Humble Beginnings - 02
Neko-tama
[Verified Cat] [Verified Writer]
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The day didn't end up being as productive as I might have liked. Our tiny bodies weren't suited for carrying anything in great quantity, and without a mold of some sort the few bricks we did manage to make weren't sufficiently rectangular for my taste and varied wildly in dimensions.
Still. Better than nothing, and at least the cave provided a place where we could dry them.
I didn't even want to think about how long this would take to get anywhere, if I had to worry about the rain ruining all we had wrought all the time.
Needless to say, by the time we got home we were covered in dirt, and completely exhausted.
Mother took one look at me from behind the bar, as I stumbled through the door, sighed and shook her head. She'd long given up on me being the responsible child and doing chores.
Father... Father was less resigned.
"Where have you been, Betha?"
I turned around slowly, coming face to face with a small, half bald, potbellied man whose red face belied his calm tone.
Impotent hatred rose in my throat, but I bit it back, and answered just as calmly. "Playing outside with Edd."
I'd expected the slap. Even most of the patrons of our establishment barely spared a glance, most of them coming through regularly, and already being used to the family dynamic.
"I told you not to associate with that boy!"
Rubbing the sting in my cheek away, I entertained the fantasy of putting my knife through his throat for a moment before thinking better of it. "Yes Father."
"Well?" he asked, impatience tinging his voice. "Don't do it then!"
Fuming, I looked to the floor, not in deference, but because I might not be able to control myself if I had to look at him. "No, Father." No, I wasn't going to listen to him that was.
His insecure obsession with status was plainly ridiculous, considering where he stood in the eyes of most people. The youngest son of a merchant, married to a former whore, eeking out a living by giving travelers a slightly better place to sleep than a tent, and food that was cooked in an actual kitchen rather than over a campfire. Ale when we happened to have some.
He wasn't even a lowly copper counting Merchant, but a dog living from the scraps under said merchants' tables. Any peasant man, be he ever so poor was two steps up in the social ladder from him. Arguably even Edds father was more respectable than him.
"Now, get to washing clothes!"
"Yes, Father." Another service we provided for our patrons. Naturally my job.
He stomped away with a muttered "Stupid brat!", and left me to it.
Moments like this made me yearn for the world I saw in my dreams, where children were allowed to play rather than work, and women were as well respected as men were, at least in the little pocket where my dreams took place.
I let out a breath, and steadied myself. I'd get there, I knew. I just needed to stick to the plan.
"Betty!"
I looked up from my work of trying in vein to remove skidmarks from undercloths.
Cat was a welcome sight. Two years older than me, I could tell she'd be very pretty one day. Her violet eyes, and pale hair spoke of her lineage that involved the bastard of a dragonlord somewhere, and her brown freckled skin told of her dornish mother.
Her gap toothed grin, and choppy, short hair were the reason I liked her. She had a rebelious streak a mile wide, though we rarely talked.
"Kitty!" A grin spread on my own face. "Got away from your parents again?"
"Had to," she admitted. "They didn't like me cuttin' my hair short again."
I rolled my eyes. "Bugger 'em! Your body, your choice."
She clocked her head curiously, then her smile turned thoughtful. "Yeah... Yeah! I like that!"
It struck me how novel the thought seemed to her. It went without saying in the pocket of paradise I dreamed about. That it should be any different here? It was a sobering thought.
"Nothin' to do in the fields anyway," she chattered away. "They just wanna harp on my appearance all day."
"I thought Dornish were more relaxed about that kind of thing?"
She huffed. "Not my mommy. Now scoot over, I'll help you with that."
I gave her a grateful smile, and did as she asked.
We chatted a little about the people in the village. Inconsequential things like who was slacking on going to the little Sept - barely big enough to stand in, and no more than two people could enter at a time - or who had a falling out with which neighbor, when her face turned a bit more serious.
"Hey, uh... can you keep a secret, Betty?"
"Of course. What's up?"
"Y'know how they say that y'gonna like... notice boys at a certain age?"
I nodded, and couldn't help smirking a bit.
"I think I might be noticin' this... Person like that, but it don' make sense?"
"Oh?"
"Yeah." She looked down at the breeches she'd been scrubbing, her mind seeming a million miles away. "Y'know Retta?"
"Lauretta? The girl that pestered Ol' Lemon into apprenticing her?"
A brilliant smile spread on Kitty's face. "Yeah! She's amazin', isn't she?"
I laughed. "Yeah, she's quite something! What about- Oh!"
Her smile turned shy, as her dark cheeks got darker. "Yeah." Her eyes narrowed after a moment. "Like I said. It don' make sense."
"Why not?" my confusion was quite genuine. "Girls are pretty, right?"
"Well, yeah, but I'm a girl too!"
"Doesn't that just mean that she'll think you're pretty, too?" It all seemed quite obvious to me. In my dreams I was a woman who was 'married' to not just one, but three people, and two of them were women.
Come to think of it, in my dreams I was a woman who used to think she was a boy before she learned that being a woman was an option. Developing the technology that saved dream self from an early grave due to dysphoria would take a long time, and considerable resources, so gender was clearly quite different here.
Kitty gave me an odd look.
"You think it's not OK for us to like girls?"
"My daddy says it's 'abonination' in the eyes of the seven. Mommy says he's wrong, but that I can't like girls, cause I'm her daughter."
