Culling

Part I • Chapter XI

"Can I see your throat?" Dr Green had gotten up and returned with a small flashlight. 

I nodded as he knelt back in front of me and I opened my mouth. He looked for a few moments before indicating that he was done, shut his eyes for a moment, and then addressed me again. "There's a lot of scarring there, how did your primary physician never catch any of this?"

North exploded in a flurry of movement behind me as he started pacing back in forth much like Mr Blackbourne had been earlier. "How did nobody fucking notice this? What the fuck is going on in district six?"

"We will get to that." Mr Blackbourne seemed to be contemplating something. "Did she time her punishments to occasions when you didn't have your physicals scheduled?"

A physical? I put my finger to my lip as I tried to remember if I ever had one. "I don't think I've ever had a physical. I don't remember the last time I went to the doctors."

Dr Green gave me an almost disbelieving look. "What do you mean that you've never been to the doctors? Even as a child?"

I thought for a second. "No, I don't think so."

"You are sixteen, right?" Dr Green waited until I nodded. "It is essential that girls below the age of six are checked on regularly to ensure that their magical stores are high enough for survival. There are a few years of leeway following that before the routine begins again after a girl reaches twelve. At that stage girls are supposed to be examined three times a year to check on their developmental progress. This goes on until after a woman reaches the end of their childbearing years."

He sat back on his heels and crossed his arms before he continued. "In addition to all of that, at fifteen, matchmakers become involved in the process and pair the women up with at least two or three men who have compatible magical signatures. Of course, there have been cases in which a woman can find her husbands on her own, but most of the time the process is systematically done to maximize results. After being paired, women don't actually get married until their parents consent to the union."

I had never known any of this, and it was somewhat surprising to me that the process of finding husbands would somehow involve medical practitioners. 

What did one have to do with the other? 

"I didn't know that doctors were involved with marriages. Why does the magic levels in a person's blood matter? I thought it was mostly inconsequential except for making sure we don't die."

"That's one thing." Dr Green nodded in response. "The level of the magic in your blood can indicate a lot of things, including but not limited to your chance of long term survival in today's world. Your blood can also reveal compatibility and bonds, the origin of your family line, if you have any abilities, how strong those abilities may be, and also the ease of which you yourself will be able to have children. It is astounding to me that you've been able to survive into adolescence without anyone to monitor your blood, that is a serious case of neglect."

Dr Green seemed to be genuinely concerned about my never having seen a physician, but I knew I was physically fine and I never had any problems being sick growing up. 

I wanted to reassure him. "Maybe there's nothing to check, my step-mother told me that there was nothing special about my magic and that there really wasn't anything magical about me. Maybe that's why no one noticed me or bothered, my magic was so inconsequential that I didn't even garner attention."

"Well, that's what is intriguing. When you say that no one noticed you, you mean that literally don't you?" It was Mr Blackbourne who had asked the question. He interrupted Dr Green, who looked like he was about to say something, as he patted the other man on the shoulder. "Did you often find yourself in situations where you felt like you should have been seen, but were ignored?"