Natani

Natani is an assassin and one of the main characters of Twokinds. Initially appearing alongside his brother Zen with the purpose of attacking Trace, Flora, and Keith, but ended up joining the group. Natani is transgender, possessing a male personality despite his body being not only female, but ironically quite voluptuous. In the aftermath of a soul-fracturing curse from a botched mission, Natani's soul and mind were merged with his brother's in order to revive him. For much of his life, Natani and Zen both believed that this merger was the cause of his gender dysphoria, however it is later revealed that Natani had identified as a male all along.

Origins and Backstory
While Natani was very young, his village was destroyed by unknown forces (most likely a group of Templar), leaving him and his brother homeless. Zen initially planned to join an assassins guild to support his sibling. Seeing an opportunity to express his innate gender, despite the expectations of Keidran society, Natani insisted he join as well, cutting his hair and binding his chest to disguise himself as male. Zen reluctantly agreed, and Natani thus began a life as a male assassin, with only a few individuals (accidentally) discovering his biological sex.

Their first mission was to eliminate an old white wolf named Issac. During the assassination attempt, they discovered that Issac was a mage who knew forbidden magic. When Natani jumped head first into combat, the wolf promptly used a curse which ripped apart Natani's soul.

Zen, desperate to save his sibling, found a medic and pleaded for help. The only solution, offered by Clovis, was to bind their souls, which Zen gladly agreed to do. Any gaps in Natani's soul were filled in by Zen's, and it was believed that one of these elements was Natani's gender. Consequently, Zen accepted it as a side effect when Natani reawakened as male in mind and female in body.

In truth, it was not Natani's gender that had been destroyed, but his memory of experiencing dysphoria before the curse. This had been replaced with Zen's perception of the time leading up to Natani first presenting as male, and as such both believed Zen's version of events. Regardless, this experience clarified Natani's gender in Zen's mind, allowing Natani to receive an 'acceptance' of his identity from his last remaining family member. Another consequence of the soul binding was the formation of a mental link between the siblings, allowing them to share any and all thoughts with one another (as well as sensations, at least in the beginning).

Ironically, using the curse killed Issac, making the duo's mission a sucess. The story evolved from a simple kill to an awe-inspiring display where the siblings' mere presence prompted Issac to kill himself, a story that the brothers were happy to encourage. They soon became known as "The Magi Brothers" as a result.

How Natani met the group
Due to Flora's refusal to marry Sythe, and a decision on the Wolf Tribe's (possibly corrupted) leaders to break alliances with the Tiger Tribe, Natani and Zen were sent out to assassinate the trio. After tricking Keith away from the group with an illusion spell of Laura, Natani shot him with a poison arrow. However, Trace and Flora heard the illusion's cries, leading to a fight between Trace and the assassins. The two managed to wound Trace, but Keith recovered and wounded Zen, forcing Natani to teleport him away. A wounded Trace attempted to draw out more mana from the earth, but ended up tapping into Dark Mana, which briefly turned him into "Dark" Trace and resulted in the summoning of the "Dark Mana Dragon". Natani ended up using his last mana crystal to bring Trace out of his stupor, and Trace recalled part of the mana dragon before it was finished off by Lady Nora. Then, along with everyone else, he was put into a sleep and transported to a close human town by the dragon.

When Natani awoke, he told the group he would be banished from his tribe for his failure to eliminate the trio, but a mental conversation between him and his brother revealed that his King actually wished for Natani to follow the group. While he initially refused to go on "some crazy adventure", his run-in with a group of human farmers, believing Natani to be the source of the havoc wrought by the mana dragon, convinced him to join the group anyway.

Sex Reveal
After having met Eric and being invited into his home, Keith slipped into a private bath. Natani, thinking the bath to be empty, also slipped in, and was initially unnoticed by Keith. However, after taking off all his clothes, Keith opened his eyes to find himself staring at a naked Natani, thus revealing his secret. Luckily, he managed to convince Keith to keep his sex a secret, which he has done ever since. Since then, the two have bonded, and formed a close relationship. Keith has helped Natani keep his secret on multiple occasions, such as claiming to have used "Basitin dark magic" after Natani's bandages ripped in front of Mike and Evals during a sparring match, washing clothes for him, and standing guard while Natani was in heat during the group's journey to the Basidian Isles on Eric's boat. Then, in a fire, Natani's robes caught fire and his bandages ripped again in front of Mike and Kat. "Basitin black magic" again sufficed as an explanation, due in part to Mike's experience with Lady Nora's magic.

Romantic Feelings
As a result of their intimacy, Natani began to harbor feelings for Keith. At first, he denied this, telling himself it wasn't possible because he's male. But after Keith's betrayal during the Basidian Isle arc, his attempted suicide, and an explanation for the reasons why he was forced to betray the others, Natani was about to admit feelings towards Keith before being interrupted by the others due to a fire. In the end, though, he managed to kiss Keith, afterwards saying "I just wanted to get that off my chest. Don't look too much into it!" Due to their show of affections and several "accidents", some of the gang realized Natani was gay and had feelings for Keith.

Meeting the Basitin King
Knowing that their medics were missing a female, and identifying Natani as female due to his scent, King Adelaide summoned Natani to discuss the situation, explaining that she may be "too busy" to correct their records. The comic cuts back to the others while Natani explains why he identifies as male to King Adelaide. After this explanation, King Adelaide offers the advice that "strength and femininity do not have to be mutually exclusive" and when Natani retorts that the wolves will only view women as weak, even if one is strong like Natani. In reply, the King states that "that is unfortunate", before pointing out that "You are no longer among your people".

