Tamsyn was also getting used to being Tamsyn.
Every day was an adventure, even in small things like shopping and meeting the guests. As Allun, interface with people had been very different. Men dealt with him in a jovial and friendly sort of way, as that was the sort of pleasant, fat man that he was. He wasn’t overtly macho so was not in competition at all. High flying men looked down and treated him as a lower sort, while women tended to treat him like a rather friendly but slightly smelly retriever.
Now, everything had changed. Older women treated her as if she was a daughter or favourite niece, particularly as she was respectful and polite. Older men flirted with her in a humorous and light-hearted manner. Younger men went all peculiar and almost made her chuckle with delight, and if there was more than one, they seemed to want to out-macho each other in her presence.
Girls of around her age treated her guardedly but generally, in a friendly way; younger girls showed her respect and smiled a lot at her, while younger boys tended to lose their power of speech and dribbled a lot. She found it all disconcerting and highly entertaining.
As each minute passed, Allun became less of a reality. Oh, his memories were still there, but Tamsyn found her thinking of him as someone else other than her – like a sort of benign fairy Godfather. He had paved the way and made it possible, but he was no longer part of her future.
Occasionally, as she idly felt the torque, she’d think about taking it off, just to see what would happen. Considering that on the last occasion, the change had been significantly slower, and yet, the return to being Tamsyn took but a blink. She hoped that there would be no change, but she wasn’t prepared to risk it.
One week after the change, she stood naked in the bathroom after having a shower, and examined her new self. The week had been like a dream, so occasionally she pinched herself, just to reassure herself that it was real.
She had no idea about the forces or powers that instigated the change, and she very much doubted whether she ever would. The Tamsyn of the dim past had somehow managed to recreate herself using Allun’s life force. That was what Gwen had said.
She had been guessing, but Tamsyn believed that she couldn’t be that far wrong. The girl who looked back at her with those amazing eyes was absolutely nothing like Allun, even had he been born female. The genes were just not there.
However, on a spiritual or emotional level, the girl was what Allun had been inside.
She recalled the last dream that Allun had experienced while on the plane coming to England. The tree was there, as was a building and ... him.
She frowned as she tried to recall the dream. She remembered everything from the visions she had experienced by the tree, both the one with the knight and the boy, and the other one with the old man. The dream on the plane was less clear. The knight in the vision was imprinted on her mind as was the sword and even the sharp pang of distress, as she looked upon the still form of the child as the knight left with the sword.
She shook her head, as the image of who she met in the dream was just not forming.
She ran her hands down her body, feeling a thrill of anticipation course through her soul. She adored being Tamsyn, even when doing mundane acts as washing up or making beds. Just being a girl meant everything to her.
As her hand reached that warm crevice between her legs, a different smile came to her face. She had not really thought about sex much latterly as Allun. But now, as she caressed herself and shivers of pleasure took her over, she was determined to not miss out. Gently manipulating herself to a point of ecstasy that she had no idea existed, she stopped and looked into her own eyes.
“Who will he be?” she asked herself.
“Who will be the one to make me complete?”
She grinned, as the future was just so exciting.
Mary brought her down to Earth.
“What are you going to do about your university course?” she asked as they cleared away the breakfasts.
“I don’t really know.”
“Do you want to continue?”
“Not especially. It was just a means of getting away. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and I like media.”
“So, what else would interest you?”
Tamsyn frowned. Allun had been a genius with computers, both software and hardware. That knowledge was built up over a long time of practical experience. It seemed a shame not to put it to good use and allow Allun’s life to be quite so meaningless.
“I might do computer studies; you know… the more hands-on technical stuff.”
Mary was surprised.
“What for?”
Tamsyn shrugged.
“I know a bit already, and it could be useful for me in the future.
“I didn’t know you were a computer geek,” Mary said with a smile.
“It’s not something I broadcast.”
“You don’t even have a computer,” Mary observed.
“I do at Portsmouth. I just can do without them, unlike some.”
“We’ve got a computer. I got it to do the accounts on, but ended up keeping them all in a book.”
“Do you want me to simplify things for you?”
“You can do that?”
Tamsyn was about to say that was what she did for a living, but managed to bite her tongue in time.
“Yes,” she said instead.
“Well, you’re welcome to take a look. To be honest, we don’t use it much at all. It was a good idea, but we don’t have the time to learn all the new stuff.”
Mary took her into the small office and pointed to the desktop computer that sat on the desk. Both the computer and monitor were pushed to the back and the keyboard and mouse were nowhere to be seen.
“Okay, give me a few minutes,” Tamsyn asked and Mary smiled weakly and left her alone.
Once she found the missing essentials (in the desk drawer), she plugged in the electric socket, modem cable to the hub and hoped for the best as she pressed the power-on button.
It took a while, but turned out it was Window 7 Professional, so was not XP as she half expected. Needless to say, the anti-virus program needed updating, as did the OS. The free upgrade to Windows 10 was offered, but Tamsyn knew that there were a lot of bugs that needed sorting before it would be worth anyone’s while to upgrade.
In any case, she had to wait for over a hundred and fifty updates to download and install. She left the computer to it and returned to her room. In amongst her belongings, she found a welcome pack from the university. Various numbers were in the book, so she called through to the Students’ facilities office and asked about the realities of changing courses for the second year.
She asked about various IT related courses. The helpful girl on the other end told her she would make some enquiries and get back to her. IT and Media were in the same block, so changing would not be too hard.
“There might be a check test to see how much you know already; otherwise, you might have to repeat the first year.”
Allun had built entire office systems from scratch, and then written bespoke programs that related to individual company need. Tamsyn was confident she had a greater practical knowledge than most of the faculty.
“Fine, just let me know,” she said.
Mary’s computer was fine; just unused. It took Tamsyn most of the morning to streamline the system so Mary could use the accounts program without all the silly whistles and bells that were completely unnecessary for her little business.
After lunch, she sat down with Mary and transferred the yearly accounts into the program, allowing Mary to do the last couple of weeks, so she knew how to do it.
Then, she set up a system so that guests could pay online for their bookings, deposits and balances, thereby removing the need for cheques and cash. It automatically invoiced and receipted payments, updating the accounts as the money came in or went out.
“It does all this by itself?” Mary asked, staggered.
“Yes.”
“So, what do I have to do?”