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The Council of Thirteen

Book Four: The Thirteenth Lord

Family

Chapter 1: New Foundations

Beta:

Months after she'd killed her father, Dominic Tredecim sat in the room she'd been given in the Daidouji mansion in Tomoeda by Sakura-sama and Tomoyo-sama late at night staring at the two starkly divided halves of her closet.

One was full of her old, musculine clothes. They represented her old life as her father's slave. With nothing more in her life than constant, unrelenting training in preparation to be his successor. It was full of various non-descript, sturdy combat uniforms and the occasional casual outfit designed not for individual expression but for the purposes of infiltration should the need arise.

These were the clothes that she had been wearing even after her transition to her true sex. The only concessions she'd made to her new femininity was her acceptance of the need for a bra - The lack of support for her breasts without one having proved too much even for her. - and the use of feminine hygiene products to deal with her period. Though the less said about the latter the better.

The process of coping with her physical transition was not as difficult as she'd initially feared. Perhaps it was because it was her natural form and her young age - She was only just entering puberty after all - meant that the changes weren't really all that drastic. Besides having to deal with having breasts, small though they were, which were a pain, her only other major hardship so far had been learning to pee sitting down. That and her period, but again, she was doing her best to not think about that as much as possible. The hardest part for her was the mental transition as encapsulated by the dilemma in her closet.

Next to her old clothes was an entire other half that was almost empty save for a few all new feminine outfits. Blouses, skirts and dresses that had been gifted to her by her hosts in a bid to give her options from which to choose what she wanted to wear.

They hadn't forced any of it on her. Nor were any of the clothes particularly girly. In Sakura-sama's own words, all they wanted was to give her a choice. To choose for herself what she wanted.

For a long time, - Minutes? Hours? She didn't know. - Dominic stared at the two sides of her wardrobe, her eyes drifting slowly from one side and then to another.

"The choice," Dominic said to herself after what seemed like an age of silence. "Between being a slave to my past-"

She glanced at the side with her old clothes.

"And the chance to find myself." She said as her eyes drifted towards the clothes she'd been gifted.

"It's time I chose," she said with a sigh as she stood and worked towards her closet.

It was a beautiful morning, the spring sun was shining brightly down on the land and illuminating it beautifully whilst the lingering but fading chill of winter kept its rays from raising the temperatures too much, resulting in a healthy medium. The weather was nice and mild as well, so Tomoyo had decided that it was perfect to have breakfast out in the gardens. Thus she and Sakura sat at one of the domed pavilions in the gardens of her family estate enjoying their morning meal and waiting for the last member of their family to arrive.

"It's unusual that Dom is so late," Sakura commented with a worried frown as she finished taking a sip of her morning coffee. "She's usually up insanely early to go train but today's she's so late that she's even missed Sonomi-san."

Tomoyo nodded, sharing her wife's worry. Whilst her mother wasn't exactly known for leaving for the office particularly late so missing her at breakfast wasn't exactly that much of an issue, and the woman herself wouldn't mind it at all, but that the notorious early bird Dom had done so was a minor cause of concern.

"I've checked in with the staff," Tomoyo said with a frown. "Apparently she's not even left her room yet."

"Maybe she tired herself out last night and couldn't get up?" Kero-chan suggested from where he was munching on a cheesecake.

"No," Tomoyo said with a shake of her head. "The maids said that they heard her moving around inside her room, so she was awake."

"Then what is she doing?" Sakura asked, her frown deepening.

"Looks like she was busy picking out her outfit for the day," Kero-chan said with a chuckle as he pointed down the footpath leading to the pavilion with his fork.

Glancing in the direction that the animated stuffed toy that was Sakura's Guardian Beast was pointing, Tomoyo and his Mistress both gasped as Dominic walked towards them in a dress. It wasn't particularly fancy just being a simple floral printed belted sleeveless flared dress. It was the fact that the Thirteenth Lord was wearing a dress at all that shocked the two older women. The young teenager had after all thought she was, and physically was, a boy for much of her life and had actively eschewed her femininity as much as possible in the time since her true sex had been revealed. It was thus very much a surprise to see her seemingly embrace it now.

"W-What's the matter?" Dom asked nervously as she reached the table and noticed the flabbergasted looks Sakura and Tomoyo were sporting.

