"Very pretty." She handed the ring back to her. "You think your family name could be Ryan?"

"I had hoped it was my father's name."

Alex nodded. "So you grew up in a convent. That must have been a barrel of laughs." When Jayr didn't know how to respond, she added, "Sorry. I went to Catholic school. I'm still recovering from ruler phobia. How did you like hanging out with the sisterhood?"

"We had a hard life, but a good one. So many people with families died of plague and famine anyway. As an orphan, I was incredibly fortunate to have a place and the power of the church to protect me." Jayr shrugged. "I did not appreciate it then, I fear. Our abbess wished me to take vows and join the order, but I felt no calling. When she pressed the issue, I ran away and went back to Scotland to search for my family."

"When did you become infected?" At her blank look, Alex added, "Uh, cursed?"

"Thirteen fourteen. The year I ran away."

"You've been around for a while." Alex noted something else on the chart. "Was Aedan the one who turned you?"

Jayr nodded.

Alex propped her hip against the edge of a gurney. "Tell me how it happened."

"We were at Bannockburn. I came upon him after he had fallen into a pit trap. I was too small and weak to pull him out. I climbed in and tried to help him out, but he was dying." She paused, her brows drawing together as she thought. "What happened after that is not clear in my memory, but I believe that was when I gave him my blood."Alex gave her a sharp look. "Voluntarily?"

"It was not because of l'attrait," she told her dryly. "My lord Byrne lay covered in mud and muck, impaled on a wooden stake through his chest, and partially trampled by his horse. He hardly had the strength to lift his head."

"No pheromone inducement, check." Alex eyed Jayr's torso. "How old were you at the time of transition?"

"Seventeen." She saw Alex's reaction. "I am not lying."

"I didn't say that you were, although your body is telling me a different story." Alex got off the gurney and pulled on a pair of latex gloves. "Now you get to take off your clothes and let me see you naked; then you'll lie down and let me do the really embarrassing stuff."

Jayr stripped and stood motionless and naked as Alex circled around her and made notes. Rarely had she felt so uncomfortable or vulnerable, but if the doctor could help her, then it would be worth it.

"Were you born with this?" Alexandra said, tapping the patch of puffy purple skin six inches above the flat circle of her left nipple.

"Yes." Jayr covered it with her hand briefly. "I should have mentioned it. I know it is unsightly."

"Port-wine birthmarks are attention getters." The doctor used the flat of her fingertips to push at the edges. "It looks like a dented heart. Kind of cute. Any bleeding or inflammation here?"

"None, ever."

"Good. They can be a problem sometimes. So, no breast development, low body weight, narrow hips, no pubic or underarm hair-you don't shave it off, do you?" When Jayr shook her head, Alexandra took out a slim pen that, when she clicked its handle, shone a narrow beam of light. "Open your mouth nice and wide." She directed the light inside Jayr's mouth and peered in. "Unlike your fangs, your wisdom teeth never erupted." She stepped back, sniffed, then leaned in and sniffed a second time.

"Do you use tobacco?"

She should have bathed before coming. "No, Doctor."

"Your hair smells singed. Must be from lighting the fireplaces." She pointed behind her. "Hop on the gurney and lie down."

Jayr remained quiescent as Alex measured the length of her arms and legs and used a device she said would determine Jayr's muscle mass. "Why do you wear gloves?"

"Leftover human habit. It intimidates some of the more pigheaded Kyn, too." She straightened. "I need to perform a pelvic and an ultrasound to confirm it-if you can requisition some gynecological supplies and an ultrasound machine from someone, I can do that later-but my educated guess is that you never acquired secondary sexual characteristics when you were human."

The long words made her head spin. "What does that mean?"

"You didn't go through puberty, Jayr. At least, not all the way." Alex handed her clothes to her. "Every human makes a physical and emotional transition from childhood to adolescence. It's triggered by the pituitary gland secreting hormones called gonadotropins, which stimulate the sex organs to mature. In girls, the ovaries are stimulated, in boys, the testes." She frowned as she watched Jayr dress. "You've got a slight bowing to your calves."

