Sern

The temple is a small, squat affair in the center of the village, unassuming and rather drab.  The most interesting thing about the temple is the large courtyard it surrounds.  At the center of this courtyard is a tree, possibly the largest in the world, certainly the oldest, and the small temple gives the impression of containing the tree, protecting it from the world.  Or perhaps protecting the world from it.

The courtyard is never empty.

The courtyard, and the holy tree at its center, is a gathering place for the vast majority of the village, because it is the most comforting place to be, filled with the prayers of future parents wanting children, new parents offering their gratitude for their children and exchanging advice, and children, running and laughing, brown skin made darker by the sun, black curls bleached yellow by the same.

The future parents are the primary concern of the priests in the temple, as the future parents are the most likely to go without food or sleep, praying to the tree and the ribbon they've tied to it for a child.  In a few weeks' time, if they are both devoted and truly want a child, the ribbon will adorn the oblong red fruit that will bow the tree's branches.

In that oblong fruit will be the beginning of a young child.  When the fruit grows to the proper size, a priest will carefully harvest it, cutting the stem above the ribbon marking parentage, and the parents will take the fruit home to begin the work of feeding energy into it, and the young child within.

Assuming that the fruit does not wilt due to lack of attention or toxic environment, it will gradually shade to blue on the outside, then grow larger and larger for five months, at which point, it will actively take the energy it needs from its parents, rather than passively receiving, and in a final burst, it will bloom into a rainbow-colored flower, vividest bright blue on the outside and deep, blood red in the center, where the new baby will lay, crying and wanting its parents.

Most parents keep the ribbon and flower as a memento for themselves and their children, all parents return to the temple courtyard, to offer their thanks to the parent of all, holy Casern, who has granted them their new child, and also to seek advice from each other, as well as the head priest.

Because the new baby will be a combination of the parents' energies, its young body and mind will be an amalgamation of the parents.  It is not uncommon for parents who have sustained disabling physical injuries to pass those disabilities, or a portion of those disabilities, to their children, and it is just as common for people born with such disabilities from their own parents to pass their inherited disability on to their children.

Similarly, parents with certain mental states frequently produce children with similar mental states, or, more commonly, children whose mental state is some unique combination of the mental state of the parents.

Such a variety of bodies and minds offers children, and their parents, the chance to learn and grow, and it is not uncommon to hear children exclaiming to their parents and peers about prosthetics or wheelchairs they have encountered that they like, or for children, deaf, partially so, and hearing alike, to make up hand signs together to describe things they encounter until they learn the true sign for it, as well as for children, blind, partially so, or not at all, to come up with words for their own experience.

The childrens' games, of course, naturally vary based on the ability of the group gathered, and either have audible, visual, and tactile components, or depend on teams, to accommodate for varying levels of ability and disability.  Lessons about the world with the priests, of course, are similarly crafted, though most children learn the vast majority of what they know from their parents and peers as they grow, from work and play, as well as from socializing in the courtyard, modeling what they experience from that environment.

On any day, the head priest will see many couples and triads of parents, some female, some male, some mixed-gender, offering advice for how to handle this aspect or that of parentage, reassuring nervous parents that their child's fruit is the right color for how long they've been home, so on and so forth.

Xe is very good at xir job, and xe enjoys it greatly, enjoys talking to people, meeting people, and, of course, watching the children grow up around the temple grounds nude as the day they were born in the tropical heat, variably investigating the physicality of a sex they don't have yet.

All children, of course, are born without sex, much like holy Casern, and they will be given four chances to try different anatomy as they age, depending on what they encounter in their studies that they are curious about, or based on what they are told.

Some children will first try a sex they are fairly certain they don't want for their first choice at 12, and change for their second choice at 15.  Others will choose the sex they think they want at 12, and try the one they think they don't want for their third choice at 18 before changing back for their final choice at 21.

Others are indecisive and switch back and forth, while some know what they want and make their choice immediately, never varying it, and still others find themselves surprised by how much they like or dislike a certain sex and change or maintain their decision accordingly at each decision point.

All such decisions affect how childrens' bodies grow and develop, because changing sex doesn't eliminate the effects of the prior decision they've made, and some children will choose no sex at certain decision points, depending on how they want their body to develop.

Some children, like many of the temple's priests, choose no sex for more than one decision point, precisely because they want to serve holy Casern, or else because being without sex is familiar and comforting to them, though most choose a sex at least once.

One child, to the high priest's vague surprise, chooses no sex for all their decision points, even though their parents are all strongly attached to their sex, and most of their peers are strongly interested in one sex or another.

Xe finally understands when xe prays to Casern, and that child, now an adult, appears before xir with a faint, pleased smile, standing before the massive statue of Casern, resembling the deity incarnate.

"Oh," xe murmurs, surprised by this development, earning a wider grin in response.  Xe falls on xir face, humbled and honored by the incarnation of holy Casern answering xir query for more information, as well as for the honor of having raised and taught said incarnation for all these years, though there is only one reason xe can think of for them doing this, at this stage of xir life, "I am ready for the end, whenever you shall deem it right to take me from this life, holy one."

"I know you are. But you have much work ahead of you."

Xe looked up to see Casern's genderless young incarnation give a slow twirl, turning to look up at the statue they stood below, "And I have much to learn yet."