Yule did not like what he was seeing.
Penelope had taken to acting more mousy in the last few days. One day he had come back from his activities and saw the younger girl cleaning up a storm. Whenever she finished one thing, she moved onto another task that no one had mentioned to her, as if she were possessed by something. Restocking shelves with potions for sale, sweeping up the floor after customers would track in dirt and debris, arranging the misplaced items, taking inventory–
It was beyond conscionable for a child to be doing something like product inventory, how would such a thought even occur to her to do? She even took notes.
Minerva had been delighted by the job well done, but also confused and concerned.
“Whenever I tried to tell her she didn’t need to, she just said sorry and ran off to do something else…”
“Did you say something to her?” Yule asked of his aunt, suspicion in his voice.
“I don’t think I did?” Minerva was actually quite worried about the abrupt change. Penelope had always been a little timid, but was generally so cheery. Just what triggered her pulling away? “The last thing I remember was talking to her about banks, since the topic interested her.”
“Banks? Really?” Yule really didn’t understand why such a thing would cause someone to turn on a dime.
And it wasn’t just during the day. The two children at the shop normally shared their room and bed together. However, he’d caught her using her magic to create a new, temporary bed ub the hallway, citing that he deserved his own room in his aunt’s house. If he hadn’t been so worried, he would have been furious, demanding what was wrong. It was only years of decorum lessons being drilled into his head that kept him from shouting at her in the middle of the night. Plus, he felt like yelling would have made it worse.
More than once he’d witnessed Penelope flinching when voices got too loud or people heated. A few times she would hide behind a pile of items or even behind him when an unhappy customer entered the shop and made trouble. Honestly, these interactions were par for the course, but she seemed extra sensitive to it now.
“Is there…something I could do?” Yule asked himself aloud.
Minerva heard him, though. “Well, she also seemed interested in the Spring Festival…and it has been a few days since she went outside.” The sudden change of mannerisms meant she absolutely refused to leave the shop. If that was what Penelope wanted, it would be fine, but this forced self isolation was so unhealthy. Even though the restrictions on children hadn’t lifted yet, it would be good if she went out.
“What do you normally do at the Spring Festival?” Yule asked.
“Oh, I suppose the capital wouldn’t have a celebration like this,” Minerva mused. But then her lips spread into a wide grin as she got herself an idea. “There are a few things to be done at the Spring Festival, but you will need to prepare yourself first, my dear nephew. Fufufufufufu…”
“Do I really have to do this?”
“It will matter more because you made it.”
“But it looks really lame and bad.”
“Then work a little harder.”
“You’re the worst.”
Yule had been sent out with Cynthia to the fields just outside of town, where the most flowers bloomed. As it was spring, the flowers that carpeted the field were much more bountiful, coming in a rainbow of hues. It was a lovely sight; downright beautiful.
He hated being there, sat amongst all these cheerful little flowers, attempting to make a chain out of them the day before the festival.
His fingers, unused to doing things like this, were unable to twist and tuck the stamps as was needed to keep the flowers holding stably together. His attempts since he first arrived there that morning were felt by the flowers around him, clearing a meter’s radius all around him with several failures to show for his efforts. Who knew something so simple could be so hard?
“If you keep glaring at the flowers like that, they’ll wilt,” he could hear a mental image of Minerva say, in his head.
And yet, he glared harder and he hyper focused at the links between his fingers. One flower, two flowers, three flowers…
Of course, he felt a little embarrassed about giving Penelope something like a flower wreath he made himself. Even after four solid hours of working on them, his most decent one still looked pretty sloppy. So he sought out a gift for her that wasn’t made by his own two hands.
Heading back to the shop with Cynthia, they walked through the crowded market street, voices crying out left and right about their wares for sale. He ignored the words of delicious fruits and tantalizing pastries, keeping his ears peeled for someone talking about anything, but food. All around the travelling pair, merchants and others were decorating the town in petals and ribbons, a sight he wished to show Penelope.
Soon enough. She missed out on people building up the festival, but now she could be surprised when she could see the whole thing fully transformed.
A couple was nearby, looking over a stall together. The man was looking fondly at his female companion as she pointed out to something on a table. He wasted no time in paying for it. The item was some kind of hair ribbon and the man helped the girl put it in her hair, lovingly tying it off for her. The girl, absolutely ecstatic, twirled to show it off for him.
