“Fine.” She grumbled and walked over to the living room. Placing her bag by the door she sat on the couch and tapped the spot next to her. Lugo sat and studied her intently, like any good student would. “I’ll teach you something simple first. {Hi, my name is Lugo}.” She gestured her hands through the air as Lugo mirrors her. “This is {L, U, G, O}.” She fixed his fingers into each position.

After teaching him and working on the phrase, they moved on to other things like names of everyone. Crossing her pointer and middle finger, she drew a shape of a pointy ear on top of her head. “That’s Ruzo.”

“Ruzo.” Lugo repeated and followed her gesture like a child learning to speak for the first time. “What about you? How do you sign your name?”

Tsugi made a fist and stuck her thumb between her middle and forefinger, brushing it against her lips to her chin in two quick movements.

“Tsugi.” He copied her movement. “What about me?”

“You just spell your name.”

“I don’t get a cool sign like you and Ruzo?”

Tsugi chuckled. “No. It’s an honor you have to receive. You can’t give yourself a sign, it’s someone else in the deaf community that has to bestow it onto you like a title.”

“Oh, okay. So then if this sign…” He signed Ruzo’s name. “...is Ruzo’s, I’m guessing because of the letter R for his name and the pointy ears, correct?” Tsugi nodded. “Then what about you? I understand the letter T for your name, but why the gesture?”

***

“Fuck! I have my period?!” Tsugi’s eyes widened in panic. It was her first period, and although she knew it was bound to happen, she didn’t know too much about what to do about the situation. No one had actually taught her what to do when it occurred. She continued to wipe and rinse the blood away.

The door opened and Ellie danced into the bath, eyes closed and twirling around to close the door. Tsugi stared at her in shock, unsure if she was just seeing things or if Ellie had really entered the bath.

Ellie froze and stared, wide eyed at Tsugi who was still standing naked in the shower. Without realizing it, their eyes scanned each other up and down, before the both of them erupted into screams. Ellie covered her eyes and turned around, while Tsugi crouched down to cover herself, hugging her knees to her chest.

Ellie stopped screaming and gazed at the wall in realization. She quickly turned around and started signing dramatically at Tsugi. {You’re a girl?!} Tsugi flushed and clutched her knees tighter. {I thought you were a boy this whole time! Why do you dress like a boy? Or why were you pretending to be a boy? Why didn’t you say anything before?}

Tsugi sighed. {Can we talk about this later? I’m naked.}

{So? We’re both girls, why does it matter?}

{Please Ellie? I’m not comfortable with this. I’ll explain everything, please, just…let me get dressed.}

{Fine.} She sighed.

{Ellie!} Tsugi waved erratically to get her attention. Ellie turned to gaze down at her. {I’m…on my…period.} Tsugi blushed. {I don’t know what to do.}

Ellie chuckled and walked out of the bath. Tsugi gazed at her in shock, a little angry, and a little disappointed. She had sincerely asked for help and Ellie just left her.

Ellie returned shortly with a cloth in her hand.

{Get out.} Ellie signed.

-{What? No!} Tsugi shook her head.

Ellie thought for a moment before shrugging one shoulder. {Fine. Put this in your undergarment to catch the blood. I will give you a few more so you can change them throughout the week. You’ll just have to wash and dry them in between.}

{I’ll bleed for a whole week?}

{More or less, yes.} She nodded and placed the thick undergarment on the chair.

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After she left, Tsugi quickly finished washing and got dressed. Putting on the undergarment, it looked like her butt had grown, making her feel a little uncomfortable. She was glad that her trousers were a little loose, so she was able to hide most of it.

{So tell me why.} Ellie said when Tsugi returned to her room. They both sat on Tsugi’s bed and after building up the courage Tsugi took a deep breath.

{I don’t want to go into detail, but let’s just say I didn’t have a very good upbringing. I’ve always been told to never let anyone know that I’m a girl. Then I saw how dangerous it was for girls and so I’ve just never told anyone.}

{But I’m not going to hurt you. I highly doubt Master Lumes or any of the maids and butlers will either.}

Tsugi sighed. {I know, but I’m used to it now and it just…feels weird.} Tsugi regarded Ellie with pleading eyes. {Please don’t tell anyone! Not even Master Lumes! Yamo told me not to tell anyone, and I just don’t want anyone to know. I don’t want to be treated any differently.}

Ellie looked at Tsugi with sorrowful eyes and exhaled slowly. {Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone. I’ll keep your secret.} She signed ‘secret’ again, brushing her finger against her lips into a hushing movement. She looked up at Tsugi and smiled. Sticking her thumb between her forefinger and middle finger to represent the letter ‘T’, she brushed it against her lips.

