Courtesans - English version

8 Nobody

Dina obediently lay on her back. She watched as the man braced himself on one hand beside her, resting his other arm on his bent knee. It no longer bothered Dina if Zevran spent a long time looking at her. She gazed up at the stars and began to speak.

"I grew up in a small village, not far from here. I had a younger brother, born four years after me. We were orphans living in our parents' old house."

A soft, sympathetic hum came from the man.

"My parents died of an illness, too. Back then, there was a strange epidemic that would flare up from time to time, decimating the adults but posing little danger to us children. It took them both. After we buried them, we tried to find work wherever we could. We groomed horses, helped in the fields, cleaned—whatever it took to earn a meal at people's houses. Some invited us to sit at their table, while others would just hand us some food and send us on our way. But somehow, by some miracle, we managed to survive. We both knew we didn't want to end up in an orphanage in the city, and no family in the village was willing to take us in. Some days, no one wanted to hire us, while on others, we were called to several places at once. On those days, we'd rush to get everything done, even if we were completely exhausted by evening. We had to save what little we received for the days when there was no work. We wanted to stand on our own two feet, even though I was only fifteen and Fernil was eleven."

"Were you paid fairly?"

Dina shook her head. "We only got food or cast-off clothes. We were too timid to ask for money. Well, except for once... Once, a man called me over and gave me a silver coin, even though we hadn't done much work for him that day." She paused briefly before continuing, her voice more hesitant. "I think that's when the rumours about me started."

She didn't want to say what those rumours were, and from Zevran's quiet hum, she knew that he understood without her needing to explain.

"Of course... jealous, gossiping old women," the man grumbled. "I swear, they do more harm with their tongues than I've ever done with my sword."

Dina sighed.

"There was no truth to what they said. Perhaps some women were afraid I would steal their husbands because we were in and out of every house. I did notice some strange looks from time to time, but nothing more ever happened. I never gave anyone reason to be jealous or to harbour desires."

Dina watched as Zevran looked up at the sky, then shook his head slightly. "You know, Dina...even if your behaviour was beyond reproach, sometimes beauty alone can be enough."

The girl had to agree with him. She looked back at the stars, and continued, "If Fernil had been my older brother, stronger and bigger than me, he surely would have protected me from the gossip. But he was my younger brother, small and slight, and still just a child. It was my responsibility to look after him. Then... there was a couple, the ones who gave me the silver coin. Rumour had it that they stopped calling us because every time we went there, the husband and wife would argue afterward. They blamed me. They were an influential family, so the gossip spread, and slowly the whole village looked at me with suspicion. I pretended not to notice. I just did my job."

Dina took a deep breath before she continued. "But... everything got harder and harder. We became more and more desperate to find work. By then, there were houses that would turn us away with hostility when we asked. One woman even told us that they'd only hired us out of pity and that we were never really much help. She said not to expect their charity anymore. And then there was a day when..."

Dina swallowed in the middle of her sentence. Her voice trembled.

"...when we were called to two places at once, and they promised us a lot. Fernil was so happy, and he worked with the strength and enthusiasm of an adult. He was chopping wood, and the... the axe slipped into his leg."