Like that, he thought. He wanted to see Penelope act like that. This gave him an idea for the day he intended to spend with the girl. Instead of picking something out himself right here and now, he could treat her to something she would truly like. He had some spending money thanks to Minerva, so that could work out. Feeling good about how the ideas rolling in his mind, he hurried home with Cynthia.
Yule had been preparing for a few days for this moment.
The day of the festival had arrived and he woke up again without Penelope sharing the room with him. He didn’t catch her outside the room either. The girl must have adapted herself so she could get a head start on her daily chores before anyone could question her…well, not today. Yule quickly got dressed and grabbed a bag.
Part of his preparations involved figuring out Penelope’s routine without her knowing, which was rather hard. Girl acted like she had eyes on the back of her head. Though very talented at hiding himself, if he stared at her directly for too long, she would turn around and stare at his general direction, quizzical for a few moments before returning to her work.
Penelope’s first thing in the morning schedule was to wake up early and prepare breakfast. The only person who could possibly catch her in this moment was usually Cynthia, as she needed a head start to get to work. This information was given to him by her, as Yule was a notorious oversleeper and overall not a morning person, so he was glad to have a point of reference.
Next on her itinerary was to clean the house and then the shop. It was all in one building, but she would always meticulously clean everything she was allowed to touch in the living quarters before moving to the shop, just before the first appearance of a customer.
And then during the day she would work tirelessly on restocking or processing potion ingredients, which she had become surprisingly efficient at. The shelves rarely ever saw a moment of being empty, so happy customers browsing usually found what they wanted immediately, unless the stock in the storeroom was also depleted, which was also rare. Yule had no idea how she kept up to date with it all, but it was actually kind of impressive how reliable she was.
Just how old was she again? Most adults don’t work this hard.
And then the afternoon was lessons with Minerva, where she sat very tensely, taking notes of everything she could. Penelope made it a point to perform well on the first try and if she didn’t, looked absolutely pained that she hadn’t. Again, displaying a worrying amount of distress. This time of day was one where he was certain to meet her no matter what.
However, he planned to divert her completely from her routine.
Today, he was going to make this sad weird girl smile!
Yule used Unnatural Magic to cloak his presence with a simple incantation. It was not a strong spell; all it did was to reflect light away from him in a way as to make him semi invisible. Only someone truly too preoccupied would not notice the slight distortion where he walked. Thankfully for his plans, Penelope was just that as she was in the middle of a cleaning frenzy at the shop before opening hours. She did not see him, nor hear the subtle creaking of the store’s floorboards as he approached her carefully. If she saw you coming, she spooked herself and would run off. He couldn’t let that happen. So for this all to work, he had to stalk up on her carefully.
It was pretty creepy all things considered, but this was the only way for the boy to actually hold her attention longer than for a few moments. This was an important intervention that would affect her happiness. And it was important to him that she was happy.
Though he had no real reason for why he felt that way, but what decent person wouldn’t want to cheer a friend up?
Penelope was taking a rare moment to breathe. She practically wilted as she held onto the broom she was using to do the sweeping. Just letting out a long sigh as she gathered herself to continue her task.
In that moment, he got beside her and came out of hiding, to come out and grasp her smaller hand. He heard her yelp in surprise, but kept a hold of her. There was a tug as she predictably tried to get away, making an excuse of needing to do something, but he kept her there.
“Not today,” he told her firmly.
Penelope looked absolutely shocked and sad. “Oh, but I really should…”
“No…today we are going outside together,” he told her, his free hand rummaging through his bag and presenting his wreath. There was a look of surprise when she shyly took the wreath, just blankly blinking. Not worrying whether she hated it or not, Yule pushed forward with the next part of the plan.
“Will you go to the festival with me?”
The days had passed for Penelope in a panicked blurr.
The mornings started off with making breakfast for everyone, so that when they got up they would have something fresh to enjoy. The day was best attacked with a good meal. While it was difficult because the stove was a bit high for her to use, nothing beat her trusty stepping stool! Using her good pen and spending a good hour dreaming and thinking and drawing a good, decent stool, her magic created her a study and long lasting tool that she could use to do things. At long last, no need to worry about things in tall places.
The rest of the day went with cleaning and restocking. She got herself into an efficient rhythm wherein she got things done exact at the same time every day, right on the dot. And because she was constantly tidying things, she could keep a better eye on when things became empty, taking note of things in her notes.
Honestly, after working through her emotions for a few days, she felt much happier. She worked hard and did her best to contribute, so she honestly didn’t know why she had let herself spiral so badly. Ah, she had such bad habits! Penelope could laugh about it now, but it really had been a scary out of nowhere thought. Was this what people called intrusive thoughts? How frightening. Having everything mastered in keeping the home regulated, Penelope threw herself intensely into working, the feeling of a job well done filling her up.
