Content warningstransphobic parent

  [colpse]Epilogue: Thanks2026 October 25SundayAoife stands in the middle of my room on the third floor. For all practical purposes, though, it’s the shared sleeping space of Aoife, Cire, and I. Cire’s room primarily serves as our wardrobe, and Aoife’s room is where we study or hang out.

  “How do I look?” Aoife asks.

  They are wearing suit pants with a shirt and vest perfectly tailored to the shape of their chest.

  “I think you are a very handsome girl,” I say.

  They blush right through the subtle makeup they’re wearing.

  “Oh, I almost forgot,” Aoife says. “Look at what Paige found for me in the first floor storage room.”

  Aoife reaches down to grab an object off their desk chair, and they pce it on their head. It’s a hat with a tear drop crown and a short brim angled down in the front. A trilby.

  “Paige says it was taken from one of the boys they brought in a few years ago. Can you imagine?”

  I can, sadly.

  “I’m sure it looks a lot better on you than on them,” I say.

  Cire emerges from the bathroom. She and I are both wearing flower-pattern dresses, and yes, mine has roses. Unlike Aoife, I prefer to dress more feminine during special events. Cire wears dresses about half the time already, though usually not as nice as the one she has on now.

  She takes a look at Aoife’s hat and then raises an eyebrow while looking at me.

  “Are you two ready to head down yet?” Cire asks.

  “I think so,” Aoife says. “Shall we?”

  They offer an arm each for the two of us, and we proceed toward the stairs and the dining hall. We’ll be among the many graduates and current girls-in-training who have gathered in celebration of Aunt Bea’s birthday. And unlike when we were in our second year, there’s no work to do. We’re welcome to simply spend time with our found family while enjoying some food and drink.

  Or maybe finding family is a more accurate term.

  We enter the dining room. While everybody is still gathering around and finding their seats, one of the songs off of Chappell Roan’s second full album is pying over the speakers. She’s so overpyed in the Hall these days, I almost miss Taylor Swift.

  We see Beth, Stephanie, Pippa, and Aoife’s ex Leigh sitting at a table together. After the three of us join them and we exchange pleasantries, a woman I don’t recognize takes a seat.

  “Aoife, do you remember my friend Eva?” Leigh says.

  “Of course,” Aoife says. “Um, are you…?”

  Eva giggles. “Yes, I was with Edy.”

  Eva looks around for a moment—we’re not expecting any reason for us to be on our “best behavior” tonight, but Christine might get upset if we let something slip to an outsider—and says, “Turns out she’s my half sister. Learning that was quite the shock to a boy taught his father is literally the chaste and holy Voice of God.”

  Beth looks like she just realized something important. “Wait, Eva and Aoife. That’s an amazing coincidence.”

  Leigh immediately chimes in. “It’s not as amazing as you think, Beth. Eva and Aoife derive from different… you’re messing with me, aren’t you?”

  Beth shoots her the finger guns.

  Not long after, the second years start rolling out the starters and the party begins in earnest.

  * * *

  After all of the second years have departed and several others as well, we hear the clinking of a spoon against a coffee mug. Aunt Bea, sitting at the head table next to her partner Aunt Val and several of the more senior sponsors, rises to speak.

  “Good evening dies and, of course, non-binary individuals.”

  I give Aoife’s hand a quick squeeze. They announced their desire to switch to she/them pronouns shortly after graduating at the end of our third year.

  Aunt Bea continues. “Thank you all for coming and staying with me until the end of another long evening. While my age continues to rise, so does the size of my family, and I’ll happily take that tradeoff for as many years as I’m given.

  “As usual, I’d especially like to thank those that traveled far to get here as well as those who would not have had to travel far to get away. I am talking, of course, about some of the current members of our programme.”

  She introduces the handful of third years who managed to stay awake. It probably doesn’t hurt that most of the alcohol being distributed at this point comes mixed with coffee.

  “Now, I would usually leave it at that to give Maria the opportunity to find more refreshments, but while I have your attention, I would like to introduce one more individual who is here this evening:” Aunt Bea points toward my table. “Young Rose here is the first American graduate of our programme, and, I suspect, not the st.”

