Outnumbered

“Do you object?”

“If history is any judge, I did a pretty bad job at handling one woman.”

“You’re doing pretty well with us so far.”

“Am I?”

“Yes.”

Iris closes her eyes and relaxes against me. She is asleep moments later, but I can’t bring myself to nod back off. I just watch her closely as I try to sort out everything she said. I can’t make sense of all of it, but it’s clear she is afraid of someone—an unnamed man who wants to kill her.

Do I take this threat at face value? Is there literally a man out there in the world who wants Iris or Seri or Netti dead? Or is there someone else, someone unknown inside of her, who wants to take control? Can someone with multiple personalities have multiple genders as well?

How am I supposed to protect her from that?

And what am I doing here? Am I now in a relationship with two women occupying the same body? Am I supposed to have one with Netti as well? Is there even any point in trying to make

sense out of any of this? I don’t have any answers, so I just hold her. I hold her, stare at the fire, and try not to think about how I’m ever going to get used to this.

But I am used to it. I’m used to her presence here with me. I’m used to her walking around the cabin, helping me with daily chores, and I’m used to her warmth when I sleep. I don’t want Seri or Iris or Netti to leave. I like having them all here.

I must be insane.

The woman in my arms stirs. She yawns and stretches, and I watch her closely as she opens her eyes. I must be getting used to this because her smiling expression tells me that she’s Seri again.

“Hi,” she says, and then blushes as she pulls the blanket close to her chest. Her smile disappears, and she winces.

“How are you feeling?” I ask her.

“A little off,” Seri says with a shrug. “My stomach is still bothering me.”

“Want something to eat? It could help.”

“Sorry.” She blushes again and shakes her head. “I think I need to just get it out of my system.”

She excuses herself to the bathroom for a while. Solo pounces on me, demanding to be fed.

“Yeah, yeah,” I say to the kitten. “Come on. Let’s get you some food.”

He’s much more interested in the caribou meat mixed with broth than he is the milk, so I let him feast on that while I get breakfast ready for me and Seri. However, when Seri finally comes out of the bathroom, she says she isn’t hungry. I hand her a cup of coffee, but she only sips a bit of it.

Seri stays quiet as she sits in the chair, ignoring her coffee and paging through a book. She seems embarrassed by the whole issue with her stomachache, so I don’t say anything about it. The turmoil from the night before has left me exhausted, so I lie down on the bed with Solo on my chest. He steps back and forth, treating me like a ball of bread dough.

“Hey!” I poke at the kitten. “Your claws are kinda sharp, you know!”

He meows, unfazed, and continues to knead me. I stroke his fur, noting how much softer it is now. He looks like a regular kitten and not like a half-starved runt. He decides to crawl onto my shoulder and stretch out across my neck. He actually makes a pretty good scarf, and I drift off for a while.

I’m pulled from my sleep by Seri jumping up to make another bathroom trip. When she comes out, she’s pale. She shuffles over to the fire with her hand over her stomach.

“You okay?” I ask as I sit up, forgetting about the cat. Solo tumbles down my chest, rights himself, and then struts off as if nothing happened.

Seri nods her head but continues to wince. I bring her a glass of water, which she drinks without hesitation, but she still looks pale.

“I think I might have a bit of a stomach bug,” she says with a slight grin. “Just my luck, huh?”

“I’ll get you some more water.”

“I’m sorry,” Seri says.