{What’s that?} Tsugi tilted her head, puzzled. She didn’t recognize that sign.

{It’s your name.} Ellie smiled.

***

“I don’t know.” Tsugi lied. “I think it’s because I don’t talk much.”

Lugo shrugged one shoulder. “Okay, so is this how I say it?” He signed hesitantly, {How…r…you?}

Tsugi laughed. “No. There’s no such thing as ‘are’, ‘is’, ‘the’, and so on. They are implied, but you don’t sign them. It’s just adjectives, nouns and verbs. So essentially all you’re signing is, {how you}. The questions and statements come with your expressions. So furrow your brows, or raise them according to what you are saying.”

“Oh! Okay!” He nodded and practiced it again, a little better, but still fairly hesitant.

“Eventually it’ll come to you and you’ll be able to sign much smoother. Just keep practicing.” Tsugi chuckled.

Ellie walked through the front door and Lugo quickly jumped to his feet to greet her. {Hi! How…you?}

Her eyes widened with surprise and her mouth gaped as she gazed at Tsugi. {You taught him?} She pointed to Lugo, and Tsugi nodded.

{I’m good. I see you are working on trying to impress me. I’d have to say, doing better, but I still think you’re an idiot.} She grinned at Lugo’s puzzled look.

He scratched his head and turned to Tsugi. “What did she say?”

Ellie and Tsugi burst out into laughter. “Nothing.” She muttered and waved a dismissive hand through the air. She turned to Ellie. {We’re going on a raid. It’s in the Mogden Mines and we could use a healer, if you want to join.}

{You heal too don’t you?} She arches an arrogant brow at Tsugi.

{I might focus on attacking too, so we wanted someone who is a sole healer.}

Ellie pursed her lips and tapped her chin for a moment. {Okay, I’ll go.}

{Great! Go pack whatever you need. We will be leaving as soon as you are ready.}

{We’re leaving now?!}

{The raid isn’t until the end of the week, but Lugo wanted to go stay in the town nearby and attend their moonlight festival. He also wanted to scout the area and do some investigations before we go on the raid.}

{Alright.} She sighed. {Let me go shower and pack.} She hung up her cloak and left for her room.

“Did you ask her?” Lugo sat back down on the couch next to Tsugi.

“She said she’ll go. She’s getting ready and then we can leave.”

Tsugi taught Lugo some more signs as they waited patiently on the couch for Ellie.

After a moment, Ellie stumbled and tripped into the living room, falling flat on her face as her bag went flying across the floor. Tsugi and Lugo sat up and just stared at her, not making a single move. She groaned and flipped onto her back before bursting out in laughter.

Tsugi slowly got to her feet and walked over to Ellie, offering a hand to help her up. {What happened?} Tsugi looked at her, puzzled that she’s still laughing hysterically, which brought a smile onto Tsugi’s face.

{I tripped over my own foot.} Ellie shook her head in disbelief.

Tsugi chuckled and shook her head. {Clumsy.}

“What happened?” Lugo chuckled and went to pick up her bag.

“Nothing. She just tripped over her own foot.” Tsugi laughed. “Honestly, sometimes I wonder if she has two left feet.”

“Ready to go?” Lugo handed Ellie her bag, with a dashing grin on his face.

{Thank you.} Ellie nodded and threw her bag over her shoulders.

“Alright, let’s go.” Lugo headed for the backyard.

“Why are you going to the back yard?”

“I can open the door from anywhere, I just figured, since Ruzo’s there, it’ll be easier for us to go to him, than to have to move him.”

Tsugi pursed her lips and nodded in agreement.

Lugo walked into the middle of the yard and placed his hand on the grass before mumbling something under his breath. The grass grew out of the ground like vines wrapping around an imaginary door, tracing the edges and outlined the frame.

Once complete, the door clicked and opened.

“Let’s go on an adventure!” He said dramatically and stepped through the door.

Tsugi chuckled and shook her head, gesturing for Ellie to enter first. “Ruzo.” The giant warwolf slowly stepped through the door. Tsugi ran her fingers along the grassy vines that felt as hard as wood, admiring it, before stepping through.