Two days have passed since we left the market town and we stumble upon a cave with a river flowing a small walk away. Pixie suggests that we wash our braies while we have the chance since we didn’t get to last time. She’ll also wash her clothes today now that she has other clothes to wear. She says that washing them before mealtime gives them more time to dry out.

Once we get camp set up, I hand Pixie my bag so she can get changed. “You boys gets ready too so we can wash them as soon as possible,” she says before disappearing into our tent.

Without hesitation, Dae Sung drops his pants and braies in one swift motion and laughs. Min Su looks at him in confusion with his hand up and head tilted slightly to prove that point. The older steps out of his clothes, separates them, then puts his pants back on. Afterward, he decides to throw his braies at Min Su and laugh mischievously.

Min Su tries to slap them away. “Ew! Dae Sung!” he protests. “Don’t throw your dirty braies at me!”

Dae Sung laughs and picks them back up. “Oh please. You’ve touched dirtier things of mine,” he remarks while smirking.

“Oh my Loki. Gross,” I speak up. “I did not need to know that.”

While Dae Sung laughs, Min Su rolls his eyes and goes to their tent to change. Since my newly claimed cloak still drags the ground, I can remove my braies without going to my tent. After tossing them aside, I slide my pants back on and just look at the ground. I kick some dirt up and wait for the other two to finish changing. While doing so, I notice that my boots have holes in them. Maybe that’s why my feet hurt all the time.

After a few more seconds, I hear the rustle of a tent and then another one follows a second later.

“Well don't you look more like a woman!” I hear Dae Sung announce. “Not attractive at all!” He laughs which is then followed by a gasp. “Ow!” I assume Pixie punched him. “Okay, I deserved that.”

Agreeing, I nod and chuckle. When I hear Min Su laugh as well, I decide to look up. The moment I do, I spot Pixie in her smock. It’s not quite black like she had wanted, more of a dark brown, but it still looks nice on her. The sleeves are long and hang off her shoulders, making the neckline almost straight and low on her chest. As my eyes travel down, I notice how it hugs her torso before flaring out at her waist. The smock goes all the way down to just past her knees.

“Does it look alright?” Pixie asks. She grabs at the sides of her gown and bunches it up in her hands to reveal more of her legs. As she examines her figure, I can’t help but to as well. Her legs look very nice.

Oh. Oh no. Wait. No. I feel my face heat up as I quickly look away from her. Right now, I’m very glad the cloak covers me up fully as I feel a problem arising. I hold it a bit tighter as the heat travels from my face down to the rest of my body.

“Are you okay, Blondy?” she wonders.

I nod quickly and search the ground for something to say. “Uh, I have to go. I’ll be back,” I answer before hurrying off to the treeline and hiding behind a tree.

Once there, I lean against it and take a shaky breath. What is happening to me? I hide my face and slide down the tree to sit. At the same moment, Dae Sung and Min Su walk around to stand in front of me.

“Are you alright, Ki?” Min Su asks.

I shake my head. “No. I don't know what’s going on,” I confess.

“Well, tell us what’s been happening,” Dae Sung suggest. “We can figure this out together.”

“Exactly,” Min Su adds. “We’re here for you.”

Looking up at them, I nod. “It’s just that, every time I look at Pixie, it’s like I get a weird feeling in my stomach. Almost like I’m nauseous, but not in a bad way? And whenever she touches my arm or anywhere, my skin crawls or feels like it’s on fire. And if I stare at her for too long, it’s like I can’t breathe,” I pause to catch my breath. “And then like right now,” I look up at them, not sure what to say. “She just looks really pretty in her smock and I don’t know how to deal with that. Like, holy Dangu, her legs look amazing.”

The older two exchange looks before chuckling. “So the time has finally come,” the older says.

“You’re becoming a man!” Min Su states.

“Can you please explain it a bit better than that?” I ask.

Dae Sung crosses his arms and thinks before speaking. “Well, uh, how do I explain this?” He looks at the younger for help.

“Your body is starting to change and you’re beginning to mature in more ways than one,” Min Su helps. “And you’re starting to see people differently than you did before.”

“Hence, why that thing with Pixie happened,” Dae Sung adds.

I rub my face and shake my head. “I don't wanna see Noona differently. This is strange and I don't like it!” I complain.”What about the warmth and my stomach feelings?”

