Solo Unexpected Family

[Seirei Dawnwhisper]

Timestamp: 75th Day of Fall, 514 AV It was time for another exam. Waisana had impressed upon Seirei the need for regular exams during her pregnancy so that any potential problems would be discovered early. Seirei understood the need for it. She hated the way the child she was carrying was forced on her. Although she did want to have children in the future, she didn't want to have them in this manner, and she didn't want to have them with this man. But she didn't blame the child sleeping within her for the way it had been conceived. And if Seirei were to be honest with herself, she couldn't say that she didn't want the child at all. Now that she was feeling the child move within her frequently, Seirei couldn't help but wonder what the child would be like. Would she have a boy, or a girl? Having learned about the close relationship Lian had once had with his older brother, it seemed likely to Seirei that he would want a son. Then again, in his own words, he would have done anything for his little sister, indulged any whim she might have had. So perhaps he would like a baby girl to adore. For Seirei's part, she wasn't hoping for one gender over the other. Would her child love working with wood as much as she did? Or would the child want to be a hunter? Or something else entirely? Would the child be a good person? A kind person like Seirei's mother had been? Would the child look more like her? Or like Lian? For that matter...what kind of father would Lian be? Seirei didn't like the man. She hated what he had done to her. It wasn't something she could ever forgive...nor did she even want to try. Seirei hated and feared the man. And she was desperately afraid that he would force himself on her again after the child was born. But she couldn't deny the fact that he was a good family man. His family had meant everything to him. He desperately wanted a child to rebuild the family he once had. So even though Seirei hated the man, she had to admit that he would be a good father. At the same time...Seirei dreaded making the trip to the River Flower for her exam. After her experience with the healer who had examined her when Waisana was busy, she was more than a little reluctant to risk encountering the man again. Even Lian had thought that the man's attitude was extreme, and his words out of place...and that was saying a lot, given the way he had treated her. Seirei thought about simply not going. She really did. For all of a tick or two. But Seirei wasn't a coward. Her pregnancy required that she get regular exams to ensure that nothing went wrong. It was necessary, and that was all there was to it. Seirei couldn't hide in Lian's tent indefinitely. She didn't even want to try. Besides...Waisana will be there today, so it won't even be an issue. Right? Right. Seirei told herself firmly. Even if she isn't there for some reason, or she isn't available, surely not all of the other healers feel that way about captives as that...that man does. He's just one person. All I have to do is avoid him. If I can do that, then I'll be fine. Feeling a bit better about the situation, Seirei left the tent. The walk to the River Flower was a slow one. Her pace was slowed both by an anxiety that Seirei couldn't shake no matter how much she tried, as well as by her condition. She didn't want to tire herself out, and make it look as though she wasn't taking proper care of herself, after all. And if she moved too quickly these days, she was likely to regret it. If she wasn't overcome by dizziness, her unborn child would protest the abrupt movement with a sharp kick. For all that her pace was slower than it would have been before she'd gotten pregnant, the walk was a pleasant one. The air held a lingering chill, but the sun was warm, and inviting despite the cool air. The sky was a brilliant shade of blue, and a few clouds drifted by lazily, moved by an unseen breeze. Almost before Seirei had realized it, she had arrived at the River Flower. When she did, she began looking around in the hopes of seeing Waisana in the crowd that surrounded the busy tent.

[Seirei Dawnwhisper]

