Flores Vitae: The Flower of Life

Chapter 11: How to Comfort a Menstruating Woman

"So... uh... Heather?"

"The Master says I have to do a good job and please you, because this is my one and only chance, and if you don't like me I'm going to have to go back to working in the laundry. And I know its a really big deal to be given this chance, I mean its like the highest position for a human in the whole castle, and its an honor to be able to serve the queen..."

"Heather..." I held up a hand to stop her running mouth. "I'm not a queen."

She looked at me with her wide hazel eyes. "But you will be. Everybody knows that. I'm hungry. Can we order food?"

I sighed. Somehow I felt like Heather was some sort of punishment. I'd never really had any female friends. Well, lets face it I'd never really had any friends at all. So I had no idea how to deal with this girl, who was looking at me like I was some kind of rock-star. "Yeah, food sounds good."

"Yes! Can we order a pizza? Chef Maurice makes the best pizza, just like you'd get in a real New York Pizzeria."

"Sure, pizza sounds okay."

Heather did a little happy dance and whipped out her cell phone. "What do you like on your pizza?"

"Mushrooms and green peppers."

Her mouth sagged open. "Mushrooms? I've never met anyone who likes mushrooms. Oh wait, are you a vegetarian?"

"No, I just like mushrooms on my pizza."

"Oh." she sounded almost disappointed. "Everyone says how you are like this special, nurturing, earth, mother-goddess... so I thought maybe you were like vegan or something."

I shook my head in bewilderment. I had no idea what she was talking about. Everyone said I was what?? And what did that have to do with being a vegetarian. "No, I like meat just fine."

"Okay... well in that case... why don't we do half-and-half... fungus and peppers on your side, sausage and pepperoni on my half?"

"Yeah, that sounds good," I agreed, and sank back down into my corner of the couch. I heard her chattering excitedly into the phone, giving the order to Maurice in the kitchen. "Can you add some raspberry ginger ale, and something chocolate?" I asked before she hung up. She relayed that message and slipped her phone back into her pocket.

"He says about 40 minutes. So... what do you want me to do?"

I scratched my head. "Um, you said you worked in the laundry?"

"Yes ma'am."

"I'm going to need some fresh sheets for the bed... and there is a sheet in the bathroom that needs to go out in the wash."

"I'm on it!"

I thought when I saw Matthias Black again, I was going to kill him. Well, I would kill him, if he wasn't already dead. He knew damn well that I didn't like people doing things for me, and he'd sent me a god-damned maid? What was he thinking? I scowled at the TV as Heather went running out with my soiled sheet, and came running in with a fresh set, and then insisted on going up into the bedchambers to make the bed herself. I might have argued with her, but I was crampy and hungry and grumpy, so I just let her do whatever.

The pizza came, and we set up our dinner on the table under the Tiffany lamp. I still couldn't believe there was a real Tiffany lamp in my living room. Heather served me, sort of. She was awkward and clumsy, but she was trying so hard that it was almost endearing. She managed to put my slice of pizza on a plate in front of me, and pour me a flute of raspberry ginger ale as though it were champagne. Aside from the pizza, which did look amazing, there were chocolate covered strawberries, caramel-swirled brownies, and some kind of chocolate truffles. "Oh my lord," I took a bite out of one of the brownies. "I think I'm in love with Maurice."

Heather giggled. "Don't let the Master hear you talk like that, he's apt to throw Maurice right out of the nest."

I rolled my eyes. "You know what I mean..." I plucked a chocolate covered strawberry. Chef Maurice knew how to make a menstruating woman happy, that is for sure. After not eating for the whole day, I ate like a pig. Two and half slices of pizza, 5 chocolate covered strawberries, a brownie, and god-only-knows how many of those decadent truffles later... I was so stuffed I could hardly roll myself off from the couch. I held my stomach and let Heather do the honors of cleaning up our mess and rolling the cart back to the kitchen.

"What's next?"

"Bath." I said. And before I could even get myself up, she had run into the bathroom to start to draw a bath for me. Ugh. I waddled in after her. "You know Heather, you don't have to do everything for me. I'm very used to taking care of myself."

She looked like I'd slapped her. Her big hazel eyes even got a little glossy like she was going to cry. "You mean... you don't want me?"

"No, no, I don't mean that," I said hastily. I rubbed my hands over my face. "I don't know how to do this."

"Its easy! Just let someone take care of you! How hard can it be?" She gave me a watery smile.

Just go with it Rose, I told myself. Live in the moment... and while you're at it, make the girl happy. "Do you want to get in too? Its plenty big enough for the both of us."

"Can I really? Wow, that's great! You are really nice."

I don't know what I was thinking... that if there were two of us in the tub, we'd wear bathing suits or something, and treat it like a hot tub instead of a bath-tub. But Heather apparently didn't have a shy or modest bone in her long body, and she immediately stripped down naked. I averted my eyes and felt my cheeks flame up. "Oh come on, Mistress. We're all girls here! You don't have anything I don't have," she gave my chest a glance, "Just maybe more of it."

