Linda was pacing around the deck ever since she heard the crewmembers yell “Land ho”. She had only seen a few short dimensigrams of the place from her nightly forays into the terminal room and was rather excited to see the real thing.

Of course, she was well aware even from her limited research, that one does not simply walk into Tib’tai. The isle of Shamans was shrouded in mystery and ritual formalities and it would take a good part of the day star cycle before they could even descend from their vessel. Perhaps this is why no one apart from her had bothered to vacate their cabins or go up on deck just yet.

She didn’t mind being alone with the crewmembers for a while. Away from Wint’s booming voice and Fye’s exhausting, yet endearing nature, she could just focus on the moment for once. The men around her worked to prepare the ship’s docking procedures with grace and song and it was really pleasant to watch.

She had offered to help them and was surprised to find out how natural it felt to do so. A part of her had started adapting to local customs quite well and she lately found herself reviewing her actions from earthling perspective only after the fact. Of course she should hold the heavy metaline doors of the hull sections open for the shaman trying to pass through. Of course she should offer to help the crewmembers drag the cargo boxes from the storage units below deck - they were heavy after all and aboard brother Ma’ala’s ship the crew was exclusively male, as was typical for shamanic missionary vessels.

Linda was so caught up in the little errands she was doing around the deck that she barely registered someone staring at the back of her head. She spun around as inconspicuously as she could but couldn’t meet any pair of eyes apart from the crew. It wasn’t the first time she’d felt like someone was watching her either, but she had yet to catch who it was.

At times she wondered if it was one or both of the twins, perhaps? Linda felt a pang of guilt at the thought. She had been ignoring her so-called brothers pretty much since they set foot on the ship. Not for any good reason, either - she just had no idea how to approach them and most likely they felt the same way. Should she have tried to talk to them? Made something up, just as an excuse to start a conversation so she could ask about the original owner of this body she was using? Why did she even care in the first place?

Was this Fung or whoever it was still around in her head? Or were the dreams and inner voices more akin to an echo of the former inhabitant - something like muscle memory? If Fung had left the proverbial building, did that mean Linda had killed her?

She gave out an exasperated sigh which startled the young shaman next to her. She apologised and decided to drown out her thoughts in the work she was doing. It genuinely hurt her head to think about the complex circumstances of her current body. Still, spiraling wouldn’t help one bit, so she resolved to find a way to speak to the twins as soon as she could get them alone at some point.

“Big sis!” It was her turn to be startled now as two pairs of surprisingly strong lean arms wrapped around her waist from both sides. Speak of the twin devils…

“Oh, hey uh…”

“Lao”, the boy to her right said.

“Lei”, chimed in the one to her left.

Linda took a step back and shook them off her arms so she could eye them both from head to toe. Absolutely, infuriatingly identical - as identical as twins could get. Although, now that she was able to have a good look at them in daylight, she noticed a few things. The one who had called himself Lao had a few strands of hair which were colored white and contrasted sharply with his otherwise raven mane. The one who had called himself Lei on the other hand had the same number of strands painted sky blue. Lao liked to wear his hair partly tied on the back of his head in a helm style, whereas Lei had a couple of braids from either side of his face joined together in the back in a similar, yet subtly different fashion.

“Lady Pearce”, one of the shamans approached them. “We will start the Ceremony of arrival soon, so I am afraid women cannot be on deck.” He looked over the two boys in front of her and added. “The young ones can stay, if they so please.”

“Nuh”

“Uh”

The twins shook their heads and grabbed for Linda’s arms again.

“C’mon, sister, we’ll take you below to gather your things”, Lao said and they started pushing her towards the entrance to the cabin compartment.

They finally slowed down a bit when the shamans were out of view, hidden by the protrusion of the command center and entrances to the various lower levels of the ship.

“That guy called you Pearce”, Lei said quietly, after he threw another nervous glance around to make sure no one was watching.

“Um, well…”

“No time for that now, doofus”, Lao cut her off. “We need to take her to him, he’ll know what to do.”

“Take me to who?” Linda inquired and suddenly realised that they were dragging her towards the railing on the side of the vessel. “Where are we going?”

“No time”, Lao huffed again with even more impatience. “Tell me, sister, can this version of you swim?”

“Wha…”

Linda didn’t even have time to finish the word. The twins had reached around her and clasped their hands together, trapping her between their lean bodies. Before she could protest, they jumped up and a surprisingly powerful gust of wind caught them midair and pushed all three of them over the railing.

She tried frantically to free herself from their grasp, but it was already too late and before she could even scream, they hit the water’s surface.

Linda couldn’t swim. She had tried to learn multiple times back on Earth, but to no avail. Apparently, this misgiving of hers was still present, despite her new body having more than enough muscle power to draw on to keep her from drowning. Panic set in her brain and she flailed her limbs about uselessly, gulping in a bunch of salty ocean water in the process. So this is how she dies… Again… On this strange other world…

Midway through her pathetic self-eulogy, two pairs of lean arms grabbed each of her elbows and pulled her up. She stood there for a bit, dumbfounded at the fact that her feet were firmly planted on the soft sand below and the water barely made it to her hips.