There was always the niggling doubt, but if she kept busy she didn’t have to think about it.
Like how people viewed her sudden shift in character.
It was clear to her what was going on when it came along midway through the week, something she hadn’t experienced for years as Kasumi since a young age.
That’s right, her cycle had come for her at the tender age of ten (in this world).
That explains how scared and weepy I got. I really need to get it together.
It was something to try and figure out how to deal with it on her own. As her scouring through the books didn’t give her any ideas of how to deal with the natural advancement of her body. Everything was set back properly into place every time she pulled something out, but her face must have been rather serious, since people kept clear of her. She’d used scraps of old, but clean cloth until she found a better solution.
There really hadn’t been, but maybe she would need to bite the bullet.
For the moment, she needed to make some concessions.
No more sleeping in the same bed as Yule for a while. Goodness only knew how he would react if he woke up one day seeing blood all over the bed. Penelope had no idea if there was anything like sex education in this world, or if people were archaic about it. She hoped not. There had been a silent prayer that her first period would be resolved easily. For the while, she would just have to endure.
She made plans. Like a temporary bed that would disappear come morning. No one could find traces of stains if the bed just disappeared. And if her clothes got dirty, well, she was already taking care of the laundry all herself now with authoritarian control. Again, she did not want anyone to see something she found embarrassing for herself. Maybe this whole thing was being blown out of proportion, but she was on her own until she could ask outside of her cycle when she wasn’t cranky, cramping and making a mess she didn’t know how to control.
Avoiding everyone was also imperative, especially Cynthia. She could probably smell the blood easily. Yes, best not to get too close. And since she was kind of winging how she took care of her cycle by using stuffed cotton, there was the worry she might smell bad so she also ran off when the others got close. Mentally the girl apologized to them, she would explain later…
But, oh boy, it was rough.
Penelope realized that, as Kasumi, she rarely ever experienced a period. And when she did it had been so irregular she barely got the full experience. Being exhausted, stressed and malnourished all the time caused her body to not have her cycle regularly nor truly feel it. She had been 14 when she got it the first time and 25 when she last got it. After that it was a dry spell and she never complained, because she did not plan on children, so what was the point of worrying about that kind of thing.
And now here she was, trying to get through her days without wanting to cry (and failing). Penelope was pretty sure the others spotted her looking ready to burst into tears many times. Was this the price of a perfectly healthy body? What a terrible blessing, she thought.
And all during the time the festival would be preparing, too. There was the vague thought that she might be able to go, that maybe her cycle would be finished by then. However, she learned the worst days were right after the beginning. Her sides hurt and she was both hungry and not hungry at all (she didn’t know what she wanted to eat), though she had no trouble making food for the others. Her appetite just wasn’t what it should be. She looked forward to when she felt more normal.
In the midst of sweeping, Penelope sagged while holding her broom. Everything hurt. How was it that she could feel like an old lady while feeling so young. And people were supposed to live like this for years on end? Yikes. This was going to definitely take some planning and getting used to. Hopefully Minerva wouldn’t mind helping her out after they talked. She’d been putting off the conversation for a while, too. Confrontation was just not something she was good at, even if the reason would be pretty much benign.
Yule was probably lonely, too. Poor kid. He must be so confused about why she was distancing herself. Up until her cycle began, the two of them had always been together, at his insistence, despite how much she said she didn’t need to sleep on a bed. She had to make it up to him, too.
Thinking on ways to make it up to the older boy, the one in her thoughts suddenly appeared. His hand around her wrist and him, emerging from nothingness beside her with a serious expression.
Penelope was so startled she let out an ungainly noise, involuntarily trying to move away in shock. How in the world had he done that? What kind of magic was that?! And why did he look so upset? Oh, man, she was not ready for this. Not yet, not yet, give her some time Yule, her heart wasn’t ready!
“Uh, Yule, I kind of really need to finish cleaning before the shop opens up–”
“Not today,” he said sharply. Penelope gulped nervously. Wow,he sounded so serious!
Her brows pinched as she tried to figure out something that could convince him to let her be.
“Oh, but I really should…”
Again, he cut her off. “No…today we are going outside together.”
Eh?
Her brain needed a quick reset. Had she heard him right? Honestly, Penelope felt like she needed to go see a doctor for her ears, she often heard amazingly crazy things at times.