"Oh for heaven's sake." She had me so flustered there was nothing left to do but pull off my clothes and join her. Two naked women in the same bath-tub... granted it was so big that she sat on one end, and I sat on the other, and we would have to stretch out just to touch toes. Still it seemed weirdly intimate for me. I'd never done any of those silly teenager things like go skinny dipping, or have sleepovers, or talk girl-things with another female. But I guess I was about to learn.

I relaxed back in the hot water and rested my head against the back of the tub. "So Heather... how did you come to be here?"

Heather skimmed her hand across the top of the water. "I had this boyfriend... he was a real loser, had been to jail twice, but you know, I thought if I loved him enough, he'd get clean, be a decent guy... but he didn't. One day he and his friends got real high on something... they tied me up and drove me out to the woods... I think they were going to gang-rape me and then kill me. They had me tied to this fallen tree, and had ripped my clothes off... but before they could touch me, Boris came out of no-where," her eyes got kind of dreamy. "He killed them all... and he saved me, and brought me back here. They kept trying to make me leave, but I kept coming back. I want to be here. I want to be near them. I want to be like them. I... I love Boris." She sighed. "The Master finally had pity on me... and he gave me a room and a job in the laundry, and he let me stay. He won't turn me. He won't even let me offer myself as a feeder."

"What's a feeder?"

"People who donate blood... you know, like willingly."

"Eww."

"No! I hear its really amazing... like really sensual and stimulating. But the Master doesn't like his vampires feeding on humans, willing or not." She brightened up. "But now, wow! I get to be with you! This is fantastic! We are going to have so much fun."

We soaked in the water for awhile before we actually scrubbed our bodies and washed our hair. Heather was completely at ease... I felt awkward... like those days in high school gym class when you had to change in front of all the other girls. We might have had the same girl-parts, but not really. Heather was thin to the point of bony. Her ribs stuck out, her hip bones stuck out, and she had tiny, almost non-existent breasts. But she was the most un-selfconcious person I had ever met. She handed me towels before she wrapped herself up. "So, where am I sleeping?"

I frowned. "Don't you have a bedroom?"

"Yeah.. but the Master said I have to stay with you here as long as you are on the rag."

"He did not say "rag"!"

"No he didn't... he used some fancy medical term. But same difference." She looked doubtfully at the couch, which was too short for her long frame. "The couch then?"

I sighed. "I don't suppose we can have a cot or something brought in for you?"

"I don't think there are any "cots" in this castle, Madam. Its all expensive antiques and stuff."

"Well..." I said doubtfully. "The bed is really big... I guess as long as Matthias isn't going to be coming in..."

And that is how I ended up snuggling with another woman in my bed. If sleeping together with a cold man had been weird... sleeping with a warm woman was even stranger. We started out on our own sides of the bed, with a big space in between us. But sometime during the night, one of us... or maybe it was both of us... got snuggly. I can say for my part, it wasn't a s****l thing. It was more like a human comfort thing. And for Heather, I can guess it was that complete lack of boundaries thing. I woke up in the morning with her red head resting on my stomach, her arms wrapped around me, and my legs tangled up with hers. It was strange... a little embarrassing... but on the other hand, it was kind of soothing. I thought maybe if I'd had a sister, and we'd grown up together in a normal family in a normal house, maybe we would have been comfortable sharing a space like this.

I started dragging Heather through my daily routine. She didn't really know how to ride, but Sam the stable hand produced a little paint pony that was "bomb proof." They used the pony when they were training some of the war horses. Stormy the paint pony was fairly content just to follow along behind Charlie, so Heather had to do little more than hold on and not fall off. She liked the riding. She thought the art was pretty boring until I convinced her to model for me. Although she was kind of clumsy and awkward in real life, I used her long lines to create a very graceful pose, with her back facing the viewer, leaning slightly onto one arm, her long hair draped over one shoulder, and a carefully arranged length of silk covering all her naughty bits. It was very pretty and flattering. When it came to the garden, she was almost as reluctant as a vampire to be out in the sun. "Do you see my skin?" She whined. "Do you know what happens when I get in the sun? First of all I burn... I burn to a crisp every time. Second, when the burn goes away, I just get MORE freckles."

"Its okay," I patted her shoulder. "You stay inside. I'll go by myself." I was secretly feeling very pleased at the idea of having a couple hours by myself.

"Noooo, if the Master finds out I left you alone, he'll fire me for sure." She squashed a big wide brimmed floppy hat over her red hair and produced and enormous beach umbrella. "If the Mistress wants to get all dirty and stuff, I'm in." Mostly she lazed in the hammock while I worked. That day I was planting raspberry canes along an arbor trellis.

In the evening we ate together. Sometimes we watched some movies. Heather convinced me that I NEEDED to watch some popular vampire series. We bathed together and slept together, and I was beginning to feel that Heather was attached to my hip.

It was the last day of my period... I was down to just spotting, and I knew that by that evening it should be over and done with. I was looking forward to Heather going back to her own rooms, and hopefully, Matthias coming back to the tower. I had missed him far more than I wanted to admit. I also didn't want to admit that I was really glad for Heather's company. She could be very annoying at times, but for the most part, she was a friendly, good-hearted person, who was very easy to get along with.