On a New Road - One can only put one foot in front of the other and hope for the best.

This is a fan-fiction set on Terahnar the world created by L.E. Modesitt for his Imager series. I have no rights to any of it and don’t claim to. I just wanted to see what a story about a MTF transgender person set in the time just after Rex Regis consolidated Lydar into Solidar would be like.

The next morning my clothes were dry and I knew that I needed to get moving unless I was going to stay in the wilderness for the rest on my life. I started walking with the sun at my back, following the bank of the stream I had found. I could feel my breasts pressing against my shirt and they bounced a little as I hopped from rock to rock along the bank. After a while I begin to feel my nipples were getting sore from rubbing against my shirt. I stopped and leaned forward to make a little room between my breasts and my shirt to relieve the rubbing. How did my older sister Odela keep this from happening to her? I remembered the band of cloth, a breast band my sister wore. That’s what I needed so I focused, thinking about the shape and the soft material it was made from and imagined it appearing in my out-stretched hand, and then there it was. After I put it on and slipped my top over it, I felt much better as I carefully made my way along the stream bank.

The sun had not yet reached midday when I came to a road. It was just some ruts running down a sort of wide level path. The road crossed the stream I'd been following on a narrow wooden bridge. I climbed up to the road and turned west to follow the road figuring that Westisle was west so that was the way I needed to go.

Some time after noon, I could tell because the sun was now in my face, the road turned away from the sea and began to go up and down hills, steadily climbing. In the woods, along the side of the road I found some wild apples and berries and decided to rest and eat. I had just finished eating when I heard the creak and groan of a wagon and huffing of horses coming along the road from behind me. I scrambled up hill towards a berry bush and crouched down so I wouldn’t be easily seen.

It was a wagon coming up the hill. As it came toward me, I saw a woman sitting on the bench next to a man who held the reins to the horses pulling the wagon. There was a young person sitting on something in the wagon behind the two adults. As they got closer, I saw that the man and woman had dark hair and the young girl was blonde and wore a light blue summer dress. The woman’s dress was light yellow, buttercup; my sister would have called it. The man had a dark brown vest over a white shirt and faded brown pants. The young girl was saying something to the woman and the man was laughing.

Should I just keep still and let them pass? They were the only travelers I had seen so I thought this would probably be my only chance for a ride for some time to come. This was just what I was hoping for, a family, moreover it was a family that included a young girl. I made up my mind and crawled down the hill to the edge of the road, stepped into it and stood very still with my hands held together in front of me.

“Whoa, whoa,” called the man as he slowed, then stopped the wagon a few yards away from me.

“What is a little thing like you doing in these woods?” the man holding the reigns called out in a surprised voice.

I didn’t say anything, but kept my eyes down and my hands clasped in front of me.

“You scared her,” the woman said. She turned to me and said, “Come over here child so I can see you better.”

I slowly walked over to the side of the wagon, with my head down and only looked up at the woman when I was next to the wagon.

”Where are your folks?” she asked. “Are you alright?” I looked into her eyes and decided that I should tell her a little of my story.

“My name is Jolie, I was on a ship headed to Westisle when pirates attacked the ship. I got knocked into the sea, then washed up on shore. Now I am trying to get to my uncle who lives on Westisle,” I responded. I hoped that was enough information to get them to help me.

“We’re going to LLantiago so why don’t you ride with us?” the woman asked. “We should be there in a couple of days and you don’t look big enough to be a burden. Pitch your things into the wagon and climb in next to Mixy.”

“I don’t have anything, except what I'm wearing. Everything I had was lost in the ship wreck,” I said as I climbed into the wagon.

“You poor little thing! I expect my sister Colbuyn will have some things for you to wear because she has two girls. We will be there in a few hours. One of her girls is bigger than you so there should be some hand-me-downs that are your size. I was planning on collecting some clothes for Mixy too when we stop at their place tonight. My name is Nilynn, my husband is Mylinco Havgrove. We have a produce factorage in Llantiago.”

“Thank you so much. When I was holding onto the hatch cover in the sea, I thought that I wouldn’t ever get to land much less to my uncle’s. He wrote to me that if I got to Westisle I would be able to live with him.”

“Well we should get home day after tomorrow and we will see if we can get a message to him to come collect you,” said Nilynn.

I climbed into the wagon and Mixy pointed to a bag and said, “You can sit on that bag of grain. It’s not too uncomfortable.”

