Couples counseling for the gender-swapped! Pet transformation trauma! Angsty teens! I should note, of course, that out of all the transformed in Tinto it’s the teens who have the biggest problems. Very little kids are practically identical gender-wise and grown adults would have to deal with a lot of uncomfortableness but would have maturity to fall back on, while teens are just getting used to themselves as sexual beings and are already confused as hell about it all, so getting the rug pulled out from under them would be extra-flabbergasting.
Also, yet another joke about how Kili’s settled in so well most people don’t even realize she’s got the valley curse.
One of the things I particularly noticed rereading the first chapter is that, of the male Dragon Doctors, Kili was the most anxious about going into the valley. She has the serenity to accept the things she cannot change, but that doesn’t mean she seeks such changes out.
Also, her venting her frustration by hair growth is still hilarious.
I do feel vaugely sorry for the peacock owner… but only vaugely. Get a male or two, wait a generation, should all work out.