Walking together with Mänd, he could feel so many eyes on him. It wasn't helping that he was also staring back, mostly at the women. He hadn't seen real women before and deeply intreged by them.
There were little females, the young, the prime of age and the old. They didn't look very healthy but mostly strongly built other than the children. They were stronger looking compared to his almost patit body.
He was considered tall among ger but managed to be small here, who depressing.
Before the empire was built and humanity was had yet to get a foothold in space, humanity had had to give up a lot, some of which could not be gotten back.
When humanity had fleed from the motherworld due to the irreversible distraction to her, space and the remnants of the virus they created had dealt them a harsh turn, Of the original three genders of male, female and ger, the females were hit hardest as there were less and less born. In time the entire female gender died out, leaving only the male and 30% ger population.
In mika's time, females were known to have existed but they were mostly depicted or mentioned in history, art or used as muses/ bases for IA like Mahlia etc.
The females were never truly forgotten, they just somehow took a more fictional role as time went on since no one had met a real female, kind of like how no one has met a god or fairy but still had depictions of them.
But here he was, surrounded in a sense by the fairytale existence . It would be strange if he didn't stare when he so many of them and looked at them with pure admiration. If only they thought the same.
Mänd noticed the footsteps next to him had disappeared and turned around to look for Mika, only to see him staring at the females of the tribe and them snickering back at him.
'Does he like those females? It can't be, some of them are old and middle-aged, he's too young to have such odd taste. '
Mänd sighed and pulled mika's arm to get his attention. Mika turned to him with a questioning look on his face but no lust or desire in his eyes.
The pure look in his eyes made Mänd doubt if the boy truly had interest in the tribes females. His intense stare may have had other reasons since his eyes do not convey want.
" Have you not seen females before? How can you just look at them in such a rude manner? If the already have mates, it would be seen as a challenge. "
Mänd enlightened him.
Mika took a while to process what he said and realized he had indeed done something rude.
" I have no interest in them. I am ger and also female, why would I be interested in other females?
I look at them because there no women were I come from"
Mika said to Mänd, who only looked at him back in a questioning way.
'No women in his tribe? Then how do they give birth and why does he call himself female? He is obviously male!'
Mänd stood stuck in place for a while unsure if he should go on ahead and introduce Mika to the chief or send him back to his cave to check for head injuries again instead.
He was no worried the boy might say something strange to chief that may offend him.
" I don't like who you are looking at me. I am not crazy and that look offensive."
Mika said and glared at Mänd when he saw the "am worried this person is crazy look".
There seemed to be a small crowd forming around them as they spoke, mostly made up of people wanting to see Mika up close and some males who had seen Mika looking at their females and got offended.
Mänd noticed the situation and pulled Mika away from there.
"I don't know why you think you are a female, but please do not tell anybody other than me that or you may find yourself in trouble." Mänd cautioned
" I don't think am female like them."
Mika said pulling Mänd to a stop.
"I am not sick. I don't know how to make you believe me but I have said no lies."
He said a little coldly to Mänd.
The serious light in his eyes convinced Mänd he was not talking crazy. But Mänd still found it hard to believe that a person who looked no different from a male was in fact female.
Mänd shook his head to clear his mind a little, gave a thoughtful once over to Mika and took his hands into his own.
"I may not have know you for long, but I do not want any bad things to befall you. You seem a little naive but am going to say this once, trust no one.
You seem special and that may get you hurt here as you have been deemed a feral. If you truly are female, tell no one. "
Mänd warned.
" I will do all the talking before the chief, you are to follow my lead. It's for your own good"
Mika could only nod. Without Mahlia here he was starting to feel a little lost.