Edited on July 26, 2014. I'm currently working through this story and making slight adjustments to the story in order to fix certain inaccuracies that started popping up later in the story.

I own nothing of the Black Jewels Trilogy or any following novels. All rights go to Anne Bishop. Thanks for reading!

BJT:ANW

Chapter 5

When Arina woke up the next morning, it took her a long moment to remember the events of the day before. It came back to her slowly: getting hauled out of the room, the training yard, and her slight mental breakdown, before going down to talk to Lorn a little bit, trying to get a handle on herself and figure out what she wanted to do, and finishing up in the stables, all while hiding from everyone else. It had been a busy day, and another one was ahead of her. There could be no more hiding in her room. She had to face the world. Arina shivered.

It was a scary thought. All of the protective barriers she had woven (there was that idea of Webs again, now she was doing it!) around herself had broken when Lorn had given his crash lesson. There was nothing to hide behind now. But still, she was determined that she would not be the kind of person to hide her entire life. She would live it, and live it well. Starting now, she thought grimly, climbing out of bed. This is my life now. Here, in this place. I need to live it, not hide from it.

Unfortunately, this notion started to waver when she stared at her closet. The selection that she had to choose from…why oh why did she even bother to go shopping, it just made everything so much more difficult…did she really have to get dressed? She didn't mind going in her nightgown, not really. She sighed, then reached into her closet and pulled out the first things that she touched. Don't be a baby, she chided herself. No one is going to bite you.

Once dressed, she slid into the bathroom to get ready for the day, only to find that her god forsaken period had started. Arina swore viciously, in a return of her former spirit, letting loose a stream of curses, before finally taking care of it.

It took several minutes for her to remember what she had come into the bathroom for. Arina sighed, and then quickly washed her face. She applied make-up hesitantly—she had never done it before, she hadn't had the time—let alone the inclination. She didn't have any reason to make an effort. But considering some of the women she had seen around, she would need the make-up. Besides, spending any time out of her room at home had been fraught with peril, so she wouldn't have really dared linger in the bathroom long enough. The young girl snorted bitterly. In the end, she didn't even glance at herself before hurrying out of the bathroom. She did not need to see her reflection and fall apart in nerves. Moving silently through the halls, Arina soon reached the dining room. She stopped outside the door, listening. No one sounded angry or upset, so she took a deep breath, and then walked into the room. Silence fell very quickly.

Steadfastly ignoring them all, she walked over to the buffet table and picked up a plate. Why wouldn't they just talk? Focusing nervously on the spread, she noticed just how much food was spread out. She sighed. In all of her life, she hadn't eaten as much as she did here. The amount of calories that these people consumed! Honestly—steak, for breakfast? Not so much. Still none of them looked even remotely overweight. Underweight, if anything. How did they do it? But then…she was always like that, too. She could eat all day, and not gain an ounce. Maybe it was something to do with the Blood? She did remember something that Lorn had told her about their metabolism…but she couldn't remember what it was.

In the end, two sausages, one piece of toast, a small spoonful of scrambled eggs, and four strawberries made it onto her plate. She surveyed the drinks available and finally selected a glass of milk, with a grimace. No orange juice, how did these people survive…going to the table to sit down, she nibbled on her toast and stared into space. Around her, no one said a word, and she finally couldn't take it anymore. She looked up. "What?" she demanded, somewhat defensive. She curled her shoulders forward slightly, shrinking down a little over her plate under the weight of all the stares. Not-particularly-pleased-stares, no less.

BJT:ANW

Lucien stabbed at his steak with his fork. Arina hadn't shown up to practice, but then, yesterday had been trying for her, and Lucivar had forgotten to tell her when they practiced (and that it wasn't entirely voluntary), in addition. But now, it was halfway through breakfast, and she still wasn't here. A low growl to his right told him that Daemonar had arrived. Shifting over to make room for his cousin, Lucien started to pick up the tensions in the room. Pretty much all of the second generation were varying degrees of annoyed. The older Circle was looking thoughtful, and Saetan looked slightly amused. For the life of him, Lucien couldn't figure it out.

