Nine of Swords, Reversed by Xan West

Author:Xan West
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: genderfluid, trans literature, non-binary literature, mages, ghosts, kink, Oakland, contemporary fantasy, D/s relationship, Jewish literature, autistic character, disabled characters
Publisher: Xan West
Published: 2020-01-05T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

The next day, the first thing I noticed was the cobalt geometric design on my amethyst sheets. I let myself sink into it, tracing the diamond shapes in my head, lost in the pleasure of the pattern for at least twenty minutes, grinning. The colors in my room were one of my greatest joys. They made my brain dance and twirl and sing. Much of the time they were muted by pain, barely there through the fog. I knew it was a good day when I opened my eyes and swirled around in the colors. That day pain was a low hum in the background, and I was more clear-headed than I’d been in weeks!

I sat up to make a list. I needed to talk to Noam about the house. I needed to tell them how not being Sir had cut me off from my empath skills; maybe their connection with the dead had also been impacted. I needed to talk to Noam about a plan for addressing the internalized ableism we both had intertwined with our sense of our D/s roles. I needed to set boundaries about service while they were in pain. I needed to tell Noam about my dream-vision, and the Nine of Swords reversed. There was much to discuss...because we had not been talking, for too long. We needed a plan for regular communication, too. I wanted to start making plans, today.

Noam and I ate breakfast quietly, listening to my favorite comfort read audiobook together. They knew it, though not as well as I did, and smiled when the ghost appeared for the first time. It was one of their favorite parts.

“She travels with him, as he wanders in exile,” I said softly.

“Yes, Sir.”

“One of those things that differentiates magic in stories from magical reality.”

“Sir?” They looked up at me, puzzled.

“In the story, the ghost travels with the person, but ghosts are tethered to places. Like Levi is tethered here, girl.” Noam was girl today.

“Um. Sir, I think you may not understand how it works. What gave you the impression that Levi is tethered to this house?”

“I don’t know, it was just something I always knew. Are you saying he isn’t?”

“No, Sir. It is rather like the story. Levi’s a dybbuk; they cleave to people, not places. My teachers said he had to be a different kind of ghost, an ibbur, cause he’s benevolent and dybbuks are supposedly all malevolent, but I think that’s bullshit. Life is too complex to simplify things into good ghosts and bad ghosts. Levi doesn’t do what dybbuks are known for, that’s why my teachers said that. He respects my boundaries, only goes where he’s invited, doesn’t do that take-over-my-body thing people associate with dybbuks.”

What? “You don’t live here to be close to him?”

“No, Sir. He likes it here, because it’s familiar, it’s where he grew up, too. But he’s liked other places. He came with me to Santa Cruz, when I went to college. He liked the redwoods, the campus.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.