Asmodia's mother is fifteen when she gets kicked of wizard school, three months pregnant and not yet able to stabilize first-circle spells. She gets a job on the estate of a lord too insignificant to afford a proper wizard or for that matter to object to a pregnant one; she can cast Prestidigitation just as well either way. There are a few hundred people on his estate, all told. She doesn't ask what happened to the previous laundry wizard.

Asmodia grows up at the lord's manor. Her mother forbids her from playing with the other children; it seems to be something of a point of pride, for her, though Asmodia doesn't dare ask why. She sees them at services, sometimes. Everyone is expected to attend once a week, and on holy days, but the manor's priest offers services every evening as well. (Asmodia does not know whether this is usual.) Asmodia's mother takes her every single night, even when it means she's up well past sundown making ice by cantrip-light.

When she starts school, it's the priest who teaches the lessons. (Asmodia doesn't know whether this is usual either.) She performs... adequately, well enough that she's more often holding the whip than being struck by it, but not well enough that she's likely to be tracked for wizard school, and in this part of Cheliax education as a priest is usually reserved for the noble-born.

(Her mother tells her that she should have just smothered her, rather than suffering a worthless idiot like her. Like she used to say when Asmodia disobeyed her outright; by now Asmodia understands that she was right, that a disobedient child is worse than useless.)

She grows up.

Asmodia's mother is fifteen when she gets kicked of wizard school, three months pregnant and not yet able to stabilize first-circle spells. She gets a job on the estate of a lord too insignificant to afford a proper wizard or for that matter to object to a pregnant one; she can cast Prestidigitation just as well either way. There are a few hundred people on his estate, all told. She doesn't ask what happened to the previous laundry wizard.

Asmodia grows up at the lord's manor. Her mother forbids her from playing with the other children; it seems to be something of a point of pride, for her, though Asmodia doesn't dare ask why. She sees them at services, sometimes. Everyone is expected to attend once a week, and on holy days, but the manor's priest offers services every evening as well. (Asmodia does not know whether this is usual.) Asmodia's mother takes her every single night, even when it means she's up well past sundown making ice by cantrip-light.

When she starts school, it's the priest who teaches the lessons. (Asmodia doesn't know whether this is usual either.) She performs... adequately, well enough that she's more often holding the whip than being struck by it, but not well enough that she's likely to be tracked for wizard school, and in this part of Cheliax education as a priest is usually reserved for the noble-born.

(Her mother tells her that she should have just smothered her, rather than suffering a worthless idiot like her. Like she used to say when Asmodia disobeyed her outright; by now Asmodia understands that she was right, that a disobedient child is worse than useless.)

She grows up.