Chapter Text
“Kae,” Jina said with a fond smile, opening her door to the young Jiang-Smith. “Good morning, how have you been?”
Kae was the older of two girls, daughters of a pair of legendary blacksmiths. Though Jina hadn’t seen their parents around recently, the two always assured the other villagers that they were just working on very complex projects, and were too busy to see anyone.
“H-hi, Dr. Wang,” Kae said, voice strangely quiet. That was concerning; Kae was loud and energetic, always happy to chat with anyone. It was interesting to put her side-by-side with Nya; other than their completely opposite personalities, they looked almost identical. Almost, because Kae constantly dyed her hair brown. But even though they were two years apart, it was otherwise hard to tell them apart. “Um…I need to talk to you about something.”
“Oh, of course,” Jina responded, and led the young girl into her hut, sitting her down on the patient bed. “What’s going on?” she asked.
“Uh, so…” Kae kept her eyes trained on the floor. “I woke up this morning, and there was blood on my bed, and it looked like it came from, uh…”
Jina’s mind was still panicking from ‘blood on my bed’, so it took her a second to realize.
“It came from between your legs?” she checked. She had to be sure.
Kae nodded mutely.
Jina took a moment to feel relieved. “Oh, honey, it’s just your period.”
“...My what?”
What do you mean, ‘what’?!
“Didn’t your mother ever tell you? You’re eleven, so it makes sense for it to come now, and she should’ve told you before…” Jina trailed off, because she realized Kae’s hands had tightened around the sheet of the bed. She was chewing on the inside of her cheek, looking away. Her shoulders were bunched up to her ears.
A million thoughts ran through Jina’s head, but the first was ‘child neglect’.
“Kae. Honey, look at me?”
Kae’s eyes slowly drew up to hers.
“When was the last time your mom talked to you? Or your dad?”
She looked away again. That was all the answer Jina needed. She stood, making Kae jump. Which was another bad sign that Jina filed away, ready to ream out the Jiang-Smith parents.
“I’m gonna go talk to them,” Jina said, trying to keep her voice steady and calm, even as her mind filled with a thousand names to call Kae’s parents while she shrugged on a thin coat.
“Wait!” Kae jumped off the bed, blocking the door. “Dr. Wang, you can’t—”
“I can, honey, trust me—”
“They’re not home!”
“I know, Kae,” she sidestepped her and twisted the handle, “that’s why I’m going to see them when they get home—”
“They haven’t been home in years!” It came out fast, and Kae looked like she regretted it as soon as she said it.
Jina’s mind blanked. She looked down at Kae.
“What?”
Kae hugged herself, and Jina crouched down so Kae could look down at her. Jina had learned a while ago that being taller than kids always freaked them out.
“Can you please tell me why?” Jina asked, trying to be gentle.
“I-I don’t know.” Kae’s eyes stayed trained on the floor, again. “I just—we came in from playing, and they were gone. But…” Her eyes met Jina’s. There was a fire in them. “I know they wouldn’t have left us on purpose. There had to be something else.”
Jina’s eyebrows raised. Then she smiled, though not without some sadness for the childhood Kae lost to take care of her younger sister in the absence of her parents. She must have had to grow up so fast. “You’re a smart kid, huh?”
Kae nodded, the stubbornness still there and on full display.
“Okay.” Jina stood with a quiet grunt, grimacing inwardly when her knees cracked loudly. She hung her coat back on the hook. “Come on, honey. I’m gonna teach you about periods.”
It took a while; the first order of business was showing her how to put a pad on, and after that was answering Kae’s many, many questions. Including but not limited to:
“So why does it happen?”
“Why can’t the cells just…not…do that?”
“Every month?!”
“I’ll get stomachaches?!”
“What are hormones?”
“I’ll get sad every month?!”
At the end of it all, Jina’s mouth and throat were dry from talking, and Kae looked like she regretted coming to Jina’s office at all. But Jina felt a little better knowing that the young girl with her newly gained period knew a little more about what to do monthly.
“Being a girl sucks,” Kae sighed. At some point, she had laid herself down on the patient bed. “I wish I were a boy.”
Jina huffed a laugh.