A wreath of flowers was held up to her face and she numbly took it, trying to process what was happening. Inspecting the item, she noticed that some stems stuck out at crooked, odd angles. Some of the flowers he used were missing petals in places, as it was clear he had been treating them a bit roughly. However, everything held together to make a decent wreath. But more amazingly than anything else, it was meant for her. A present? How sweet!
“Will you go to the festival with me?” he asked her out of the blue.
Again, her brain needed an extra second to reboot so she could find her answer.
“Me? With you?” Her voice was incredulous. Not in a mean way, just in a way that said she didn’t quite understand what he meant.
As if decided he would not be repeating himself, he turned his question into a statement. “You’re going to the festival with me.” His tone brokered no argument. However, she was not offended, she just smiled and laughed.
“Oh, good. I thought you were going to hate me,” she breathed out. It was not much, but a little tension she didn’t know she had left her body. The smile she wore was very mellow. “I avoided you this whole time, so I thought you might end up disliking me. I’m glad.”
There was an awkward shuffle from the boy as he listened to her speak, turning his face away a moment in embarrassment. Penelope could see the tips of his ears become a little pink.
“Yes,” she replied. “I would like to go. I’m happy to go, but oh…”
There was still that little ‘problem’ she had. Would it be all right? Would she last out there? Were there emergency provisions she could do in case of something going wrong? Her magic could probably solve the issue, but she did not want to have to use it outside where someone could spot her. And really, aside from necessities, she really shouldn’t use her ability to create for just any old thing that popped into her mind.
Oh, well, how bad could it be? She mused to herself.
“We should tell Minerva and Cynthia where we’re going today,” she suggested. Best to let the adults know they would be together in town, in case of emergencies. Yule agreed to this, face blooming into a satisfied smile. Goodness, but he had a handsome face for how young he still was. It was a shame he didn’t smile more. Kid could probably get all the market ladies to do anything he wanted…
After alerting the adults about their plans for the day, the two of them headed out into town.
Ceralde was normally an active and hustling town, due to the nature of being a port for the kingdom that regularly received both foreign visitors and cargo deliveries. However, there was a different kind of liveliness that day when they stepped outside.
Penelope’s eyes widened and she couldn’t help, but to keep turning her head to see everything.
The streets were covered in petals and confetti, strewn about by local and visiting merrymakers alike. Flowers were on every street corner, stall or the front of every door. A tradition in Ceralde was to place flowers at the door to invite a warm and pleasant rest of the year. Friends, family and loved ones also presented each other with flowers to wish them well, though Penelope did witness more than a few people present bouquets and expertly weaved wreaths as if they were engagement rings, on bended knee. The obvious romantic air made her giggle giddily at the wholesomeness.
Penelope wore her own wrath like a crown, though it was hidden by the hood over her head. She still needed to travel around covered up, apparently. She didn’t mind, but it did feel a little extra stuffy with so many people milling through the streets. It also didn’t help that space was limited due to the extra stalls, too, from travelling merchants who visits for the festival, hoping to make their money and locals who opened up their own specialty stalls.
Mingling with the scent of flowers was of festival foods being cooked constantly on open flames. Penelope recognized something close to yakitori, her mouth watering when they passed a stall where a cook was fanning a grill with skewers full of glazed meat. She was definitely going to get one of those before the day was over.
There was a square relegated to performers and live music beckoned passerbys to come watch a show or join in a circle of dancers around a pole. The way some young girls grabbed onto a loose ribbon or passing to another who wished to join before circling the pole seemed interesting, but she had no idea how it worked. Were there steps she had to be taught? It was so eye-catching the way the ribbons flowed and flew in the air, while the girls danced together. The urge to try was there, but her own uncertainty kept her from mentioning it out loud.
Their plan was to look around the town before deciding on any activities they wanted to do. The festival would last for days, but today would be the day she got to do things with Yule alone.
His hand was always holding hers as they walked around, careful to avoid others. Since he led the way, he would look behind him to constantly check up on how she was doing and asking if she needed him to slow down. He was so attentive and careful, it was almost like she was being guided around by a prince in a fairy story.
“Is there anywhere you want to go?” he asked, voice a bit louder as the din of the crowd was high.
“I don’t know. There’s so much!” Her stomach grumbled for her, her appetite suddenly returning to her now that she was in such a cheery mood.
He half-sighed, half laughed. “All right, let’s get you something to eat.”
Embarrassed, she nodded and followed him to the first stop on their festival day together.