"You're wearing a dress," Sakura said, recovering ahead of Tomoyo herself. "It's a surprise seeing you do so."

Tomoyo nodded, before smiling and adding. "It looks good on you."

"Thank you," Dom said with a blush as she hesitantly adjusted her skirt and took a seat. "I wanted it to, so I took a while picking it out. Doing up my hair wasn't easy either. The guides on YouTube weren't as helpful as I'd hoped."

"So that's what you were doing all morning?" Kero-chan asked as Dom played with her newly styled hair self-consciously.

Despite allowing it to be cut to a manageable length and not protesting when Tomoyo had asked it to be trimmed to a slightly longer one that was the norm for boys, Dom had previously adamantly refused all calls to have it styled. As such, to see her go out of the way to have done so, by her own hands no less, was perhaps just as, if not more, startling than her wearing a dress.

"Yes," Dom nodded as she served herself a portion of the cheesecake.

"If you were having trouble, you could've asked us for some help." Tomoyo offered. "We would've been glad to help."

"I know," Dom said with a grateful smile as she poured herself some coffee. "But I had to do this myself."

"Why?" Sakura asked delicately.

"Because this," Dom said, gesturing to the dress. "Is my declaration to myself and the world that I've made the choice to be my own person."

Tomoyo exchanged a look with Sakura.

Was Dom being serious? Yes, they had sent her to extensive sessions with various mental health professionals to ease her into accepting her new reality and she'd been making steady progress but this nevertheless seemed a little abrupt.

It's her choice. Sakura reminded her telepathically. As her guardians, we should be supportive. Cautious but supportive.

Tomoyo nodded. Sakura was right. They should be wary for if Dom backslided or this was a symptom of something problematic, but at the same time they should still recognize this as the major step forward that it was.

"Congratulations, I guess?" Kero-chan said, uncertainly. "Not sure if that's the right thing to say here."

"Thank you, Kero-san." Dom said nodding at the diminutive current form of the Guardian Beast.

"I'm happy you made the choice," Sakura said with a beaming smile.

"You have our support," Tomoyo added smiling at their ward as well. "Always."

"Thank you both," Dom said, her eyes glistening with what Tomoyo hoped were grateful tears, as she hastily looked down at her meal to hide them.

"That said," Sakura added, her tone wary. "I hope you're not intending to completely abandon your past while trying to forge your new identity."

"Don't worry, Sakura-sama, Tomoyo-sama." Dominic said earnestly. "I'm not going to do that. For better or worse, my past, what I was and what I did, defines me and will continue to do so for the rest of my life. But I don't want it to shackle me either, I want to move forward and I've decided that embracing my true sex is my way of doing that."

Sakura and Tomoyo exchanged another worried look.

Cautiously supportive. Tomoyo told her wife telepathically, reminding her of her own argument earlier.

"If you're sure," Sakura said carefully.

"I am," Dom said firmly.

"Then we'll support you all the way." Tomoyo said, offering their ward a smile and reaching over to give one of her hands a gentle squeeze.

"Thank you," Dom said, smiling happily like she'd been given a great gift. A sight that broke Tomoyo's heart and had her cursing the girl's father because she knew her ward was reacting this way because the blasted man had never been supportive of her and so to the girl any such behavior from them was something she treasured.

"You two have already given me so much," Dom continued nervously. "So I'm leery of asking for any more, but could you do me a favour?"

"We've been happy to help you, Dom." Tomoyo reassured her. "And we'll be happy to keep doing so. What is it that you need?"

"Yes, what is it?" Sakura asked with her trademark kind smile.

"From now on," Dominic said hesitantly, her hands unconsciously grabbing fistfuls of her skirt. "Call me Dominique ending in 'que', not 'c'. It's small, but-"

"But it's symbolic," Tomoyo said with an understanding smile. "And that matters."

Sakura nodded. "Of course, Dominique. We'll call you whatever you're comfortable with. Right, Tomoyo?"

"Sakura's right, Dominique-chan." Tomoyo said, taking one of Dom's hands and giving it a comforting squeeze.

"Thank you," Dom said with tears in her eyes. "Thank you for everything you've done for me."

