A Date With Diana

Two men in suits of armor emerged from a nearby tent, and the crowds around us cheered. They’re not gonna actually hurt each other… Right? Showmanship on full display, the two each pulled out wooden weapons, brandishing them at one another and then the audience.

Diana and I stood by the fence. She put her weight on it, leaning forward and cheering with the rest of the crowd. The two combatants, one with a blue scrap of cloth on his arm, the other green, faced each other, bowed, and began dueling. Their dance of blades was mesmerizing, as if every swing and step were choreographed to be as enthralling as possible. Diana assured me it wasn’t, though: these two were actually in the heat of a duel to determine entry into a prestigious unit of the Empire’s army.

The blue one faltered, tripping over something on the ground. Green seized the advantage and moved for the ‘kill.’ The first round ended in his victory.

As the crowd’s cheering died down, Diana yelled out at the knights, “Come on, Katrina, eyes on the blade! You better not fall that easily!” The blue knight looked over and waved.

I nudged her. “Who’s Katrina?”

“The one who just lost. Aspiring knight. I helped train her last year.”

Oh, so it was not two men in suits of armor. I probably should’ve known by now to at least check that assumption whenever it arose, but I couldn’t help it.

The next round ended when Katrina, with an unexpected parry, sent Green’s sword flying off and put hers to his neck. The crowd went wild.

With everything on the line, the tiebreaker was even more frantic than the last two rounds. Flurries of strikes I could barely make out were blocked by an equally quick series of deflects.

The clack-clack of wooden swords rang through the air for over two minutes. “He’s slowing down,” Diana noted. It was true. Green’s strikes became easier to see. Katrina noticed this too, pressing the advantage. Finally, she parried him again and ran her wooden blade ‘through’ him.

As she yanked the weapon out, she yelled at the top of her lungs, “GET OWNED!”

I froze.

…What? Did I just mishear her? That was… That’s my phrase. From streaming.

As I reeled from the outburst, Diana and the rest of the crowd roared, and the two combatants exited the field.

How did… That’s not a normal thing to say in a fantasy world, right? For sure, right? Did I say it somehow here and it carried over? That’s not possible, I’ve only been here for like five days at most. But how else would she have known that?

My mind was spinning in circles. I braced myself against the fence to stop the bubbling nausea and confusion that was quickly taking over.

Diana must have noticed this, asking, “Hey, you all good, princess?”

“I’m… ah…” How do you even start to explain that? ‘Hey, yeah, that knight there just said my catchphrase from when I streamed video games on the internet in a different world. Oh, uh, the internet is like-’ “I’m a little thirsty, I think.”

Diana snapped her fingers. “Then I know just the thing. Give me a second.” She dashed off back towards the vendors.

Marie, who had been watching from a ways behind, came up to me. “Miss Elisabeth, are you alright? It looked as though something dreadful overcame you.” She tended to me with worried eyes.

If there’s anyone I could tell, it’d be Marie. Surely.

“I’ll be fine. I think the crowds just got to me a little.” Later. I’ll tell her later.

She felt my face with the back of her hand. Kinda cold. She released her breath. “Yes, I know how poor you fare with large groups of people.” With a smile, Marie commanded me to call for her again if I felt off, and went back to her viewing spot with Margot.

Not a moment too soon, Diana returned, holding two frosty glass tankards of something colorful. The scent of fresh fruit filled my nose.

“Here you are, one tall glass of oraist for the beautiful maiden,” she bowed as she handed me the drink.

“Thank you, Diana.” I took a cautious sip. A tasty liquid with hints of citrus and berry touched my lips and instantly refreshed me.

“Good, right?”

With my face covered by the glass as I downed it, I was unable to speak. “Mmm!”

The hydration did help calm me down. At least, the dizziness faded. We faced back to the arena as another set of knights came out, this time with red and white wrappings, respectively.

They began to fight, but to tell you the truth, I wasn’t so interested in that. My emotions were a complete mess, my mind a swirling cauldron. In addition to that “get owned” incident, something else was creeping into my mind, giving my brain a massive bone to chew on.

It was about Diana. She had come back and treated me like, well, an actual date. Her continual flirting — and yes, I did recognize it for what it was, I’m not that dense — didn’t make sense to me. Initially, I was under the impression it had been a joke, just her personality. But after Diana made a specific point to announce to Aileen, the strawberry girl, that we were on a ‘date,’ another thought had arisen in the back of my mind.

“Hey, Diana?”

“Hmm? What’s the matter?” She broke her gaze away from the battle.

“Could I ask why you keep on... You know, treating me so gallantly? You keep calling me beautiful.” I shuffled my feet.

“Isn’t it obvious? I’ve fallen in love with you,” She flashed her most suave smile.

…Huh?

Okay, maybe I was a little dense.

“But, you’re a woman, and so am… I.” The latter half of the sentence got caught in my throat.

Diana devoted her full attention to me, and her tone was serious. “That’s correct. What about it?”

“Is that normal for you?”

I couldn’t meet her gaze.

Her voice was full of concern. “Do you not have da-sheorsach people in the kingdom?”

“I don’t know what that means.” Man, I’m getting a little tired of them saying these foreign words as if I’m supposed to just know them.

“People who like both men and women. As in, attraction,” she explained.

“Um, no. I don’t think so.” I paused. What I was about to say wasn’t technically a lie, but the pit of my stomach sank as if I were hiding something. Which, to be fair, I was: I wasn’t from this world. “In all my life, I’ve never met a… person who likes both before.”

“Hm.”

The sounds of knightly combat and the delighted crowd should have taken over, but the world fell silent. Unbearably so. Please. Say something. Anything.

After some thought, she posed a question to me that sent me into a spiral of self-doubt — a question I had never seriously been asked before.

“Are you attracted to men and women, too?”

No.

I’m not gay.

But if not, then what am I?

I like women. And I’m… The thought was almost impossible to complete. A breeze blew my new long hair back. My weight shifted. It all drew my attention, every part of my body, from the fat on my chest to my feet on the ground — all wreathed in femininity. And it wasn’t uncomfortable.

But I’m… I’m a man... Right? On the inside, at least?

So, a man liking women is normal. Straight.

But I’m a woman now, so liking women would make me kindred with Diana, in some way. Is that what she wants to hear? But then, if I’m a woman, to be straight would be liking men. I refuse to entertain that thought.

I refuse.

I…

I gazed up at the bright blue sky.

Why don’t I want to like men?

I had to respond.

“I… don’t know. I don’t know, Diana.”

With tenderness I hadn’t seen from her before, she softly spoke — three simple words that shot straight to the core of my heart.

“And that’s okay.”