I go see Jimmy, to see how he’s doing.  Haywood comes too, and he sits and he talks with us for a long time.  I like Haywood, he reminds me of my father, and his voice is calm.  He tells Jimmy and Sina about how he and Alis married Nova and how they all went away together, and came down here.  He affirms that Ava has been helping him, and that Ava is not bad.  I wonder if they heard her and Penny screaming at each other earlier, but it doesn’t seem like it.  I’m tired, and let Haywood do most of the talking.  I don’t know what time it is and I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve last slept.  I don’t keep track of anything like that anymore.  

Jimmy and Sina met at the agency.  I wonder why they decided to run away together.  I wonder if they’re like Haywood and Alis, like Nua and I.  I wonder if Haywood wonders the same thing.  But Sina is a few years older than Jimmy, they should probably wait a few years.  Bayan seems like he’s so much older than Penny, but they still share a tent.  And he’s really not, either, only five years, and they’re both adults now.  But they knew each other when they were children, when Bayan was a teenager but Penny was still a child.  And Penny was only seventeen when he left them; Bayan would’ve been twenty-two.  Did he spend all those years thinking about his Master Penny, wanting him to come back, knowing his mother would never allow it, knowing he shouldn’t but wanting nonetheless?  Keol was four years older than Ava, she was seventeen when they got married and he must have been twenty-one, only a year older than she is now.  They only got three years together, and only half that time really together.  And Ava’s right.  He didn’t have to die; neither did Owen.  Penny didn’t have to leave.  And Abigala didn’t have to come.  But I still don’t know how much of a choice she had in the matter.

I haven’t spoken for a while; I don’t even hear Jimmy ask me a question until Haywood nudges me.  I blink, startling, and say, “What?”

“Nothing,” says Jimmy with a slight smile.  “You look tired, Aber, go to bed.”

And I smile too, because I’m supposed to be taking care of him, but Haywood just laughs and says, “It’s 10:10.”

“No,” I start to say, and then the tunnel starts to rumble.  Sina and Jimmy both look up at the ceiling again, and once the train passes I say, “Okay, maybe.”

“Good night,” says Haywood, and I grin at him, and at Jimmy.  “Goodnight.”

Ava’s asleep by the time I get back to the tent, but Nua is awake.  He looks up as I come in, and I take off my shirt and dig through the bag that Bayan sent us with to find another one.  Nua watches, and says, “So you know the boys.”

“I know Jimmy,” I say.  “He met Sina at the agency that Miss Lilly put them in.”

“God,” says Nua under his breath.  I come to lie down next to Ava, and put my hand over hers.  She sighs in her sleep, and Nua asks, “Did they know Abigala?”

I sigh too, closing my eyes.  “Yeah.  Jimmy did.  I haven’t told him about her.”

“Will he ask?”

“Probably,” I say.  “Eventually.  She helped to take care of all of them.  And god, I don’t know what to say, I don’t even understand it myself, and Haywood isn’t telling me anything, and I feel like I don’t know her.  Not anymore.”

“What changed?” he asks, and I open my eyes, glancing from our wife to her husband.  “I don’t know.  She promised me…”  I trail off, my fingers playing with Ava’s.  Nua guesses, though.  “That she would never marry.”

I don’t say anything, and Nua laughs slightly.  “So did Ava.”

I blink, and in the dim light he notices.  “A few months ago I heard Bayan telling her not to regret breaking her promise to Penny.  Through the tent, they didn’t know I was listening.  There’s not much sound privacy around here.”

I agree.  Penny snores.  “Because it’s not her fault,” I whisper.  “Not her choice.”

“And you jump to assume it was for Abigala.”

I look at him, and he sighs, adjusting himself a little.  “Look, I’m not defending Abigala, nor attacking Ava.  But…shouldn’t you hold them to the same standards?  It’s not like she left all of us alone.”

I know he’s talking about Keol, how she threw herself into the relationship with her prominent, her favorite, at least when I knew him.  “I know.  I’ve been thinking about that, too.  But he gave up.”

“Gave up what?”

“Hope.”

Nua doesn’t answer.

“He always knew he was going to be a husband; that’s why he never learned to read.  He accepted it.  You didn’t.  I didn’t.”

“Owen didn’t,” says Nua quietly, and I squeeze my eyes shut.  “I don’t know.  I don’t know anything, Nua.”

“Me either,” he murmurs, lifting his arm a little as Ava rolls, and suddenly another voice joins us.  “Whether or not you think she chose,” says Penny from the tent next to us, his tone slightly icy, “don’t let her sleep on her stomach.  Bad for the stitches.”

“Knew we were missing some background noise,” I mutter, and Nua manages a grin, tracing the slight smile that had appeared on Ava’s lips at the sound of her brother’s voice.  “At least she’s quiet at night.”

