Birth of a Daughter

Athena always had to remember that not too long ago she had been just like the Crazy Horns. Her own life as a tribal, eking out a subsistence living was not so far behind her that she couldn't still recall the words of her elder, couldn't still remember her husband's rough hands caressing her face in their tent made of hide and scrap.

Athena had been married at thirteen, when she reached puberty, as was traditional among her people. By fourteen she would've had her first child, had it not been stillborn. She remembered the moment, holding her son in her hands, her son who never grew up. She remembered how she felt at that time, and it made her a little sick whenever she remembered how relieved she had felt. Holding the tiny body in her hands she felt relief that this boy, her boy, would never have to live in the wasteland. Would never have to sacrifice and sacrifice and sacrifice for so little, would never have to fight every day for survival. She wept bitter tears for another soul saved from the wasteland. That was life in the tribe. Death was everywhere, and it wouldn't be long after their son that her husband was gone, too. After the death of her husband she withdrew from everyone. She knew it didn't matter, that it wouldn't be long before they were gone, too. She was right.

That was life in the wasteland. It wasn't any different for the Crazy Horns, or at least that was what she told herself. She knew it was different for the Crazy Horns, though. They weren't her old tribe. They'd been coddled by the Canaanites, and now they were being aided by her and the Daughters of Hecate. Athena's efforts had all but eliminated miscarriages in the tribe, which introduced a new problem of providing food for everyone. It put the Crazy Horns in a perilous place, feeding the adults or feeding their children. Although Athena had at first appeared to be a boon, in truth she was anything but.

Heartsong had no complications in her pregnancy, she was a healthy young woman who was well taken care of by her family. It was her first child, and Athena predicted a boy. Whenever a new baby was to be born Athena would return to Ouroboros a few weeks in advance and return with more Daughters. The tribe never questioned it, they had long since stopped questioning Athena and her knowledge. They didn't question why the birth was always in secret, how no one could attend but the Daughters. How the mother never quite remembered what happened afterwards. Most importantly the tribe never questioned why all their children had become so sickly.

Heartsong's labor was long, almost a full twenty-four hours. Athena was aided by her sisters Carrie and Ruth, who had much experience with the ritual. They doped the mother heavily, and when Heartsong gave birth they took her child away. Athena stayed and comforted her, gave her more medication, water, held her hand and congratulated her. Ruth and Carrie returned with an infant swaddled in cloth. They handed it to Heartsong, told her it was her son. She named him, his family name. It was not his family, but they named him. She was not his mother, but she named him.

Athena was always correct about the gender of the child. Never once was she wrong, her predictions unerring in every birth. The tribe considered it part of her mystic ability. After Heartsong's labor, Ruth and Carrie returned to Ouroboros. They took with them Heartsong's actual child, a girl. It was in this way the Daughters of Hecate weakened the tribes. Athena considered it saving them.