Several hours after the emotional breakfast, Dom had headed to one of the training rooms that had been built in the Daidouji mansion's basement to allow the resident magicians a chance to practice their magic. Training had always helped her to center herself and after making her choice earlier this morning and the affecting revelation of such to her guardians, she found herself in need for such.

Thus she was busy in the long, largely empty room, cycling through some of her spells and testing them against a collection of targets she'd set up all around the room.

She was just gathering her magic to form a void blade around her right hand, intent on using it to cut apart a dummy she'd used Shadow Step to teleport through the shadows to get behind when a sudden realization came unbidden to her mind.

This was the spell I used to kill Father.

The thought caused her to freeze mid motion just as she was about to stab the dummy and more importantly for her mind to blank whilst she was channeling her magic to finish shaping the void energies she'd conjured into the desired blade. This lapse in concentration caused her to lose control of the half-formed spell which allowed the void energies to escape containment. The moment they did and came into contact with the material world, they reacted violently as contact between nothingness and creation always did. This resulted in an explosion that sent Dom flying into a wall. Hard.

The blast and the subsequent impact with the wall would've been fatal. Thankfully though Dom always wore a series of defensive wards around her person. Thus despite the violent consequence of the failed spell, save for the shattering of a few layers of the magical armor that made up her wards, Dom was unhurt.

The whole incident was something of a shock though and as she slid down to the foot of the wall, she could only stare at the scorch mark on the training room floor that the explosion had left behind in stupefaction.

When she finally did regather her wits though, all she could do was let out a bitter laugh.

The void blade had been her favorite spell! Using it to finish off her opponents with a stealthy, unexpected stab had been her signature move! And now she couldn't even cast the spell without it blowing up in her face!

"Some Assassin Lord I am," Dom chided herself. "I can't even get over my Rite of Ascension."

"You'd be surprised by how many Thirteenth Lords have said the same thing to themselves in the past," the Twelfth Lord said as he materialized out of nowhere to sit next to her. "It comes with the territory of having to murder one's predesccor, often one's own parent, as part of the rite."

"I take it that you make it a point to visit them all to help them work through it?" Dom asked as she eyed the spectral projection of her fellow Lord of the Thirteen warily.

The Twelfth just laughed, causing Dom to glare at him.

"Apologies," the ancient said with an apologetic nod. "It is just that practically all your predecessors asked the same sarcastic question of me when I visit them in the same circumstances. You Tredecims are all so much alike."

"I suppose thousands of years of traditions helped to mold us into similar people," Dom said with a roll of her eyes. "Now answer my question."

"Very well," the Twelfth said, making it sound like he was doing her a great favour instead of just answering a bloody question. "I come by to help the newly ascended Thirteenth Lords like yourself 'work through' their feelings regarding their ascension when it is necessary."

"And you think I need your help?" Dom asked, skeptically.

"Do you?"

"You're here, aren't you?"

"Yes, but do you need my help?" The Twelfth Lord asked with a knowing and almost teasing quality to his voice.

Dom furrowed her brows in thought. Did she? Did she need help getting over what she'd done? Her Father was hardly the first person she'd killed. As part of the training he'd put her through, she'd killed her fair share of people. Both those deserving and those not. Of those, she knew that her Father was one of the former. In the course of his life and especially during his tenure as Thirteenth Lord, he'd done plenty of heinous things that marked him as deserving of death. So long as it furthered his goals, whatever they were at the time, her Father would do anything. That and she had made peace with having to kill him to take his mantle eventually as was their family's tradition dating back to the very founding of the Council.

But why then does my killing him still haunt me? Dom asked herself as she looked at her hands. The hands that had done the deed.

"Perhaps the better question is what really haunts you?" The Twelfth Lord said. "Oh, and before you ask, yes you did say that out loud."

Dom frowned but gave her fellow Lord's question some genuine thought. What really was the source of her issues about killing her Father?

"I-I think," Dom began after a long moment of introspection. "It was really the suddenness of it all. I knew one day I would have to kill him to claim his mantle. He was grooming me all my life for that very purpose. But-"

"But what?" The Twelfth Lord urged when Dom trailed off.

"But I never expected to do it when I'm just a kid!" Dom declared angrily. "I always thought that I would only become Thirteenth Lord when Father was old and grey or at least once he started slowing down. Not when I was barely twelve! And then there's the sex change and all that on top of it! All this bullshit just because Father had the indecency to die!"

