The rest of the visit to the Faber residence went surprisingly well from Willow’s perspective. While the two children weren’t exactly friends by the visit's end, Remy was at least not terrified of his presence anymore. Which he viewed as a win.

  He had decided not to tell either of them about the whole “being a boy” thing. His relationship with both Aunt Sarah and her youngest son was already a tad shaky, and it would be far too easy to mess things up with sudden and difficult revelations. So complete secrecy was how he decided to play it for now. However he did still want to eventually tell them, as secrets had the potential to hurt people.

  Not much happened that evening, the food was tasty and conversation was light. All and all it was a pretty perfect day, in Willow’s opinion, aside from the crying.

  The following day he decided to hold off on looking into his brother’s oddities due to feeling a bit out of sorts after his conversation with Remy. He truly hadn’t expected the depths of the feelings of guilt he had over how he had treated the other boy, or for those feelings to bubble over in the way they had.

  Instead he decided to seek out his father for what he viewed as a long overdue talk.

  Willow found him where he usually lounged after the daily work was done, near the field with his back to Bough and gazing up at the sky. Occasionally he’d hear Da mumbling or the big earth turtle rumble in reply, but for the most part he’d just watch the clouds go past or take a nap.

  ***

  Rowan saw his daughter turned son approach, and he sat up a little straighter. His youngest didn’t usually approach him during his rest time unless something was wrong. He really wasn’t prepared for what came out of his mouth, though maybe he should’ve been.

  “Teach me how to be a boy!” The boy called to his father with his hands on his hips.

  He blinked at his child. “Pardon?”

  “Maple and Aunt Jieun have been teaching me girl stuff since I was little. Now that I’m a boy you should teach me boy stuff.”

  Rowan stroked his bushy beard in thought for a few moments. He could almost see the logic in it, even if it still felt a little odd to view his youngest daughter as a son now. The path his child now walked was truly one he had never viewed as possible, but all he could do was hope he came out the other end healthy and happy.

  Eventually he just shrugged, deciding there was no harm in answering Willow’s questions. “Go ahead and ask, I’ll answer anything as best I can.”

  His childish face lit up in a smile. “Great!”

  He then switched to one of deep thought, eventually deciding on his first question. “So since I’m a boy now can I burp as loud as I want?”

  Rowan chuckled. “Still not when company’s around, and especially not around your aunt.”

  “Hmmm, fine. What about-”

  The older man held up his hand. “Assume any bodily noises have the same rules, sprout.”

  Willow pouted. “Yew got away with doing gross stuff, why can’t I now?”

  “Have you seen him doing stuff like that recently?”

  Stolen story; please report.

  He deflated a little. “No…”

  “There you go. Have any other boy related questions?”

  He got a little quieter. “Will I get an inheritance from you like I was supposed to with mom?”

  Rowan sucked at his teeth a bit. “As the second son, not really. I don’t have a second spirit to give, and we likely won’t have an excess of farmland after we move so you’re probably not getting any of that either.”

  Willow was clearly saddened by the news. “Not even a secret fighting art or something?”

  His father guffawed. “I don’t have any secret techniques, or at least my gramps didn’t say they were secret. Just some stuff he picked up here and there during his long life.”

  “Could you teach me some of that then?” The boy asked, clearly growing hopeful. “The earth strength thing you were doing in your story sounded neat!”

  Rowan stroked at his beard again. “I’m not sure little Phoebe would be up for that just yet. Plus, without a wood spirit to help I don’t think it’d work as well.”

  His son turned into a statue. “What if I’m like this?” He asked with a craggy grin.

  He’d almost forgotten that Willow could do that.

  But still.

  “Not sure how much that’d help, sprout.”

  His son looked up at him with hope-filled stone eyes. “Well, what would I try to do next?”

  Rowan adjusted his sitting posture, crossing his legs in front of him. If he was going to do this he’d do it right.

  “First, match my form and close your eyes.”

  His son did, though it was slightly awkward with the dress he was wearing.

  “Next, do you feel any kind of connection with the earth?” He had been able to cheat this step a bit when he was younger, due in part to his bond with Bough. He had eventually found a way to do it on his own, but it had taken time.

  Willow tilted his head for a bit before nodding hesitantly. “It’s tiny, and mostly going to Phoebe, but yeah I feel something.”

  Rowan wanted to be surprised, but frankly his youngest’s powers of perception were always above and beyond the norm.

  “Can you try and draw power from it? Just a trickle will do, for now.”

  His son nodded, face scrunched in concentration. Eventually he opened his eyes, looking disappointed.

  “It doesn’t wanna move.”

  “Yeah, earth can be stubborn like that.” He said with a small smile. “It’s why Bough and I need to use wood qi to help us draw from the earth. It suppresses the stubborn hold the world has on its bounty.”

  “So I can’t do it?” Willow asked, clearly heartbroken at the idea.

  He shook his head and placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Probably not, even when you get your wood spirit I don’t think it’d be a suitable technique for you.”

  His son blinked. “What? Why not?”

  “Because unless you’re in the state you’re currently in I don’t think you’d be able to safely use the energy you’d take from the earth anyways.”

  At his confused look he continued

  “I suspect your pathways and core shift with you whenever you change your form like this, but in order for you to use wood qi to do what the technique requires I’d imagine you’d need to shift into some kind of wood form. Which would make the earth energy you’d gain from it not compatible with the form required to get the energy. Do you understand?”

  “I think so.” The curly haired boy said, clearly still disappointed and thinking of a way to make the technique work.

  Rowan decided to distract his son from the problem.

  “Do you have any more boy questions for me?”

  His eyes lit back up.

  “Oh yeah! Forgot about one I wanted to ask earlier.”

  Willow stared at him quite intently.

  “Since I’m a boy does that mean I should like girls now?”

  Rowan wished there was someone else who could answer his son’s questions.