Tal'rith

Chapter One

Hello! Thank you for clicking on this story. This is a short novella and the first entry into my "Waking Into Divinity" series! This story can be read with no prior knowledge to the characters/world/etc.

Rylie is nonbinary and they go by only they/them pronouns. I did carefully edit this to avoid any confusion for those who are not use to reading they/them pronouns, but if you see any blips or confusing sentences/paragraphs, do let me know. Likewise, if you see any misspelled words or awkward grammar, please inform me so I can go fix it. Note: I use "themself" instead of "themselves" as the former sounds better to me. This is a stylistic choice and done on purpose.

❖︎· · ─────── ·❖︎· ─────── · ·❖︎

"I'm not sure about this," Rylie Hill muttered, tugging at the hem of what could barely be called a dress.

"I'm telling you, you look amazing!" Jessica Lambert, Rylie's youngest, but good friend, said. "Trust me, you'll get all the men drooling. And maybe some ladies, too." Jessica rubbed her shoulder against Rylie's.

Rylie rolled their eyes. The dress was indeed pretty. At least, the color was. It was a little black thing with ruched sides and gold detailing around the low neckline and the hem of the bell sleeves.

But it had a low neckline. A very low neckline, in fact. One so low, they could see the tops of their small breasts in their ratty bra. And the dress did not hide a single one of their curves. It hugged and accented their wide hips and thick thighs, cutting halfway down to their knees.

Except it was just a tad too small, as Jessica didn't have the hips they had. So it kept rolling up.

Rylie tugged it down again.

"I don't know," Rylie said.

Maybe on a different day, they might be okay being open with their curves. Maybe that day would correlate to a day they were okay with dresses too.

But tonight? Tonight was not a dress night. Nor was it a curve night. It was a pair-of-black-jeans-with-a-polo-tucked-into-it night.

"Well, it's already on. And you do look fantastic. Just trust me."

Rylie sighed. Jessica had a good heart. She really did. They knew what she was trying to do. But at the moment, they weren't feeling it.

Although they presented as female, they didn't feel like a woman. No amount of dresses or makeup they refused to wear would make them feel like a woman. And that was simply because they weren't a woman. But they weren't a man either.

It felt refreshing to be called nonbinary. They had called themself by it for many, many years. Sometimes hidden, sometimes not. But whether loud or quiet about it, the label never changed.

Jessica knew, but Rylie figured Jessica didn't quite understand them. She was the first to correct other people when they used the wrong pronouns. As far as Rylie was aware, Jessica had never misgendered them either.

As hard as Jessica tried for them, she simply could never understand Rylie's choices about clothing on any given day.

"I guess so," Rylie said. "I'm still wearing my black combat boots."

"That doesn't surprise me at all. Now let's go! We don't wanna be too late."

Rylie rolled their eyes. "It's not like we're meeting anyone up there."

Rather than respond right away, Jessica merely laughed. "But you could be late to missing the man, woman, or enby of your dreams."

Rylie stuffed their feet into their men's combat boots, shaking their head. Now that felt comfortable. Now, only if the dress was looser and longer, then maybe it could be comfortable. After all, it wasn't like they hated dresses.