"Even if you excite my desires, you will only spur me to new carnage, Mayalaph." She held a sword in front of Mayalaph. "Can a full Kaan be killed? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But at least I can turn that beauty into a ragged travesty of a face."

"But...our form is just..."

"A seeming? A choice? But the wounds this sword, the sword of Pain will leave, will leave agony in their wake, no matter what form you assume...and the pain will follow and twist the form, making every form you assume turn hideous."

' The blade was very near. "No. Don't. Angusin will..."

"Angusin has exiled me anyway. Shall I fear his judgement? Or a better question might be...can you trust that I will fear Angusin's judgement not to do this anyway? That I will fear Tjisir's thunder, rather than the chance to mar the beauty that so annoys me?

"Do you dare take that chance?

"Will you wager your face...that you are right?"

"What will you take rather than harming me?"

"Tribute? Hmmmm. Well, you are the lady of nature, and yet there is plenty of blood and battle in warfare...ah! I know. I demand tribute from every woman in the world. I want blood to flow from their womanness."

"But..."

"With pain and suffering."

"But..."

"No buts, Mayalaph. My knife is thirsty, and this is one pointed thing you will not be glad to take in you."

"I swear it...by Chialta, the Flame, the Amonkaanho and C'Don himself."

So everywoman in the world suffered her period for the first time, and it panicked them, for it was unprecedented. (This happened within a hundred years of man first coming to Tu.) Nor was there a stop to it, for no limits were set. Thron laughed and left...

But her laughter turned to fury as Tjisir showed up and picked her up, and when her sword Pain was raised, he used the lightningaxe Cuchil to render her unconscious. She awoke in Chialta, with the Kaanho gathered around her, including Linfal, who sat by Angusin's side. Angusin was stern. "Aye, threaten an unarmed person, Thron. I would expect no better from you. With it, you have drawn all of femalekind into pain. I will let Linfal make the judgement here, since it is a pain you have inflicted on all womankind."

Thron laughed. "Will her judgement affect an oath sworn on C'Don? She has sworn!"

Linfal smiled. "You are quick to make others swear on C'Don, you who have never met him, Thron. But I have...and I also know that the oath was very broad. You went too quickly, and by not excluding limits, you leave yourself open to my judgement."

"Grandmother, you are very canny and subtle. Nevertheless, I do not think you will let Mayalaph break an oath sworn by C'Don."

"True. Mayalaph. The bleeding will take place...but I will place limits so that it is only a few days every time I go through my phases, so that it will only be a few days a month. Also, that instead of just being a thing of pain and horror, the onset of the bleeding will mark the beginning of a woman's fertility, and that it will only last till the loss of a woman's fertility. So the time of bleeding will be a sign of maturity and the onset of full womanhood, nor is a woman destined to suffer it forever. It will be a sign of life, not just of blood and death."

"The pain. She swore the pain."

"She did. It will vary, but there will be some pain and discomfort involved. I will not take away what was sworn. Just amend it. Further, in deference to Mayalaph's role as Kaan as birth, while a woman is pregnant, she will not suffer this."

So since then, women have had a few days a month where the blood flows, and it is all the fault of Thron the bloodthirsty, who delights in pain and blood.