“Sexual arousal,” the younger puts plainly. “It’s your body’s way of reacting to someone you think is attractive. It is awkward, yes, but don't feel ashamed of it.” He crouches down in front of me and smiles. “It’s natural and means that you’re maturing.”

I look at him and sigh. Glancing between them, I ask, “did you guys have to go through this too?”

They both nod as Pixie calls out to us from the cave entrance. Dae Sung focuses his attention on her by squinting and waves.

“Please don’t let her come over here!” I plead. “I can not look at her right now.”

The older shouts back to her. “One second!”

Min Su chuckles and stands back up, then turns his attention to Dae Sung. “Why don't you go with Pixie to wash our clothes. I’m not much help with my arm like this so I can stay here with Ki and help him instead,” he suggests.

The older nods in thought. “Alright. I’ll let her know,” he replies before heading back to the cave.

Min Su smiles at me and crosses his arms as best he can while waiting. Turning his head in the direction of the oldest two, he waves and smiles. He watches them go before bringing his attention back to me.

“Alright. Come on,” he says while holding a hand out to me. “They’re gone now. Let’s go to my tent and talk about this.”

I take his hand and he helps me up. Quickly heading back to the cave, I go inside the tent and sit down. Min Su does the same before speaking again.

“I know that it’s awkward and not pleasant right now because I’ve been through it too, but trust me when I say that it gets easier,” he comforts.

I nod. “What was it like for you?”

Min Su looks up and sighs in thought. “Well, my, uh, I guess transition is what we’ll call it, started about four moons after our village raid. And it was a nightmare,” he answers.

“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” I mutter.

The other chuckles at my comment and pets me. “It was just the beginning that was terrible though. It got better after a while,” he states. After changing his position to sit cross legged, he continues. “To explain why though, it was very different than anything I had ever experienced before. Everything and everyone aroused me.” While chuckling, he pauses and runs his hand through his hair. “If I were to see a man chopping wood, bam! A girl bumped into me, bam! I saw Dae Sung working out, bam!” He slaps his knuckles on his leg every time he says ‘bam’ to get his point across. “Any time a man or woman gave me any kind of attention or affection, I became aroused. It became a huge problem for me.”

“Wait,” I start and look at him. “Is that when you realized you liked Hyung?”

Min Su shakes his head. “No. I knew that I had liked him way before that. That was just the first time my body responded to him that way,” he answers.

I nod thoughtfully. “When did you start liking him?”

The other sighs in thought and leans back. “Back at the village. One of the other kids was being mean to me ‘cause I was the new kid and pushed me down. Then Dae Sung came over and helped me up, told the kids to leave me alone,” he tells, smiling at the last part.

They’re cute together. As of right now though, I shouldn’t be thinking about them. Remembering everything else that Min Su said, I sigh. “Hyung, does that mean my transition is gonna be as bad as yours?”

“No,” he answers immediately. “I think transition is different for everyone. Dae Sung’s was not nearly as bad as mine was.”

I have so many questions. Placing my elbows to rest on my legs, I rub my temples. “Okay, then, what all does transition consist of?” I wonder.

“A lot goes on during this time but the most obvious one is voice change. Your voice gets deeper to show that you’re maturing. Which, yours has kind of been doing that for a while. You've been squeaking since before we met Pixie. But, in general, your body starts to change all together. Everything about you will get bigger,” Min Su pauses and nods. “Everything.”

I can’t help but laugh knowing what that last ‘everything’ was insinuating. It does make sense though. My clothes seems to be getting too small for me and my feet seem to be breaking out of my boots. Letting my legs rest in front of me, I examine my boots and show them to Min Su. “I think that’s why I need new clothes,” I chuckle and smile at him.

Min Su smiles and pets me. “We’ll see what we can do. But other than physical changes,” he continues. “Your thoughts change and begin to mature. You start to look at things differently. When a problem arises, you might solve it differently than you would have before. The way you see or look at other people might change too. You may even just notice things around you that you didn’t notice before or hadn’t thought of.”

It all makes sense now. I huff and lay down. “What am I supposed to do about Noona? There is no way I can sleep next to her tonight. Or ever again if this keeps happening!” I complain and cover my face with my arms.

Minsu laughs and lays next to me. I pout in annoyance and sigh. "We'll figure something out. Don't worry," he answers. "I'll talk to Dae Sung when they get back." The older scoots closer and starts playing with my hair.

