The Ruined Luna

Seventeen

The door swung open then, and a very young-looking doctor swept into the room, her lab coat swirling behind her. She was gorgeous, bright purple scrubs a flattering compliment to her warm mocha skin and bright, clear brown eyes.

"Tell me four things you see in this room." She told me as she sat down on her small stool.

"What?"

"Tell me four things you see right now in this room." She repeated.

"Uh, okay." I looked around. "Your stool."

"That's one." She held up her pointer finger.

"The pen in your hand."

"Two."

"The box of tissues."

"Three."

"The poster on the door."

"That's four."

"And...um,...the soap dispenser?"

Dr. Tomlin smiled softly. "That's five. You're doing great. Now what four things can you feel? Touch them as you say what they are."

I wasn't sure where this was going, but I guessed it was some sort of cognitive test and went along with it.

"The fabric of my jeans."

"One."

I reached out and touched the shiny paper hanging off the edge of the examination table. "This paper."

"Two."

"The wall." I rubbed it lightly with my fingertips.

"Three."

"My sweater."

"Four. Fantastic work. Last thing. Hold your breath and count to three."

She watched patiently as I sucked in a slow breath, counted, and let it out.

"Feel better?"

Feel better? I held up my hand and looked closely. The tremor I'd felt coming on was gone. "How did you know?"

"That you were about to have a panic attack? Your face, first of all. And I've seen it a few times. What you just did was a technique you might find helps. Maybe not all the time, or even the first time you do it during a given attack. But it does have a good degree of success."

I smiled lopsidedly at my fingers and lowered them back to my lap. "Thank you."

Dr. Tomine bobbed her head and made a notation on my sheet. "My pleasure. Now, what did you want to talk about." she asked and gave me her full attention.

'How to begin?'

"Are you aware of...me?"

Her cheerful expression sobered a bit. "You mean am I aware that you were human not six months ago? I am, yes."

I glanced down into my lap where my fingers twisted together. "Right, well, I had some...questions, about that."

"Any one in your position would." Dr. Tomine interlaced her hands. "And I hope I have the answers you need. But your change, or turning, as I've been calling it, is so impossible unique."

"I realize that. But my immediate concerns are more...crap how do I put this...I don't menstruate, anymore."

"No, I wouldn't expect that you would. Werewolves don't. We go through heat cycles."

'Of course we do.'

"If that's the case, will I?"

Dr. Tomine hesitated a moment before answering. "I expect that you will, though I'm not entirely sure when you will. The test results from your first blood test four months ago suggests that you shouldn't have any issues coming into heat yourself."