Well, she can change and feed and snuggle and sing to babies. This is in fact better than nothing.

Her coworker starts helpfully trying to teach her Osirian.

She can make something in the way of an effort to learn. Since it's kind of unclear whether she's going to be able to live anywhere else, ever.

Meanwhile he takes Verita out to practice her magic and to Absalom to run around feeling adventurous in the chaos of its streets and to the parts of Sothis that are more interesting and still safe for a 8-year-old. 

Verita thinks this is super great. And one day she comes home and hugs Imrainai and says "I can cast magic missile now! Really for real!"

Hug. "Aww! That's so cool!"

"Gonna be such a capable adventurer someday!"

"Pff. Maybe you will."

She's just going to beam about various things for most of the rest of the day.

And she can tell Mahdi and Fazil about it in the evening!

She can!!!

"Congratulations!!"

"Thanks! I'm gonna keep practicing until I can cast it more times a day."

"Good plan!"

Then this month will probably not suck! 

In the evenings he walks Korva home from the temple. He would like to make conversation but does not super know how. "How are the babies? Same as Chelish babies?"

"Yeah. Warm and soft and small and sometimes crying. I think they mostly all come out the same."

"Is it true that in Cheliax it's legal to kill them if you want to?"

"Yeah. Only your own."

Nod.

"I guess you do have less of that, if women can't be alone with men ever."

"I was taught you can pretty much stop people from having sex or you can let them kill their kids because if there's no restrictions on sex they will have children they can't support, all the time."

"I guess I don't know for sure that this is false."

"Avistan's side of the tradeoff is nicer for all the people you talk to, but -"

"I haven't killed any babies, man."

He bites his tongue, with some effort. 

After a minute, "we can talk about something else."