  I hear some murmurs from around the room, and one somewhat inebriated girl loudly asks, “How did your NPH work?”

  The NPH or New Personal History is the new identity graduates create with their sponsors before leaving the Hall. Apparently, the woman financing the Hall is able to pull quite a few strings to make the NPH appear legitimate to concerned bureaucracies. Unfortunately, her connections for such things are mostly limited to the UK.

  I take a moment to think of what to say and to focus on my accent. “Put simply, I was given a choice, and I’m not talking about the choice all of us made to complete the programme as women. That choice was easy, and I had made it months prior.

  “The choice I was given was whether to undergo extensive speech and culture training—a forced Britification that I imagined would have my sponsor Bethany spritzing me with water any time I said ‘elevator’ instead of ‘lift’—or to forgo the NPH entirely and act as though I had transitioned under more typical circumstances.

  “And y’all, the look on my dad’s face when I told him he had a daughter was all I needed to know I’d made the right decision.”

  In truth, that moment over video call when my father reconfirmed every awful thing I knew about him was one of the worst moments of my life. It didn’t matter that I’d written him off already. Cire and Aoife still had to work incredibly hard to console me afterward. But, it is Aunt Bea’s birthday, and I feel compelled to entertain.

  Cire grabs my hand underneath the table and quietly asks, “Are you alright?” I put on a gentle smile to reassure her that I’ll be OK, and we continue to hold hands as Aunt Bea finishes her speech.

  Now that she is finally free to do so, Maria does in fact sneak off to find some more wine. I greatly pity those scheduled to watch the boys tomorrow morning.

  2026 October 31SaturdayI walk through the dining hall toward the metal door beled Maintenance. It really does look like a gateway to Hell. The first time I tried passing through this door after moving upstairs, Beth had to hold my hand and offer reassurances that it was going to be OK.

  She said, “Abandon all balls, ye who enter here.”

  I’m pretty sure she took that from one of the mugs, but it did put my mind at ease enough to continue with her across the threshold.

  Having already paid the price, I pass through the door. I go down one flight of stairs and enter the security room. Mia and Serena are currently on camera duty. Serena is drinking coffee from a mug I had made that says, When life has you 4th and long, it’s best to punt the balls.

  Mia—this trans girl stereotype still insists on always wearing something with cat ears attached, usually a hoodie—helps me to register a taser. Then, she hands me a small bag and a medical sharps container. I pocket the taser, secure the other two items in my hand and under my arm, tell her thanks, and head further down the stairs.

  I proceed down the main hallway, turn toward the bedrooms, and approach the second door on the left, behind which is the same room that both Beth and I called our own when we lived in the basement.

  Using a security app Christine wrote for us and put on our phones, I check that the room’s occupant is decent. Forget what I said before; I’m gd Christine is putting her skills to work here.

  Certain everything is in order, I knock on the door and announce, “I’m opening the door, Finn.”

  As I enter, Finn protests. “I could been working on my sample, you know!” Deja vu.

  “I checked the cameras and verified you weren’t. Now, are you ready for your vitamin shot?”

  “Fine, whatever.”

  I swab his thigh, pull out a syringe already loaded with estradiol valerate—even with all our resources, it’s hard to acquire better esters—and do the injection just like Rabia showed me.

  Finn has an odd look on his face.

  “You alright?” I ask.

  “Yeah, that just took a wicked long time is all, and it reminded me of something. What’s up with that, anyway?”

  “It’s suspended in a thick oil. Helps with the vitamin D.”

  He appears to accept that answer.

  I tell him, “We’ll be administering these weekly from now on. You have a good night, Finn, and don’t forget to put your sample in the dumbwaiter before going to bed.”

  He grimaces and says, “Right… the sample.”

  I step through the door, make sure it’s closed, and stop to think. His reaction to the shot was odd, and he seemed less than enthusiastic about creating a sample. And I was somewhat surprised by the size of his nipples when Rabia was doing the medical exam this morning.

