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“The male is clean,” the shoreman said, and everyone on the ship turned to look at Sky, who
looked at the group defiantly.
“Prove it,” she said, smirking.
Taken aback, the shoreman looked at her in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“Prove that I am a male, like you say,” he responded.
“Well, that’s simple,” he bumbled. “Take off your clothes, and that will prove to everyone that
you are a male.” Mab and Vashti nodded in agreement.
“That’s just crude!” Britta protested.
“Quiet, little nodnap,” Jewel warned Britta, but she ignored her.
“It is! If she claims to be a woman, we shouldn’t make her be examined by a man!” She looked at
Mab with pleading eyes. “Please.”
Mab sighed. “I suppose you have a point. Onto the ship, finalists,” she said, and Britta, Jewel, Sky
and Vashti followed her onto the ship, where she went with Healer Kay to confirm the accusation.
Britta, standing in the interior of the ship with the other finalists, shuddered as she saw male
crewmen guard the door to Sky’s chambers. “What do you think they’ll do to her?” she asked.
“I don’t know why you insist on referring to it as a she,” Vashti scoffed.
“You did before, too!” Britta protested.
“Little nodnap, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were in love,” Jewel said, laughing.
“I’m not in love,” Britta said, hiding her blushing cheeks. “I just think that taking a stranger’s
word over Sky’s own about her gender is wrong!” Noticing Vashti’s glower, she folded her arms
over her chest. “And I’m going to keep on calling Sky a she until she tells me she doesn’t want to
be called one.”
Just then, yelling came from down the hall. “This is unfair! I have a letter from Fardeep vouching
that I am a girl!”
“Well, clearly the old hermit never took a good look at what was between your legs,” one of the
crewmen said, laughing, as he pushed Sky towards what Britta knew was the dungeons of the
ship.
“He knew. And he still believed I was a woman,” Sky spat.
The crewman holding her stopped short, looking at his friend and Mab in confusion. “He what?”
“Come on,” Sky scoffed. “We live in a country where dragons can reproduce without a mate, girls
such as Jewel shave their heads, the ruler can be either a man or a woman, two people can live in
the same body, and that uses magical stones to heal ailments. Why is it so impossible that I’m a
woman even if my body doesn’t look like a woman’s body?”
Intrigued by the conversation, Britta and the other girls walked towards Sky. “A woman whose
body doesn’t look like a woman’s body? What’s that?”
“Made-up,” scoffed Vashti. “He’s clearly trying to ensure that he’s not disqualified from the
competition.”
But Britta understood, as she saw the way Sky’s face fell when Vashti used male pronouns to
refer to her. “I believe her,” she said.
“ That’s just because he saved your life,” Vashti countered.
“Actually…” Britta admitted, “I saved hers .”
Sky looked down at her feet, also admitting something. “I wanted to see if I could get a pearl, so I
went into the swamp. Britta saved me.”
“I don’t care if you’re a man or a woman, you’re still a foolish child, and you’re disqualified from
the competition,” hissed Mab. “And you’re going in the cellars until we’re back in Deltora, and
then we’ll see what your hermit mentor thinks of you.”
Britta watched as Sky, tears in her eyes, was brought down to the cellars.
“Well, at least that’s one less competitor,” Jewel said with a smile.