A bit of a warning, this chapter contains sexual education.
It wasn't until later that night when Ani had turned in that she realized something was wrong. A strong pain in her abdomen suddenly reminded her.
Her period was about to start and she was in the middle of nowhere without a toilet or even basic supplies, surrounded by males. Ani froze as she could feel it was going to start, or already starting. She sat up straight, slightly panicking about what was happening to her. Ori was on guard and looked at her sudden movements. He quickly walked over to her looking worried. "What is wrong Ani?" He whispered.
Ani started to blush. "I ehm... I have a problem..." She whispered. Ori blinked at her. "What is it?"
"I ehm..." She had to tell him. Even though she felt a bit ashamed. "My monthly period is about to start." She whispered.
Ori looked confused as his eyebrows knit together. "What is that?" Ani stared at the dwarf in amazement.
"It is when my uterus cleans itself." It took a moment before Ori started to blush. "So..you need to.." He looked at her with a question in his eyes.
"What Do you need?"
Ani stared at the dwarf, realizing he was not going to be of any help. "I don't know... In my world, we have things for that, but I don't know what woman use here."
Ori looked around. "We should ask Thorin."
Ani grabbed Ori's arm. "Oh nono... Not Thorin." Ani could feel the shame started to grow, already feeling the leaders eyes glaring at her. It would just be another excuse to get rid of her.
"Ani..." Ori spoke. At that moment Bilbo sat up. "Will you two be quiet. What is going on?" He whispered harshly. "Ani got a period," Ori spoke. Bilbo gave her a kind smile. "First one? It is very natural, child." Ani shook her head. "No, but I don't have anything for it."
Bilbo smiled, with hobbits natural things were nothing to be shy about. And having lived with a few female cousins, Bilbo knew about female periods. He got up quickly searching Oin's pack for bandages. In the meantime Bofur had woken up too, as well as Nori, questioning Ori what was going on.
"Ani has a period." He said, making the older dwarves look at her in shock. Ani blushed and looked at her feet in shame. "Ori, don't tell everyone." She whispered ashamedly. Bilbo handed over the bandages and Ani quickly left for the woods. Bilbo following her closeby. She was glad it had not really started yet, and placed the bandages in her underwear.
"You need to wash them out whenever you can," Bilbo stated softly as they walked back. "If you need some time, I can help you stall the group a bit." She smiled at the hobbit in gratitude. "You are a true friend."
As Ani came back 13 pairs of eyes stared at her, and the camp turned silent. Ani felt like she wanted to sink into the ground, and never ever come out, as Thorin walked up to her.
"Is it taken care of?" He asked Bilbo, who nodded in silence, before looking at Ani, softly squeezing her hand. "Don't expect special treatment," he spoke as Thorin looked up at her from the corner of his eyes. Ani quickly ran to her sleeping bag and hid underneath the covers, hearing the dwarves whisper.
"Go to sleep." Thorin's voice boomed over, silencing the whispers. Ani quickly fell asleep after that.
.
"So, it's not a baby?" She heard Kili's voice near her head, as the morning had come soon enough. She recognized Bilbo's sigh. "No, Kili, for the tenth time. When a woman is pregnant she does not get her period." Ani softly cursed to herself, knowing she had to get out. She moved quickly, without looking at anyone, changing her bandages, cleaning the old ones. Rolling them as Bilbo had told her to dry them. As she came back the camp was already broken up mostly, and they were almost getting ready to move on.
As they got back on the road, Kili came riding next to her, a curious look on his face. "So this period.." He blurted out. "Bilbo tried to explain to me... but It's confusing."
Ani stared at Kili. "Didn't anyone told you about the birds and bees?" She asked, blushing. Kili looked even more confused. "What do they have to do with it?"
"Do you know where babies come from?" Ani asked patiently. Kili nodded. "From a woman," he stated, looking rather proud.
"And how does the woman get it?" Ani asked, feeling a smile creep up, as she saw other dwarves listening in.
"She eats it." Bombur spoke laughing out loud. Kili looked at the large dwarf before he looked back at the woman.
"She eats it?" He asked, making Bombur laugh even louder, earning a slap from Bofur. "Don't fill the boys head with nonsense." He said, grinning widely. "Please continue Ani."
Ani gave Kili a kind smile, who looked truly blank on the subject. "When a man and a woman love each other."
"Or a Dwarf lad and lass." Bofur added.
Ani nodded. "They may decide they want a baby. To make a baby, they make love, or have sex as it is called sometimes too." Kili started to blush but nodded.
"When they make love, the man puts his penis into the vagina of the woman." A strange giggle came from Ori, making Ani turn to him, seeing he too had started to blush. "When you make love, you can come sometimes, It is a lovely feeling and when a man comes, sperm comes out of his penis and into the vagina of the woman."
Kili nodded. "I know about that." He blurted, before turning a deeper color red, when he noticed what he just said, earning a laugh from the other dwarves around them.
"That sperm are millions of tiny tiny seeds, and they are going into the woman's uterus. Sometimes one of those Million sperm seeds reaches the woman's eggs. They too are very very tiny and you can not see them with our eye. And when a sperm cell mixes with an egg, a baby starts to form in the woman's uterus. Where it grows and gets nurtured by the woman, until it is ready to be born."
Kili nodded slowly, taking all the information in. "So.," Ori asked, blushing deeply. "What is a period?"
Ani smiled. "You remember those eggs I told you about?" Ori nodded. "Well, only a ripe egg can mix with a sperm cell. About once a month, there are one or two eggs that ripe and make their way to the uterus, ready to be fertilized. The female body has made a soft cushion on its walls so the fertilized egg will stick there. When that doesn't happen, the wall of the uterus is cleaned by the body. It takes a couple of days, and that is called a period."
