, like Eolmir, who were quieter than I was, but there weren't many. Even so, we moved through the forest with hardly more sound than the wind.

We arrived in position to the north of their city. I'd seen the city a couple of times on recon over the past weeks, but this time, I looked at it knowing I would soon be among the cabins sitting in the open field.

There were two dirt tracks crossing in the center of their village. At the southern end of the village was the castle, made out of wood, of course. Eolmir would bring his forces around the western side of the castle. Adrondel would be holding his reserve forces to the west of the town, just north of the central east-west road.

"For the Queen and the Greenwood!" I yelled as I began the charge.

"The Raven!" my soldiers called as they moved with me.

This wasn't the wild run that you'd expect. We were moving at a measured pace, each man keeping the line as straight as they could. We made sure to call out from the far side of the field surrounding the town. In ones and twos humans began to run out to meet us. We dispatched all of them without any loss of life on our side.

"Walk March...Walk." I called, slowing us to a more normal sixty beats per minute march from the one-twenty we'd charged at.

When we were twenty paces from town I called out, "Halt! At Ease!"

And we stood there. Human's peered around the buildings, looking at us curiously. We stood with our swords at low carry and our shields slung loosely. Each man and woman held close to the position we'd drill and I was proud of them. We cleared at the humans, and they slowly began to form up on the other side of the gap we'd allowed. Their formation, if you could call it that, was ragged. Their line was more of a snake.

As soon as a good number of people were gathered I called out, "At Ready! Advance!"

There is nothing like the fear in the eyes of your opponent when they realize they're screwed. That was the first time I saw that. They tried to get their weapons ready, and close ranks a bit, but it was too little too late.

If they'd been able to actually form up into some semblance of a formation, if they'd actually had time to organize their thoughts, then their two to one odds might have meant something. As it was, we lost four of the fifteen I had with me before we took them out completely.

We reformed ranks on the street and moved into town. As a distraction we were doing excellent work. We moved slower than on the plain with the need for people on the second and third ranks to march sideways to protect our flanks at every alley.

They did attack us at the alleyways.

We lost another two making our way to the center of town. Once there, we formed square and prepared for the attrition that would soon begin. I put myself in the center of the formation, ready to take the place of the first elf who fell.

They came at us, first in ones and twos and then the portcullis raised and the knights charged from the castle. That was what Eolmir had been waiting for. He marched up behind the knights and reached them shortly after they collided with my formation.

We lost two people, but I was already moving into the breach when it happened, attacking everyone in range. I'd sparred since starting work at the forge, and been in a couple of light skirmishes, but never in full battle since that first night.

I wasn't prepared for how quickly I was able to move that sword from target to target. It was like a living thing, snapping out like a striking snake. My opponents didn't just drop out of the fight either. They moved with each of my strikes and I heard a couple of grunts of pain. Even inside their armor they were feeling the force of my strikes.

I tempered the force a little, and increased the speed.

I was becoming a little manic when I felt a stinging blow to my arm and looked up to see Aragorn facing off against me.

He'd taken me in my sword arm, so I dropped the blade and brought my buckler around to block. "Descend!" I yelled.

There was a call of "The Raven!" from the west. My small group was falling around me, and then I heard the clash of arms from behind the King's Men. Before they had the chance to orient on the people behind them Adrondel's force took them in the side. We now outnumbered the humans arrayed against us.

That was when I heard a call of "The Queen and The Raven!" from behind me in a clear female voice. I smiled. Apparently the queen had time to gather up the remaining elves and was now descending on the human forces.

I smiled at Aragorn and he just shook his head at me. "I yield!" he said and dropped his weapon. A number of the knights joined in with him. Some didn't and they were felled quickly.

"Your plan?" he said with a tone I didn't recognize in his voice.

I nodded and smiled at him. "Good plan. Wish I would have thought of it for the last time we attacked you."

"You probably would have won. Is Daniel here?"

"Nah, he's sick this week. He'll be pissed he missed this," Aragorn says with a grin.

We wrapped up the battle, marched off our new slaves and moved in to the castle. There were now close to fifty of us standing in front of the open gate to the castle. I formed us into ranks and marched us into the castle.

The king's personal guard was quickly dispatched and then we were into the throne room. A man I'd never seen before sat on the throne. The queen and I advanced on him alone.

"Hello, Father," I said at the same time that she said, "Hello, Reginald."

"Allie I know, but not the whelp."

"Don't you recognize our son, Reginald?"

"I didn't agree to any of this, Carol," he said quietly.

"What, Frank? Have a problem when people change the rules on you? Or is that only your prerogative."

He looked...beaten. "Three years you've held this. It was only once."

"It was once too many, Frank. I loved you."

"I still love you. Can't we..."

"No!" she yelled.

"Mother, could you step back for a moment so I can talk to my father alone," I said to her loud enough for the other elves to hear.

