Title: Power of Pleasure
Author: kinky_kneazle
Characters/Pairings: Padma (also Parvati and OFC, but mainly a solo Padma story)
Rating: NC-17
Kinks/Themes Chosen: Menstrual Taboo
Other Warnings: Masturbation, hints of voyeurism/exhibitionism, masturbating in the same room as your identical twin
Word Count: 1,750
Summary/Description: When Padma is sent to India for her own safety during the war, she learns some traditions that her family had lost in England.
Author's Notes: This isn't quite what I expected when I started writing, nor is it as dirty, but I think I'm happy with it. Thanks to my sweetheart for the ultra-quick beta.



"You see girls, men believe that our blood drains them of magic. They think they are banishing us because we are weak at our bleeding time. It's not true. It is when we are at our most powerful. They say we are weak, but they send us away because they fear us."

"Auntie Lalita, if we're so powerful, why are we the ones being sent away?"

Padma wanted to cheer at her sister's question. She was following her aunt across the yard to a small shed where, apparently, she would be spending the week of her period because men were scared of her. This was the final proof that being sent to India for her own safety was the worst thing that had ever happened to her. The heat was her first clue, the mosquitoes the second, but this sort of backwater superstition forcing her to move to a shed one week out of ever four was really the last straw.

"Letting the men think they are controlling this causes less problems, but this is our choice."

Her aunt pushed the door open and the three women stepped inside. Padma couldn't believe what was inside the decrepit looking shed. It opened up to a large, open space with an indoor pool to the side of the room. The building had some sort of cooling charm on it and Padma felt the sticky heat that had surrounded her since she'd arrived in India start to dissipate. Cushions were scattered around the floor between the lush tropical plants that decorated the space. Padma opened one of the doors that led off from the room and found equally luxurious sleeping quarters.

"I redecorated when your grandmother passed away. Do you like it?"

"Was it like this before?"

"It was this luxurious, but your grandmother liked darker colours." Their aunt looked at them both. "You've missed so much in that cold, dead place. But we will make up for that while you are here with me. Once a month we will be here and you will learn about your power. Shall we cool off in the pool first?"

As the sun set Padma found herself sprawled on cushions by the side of the pool with a plate of fresh fruit in front of her. "Why is there just fruit, Auntie Lalita?"

"It seems to help with the pain to avoid anything too heavy for the first couple of days. You've never found that?"

Padma shook her head.

"It's a crime how cut off from your bodies you girls are. You should listen to it. It will tell you what it needs."

Padma grimaced as another cramp spasmed through her abdomen. "Well, the fruit doesn't seem to be working yet."

"It's time for your lessons to start. Lie down and relax, and let me tell you a story." Padma closed her eyes. She heard the soft footsteps of her aunt moving around and then felt her settle between herself and Parvati. "Once upon a time there was a girl called Aikya. She was a happy child, her parents' only daughter and doted on by her father.

"As happens to all girls, one day she became a woman. She didn't know what had happened, only that she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen and then she began to bleed. She went to her father and when he saw the blood he stepped away from her, turning from her for the first time in her young life. It was her mother who explained that she was now a woman. Now, this all happened in the days before women separated from their men during their bleeding time, so Aikya's mother gave her some rags to hold between her legs and then sent her back to her chores. Aikya's pain continued but she wanted to please her parents so she quietly did her chores and at the end of the day asked her mother how to stop the pain.

"'The pain only stops when you marry, Aikya. But don't worry because your father has found you a husband and you will marry before the next moon so you will not feel the pain again.'

"Aikya was still young with many things she wanted to do. And the man her father had picked out was old. So Aikya did the only thing she could do. She hid from her parents.

"What I have yet to tell you is that Aikya was a very powerful witch, and she used her magic to fashion a hidden room in her father's house so she could still sneak out at night to eat in her father's kitchen. From her hidden room she the man her father wanted her to marry yelling and she felt sorry for her father, but she didn't let that convince her to leave the room. She stayed very quiet and her parents thought she had run away until the next moon when her bleeding started. The pain was even worse this second time and her mother heard her groans of pain from the hidden room and used her own magic to enter and drag Aikya out.

