If Rion hadn't just been through the strangest year of any person's life, she was definitely near the top.

Losing your humanity and manhood all at once was weird enough. Yet over the course of a few months she had embraced her new lot in life and found a new path for her future.

Of course those weren't easy months, but Sasha's assistance had proven very beneficial and Rion was more comfortable with herself than she'd ever been before the event took place.

It's just too bad so many others couldn't come to terms with things. One thing Rion never quite figured out is exactly what she wanted to do with herself after the event; her former employer wanted nothing to do with lycanthropes, which was an issue that plagued a lot of lycanthropes. She'd found odd jobs to make ends meet here and there, with heavy lifting labor jobs proving quite easy for Rion after she found another aspect to her Anomalous change - or maybe a strange effect of the strength potion Sasha gave her? Either way, she had discovered she can double the strength of her body for brief periods, which was quite a boon for the sort of hard work she often found herself doing. Nonetheless, money was always tight.

In retrospect, getting her records updated to account for her changes was the easiest part of those few months. And even that involved the exact level of insane bureaucracy you'd expect.

But nothing held a candle to the shock of Phoenix Incident. One bigoted prick with too many connections ruining so many lives... And he only achieved the opposite of his goal.

Things calmed down after that - people didn't want to accidentally spark another such disaster, but to many the damage was done. And to Rion, well, she decided to take "I don't want to live on this planet anymore" to a literal level. Sasha was finishing up her business on Earth, so Rion got in touch and asked if she could take her to Jade - the idea of following in Sasha's footsteps as a problem solver seemed appealing.

It was a rocky start as Rion had to adjust to life in a tech-free world, but once adjusted Sasha took her on in an apprentice role. Rion didn't have the innate talent for sensing solutions that Sasha had, but she had the sort of creativity that served such tasks well.

Along the way, Rion met a lot of colorful characters on Jade, but none stuck in her mind the way a jagwere lady named Sheila Silvear did. She had a birth defect that caused her hybrid strength and size to manifest in her human form, while her smaller hybrid form maintained her regenerative power and other lycanthropic benefits. A Reversal Anomaly as it was known on Earth.

But she never seemed to let it get her down - except, quite understandably, when she was mistaken for a child.

Rion and Sheila crossed paths several times. And each time after parting Rion found herself thinking about her more and more. Eventually there became simply no way of denying it.

Rion was in love. But she had no way to know how to approach the matter. She had no idea if homosexuality was taboo on Jade or not - sure, she knew Sasha was aggressively bisexual, but Sasha is, well, Sasha; no one on Jade is quite like her. And even if it wasn't, how do you approach someone about this? Even beyond her own feelings, if she couldn't find a way to solve THIS problem she certainly couldn't be a decent solver of OTHER people's problems! These issues generally aren't simple ones, after all - Sasha had been asked to adjudicate the matter of who would take the throne of a kingdom after it's leader died with no heirs, and the manipulations that went on in that kingdom were NUTS! And here Rion couldn't even solve the problems of her own heart.

These thought were swirling in her head as she set up at the Inn she and Sasha had chosen to stay in. She'd just seen Sheila at the pub but didn't say much, stating that she needed some sleep after the latest job. It wasn't true, but the whole matter was eating her up inside too much to really talk to Sheila at the moment.

It was a bit of a surprise when Sheila knocked on her door. When Rion let her in, it was clear Sheila was worried about something. Putting aside her concerns for now, Rion focused on trying to get her friend to relax and come out with whatever was bothering her.

And it was quite a bombshell when she finally did. Sheila had fallen in love with her, as well! And a very welcome one. When Rion confessed that she reciprocated the feeling, a great weight was clearly lifted off of Sheila's shoulders. But it was clear that having only recently considered the concept of being homosexual, Sheila was still nervous about the whole matter.

As denoted by her reducing herself to a nervous motormouth shortly afterwards. At least this time the solution was obvious, as Rion simply grabbed the petite jagwere, sat down on the bed, placed Sheila on her lap and said but five words.

"Just shut up and kiss me."

And so she did. And it was the nicest kiss of Rion's life - not simply a component of foreplay before a night of fun with a one-off fling, simply a genuine, tender lover's kiss. Maybe some of that hot lesbian action Rion had become accustomed to would come later, but that was not something to think of now.

For the first time in her life, Rion was genuinely, undeniably, happy with her place in the universe.

Outside Rion's room, a much larger jagwere smirked to herself before cautiously stepping away. Whispering so quietly that even Sheila's Jagwere hearing would pick it up, she summarized the situation rather nicely, "Some problems just solve themselves."

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Rion belongs to me.

Sheila Silvear belong to  fredgdperry

Artwork drawn by  jaeh