I let the mispronounciation slide, and we fell back into a companionable silence, working away, when she suddenly stopped.
"Did you say 'us'?"
Still. Better than nothing, and at least the cave provided a place where we could dry them.
I didn't even want to think about how long this would take to get anywhere, if I had to worry about the rain ruining all we had wrought all the time.
Needless to say, by the time we got home we were covered in dirt, and completely exhausted.
Mother took one look at me from behind the bar, as I stumbled through the door, sighed and shook her head. She'd long given up on me being the responsible child and doing chores.
Father... Father was less resigned.
"Where have you been, Betha?"
I turned around slowly, coming face to face with a small, half bald, potbellied man whose red face belied his calm tone.
Impotent hatred rose in my throat, but I bit it back, and answered just as calmly. "Playing outside with Edd."
I'd expected the slap. Even most of the patrons of our establishment barely spared a glance, most of them coming through regularly, and already being used to the family dynamic.
"I told you not to associate with that boy!"
Rubbing the sting in my cheek away, I entertained the fantasy of putting my knife through his throat for a moment before thinking better of it. "Yes Father."
"Well?" he asked, impatience tinging his voice. "Don't do it then!"
Fuming, I looked to the floor, not in deference, but because I might not be able to control myself if I had to look at him. "No, Father." No, I wasn't going to listen to him that was.
His insecure obsession with status was plainly ridiculous, considering where he stood in the eyes of most people. The youngest son of a merchant, married to a former whore, eeking out a living by giving travelers a slightly better place to sleep than a tent, and food that was cooked in an actual kitchen rather than over a campfire. Ale when we happened to have some.
He wasn't even a lowly copper counting Merchant, but a dog living from the scraps under said merchants' tables. Any peasant man, be he ever so poor was two steps up in the social ladder from him. Arguably even Edds father was more respectable than him.
"Now, get to washing clothes!"
"Yes, Father." Another service we provided for our patrons. Naturally my job.
He stomped away with a muttered "Stupid brat!", and left me to it.
Moments like this made me yearn for the world I saw in my dreams, where children were allowed to play rather than work, and women were as well respected as men were, at least in the little pocket where my dreams took place.
I let out a breath, and steadied myself. I'd get there, I knew. I just needed to stick to the plan.
"Betty!"
I looked up from my work of trying in vein to remove skidmarks from undercloths.
Cat was a welcome sight. Two years older than me, I could tell she'd be very pretty one day. Her violet eyes, and pale hair spoke of her lineage that involved the bastard of a dragonlord somewhere, and her brown freckled skin told of her dornish mother.
Her gap toothed grin, and choppy, short hair were the reason I liked her. She had a rebelious streak a mile wide, though we rarely talked.
"Kitty!" A grin spread on my own face. "Got away from your parents again?"
"Had to," she admitted. "They didn't like me cuttin' my hair short again."
I rolled my eyes. "Bugger 'em! Your body, your choice."
She clocked her head curiously, then her smile turned thoughtful. "Yeah... Yeah! I like that!"
It struck me how novel the thought seemed to her. It went without saying in the pocket of paradise I dreamed about. That it should be any different here? It was a sobering thought.
"Nothin' to do in the fields anyway," she chattered away. "They just wanna harp on my appearance all day."
"I thought Dornish were more relaxed about that kind of thing?"
She huffed. "Not my mommy. Now scoot over, I'll help you with that."
I gave her a grateful smile, and did as she asked.
We chatted a little about the people in the village. Inconsequential things like who was slacking on going to the little Sept - barely big enough to stand in, and no more than two people could enter at a time - or who had a falling out with which neighbor, when her face turned a bit more serious.
"Hey, uh... can you keep a secret, Betty?"
"Of course. What's up?"
"Y'know how they say that y'gonna like... notice boys at a certain age?"
I nodded, and couldn't help smirking a bit.
"I think I might be noticin' this... Person like that, but it don' make sense?"
"Oh?"
"Yeah." She looked down at the breeches she'd been scrubbing, her mind seeming a million miles away. "Y'know Retta?"
"Lauretta? The girl that pestered Ol' Lemon into apprenticing her?"
A brilliant smile spread on Kitty's face. "Yeah! She's amazin', isn't she?"
I laughed. "Yeah, she's quite something! What about- Oh!"
Her smile turned shy, as her dark cheeks got darker. "Yeah." Her eyes narrowed after a moment. "Like I said. It don' make sense."
"Why not?" my confusion was quite genuine. "Girls are pretty, right?"
"Well, yeah, but I'm a girl too!"
"Doesn't that just mean that she'll think you're pretty, too?" It all seemed quite obvious to me. In my dreams I was a woman who was 'married' to not just one, but three people, and two of them were women.
Come to think of it, in my dreams I was a woman who used to think she was a boy before she learned that being a woman was an option. Developing the technology that saved dream self from an early grave due to dysphoria would take a long time, and considerable resources, so gender was clearly quite different here.
Kitty gave me an odd look.
"You think it's not OK for us to like girls?"
"My daddy says it's 'abonination' in the eyes of the seven. Mommy says he's wrong, but that I can't like girls, cause I'm her daughter."
I let the mispronounciation slide, and we fell back into a companionable silence, working away, when she suddenly stopped.
"Did you say 'us'?"
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