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The first Asmodean orphanages were bad even by modern Asmodean standards. They didn't know, fifty years ago, that if you tie a baby to a post for three years, only coming by to feed it and to wipe away the puddle it ends up standing in much of the time, the baby is not merely miserable. A large majority of children die in such places. Many are taken by known diseases, probably a result of standing in their own waste for so long. But some of them simply give up. They don't kill themselves, no. The soul itself rebels, unwilling to sustain the body in such conditions. No one knows why this happens to children, and not to adults. But the modern orphanages have a harder job, because the people running them know, now. Hold the babies. Speak to them. Or else smother them, and be done with it.

But there's knowing a thing, and being able to put it into practice. The orphanages were not given more funding, when the caregivers noticed what they were creating. They try, now, even most of the evil ones. But with twenty infants to a worker in some places, it takes heroic effort merely not to let the babies starve.

Purificació was raised in such an orphanage. She didn't die, but she wasn't quite right, either. Late to walk. Late to speak. Early to bladder control, as there was great incentive (the trick was to hold it until you saw the washing child come by). She did, at six, go to school, but her performance was so poor that by eight she was given an exemption. Mentally incompetent. No point in burdening the school system with such a child, not even to teach the child the faith. She stayed at the orphanage during the day. She washed the floors and fed the toddlers.

At eleven, Purificació signed an indenturement contract with her own name. Nine years of service in a domestic kitchen, and Purificació would be free, a paid servant with a useful skill. She was excited. She did not care if the caustic soaps scrubbed her hands red and raw. Three, maybe five years as a scullery maid, the head cook told her, and she would begin learning to cook. Nine years, and she would be paid.

But Purificació was not told the other laws. In the county where she now resided, time spent pregnant did not count towards an indenturement, since it was presumed a woman could not work at full strength while with child. Time spent sick or badly injured did not count, either, for the same reason.

There was no corresponding requirement that the employer actually grant any time off work.





The first time her employer raped her, Purificació literally didn't understand what was happening. It hurt, but no more than lots of other things. It was deeply confusing, but no more than lots of other things. It was not so very much worse than school, or scrubbing dishes, or standing in her own piss.

A year later, Purificació would have sex with anyone. Sometimes because they forced her, and what on earth was the point of preventing people from hurting you if it would only mean they hurt you worse? Sometimes because men bribed her, and she liked the bribes well enough. A sweet, a ribbon, a shiny piece of silver. There was a boy in the stables who knew how to make it nice, and Purificació went to see him regularly, just because she liked it. He said nice things to her. He told her she was pretty.

Purificació did not realize that any of this was related to her pregnancies. She accepted them as random acts of nature. Three children in six years. Purificació did not smother one of them. She tied them to her bedpost in the kitchen girls’ quarters. The first one she fed only at night, and wept bitterly when the kitchen maid, Vinyet, explained that the child had starved. The second and third, she sneaked out to feed, in stolen moments. Whether the feedings were not long enough, or they died of teething pain, or one of the other servants had smothered them to end the incessant crying, or they had simply given up, Vinyet could not say. None of them survived.

Purificació was seventeen, when she learned what had been taken from her. A conversation about how long the indentured servants had left to serve. I have three years left, she said. Vinyet had waved her hand, telling the newer girls to ignore that. 

“She has six. She keeps getting pregnant. If you want to get out, keep your legs shut. Avoid the masters knowing you exist, if you can help it.”

     Purificació was confused, not insulted. She knew how to count. “I have three. I’ve been here six years.”

“Look, every time you have a baby, they take a year off your time served,” explained Vinyet. “It’s some stupid legal thing about not being able to do your duties with a baby, not that they give you time to feed the damned things because of it.”

     Purificació shook her head. “I’ve worked here for six years. It’s not fair to say I didn’t.”

“Fair? No man cares about fair when there’s fucking to be done. And little enough when there isn’t.”

     Purificació knew what fucking was. “What does fucking have to do with babies?”

Vinyet had laughed, and then stopped, and made a sound of deep frustration. “Fucking is what makes babies. Gods above, you’re stupid.”

     The others had taken a moment to make fun of her, after, but Purificació had not heard. A ribbon. A tart. A coin. The fear of being struck. A pleasant hour with her closest friend. These things, weighed against a year? Against an infant sobbing for help until it gave up, and dying a shadow of itself?

   “Alfonso,” she said, interrupting the others. Her voice shook. “From the stables. Does he know?”

“That fucking makes babies?” Purificació nodded. Vinyet sighed, exasperated. “Purificació, everyone knows that.” 

Purificació had wept. She had screamed. She had clawed and bitten her coworkers like a thing possessed, overturning half the dinner they were making and burning herself severely in the process. Purificació knew the truth, and could not bear it. There was no humanity in men. Devils, all of them, with human faces.

The other girls had wrestled her to the servants’ quarters, and forced her to drink until she passed out. Purificació refused to leave the kitchens, after that, but she had another baby anyway. It was a boy, born looking like the devil it was - a horrible, misshapen, inhuman thing. She did not know to smother it. She smashed its head in on the stairs to the servants' entrance, and the head cook made her clean up the mess after.





