Maji Born

05 - Death and Decrees

Aside from the odd cat or the sound of a bottle breaking in the dark streets, nothing moved. Eirian sat wrapped in an old, thinning, wool blanket. She was waiting, discontentedly fiddling with the loose threads as she did so. A muffled thud drove her from her unfocused silence, reminding her of her reason for being awake so early.

The sound was something hitting the door, someone was struggling to turn the handle.

Eirian watched apprehensively, her jaw set and her fingers frozen between the tangle of threads. The door groaned as it opened and a woman stumbled in, slamming it shut awkwardly in her wake.

"You're late," Eirian informed her.

"I was working," The woman said, slurring slightly. She tried to focus her attention on Eirian, but her eyes kept shifting beadily back and forth, unable to grasp onto reality.

"You were drinking," Eirian said, her voice steady and accusatory. She rose to her feet and crossed to her mother side, attempting to grasp the edge of her mother's coat.

"Get off' me," her mother hissed, slapping her hand away. "Why are you awake. I don't need your help." She coughed slightly and swayed on the spot. Eirian stepped out of her way, letting her stumble to the bed. She knew better than to get between her mother and her goal while drunk.

"You're getting worse. One day you won't come home." Eirian said, crossing her arms over her chest and waiting for her mother to address her concern.

"That's not your business. I have work. I have to bring home money."

"You spend all the money on booze," Eirian said, glancing over at the empty shelves within the pantry.

"Girl if you wanna eat you'll have to do your part for it. I should've rid myself of ye years ago, you're lazy and unnatural."

Eirian felt disgust wash over her. As a child such comments would have made her cry, now she felt nothing, only a pity for her mother.

"Well, maybe you should've." Eirian turned and glanced out into the street. She could leave. Her mother would be ecstatic. She had no emotional reason to stay, but where would she go? She had no one else, and no knowledge of money or place to go. She wouldn't leave.

Outside the dim glow of the sun could be seen arcing over the battered rooftops. From the corner of the room, Eirian heard her mother snoring lightly. She suffered a small sigh before covering her mother with the wool blanket and finding her threadbare coat. She layered it over her tunic and too-short trousers, she had no inclination to wear skirts as they just got in the way of her work. She was already at the lowest point on the social ladder so why did it matter if she didn't wear a corset and stockings? She then tied back her thick dreadlocks, pulling them through themselves to hold them in place. She worked at a small bakery. She wasn't allowed near the front of the shop, as the owner, a friend of her mother, didn't trust maji, so she cleaned in the back or prepared dough. It was time to head out and as always she had little interest in staying at home with her drunk mother.

Eirian stepped out onto the front porch and shut the door behind her. It was always a fight to get it closed. You had to lift it upwards and pull it, all the while also turning the handle at just the right angle. It was more work then it was worth. Once she was satisfied that it was fully shut, she made her way down the steps and out into the dusty street.

Eirian knew the city like it was part of her. She had spent her last three and twenty years learning all she could about the city, she had never had a chance to leave and it seemed unlikely that she ever would. She was set out for a simple life, one that was made out of mandatory activity's, wake at dawn, work, cook dinner, sleep, repeat.