I left the farm where I lived. Well, not exactly left. You can say I ran away, but I call it taking a risk for the long run.
I was walking to a village to ask if they needed a blacksmith. It was a good thing that I packed enough food for a week before faking my death. Wondering what I'm talking about? Well, in order to run smoothly away, I faked my death by pretending I got kidnapped. I cut my finger a little bit and left a trail of blood from the bed to the windows. I then left the windows open. My "husband" will go try to find me, but after a while, he'll give up.
I also disguised myself by cutting my hair all the way to my neck. It probably isn't a very ladylike hairstyle. But I'm trying to become a blacksmith, not a lady, so it really doesn't matter. Walking to the village, I knocked on the door of a random house. When the person opened the door, he looked at me suspiciously. I looked at him back with a smile.
"Who are you? You're not from this place, are you? I know everybody here, but I've never seen you before," he said suspiciously.
He had a beard and mustache, brown eyes, and brown hair. The clothes he was wearing were a little bit dirty and wrinkled.
"Hello. My name is Alan...y. Alany. I was wondering if this village needed a blacksmith," I said, making up a new name.
I accidentally said my actual boy name but then realized that couldn't be my name. I was in the body of a girl, and Alan was a boy's name. And then I realized something else! I was in the body of a girl. This means that it would be practically impossible for this person to believe that I'm a blacksmith.
"Does your husband want to work as a blacksmith for this village?" He responded.
"Not exactly. I'm the one who wants to work as a blacksmith if you mind," I replied back, a little nervous.
I had a feeling that I would fail because I was in the body of a girl. And I was sure right.
"You shouldn't joke, miss. You're a woman, and you're supposed to take care of your husband. You should go back home and cook dinner for your husband. I'm sure he'll appreciate it," he said, laughing like he was hearing a joke. Before I could reply, he closed the door.
I stared at the closed door for a while and felt downcast. After thinking for a little bit, I looked up and saw that it was getting dark. It was a risk to run away from home, and now I needed a place to live. But I had nowhere to live, which was a big problem. When I almost walked around the whole village, he heard someone whispering next to him.
"Do you need a place to stay," a woman said in a whispering tone.
"Y-Yes," I responded, surprised.
"You can come with me," the woman said while motioning him to follow her.
I didn't know If I should trust this stranger, but I knew I had nowhere else to go. In the end, he decided to follow her after weighing the pros and cons.
While following her, she led him to a house and motioned for him to come in. I walked in and looked around. It was a general living room with chairs and a table. There was a shelf pushed to the wall with some books and decorations. A candle was lit on the table, which let us see things instead of darkness.
The woman motioned for me to sit on a chair. Since I wasn't used to this girl's body yet, my sitting position was a little bit awkward. She stared at me with a funny look and then ignored it.
"Can I trust you?" she said with a solemn look.
The facial expression made me feel nervous. Kinda like something big was happening.
"Y-yes?" I said, my nervousness making it sound like a question.
She looked at me suspiciously, then finally took a deep breath and started talking.
"I heard your conversation about how you want to become a blacksmith. But after you told him, he just laughed like he heard the funniest thing ever. You see this discrimination between men and women. Would you like to end it?" she said while staring at me.
I was surprised. When I was me, the actual me, I never felt anything wrong with the treatment between men and women. Then after I turned into a woman, I felt that women were discriminated against. But even after I thought like that, I never thought about changing it. Men being the ones in power was so deeply engraved into my brain that I felt it was the way it was supposed to be. But when someone finally asked me if I wanted to end it, I couldn't say no.
The thought that men are supposed to be above women limited my brain and made me never think about changing it. But once someone said it, I could finally think about it. And in the end, I realized that my previous thinking was wrong. We should end the discrimination against women. Not just because I'm in the body of a woman, but because it's actually wrong. The Declaration of Independence wrote that everyone should be treated equally, but problems like slavery and discrimination against women were never solved. And if no one solves it, then who will?
Looking at the woman, I made up my mind. I knew that this answer would change my whole life. My goal would change from becoming a blacksmith to ending the discrimination against women. But even if it would change everything, I felt that I wouldn't regret it.
"Yes," I said with a confident smile.