Doctor, Doctor

Writers: Chelle, Eimi
Date Posted: 18th January 2012

Characters: Parale, Venrys, Rialta
Description: Parale has to talk to Venrys about something that happens.
Location: Sunstone Seahold
Date: month 6, day 10 of Turn 6
Notes: Mentioned: Ioven, Syren

Note: Deals with a child's natural curiosity - no insinuation of abuse

is intended

Venrys looked very small as she stepped into their quarters, head hung
low, hands folded in front of her, shoulders slumped. She was in
trouble. Real trouble. And she was ashamed more than she had ever been
in her young life.

Having been in the process of ripping one of Ioven's soiled workshirts
into rags since the garment simply could not be saved, Parale had heard
a knock at the door. Curious as to what it could be about, she put the
fabric aside and answered it, surprised to see a woman there with
Venrys.

When the little girl entered looking like that, alarm bells immediately
went off. "Venrys, are you allright?"

Her eyes were already filling with tears and her chin began to shake as
she shook her head. Without saying a word, she walked right past Parale
and into her room, closing the door behind her.

As she did so, the woman following her addressed Parale. "You are her
mother I take it?"

She wanted to go to her girl and find out what was happening, but it
would probably be better to deal with this woman and get her out first.
Torn, Parale turned to face the other adult. "Yes."

"I'm Rialta. I work for the Headwoman," she said by way of
introduction. "I went to a storeroom to do a bit of inventory, and much
to my _horrified_ surprise, behind a stack of flour sacks, I found your
daughter and a young boy. They were... _Showing_ themselves to each
other, if you can get my meaning."

Parale was speechless for a moment. Processing just what the woman was
saying and the look on Venrys' face, she put a hand up to her chin.
"Thank you. Thank you for telling me and bringing her. I...we're going
to have a talk." Taking a breath, she began to think of just what on
Pern she was going to say. "The boy?"

"I sent him home with a stern reprimand. Really, such behavior can be
expected of a boy, but I am more than just a little concerned with the
behavior of your daughter." The woman lowered her voice, almost as if
she was too embarrassed to say the words too loudly. "The boy said, and
your daughter did not contradict him, that it was _her_ idea."

Breathing a loud sigh, Parale could have just guessed it would be. "I
thank you for your concern and that's good to know." Resisting the urge
to roll her eyes at the absurdity of the situation, she faced Rialta.
"She's a precocious child with a curiosity that sometimes causes
problems. I'm sure once she understands that sort of curiosity is not a
good thing everything will sort itself. I need to go see about her."

"I hope for her sake she does come to understand the gravity of the
situation. What if that boy had been just a little bit older than her?
I am sure you can guess what could have happened then. Watch her
carefully. You do not want her to become one of _those_ girls, now do
you?" And it was clear from the tone in Rialta's that she was sure
Venrys was only a step away from that fate. "Good day to you."

In her mind she was imagining her fist in Rialta's face, but she smiled
and was gracious as she let the woman out. Once the door shut, she
ran to Venrys' room and entered slowly. "Venrys?" Her tone was gentle.
She was not the first child in history to ever do such a thing and she
wouldn't be the last.

The little girl was laying face down on her bed, quietly sobbing into a
small stuffed canine she had had from birth. She didn't move at the
sound of her name being called, other than the shuddering breaths.
Venrys knew she had done a bad, bad thing, and now she would have
to pay the price for it.

Coming to sit on the side of the bed, she reached a hand up to stroke
her hair. "Honey, we need to talk about this. First, though, I want to
know what that woman said to you." There was a slightly hard tone to her
voice when mentioning Rialta, but it left soon after.

"She yelled at Lipas, and then she said I had done a very bad thing."
Embarrassment and shame at the memory brought on a fresh wave of tears.

"Was that all?" **Great, now I have to undo the damage and teach a
lesson** "Listen, you didn't know any better. It's natural to be
curious. Forget that woman for a moment." She took a breath and began
what she remembered her own mother saying so many turns ago.

"Men and women are different, made different. There are reasons for
that. However, only your husband is supposed to see those differences."
Parale hoped that made sense.

Venrys said nothing. Her tears were stopping for the moment, though her
body still shuddered with each breath. She didn't quite trust that
Parale's tone meant she wasn't in big trouble. That woman had looked so
angry when she demanded to know where she lived.

"Venling, talk to me please. Do you understand what I'm saying?" She
really didn't want to have a conversation with herself. Becoming quiet,
she waited until the girl wanted to talk.

When the answer did come, it was in a very small voice. "I just wanted
to see it."

"Aye I know. When I was very old and I thought I'd never get a husband,
my friend Apeline and I used to sneak around the river to catch a
glimpse." Parale sighed and looked at her hands. "I'll tell you, though,
it's no great thing. Once you've seen one you've seen them all. So are
you done with seeing things for a very good long while until you're
married hm?"

"Are you going to tell Daddy?"

That was a very good question. "Right now I don't think it's something
that Daddy needs to know about. There are girl things and boy things. I
handle the girl stuff and he handles the boy stuff. Things like this and
your menses are in that area. If it becomes a problem, though..." She
let that hang in the air, knowing Venrys was smart enough to figure it
out.

"That was all it was, though, just looking right?" Perhaps she should
talk about touching and what that entailed to get it out of the way.

"I don't know what you mean." Fresh tears threatened to fall. Venrys
was very confused. There had never been girl stuff and boy stuff. She
had always told her father everything. And she didn't know what a
'menses' was, or what else she might have done besides just look at
Lipas. She wasn't even sure what it had been she was _looking_ at! All
she did understand was that she had done a very bad thing that the woman
had said she should be ashamed for doing. And she _was_ ashamed! But
she didn't understand _why_.

"Shhh it's okay baby. What I mean is, Lipas didn't touch you there, did
he and you didn't touch him, right? You just looked?" This was very
important and Parale was holding her breath.

Venrys nodded into the little stuffed canine. "I didn't look for very
long."

"Okay." She started breathing again. "If anyone ever tries to touch you
there, you need to tell me or Daddy. It's very important. If we're not
there, go get someone."

"Okay." Venrys certainly wouldn't do any _more_ bad things like she had
done today, that was for sure!

Parale laid down on the bed and just held Venrys for awhile. "It's going
to be alright. Don't listen to that nasty woman. I bet she sounded very
mean and scary. Women like that, Venrys, like to bully others. If I'd
been there, right then, I'd have yelled back at her for doing that to
you."

"You are not a bad girl. You just made a mistake. It's not going to be
the last one you make either." She stroked her hair some more. "That's
why you have parents-we're here to help you through your mistakes so you
don't make them again." She thought about her own experiences growing
up with this very thing. If Syren had been a boy, Venrys likely wouldn't
have been as curious.

Venrys sniffed a few times, calming down a bit more now. "You're not
angry at me?" she asked, not really sure if she should believe that.

"No I'm not angry at you. I'm going to go on into the living area now,
but whenever you're ready you can come help me okay?" She would
give her time to herself to think about what she'd just said. Parale got
up and walked back into her workspace, looking over what she'd half
finished.

Last updated on the January 18th 2012

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