“Don’t let her sleep on her back, either, then, if you want her to stay that way,” comes Bayan’s soft mellow voice next to us, and I hear a scuffling as Penny tries to kick him, probably.  I stifle a laugh, and Ava shifts, then says sleepily, “Shut up.”

Even when she’s hardly awake her voice holds power over us, and all four of us fall silent because she wants to sleep.  Nua grins at me over her head, and, my eyes drooping heavily with fatigue, I manage a smile back, trying to push away the thought of Abigala that’s twisting in my head.  

But we don’t manage to sleep for very long, because in the middle of the night a scream pierces the damp underground air.  I sit up sharply, and Nua jumps.  “What was that?”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Marissa,” murmurs Penny from the text next to us, and I hear rustling as he moves to go.  Ava sits up too, her jaw dropping, and then she follows her brother.  And Bayan and Nua and I follow her.  

Sigrid and Nova are both by Nerev and Marissa’s tent when we make our way all the way down to Shan.  It’s incredible that we were able to hear Marissa all the way down the western track, and then she yells again from inside, and it’s ear-piercing.  Nerev comes out, his face ashen, and says, “We need a doctor.”

“We don’t have a doctor,” says Sigrid as Penny and Ava and the rest of us all approach.  Penny says, “What can we do?”

“Nothing,” says Nova, and ducks into the tent.  Nua’s hand wraps around mine, and I squeeze it.  “Is she gonna be okay?”

“Yeah,” says Nerev.  I don’t know if he believes himself.

“She’s gonna be fine,” says Sigrid decisively.  “We used to do this all the time.  Penny, go get as many clean towels as you can, make sure they’re clean.  Bayan, go with him, and get a blanket, too.  Nerev, get water.  As much as you can carry.  Alis has gone to look for pain medication, he’ll be back soon.  Ava, she doesn’t want the men in there, except for Nerev, so you’re gonna be our carrier.  Bring in the towels and the meds when they get back.”

“What?” says Ava in shock, her eyes widening, but Sigrid just grins, and goes inside the tent too.  

Ava looks at me in shock, and Penny just grins, and pulls on Bayan’s hand.  They go down into the supply room, just as Alis comes out, and he holds out a handful of things for Ava to take.  “Masks, gloves, and pain meds.”

And Marissa makes a noise again, and I can hear Nova speaking to her softly from inside the tent, and Ava says, “I don’t wanna go in there.”

“Please,” says Alis quietly.  “Marissa wants the women with her.  You don’t have to stay.”

“Oh, god,” she mutters, but she takes the things and ducks into the tent.

“Come on,” says Alis when she’s gone, and he jerks his head down towards the map room.  “We’ll wait here.”

Haywood is inside, in the process of adjusting something on one of his broken lanterns, and looks up when we go in.  “How is she?”

“As well as she can be,” answers Alis, putting his chin on his shoulder.  “What are you doing?”

“Chloe knocked over Sloan’s lantern last night,” says Haywood with a grin.  “With her tail.  But I think I can fix it.”

Nua winces as Marissa makes a noise again, but it’s not so loud.  Haywood looks up, but Alis just shakes his head.  “She has the pain meds.  We’ve been saving the good ones for her.”

“People used to do this all the time?” I murmur, sitting on the armchair, and Alis smiles a little, nodding.  “This is how it was.  It took them a little while to figure out live extractions and artificial development.”

“Sounds like it hurts,” says Nua, and Alis shrugs.  “It does.”

“Ava would not like that,” I say quietly, and Haywood hears, and laughs.  “Neither would Nova.  It’s a lot easier, nowadays, to have kids.  Of course, a lot of people don’t like how it is now, either.”

“Why not?” asks Nua, and Haywood shrugs.  “I dunno.  It’s not natural, is it, the way that we do everything in sterilized labs.  There’s probably some benefits to actual pregnancy too, for the baby at least, but it can be dangerous for the woman, which is the problem.  The doctors have been getting so much better at keeping the babies safe while they’re growing, at least.”

“Are all doctors women?” I ask suddenly, and Alis looks at me and laughs a little.  “No, there aren’t nearly enough women for that.”

“All the doctors at home were women,” I say, glancing at Nua.  “When they came in to take care of Keol.”

“Lilly probably picked them,” he says, and Haywood shrugs, but nods.  “Maybe.  It all has to do with the contract you signed when you married your wife.”

I think back to the day I got married.  It was the same day that my parents were taken away, and Abigala, and all the boys that didn’t get out first.  And me, when Ava found out that I was the only one old enough to be legally married.  Bayan took me away, and brought me to the beach house, and then in the backyard Ava signed her name at the bottom of a paper, and took my fingerprint from the water in the fountain.  There were a whole lot of words on that paper that I didn’t get to read.  “What do the contracts say?”