That was right about when the door to the dining room opened.

Looking over with everyone else, Lucien's jaw dropped. Conversations stopped as everyone stared at Arina. Lucien saw red.

The girl didn't even seem to notice what she was wearing! Unfortunately, everyone else did.

There were the trousers, for a start. They were tight, black and silver, and made of a strange material that caught and sometimes reflected the light. She was wearing a slim white belt, which was studded with red stones.

Her top was also skin tight, and very thin. The long sleeved shirt underneath, was a formfitting black, with silver threads. Above that, she wore a pale white top, threaded with gold. She was also wearing several lose bracelets, and one gold one in the shape of a dragon that was twining up her arm. Her hair was pulled back with a gold band, and hung loose. In her ears were two sapphires.

But, more than that….

Moon's Blood! She was on her moon's blood, and she—

Lucien took a deep breath. Relax, he thought frantically. You don't actually have a Claim on her, don't—

Which was, naturally, when he caught sight of what she seemed to think was going to pass for breakfast. He lost what little control he had been holding onto. Getting up, he stormed over to the buffet and started to load a plate with real food. Then stormed back over to her, still seeing red. Nibbling at her toast, Arina suddenly looked up at him. "What?" she asked, confused and defensive. Not bothering to answer, Lucien simply picked up her plate and replaced it with the one that he had filled for her. She stared at it, then at him, in dumbfounded amazement. "You must be joking," she blurted, astonished.

He growled. She stared at it again.

"Give me back my plate! I can take care of myself, thank you very much!"

"EAT IT." He growled at her.

"I am not eating steak for breakfast! That is just wrong! What is with you people?" She paused and looked at him more closely. "Lucien…:" she asked slowly, "why are you twitching?"

He somehow managed to suppress a growl, and her expression slowly changed from furious, to forced calm.

"Look," she said calmly, "I'm eating. Ok? Calm down." Eating the steak—no matter how unappealing it looked—Arina kept a careful eye on Lucien, hoping that he wasn't going to actually do anything, but soon her gaze drifted over to Daemonar, and then Yaslana…and every male in the room, but particularly the younger generation…oh, dear. Moontime—that was what she had forgotten! Her period was what was driving them up the wall! She stifled somewhat hysterical laughter at the thought. This was going to get messy—there was no way she was going to laze around during the cycle. Oh, hell no. She looked back at Lucien, then around the room again. Or maybe she was. Damn Warlord Princes. Always have to be right.

Slowly eating the steak, Arina shot a pleading glance towards the other ladies. They grinned at her, clearly having no intention of helping. Arina resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at them, and turned back to her food, grumbling.

Picking over her plate, Arina slowly managed to eat half of the steak, and a few mouthfuls of the eggs before determinedly pushing the plate back and standing up. Lucien growled, and she snarled back, turning for the door. She stopped dead two seconds later, staring at Daemonar, who was leaning calmly against the door, blocking her way out. Her eyes narrowed, and her arms crossed reflexively. He smirked at her. She smiled sweetly at him. Considering her attitude, everyone was sure that she was up to something.

"Let. Me. Out. Now."

Daemonar considered her, smiling. "No."

Her eyes narrowed. Daemonar's smile grew. She looked at him for a long moment, and then groaned quietly.

"Will you at least let Janos in, so I have one friend?" Arina growled at him in obvious surrender.

Daemonar hesitated, but then shrugged. Keeping his eyes fixed on Arina, he took a step forward and opened the door.

Janos jumped on him from behind, slamming him into the ground while Arina bolted from the room quite possibly faster than he had ever seen anyone move before. The huge dog promptly leapt off of Daemonar and followed after her, while everyone else was still in a state of slight shock at the speed of the attack.

"That was the stupidest thing…" Daemonar growled as he scrambled to his feet and raced after the dog. Lucien was already out the door and halfway down the corridor by the time that Daemonar caught up with him.

"I can't believe that you fell for that!" Yaslana said darkly, catching up to the pair. "Oldest trick in the book—the dog would do anything for her, and everyone knows it but you!"

