It took me a couple of hours to get over the shock. I don't think Johanna is still over it and it's been a little more than three years since we found out that we have been banished to Corporeal.
She's not the same person she was when we were living in Tri-ethereal. Gone is the lively, free spirited, young female Trimorph I used to enjoy bantering with, frolicking with and going through union with. Now the only times she goes through union is when I make her. She says it's because of the headaches and the seven days in transition after union. There's probably some truth in that. But the bottom line is that she doesn't want to come out of transition. She doesn't want to face life in Corporeal.
She feels safe inside, in transition where the discomfort doesn't affect her all that much. After taking possession of our body she has to deal with fatigue, soreness, hunger pains and other body aches, none of which we had to put up with in Tri-ethereal. We even get sick here in Corporeal. I caught a cold last winter. It stayed with me for three weeks. Johanna stayed in transition the whole time. But so far that's the only illness we seem to be subject to.
She is frequently sad and moody. Let a dark cloud appear on the horizon and she gets depressed. Then when things get really tough, she immediately goes into deep transition.
She cries a lot. Well, not a lot but more than I think she should. Before, I seldom heard her cry. Now hardly a week goes by when I don't hear her cry or complain about something at least once.
She used to laugh at my jokes, even the corny ones. She'd tell me that my sense of humor was a joke. It's been weeks since I've heard her laugh. Nor does she give me advice on how to do things. Before, no matter what I did she would always have some constructive criticism for it. Now, there is nary a word, or if she does say something it's usually along the line of 'that's nice John' or 'that's fine John."
She doesn't write love poems any more. She says that there is no point in doing it. She says her prince charming was just a fantasy. Someone she invented to idle away the time. Now she says that she has to concentrate on more important things. But she never says what those important things are.
She claims that she is the same Trimorph she used to be only now she is facing up to reality. But I know that she's changed.
I've changed too since we have been here in Corporeal. I've become more conservative. Johanna says that I'm just growing up, maturing. But I don't think so. Now, I'm a whole lot more serious than what I used to be. Gone too are my carefree days. The old me has been replaced by a more cautious, watchful individual. I trust no one . . . except Johanna of course.
I got a job making and repairing fishnets. I got it our second day here in Tera. I met this guy who was complaining that his fishnets were all torn. I told him that I could fix them -- I made a butterfly net for Johanna when we were younger. He immediately put me to work repairing his nets. Before I was finished, a friend of his asked me to repair his nets. Then a friend of his asked me to repair his nets too. Soon I developed a reputation. Now I have so many orders to repair fishnets that I have to put them on a waiting list.
But the work isn't too hard and it pays well. It's also gives Johanna an excuse to stay in transition. She says that my customers and everyone would only get confused if they saw me one day and then her for the next seven days.
Besides, it might be dangerous for us to frequently change sexes. We don't know whether or not Corporealians would accept our body habitually going from male to female and back again.
Thankfully, it is not against the law to be a Trimorph. Indeed, they don't even know that such a being exists. Nor do they know of Tri-ethereal's existence. But Johanna and I came to a conclusion that it would be better if no one knew that we are a Trimorph.
So I make and repair fishnets and Johanna stays in transition watching me. I do the repairs sitting outside of a little room I rent from this couple who have a small bakery. The room -- that's also where I sleep at night -- is in the back of their bakery; it has its own entrance. In the evening when there is little danger of someone catching me "talking to myself," Johanna and I do most of our talking and comparing information of what we've learned during the day about this place. After, she goes into deep transition and I go to sleep.
I bathe about three or four times a week in a communal bath a couple of blocks from the little room I rent. I don't like it but it is either that or stay dirty.
Baak, he's the owner of the bakery, lets me use his oven to cook my meals. I eat a lot of fish but I guess that's understandable with me making and repairing fishnets. I also give Baak and his family fish to supplement their white bean soup. He gives me day old bread and white bean soup.
Johanna and I go through union about once every six or seven weeks. I have her do it so that we can keep the wheels from rusting, so to speak. I don't believe that we even have to go through union. Neither of us has any pain if we don't go through union -- we no longer have that drawback. She could probably perpetually stay in transition and I in possession of our body, if that's what we chose to do. But whenever I suspect that she is getting too depressed I have her go through union.
Union always cheers her up. It's not as ecstatic or rewarding as it used to be and it doesn't last as long. But we both still take pleasure in it. I guess you could compare union now with a night of partying and then waking up the next morning with a hangover.
Also, we both have headaches after we finish -- one of us immediately after taking possession of our body and the other immediately upon coming out of seven days of deep transition. That's another reason we only go through union every six or seven weeks and not more often. Neither of us likes to be without our counterpart for seven days after union.
It's weird. We can go into deep transition and come right out again after a couple of hours. But if we go through union then we don't come out of deep transition for seven days. I guess it's just another curse of the vinegar and hemlock poison.
We go through union in the evening when there is little danger of someone discovering us. She spends the seven days in the room I rent painting scenes from her memory of Tri-ethereal, leaving only to bathe in one of the communal baths and to buy food for herself. Painting, that's something that she never did before. I don't know from where she got the talent. She's pretty good at it. Whenever I ask her she says that she just picked it up.
No one suspects that I'm an escaped slave. I'm pretty sure that's because I keep myself clean shaven, my hair cut and I bathe frequently. Whereas most slaves are just the opposite; they have no way of keeping themselves clean. In fact, the only slaves who are clean are those who have been recently thrown into slavery. Neither the kingdom of Japek nor the city of Tera has prisons. Those who break the law are just thrown into slavery.
Johanna and I are slowly learning their hieroglyphics. It's an easy language to understand. Their alphabet only has about 10 different letters; the rest are pictographs. But we don't want to let anyone know that we can read and write their hieroglyphics, especially Johanna. It's against the law to teach females and slaves how to read and write.
That's what our life has been like for the past three years. I work on fishnets during the day and Johanna watches me. Then she and I study hieroglyphics in the evening. We talk about our future. When we get tired she goes into deep transition and I go to sleep.
All in all, it's not a bad life. I miss debating with Lord Kennington and playing chess with William. I don't like the fatigue, the soreness and the body aches after a long, hot day. I've learned to accept it. I'm also horny now. That's an emotion that I never had while living in Tri-ethereal. I relieve myself by masturbating in the evening after Johanna goes into deep transition. I've never told this to her; I don't want her to know that I'm horny.
I use my idle time trying to find out if anyone has ever heard of the writings of Gabriel or Gabrielle, of Trimorphs or of Tri-ethereal. Of course, I'm very subtle in my search. I usually go to a local tavern, to one of the public baths or to some such place and ask if anyone has heard of Trimorph monsters that come from the dark and forbidden land of Tri-ethereal. But as I said, so far no one has ever heard of such things or places.
A seafarer told me last month that there is a kingdom to the north of here, across the Syrean Sea. Greck, he called it. He said that the Grecks may know where Tri-ethereal is located; they are known for the explorations of the seas and oceans of Corporeal.
