Scorn

1

Screams of pain echoed through the halls of the Clan home, sounding down the halls and even outside. Without many farmers, miller's, and other peasants that belonged to the Clan looked up with curiosity, but they knew what was happening. The birth of yet another Sannin was occuring in that very moment. Disheartened by the continued fertility of their Lord, the peasants put their heads down and returned to work. They wouldn't want to be caught doing nothing. After all, if they were, the whips would fall on them and many wounds would be inflicted. Perhaps someone would even be killed. That was just how life was among the various Akvani Clans.

Within the birthing room of the matriarch of the Clan, she may on her bed as she was being attended to by her midwife. Her head was dotted in thick layers of sweat which made her auburn hair stick to her deathly pale face. Her dark brown eyes were filled with pain, but there was a spark of determination within those eyes too. This was her forth child. She had done this three times before and she would do it again. Unknown to her though, this time was different; completely different.

The only one who did seem to realize it was the one person who could actually see what was happening at all. The midwife herself. Ari had delivered the other three Sannin children successfully, but she knew that this time was different. She had seen it hundreds of times in her home village before she was taken for a slave by the Sannin Clan of the Akvani people. The child might survive -- there was no way to guess that until the child actually breathed -- but the mother would not. This would be the last child that the Lady of Clan Sannin bore and her death was assured.

Ari didn't dare breath a word of that to her Master though. Dryn Sannin was a cold man and cared little for the lives of his slaves. She was nothing but a Wood Elf after all and to the Akvani that meant that she was nothing more than a stain on this world, meant to either serve their betters or to be eradicated like the other races. Ari had no intention of dying.

Like others of her race she was tall, standing at six foot, and rapier thin. She had dark blonde hair that she wore in a bun at the back of her head and bright blue eyes set in a tanned ethereal face. She wore a brown dress that fell around her frame loosely which was already stained with the blood of her mistress and small brown slippers on her feet.

The Midwife was given no pay though she was given a small room in the estate that she lived in for free and was given four meals a day like everyone else. However, the slaves ate the scraps of the Clan, and because of this, her meals had often consisted of chewed up, flavorless food that the children of Sannin hadn't finished. She hated her life and wished for freedom as she was sure all the others did, but she didn't have the bravery to flee like some.

She was snapped out of her reverie at the sound of another scream from her Mistress and she turned back to the bed, wet towels in her hands. There wasn't much that she could really do for the Lady. She was no Healer. However, she could be there to coach her through it, and when the child was born, cut the life chord that attached both mother and child. Then she would normally clean the child, wrap it in a blanket, and hand it to the mother.

Ari was unsure the Lady would survive to that part of the process though.

"Get over here and help me you useless grass eater." Katherine growled at her, her voice sharp despite the weakness of her own body. She gripped tightly to the bloody blankets under her and closed her eyes, more pain wracking through her body.

The Wood Elf ignored the sharp comment of the Lady of the house as she scurried over to the side of her bed. She placed her arms around the Lady, helping her to a seated position. Once there, she smiled at her mistress kindly despite her own feelings. "The little one is ready to come mistress." she told her mistress in a soft tone of voice, trying to keep her from panicking. She softly massaged her shoulders. "Now, I'm going to need you to push, my Lady."