We both stay like that until we hear two pairs of footsteps echo through the cave. Once we hear the sound of wet clothes slapping onto the cave floor, Min Su gets up and heads out of the tent.

"Welcome back," I hear him say.

I hear Dae Sung chuckle. "Where's Ki?" he asks.

"In our tent," the younger replies. "I explained, for the most part, what was going on. Now he's just relaxing."

"Is he alright?" Pixie sounds a bit worried. "He's not ill, is he?"

"No. Not ill. He's just, having a hard time right now. I'm sure he'll be fine in a little while," Min Su tells her.

"Okay. That's good then," she replies. "Let's get the fire started and get cooking."

The other two stay quiet and I assume they've just decided to get to work. Maybe I should go out and help? But I just know Pixie is still in her smock and that will not help me. Sighing, I push the thought aside. Everything will be better tomorrow when she's back in her normal clothes. Stupid smock making things happen to me.

Well, since I've decided not to help out right now, I close my eyes and settle on a nap.

When I wake back up, I can smell the food cooking. It must be almost done. Sitting up, I decide to peek out the tent.

Min Su spots me and smiles. I wave him over and make sure he's walking towards the tent before I slip back in. As I sit down, Min Su peeks in.

"What is it?" he asks.

I take a moment to think before taking off my cloak. "I have an idea. Can you give the cloak to Noona so that she's covered up more? I think it should help," I reply while handing him the cloak.

Min Su takes it and nods. “Alright. I’ll see what I can do.” He heads out and I listen to see what happens. All I can hear is the shuffling of feet and hushed voices.

The sound of cloth being thrown around gives me the hint that she took the cloak. "How have you gotten this cloak so dirty already?!" Her demand confirms that.

"It drags the ground! Okay?" I shout back while leaving the tent. "I can't help that I'm short!"

I hear Pixie chuckle as I exit. Once out, the other two begin to tease and poke fun at me for being short. A pout appears on my face because of it.

"Oh, leave him be. He'll start growing soon," Pixie comforts.

I nod and steal a glance at her. To my relief, with the cloak on her, my body doesn't react. "Is the food almost done?" I ask.

"Yes, actually. It just finished," Pixie answers. "Sit. Let's eat."

Everyone sits down. Mealtime goes by with minimal talking as we all just enjoy the deer meat that Pixie retrieved before.

Once all of us are done, I help clean up the area with Pixie. During that time, I see Min Su and Dae Sung talking to each other.

"Alright boys. Get some sleep," Pixie says. "When the sun rises, we'll put on our clothes, pack up, and head out." She briefly glanced over at us and smiles. "We're much closer to the Kingdom. Right now, we're on the outskirts of The Enchanted Forest. Once inside, do not wander off. The Forest is designed to keep anyone not of Magickkind away from the Kingdom."

"How does it do that?" I wonder.

Pixie chuckles. "It's enchanted. If you're a human and don't posses a type of homing magick, it'll rearrange itself to make stumbling upon the Kingdom impossible." She stares at me. "So no wandering off."

Knowing full well that was aimed at me, I nod. I don't want to get lost so I don't plan to wander. Now that things are cleaned up, I make my way over to the hyung's tent.

"You're not staying with me tonight, Blondy?" Pixie asks.

A twinge of guilt hits me and I hesitate. "Uh, not tonight. I need to talk with Hyung about some stuff," I stammer.

She nods in understanding. "Well alright. Sleep well, Ki." Pixie smiles before disappearing into our tent. I decide to do the same and slip into the other tent, sitting next to Min Su.

Min Su smiles and pets my hair. "So, let's talk about what's going on with you."

I nod. "Alright. Like what?"

"What are some of the changes that you've noticed with your body?" Dae Sung clarifies.

Taking a moment to think, I look at them. "Well, I've gotten hairier. And-" before I can continue speaking, both of them burst into laughter. "It's true! But that's not all!"

Dae Sung pats my back. "It's alright. I understand. I think you've actually been going through transition for a while now. Your voice started changing a few moons before we met Pixie," he states.

Now that he mentions it, this has been happening for a while. "Okay. But, how long will this last?" I ask.

