Six Years Before, Gay Ever After

Chapter 9

Raya woke up when she felt rain droplets pattering down on her. "What the... Tuk tuk, wake up, it's raining, we gotta go somewhere safe." Raya prodded Tuk tuk with her foot as she rushed around to pack everything back into her bag, making she they weren't wet. Thunder boomed ahead and Raya was half sure it'll strike them dead if they don't move away fast. Annoyed, Tuk tuk hissed at Raya but immediately stopped when he felt the rain droplets wetting his fur. He got up quickly and ran to Raya,  who was holding an umbrella in one hand and hastily putting the items back in her bag.

There wasn't any shelter nearby, so they just stood there, Raya was thankful for the rain as it meant that water was everywhere, meaning the Druun were far away from where they were, but not so thankful that she is half drenched from the heavy rain.

After standing there for like 30 minutes, the rain slowed to light drizzle, Raya and Tuk tuk then continued their journey, Raya cycling carefully on the wet grass as her bicycle wheels picked up wet mud, leaving tracks in the soil. The ground was way too wet for Tuk tuk to roll, hence he sat in the basket of the bicycle, napping and enjoying the cool breeze. "Just two more, and surely Sisu should be here," Raya kept mumbling to herself, she did not want to continue the search in Fang.

"Hey Tuk, if we don't find Sisu here, it means we gotta search Fang and the other lands," Raya sighed and stopped cycling, took a slice of plain bread and tore it into half, giving half to Tuk tuk. They munched on the bread, and Tuk tuk thought about what Raya said, he didn't want to go to Fang, he just wanted to stay in Heart. In her mind, Raya never wanted to go to Fang, but her heart felt differently, she had wanted to go there.

For a reason that wasn't even related to finding Sisu.

Fast forward 2 weeks

Raya's heart was secretly elated when they didn't find Sisu in Heart.

"Come on Tuk! No time to lose, we gotta go Fang!" Her voice was higher than her recent moody tone, and Tuk tuk paused to look at Raya suspiciously. How weird for her to sound so happy to go to Fang.

Raya saw Tuk tuk's face and she pursed her lips, trying to give a black face, "I am not happy we are going there alright?" But Tuk tuk could sense a hint of happiness in her voice. They set off for Fang at noon, knowing that it is long journey as Fang has many different river ends.
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2 years later...

Fang isn't successful, Raya, now fourteen years old, has been searching without fail. Now at five feet six, she has reached adolescence, and grown many things a woman like her has, physically and mentally. Underneath her mature exterior still held that endless love for dragons, another reason why she didn't want to give up.

One very special day though, tuk tuk, who was about three times his original palm-size size, noticed a dark red spot on Raya's sampot pants. It wasn't a very large spot, Tuk tuk never saw this before and rolled over, gently nudging her. Raya turned around, "What?"

Tuk tuk thought it was quite embarrassing to point at her ass, but he did. Confused, she looked over, and freaked out.

"WHAT THE HELL- IS THAT?!" She looked at that spot worriedly, it's got to be her. Something happened to her and she doesn't know. Plus, she has been walking around Fang with blood on her pants? Raya couldn't help but groan, pushing her messy hair out of her face in frustration.

"Need some help, girl?"

Startled by a random voice out of nowhere, Raya and Tuk tuk whipped around face to face with a small elderly woman wearing a white top with gold geometric patterns, her gray hair bundled up with a red bandanna.

Raya's instinctive reaction was to raise her fists in defense, she was much taller than this woman, but she hesitated when she processed what the woman just said. Help? She obviously needed some information on whatever that was going on with herself, but the painful memory of Namaari's betrayal rang in her mind.

Unbothered by Raya's defense mode, the old lady continued, "The blood is normal, every woman gets that when they're around thirteen, it's called menstruation. First time, I suppose?"

Without knowing a single thing she just said, Raya cluelessly nodded, her firsts started to relax.

Her clueless look obviously told the woman mentally she had no idea what she had just said. The old woman sighed, "I'm Cai, you can call me Auntie Cai. Come on, I'll give you some things for that." She started walking away. Raya stood rooted at the spot, her suspicions for this woman rose a notch, give her things? Sounded oddly familiar like a person who gave her a dragon pendant of Sisu, now stored in her pocket.

Curious though, she and Tuk tuk followed her. If she's gonna report me to some Fang guards or something I'm so dead.

Soon they reached the small house in white, stepping inside, there wasn't much furniture, just a chair, stool, small table, and a kitchen stove nearby.

The old woman quickly went to the toilet inside the house, while Raya took note of all of her surroundings, often making short glances at the door. This house was quite a distance away from the palace,so if the guards were coming, she had some time to run.

The old lady appeared in front of her again with a pad and another spare underwear, "This is called a menstruation pad, it's like super thick tissue paper, it'll absorb the blood. You need to change it a few times these few days." She then lined the underwear with the pad, and handed it to Raya.

Seeing this, Raya felt ridiculous, this whole "menstruation" thing is a lie right? As if reading her thoughts, auntie Cai continued, "these periods will come every once a month."

Her face red, Raya spat, "I know what you are trying to do, you made this whole period thing up just to distract me, now some guards from the Fang palace are gonna get me right?"

Surprised, Auntie Cai's eyes widened as she questioned in confusion, "What are you? A Fang criminal? I'm just helping you, plus I don't get many visitors for these years after the Druun came back."

Now it was Raya's turn to be surprised. "You're telling the truth?"

"Why should I lie? Because I'm from Fang?"

"Well that's because your leader's daughter is untrustworthy!"

"That's not my problem, I'm not her," came the tired reply.

I can trust her, can I? Raya thought, other than Tuk tuk, she has no one else to trust. She looked at that woman's outstretched hand holding that dreaded pad that reminded her of the monthly bleedings. She took it slowly, and Auntie Cai smiled, "Good girl, what's your name? What are you doing out there all alone with your pet?"

Raya hesitated, "I'm... I'm Raya. The Druun took my father." She didn't dare say she had a gem piece in her bag right now, or who she really was. With that, she zipped to the bathroom, and changed out of her bloody mess.