Prologue
Another babe appeared on the corner by the apothecary. Barely a lunar old, if Sena guessed. She scooped up the infant girl, gently caressing her soft cheek with a finger as the lamp post cast a warm glow on her round features. Thrown away like a piece of garbage, she thought. At least this mother had the decency to bundle the child in a woolen wrap.
The last one was shivering by the time Sena got to him. The poor darling. Sena had a good feeling about him. She held him close and walked the long cobblestone road back to the house. It was late then, too. The shops were closed, neighbors were busy readying for bed, and the church bells no longer rang. When she reached the house, she did as she did with every babe—gently rested the little one just before the front step and awaited the judgement. Her heart ached when she felt the rejection. This one wouldn’t make it inside. And with a heavy sigh she began her walk to return the babe to the spot she found it. It didn’t see the morning light.
Though when that happened, the folks in town whisper rumors of changelings.
She dismissed the thought with a hmph.
She studied the small girl clutched in her arms tonight and pulled away the wrap to see if the mother left any trinkets. They often did.
Sena gasped. Oh, the poor thing. She gently touched the damaged flesh, mottled and churned from a burn, as if her skin was imprinted by the flame itself. Two cruelties in her life and only a lunar old.
Sena hummed a song from the past, the melody keeping the babe asleep. The crisp early winter air stung her lungs, welling tears in her eyes. She always did the walk alone. By the time they reached the house her limp began to make its unwelcome appearance, paining her hip like a piece of sandpaper stuck where it shouldn’t be.
For the second time this week, Sena took a babe and rested it in front of the house. A terrible place for a babe in this weather, on the hardened earth no less. Sena shifted on her feet, back and forth, anxiously awaiting the judgement. She wasn’t sure how many more she could take.
A moment later, the familiar warmth she knew filled her chest.
Accepted.