Jayr glanced down. "They have always been shaped so."

"It's usually a sign of malnutrition," the doctor told her. "Did you have to go without food a lot when you were human?""Many times. The convent where I was brought up was very poor, and food was often scarce." She glanced down at her flat chest. "One of the sisters said hunger was a good thing. It kept me from having my moon time."

"Body weight is definitely a contributing factor in the onset of puberty," Alexandra said. "It's the reason so many overweight kids today go through puberty much younger than they should. Starvation, on the other hand, has a way of postponing things.

After you made the transition to Kyn, did your body mature in any way?"

"No. I remain exactly as I was on the last day of my human life." She glanced down at her flat chest, and felt the usual bleak wash of depression. "I have lived in this body for six hundred years and better, so I have accepted my fate. Still, if there is something that could be done to make me like other women..."

"I don't want to give you any false hopes," Alexandra said firmly. "If you were human, we could try medication, maybe some artificial implants, but your Kyn metabolism would automatically reject them. You have almost no body fat, which is the only thing I could possibly transplant to build up your breasts. About the only thing surgically I can do for you is get rid of that birthmark, if you want."

Disappointment made Jayr retreat into herself. "I thank you, but no, I am used to it."

"Well, maybe we can try some other things," Alex said. "First, though, I'd like to do a gynecological exam and perform that ultrasound, so I can be sure there's no internal trouble contributing to the problem. Do you have a decent medical vendor?"

"An excellent one. I will see to it that the equipment and supplies you need are delivered before the week's end," Jayr promised.

"What could be inside me that would cause this?"

"Some parts that don't belong there." Alex gestured toward her abdomen. "Nature can't always make up its mind whether it wants a girl or a boy, you know. In very rare cases there are people born with extra reproductive organs. You might have ovaries and testes." She took out a copper-tipped syringe. "Time to pay the bill. Slide up your sleeve, please."

Jayr watched Alex draw two vials of blood. "What do these people born with too many parts do about it?"

"In your time they had to live with it, if they were allowed to live at all. A lot of hermaphrodites-that's the common term for people with the condition-were killed at birth if they showed visible characteristics of their dual gender."

"Characteristics?" Jayr said faintly.

"Being born with a vagina and an oversize, elongated clitoris. There's been a lot of debate over the last fifty years as to whether or not the clit is just an underdeveloped penis. Some can be hidden from view by the labia, and evident only when engorged or displayed." Alex gave her a guileless look. "Got anything tucked away down there that I should know about?"

"Ah, no." Jayr felt mortified, but added, "I have attended to some visiting Kyn females in their bath, and I confess I used a mirror to look upon myself and see if I was made the same. I have no body hair, but I am as they are fashioned."

"Good to know-and there's nothing wrong with being curious about your body." The doctor stripped off her gloves and discarded them. "One more question, and then we're done. You've been this way ever since you became Kyn, so why do you want to change it now?"

"I do not despise how I am made," Jayr said slowly. "For many reasons, not least of which is my position in this household, it is better that I do not look much like other females."

"I would cheerfully switch bodies with you, you know," Alexandra advised her. "And you didn't answer my question."

She met Alex's gaze squarely. "I am a woman. I never wished to become a nun or live as a celibate. I would like the same chance to enjoy what other females have. With my body as it is, I cannot.""Some men really love the skinny-supermodel look, you know." Alexandra's gaze turned shrewd. "Oh, I get it. You've already got your eye on someone, and he likes his ladies fully loaded."

Jayr cringed a little. "Something like that, yes."

"At least some of your hormones are in good working order." Alexandra chuckled, and then grew thoughtful. "There was another girl I met in Chicago-Jema Shaw-who made the change from human to Kyn. She was first infected with Kyn blood when she was a baby, and kept in a partial state of prepuberty for years by a nutcase."

"No nutcase has done this to me, Doctor," Jayr assured her.