Unconsciousness
After Zen was captured, the mental link between the two was utilized to ask Flora questions only she would know in a bid to prove to B-Group that the two know their friends. With the group deciding to begin trusting Zen, Raine placed her enchanted slave bracelet on his ankle as a means of preventing him from using magic on them, and as a result, Natani fell unconscious. Later, we see Natani wake up in bed, but it is quickly revealed to be in his mindscape. Natani becomes frustrated when he notices he has a female body even in his mind. After attempting to calm down, Natani discovers a younger version of himself (possibly a portion of his damaged soul). Later, Natani asks the younger version of himself if he's "the reason I'm stuck like this". The response is wise, identifying that Zen's crutch being swept out from under them is why they're stuck in his mind, before theorizing that because they are feeling weak without Zen, and Natani  views Woman and Weakness as inseparable. After this, Young Natani offers a hand up, but is rebutted because Natani feels he is being mocked by "my own imagination". Natani then runs off in a bid to locate Zen, leaving a saddened young Natani calling for him to come back. Natani then sees Zen, walking away from where he is, ears down, with Raine's shackle on. After this, Natani runs into an invisible wall separating him from his brother and is approached by his younger self again, who remarks that it's funny to want Zen in his head so badly, while hinting that he can help. Natani indicates that he doesn't want to "become you again". Young Natani reveals that he knows Natani is afraid of ending up in a dress and embracing "girly" behavior, before indicating that he remembers his younger self the way Zen remembered him: as his "helpless baby sister". Next, young Natani indicates that, unlike what Natani believed, he actually did like being seen as a boy, rather than being desparate to hide his gender from the guild members. In an enlightening moment, Young Natani informs his older self that the feelings thus far experienced, both the masculine and the feminine, have come from the soul, not from the body, and not from Zen.

The Awakening
After the above explanation, Natani accepted the counsel of Young Natani, who, prior to Natani's awakening informed Natani that this is the way it needs to be, and that he fears they will both burn to death if they don't wake up soon.

This acceptance, as well as this statement, causes him to wake up, before realizing what Young Natani had just said. Natani asks Kathrin what is happening, prompting Kathrin, who had lost hope, to excitedly pounce on him.

Prior to this, Kathrin attempted to drag Natani out of the Na'Rella because of the fires going on the docks or the ship (It's unclear which at this point) but due to her size and muscular strength, seemingly lost hope after successfully dragging Natani from bed, and being incapable of pulling him from the room.

Natani then retrieved Laura's urn from Keith's room, saved Kathrin from falling debris, and the two prepare to jump through a window to escape the Na'Rella. The urn is not visible when Natani and Kathrin make it to the dock, and it is not readily apparent whether Laura's ashes or locket ended up surviving the escape.

Personality
Natani is a fiercely strong willed and independent person, but is incredibly sensitive about gender-related topics, and overall holds unhealthy views of how "men" should act (for example, his refusal to accept help from Keith simply because he thinks he's treating him like a weak girl ).

Abilities and fighting techniques
Natani is a skilled mage as well as a decent melee-combatant, being knowledgeable in a variety of spells, including "Igniras", "Dispel Magic", an unnamed teleportation spell, the "Ultra Lock Spell", "Aquamentis", and "Aerismentis". His weapons include a sword and throwing knives, and he makes use of a mana necklace to cast spells without actually holding mana stones. His fighting technique consists of "Wolven Style" sword fighting and mixing in a spell or two as necessary. He is deadliest when partnered with his brother Zen, as he apparently draws his fighting spirit from his brother's side of the link. As well as the psychological benefits of the link, there are a number of abilities the link grants the brothers, such as the ability to fully merge their minds and deploy their skills through each others' bodies, and the ability to actualize themselves near each other as independent 'ghosts', similar to astral projection. This allows them to share 'two sets of eyes' even when far apart, and even act in the physical world, unseen by others.

Trivia

 * Natani never had a formal education. As a result, he cannot write in any language, and can only fluently speak Keidran. He is often excluded from group conversations conducted in another language. He is able to speak some human, but no Basitin.
 * Natani is the first character introduced that would be considered 'LGBT+' in our world, being as he is both transgender and possibly gay. The only other character clearly shown to be queer is Kathrin, who has shown sexual or romantic tendencies towards both male and female characters, including Eric, Natani, Trace and Flora.
 * Tom stated that Natani's bandages are bewitched with some sort of shrinking spell, explaining how he is able to effectively hide his chest from the rest of the cast. In a side-comic, Natani shows off his bandages, which act as a 'bag of holding', though in an interesting vulnerability; all sets of bandages link to the same bag of holding.
 * Tom originally planned for Natani to be blind in his gray eye, but ret-conned the idea in favor of it being symbolism of his fractured soul.
 * "Natani" is apparently an American Indian name, which is interesting when coupled with the similarities between the Keidran and Native American Indians.
 * "Natani" is also a play on words in the Persian language. The Persian word "natani" means “half-blooded” (as in one's half-brother or half-sister, for example) on the one hand, but can also be deciphered as "na-tani", meaning no-body (in the sense of "negation of the body").
 * Of all the female cast, Natani has the largest bust size. This is extremely ironic considering his male identity.
 * Apparently, Tom planned for a fight scene between Trace and Natani during their first encounter. However, the page was scrapped, probably to move the story along.
 * According to a bust size chart that Tom created,  Natani  thinks: "je vais secrètement profiter de ces seins" which is French for: "I secretly enjoy these breasts". The cannonocity of the statement is questionable, with Natani telling Zen, who asked, when he posed with the other guys for the size chart, about "Those" being a secret, "This isn't canon."
 * Natani is a bot in the Twokinds Chatroom, using the Supybot freeware.