Pet Peeve by Piers Anthony

his hair, putting a ribbon into it. “You are no longer Gory Goblin, chief's son,” she said. “You are Goody Gobliness, a common girl. Remember that; your safety depends on it.”
    Then foreign goblin men burst into the chamber. “Haa!” they cried. “A wench and a brat!”
    They hauled the nurse into another room, where she duly screamed. Goody they hustled to a chamber with other children, then ignored them all.
    After that, the raiders settled in. The older goblinesses became their servants and the younger ones their screaming partners. Goody did not know what was going on, but was glad to avoid it. He stayed with the girls, and never let on to anyone that he was not the same as them. In due course the boys were taken away as hostages, leaving only the girls.
    A few days later a counterattack wiped out the raiders. The chief returned. Now at last it was safe for Goody to reveal his identity. At first the chief laughed uproariously to learn how his son had outwitted the enemy. But when it became apparent that the boy's nature had changed, he was disgusted.
    Reverse wood! No wonder he's so nice!
    But it's not the talent.
    It seems to be connected, though. Do a slow talent search.
    Goody moved forward through his life, growing up despised, being tacitly exiled, and finally being upset because of the nasty Finger. His original self would have loved the Finger!
    Then he opened his eyes back in the present. Hannah was holding his hand. She was the one who had given him strength and courage during the flashback.
    “Are you back?” she asked.
    “Yes, thank you.” He glanced at their linked hands. “But I thought you didn't want to—”
    She let go. “I didn't want to give the bird the satisfaction. But it was clear you needed support, and that was the only way to give it. So, as a friend would—”
    “A friend,” he said, liking it. “It really helped. Did you see what I saw?”
    “Yes, when I was in contact with you. You had a rough time as a child.”
    “I hate the memory.”
    “Of what happened to you?”
    “Of what I was originally. Those women—they were being—and I laughed, though at that age I didn't know the details, just that they were suffering.”
    “You are not what you were,” she agreed. “You are now as nice as you were mean.”
    “And I don't want to change back.”
    “But your talent—they didn't find that.”
    “Yes, we did,” Vortex said. “We just had to analyze the subtle indications near the present. It seems to be related to your infiltration by the reverse wood. At first it reversed your personality. Now it is extending to your body.”
    “My gender!” Goody exclaimed, alarmed. “I don't want to turn into a girl again.”
    “Not that. This affects your interaction with your environment. We don't properly understand it yet, perhaps because it is as yet weak, but with time and practice it will surely strengthen. It helps protect you.”
    “Without Hannah's protection, the parody would have gotten me killed several times over. I'm not aware of any power of my own.”
    “Your talent has not yet been evoked. But perhaps we can do that now. We have reviewed its parameters, and—”
    “Its whats?”
    “Values, scale, compass, measure, connection, degree, limits—”
    “Boundaries?” Hannah asked.
    “Whatever,” Vortex agreed without ire. Actually his words had been accompanied by the thought concept, so Goody had garnered a working comprehension of it. “It has variable application, depending on circumstances. It's fairly sophisticated, but as yet weak. Perhaps we can demonstrate. Strike at him with your weapon.”
    She shook her head. “If I do that I'll cut him in half.”
    “Feint, then, or use a harmless weapon.”
    “I won't faint!”
    Goody realized that she had picked up the sound without all of the meaning, being illiterate. “Make a pretend strike.”
    She fetched a pillow from a nearby pillow bush. “I'll bash you with this. I'll score, but it can't