"I know." She smiled absently. "It's just that by suppressing the development of Jema's pituitary gland, her nutcase doc was able to keep her human for thirty years. I'll need some very specific drugs, but I think that if I reverse his formula, I might stimulate your body to finish growing by itself."

Jayr allowed herself to feel a twinge of excitement. "Then I would be as I should have been. We have friends in the city who can obtain whatever drugs and equipment you require."

"I can't guarantee it will work, kiddo. There are enormous difficulties involved in using synthetic hormones on Kyn. Encouraging hormone production is going to be a lot harder than suppressing it." Alexandra picked up a notepad. "I won't promise you a miracle, but with some luck, maybe we can jump-start the natural maturation process."

"I would be grateful for anything you can do." Jayr held out her hand and clasped Alex's forearm as she would an equal. "My thanks, Doctor."

"You're welcome." She began writing. "Now let's put together a shopping list."

The beginning bouts of the tournament filled the next several days at the Realm with activity. When no further incidents occurred between Locksley and Nottingham, who seemed to be taking pains to avoid each other, Phillipe began to relax and enjoy himself. With Cyprien occupied in talks with his suzerain, and Alexandra content to work on her medical research in the infirmary, Phillipe took some time for himself each evening to go down to the lists, where the seneschal preferred to gather to talk and train.

Among the serving class of the Darkyn were men of myriad backgrounds and lineage. Once they would have formed subclasses, with the younger sons of nobles and wealthy merchants at the top of the pecking order, and former villeins and common laborers like Phillipe at the bottom. That had been part of their human lives, however, and the common bond they all shared as Kyn had, for the most part, erased those distinctions.

"Navarre, are you rested?" Will Scarlet called out from atop the Belgian he had wrestled to the ground. He spoke, as they all did, in the archaic French they had used during their human lives. "I fear the bones of my sword arm have grown thin as I waited for you."

"Bring them here when you are finished with your sweetheart," Phillipe told him as he belted his scabbard and pulled on his gauntlets. "My sword wants polishing."

Several men around them snickered at the blatant innuendo.

Scarlet cuffed the Belgian across the head, stunning him momentarily. He flipped him over and pinned his shoulders for a ten count to end the bout.

"Better, Eustace," he said as he helped his opponent to his feet. "I barely broke that spleen-wrenching hold of yours this time.

You but tarried too long powdering my face with the dust.""On the morrow," Eustace promised, rubbing the grit Will had tossed in his eyes, "I will persuade you to dine on it."

Scarlet laughed, slapped his shoulder, and shook himself off before joining Phillipe outside a dueling circle. "What is this I see, no armor, no braces? Am I to spar with you or a damsel? Not that I think the difference would be greatly noticeable."

"I trust you will not steal the heart from my chest." Phillipe removed his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. "After all, it is not Italian."

"Lucky for you," Scarlet said, more soberly.

"A poor jest, Will." Phillipe tied his hair back with a strip of leather. "How fares your master?"

"My lord Robin has removed himself to the range." The seneschal sighed as he pulled on his belt and buckled it. "Permanently, it would seem. All should be well, as long as he does not run out of arrows."

Phillipe scanned the long, barricaded corridor of the lists, but saw no unfamiliar faces. "The Saracens do not train, then."

"They are heathens, not idiots." Scarlet waited until Phillipe stood ready, and then stepped into the circle and drew his sword, bringing it up before his face in a formal salute. "On your guard, Navarre."

Phillipe so often trained with Cyprien, who favored fighting with two swords, that it took him one round to adjust his balance and blocks. Some of the other men gathered around in a loose circle to observe and shout their encouragement, mostly for Scarlet.

"Am I the underdog, then?" Will asked as he thrust his blade at Phillipe's ribs. Steel clanged as their swords clashed together and Phillipe forced him back a step. "It must be your pretty face that bespells them, my friend, for it cannot be these ham- handed techniques."

"Step outside the circle by one hair's width," Phillipe told him, "and their opinion of you will not be in vain."

Dueling had its rhythms and levels, as did a familiar opponent. Scarlet tended to disdain the customary practice of circling left and attacking to the right, but he would switch directions without warning and liked to follow a feint with a lethally swift thrust.