"Shut up," Daemonar growled. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" he chanted to himself.

The three SaDiablo males shot into the hall where Arina's room was, and came to an abrupt halt outside the huge door. Janos was sitting in front of the door, glaring at the approaching Warlord Princes.

"Move," Lucien growled. The dog just stared at him, and didn't move. Behind the trio, more males arrived from the dining room, looking decidedly irritated.

*Not welcome,* Janos finally told them. *Lady not pleased.*

"Can I knock?" Yaslana said quickly, before Daemonar or Lucien could say something stupid. Janos moved slightly to the side, obviously giving permission, though he kept his eyes on the human. Both the other SaDiablo males in the hall gave him decidedly dark looks, which the canine Warlord Prince simply ignored.

"Arina," Yaslana coaxed, "Open the door, please."

There was a resounding crack, and the door vibrated. "Get lost," she shouted, no small amount of panic in her voice. "Leave me alone!"

"Arina—"

"I mean it, I—" there was an abrupt thud, and then, "Ow!"

Every single male in the hall lunged for the door, even Janos, and started pouring into her room. There was no sign of her, and there was a splint second of panic. Her head popped up from behind the bed a heartbeat later, scowling darkly.

"Are you all right?" Dmitri asked anxiously, stopping just short of grabbing her.

"I'm fine," she said indignantly. She even forgot to be upset with them for the moment. "I just fell of the stupid bed. It's too big, anyway, why didn't I get a smaller one? There's only one of me. What could I possibly need all this space for?" she complained under her breath. She looked around, suddenly nervous. "Wait a minute, what the hell are you all doing in here?"

"And you were doing so well," Rose said with a grin from the doorway. "Males—out. Now. We need to have a girl chat. Why don't you all go get that breakfast that Arina didn't eat?"

Arina took a deep breath, and stopped shaking. "Out," she agreed firmly. "I'm fine, just was a little surprised when I fell. Now, I want some time. I'm still getting used to this, and you aren't helping!"

It was obviously reluctant, but eventually, all the males left the room. Arina gave Janos a pointed glare, and he slunk out the door as well, casting several woeful looks back at her. Rose promptly slammed it closed behind the canine, and put a red lock around the room.

"It won't stop all of them, but it'll make a point," she explained, moving back to the bed. The girls were spreading out all over the room, dropping down on the bed, moving things off the chairs, and collapsing into the beanbags that were scattered all over the room.

"Um…" Arina looked at them all, baffled.

"Overwhelmed?" someone offered. She was tiny, and had very delicate features. "I'm Augustine. My brother, Dmitri was the one who picked you up off the ground." Arina still looked confused. "Hm…my mother is Kalush?" Augustine tried.

"Oh! Lorn and Lady Angelline mentioned her, I think. One of the first circle?"

"Yes," Augustine said, pleased.

"What just happened?" Arina demanded, sinking down onto the corner of her bed. "I mean, they all just burst in here like the world was ending. What was happening?"

"You cried out in pain. That tends to get strong reactions from the boyos," Rose said carefully.

"But I don't—It's just—I—"

"I know, that's just the boyos," Rose said sympathetically.

Arina collapsed backwards, causing Augustine to move quickly to the side of the bed to avoid getting crushed, grinning.

"This is…" Arina struggled for words, and then groaned. "I can't deal with this!" she cried. "I've spent my entire life staying away from people, getting pushed around and ignored, mocked and insulted, and now if I so much as stub my toe I have a bunch of guys who are going to be all over me all the time without letting up? Is that what you're telling me!?"

"Arina, relax," Rose soothed. "Let's take this slowly. Introductions first."

"OK," Arina said faintly, "I can handle that."

"So, that's Augustine," Rose began, nodding to the tiny dark haired girl, who smiled brightly. "Then next to her is Titian, she's Surreal's daughter," she said, pointing to a tall slender girl with delicately pointed ears, green gold eyes, and caramel hair, "and Rillian, Lucivar's daughter, and her sister Lillian," pointing to girls with wings on their backs, and identical mischievous faces, "Emerald, she's Morghann's daughter," the tall firey red haired girl with bright blue eyes smiled at Arina, who smiled wanly back. "This is Lauranna and Astira, both daughters of Gabrielle," Two white blonde girls with pointed ears nodded to her, the former with blue eyes, the latter with forest green. "and then finally, there's Alexandra," Rose finished. The last girl had golden blonde hair and pretty sky blue eyes.

