well guess in this case turn about is fair play.a nice dark storie.Many of the other comments critize how the charlie two shirts handles things.Heck look at his name(which sounds like disney..lol).anyway i think the people who critize the revenge in this story should ask themselves how inasent they whould be toward some one who has wronged them.If giving a chance at a revenge that can't be proven it was taken.In case of the story-a man cheeted a tribe for greed.As revenge that man is now a woman,who canot prove,who she was,and there is no mention of reality altering as in so many other majic stories.So technically speaking this woman doesnot exists in any relaity...a perfect crime...Personally perfect revenge whould be very tempting for me,in some cases.Who else is willing too admit there not as innocent as they think if giving a situation like this?

you punish one type of behavior in men, but reward it in women?

Lesson learned... there is no nobility left in the world. The tribe ripped off Alice as Alan ripped off the tribe. Very cynical view of the world, though not wholly unjustified. But it seems more that you're moving on from condemning all of malekind as being beyond salvation and leave to just condemn individual men who deserve it. Either that or this story just seems less strident than others. Makes for a much more enjoyable and less angersome read.

I tend to agree that the tribe went a bit far in punishing Alice the way they did. I think perhaps keeping her female on a permanent basis would have been enough. She could have made monetary payment to the tribe plus interest, but the tribe wanted more than that. Charlie should not be the only villain in my opinion because the elders could have stopped what he was planning at anytime, but they did not so they are just as much to blame.

I would suggest that Alice find a suitable attorney (one that deals with magical malpractice) and proceed to sue the whole reservation. You could have the other two women who helped Alice make the arrangements to rescue their boss from the evil clutches of Charlie. Maybe you can do something particularly nasty to him, because what he did to Alice was nothing more than rape. I am not saying Alice doesn't deserve to be punished, but rape to me does not seem to be proper no matter what the reason.

Kim.    

It's a good story, well told with good characterization.

Alice got a fate that she deserved, and the physical and mental transformations were well described.

One point, though.  The word "squaw" comes from a Native American word that is about the worst insult you can call a woman.  Native Americans absolutely hate the term.  They NEVER use it.

Ellie

An excellent story gone bad.  Great insight into NA feelings/culture but  the ending left me cold and maybe angry.  i cheered when a wrong was righted and amends were honestly taken only to find out that the avenger was lower than then "wronger(?).

Maybe you could do a second ending either with the lesson learned or self-imposed  or learned permanacy.

What I found to be the worst thing about this story, which was well written despite it's unfortunate turn, was the view it takes on native culture.  After all native culture was one of the very few historically with a posative outlook on transgendered individuals.  Many native tribes revered those people born with two souls (as they expressed it).

So Charlie turned out to be just as much a bastard as Alan had been, worse, since he resorted to outright slavery over Alice.  My sympathies were with the tribe at the beginning and with Alice at the end.

The story started out with revenge being planned for a wrong, then the story ends with a wrong.
It is said that 2 wrongs don't make a right.
I thought the story could have been better prepared/written, though the premise of a curse to right a wrong is entertaining.  This story was not entertaining.

I don't get it.  The NA said that she'd be turned back after she gave them a child, but then the fine print somehow contradicted that?  Urggh I hate when authors don't follow their own rules.  Ruins the story for me.

truely entertaining