“Oh by the Goddess, you’re weird, arent’t ya?” Lao sighed, exasperated. “Quickly now, before they notice we’re going around their Ceremony of coming over or some such…”

They grabbed her arms and started pulling her again towards the mouth of a cavern nearby where a small lagoon had formed. The island was truly breathtaking, now that she could take a closer look. Would’ve been nice to see it from up on deck, of course, but she took what she could get.

Tib’tai was the largest mass of land which was still small enough by Alaian standards to qualify as an island. By Earth standards, it was about the size of Australia. Unlike Earth’s smallest continent though, the Isle of shamans was positioned just on the right side of the enormous planet’s Equator to make its climate warm and pleasant pretty much all year round. The land mass itself looked like a natural pyramid from a bird’s eye view with its various size terraces, full of lush green-blue forests and bustling with wildlife.

It was a paradise but one which was just as difficult to get into. Looking around at all the jagged cliffs, reefs and caverns surrounding the island’s beaches, Linda had to wonder how many women had died and how many ancient ships had wrecked in these treacherous shallows over the hecarotations of Alaian history.

They had reached the mouth of the cave and were slowly crossing the blue-green lagoon towards the sandy beach inside. There were still some holes in the rocks above so the day star light was seeping through, but the closer they got to the shore the more darkness fell around them.

“Just a little further, big sis”, the boy called Lei (or was that Lao- in the dim lighting it was hard to tell them apart by the different color strands of hair).

Linda’s eyes were slowly getting used to the cave’s darkness as they crossed the thin line of sand and moved deeper into the cave’s bowels. She was no longer tripping every two steps, but the boys were still holding onto to her arms and keeping her upright. Their faces looked taught with some strain she couldn’t quite identify. She was just about to open her mouth and ask them for yet another time where they were taking her and why, when she saw a shadow move on the other side of the cave chamber, where the remnants of light behind their backs barely reached.

Linda squinted her eyes in an attempt to focus her vision and tore herself away from the twin’s arms when they were about a few steps away from the silhouette in front of them. It was a man with shoulder length raven hair, about half of which was caught in a messy tail on the back of his head. His eyes had the same almond shape as hers and the twins’ and his face with its beautiful features that were as perfect as a painting looked quite familiar… “Fung! Oh, my darling, Fung!”...

“You! Um, I mean… papa?”

The man smiled, but his expression was rather sad and thoughtful.

“Me, yes. But please don’t call me that.” He stared at her surprised face for a bit before continuing. “Others may be fooled but a father always knows… You are not my Fung.”

“Where ya at, little one?”

The twins grabbed each other’s hands and shared a horrified look that read “that woman followed us?”.

Wint flew past the girl’s shoulder and stood between her and her not-dad. Before Linda could say a thing, she saw the man’s face darken suddenly, as if a storm cloud had set on it.

“You?” He hissed.

“Me, ye.” Wint spat. “Tsk, tsk, tsk, you to see what a strange encounter, lord Aeris. Or shall I not call ye that anymore since your mask is off?”

Linda felt her brows jump up to her hairline - mask?

“Little one”, Wint barked at her over her shoulder. “Get yer wits about ye and let’s go ‘fore this one starts fillin’ yer head with folly.”

Linda had seen that look on the windstorm’s face before. It was a careful mixture of anger, disappointment and something else which the girl had yet to fully comprehend. Just a few weeks ago, this would’ve been enough for Linda to just stop, drop what she was doing and do exactly as she was told. Lately however, Linda felt more and more confident to push back against her travel companion’s turbulent nature.

“Wint, slow down, will ya?” The girl said quietly, but firmly. “How did you find this place anyways?”

The windstorm turned to her and blinked a few times. She still wasn’t used to Linda’s newfound rebellion.

“Ah gave ye a satcomm, didn’t I?” Wint responded finally. “Ye can track these things, ye know.”

Ah, right. The little droplet-looking metaline gadget Wint had given her before they departed the Recreation Isles. At the time, Linda had thought it was one of those rare acts of care and concern which the windstorm had recently started to show for her wellbeing.

“Fine, stay here if you must.” The girl said tersely. “But I want to hear what that man has to say. I almost drowned for this, you know.”

The twins snorted in unison, trying to conceal their laughter. The raven-haired man shot them a warning look and sighed.

“Aeris Lee. That’s my name.” He paused for a bit, studying the windstorm’s expression, as if challenging her to say something. “That’s still my name. And at some point, your name was Aeris Fung.”

“And there he goes…” Wind finally piped up again. “I ain’t gonna let ya do this, trickster. These be women affairs and yer wily ways have no place ‘ere.”

“Trickster?” Linda echoed.