After nearly a bell's time spent searching the crowd, it became obvious to Seirei that Waisana wasn't at the healing tent today either. That, or she was just too busy to see her. Seirei had seen the man who had examined her the last time a couple of times during her search. Thankfully she had been able to duck into the milling crowd, and he had not seen her. If he had seen her, Seirei would have had to come up with some sort of explanation as to why she was there on the spot. Anything other than needing an examination. Seirei had no intention of ever letting the man touch her again. "Are you waiting for someone, or do you need to see a healer? a brisk, feminine voice asked in pavi. Seirei jumped a little at the unexpected question. She turned slowly to see who had spoken to her, mindful of her condition, and the fact that moving too abruptly was likely to bring on yet another dizzy spell. She had had enough of those to not want to risk another if it could be prevented by moving with a little care. The woman who had addressed her looked to be several years older than Seirei was. If Seirei had to guess an exact age, she would say no older than twenty five. Her hair reached the middle of her back, and was a pleasant sandy color that wasn't quite light enough to be called blond, but it wasn't really dark enough to be called brown, either. Her skin was a dark tan like many Drykas Seirei had seen. And her eyes were a stunning shade of blue, much like the sky on a bright summer day. The older woman's posture and demeanor were polite but distant, business like. But she had faint lines around her generous mouth and large, expressive eyes that suggested that she laughed a lot. Something in the woman's appearance made Seirei relax a little, but after her last exam, she was still wary of the Drykas woman. "I..." Seirei began uncertainly in heavily accented pavi. She looked around to see if she could see Waisana somewhere in the crowd. No such luck. "I suppose that that's a silly question, isn't it? You must be here for an exam. Am I right?" Seirei nodded. She was still nervous about seeing a healer she didn't know. especially after what had happened the last time. But what choice did she have? She'd look ridiculous if she tried to insist on waiting for Waisana. She had no idea if her friend was even here today. "That's easy enough to deal with. Come with me, please." The healer moved slowly through the crowd, glancing back frequently to make sure that Seirei hadn't lost sight of her. It was pretty clear to Seirei that the woman was mindful of the difficulties Seirei had with moving quickly, and had chosen a pace that Seirei would be able to manage. That sign of concern made Seirei feel hopeful that this exam would be different than the other had been. When they reached a partitioned section, the healer waited for Seirei to enter, then closed the tent flap behind them for privacy. "Am I right in guessing that you are one of the captives?" Seirei froze. She eyed the older woman warily. Did this woman hate the captives, too? Her actions didn't betray any feelings of hatred or anger, though. And while the healer was still speaking in pavi, she spoke slower this time, as if giving Seirei a chance to understand what she was saying. "Your accent gave you away." the woman said a few ticks later. Seirei nodded slowly. There really wasn't any use in trying to hide the fact that she was a captive, after all. But she dreaded what would happen next. "Yes..." "I thought so. From what I've heard so far, you speak our language decently enough. But you really do have a strong accent. Would it be easier for you if I speak in Common?" Seirei nodded, looking relieved. Maybe this wasn't going to be as bad as she'd feared after all.

[Seirei Dawnwhisper]