Phillipe knew he was a fraction slower than Locksley's seneschal, but he had more patience, and watched for opportunities instead of trying to make them. Had they been human, he could have simply exhausted Scarlet, but Kyn blood gave them a hundred times more strength and endurance. Legitimate duels between well-matched Kyn could last for five or six hours.

"If you intend to lurk instead of fight," Scarlet said testily, "I have bows to string and arrows to fletch."

Phillipe started to reply, and then jerked his head to one side to avoid losing an ear. His counterthrust came more from instinct than intention, and his sword pierced Scarlet's wrist, the steel tip exiting his forearm halfway to his elbow.

"Damn me." Phillipe yanked his blade out of the other man's flesh and signaled a draw by planting the sword in the dirt. With a grimace, Scarlet did the same. "Did I crack the bone?"

"No, but your steel bestowed a cold kiss upon it." Scarlet stepped out of the circle and accepted a length of white linen from one of the men watching. "Your responses are twice as fast as they were the last time we danced. Cyprien must be hauling you into the circle regularly."

"Four or five nights a week since summer," Phillipe admitted. "At first in preparation to face the high lord, but now... now I think he battles more inner demons."

"A familiar ailment." Scarlet mopped up the blood from his arm. "I must convince the seigneur to spar with me. Perhaps he can show me how I may fend off those plaguing my master."Reassured that he had not seriously harmed his friend, Phillipe accompanied him to the benches. By the time they sat down, the wounds had closed and Scarlet was gingerly flexing his fingers. For a while they watched the other seneschal duel, wrestle, and fight bare-handed.

Scarlet hooted as an Irishman disarmed two Spaniards with one sweep of his blade. "God's teeth, but that was handy."

"I've fought him. He's clever but reckless," Phillipe said. As if to confirm his statement, the next challenger quickly defeated the Irishman. "Who do you see taking first in the pas d'armes with the blade?"

"If I do not take on all comers?" Scarlet grinned. "Jayr."

Phillipe tried to remember seeing Byrne's seneschal in single combat. "She never competes in anything but the joust."

"We could goad her into it," Scarlet suggested. "When I see her next I will challenge her. When she refuses, I will mention that her back has turned a lovely shade of yellow, and you may remark that it conceals her lack of spine."

Phillipe knew that his friend did not speak seriously, and was as fond of Jayr as was his master, Locksley. It did not keep him from teasing him. "I thought you did not wish to spar with damsels."

Scarlet scoffed out some air. "Jayr eats damsels for breakfast." He stretched out his sword arm and sighed. "She also keeps the Realm running as tight as a Prussian's timepiece. Cyprien would do well to consider one day giving her a jardin of her own."

The thought of a woman serving as suzerain seemed a bit ludicrous to Phillipe. "No one would accept her rule."

"You've seen her wield a blade." When Phillipe shrugged, Scarlet added, "You've never sparred with her, have you? You should. It is an education in humility."

"I do not spar with females," Phillipe said.

"Nor does she, but for you I think she would make an exception." Scarlet jerked his chin toward a cluster of Byrne's men. "She trains daily with them, you know. They have great respect for her blade."

"Their lord's temper might have something to do with it," Phillipe said.

Scarlet laughed. "She will come soon. Why don't you challenge her and find out for yourself?"

Uneasy at the thought of fighting a female, Phillipe changed the subject, but a short time later Jayr entered the lists, followed by three of the men. Phillipe was surprised to see that despite the clear sky and fair weather, her hair was wet and her garments dripping.

Scarlet nudged him. "Here is your chance at thorough mortification."

"I would not disgrace her so," Phillipe said.

"Of course you wouldn't." Scarlet sniffed. "The mortification I spoke of would be yours."

Phillipe shrugged. "Perhaps. Why is she all wet?"

"She always trains so." Will watched her go to the armor hooks, where she took down and strapped on a chest protector. "So she will not set herself on fire." He saw Phillipe's face and laughed. "Watch, mon ami. You will see why."