“Aye, trickster is what he is, lemme show ye.” The windstorm shot her hand forward towards his face and before the man could react, she pressed two fingers on his temple.

He ducked his head suddenly but not before Linda saw something shine in his eyes - tears?

“Papa!” The twins rushed to his side but he waved them off.

“C’mon then - raise yer head, why don’t ya? Let yer so-called daughter see what you really are.”

“It’s alright, boys”, the man sighed again and lifted his face.

Linda felt a chill run down her spine. For a moment she thought his eyes had rolled to the back of his skull as his irises had changed from hazel brown to icy white and only the black dots of his pupils indicated that he was looking at her.

“Wh-what happened to his eyes…”

“Ah, nothing much, little one, ah just felt as though I should test a theory. And am I right, or am I right, tails? Show us how many of those ye have, why don’t ye?“

Tails? Linda felt a sharp gust of wind, or rather - what felt like multiple winds hit her face and for a moment, as she was staring at lord Aeris, she thought she could see the streams of air coming from behind his back in the shape of something like several fanned out fox tails.

“Woah, nine whole tails, would’ye look at that! You’re the real deal, ain’t ye, Tailwind.” Wint turned towards the girl and waved a hand in the man’s general direction. “Look ‘ere, little one - ‘tis be a true evil spirit from folktales. They used to ‘ave many of them runnin’ around the coast line of the Wind twin - in the parts where all the folks ‘ave this kind of pulled eyes.”

Linda thought for a bit if she should take offence to the windstorm’s proper racist comment but before she could, the icy laughter suddenly booming from her not-father’s mouth startled her.

“Evil spirit, huh? Oh, lady Tempayah now who’s filling the girl’s head with folly? Weren’t you a famous non-believer in old men’s tales of this kind or is that just your white-haired, black-eyed alter ego with the fake “pulled” eyes?

For the past few Air moon rotations they had spent travelling through this enormous alien world, Linda had noticed that very few things could shut Wint up. One was the Ruling over sea, of course, but the other was any mention of Wint’s past exploits as an anarchist hacker and creator of the Alain truth website. Aeris Lee’s lips arched in a mocking smile.

“Ah, now you’re silent. Is the little one not familiar with your shady past? Or is it just that your cultural appropriation runs skin deep? Eyes and hair in the style of south-eastern windstorms - yay, the truth about the Cutting of Tails, nay?”

“I did write about that…” Wint’s voice had once again lost its comical accent.

“Ye, you did write about that.” The man nodded. “You asked a whole string of questions and left them unanswered. Why did the whole Wind twin unite against a handful of males with the Gift of Storm? Why was the public opinion twisted and manipulated by religious ramblings and nonsense superstition about scary demons in men’s bodies with tails of Wind?” Lee made a step towards Wint and puffed out his chest. “Here, lady Tempaiah, stands a demon in a man’s body, ready to give you some answers. Are you ready to listen?”

Linda felt her eyes dart quickly between the windstorm and her not-father. She remembered reading something on that laptop Wint had pushed onto her what seemed like a lifetime ago. She owed all her knowledge about Alaiah and its people and ways to that little machine.

This planet too, like her homeworld, was a web of intricate societal influences, religious zeal, political machinations and good ol’ prejudice and tribalism. On the continent known as the Wind twin of AWA for example, two more or less distinct macro ethnicities remained. The people inhabiting the North-West parts where she herself had awoken a few months ago, were similar to Wint and the north-western Europeans of Earth. The ones along the coast and to the South-East however looked a lot like her and her family and were most similar to the Central and East Asians of her homeworld, as well as perhaps some native American tribes.

This second ethnos had myths about men with the Gift of Storm. These tribes who had dared teach their males abilities which were considered strictly women’s right to wield were subjected to torture, witch hunts and a near total genocide which had spanned through to modern times with the final conflict occurring a mere twenty rotations ago. These men were called Tailwinds and were described as beautiful, yet mischievous demons with the ability to bewitch any woman who had set eyes on them. Linda almost laughed out loud as her brain connected the dots to yet another bunch of parallels she could draw between this world and her own.

“It ain’t right what happened to yer people, alright?” Wint broke the silence first. “Is that what ye want me to say?”

The man shook his head.

“I know this may be difficult for you to believe, as a woman, my lady, but I don’t want you to say anything. I just want you to listen and, Goddess willing, to let me speak to this child in my daughter’s body. I truly mean her no harm.”

He paused for a moment, his eyes now back to their usual hazel color, staring intently at the windstorm’s face, as if awaiting her permission to speak. It took all of Wint’s strength to remain silent, Linda could see, but the woman finally pursed her lips and nodded.

“Thank you.” Aeris Lee nodded in turn. “Then since our little cloak and dagger routine is no longer needed, shall we make our way out of this musty cavern? I’m sure brother Ma’ala and his shamans have worked hard to provide us with more comfortable places to wag our tongues in.”