"Anger was not what I expected," the Twelfth Lord said with a chuckle.

"Better I be angry at it than cry." Dom said even as she fought against tears anyways and her stomach churned with the deep unease and uncertainty of her future. "I refuse to cry for killing that man! Not after all the crap he put me through both in life and in death."

"Your family always did have a knack for channeling things into productive expression," the Twelfth Lord said with a shrug.

"Damned right we do. Considering our family trade, we'd be unable to function if we didn't." Dom said as she stood and prepared the spell she'd failed to cast earlier. The one she'd used to kill her Father.

With the Twelfth Lord looking on expectantly, she cast it successfully. The void blade forming perfectly around her right hand, she took a single Shadow Step and teleported directly in front of one of the training dummies which she proceeded to cut to pieces in a series of lightning fast swings of her conjured blade.

As she used another Shadow Step to teleport back to the Twelfth's side, Dom couldn't help the broad grin that stretched across her face. She'd done it! She'd gotten over the mental block! It felt like doing so was like lifting a huge weight off her shoulders.

"Well done," the projection said genuinely as it applauded her accomplishment.

"Thank you," Dom said, tears of relief flowing down her face.

Dom looked into the mirror of her vanity and checked herself over one last time. Dressed in a fleece lined double layered hoodie worn over a loose knitted sweater and paired with a simple plaid skirt, she looked every bit a normal girl. A look that was further emphasized by the way she let her hair, which she had started to let grow out, hang casually with only the minimum of styling.

"No one will suspect a thing," Dom said in satisfaction as she finished her final once over of her appearance.

Dressed as she was, she would fit right in amongst the people of Helsinki where the target was located. Sure, she didn't necessarily need to blend into the crowds to get close to the rogue caster who had mind controlling trolls and using them to get up to some rather unsavory things in the Finnish countryside. She could've used magic instead but sometimes the simple solutions were the better ones, especially in her line of business. Magic sensors were a thing after all.

"No, they won't." Sakura-sama agreed. "Though must you do this? Go out on a mission, I mean."

"Sakura's right, Dom." Tomoyo-sama added. "Are you sure you're ready for this? Because if you aren't, I'm sure the Twelfth can activate someone else to go handle it."

"I'll be fine," Dom reassured them. "Besides this is an assassination and I'm the Assassin Lord. There's no one better to do this."

Both her guardians sighed at this, resigned to the fact that they could not change her mind.

"You promise to call for help if you need it?" Sakura-sama asked, changing tack.

"Whatever help and for whatever reason you might have?" Tomoyo-sama added, worrying her lower lip.

"I promise," Dom reassured them as she hugged them in turn. "But I'm sure I won't need to. I've got his schedule down pat, it's like clockwork. All I'll need to do is intercept him as he goes to his favorite cafe for lunch, kill him and teleport home. I'll be back in an hour, two tops."

"Don't rush things," Sakura-sama warned her. "If you need to take longer than do so."

"I will," Dom said with a nod. "I know what I'm doing. So stop worrying."

"We'll always worry." Tomoyo-sama said with a shake of her head. "So go, before that makes us do something rash like forcing you to stay."

I wouldn't put it past them. Dom thought with a giggle. Especially Sakura-sama.

"Alright," Dom agreed. "I'll see you two when I get back. Bye!"

Without waiting for a reply, Dom teleported away whilst the couple looked on worriedly.

Done!

So I avoided going over most of the rehabilitation that Dominique went through to accept her new reality with a timeskip. Sorry if anyone wanted to see it. I do not feel qualified writing it even after researching the topic, so I jumped to a point where I am more comfortable.

On another note, some of you might notice that the wardrobe scene is similar to one I used in Rise of Prodigies which I write with Engineer4Ever. That is because I find the scene does quite well in conveying what I want it to, so I reused it. Hope nobody finds fault in me doing so.

Lastly, I just wanted to point out that this chapter is mainly to cover that Dom is finishing her transition out of being a wreck and into a normal person, or as normal as any of my characters are, again. Now that she has, her story can finally begin. What do I mean? Well, keep reading to find out.

Till next time hyvästi!