"Thank you." Seirei said softly in Common. "I am trying to learn more pavi, but for something this important, I feel better when I know that I will understand what is being said." The healer nodded in agreement. "That is very smart of you. And rather surprising, really. Most captives, when they bother to try and learn pavi at all seem to want to impress us with their supposed willingness to adapt to their new lives. Usually they will speak only in pavi...and mangle our language so badly in the process that it is insulting. And they rarely understand even half of what is being said to them. At least that is what it seems from their answers if you try to ask them something." Seirei's eyes widened a little. Surely the healer was exaggerating? Why pretend to understand more of a language than you really did? What possible good would that be? Why pretend to be willing to adapt, for that matter? Unless...well, Seirei could understand that decision a bit more than the first. A pretense of being willing to accept being a captive might save some of the women beatings, or worse. Seirei herself was too stubborn to submit to being raped no matter how much her captor punished her. She simply couldn't do it and retain who she was. But she knew that other women might not feel the same way that she did. "Strip, please. I'd like to get this exam over with." Seirei nodded, and did what she was told. She held still as the healer examined her. The woman's hands were cold, and it was very uncomfortable, but Seirei didn't flinch, or make a sound. "When I saw you outside the tent, you seemed to be waiting for someone. Is one of your friends getting examined today as well?" It was obvious to Seirei that the healer had assumed that she and another captive had come together. The woman hadn't said so in as many words, but Seirei was coming to recognize a specific tone in the woman's words when she spoke of the captives. Her tone wasn't harsh, or cruel. It was neutral...almost too neutral, really. As if the healer was trying to mask her true feelings. And although the woman wasn't cruel as the other healer she'd seen had been, Seirei got the distinct that the woman didn't like the captives much. Or perhaps it was that the didn't like the idea of the captives being among them rather than any true dislike of the captives themselves. "No. I was waiting for Waisana. She's the healer that usually sees me. We're friends." Seirei explained. The woman frowned. "You shouldn't say that." she said sharply. Seirei looked startled. "What did I say wrong" she questioned. The healer's frown deepened, and she glanced up from examining Seirei. "You shouldn't say that you are friends with Waisana." "I don't understand." Seirei said slowly. "Look. I'm sure that you're a perfectly decent person. But you're a captive now. Captives can't claim friendship with real people. I mean Drykas when I say real people. You just don't have that right." Seirei's eyes widened in shock, but the woman was continuing. "Unless and until you bond to a strider, and truly become one of us, a captive is all you will ever be. An outsider. And as such, you can't expect to be treated like a real person. No decent Drykas would ever befriend a captive like you. It simply isn't done. To say that you are Waisana's friend is a deep insult to her. She may be kind to you when she treats you, but that's as far as it goes. Simple kindness. The same kind a decent person would show to a dog, or a hunting cat." The healer's words and tone suggested that Seirei herself, as a captive, was worth no more than an animal. A valuable animal, perhaps, but an animal all the same. She shuddered. "I'm sorry if that hurts your feelings, but it's best that you learn your place sooner rather than later. Better for you, and better for us, too." The healer finished examining Seirei, and told her to get dressed. Seirei obeyed, feeling more than a little shell shocked. "You said you were looking for Waisana when I saw you, right?" Seirei nodded numbly. "Well, she must have known that you were coming in for an exam. So if she didn't come out to meet you, then it means that she didn't want to deal with you today. She's probably just too nice to tell you the truth. So she just made sure that you wouldn't see her." Seirei didn't think that the healer was right about Waisana. At least she really hoped that Waisana thought of her as a friend. But a tiny part of her wondered if it were true. It was true that she was a captive, after all. How many times had she cried out in agony and terror when the pain became too much when Lian forced himself on her? No one had come to help her. Seirei had encountered three healers so far. Two of them seemed to think that the captives were little more than animals to be used as their masters seemed fit. What if that was the opinion of most of the Drykas? Lian seemed to be treating her better now...but what if it was a ruse? What if he was planning some sort of trap, and trying to gain her trust so she would fall for it? Waisana didn't seem like the kind of person who would try to trick her...but what if she really was just trying to be polite because she was too nice to tell Seirei that she didn't want to be friends with a captive?

[Seirei Dawnwhisper]

