Blood and Thunder

Chapter 17 - Twin Thing

"Everyone clear what we are doing?"

"No. Why have we got to risk what we have here because of some guy we don't even know properly?"

Jathan looked at the boy who had just spoken and gave him a look of warning.

"Ryatt, for the last time, me, Theo and Dara trust him. He has no reason to betray us, he is one of us now. So quit your whining."

Ryatt mumbled something under his breath, Jathan didn't hear but Ryatt's twin did.

"You never trust anyone, even when you can sense the good inside of them."

"Trust is like glass, once you break it, it's hard to get it back in one piece and you often cut yourself trying. I don't want to get cut again, it's happened too much."

The twins looked at each other and Ryatt smiled. His twin Phoenix was wiser than him, and kinder. Where Ryatt had a habit of letting his anger consume him, Phoenix wouldn't let their anger consume them.

Jathan left Ryatt, Phoenix and the other older members of the group talking, he found it often helped them to feel less nervous before an event like this. He strolled over to Alexander who was sitting by the fire.

"I get a feeling Ryatt doesn't like me."

"Don't get too bothered about it. He is just wary, everyone here has had a rough time, and some people take a while to adjust to new people. Ryatt especially."

"What's the deal with him and his twin er - I can't tell if Phoenix is a boy or girl?"

"Sibling or twin is enough." Jathan said.

"Huh?"

"Phoenix isn't Ryatt's twin brother or sister, Phoenix is his twin sibling."

"I'm so confused. Please explain." Alexander asked.

Jathan smiled. "It's okay. They'd rather people asked and used the right pronouns. Phoenix is non-binary. They don't identify as a single gender."

"But aren't you are either male or female?"

"That's the common belief, but sex and gender are different, non-binary does exist. They don't identify purely as male or female, they are neutral if you like, anywhere on the gender spectrum. So they may dress and act more masculine one day, more feminine another or act and look a mixture of the two." Jathan smiled kindly. "I mean, I'm glad you didn't ask that question."

Alexander felt his face go red. "We need to set rules on mind reading."

Jathan laughed. "Definitely. But let's answer your questions, even if you didn't ask them as such."

"If someone comes up to you and introduces themself as a guy, would you question that? would you ask him what is in his pants to prove it?"

Alexander didn't answer. It sounded so simple that way.

"If someone comes up to you and introduces themself as a girl, would you question that? Would you ask for proof?"

"No."

"Then why does it matter? Sex and gender are two different things. If they identify as male, they are male. If they identify as female, they are female."

"And if they identify as non-binary, they are non-binary."

"There you go."

"So what do I refer to Phoenix as, you know 'he/him', 'she/her'? What do I use?"

"They/them are a non-binary person's pronouns unless they say otherwise. It's still grammatically correct."

"There was a kid at my school who went by them pronouns. I never asked why, I guess I just accepted it as normal. I guess I don't really know that many people like it."