Ah, the love! So inspiring! The army of unggoy, kig-yar, and mgalekgolo have absolutely nothing to do with this chapter. Lol.

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Mina has come by again. Four more senators have been found dead. Father is growling and pacing the house while he mumbles to himself. I might be only ten and four summers old, but I know to leave father alone while he does this.

Today is a particularly rough day; father has been in this mood for hours. My growling stomach has forced me into the kitchen. I am staring at mother's utensils and wondering what they are for.

If this were an armory, I'd know exactly what to do. Mother taught me how fight when I had first learned to walk. I loved it. She said I was a natural fighter, like she was.

I conjure an image of her in my mind now. I follow her steps around the kitchen, grabbing various utensils and ingredients. I am surprised that I know how to do this. I guess I've watched her enough times to know what I'm doing without realizing it.

I do not know what I am doing. I had everything right, so why does this bread taste so funny? I look at the ingredients still strewn about the kitchen. I find my mistake. Stupid flour, where's the cornmeal? I search the cabinets again.

Father is out of his rant by the time I'm pulling what actually appears to be mother's cornbread out of the oven. I am ecstatic. I cut a piece and taste it. Just like mother makes it.

I ask father what happened next as nonchalantly as possible. I don't yet know if he is completely out of his rant.

"She began to fulfill her use."

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"Is this absolutely necessary?" Andrea asks as Thel strips her out of her shift before picking her up and sitting her on his kitchen table.

I am just as offended as she is. When I first saw her, it had been nothing that she had been naked. But now that I know her and have actually come to realize that she is in fact a female, something is different and I feel like I shouldn't be watching this.

But I am her caretaker, the one that knows her best, and Thel has ordered me be here. Rtas, is here too, and my mother because she has insisted her presence to make sure Andrea keeps her dignity, even if she can't have her modesty.

I know mother is really here to make sure the men don't do anything to Andrea, but I haven't seen anything like that in either of them.

"Stand." Thel orders, and Andrea obeys with an irritated flick of her hair. She crosses her arms over her breasts and murmurs dangerously to herself. I know that face. She is losing her patience. Automatically I scan the area near her to make sure she has nothing she can throw.

"Now what are human weaknesses that we can use?"

"You're looking at them." She snaps.

She takes a deep breath and begins to list off things that make humans weak. Thin skin, tendons, and pressure points are all gone over and shown the location of. Andrea goes over everything blandly, pointing at various places.

She has to speak in her own language mostly, because there are no words for them in Sanghelli. She shows how the human body has to move and demonstrates ways humans can be debilitated.

She is made to twist and bend to show the limits of the body.

After a couple of hours, mother calls a halt. The men look between themselves and decide not to argue. I pick Andrea up by her waist and put her back down on the floor. She slips into her shift and stalks outside Thel's tiny home.

Mother and I follow her out and mother insists that Andrea come to stay for supper. Andrea's mood is foul enough that she doesn't argue.

Andrea doesn't even look at what mother puts in front of her. I see her pick at it and I hear her mumbling under her breath. Something about men.

She takes a bite and squeals. I jump up and mother whirls around thinking something has gotten after her. Andrea is stomping her feet and her face is a horrendous shade of red and she shakes.

I'm shaking her trying to get her to tell me what's wrong, but she just squeals painfully again. Tears streak down her face.

Realization hits me.

I release her and start flying through the cupboards, looking for the sweetcakes mother keeps hidden from father.

I find them and rush back to Andrea. I have to force her lips open to shove the sweetcake in her mouth. She chews and that awful color drains from her face and she stops shaking. She has to breathe deeply and wipe her face.

Mother asks what was wrong with the food.

"Curry." Andrea curses, and refuses to eat anymore.