We talked and talked and talked. She told me about her dolls and their names, “My favorite is Bytte.” She told me about their house in Llantiago and her room, “My room is not as big as maman’s and papa’s but it is prettier.” She told me about all the produce they sold in the store. I told her about our farm and the things we grew and that we all slept in a single bed in the loft.

“I think sleeping together would be fun. I don’t have anyone to sleep with except my dolls.”

When we got to the farm, Mixy announced to everyone there that they had found me in the woods and that I was from a ship.

“Whoa, whoa,” said Mylinco “let me introduce everyone. This little thing is Joli, she was on her way to Westisle when she was shipwrecked and we found her on the sea road this morning.”

“Joli, this is my sister Colbuyn, and her husband Dylndr. and these two Alanca and Kyten.

“Kyten is about to start her married life in a few months and Alanca is a year older than Mixy.”

Kyten was a little taller and bigger than me and Alanca was smaller than me, but bigger than Mixy.

Mixy gave them all hugs and couldn’t seem to stop talking.

“Lets get everyone settled,” said Colbuyn after giving her sister a hug.

I helped move their travel bags into the room Colbyn told us we would be using. After the bags were put away, we went to the kitchen and were given tasks to get ready for the meal. Because there seemed to be plenty of help in the kitchen, I offered to help feed the animals and went out to the barn and helped to tend the goats, chickens and horses.

Nilynn showed me where the feed grain bins were and Dylndr, Colbuyn’s mate give me directions on how much feed to put out. We worked in the barn until the sun was getting low in the sky.

“It’s been over a glass,” Dylndr said, “lets get cleaned up and head inside.”

“What’s a glass?”

“Its the time it takes sand to drain from the top of a glass blub into the bottom bulb.”

“Oh, then its like a bell on ship.”

“Yes and there was probably a glass somewhere on the ship that they used to tell them when to ring the bell.”

We went to the pump house and I washed up, then went into the kitchen to see what else I could do to help.

When I asked what else I could do to help Nilynn said, “Here sweetie, eat some of this cheese and this apple. You look like you haven’t had a good meal in weeks.”

“It has been a while since I’ve had a full meal. For the last two days I’ve mostly had fruits and berries to eat,” I said. After supper I gave them my story from the time I was thrown into the water until they found me on the side of the road. I was careful not to mention my imaging abilities or the changes I made to my body.

After supper we went up a ladder from the second floor into what they called an attic, which was a space under the roof. We lit candles in holders so that we could see to go through the contents of several boxes to see if we could find clothes that would fit Myxy and me. It was really great fun trying on the clothes. I was amazed that anyone would have so many clothes. When I asked about where they came from and who wore them, Colbyn said,

“Well Nilynn and I had four sisters and now we have over a dozen nieces and our home is the official store house for all our outgrown clothes. Nylinn hasn’t been keeping up the family tradition of four children in the family,” she said as smiled at us.

“Neither have you,” Nilynn and everyone laughed. “I think we still have a little time to add to the count.”

It tok quite a while but I found pants, tops, and dress that fit me and a sleeping gown and some underwear. Myxi found a really pretty dress, a jumper, a pair of pants and two tops to take with her.

I was really happy to have more than one set of clothes and the fact that they were my girl clothes made it even better.

We went down to the kitchen and had some tea and cookies, then to the washroom and got into our nightclothes. Before we went to bed we paired up to brush each other’s hair. It was just like I used to do with my sisters.

Alanca, Mixy and I would share Alanca’s bed, it made me homesick because it reminded me of sleeping with my sisters. At the same time I felt right, because my mind and body seemed to be at peace for once. At supper I told my rescuers that my family had died of the fever in the spring and a neighbor had taken me in and contacted my uncle so that I could go live with his family. I gave them the name of a family that lived near us who had died of the fever so that if anyone should check, there would be some truth to my story.

As I lay there between these two girls, I thought back to the night I imaged the candle, and then being sent away. I wondered what happened to the captain and sailors and the ship. I was glad I had changed my body to match the way I saw myself. I was so fortunate to have been found and taken in by this kind family.

As I slept I dreamed: I was riding in the wagon with Mixy and we went through a big gap in a rock wall and then along a place where the trees almost made a roof over the road. Suddenly a man jumped into the road in front of us. He had what looked like a short sword on the end of a shaft and started running toward us. My eyes popped open and it took a moment for me to realize that I was in bed between to people. I took a deep breath and rolled onto my side and went back to sleep.