"I am not good with surprises."

"Please be a bit more patient."

"Ouch! What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? That hurt." Mirum makes a face keeping her eyes close.

"You are such a hatchling."

"I feel a sensation."

"Does it hurt?"

"No."

"You can open your eyes now."

Mirum blinks open her eyes and looks around the drawing-room.

Everyone is staring.

"Please, this attention is too much." Mirum looks to the floor.

Odea comes over, "My dear sister, here." She hands over a mirror.

Mirum looks into the mirror and sees a Silurian looking back.

"Is this me?" Mirum is shocked to hear her voice coming from the face in the mirror. "I am Silurian!" She looks up to her sisters, "I am Silurian!" Mirum looks to the back of the room and sees her Mothers.

Mother Vastra is supporting Mother Jenny.

"What is wrong?"

Mother Jenny leaves the room in tears.

"What is wrong? Someone tell me, please?"

"It is my fault. I am sorry." Mother Vastra leaves to the room to attend her wife.

Mirum looks to her sister Odea who shrugs, "I don't know."

"Possibly, she feels like you are rejecting her and her humanity." Jennifer offers as possible explanation.

Mirum looks at herself again in the mirror, "I am not rejecting ..." She looks to Odea, "I am Silurian inside."

"I am human inside." Odea comes to her sister's side. "We are two sides of a coin."

Ada whispers to Odea, "I prefer Mirum the other way."

"Why would you say that? Do you find her better looking?" Odea becomes defensive.

Ada quickly comes to Odea, "I need say this, and I want you to listen to me."

Odea nods.

"Have you ever met someone who you thought was beautiful, and then they began to talk. Instantly they became less appealing?"

Odea thinks careful before she answers, "Yes. That woman who is always looking at our notes in literature class."

"Have you met an average looking person but once you got to know them their outer appearance becomes more appealing?"

"Yes."

"When I see you I don't see Silurian. I see my Odea." Ada touches her Silurian's face with a gentle touch, "I do not see scales or a anything specific trait a Silurian; I see you. When I see Mirum, I do not see a human, I see Mirum. Sometimes, especially when she spars, I swear I see scales under her skin. She is powerful inside, and I believe she is beautiful without the perception device."

"But her inside ..."

"She is evaluating herself based on an outside expectation. Nobody, and I mean nobody feels comfortable in their bodies. Everyone has inner conflict. It is a part of being alive; it is about growing up and having pride in yourself. Your mother is probably upset because she doesn't want to see any of her family to hurt. She probably has seen with your Sister Alaya. It is hard to watch someone you care hurt."

Odea smiles, "You humble me with your mind."

"Odea, turn off my perception device." Mirum asks her sister. Odea takes hold of the bracelet and switches it off.

Mirum without hesitation goes to find her mother.

"Ada, how do you see me?"

Ada blushes, "I see you. Is that enough?"

"Do you see human skin or scales?"

"Both, it depends on the situation."

"When I spar?"

"Scales."

"When we sit and read?"

Silence.

"Ada? Do you find me ... attractive?"

Ada shakes her head yes, "Very. Please do not ask me further questions."

"Just one." Odea comes closer and whispers softly, "Do you like my tongue?"

Ada extends her arm behind her, "You truly have to ask?"

Odea grabs her Ada's hand without questions, "Please."

"My god Odea." Ada turns with a bright red face, "I am very attracted to you. Please no, more questions."

Odea leans into Ada and touch foreheads, "My dear Ada, you please me too."

Mirum knocks on the master bedroom door, "Mothers?"

Mother Vastra answers the door with her tall frame taking up the full space of the opening, "Yes Mirum?"

"I need to see Mother, please?" Mirum eyes are red from holding back her tears.

"Your mother is not ..."

"Let her come into our room."

Vastra watches her wife attempt to make herself presentable, wipes tears from her eyes and checks herself one last time in the mirror.

Jenny nods to her wife.

Vastra opens the door and allows Mirum to enter their personal domain, "Please enter."

"Thank you." Mirum stands in the middle of the room.


Year: 1919
London

"Please, one more night."

"Mirum you must learn to keep yourself warm."

"It is not fair you have mother to keep you warm."

"When you are old enough you shall get your own bed warmer. Until then you must be satisfied with your hot water bottles."

"Vastra, it is cold."

Vastra pulls back the blankets.

Mirum leaps into the warm space next to her Mother Jenny.

"Thank you."


"You are not like Odea. The only time I could be able to hold Odea is after she is numb from playing in the ocean or snow. You were completely dependent on my human warmth."

"I have always come to you for warmth." Mirum stands tall allowing her long hair to fall past her shoulders, "Why did you leave?"

"You were happy and I became emotional."

"I like your emotions. I depend on them more than your warmth." Mirum looks down at her feet. "I am sorry."

"Why are you sorry?"

"Because you hurt, it was not my intentions."

"You did nothing wrong towards me."

"I am not rejecting my human side."

Silence

"You are rejecting yourself. You are a Silurian hybrid like your two sisters. It would be better to be full human or full Silurian. But that is impossible due to our biology and procreation. Have I failed you in accepting yourself?"

Mirum begins to break, and her hands begin to stiffen.

"Your outward appearance is ..." Jenny's voice becomes choked.

Vastra speaks up, "Your appearance is not a burden, it is you."

"But my inside ..." Mirum stands firm, "I have a Silurian heart. It beat stronger and harder than Odea's."

Jenny looks to her daughter and takes a deep breath, "You are very beautiful ..."

"For a human."

Jenny is annoyed at being interrupted and snaps her head towards Vastra.

Vastra exits the bedroom.

Silence.

