The 5th Month & 3 Days 

After that particular incident I temporarily suspended any plans of standing out in favour of information gathering. Because although I had personally witnessed the fiasco, I could tell that there was a subtler undercurrent of manipulation going on. And I didn't get it at all. I heard the words, and watched the actions, but I was unable to comprehend exactly how they linked and why the consequences were what they ended up as. 

So, given that Catho was, according to the gossip, punished so much that even now he was still recovering, learning the unwritten social rules became a priority. Yes, I was still a baby, and not even a year old. But Catho was only six years old, and he was deemed old enough for a severe beating. I had to learn the traditions and customs of this tribe, otherwise I would pay the price. Oh, and the price would be exacted according to said traditions and customs, not Earth law. Just great. 

For the past week and a half, I have been crawling around the newly constructed tent complex. That was after we spent over a week on the move, not much could be done during that period. Other than exercise and sleep. So, after that I eavesdropped as much as I could to make up for that lost time. This was not just on the slaves who were my caretakers either. Since I didn't cry or fuss too much, and was an outwardly cheerful baby, I was allowed to wander the communal areas. Yuna wouldn't stop following me though. It was her job after all.  

Irritating but understandable limitations on locations aside, I had gathered a massive amount of information. The me of today could view the sequence of events back then in a whole new light. There were still some mysteries remaining, but what I had mentally summarized was enough to give me serious culture shock. 

So, first things first. My family. My super dysfunctional, super extended family. The head of my family is, naturally, my father. Who I still have not met but is always spoken of respectfully, even when no-one else is listening in and it's a private conversation. Simple enough so far? Well, when polygamy is involved then it gets complicated, and fast. 

I do not know how many partners/lovers father has. Though over a dozen names are confirmed as being in some sort of relationship. I say 'some sort' because there are different tiers. At the top of the pyramid is the Lady, or First Wife. She not only has the highest status, but her children are also a step above their siblings. And guess who Ambrai's mother is? Her. Furthermore, he is her eldest son, making him de-facto heir. 

Then there are the secondary wives. Currently there are five, or six, not too sure, and my mother is the Third Madam, meaning that she is ranked below only the Second Madam and the First Wife. But since the Second Madam passed away a year or so ago only the First Wife has the status to order Mother around. And Mother has an intense loathing for that, but I digress. 

After the secondary wives are concubines. They tend to come from less powerful families when compared to the family of a wife. And any children have a slightly lesser status than their wife-born siblings. This is where I lost count of the number of lover's father has. By the time I reached two dozen I decided it would be better to focus on a different area. Otherwise I could have spent several weeks on it, easily. 

Below concubines are the slave and servant girls. Whose children automatically have no claim to the family name whatsoever. Even if a child is born, unless Father acknowledges the infant it has the same status as it's mother; a servant or a slave. I get the impression that it is bad form to not take responsibility, but that's it. Child support does exist, but again, only providing that the baby is acknowledged.  

I kind of feel guilty about feeling this, but I am rather grateful that I was born Mother's child. Money and status wise anyway. She's hardly a good parent, but I probably will have a decent position in the social hierarchy and sufficient funds that I won't need to struggle to survive. Probably. Because sibling rivalry is expected here.  

Take that incident at the playground as an example. This is the subtext. Tsuri, as the second son started a fight with the eldest son, Catho. Ambrai took advantage of this to have Tsuri apologize, essentially making him admit not just to fighting his brother, but also to lack of respect for the tribe by starting said fight. Which would damage father's opinion of Tsuri should it get back to him. Children are held to fairly high standards here. 

He then proceeded, at least on the surface, to scold Catho for taking the book and getting blood on it. At the same time, he again exaggerates the shame Catho has brought on the family. Though the servants didn't spend much time discussing that, so I still don’t know why he is so disliked. Either way, he had accomplished his main goal – to discredit Tsuri.  

He did this because it seems like Tsuri is a genius when it comes to swordsmanship, despite only being four and a half. And our Father is apparently rather fond of him. All of which in turn means that Tsuri is a rival to Ambrai's position as father's primary heir. A threat which should be reduced. And had Mother not come then he would have achieved his goal and told Father of everything.  

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

But Mother did arrive, and the situation changed. Basically, Mother manipulated everything to a compromise. She would take a small amount of the blame, Tsuri would get away with no consequences, and Catho would take the rest of the fallout. Not what he wanted exactly, but since it didn’t have any negative consequences for him, he accepted. It was that or have mother accuse him back in front of father. Apparently telling on people to him is a really, really big deal. Something to remember. 