“It depends,” says Haywood, glancing at Alis.  “Women get them drawn up for their husbands to sign, and sometimes they actually work together to make one that’s fair to the both of them.  But for some people who don’t have a lot of options, they have to sign a marriage contract that’s bad for them.  That’s the biggest problem, really.”

“What did ours say?” I ask Nua, assuming that they’d be the same.  But he shakes his head.  “I don’t know.  She didn’t let me read it.”

“Yeah,” I murmur.  “We just had to sign.”

Haywood smiles a little.  “Mine said that if Nova didn’t have a child by the time I turned twenty-five, I could go.”

“Really?” I say, turning back to him.  “What, why?”

He shrugs.  “But there’s loopholes to it.  Alis’ and I were the same, see, and it didn’t specify me having a child, or Alis, specifically.  So if either of us got Nova pregnant, we’d both be stuck.”

“Oh,” says Nua, twisting his mouth.  

“A lot of them are like that,” says Alis with a slight smile.  “Nova didn’t write hers, she didn’t do it, and she didn’t like it either.  But she was never really intending on having children anyway.”

“Yeah,” says Nua with a slight smile.  

“And for people who do get to split up after the husband turns 25,” says Alis, glancing to Haywood, “I mean, legally, those men can really do whatever they want.  In practice, a lot of the times he stays dependent on his wife because he doesn’t have any resources of his own.  It’s designed like that.  But in theory, if he wants to go become a doctor he can.”

“Or even if you don’t annul,” says Haywood with a grin.  “If you have a nice wife who lets you, you can get a job, or something.”

“Like the man at the library,” I say, and Nua glances at me, but then Ava comes into the room and falls onto a chair, burying her face in her hands.  “Oh.  My god.”

“What’s happening?” I ask, as Penny and Bayan follow behind.  Ava looks up, and points her finger at me.  “You stay away from me.”

But she smiles a little as she says it, and I can’t help but laugh.  “That bad?”

Nua grins too, and Ava runs her fingers through her hair.  “God, I didn’t even know that human bodies could do that.”

“Is it done?” asks Nua, and she shakes her head.  “Oh, god, no, it just started.  Sigrid said it could take hours.  But Nerev’s there, now, I could go.”

“Hours?” says Penny, looking at his sister.  “I didn’t know that.”

“That’s what Sigrid said,” says Ava, and Nua asks, “Has Sigrid done this before?”

“Nah,” says Penny, and Haywood shakes his head.  “None of us have.  But when they came to us, Sigrid went up to the surface and got a few books and stuff about it.  She’s been studying.”

“That must’ve raised suspicion,” mutters Nua, and Alis laughs.  “Didn’t think of that, actually.”

Jimmy and Sina come into the map room, hair standing on end.  “Aber,” says Jimmy, and I rise.  “Don’t worry, it’s alright.”

“What’s happening?” asks Sina, and Haywood stands too.  “Yeah, this is not the best introduction to Tent City that you could’ve gotten.  But nothing’s wrong, it’s just Marissa.  One of the women who live here.  She’s giving birth.”

“She’s what?” asks Jimmy, and Sina’s jaw drops.  “She can’t do that.”

“Oh, she sure can,” mutters Ava, and Jimmy looks to her as if he’s just noticing her.  And then he looks back at me, and I smile a little.  “Nua, go get the book.”

Nua looks over at me, and so does Ava, and I gesture to the ground.  “Sit down.”

Jimmy looks at me again, and then at Sina, and then he smiles.  And Nua does too, and slips out of the room, and I sit in the dirt.  Ava looks at me, and I gesture for her.  “Come on, you too, all of you, come on, sit down.”

She glances at Penny, and then shrugs and comes and joins me on the ground, and Sina and Jimmy sink down too, hesitantly.  Penny sits down too, and reaches out for Bayan.  Ava puts her head on my shoulder, and I move my arm so she can lean against me, and after a few moments, all of us kind of on edge listening for more screams, Nua comes back with the book of fairy tales.  “She’s got the meds now, I think.”

Haywood and Alis join us too, and Nua sits down next to me, handing me the book.  I take it, and look at Jimmy.  “Pick a number.”

“Out of what?” he says softly, still staring at Ava, but her eyes are closed.  Nua nudges her, and she opens her eyes, and then moves over and rests her head on his shoulder instead.  I smile a little, adjusting myself so I can hold the book on my lap now, and flip to the last page.  “Three hundred and seventy four.”

He thinks a moment, and then says, “Eleven squared.”

Sina wrinkles his nose, and Penny looks at me.  “You’re making us do math?”

Bayan smiles slightly, and I do too, flipping to page 121.  “It’s a game, we used to play at the shelter.  Math or reading, your pick.”

“I’ll read, thanks.”

“Lucky you,” murmurs Ava, and I smile, looking down at the page.  Jimmy picked good, it’s the first page of a brand new story, and I say, “Little Red Riding Hood,” and then I pass the book to Bayan.