"Hi," Arina said, trying to process all the different names and faces in her mind. "But…I still don't…"

"We'll introduce the boyos at dinner, and inform them to be very nice to you," Augustine promised.

"How do I stop them and make them leave me alone?" Arina asked desperately, thinking of the way the males had acted in the breakfast room. "Boys back were I came from aren't like this. They wouldn't know if a girl was on her period if she shouted it in their faces!"

"Well….You don't," Alexandra said gently, sitting on the other side of Arina, patting her head. "I'm sorry, but you don't. You'll get used to it, I'm sure, but for the moment, you're stuck with them. They'll get better about it and all, but they will always be very…sensitive?...about you."

"Define sensitive. How sensitive?" Arina said quickly, slightly hysterical.

"It's all right, really, you'll get used to it fairly quickly, and then it won't be so bad. It's different for us, because we grew up here, and these customs are something that we have been learning and understanding our entire lives, but this is a new to you, isn't it?"

"I think that this is the first time that I've ever had a conversation with a girl who didn't want me to do their homework or tell them where they could kiss their boyfriend's in private," Arina said without thinking.

Almost every single girl in the room looked stunned, gaping in shock and horror.

"That's awful!" Rillian exclaimed. "What about your friends? Didn't they talk to you?"

"What friends?"

"You didn't have any friends?" Titian asked, frowning.

"Well, no," Arina said slowly. "No one liked me, and I seemed to make everyone very uncomfortable, so that made things difficult for me to make friends. No one was willing to hang around with me, so I was always left alone. It got to the point where people didn't like coming within five or even ten feet of me. Unless, of course, they wanted something from me, that is."

"Wanted something from you?" Rillian gave Arina a curious look, and curled up in the chair she was sitting in. "What do you mean?"

"I'm very intelligent, and I've always been at the top of all of my classes. I'm sure that part of that is because I was left with so much time to study on my own, having no one to connect with, but I also absorb information remarkably quickly. So other students would pay me to do their homework, write their essays, and do other things, like find places to hang out that the cops didn't know about, and various other things as well. I was basically the all around go to girl—if someone wanted something, it was the common belief that I would be able to get it for them—if for a price." Arina shrugged. "I got on well enough. I had the stables for when things got too bad, and I always could go out and run with Janos, so I managed to keep from going insane, but still…" Arina trailed off, still staring at the ceiling over her bed, before pulling herself up and settling down cross-legged. "It doesn't matter. The past is the past—it cannot be changed, only accepted. So, I'm moving on."

"But it does matter, Arina," Rose said quietly. "It really hurts you, and if that is in your past, how can you really expect to just…forget about it? You have to work through it before you can forget about it, and only then will you really 'move on'. And it will hurt. A lot."

BJT:ANW

Kids of… (oldest to youngest)

Jaenelle and Daemon: Lucien (Black, Red) and Yaslana (Red), Rose (Red).

Marian and Lucivar: Daemonar (Ebon-gray, Red), Rillian (Red), Lillian (Sapphire), Andulvar (Sapphire)

Surreal and Rainier: Titian (Green), Jasper (Sapphire),

Morghann and Khardeen: Morton (Green, Purple Dusk), Emerald (Green), Leon (Opal),

Gabrielle and Chaosti: Farostel (Green, Grey), Lauranna (Green), Astira (Opal)

Kalush and Aaron: Augustine (Green), Dmitri (Purple Dusk)

Wilhelmina and Jason: Alexandra (Opal), Jonathon (Opal),

Kaelas : KaeAskavi (Red, Opal), Jaal (Sapphire, Opal)

Mistral and Moonshadow: Aiden (Green)

Ladv Rillian: Shadow (Green)

BJT:ANW

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