It took pounding on her bedroom door for half an hour straight, talking, pleading, even shouting once or twice, to even get an acknowledgement out of Evola. Other than "go away!", that is. Riya was about ready to give up when she finally pulled the door open, her cheeks a flaming shade of orange that signified deepest embarrassment. Their bond was still blocked-- sloppily, but fairly effectively, so he really only had her expression to go off of.

"Finally!" he exclaimed. "Evvie, what is the matter?"

Not speaking, she went back into her room and sat down on the bed, where it looked like she'd been the whole time he'd been begging her to talk to him. But she'd left the door open, so Riya followed her, and sat down opposite her on the bed. From the looks of her pillow and her reddened eyes, she'd been crying, somehow quietly enough so that he couldn't hear it. He wasn't at all sure whether to be moved by pity, or annoyed at her for trying to hide and be miserable. Whatever... that had been, it had upset her greatly.

She still hadn't said anything, and she still looked horribly embarrassed. After a long moment of watching her and waiting in vain, Riya tried to break the silence. "Evvie? Evola, come on, love, talk to me, here." He took one of her hands in both of his, and though she tensed up, at least she didn't pull away.

For a moment, he thought she wouldn't even open up, then, but finally she spoke. "It's... kind of embarrassing," she whispered, staring at his hands on hers, rather than looking up into his face.

"I gathered that," he said, a little wryly. "Come on, Evvie, I'm not gonna be mad or laugh at you or anything. I just wanna know-- especially if I did something wrong, so I know what not to do later."

She glanced up at him, oddly shy and oddly... uncomfortable. Evola was never uncomfortable, so it was a little startling. "... Promise?" she asked, still in a whisper.

"Promise," he said firmly.

"O-okay," she answered, then gave an absolutely adorable little sniffle, and looked back down at their hands. "I... you know about dragons, right? You took that dragon biology class last years."

"With that evil old witch of an Earth dragon, yeah," he agreed. He'd been glad to finish that class, for it was only a year long, and he'd taken his leave of it for the last time just before the third bonding.

"Then you remember what happens in the fall. Right?" He blinked at her blankly, and she gave him a little glare through her continued embarrassment for his obtuseness. "Every three years?" Still wasn't turning on any lights, and she finally burst out, exasperated but still blushing hotly, "Girl-dragons go into heat, Riyikith!"

Riya blinked again, for a moment not making the connection, as she glared at him. But when he did a split second later, he was torn again, but this time between turning as red as Evola was orange, and the laughter he'd promise he wouldn't make. As it happened, promise or no promise, and judging from the heat in his own cheeks as he chuckled, he did both.

"Riyikith!" she wailed at him. "Stop laughing, it's not funny!"

"I know, I know," he managed, trying to swallow a full-out laugh. Laughter was the easiest way to fight embarrassment of his own, though, so it was difficult. "I'm sorry. I just-- hadn't even thought of that! I mean, aren't you a little young?"

"I'm a full adolescent, Riyikith," she huffed indignantly at him. "Or-- a full young adolescent, anyway. It's about the right time, in how big and grown up I am...."

"Guess it kind of makes sense," Riya admitted, forcing himself to think and talk about the whole thing as if it were normal and natural-- which it was-- and not at all something to blush over. He knew plenty about women in general, but like most men, young or otherwise, he wasn't really comfortable talking about "women's troubles". The problem was, this was his bond, and if she couldn't talk to him about something as silly as this, what about more important things?

Though from the look on her face, Evola did not think this was something silly. "I've been aging so fast," she continued, sounding somewhere between miserable and annoyed, "and I bet, since we're the first official bonding group, no one really knew how fast stuff like this would-- would come on...."

"But it happened, and that explains...."

When he trailed off, Evola nodded glumly, looking down again. "I wasn't thinking," she whispered, "it just felt right...."

"It was probably just the hormones talking," he assured her, but she didn't look very reassured. In fact, if anything, she just looked more glum. He hurried to change the subject. "So what do we do now? Isn't the, uh, season supposed to last a couple weeks?"

"Yes," she grumped. "It's not too bad, I guess... I could be a Light...." He heard the hint of a giggle. "I heard that Lights just about go mad if they can't... you know."

Riya gave a little smirk. "I'll feel awfully sorry for that little boy who bonded one, then," he commented, partly amused and, yes, partly already feeling sorry for the boy. He wouldn't be very old, if it happened so soon, and he probably wouldn't understand what was happening. At least Riya was old enough to know what the whole sex thing was about.

"Oh, gods, the poor boy-- and poor Tantra!" Evola exclaimed, surprised momentarily out of her funk by dismay for the pair. "Maybe I should warn her, or something."

"If you want to," Riya answered with a shrug. "I'm most certainly not going to try. --But back to my question. What are we supposed to do now? Should I be on the lookout for you trying to seduce me again?"

Though he'd meant it as trying to lighten the situation up a bit, she just glared at him, going bright orange again, and he knew he probably shouldn't have said that. "Of course not," she snapped. "Now that I-- I mean, now that I know, I'm not going to let that happen again."

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Riya soothed, a little taken aback by her reaction.

"Maybe I'll just hole up in my room until it's over," she grumbled.

"Not all the time," he protested.

"I'll go to classes, I guess. Poke me if I start flirting too badly with anyone there, though."

"I do that, anyway."

Apparently that was the right thing to say, for she smiled a bit at him, though it faded quickly. "And, um, I don't think I should sleep in your bed again for a bit...."

Riya coughed lightly. "Um, yeah, that might be a good idea. I trust your self-control while you're awake, but who knows what you'd do if you weren't all the way awake!" Flushed again, she swatted at him lightly with her free hand, but there was no anger behind it. "Hey...." He released her hand to touch a finger to her chin, making her look up at him. "It'll be okay, hey? Two weeks every three years, right? And maybe in a few years, you'll have found somebody to spend that time with."

Again, she looked away, and the momentary smile faded again. "Maybe," she said softly, then slid her hand away from his and got up. "Maybe I'd better try reading again... we've got that test, and everything...."

"Guess so." Unsure whether he should try touching or hugging her, he rose, too. She solved the problem for him by sitting down at her desk. "Let me know if you need anything, I guess."

"I will," she promised, already opening her book up again. Riya slipped out and back to his own room feeling unsettled. It felt as if, somehow, like he had missed something important... but he hadn't the faintest idea what it was.