“She’s moving,” Amu said. “Eluvie, can you hear me? Nod if you understand.”

Eluvie remained perfectly still.

“She’s awake,” Amu and Madam Ria said in unison.

“Don’t move too quickly,” Amu said. “You might feel a bit faint. Sit up if you can.”

Eluvie tried to obey but only made it a few inches before falling back onto the bed.

“That means no, then,” Amu said. “I’m going to keep her for a few hours.”

“She’ll need to meet the rulers when they arrive,” Madam Ria said.

Amu made a sound halfway between a groan and a hiss. “I would argue with you,” he said, “but I think you people want to kill her. If you can get her to walk, you can take her. Otherwise, I suppose you’ll just carry her.”

“Lady Mirab already asked me about my dreams,” Eluvie said. “She can just tell them what I said.”

“I’ll be back to take her when the time comes,” Madam Ria said. “Just make sure she can talk. That’s all that’s needed.”

With that, she was gone.

“It was a good attempt,” Amu said, “but the others would demand to see you anyway. I’ll find you something to eat. That might help.”

In his absence, the room felt oddly empty. She could hear breathing from along a wall, but the watchers seemed to have nothing to say. In her bedroom, with bars on the windows and guards at the door, she was allowed privacy. Everywhere else, she was never left with less than two watchers. She hadn’t done anything to warrant the surveillance in years, so the women were paid, essentially, to sit around and play cards.The boy from her dream weighed heavily on her mind. Whenever she tried to plot a course for his safety, she ran into roadblocks. There was nearly zero likelihood that the rulers would not ask about her dream, and an equal likelihood that she could not deceive them about it. But the thought of bringing him here churned her stomach.

The only good scenario was one in which she didn’t speak to the rulers, but even that was problematic. It would be easy enough to achieve - a tumble down the staircase would do the work. But the rulers were intelligent enough to suspect something so obvious. And what of when she recovered?

She needed a plan that would make her permanently incapable of betraying the boy but would not prompt suspicion of his existence.

Amu returned with some bread and then left them alone again. On a normal day, they would be leaving to meet the rulers soon. Lady Mirab’s departure was delaying it, but Eluvie could not guess how long that would continue. She needed to make a decision.

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She sat up. Either she would try and fail, or she would simply fail. Put that way, her options were clear. Eluvie conjured up the strength with which she had endured twenty years of imprisonment and bit back a smile. It was time to play her favorite game: manipulating her wardens.

First, she needed to determine who her guards were. The one with the heavy breathing was Bitu, but she could not identify the other woman. That meant that it could be any of her attendants, with the possible exception of the newest one.

“If I ask for water, they’ll snap at me,” Eluvie thought.

“Could one of you get me some water?” she asked.

“Get it yourself,” Piri said.

Thank you for being so obliging, Eluvie thought. So, she had Piri and Bitu, neither of whom was difficult to steer.

“What’s the easiest way to get them to take me to the latrine? I can’t play on their contrary natures, so it’s best to be direct.”

She forced herself to her feet, glad to see that she could stand. Amu had bandaged her hand, but the wound would be gone by morning. Keeping an open wound on her required all the effort they were expending on her back. She found the jug of water where Amu always placed it, poured a cup, and sated her fake thirst.

“What time is it?” she asked.

This time, it was Bitu who replied. “What do you need time for? Do you have a date?”

Both women laughed.

“Just lie down and shut up,” Bitu continued, “I have a bloody headache.”

Eluvie occasionally had kind attendants, but those who didn’t leave always turned cruel. Between the influence of their employers and that of their coworkers, how could they be different? This latest batch, however, had always been cruel. She didn’t explain that she needed to know how long she had.

“I need to relieve myself,” Eluvie said.

“Not now,” Piri was getting more annoyed.

Eluvie turned to face them, though she could not see them. “Is it fine if I use the corner, then?”

“What do you -”

“You won’t mind the smell, I hope.” She was already pulling her dress.

“What a - hey!”

Eluvie paused with her dress halfway up her calf.

"You're insane!" Piri exclaimed.

Eluvie waited patiently as they muttered comments about her lack of self-respect, but as expected, they led her out.

It was a wonder that they never understood how manipulable they were. She had never convinced them to violate their orders, but everything else was possible with the right prompting.

The latrine was located suitably far from the rest of the rooms. It was a tiny room, wide enough to comfortably fit one person, and uncomfortably accept two, with a hole in the ground and a wooden cover for the hole. It also stank so badly that no amount of dedication had ever convinced her attendants to join her inside.

With one foot, she kicked the cover aside, then squatted. Not over the hole, but beside it. Having positioned herself by memory, she stuck a hand down the hole, felt toward the left, and pushed her arm in until it hit a wall. There, she found a small alcove and, sitting on it, a satchel holding her most precious possessions.

She no longer burned at the indignity of this search. In fact, now that they had stripped all dignity from her, she was free to ponder its elegance. Who but her would ever stick a hand down a latrine? The iron bar was sturdy, an artifact of the nearby wall's construction. It was also far enough from the hole that, as far as she could tell, it had never been touched by filth. A search born of boredom and depression had netted her the greatest discovery of her life.

She untied the satchel, dug it out, retrieved the item she wanted, and returned the satchel to its hiding place - all within half a minute. Maintaining this secret required that her captors never grew suspicious of a long latrine trip, so she never lingered here. The space was sacred. All her hopes, little as they were, were in that bag. She had launched tantrums, ill-planned escapes, and doomed rebellions, but she never did anything to endanger this secret. One day, if she protected and grew it, it would be her salvation.

Today, it would save a child.

The item she had retrieved was a small blade, one of the doctor's scalpels. Her dress had no pockets, so she cut strips out of her shift and tied the blade loosely to her left forearm.

The voices grew restless as she worked.

"What is she doing?" one asked.

"Oh, that is a bad idea," another said.

She ignored them. She tested her solution several times, verifying that the blade was secure, safe, and easy to retrieve. Then, she adjusted her clothing and left the room.