The 5th Month & 1 Week 

I have officially started to babble. Enough so that during one of my conscious sessions Yuna was panicking because I was so quiet. I can stay awake for hours now! And I am kind of ashamed that that is an actual achievement for me. So, in order to avoid maidservant meltdown, I moved around a bit playing with a wooden rattle all the while going mama and baba. And genuine crying because I bashed myself in the eye with it. Hurts. 

Then I had a visitor. A not-Mother visitor, which is an unusual occurrence. Yet another maidservant entered, this time with a frankly adorable girl who I recognised as my elder sister. Her hair was in a fairly elaborate twin bun style and her dress was pink. I reiterate, adorable. 

So why had my two-year-old elder sister, plus a few months come to visit? The gist of the matter? She was bored and wanted to see the baby. And play peekaboo and other such games, which damn my mental age, I played along with. If I really tried I could pretend I was babysitting or something. Escapism, for both of us, just in different ways.  

That is until she started to talk. And not baby babble either. I tuned her out at first thinking it would be that, then I heard 'Turi' and 'Caho' and realised that I had an actual source of information here on my siblings. Sort of. There was another fight between the two of them, or as she referred to it, playing silly. I am going to refer to it as fighting because they have reached a pretty bad level for kids of their age. 

Scary bad. Merla, I found out her name as she consistently addresses herself in the third person, doesn't know who got the snake thing but it was very poisonous. And, she repeats, very, very naughty. Mother was so angry she scolded all of them, even Merla, even Tsuri, which apparently is the same as pigs flying. When she calmed down she apologised though. To Tsuri, and Merla was there so that counts, my sister insists.  

I feel sorry for her. I mean, I was going on about how I had it pretty good without thinking about my siblings would feel living in this kind of environment. Merla's sweet and even if she seems pretty uncaring about what happens to Catho, 'he doesn't matter', according to Mother. I made a rather incredulous face at that, and she laughed and poked my cheek. And repeated it again. Seemingly pleased that she had done something good.  

I think that all that was a bit much because I started crying. Not baby-wailing but that silent crying that adults do when you don't want someone to know. And then Merla started crying and ended up being carried away by her maidservant. Not a good end to our first proper meeting.  I want her to come again though. Hopefully she will be allowed to. 

6 Months 

I like having Merla as a sibling. She's cheerful and active and great at dragging Yuna and her maidservant out to watch us play. Because of that I have had some time to observe the changes in scenery up close. Because we are no longer on a grassy plain, but rather in a weird forest of sorts. I don't know if it actually is a forest because it consists solely of super large, super tall trees which are spaced wide enough apart that you can stampede a herd of horses between the gaps with ease. I know that because I saw exactly that happen. Other than that there are lots of flowers. And bees, apparently even if I cross universes I cannot escape the stingy things. Though they produce honey which I get occasionally so I will admit to mixed feelings...

I have also started crawling in earnest. Across the grass, across the tent floor and driving everyone in general crazy with my bent for exploration. I like getting more control of this body and hate being shut in a small crib. I want to move! And so I actually threw the occasional tantrum when I am not allowed to crawl but that was far and few between. It was during one such tantrum that this happened. I honestly don't know what triggered it but I started screaming and I kept on flashing in and out of baby mode.  

Not normal. Yes, I go back and forth but that is every few hours at the most. This was abnormal and I could swear numbers were flashing before my eyes. Then I would have a lucid moment. Then back to black. Everything felt as if it was closing in on me. I did end up inadvertently making the situation worse though. Because as far as I could tell it was all mental. I was not in physical pain or anything. 

Note, if one is screaming when one wakes up as a baby, yes that is correct in most cases, keep on screaming in shock/horror. On the other hand, in my particular case, do not suddenly go limp and nurse your sore throat, or your caretaker will start screaming and thinking you've had some kind of, I don’t know, heart attack? I didn’t quite understand the word she used. All I knew was I felt dizzy. And because I didn’t realise quite how serious the situation was, I was still quiet when she went running off, and by that point it was too late. 

As for how serious they thought it was, I'd say very.  From my point of view, it wasn't that bad. But when a more senior maidservant came over and started talking about the pupils of my eyes being dilated and then Mother of all people rushed over I started to get freaked out. She didn’t even pinch me? And then an old man was called in who everyone addressed as 'Healer', in hushed voices no less. Someone important enough that even Mother was less abrupt when speaking. Not deferential though, I have yet to hear that tone from her. 

I had been panicking, not really knowing if some bizarre medical 'procedure' would occur but all he did was reach out and touch my forehead and I began to calm down. And then I started to black out, feeling absolutely exhausted. I hadn’t felt like this for quite some time. That in itself was a bit scary, and I was concerned about any consequences of this episode. But for now, I just made out the word 'congratulations' before sleep claimed me. There was also something about a 'system' and I don’t know exactly what else...