In Which Raia Is Roused to the Immediate Reality

April 2, 1169

It was a curious thing, how that which occured in the immediate reality could slip through the net-like barrier that bound one's dreams. She'd been walking through the woods with Falidor when they'd come to the edge of a wide, rough river. A raft had appeared, tethered to a nearby tree, and she'd boarded it, cutting the rope and rowing to the other side; it was only after she'd set foot on land again that she'd realized Falidor hadn't crossed with her.

Raia, he'd called at first, trance-like and faraway. Raia... Raia... Each time, her name was spoken more clearly, the voice higher, lighter. Raia... Raia...

And then--

"Raia!"

Groggy, she opened her eyes to see Viridis standing at her bedside, her fingers clenched, her face pained and panicked. In her fear, she must have lit the candles; in her frenzy, she seemed oblivious to them. "Raia! Wake up! Rai-a!"

"I'm awake, I'm awake," she insisted, turning onto her back and pushing herself upwards. "What do you want?"

Her sister squirmed in indignation, coupled with whatever else was ailing her. "Raia! I'm dying!"

Batting the last remnants of sleep out of her eyes, Raia stared in disbelief. There had been more than one occasion on which they had believed sickly young Viridis to be dying. This could not have been one of them. Not only was she on her feet, but she'd made it all the way from her own room to Raia's and showed no sign of needing to lie down. She was wide awake and didn't seem delirious, and she had been enjoying--well, so much as anyone in this household could 'enjoy' anything these days--several months of uninterrupted good health. There wasn't a chance in hell that she was dying; why would she think she was?

"What are you talking about?" she demanded in an annoyed whisper. Viridis choked back a few tears, then stepped aside as Raia kicked off the blankets and lowered her feet to the floor. "Viridis?"

Her sister raised her hands to her face and and began to sob. Unsure what else to do, Raia crossed to her side and draped her arm around the younger girl's shoulders. "Viridis, tell me what's wrong?"

"My st-stomach hurts," Viridis stuttered, the tear-flow increasing with each word. "It hurts really, really b-bad. And when I woke up, I... I was..." She trailed off, dissolving in another wave of wails.

"Viridis, please calm down," Raia urged softly. "I can't help you if I don't know what's wrong."

Sniffling as she tried to restrain herself, Viridis wiped a tear from her eye, only for it to be replaced seconds later. "Th-there was blood! So much bl-blood! All over... everywhere! All coming from... from..." She couldn't finish the sentence, but she didn't have to; Raia understood.

"Aw, honey, that's normal," she tried her best to assure the girl. What had her mother said to her, again? She couldn't even remember; it was another lifetime ago now. "It happens to every girl. I get that every month--every woman does."

Her sister's doe-like eyes bulged in horror. "Every month?"

Damn--that hadn't helped at all. "Uh... didn't anyone ever tell you about this?"

Viridis shook her head. It made sense, Raia supposed, combing through her sister's hair with her fingers. Viridis had been only eight years old when their mother had died, and she was only ten now; their father probably hadn't expected this for a few years yet, so Raia doubted it had occurred to him to have their grandmother or Nora or some other woman talk to her. They would have to do something about that in the morning.

"I ch-changed nightgowns and p-put some towels there," Viridis choked. "Is that r-right?"

Raia nodded. "Smart girl. That should be all right for now."

She gently rubbed Viridis's shoulder, then watched as the younger girl collapsed into another bout of tears. "It still hurts..."

"I'll go to Grandmother's in the morning. She'll have something that can help with the cramps," Raia promised, though she wished she could do more than give her word that she would do something 'in the morning', "and I'll ask Nora to talk to you when she comes to the castle tomorrow--she can probably explain it better than I can. You can sleep in here tonight, all right?"

Nodding, Viridis gave her a brief hug, then waddled toward the other side of the bed, the presence of the towels between her thighs now obvious in her gait. Raia wiped her little sister's tears off her shoulder, then followed.

A lump of guilt knotted itself in her stomach as she settled back into bed. She had failed her sister. She felt stupid and useless and scared. What if the same thing happened with Riona a few years down the road? And Vera? She couldn't send them to their father because he would be even more clueless and awkward than she was; she couldn't send them to their mother because their mother was dead. Maybe she could make some sort of arrangement with her grandmother?

Raia pulled the blanket to her chin and stared up at the ceiling. It was a curious thing, how hard it could be to slip back past the mesh outskirts of the dream world, safely hidden from one's immediate reality.

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