Hazel had been troubled by headaches for about a week. The feverfew tea she drank soothed the headaches but did not stop them from returning.

A few days earlier, they were joined by stomach cramps and nausea.
The morning after the fair, Hazel woke up to find a large spot of blood on her bedsheet. She rushed out of bed and knocked on the door of Dona Reyna's room, the one closest to hers.
A groggy Dona Reyna stood blinking in the door way, wearing her dressing gown.
"What is it, Miss Levesque?" she asked.
"Do you have something for...?" Hazel said. "Something for...the monthly curse."
"You didn't bring anything for yourself?"
"This is my first time ever having one."
Reyna rubbed her eyes and yawned.
"I'll go wake up Miss McLean. Her belts and petticoats should fit you better than mine."
Miss McLean gave her a pad stuffed with dried moss and raw cotton. The pad had a loop at either end through which a string belt was threaded. Hazel put the pad between her legs and tied the string around her waist.

To keep the mensural blood from ruining her skirts, Miss McLean lent Hazel a thick red petticoat.

"You should rest today," Miss McLean told her. "Stay in bed instead of coming with us to the dairy."
"You don't want me spoiling the milk do you?" Hazel replied.
An old superstition said that the touch or gaze of a menstruating woman can spoil milk and meat.
"And make sure you eat plenty of red meats and green vegetables over the next week and get some fresh air and exercise when you're feeling better but don't overexert yourself. Don't read anything too ponderous and heavy but avoid melodramatic romances as well. All this should keep you from getting green-sick."

A/N Green sickness, or chlorosis, is an archaic term for Hypo-chromic anemia, which was believed to effect adolescent girls. It was an umbrella term for the anemia, depression, and sexual frustration associated with female puberty. Some of its symptoms include paleness, fatigue, and nausea.
Green sickness was traditionally believed to be caused by boredom and boy-craziness (Juliet in Romeo and Juliet is described as being green sick.) Later on the 19th Century, too much physical and academic exertion was blamed- girls were advised to stay home from school during their periods because it was believed that if they did too much schoolwork while they were menstruating, it would make them sterile. Wendla, the pubescent heroine of the play Spring Awakening, is diagnosed with "anemia" (presumably green sickness) to hide the fact that she is pregnant after being seduced by her childhood friend, Melchior.
The concept of green sickness is an interesting launch point for a discussion on the anxieties that society has surrounding adolescent female bodies.

Hazel was tucked into bed with a warming pan to sooth her lower back. Dona Reyna went downstairs to tell the others that Miss Levesque was indisposed and would not be coming down to breakfast. A glass of red wine, a spinach omelet, and a broiled beefsteak were sent up to her so she could break her fast in bed. Placed on the tray were a red rose and a scrap of paper: another of Mr. Zhang's love tokens.
Working in the dairy was one of Hazel's favorite things to do at Skye Castle. She ran the dairy and the poultry back at Styx Abbey, so she knew and enjoyed the work. She could make butter using a barrel churn as well as a typical butter churn.

The best part of these visits was seeing the Duchess's prized heard of ruby-red Devon cattle. They were such gentle creatures and always let Hazel stroke their velvety noses.

Today, they would be finishing up with the cheeses they were working on. They put the curds into molds at the beginning of the week, then wrapped the molds in salt-water soaked cloths to form a rind and changed them everyday.

Not being able to see the cows and help make the cheeses today was a disappointment, but Hazel felt too ill to get out of bed. Her cramps, bloating, and headaches made her feel as though she was going to explode.
"Would you like anything more, Miss?" asked the maid who came to retrieve her breakfast tray.
"Bring me my Bible, please," Hazel replied.
The maid brought over the Bible. Hazel pressed the red rose Mr. Zhang had left for her among its pages.

When Hazel was feeling better, she relocated to the sofa in the sitting room. She brought with her a volume she called her "special book." It's pages were filled with bits of fabric and trimming left from when she had new dresses made, fashion plates she modeled those dresses after, notes and letters from loved ones, prints of artworks she admired, and pressed leaves and flowers. The most recent additions to her "special book" were Mr. Zhang's flowers and notes.
Hazel had guessed his feelings for her right away. He cast not-so-subtle glances in her direction and always went out of his way to make sure she was comfortable but had not yet declared himself. Mr. Zhang was too guileless to be able to hide his feelings but too shy to be upfront about them. So Hazel helped him on with little hits.
"Excuse me, Miss," Mr Zhang said as he entered the sitting room with a tray of tea things. "Dona Reyna said that you should drink some of this tea."
"What kind of tea is it?" Hazel replied. "Raspberry leaf. She said it was good for...women's complaints."