Seirei's heart sank at the thought. She didn't have the chance to think about it for too long, though. "Have you felt your child moving around a lot?" Seirei nodded silently. The healer smiled reassuringly, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. "That's good to hear. It means that the baby is alive and well inside you. If you ever stop feeling the child move within you for too long, you must come see a healer immediately. Do you understand?" Seirei nodded again. "Yes. I understand." she said softly. "When was the last time you came in for an exam?" the healer asked intently. Seirei wasn't sure what that had to do with anything, but she answered anyway. "I had an exam on the 45th day of fall." she said softly. "Hmm. Did the healer who examined you go over the symptoms that are common for a woman in your stage of pregnancy? Swollen hands, and ankles, back aches, shortness of breath, leg cramps, swollen or bleeding gums, that sort of thing?" Seirei nodded. He hadn't mentioned anything about swollen or bleeding gums, but Seirei had noticed it happening a few times recently. And she thought she remembered Waisana mentioning it as a possibility. "Yes." "You're going to have to keep living with most of those symptoms, so you might as well get used to them. Have you been getting headaches at all?" Seirei nodded. "Do you ever feel as though your heart is racing sometimes?" She nodded again. "Both of those are perfectly normal for someone as far along in your pregnancy as you are. You are also likely to have trouble sleeping. Part of that is because of how big you are. It is often hard for a pregnant woman to find a position she is comfortable enough in to sleep. Another part of it is caused by your other symptoms. When you're feeling miserable, it is often difficult to get any sleep. This, too, is normal." Seirei listened to the healer intently. She tried to commit what the older woman was saying to memory. She felt acutely uncomfortable in the woman's presence because she seemed to consider captives to be little more than animals. But it was still better than it had been with the other healer. At least she didn't have to wonder if she was in danger of being beaten or raped or not. "What about your memory? Have you had trouble remembering things lately?" That caught Seirei off guard. For a few ticks, all she could do was stare at the healer in confusion. What did remembering things have to do with being pregnant? And yet...she had been forgetting things more often that she usually did lately. So she nodded. The healer chuckled at her obvious confusion. "It sounds strange, I know. But it's true. Women who are as far along in their pregnancies as you are tend to have trouble remembering things. No one I've ever spoken to knows exactly why this is so. But it makes sense to think that lack of sleep is part of it. The mind can start to do strange things if you are deprived of sleep for long enough." That made sense. Sort of. Enough so that Seirei decided to accept the explanation, for the moment. She waited to see if the healer was going to say anything else. "Do you have any questions?" Seirei shook her head. While this healer wasn't as bad as the man who had examined her the last time had been, her attitude towards captives like herself intimidated her deeply. For all that the older woman wasn't overtly cruel, Seirei knew that she saw her as little more than a useful animal. Worse, one that wasn't worthy of becoming anything more. It was the same way Lian saw her. Seirei had seen the same look in the eyes of many of the people she had encountered in Endrykas. Part of Seirei shrank away from that look. These were her father's people. As a child, she had loved visiting him. To the eyes of a child, the life of a Drykas was fascinating. People saw her with her father, and smiled to see a man doting on his child. But being a captive had destroyed that. The distant, fond memories of a child had been replaced by reality. She was trapped among strangers. Isolated, and alone. Cut off from all she had once known and loved. Not all of that was the fault of the Drykas, of course. Her caravan had abandoned her, leaving her to die in the Sea of Grass. But instead of offering her a new home, and asking her to bear children for them in return, she had been raped repeatedly. Now she was carrying a child against her will. And most of the people she met seemed to think that it was okay - just because she wasn't a Drykas. She was a captive, a slave. An animal to be used as her master saw fit. And though not outwardly cruel, this healer had forced Seirei to question the one friendship she thought she had made among this city of strangers. Was it as this woman had said? Was Waisana only being kind to her because she was too kind to treat a captive the way she deserved to be treated? Had she only imagined that the other girl liked her, even a little? When the healer dismissed her, Seirei left quickly. She didn't know what to think anymore. Or if there was anyone she could trust. One thing she did know for certain was that she wasn't going to come in for any more examinations. Unless she was absolutely certain that something was very wrong, she would take her chances. Even if Waisana did really like her...something Seirei desperately hoped to be the case, but she just couldn't be sure of anymore...it was just too risky. Being treated like an animal hurt. Seirei tried to be strong, and hold herself together...but it just hurt too much. She wouldn't hide. Even if she wanted to, there really wasn't any place she could hide. But she wouldn't put herself in a position that left her vulnerable to the painful reminder that she was a captive either. She would go about her business as best she could. She would earn money working with wood, and save up as much as she could. She would learn the skills she would need to know in order to see her safely somewhere else. And then she would make her escape.

[Khida]

Seirei

Skill	Points
Observation	+1
Socialization	+1

• Symptoms of late-term pregnancy

Notes

Poor Seirei just about gets the short end of every stick, doesn't she? I didn't really see a lot I could award here, since Seirei was mostly talked at -- but if you think I missed anything, please don't hesitate to PM me.

Also, please edit your request to show this thread has been graded.