It had happened only once again. The son of the lord of the house. Purificació had fought, that time, and bitten off her assailant’s ear. Her rapist had pulled out his hunting knife.

Her master had given one day off work, after. Purificació did not regain sight in her left eye. Vinyet had comforted her: men will not want to look at you, now. Maybe now, you will be safe.

She had given birth again. This time, it was a girl. 

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A moderately large town in Longmarch. A courtyard, a fountain, some chickens, a cluster of women in smocks and wooden shoes, gossipping as they do the wash. She's the one with the thick black braid curled around her head and her hem trailing in the water. 

"Purificació of Macini? Good morning. My name is Julien Camille Élie Cotonnet. It is my honor to inform you that you have been selected to represent the people of Cheliax at the upcoming constitutional convention."

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Purificació didn't notice the man enter the courtyard, but there are lots of things she doesn't notice. She drops her pot and bolts into the kitchens, as fast as she can, hardly realizing that she's been addressed.

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He should really stop introducing himself. It never helps. He'll give the poor woman a few minutes to calm down and then follow her into the kitchens. 

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The women in the courtyard whisper, but don't address him.

Purificació has managed to calm down! As soon as she sees him again, she stops being calm. She retreats to the far end of the kitchen, inadvertently cornering herself.

Vinyet, a slightly older woman, looks up from chopping vegetables. "Sir?"

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"I'm – a wizard from the capital. Purificació there's been chosen as a delegate for the constitutional convention, and I've been sent to collect her. Is she – often like this?"

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"I'm sure you're mistaken, sir. Purificació is a servant here. She - avoids strangers," says Vinyet, with the air of someone who did not mean to say exactly that.

Purificació is trying to determine whether she can get past the wizard and safely retreat to the servants' quarters. She doesn't think so.

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"Oh, I'm sure I'm not. All strangers?"

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"She prefers not to leave the kitchens, sir."

Purificació understands what people are saying, apart from not knowing what a delegate or a constitutional convention is. She doesn't really understand what the conversation is about or why it is taking place. She can, however, see that Vinyet is afraid. She picks up a knife and grips it tightly.

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Or the mistress prefers to keep her servant. He takes a few steps towards Purificació.

"I mean you no harm, miss. Do you understand why I am here?"

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Purificació points the knife straight at Élie's heart, holding it out with two hands like a sword.

      "Purificació, put the knife down," says Vinyet, in a tone that ought to brook no argument. Purificació shakes her head, not taking her eyes off Élie.

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That's new. He waves Vinyet away. "Oh, it's alright, if it makes her feel safe."

And then, to Purificació. "I won't hurt you. She can't hurt you. We'll give you money to live. If you have children, they can come with you. You don't have to believe me, but I swear – you have no reason to be afraid."

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"I don't want to go anywhere," says Purificació, shaking her head fiercely. Pleading. "I have work to do."

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"You don't have to work here anymore, if you don't wish to." 

He turns back to Vinyet. "What are her terms? Does she have any particular friends?"

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Vinyet makes a helpless gesture. "She has six years left. You should ask the lord, if you want the specifics of her contract, I only keep her out of trouble. She's quiet, she gets along fine with everyone." As insane as that sounds with her brandishing a knife. But bad enough for Purificació to be dragged into whatever this is. The other girls she talks to are mostly even younger. Except - "The halfling, I guess?"

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If he has to speak to another little Chelish lordling today he really will do something inadvisable. "Have the halfling brought here, then. It might help."

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"I - " She cuts herself off. She looks at Purificació, helplessly, and abandons her to go get the halfling.

Purificació grits her teeth. She has tried running away. She has tried rejecting bribes. She is not sure how else to go about being left alone, besides violence.

One room over, an infant begins crying, softly.

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He sees Purificació seize in terror as the older woman leaves the room and realizes, a second later than he should have, that he has just made an awful mistake. 

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Purificació can't tell if Élie is moving towards her. When he looks back at her, it is enough movement that she panics, and slashes at him with the knife. Her form suggests that she has never used a knife as a weapon before in her life, but there is real force behind it. He won't actually be hurt, but not for her lack of trying.

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He takes a step backwards. 

The stabbing doesn't especially bother him. It is, if anything, clarifying. He's used to people being afraid of him, and this isn't how people who are afraid of him react when they are otherwise in their right mind. 

Naima? I think this one might need your help. 

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How urgently, and where are you?

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Near Macini. Nobody's dying, but I suspect my latest delegate may have some infirmity or disorder of the brain. 

He's continuing to back away from Purificació – slowly, with open hands. 

 

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Ah. I may be able to fix it. I'll be there momentarily.

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Purificació draws back to the wall again, sobbing and clutching her bloody knife. It's less bloody than it ought to be, and the man seems barely fazed. She calls out for Vinyet, but she's too far away to hear, now.

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He's reluctant to leave the disturbed woman alone with her knife. On the other hand, his presence obviously isn't helping. What if he's invisible? Is that better?

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Purificació screams, runs around the kitchen counter, and sprints out into the courtyard, still holding the knife.

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