Jenny sits down on the bed and begins to weep.

Mirum stands there watching, afraid to move.

Vastra returns to the bedroom with a black bound book. She immediately goes to her wife, picks her up in her arms and whispers things to console Jenny.

Mirum watches the intimacy; it is different. She has come to this room time and time before; it has always been for her comfort. This time she feels an invader to their intimacy.

Jenny is placed back on the bed and Vastra sits next to her.

Jenny leans over and grabs the black bound book. She opens it and pats the bed, "Come here Mirum."

Mirum comes to her mother's side.

Jenny points to photographs. "Here is my family portrait. You can see you look like a member of my family."

Mirum looks at the photograph, "Is that your mother?"

"Yes, and that is my father." Jenny points to the tall man in the photograph.

Mirum smiles, "You look like them."

Vastra softly adds, "You look like them."

"I do?" Mirum grabs the black book out of her mother's hand to get a better look. "Who is that?"

"Me."

Mirum flips a few pages, "Is that you?"

"Yes."

"Why have we not seen these before?"

"My dear, I do not have fond feelings towards my parents. All my memories have been trumped by their treatment as I grew older or replaced with new ones."

Mirum nods as she has heard the stories, and it aches to know that the same blood flowing in her body is capable of such hatred.

"I was not like others; my heart did not flutter when a cute boy would pass by or pay attention to me. My body is female, and I am supposed to marry a man and do what every female has done for generations. But my inside, my heart wanted ... the company of other women." Jenny grabs her wife's hand, "It would have been easier to wear a perception device and turn into a man to become more socially accepted. But I love the way I look."

"I am attracted to your mother," Vastra adds, "To her spirit and her human shell."

"My insides didn't match what society ... my family expected from me in my choice of spouse. I am not upset that you feel Silurian inside. Your mother is Silurian. I love your Mother with every cell, every strain of hair of my existence." Jenny looks at another picture and points, "Look how awkward I am. I laugh how much I wanted just to read and learn about the world. My parents wanted me to be the perfect wife and have many children."

"You did accomplish what they wanted."

"I brought them shame. I am a wife to a beautiful female Silurian."

"I could have taken the difficult route and allowed them to arrange marriages, have a husband and given them all the grandchildren possible. But my heart, my inside ... my soul wanted everything but a husband." Jenny stands, "If you want to wear the perception device to help you feel more whole, by all means. But know this, Mirum, it will not bring you happiness. Every single time the perception device is switched off you will look human again. You need to come to terms with who you are my dear."

"Who am I?"

"You are Mirum. You have made every day wonderful by just being yourself. There's no one else in the world quite like you."

"Is that enough?"

"For those in your life, yes." Vastra pulls up her daughter to stand tall, "Your challenge is to allow yourself to be enough for you."

"I like seeing the Silurian me." She smiles brightly.

Jenny takes the black bound book and puts it on the side table, "It will all be a waste if my daughters reject what we have created."

Mirum looks to her mothers, "I don't know how to respond."

"Just learn to love yourself." Vastra whispers, "Embraced your Silurian strength, it is about time you take hold of your humanity."

"How do I do that?"

"I believe we have a solution." Vastra looks to see her wife smiling.

Saturday morning Mirum scuttles into breakfast with her warm clothes, quickly pours herself a cup of coffee and leans against the warm stove. After her first sip she feels the warmth running through her body she opens her eyes to see her mothers, Alaya and Fiona smiling. "Oh for the goddess, now what?"

"After breakfast you meet us downstairs. We have you for the day." Jenny says with a hint of a demand in her voice.

"Where are ... ?" Mirum stops as she sees her mother Vastra subtly shake her head no. She takes another sip of her coffee and exits the kitchen. "I shall return shortly."

"Don't you want breakfast?" Alaya asks loudly.

Mirum yells back as she heads up the stairs, "I have my coffee!"

Jenny returns to 15 Savile Row, "Vastra! Vastra!"

"I am here." Vastra comes to the landing and looks down, "By the smile on your face, the day went well?"

Jenny runs upstairs and hugs her wife, "It went wonderfully. I do believe our Mirum will be fine, over time."

Vastra looks down the stairs watches Fiona and her beautiful daughter walk up the stairs with hesitation, "Your hair. Is that like Mae West in 'I'm no Angel'?"

"Yes, do you like it?"

"It is quite flattering. Although I don't understand why you don't let it grow long."

"It will grow back," Mirum smiles, "I can try new styles. I feel lighter, and I do not have to pull my hair back to spar." Mirum swooshes her hair back and forth.

Fiona is wearing a hat hiding the short red curls, "Where is Alaya?"

Vastra points without taking her eyes off her wife, "They are all in the drawing-room listening to the cricket match." She smiles, "My dear you are inside. Unless there is a new fashion I am unaware, please remove your hat."

Jenny smiles and slowly turns her head left and right.

Vastra makes an attempt to take off the hat and Jenny dodges out of the way.

"Promise you will be kind."

"I am always kind."

Jenny quickly laughs and runs to their bedroom and shuts the door.

"The game has begun." Vastra smiles and slowly heads towards the bedroom door, enjoying the anticipation of what lies behind.

The door cracks open.

Vastra stops.

A white hand comes out to place on the knob a 'do not disturb' sign and the door shuts again.

Vastra's eyes grow wide, and she lunges to the door. She takes a deep breath, turns the door knob, opens the door and quickly closes it behind.

Mirum and Fiona blush as such a spectacle.

Mirum quietly walks on the landing and is prepared to head straight to her room.

Fiona loudly announces, "We are home." She walks into the drawing-room pulling Mirum behind.