  Maybe sponsoring Finn will be easier than I feared. And that’s good, because tomorrow I have to do something even more daunting.

  2026 November 1SundayI take a slow sip from the RUD mug Beth gave me two years ago and start a new conversation in Consensus.

  > A copy of this conversation with an undisclosed individual will be provided to Dorley sponsors in case followup action is warranted. Always practice good opsec.

  UnexpectedFlowerHello.

  EggWifehiare you really going by Rose now?

  UnexpectedFlowerYes. Is that a problem?

  EggWifeno problem. just kind of funnymaybe I’ll expin ter. I’m sure the name suits you

  UnexpectedFlowerIt does, surprisingly.

  EggWifeif you don’t mind me asking, how did this happen? I know a few girls who used to be spiky eggs, but you take the cake

  UnexpectedFlowerSo, Stephanie. Your friend who helped organize this conversation.

  EggWifeyes

  UnexpectedFlowerI ran into her a couple times on the Saints campus.It’s where we both study.

  EggWiferight

  UnexpectedFlowerActually, she always seemed a little nervous when we met. Almost like my reputation proceeded me.

  EggWifeyeah… about that

  UnexpectedFlowerI understand.Although I did misinterpret what was going on and tried hitting on her. ??

  EggWifeoh no

  UnexpectedFlowerDespite that, we ended up talking long enough for me to meet her girlfriend Bethany, and somehow Beth and I hit it off and became good friends.

  EggWifeshocking really

  sorry

  UnexpectedFlowerNo, that’s fair.

  So Beth is an out and proud trans woman. Steph is too I guess, but Beth does not know when to stop talking, and I eventually learn about her.And for once in my God damned life I actually listened to someone instead of flying off the handle.A lot of what she said about her life pre-transition really resonated with me.Like a scary lot. Like it was her job to force out the girl hidden inside me.

  EggWifeI’m not too surprised. she cracked Steph’s egg too

  UnexpectedFlowerI heard.Well, I start learning more about the process, and I quickly realized that I didn’t just want to transition, but I’d actually need to do so if I was going to survive.Fortunately, Beth and Steph shared their connections and resources, and that’s how I became Rose.We’re still very close. I’m even living in the same dorm they do.

  EggWifethe one for disadvantaged girls? I’m not saying it shouldn’t, but does simply being trans qualify you? I thought you were rather well off

  UnexpectedFlowerMy dad was furious when he found out about me. My mom was more empathetic, but she wasn’t able to convince him not to cut me off.

  EggWifeI’m sorry about that

  UnexpectedFlowerIt is what it is. Honestly, he was a pretty awful person, and it took until all of this for me to really appreciate it. I wouldn’t mind maintaining some kind of retionship with my mom, though.

  EggWifewell, I’m really gd Steph and Beth found you, Rose. though I must admit I did not see this coming

  UnexpectedFlowerIf you’d have asked me three years ago, I’d have said the same thing. ??

  EggWifehaha. you know, I was not expecting to enjoy this conversation. I actually want to know more about youare you seeing anyone?i swear that wasn’t meant to be a proposition

  UnexpectedFlowerlol. I doubt your wife(!?) would be comfortable with that arrangement, anyway.

  EggWifegf

  UnexpectedFlowerok… Anyway, I’m seeing two someones. Aoife and Cire. My girlfriends are both so wonderful.(first is pronounced Ee-fa)

  EggWifedamn, girl

  UnexpectedFlower??

  It’s getting pretty te here. I should go soon.Can I ask a favor, first, though?

  EggWifemaybe?

  UnexpectedFlowerI’m not going to ask for her forgiveness, because what I did in our dorm room was unforgivable. But if and when you think she’s ready to hear it, can you please tell Lily I’m sorry?

  EggWifeI think I can do that for you, Rose. and we can stay in touch if you’d like

  UnexpectedFlowerI would.And thank you. Not just for talking to Lily, but for whatever you said to Steph. It’s like a hundred things had to fall into pce, but they did, and it saved my life.So thank you, Nora.

  EggWifeyou’re very welcome, Rose

  abstractCow