As soon as Carol took a step back, I offered my hand to the king, "Hi, my name is Bran."

"In game?"

"Both. It's a long story that we can talk about later. You realize she wants you to apologize, right? Passion like that isn't generated by hate alone."

"I have apologized."

"For breaking her heart? For only thinking of yourself? For expecting her to forgive you without apologizing for what you really did?"

HE opened his mouth and then closed it. "You look way too young to be playing," he finally says.

"I'm seventeen. I just started on testosterone, though."

He looked like he wanted to question that, but I just shook my head, "Not right now." I looked over my shoulder and caught Carol's eye and she stepped back up to us.

"Carol, I'm sorry for breaking your trust in me. I'm sorry I ever looked at that girl."

"And?"

"I'm sorry I broke your heart. I'm sorry for all the time I've lost trying to prove my love for you. I'm sorry I'm the scum of the earth."

"And?"

He looked at her, confused. He couldn't think of anything else to apologize for, but then he saw a gleam in her eye. I stepped back toward the elves as they kissed. "I still haven't forgiven you yet, you realize."

"Well, it's at least a start," he says.

The rest of the weekend is spent dividing up humans and elves into the two camps. I got Aragorn and a number of others up at Kelethin. The Queen and King would be sitting on thrones at King's Cross. They'd have Adrondel with them. Eolmir would be with me.

I was just sitting down on the throne when Gregor entered the throne room.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well, apparently I have an apprentice who is making my life easier and halving my work load. I'm actually caught up enough at this point that I can play for the first time in...a long time. You need a bodyguard?"

"Well, since I'm now the ruler in Kelethin, it would be a good idea."

He took a position at the door, which I left open so I could hear the city around me, and just looked menacing. I had to smile. I was prince of my own domain, and the elves ruled two thirds of the known world.

We closed up shop and made our way back into the real world. I was still stuck with the rust bucket, but I'd driven it so much that I was finally getting back into my groove with driving and being a lot more aggressive.

School started with a whimper, not a bang.

I'd noticed girls before now, and knew what I liked and didn't but when I started my senior year something was different. I mean I really noticed them. Angst thy name is woman seemed to be the order of the day.

I still had gym for some unknown reason, possibly because I loved to be active. The problem was that now I had a lot of difficulty keeping my eyes to myself. I felt myself becoming aroused with all the girls around me and knew I had a problem. I quickly put on a pair of shorts, hoping they would cover any evidence there might be, and pulled on my shirt.

My walk to the coach's office was probably the longest in my life. I kept averting my gaze, but no matter where I looked I saw...beauty.

"Coach Buttler?"

"Yes, Raven?"

"I need to transfer out of class."

"Why?"

"Because I'm transgendered and heterosexual and on testosterone and I really didn't think about it until today."

She stood there with her mouth open and looked at me, and then blushed, "Oh, you're...oh. Yes. Well. Wait in here until the girls get done changing and then report to the office. I wished you'd said something earlier."

"It slipped my mind. I've been busy the past couple of months with my new job. Then...well...um," I was embarrassed to mention that I'd become aroused, but the coach glanced down and me and became bright red. She left her office shortly after that and I thought I'd die of embarrassment.

Coach Buttler hurried the girls out and I went and changed back into my normal clothing. Once I was dressed I cleaned out my locker and made my way to the counselor's office.

"Hi, I need to transfer out of girl's gym."

"You need to transfer out of gym?"

"Just girl's gym. If I could get a boy's gym spot, I'd like that."

"Raven..."

"Call me Bran."

"Bran...are you trying to tell me something?" Mr. Petersen wasn't the brightest tool in the shed.

"I'm transgendered, Mr. Petersen."

"Oh...I see."

"I've been on hormones for about a month now."

"Hormones?"

"Testosterone. Didn't realize how big a problem it would be for me to be in a girl's gym class. Every guy's dream and nightmare in one."

He laughed at that. In that moment I realized he accepted me as who I was.

"They find you out?"

"Nah. I went and told the coach as soon as the idea popped up in my head."

"Popped...you had a..."

"My first, yes. Didn't even know it was possible."

"Sorry to hear that. But I'm not sure I can get you into a gym class this late. And there might be a problem with the other boys..."

"I can handle myself. I have martial arts training and I can bench over two hundred pounds."

"Skinny thing like you?"

"Tell me about it. Keep trying to bulk up, but I just get stronger not bigger."

"You might try protein shakes. I hear that works for some of the football players."

"I'll keep that in mind. So, what do I do instead of gym for this period?"

"Well, there's English 12 available, but you already take that third. Calculus is open and you have the requirements."

I shake my head. I don't particularly like math enough to do calculus.

"Biology...Physics...Study Hall is the only other thing there. You've got all your other graduation requirements covered."

"But...I always thought that Study Hall was for slackers."

