Voices of Humanity

Chapter Eleven

Following Dreda's advice, I rose from my bed early the next day and presented myself to Madam Rin, hoping to prove my resilience and desire to please. Throwing myself back into my work I forced myself to avoid the topic of my child entirely, though my thoughts were only of Mary. Was she safe with Dreda? Was she crying out for me? My desperation to see her again forced me to focus through my morning tasks.

The better I could perform, the more chance my work might be rewarded. But by the time I was granted a break, my entire physical body was crying out for relief and my heart aching to be reunited with the infant. I was uncertain how I might make it through the rest of the day. Still I tried to put on a brave face, taking my portion of midday sustenance and sitting at the table with as much composure as I could manage.

"I am impressed, Alice."

I started at the sound of my name, surprised to see Madam Rin standing beside me.

"One would never know you had just given birth."

I made every effort to sit up even straighter, her praise motivating me.

"I was eager to return to work," I replied. "I am so very grateful for my place within your kitchens and wished to prove myself worthy of your continued favor, Madam."

My answer was as submissive and obsequious as I could manage and, for a moment, I worried it might be excessive. But Rin was a woman who loved flattery. I could see the genuine smile on her face at my words. She was glad to have "broken" me and I was happy to stroke her ego if it might grant me my greatest wish.

"It is admirable," she replied. "I am so glad to see you returned to true servitude as is fitting for a human."

Well behaved human that I was, I didn't answer.

"I'd imagine you are also quite proud of the young one you have birthed," Rin commented, pausing long enough to make it clear she expected my response.

"Indeed I am grateful to have added a healthy girl to my Master's stock," I said. "I am eager that she might grow and soon come to be trained, as I was by my mother before me. I pray she will someday be able to take her place in the kitchens under your command."

As the sibla woman watched me closely I wondered what the result of this little dance might be. I knew well that she had full power over my life and that of my daughter. Dulane had offered Mary up as my charge, but my life was not my own. Madam Rin would wish to maintain as much control over me as she could and I would have to pretend to accept that without complaint.

"Perhaps you might desire to go to your baby?" she mused. "I certainly do hope that she will follow in your footsteps, especially with this renewed attitude. They say that young humans are greatly shaped by their early years much like sibla children."

My heartbeat quickened. I could not allow myself to seem too eager but I also wouldn't waste this chance to see my true wishes fulfilled.

"If you might permit me to do so, I can promise that my work will not suffer in any way, Madam," I answered. "I will visit my daughter only as much as you deem reasonable and will use that time to ensure your new kitchen slave is reared as she should be to best serve you and my Master."

I watched as Madam Rin pursed her thin lips together in thought as my reply and held my breath. I was doing everything to submit to her completely but had no way of knowing if it would be enough. Relief filled me when she nodded her head a moment later.

"I do see benefit to this," she said, as if talking about a business proposition, not the separation of mother and child. "You may go to the girl during your midday break. In addition, you are welcome to go to her before and after work, provided it does not interfere with your duties in any way."