"'This pain is your punishment for being such a naughty girl. And the pain will continue until you do the right thing and stop shaming your father. He has another husband for you and you will marry him next week.'

"This potential husband was old and ugly so once again Aikya hid from her parents, this time using her magic to turn herself invisible. Once again the man she was to marry yelled at her father. And once again it was her pain that gave her away."

"'You naughty girl,' her mother said. 'You're lucky there is any man left in the village willing to marry you. But there is one, and you will marry him tomorrow.'

"The man was old and ugly and mean and Aikya knew she could not marry him, but her mother had locked her up in a magical cell and she had no way to get out. In frustration she threw the rag from between her legs at the wall and where her blood hit it, a hole appeared. She crawled through the hole and ran out towards the mountains.

"Aikya staggered up the mountains in the dark, arms clenched around her middle as she tried to cope with the pain. Near sunrise she came to a cave and collapsed inside.

"'Who is there?'"

Padma jumped as her aunt's voice echoed around the room. It sounded like a thousand women were speaking through that one voice.

"Aikya looked at the woman who looked to be about her mother's age.

"'I am Aikya,' she said but then the pain started again and Aikya curled into a ball on the floor of the cave. Slowly she told the woman the rest of her story.

"'Marriage does not stop the pain, little Aikya. I never married yet I feel no pain. It is pleasure that does that and I will teach you.'

"Aikya felt a hand on her thigh and she let her thighs fall open at the goddess' insistence. 'Put your hand here.'"

Padma felt a hand on her wrist. She allowed her aunt to guide her hand between her legs.

"'Move your hand. Slowly.'"

Padma heard Parvati gasp. She moved her own hand and it slid across a harder button of flesh. Her body shuddered as a spike of pleasure shot through her.

"Aikya had never felt such pleasure before and she wanted more. 'Try putting your fingers inside yourself,' the woman told her."

Padma did as her aunt suggested, pressing her fingers into her cunt which was slick with blood. Her hips arched off the pillows in an unconscious effort to make the access easier. Her aunt kept talking but the words drifted in the heavy air like the fragrance of lotus flowers that drifted in through the windows.

A hand not her own pressed against her breast and a moan echoed around the room. She couldn't tell if it had come from her mouth or Parvati's. Her fingers moved faster between her legs as she got used to what felt good and what felt amazing. She was struggling for air as a strange pressure built between her legs.

"Aikya didn't know what to do. She felt like she was standing on a precipice, and if she kept reaching for this pleasure she would fall off the side of the mountain and fall back to earth. 'Let it happen,' the woman said."

Padma was standing on that precipice as well. She didn't know if she wanted to jump but it felt as if the pressure, pleasure and pain were all connected. She felt full and restless and like there wasn't enough oxygen in the world for her to be able to scream as loud as she wanted to.

She wanted to plead for release but there was no one to ask. It was up to her.

"'No,' the woman said. 'Don't just let it happen. This is your pleasure. You need to take it.'"

Padma reached out and pinched her nipple and screamed as the pleasure ripped through her, leaving her drained of pressure, drained of pain, drained of everything except the languid heat that felt like India which had invaded her limbs. As she relaxed back onto the pillows she heard Parvati's cry echo through the room.

"Aikya's pain faded," Aunt Lalita said. "For the first time since her bleeding Aikya felt normal. 'Thank you,' she told the woman. 'How did you know?'

"'I'm an independent woman like you, little Aikya. I, too, had to find release, and an older woman taught me. And you can teach another in your time.'

"So Aikya went back to her village and told her mother that she didn't need to marry. She would marry when she wanted to. Aikya always spent her bleeding time apart, and after she married she taught her daughters to do the same, as I am teaching you. We spend our time apart because it is our time, to connect with ourselves and to connect with each other and to take care of each other. Do you understand girls?"

"Yes," Padma murmured and she heard Parvati say the same.

"Good. You should have learnt this a long time ago, but your year here I will take you in like you were my own daughters and we will teach you about your own power. This power is the power of pleasure. It is just the start."

Padma closed her eyes and dropped off to sleep, a black-skinned woman in a cave haunting her dreams.