"To a certain degree I agree with you. But some of the smarter students always end up there as well. Make of it what you will, Raven...I mean Bran. Sorry this difficult for me. I take it you're not interested in broadcasting this around?"

"Not really. I just have one more year here and then I really don't have to ever see any of them again."

"I understand. Well, you can spend the rest of the period in the library. Ms. Hascomb is the teacher in charge of the study hall. Take this add form to her."

I dropped off my clothing at my locker and went to the study hall. Ms. Hascomb accepted my change form and signed it, and then I went to find an empty table. It looked like I'd have to get here earlier. The least crowded table had a stunning blonde sitting at it, so I decided to take my chances.

"This seat taken?" I ask.

She glanced up at me and then looked down at her books. I sat down and focus on my own books. I had to smile, though. It's not like I was trying to pick up on her or anything. I had too much going on to have time for a girlfriend, and I wasn't really in a place where a girl would really fit.

"Amanda."

I look up and see her offering me a hand.

"Bran."

"That's an unusual name."

"I'm an unusual kind of guy," I say with a smile. "It's Welsh. It means Raven."

"Raven...wait...you're..."

"Used to be, but I'm Bran now. I didn't realize I was infamous."

"You're a guy? I'm confused."

Keeping my voice low, I explained things to her. She was a blonde, and this was high school. Not that I expected, or was looking for, anything. I even included my little problem in the locker room, omitting my other little problem as I didn't feel it was something to share in mixed company.

She blushed even at the idea a guy would be in the locker room. "Sure you didn't do it intentionally?"

"I swear. It never occurred to me. It has to be the most embarrassing moment of my life. It felt exactly like those dreams where you're at school without any clothing on."

She laughed at this. A couple of other students shushed her.

"So, you thinking of asking me out?"

"Um...what?"

"You like girls, don't you?"

"Sure, but I have a full time job and school and...stuff...on the weekends."

"Stuff? What kind of stuff?"

"Well, I'm sort of in this LARP group in the mountains?"

"You mean tights and prancing around the woods?"

"More like leather armor and sword fights."

"I bet you're an elf aren't you."

"What?"

"You look like an elf."

"Yeah, I'm an elven prince."

"Oh really," she said with a little smile.

"Are you...flirting with me?" I said, confusion consuming me.

"So what if I am." She continued to smile at me and licked her lips.

"Ok, now you're just teasing me." I replied. I can't deny the effect she had on me, and I'm squirmed in my seat a little bit. That's when I realized that I needed to get some new underwear. I stop moving, knowing that I'm going to embarrass myself even more if I continue.

Amanda is snickering at me.

"It's not funny," I said blushing.

"It's very funny," she fired back, a huge grin on her face.

I look away from her trying to get my hormones under control.

"I think I'm a lesbian."

I turn around and look at Amanda in shock. "You know I don't consider myself a girl, right?"

"But, you look like a girl, I mean," and she glances at the table.

"Mostly...but I'm not going to stay looking like this."

"How do you know you're...not like me. There's nothing wrong..."

"Amanda, you're gorgeous. I'd love to date you. But even if I look mostly female down below still..."

I wore a long sleeved shirt to school. There was way too much definition to my muscles for me to look entirely female, and I was trying to be at least a little stealth at school.

She takes a little gasp of air in through her mouth and I look at her face. She's flushed a bit, and I have to smile at her.

"Lesbian?" I asked a pointed look on my face.

She hides her face in her hair. I heard her voice quietly say, "Maybe I'm bi. I don't know."

"Well, as long as you recognize I'm a boy, I have no problems dating you."

"Really?"

I just smile, "Really. So, now I just have to figure out when I have time."

She laughed at that, and I smile. The bell sounded at that point signaling the end of the period.

The rest of my school day was uneventful, but it made me think, would I only be attractive to lesbians? And what would happen when I eventually get surgery to repair the problem? In my lifetime I could see a solution that would work. Would I lose my wife because she couldn't handle me being more of a man for her?

I took out my frustrations on the bellows and anvil. When Gregor realized that we were catching up to the work required by EHA he started bringing in more commission pieces. As I became more proficient, I was able to help him even more on those pieces. In the fall and winter they dropped to one weekend a month in the mountains, so we had less work from EHA all told, and we would quickly be getting ahead where that is concerned.

"Gregor...we have some time that I could take off on a weekend?"

"Got a hot date? You do don't you."

"I'd like to. Only problem is she's a lesbian."

"How's that a problem? She likes girls. You like girls. You look like a girl."

"But I'm not a girl."

"Strip."

"What?"

"Strip. Do you look like a boy or a girl without your clothing on?"

"Well...like a boy some places and like a girl in others."

"Then that's your answer. You're a bit of both right now, Hon. Live it up. If this girl likes you, then accept it and move on. It's not like you're looking for a soul mate. It's high school. She wants to date you, so go with it."

"So, can I have Saturday off?"