of his people found out, they would kill him;
either stone him or hang him. Any sexual malformality is considered
by them a blasphemy, and must be destroyed.
54 He knew that if he could not escape, he would die. But where could
he go, what could he do? Then, he learned the secret of the gun because
he worked with one of the Scientists that helped make it, so he stole
one, and came to us.
55 He knew if he had to court a bride, he would have little chance of
ever being happy, for he doubted any woman would accept him. So he made
a bride part of his bargain; a bride, and a quiet place to live out his
days in peace.
56 And when I understood everything, I accepted him, I understood his
pain, and in a short time our love grew. I have always been treated
like a lady.
We thought for a while, that his womanhood would be no problem, but
then the burning grew worse. Only a woman could understand how he
suffered. We went to a Healer thinking that he could remove the
womanhood, but he would not.
57 "If I remove the manhood," he argued, "would I be killing the man,
and if I remove the womanhood, would I be killing the woman? Is this
one body or is it two? What if he shares it with a woman's Spirit?
If one or the other was deformed or non-functioning, I could
remove it,
but both are perfect. I do not know what to do!"
58 We knew it would be wrong of us," the woman said, "to force him to
make such a decision, so we chose the other solution. There was a young
man
that when my mate burned he desired. We made him swear an oath, then
told him what was needed. At first he could not believe, then he was
shown. "Strangely," he told my mate, "I have had an affection for you,
also, which I thought shameful. I will agree to this if we