“It’s private,” Basavi said. “I told xam—” She looked discomposed. Oh, this must’ve gone further than Tennal had guessed. That sounded like Istara had a personal gender reference beyond they, and they’d let Basavi use it. Sometimes people had more nuances to their gender than Tennal bothered with for his own, and sometimes they were public about it, but sometimes they weren’t; sometimes it was a major stage of intimacy just to let someone know. Unsurprisingly not many people had ever trusted Tennal that much. Tennal wasn’t going to ask about Istara’s personal gender, because he had some sense
...more