"Thank you, Mr. Zhang." She took a sip of the tea and put it down on the side table. "Can I ask you something?"
"Anything, Miss."
"Do you know this quote: Everything has beauty but not everyone sees it?"
"It was said by Confucius, a great Chinese philosopher. Might I ask where you heard it?"
"Someone sent it to me in a note today."
"Who?"
"I have my suspicions. A galant and chivalrous gentleman with kind eyes and a warm smile."
Mr. Zhang stared down at his feet, then went to open the door for Miss Chase, who carried in a loaf of bread, a pat of butter pressed with the image of a partridge, and a block of cheddar cheese.

"I thought you might be hungry, my dear," she said. Her shrewd grey eyes quickly noticed Hazel and Mr. Zhang together.
"Oh how charming you look on that sofa. Mr. Zhang, doesn't she look charming?"
"Yes, Miss," Mr. Zhang answered.
"What I wouldn't give to have a portrait of her at this very moment. I used to very much enjoy taking likenesses but I regret that recently I've only sketched the occasional landscape or ruined abbey. If anything could persuade me to take up likenesses again, it would be Miss Levesque's sweetness and beauty."
After laying around all day in her dressing gown, feeling sick from cramps, Hazel was not feeling very picturesque but she was flattered by the compliment.
Miss Chase put her bread, cheese, and butter down on the table and sat in the armchair next to the sofa.
"Tell me, Zhang," she continued. "Have Lord Skye and Lieutenant Seaweed Brain returned from their shooting party?"
"She's referring to Lieutenant Jackson," Hazel added.
"They've returned," Mr. Zhang said. "And are resting before dinner."
"And how many poachers did they shoot today? I wonder if they intend to cook them and eat them for dinner tonight."
Hazel cut herself a slice of bread and a slice of cheese.
"You must excuse Miss Chase, Mr. Zhang. She has declared a merry war of wits against Lieutenant Jackson and the most recent skirmish has been over him wearing Dona Reyna's favor at the race last Monday."
"She's as worthy a young lady as any and Lieutenant Jackson changes sweethearts like other gentlemen change their cravats."
"I hope I never get on your bad side, Miss Chase," Mr. Zhang added.

Miss Chase went to fetch her sketchbook. Hazel straightened her white dressing gown and the blue turban in her hair so she would look presentable for her portrait.

Mr. Zhang read aloud from his copy of A Midsummer Night's Dream as Miss Chase took Hazel's likeness.
"Flying between the cold mood and the earth," he began. "Cupid all arm'd: a certain aim he took at a fair vestal throned by the west, and loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow, as it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts: But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft quenched in the chaste beams of the watery moon, and the imperial votaress passed on, in maiden meditation, fancy-free. Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell: It fell upon a little western flower, before milk-white, now purple with love's wound, and maidens call it love-in-idleness."
"The draping of the skirt is wrong," Miss Chase cut in, her sketchbook balanced in her lap.
Hazel moved slightly to adjust her skirt.
"Please lay still! Zhang, would you straighten her skirt?"
Mr. Zhang reached over adjust the fabric of Hazel's dressing gown. His hands accidentally brushed across her ankles. Hazel felt as though she was coming down with a fever. He blushed when he realized what he had done.
"There. Perfect," Miss Chase added when Hazel's skirt draped the way she wanted it to.

The cramps got worse later on in the day. Hazel went back to bed with a warming pan. Laudanum had been put in her raspberry leaf tea to help with the pain, which made her drowsy.
"I've come to check on you," a soft voice said to her as she began to wake up.
Miss Chase stood at her bedside holding a porcelain cup containing a steaming liquid and a small dish of biscuits.
"You missed dinner, I brought you something."
"Thank you," Hazel replied. She took a sip from the cup and tasted hot chocolate, light and frothy and flavored with orange blossom, almond milk, and cinnamon. "It's heavenly."

"If there's anything chocolate can't fix, I hope I'm never troubled with it. Now, how does it feel to be a woman?"
"I've felt better."
"I wish I could say it gets better."
Hazel took a bite of a biscuit- it was shortbread, sprinkled with dried lavender.
"So, has Zhang declared himself to you yet?"
"No. Not yet."
"How thick headed men are. Lord Skye is obviously in love with Miss McLean but no proposal in sight. Zhang keeps making sheep's eyes at you but is too shy to say anything. It's a shame that decorum keeps us from making the first move."