âBut Tender Michel says â¦â Leesha began.
âSpare me the recitation from the Canon,â Bruna cut her off. âItâs a book written by men, without a thought given towards the plight of women.â
Leeshaâs mouth closed with a click.
âYour mum visited me often,â Bruna went on, âasking questions, helping me around the hut, grinding herbs for me. I had thought to make her my apprentice, but all she wanted was the secret of the tea. Once I told her how it was made, she left and never returned.â
âThat does sound like her,â Leesha said.
âPomm tea is safe enough in small doses,â Bruna said, âbut Steave is lusty, and your mother took too much. The two of them must have slapped stomachs a thousand times before your fatherâs business began to prosper, and his purse caught her eye. By then, your mumâs womb was scraped dry.â
Leesha looked at her curiously.
âAfter she married your father, Elona tried for two years to conceive without success,â Bruna said. âSteave married some young girl and got her with child overnight, which only made your mum more desperate. Finally, she came back to me, begging for help.â
Leesha leaned in close, knowing her existence had hinged on whatever Bruna said next.
âPomm tea must be taken in small doses,â Bruna repeated, âand once a month it is best to stop it and allow your flow to come. Fail this, and you risk becoming barren. I warned Elona, but she was a slave to her loins, and failed to listen. For months I gave her herbs and checked her flow, giving her herbs to slip into your fatherâs food. Finally, she conceived.â
âMe,â Leesha said. âShe conceived me.â
Bruna nodded. âI feared for you, girl. Your mumâs womb was weak, and we both knew she would not have another chance. She came to me every day, asking me to check on her son.â
âSon?â Leesha asked.
âI warned her it might not be a boy,â Bruna said, âbut Elona was stubborn. âThe Creator could not be so cruelâ, sheâd say, forgetting that the same Creator made the corelings.â
âSo all I am is some cruel joke of the Creator?â Leesha asked.
Bruna grabbed Leeshaâs chin in her bony fingers and pulled her in close. Leesha could see the long grey hairs, like catâs whiskers, on the croneâs wrinkled lips as she spoke.
âWe are what we choose to be, girl,â she said. âLet others determine your worth, and youâve already lost, because no one wants people worth more than themselves. Elona has no one to blame but herself for her bad choices, but sheâs too vain to admit it. Easier to take it out on you and poor Erny.â
âI wish sheâd been exposed and run out of town,â Leesha said.
âYou would betray your gender out of spite?â Bruna asked.
âI donât understand,â Leesha said.
âThereâs no shame in a girl wanting a man twixt her legs, Leesha,â Bruna said. âAn Herb Gatherer canât judge folks for doing what nature intended they do when they are young and free. Itâs oath breakers I canât abide. You say your vows, girl, youâd best plan on keeping them.â
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