Title: Tales From Jakku
Category: Movies ยป Star Wars
Author: Ziggurat Rolsovitch
Language: English
Rating: M

Day 2,655

Morning already. Ben groaned and tugged the sleeping bag over his head and tried to block out the light. Normally he was an early riser. Preferring to be up before the sun rose so that he could go out and gather the water and get breakfast started for him and Rey, but for some reason... he had been exhausted the past week.

Not to mention the awful ache in his back he'd been feeling. That was in and of itself strange because he wasn't sure what he had done to hurt his back. Maybe carrying water up, but he'd done that every day for the past seven years. It shouldn't be such a big deal.

As he turned over he grimaced and then pressed a hand against his stomach. Now that hurt. It was even more strange. He knew for certain he hadn't eaten anything bad. He shouldn't have an upset stomach.

Sitting up slowly he reached up to run a hand back through his hair and glanced over to Rey's spot. She wasn't there. Another strange thing. She had been sleeping in about as much as he had and was irritable on top of it. Maybe she'd caught the same bug he apparently had?

Another cramp in his gut made him jump slightly and as he dropped his hand down to the spot he came to a realization. It wasn't his pain that he was feeling right now. It was Rey's. That worried him. Had she hurt herself? Was she injured and needed help?

He quickly pushed himself out of the bed and hurried to the 'fresher door and banged a fist against it.

"Rey... open up..." He demanded.

"No!" Her voice came through equally full of panic.

"Did you get hurt? Rey?"

He shifted his weight from foot to foot as he awaited her answer and he could hear her moving around faintly in the other room.

"I'm bleeding." Rey admitted.

"Where? Let me in. I need to see." He reached for the door and tired to open it up to no avail, but he didn't really expect her to have unlocked it that easily.

"NO! You can't see there!" Her reply came immediately.

"There?" Something clicked in his brain and he turned back towards their bed to kneel down and pull the blanket back. As he thought they were stained with some blood. He sighed then, leaned his head back and reached his hand to press against the back of his neck as he rolled it to maybe relieve some of the tension he felt. "Oh boy..."

"Ben... I'm scared..." She admitted from the other side of the door.

"You don't have to be scared." He stood and picked up their back to dig through it for some gauze. He had a good stock of it and that would have to suffice for now, but he knew he was going to have to go out and get some things for her.

"But... I'm bleeding... inside..."

"That's because... uhm..." Now this he knew was going to be hard to explain... or rather embarrassing. "It just means that you're a woman now. See... you... uhm... birds! Birds..."

"Ben... what are you talking about?"

"Uhm... you know babies come from women, right?"

"I guess so."

"Well... every month a women's bodies prepare to hold babies... sort of like how a bird prepares a nest. Alright?" He lightly tapped his fingers against the door out of nervous habit. "Most of the time... there is no baby... so women's bodies shed the nest in order to make a new nest the next month. Except... these nests are... sort of... made of blood and flesh... but I guess that's obvious at this point."

"Why isn't there a baby...?"

"Uhm." He cursed under his breath because he didn't want to have this talk with a thirteen year old girl. "Well because... you... need... a male bird to... help... make an egg into a baby..."

"Oh." She seemed to have accepted that answer and he was so grateful that he didn't have to explain in full detail.

"Open up now... I have something for you so you don't bleed everywhere." He waited and then the door clicked and she opened it only partially to allow him to hand her the gauze. It wasn't perfect, but it would do for now. "I'm going to get you something better, but you have to work with that for now."

"Okay..." She sniffed lightly and took the rolls from him before backing back into the room and closing the door once more.

"Rey... you don't have to be sad... this is a good thing. Growing up... it's a good thing." He told her and then stepped back.

"It really hurts."

"I know. I'm sorry." He wished he could do something to ease her pain, but he couldn't. Not until he could get out and gather some things to trade for more supplies. "I'll be right back."

While she figured things out he started working on something for her to eat. While he knew she wasn't sick per say he made her some soup in hopes that it would at least help a little bit. By the time he finished it up and returned she seemed to have sorted things out because she was sitting near the little table in the center of the room.

He set a bowl down in front of her on the table and she gave it an odd look.

"Vaporator mushroom soup." He answered as he sat in front of her with his own bowl and dug in. "I know you're not sick, but... this will make you feel better."

Still Rey looked at it skeptically, but she reluctantly dug her spoon in, blew on it lightly and then took a bite... and she groaned in disgust. "Ewwww."

He burst into laughter at her reaction and that was the moment that she knew that Ben was well aware that these mushrooms tasted horrible and he was still having her eat them. She may have been more angry at him, but... she never really heard Ben laugh before and she didn't think she could be mad. After all he had gone through the trouble to make soup for her to try and make her feel better.

"Luke made me eat them when I was sick at the academy." He cleared things up for her to be aware he wasn't just being mean to her. He really did want her to feel better... he just... got a little entertainment out of it.

"I'm... kind of tired still..." she said softly as she pushed a few specks around in her bowl. She wasn't quite hungry with the horrible ache she had and all. "Can we just go back to bed until this stops?"

"Rey..." He started as he finished up his bowl. "You can't... sleep with me anymore."

"Why...? Is it because this whole thing is disgusting to you?"

"No. No... nothing like that... it's completely normal. The thing is... you're a woman now... women and men can't... sleep together. It would be... inappropriate." He shoved his empty bowl aside. "It's warm in here at night now anyways. There's no need for it."

"Why is it inappropriate?"

"It just... is."

"Why wasn't it inappropriate before then?"

"Because... you were just a kid. Now it's... different because you're a young woman."

"Why?"

"It just is." He hated the look on her face, but this was one issue that he absolutely would not budge on.

"I don't get any of this. None of it makes sense." Rey sighed and stared down in to the only half empty bowl in front of her. Normally she loved to eat all the foods that he prepared for her, but now... she just didn't feel like it at all.

"Yeah... I know. Growing up is hard."

"Does it get easier?"

"Ask me when I've figured that out." He was twenty three now and sometimes he still had no idea what he was doing and felt lost in the world, but he hoped that maybe someday he could figure it out. "Alright... you instruct me on the specifics and I'll make you a really comfortable bed... deal?"

"Mmm..." She gave way to a little smile. She couldn't pass up the offer to boss him around a little. "Deal."

End day 2,655