Oops, Did I Forget To Mention That?

The next morning when Basil carried a bowl of soup in to Iris, his nose was assaulted by a sweet metallic scent. Basil worriedly walked over to Iris and shook her awake as he worried for her condition. When Iris blinked her eyes open and yawned like usual, Basil heaved a sigh of relief.

"Thank the Beast Deity, I was worried when I smelled the blood. I can't tell if you're in heat or injured so I'm going to need to check your body, okay?"

Basil said in a gentle tone. Iris groaned as she replied

"No need, it's my period."

Basil looked confused as he asked

"Period?"

Iris grimaced as she replied

"Oops did I forget to mention that? Caspian! Bring in Ember and some bath water and pads please!"

Caspian immediately complied, first running to get Ember before he could leave for the field. Luckily, he hadn't gotten far since he had just left the house. Next, Caspian grabbed some of Iris's new rosemary & mint bar soap, water, a cloth, clean clothes, and some pads before rushing over to Iris's side.

Having all three of her mates stare at her while she cleaned up was embarrassing so Iris demanded

"Don't look at me while I wash up, turn around!"

Ember felt a little frustrated about being dragged back only to not be able to look at Iris, but complied. Caspian was used to Iris's shyness and desire and had no issues. However, Basil hesitated until Iris glared at him and began to walk forward to throttle him.

Iris took her time cleaning herself up. Luckily, there wasn't enough blood yet to dirty the bed and a simple change of clothes would solve most of Iris's problem. Iris awkwardly explained

"I don't get a heat like other females. They get a heat once a year and it lasts maybe five days. Then they mate like crazy and have a chance of getting pregnant, which then lasts for six months.

In my world, females have monthly periods which can last between five days and two weeks depending on the female. After that, we ovulate and are more likely to get pregnant. However, technically we can get pregnant at any time, even during our period. Although, there are cases of it taking a year or more to get pregnant if the female is too stressed or has health issues.

Anyhow, I also bleed heavily, get painful cramps, and am extra hungry on my period. Usually being on your period means you aren't pregnant yet, but sometimes you get periods while on your period. Caspian has already dealt with this a few times so he can confirm this is normal for me and you can ask him if you have any other questions now get out."

All three males awkwardly shuffled out of the room. Ember wasn't sure how to feel. On the one hand, Iris could get pregnant easily and had slept with him a few times now. So he was being considered for fathering children with her. However, Ember also felt his protectiveness over Iris growing by the day as he learned more and more about her.

Ember sighed and left the house for the fields. Basil and Caspian we're more suited for looking after Iris's health. Ember could only look after her safety and do what little he could to provide for Iris.

Basil asked Caspian a few additional questions so that he could ensure he was fully able to look after Iris's health. Then he went off to brew some tea for Iris before carving some combs out of animal bones.

At this point, the males were practically using every part of their prey. The sinew was used for thread, the skin for clothes among other things, bones for combs, jewelry, and knives, and the meat for various foods. About the only thing being wasted were the guts and entrails. Iris did not like to eat them so she wasn't going to prepare them as many Asian countries often did.

Caspian returned to sewing beast skins into dresses. He would not press Iris to teach him more today as he knew she did not feel well. Caspian would just have to sew all the clothes into dresses and embroider them this week and then learn new things when Iris felt better.

Iris finished her breakfast and then went back to sleep until the sun was high in the sky. She felt entirely too miserable today as she struggled with nausea, cramps and exhaustion. When Basil noticed Iris was awake he offered

"I'll go reheat the tea I made you earlier. It's good for pain relief and digestion. If you need anything else, I'll get it for you when I come back."

Since Caspian had brought her multiple pads and someone had already changed out the bathwater, Iris wasn't too worried. She could easily wash up and then find something to do. However, in a few days it would be time to hold the weekly feast and Iris had promised to make new games.

When Basil came back, he sat beside her on the bed and rubbed her back as she drank. Soon, Iris decided to broach the topic with Basil

"Can you help me make a new board game today? I'll need about a dozen copies so everyone can play. It should be pretty easy to make, but I'll need stone, wood, and some charcoal. That's the burnt blackened leftovers from a long in a campfire."

Basil didn't mind helping Iris with crafting items and happily went to fetch everything. When he came back he asked

"Okay, what now?"

Iris smiled as she directed Basil to make flat square boards and to carve thin grooves in the board to form a grid. After that, Iris used the charcoal to color in every other square so half of them were darker than the others. Next, Iris had Basil carve both stone and wood into large thin circular chips. On one side, Iris also had Basil carve a shallow flower into the chips. They were similar to buttons but larger and without holes in them.

When the pieces were all finished, Iris explained how to play the game

"This is checkers. Each player gets the same number of pieces with one player using the stone chips while the other uses wooden chips. Players take turns moving one chip forward at a time either straight forwards, sideways, or diagonally towards their opponents side of the board.

Players can skip their chip over their players chip and force their opponent to remove that chip from the board. If a player successfully moves a chip to the other side of the board they flip their chip over so it is flower side up.

Normal chips can't be moved backwards, but these flower chips can. When the opponent can't make any moves due to having all their pieces removed from the board or blocked in so they can't move, you win."

Basil and Iris then played a practice round so that he could get the hang of the game. Before they knew it, much of the day had already passed by. Iris was surprised by the number of times she had miserably lost to Basil. It seems Basil's intelligence not only extended to his knowledge of plants, but also strategy games.

When Ember returned with prey, Basil went to make dinner while promising to finish making the other copies of the game later on.