Of all of the Cotonnet household's employees, Farida has been working for them the longest. This is because Farida has been working for Naima since before the the Cotonnet household existed. She watched Rahim for several months when Naima was working at the temples in Sothis, saving money day by day to resurrect her husband. Farida, who was herself a widow with two small children, had been sympathetic; she'd seen something of herself in Naima, and had little trouble caring for Rahim alongside her own children. Naima had given her only one rule: even though Rahim was two, the age at which children most needed to be swatted from time to time, Farida was not to strike him, no matter what he did. Rahim had an illness which left him very easily bruised and bloodied, and an impact that would have no effect on an ordinary child might leave him badly injured. It didn't seem alien to Farida, only unfortunate. Naima paid well, for the inconvenience, and in truth Rahim was better behaved than either of Farida's sons had been. Farida never really had to do more than raise her voice with him.

Naima had taken the child to Avistan for several months, after a while. Farida had missed the money more than the child. But Naima must have been happy with her, because when Naima returned, she sought out Farida again. And when Naima had moved to Absalom, several months later, she had come to Farida with the proposal that the both of them move to Absalom, and that both of them live in her friend Catherine's spare rooms. She and her sons would be given their own room, the use of the rest of the house, as much food as they wanted from the kitchens, and the earnings of a master craftsman - all to watch one toddler alongside her own, and any other children Naima had in the future.

She hadn't taken the job for Rahim. She hadn't even really taken it for herself. She had taken it because there was never quite enough food in her household for her children after her brother's had been fed, and because Naima promised to teleport her back to Sothis in a month if she didn't like it there. But she'd liked wealth quite a lot, it turned out, and came to think of it as quite a good decision for her family.

So, obviously, when Naima had remarried - not her late husband, but the Avistani wizard in her adventuring party - Farida had gone with her to the new household. She hadn't expected to have much trouble with the husband, since her understanding was that Avistani men took even less interest in their children than Osirians did, let alone in their wife's children by other men. So Farida had gone on as she always had - striking her own sons, but not Rahim, involving all three of them in household chores (Naima had hired no other servants besides her apprentices, so much of the work in the household fell to them), raising her voice with them whenever she felt it was warranted, and generally expecting politeness and good behavior from all three.