Snark made a face, a spitting sound. “It’s the Dinadhi way. It’s part of the choice the songfathers made. First time a woman’s pregnant, a helper takes her to the House Without a Name. They take food and water so the scourges won’t be hungry or thirsty. And the helper ties her down on the table and then rings a gong, and maybe one or two scourges come and lay eggs in her. They’ve got these long pricky-looking ovipositors. But sometimes instead of one or two coming, lots of them come and eat on the woman’s face. Only the face, though. No other parts.”
She wiped at her cheeks with the back of one bloody hand. “And when comes time for the woman to have the baby, the scourges get born first. The midwives take ‘em and feed ‘em and turn ‘em loose as soon as their wings’re dry. And then, if the scourges didn’t eat it, the baby is born.”
“But why do the Dinadhi do it?” Lutha screamed.
“I’m tellin’ you! The songfathers command it, so’s there’ll be beautiful people to hold all the people who die. Places for their souls to go. The women are supposed to have this duty so the people can live forever.”
Snark took a deep breath. “If the baby’s messed up but alive, they take it away somewhere.”
“By the Great and Glorious Org Gauphin,” Lutha said fervently. “Knowing all this, why does any Dinadhi woman get pregnant!”
Snark shared a bitter half smile. “They don’t know it. It’s taboo to talk about it. All the girls know is there’s a kind of a trial they have to go through to become a woman, but they don’t get told about it until after it’s happened.”
Saluez shifted and groaned.
“What shall we tell her?” Lutha demanded.
“How about telling her the truth. That she had scourges inside her. That we’ve got ‘em in a box. That her baby died.”
“That her baby never developed. That’s true, too, and it’ll be easier for her.”
Snark shook her head, mimicking Lutha viciously, “Oh, yeah, by all means, make it easier.”
“Snark! Why not?”
“I was just thinking of my flippin’ life,” she growled. “That nobody was much concerned about making easier.”
“Your mother was! Whatever else happened, she saved you from this!” Lutha waved at the shrieking box, the supine form, the bloody rags. “You didn’t have to experience this!”
Snark flushed, then her eyes filled and she sobbed, once only. “Yeah,” she whispered. “Yeah.” She sounded so sad that Lutha reached for her, but Snark evaded the embrace, ducking her head and stepping away.
They bathed Saluez again and wrapped her warmly. She began to breathe more easily.
Snark said, “She’ll wake up anytime now. Once the scourges have time to get dry and fly away, then the mother can wake up.”
Saluez’s eyelids fluttered.
Lutha said, “You’re all right, Saluez.”
Saluez murmured something, about a baby.
“Rest,” said Lutha, helplessly.
Snark shook her head disapprovingly, saying in a firm voice, “You didn’t have a baby, Saluez. It never developed. You had scourge … Kachis eggs in you and they kept the baby from growing.”
Saluez made a lost, lonely sound. She was not truly there, had not truly heard.
Lutha held her, whispering, “They’re gone, Saluez. The things are gone. Snark knew what to do.”
“Sad,” murmured Saluez. “No baby. So sad.”
“No baby, but a miracle,” said Snark. “Feel your face, Saluez. Feel your face!” She took Saluez’s hand and thrust it almost roughly against her cheek, the one that had been riven so the teeth showed through. “It’s healed, Saluez.”
“It’s a miracle,” said Lutha. “Weaving Woman did it.”
“ … not,” breathed Saluez. “Leely … ”
“He’s safe,” said Lutha. “He’s fine.”
“Has to be fine,” Saluez whispered. “Nothing else for him … ”
Then she shuddered and was gone again, her breast moving gently, her face calm.
“Now that’s normal sleep,” said Snark, wiping her face again. There were bloody streaks on both cheeks. “And she needs it.”
Behind them the lashed box rocked and rustled.
“What do we do with them?” Lutha asked.
“Drown ‘em,” said Snark. “I’ll do it.”