"What does it look like?" Kili asked. Ani stared at him, not knowing what he was asking. "The cushion that comes out."
Ani laughed. "Bloody and sticky. That is why I needed a bandage." Kili stared at her in amazement. "So you are bleeding?" Ani smiled kindly. "Yes, I am, but not that much, and it will be over in a few days. Do you have any more questions?" Ori shook his head, his cheeks a bright red. Kili looked a bit insecure.
"You can ask anything," Ani said with a smile, feeling like she was doing a good job. She felt no shame or embarrassment when she gave sexual education. When she volunteered at a kindergarten, she had many children asking questions when their mom's got pregnant, and many parents had asked her what to say, or if she could explain it. Her view on the matter was always to answer in clear word, explaining the actual physical things that happened.
"What does it feel like to make love?" He asked quickly, and softly.
"That depends. With who you are making love with, and what you like. But if it is with the right person and you tell the other what you like and don't like, making love is a very nice thing to do."
"I was told it hurts with girls." Fili now spoke softly, earning a look from his brother.
"Sometimes. Especially when it is their first time. The uterus is closed by a thin membrane. When that breaks, it can hurt."
"Did it hurt you?" Kili asked, earning a few glances from the older dwarves. Bofur looked curious over his shoulder, a soft blush on his sunkissed cheeks.
"No." Ani smiled as she thought about her first time with Zane. "But I used tampons, so my membrane was already broken."
"Tampons?" Ori asked. "A rolled up bandage a woman can put inside her to catch the blood."
"Can you make love when a woman has her period?" Ori asked now, earning a laugh from Ani. "Of course, but I don't know many guys who want to. It is kind of messy."
Bofur held his pony back, so he came riding closer to her, making Fili fall back a bit more. "Have you been with many men?" He asked, a strange dark look in his eyes. Ani was a bit surprised by this question as s blush started to creep up her face. He did not even want to tell her the names of his parents, yet he asked her about her sexpartners.
"Why do you ask?" She answered, not wanting to satisfy the dwarf with a straight answer.
"Well since you know so much about it, you must have been with many men. Do you have any children?" It came out judging, and Ani felt a bit overwhelmed by the dwarfs statements. "It is something we learn when we grow up. To protect us from making stupid mistakes and ending up with baby's we can not support. It is common knowledge where I come from. But to answer your questions, no I have not been with many men, and I do not have any children. How about you?"
The eyes of the young dwarves now turned to Bofur, "I.. don have children." He spoke a hint of sadness in his eyes. "But I have been with women." "Dwarf, human or elf?" Ani asked, as she never wanted to hurt Bofur, and wished for him to smile again. He looked surprised before he started to laugh again.
"Oh lass, a dwarf can't have an elf woman. She will break." Ani laughed as well, earning a curious glance from the younger dwarves.
"Ani, can you show us how to make love?" Kili asked now, sending a blush over Ani's face. "No Kili. Making love is something you do in private. You will just have to find out with the one your with at that time." "We are stopping here," Thorin stated from the front of the group. As they arrived by a small broken down cottage. Gandalf got off his horse and walked around. "A farmer used to live here. With his family. I don't think it is wise to stay here. We are close to the valley." Thorin shook his head. "I am not going to the elves."
"You should, even if it is only to drop off Ani."
She was helping again with the cooking, chopping this time, as she was feeling a bit happy and another song came rolling from her lips. This was one of the radio, not one of the chaste ones Disney made.
Earning a strange look from not only from Bofur. "Perhaps you shouldn't sing That song lass." The cook told her, a light blush on his cheeks.
His eyes had softened, and he had stopped stirring, as his head rested in his hand. "You will burn the stew," Ani said softly, as she smiled, feeling her cheeks starting to burn.
"You have a lovely singing voice." He said softly, as he started to stir again. "Thank you." She looked at him from underneath her eyelashes. She loved their cooking time together. "I happen to end up singing sad songs." She smiled a bit. "Want to hear a happy song?"
"If you feel like one." Ani took a deep breath, as she thought about a song she could sing.
"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens.
brown paper packages tied up with strings,
these are a few of my favorite things."
Bofur started to smile, looking at her with a strange look on his face. "You are truly a marvel with songs. Got another one?" He asked as she finished with a smile. Ani sighed, feeling a familiar feeling deep inside her that happened every time he smiled at her.
"I like your messy hair,
I like the clothes you wear
I like the way you sing
and when you dance with me.
I don't know why I ..."
She swallowed the last two words, looking the other way.
"I can't remember the rest." She stated as her cheeks had turned into a traffic light.
Bofur had started to laugh. She could not help but laugh as well. "Yeah.. that is a strange song." She blushed "Did you made it up?" "No." "It sounds like a fun song." He looked at her, his eyes locked on hers. "Let me know when you remember it again."
Ani felt her face burning cursing herself for doing it again. The song from Hercules came to mind, but she decided against singing it. She already made a fool out of herself.
To her surprise, Bofur started to sing. It was a song about a lass and her bear, loving each other forever.
As the night was falling, suddenly Kili ran into the camp. "The trolls got Bilbo!" He said, out of breath. Thorin got to his feet. "To arms!"
The camp was in an uproar, and all Ani could do was look around. "Stay here lass." Bofur spoke to her as he was going with the group. "But!" "Stay here!"
And with that the camp was empty, leaving Ani alone for the first time since she arrived. "Shit."