Min Su and Dae Sung both shrug. "We have no idea," Min Su confesses. "My transition started not too long after our village was destroyed. And sometimes, when I think it's finally over, something else changes. So I think it could go on for a long time."

I sigh and slump over. "That means I have to suffer for a while?"

Dae Sung laughs. "Look, maybe your transition won't even be that bad," he reassures. "Mine was different from Min Su's."

"Well, then, what was yours like?" I wonder and sit back up.

The oldest hesitates and I assume he's thinking about how to begin. "Well," his pause also adds to that theory. "My transition began a few moons after my 13th celebration of life. As you probably remember, my voice started breaking. But I could say it probably wasn't too bad. I started building my muscles up quicker, grew taller, and the like. The hardest part about it for me was when I started to see men in arousing ways. I couldn't keep my eyes off of their bottoms." He chuckles.

"So, that's when men started to become attractive to you?" I ask.

"No. That's not what I was saying. I've always been attracted to men," Dae Sung corrects. "It's just that, once transition started, I began to appreciate their bodies more than I did before. They affected me differently." He nods and glances at Min Su. "And Min Su was a big part of that. Honestly, at the time, if he did anything around me, I was aroused. I already had feelings for him from back at the village. This just made things, more interesting." He laughs as I nod.

"I guess that's good for you guys at least," I say.

Min Su chuckles and nods. "Yeah."

"So you're going through transition?" Pixie's voice startles me as she peeks her head into the tent. "May I join you?"

"Uh, yeah," I answer. "Do you know what's going on?"

Pixie crawls inside and sits across from me. "Well, I don't really understand what's going on with you boys, but I also went through transition."

"You did?" Dae Sung sounds as surprised as I feel.

"What was it like for you?" Min Su wonders.

Pixie looks up and chuckles. "Well, my transition happened after my tenth celebration of life. Since it was before the war had started, my parents were able to guide me through it."

"Lucky you," I murmur.

She punches my arm lightly, not enough to hurt though, and continues. "Before transition, all fae are pale, no color in their skin. Once transition begins, the first thing that happens is that they get the reddening of their cheeks, or blush. Depending on what type of fae one is determines how dark the skin becomes. Snow fae, for example, don't tan. They only gain blush."

"I guess we know you're not a snow fae then," I point out with a chuckle.

Pixie nods and chuckles as well. "That's true. My skin is very tan." She smiles. "Another thing that happened was my wings grew. As a child, a fae's wings are almost see-through. During transition, not only do they grow bigger to stay in proportion with one's body, but they also glow. Mine had a beautiful golden glow to them." Her smile falls into a grimace. "Of course I didn't get to enjoy that for very long."

"That's still really cool," I whisper and smile at her.

She nods and Min Su speaks up. "Did you get sexually aroused during transition?"

Pixie looks over at him and raises an eyebrow. "Yes. That is a part of transition. But it wasn't as big of a problem for me as it seems to be for you boys. Everyone I know went through it. Even the girls at my assassin camp."

"What all do you know about transition?" Dae Sung asks.

She turns to him and sighs. "I don't actually know a lot about a male's transition. My brother wasn't old enough to start when he died. So I wasn't able to learn that way. And at my assassin camp, there was only girls."

I think of something and perk up. "Is it different from not only girl to girl, but also creature to creature? Like, is a vampire's transition different from a fae's?"

Pixie nods and chuckles. "Yes. I mean, vampire's don't exactly go through transition unless they were born that way. But, it's quite complicated so we won't get into that now."

I giggle and nod. "Alright. Then what about other ones that you know?"

"We had a lot of elves at the camp, so I know a lot about them," Pixie starts. "Elves, just like fae, gain blush. Once their transition starts though, they have to sit vigil for one night under a full moon. I'm too sure as to why, but it's what they do." She laughs and I can't help but smile.

"Wow. I can't believe how interesting all of this is," I state. "So everyone goes through transition."

Pixie smiles at me and pets my hair. "Don't be afraid to talk to me about this stuff. Any of you. I may not know a lot about your transition specifically, but I am here for you."

We all nod and I smile. "Okay. But I'm still sleeping in here tonight," I chuckle.

Pixie laughs. "That's fine. Now you boys get some sleep."

"We will," we reply in unison.

At that, she smiles and makes her way out and back to our tent. Once she's gone, I lay down for the night. All of this has been confusing, but now, I at least have a better understanding of what's going on.