Peter Brett - The Core

Wonda cradled the babe in one arm as she opened the swaddling. ‘It’s a b …’ She frowned, looking closer.

At last she looked up, face twisted. ‘Core if I know, mistress. Ent no Gatherer.’

Leesha stared at her, incredulous. ‘You don’t need to be a Gatherer, Wonda, to know what parts a boy has and what parts a girl.’

‘That’s just it, mistress.’ Wonda looked terrified.

‘Babe’s got both.’

For perhaps the first time in her life, words failed Leesha. She stared open-mouthed, mind racing as the child’s screams rang through the room.

A babe born with both sets of parts was not unheard of. There were documented cases in her books of old world science, but it was another thing to find it in a live child.

Her child.

Tarisa peeked over Wonda’s shoulder and gasped, turning away.

Leesha reached out. ‘Let me see.’

Darsy caught her arm, pulling it back to the table. ‘Leesha Paper, you move again ’fore we’re done and I’m strapping you down.’

A shout came from the doorway, and Leesha looked up into a nightmare: one of Wonda’s guards stumbling back to keep out of the path of a very angry Elona Paper.

‘Ay, Bekka!’ Wonda cried. ‘Said no one was to get in!’

‘Sorry, Won!’ Bekka cried. ‘She pinched my pap and shoved by!’

‘I’ll pinch more than that, you try to keep me away from my daughter,’ Elona warned. ‘Why wasn’t I …’

The words caught in her throat as Wonda turned and Elona caught sight of the child in her arms. She ran to it, arms reaching, but Wonda deftly sidestepped. The glare Elona threw her would frighten a coreling, but Wonda bared her teeth right back.

‘It’s all right,’ Leesha said, and Wonda relented, reluctantly letting Elona take the child.

There were tears in her mother’s eyes. ‘Skin like the father, but those eyes are yours.’ Elona pulled back the blanket. ‘Is it a boy or a …’

She froze, illuminated in the wardlight as Amanvah activated her healing magic.

The rush of power was like air to a drowning person. It jolted through Leesha’s torso, repairing the damage and filling her with new strength. When the light died down, she began to rise.

‘Now, don’t go …’ Darsy began.

Leesha ignored her. ‘Wonda, help me to the bed, please.’

Wonda picked her up effortlessly, carrying her to the great feathered bed. Leesha reached out, and Elona slid the baby into her arms. It looked up at her with bright blue eyes, and Leesha fell in love so utterly it shook her.

Wonda Cutter’s not the only one who would die for you, darling. Pity human and demon alike, if they try to come between us.

She kissed the beautiful, perfect face and freed the child from its swaddling, laying it skin-to-skin on her chest, sharing her warmth. The child began to root, and Leesha massaged her breast, readying it as the babe reached the nipple. The little mouth opened wide, and she pulled it in quickly to ensure a tight latch.

How many mothers had she guided through this milestone? How many newborns had she brought to the pap? It was nothing compared with experiencing it firsthand, seeing her perfect child begin to suckle. She gasped at the force of its pull.

‘Everything all right?’ Darsy asked.

Leesha nodded. ‘So strong.’ She felt herself express, and knew she could endure any pain to feed her child. So many times in recent months, she had feared desperately for the child’s life, but now it was here. Alive. Safe. She wept for the joy of it.

Tarisa appeared with a damp cloth, blotting away the tears and sweat. ‘Every mother cries at first latch, my lady.’

Her sobs were a needed relief, but there were too many unanswered questions for Leesha to succumb for long. When her breathing calmed, she let Tarisa clear her eyes one last time and drew back the swaddling.

Wonda hadn’t been wrong. At first glance the child was a healthy boy, with fully formed penis and testicles. It was only when Leesha lifted the scrotum that she could see the perfectly formed vagina beneath.

She breathed, pulling back and beginning a full examination. The baby was large, too large to have passed through her birth canal without damage to her and risk to the child. Amanvah had been right. The surgery saved both their lives.

It was strong, too, and hungry. By all accounts, the baby was perfectly healthy, with no other distinct feature to mark it boy or girl.

She slipped on her warded spectacles, inspecting deeper. The child’s aura was bright – brighter than any Leesha had seen short of Arlen and Renna Bales. It was strong, and … joyful. The child took as much emotional pleasure in nursing as she. Tears welled in Leesha’s eyes again, and she had to brush them away before she could continue her examination.

A glance down confirmed her initial diagnosis. Male and female organs, both healthy and functional.

She gave Wonda a nod. ‘Both.’

‘How in the Core’s that even possible?’ Elona asked.

‘I’ve read about it,’ Leesha said, ‘though I’ve never witnessed it. It means there were two eggs at fertilization, but one absorbed …’ The words choked off as Leesha’s throat tightened.

‘It’s my fault,’ she gasped.

‘How’s that?’ Darsy asked.

‘The magic.’ Leesha felt like the walls of the great chamber were closing in on her. ‘I’ve been using so much. Starting when Inevera and I fought the mind demon that first night after Ahmann and I …’ Her face stretched as the full horror of it dawned on her.

‘I fused them.’

‘Demonshit,’ Elona said. ‘Ent no way to know that. Said yourself you seen it in books.’

‘Ent every day I agree with Elona, mistress,’ Darsy said, ‘but your mum has the right of this. Ent no reason to think magic had anything to do with it.’

‘It did,’ Leesha insisted. ‘I felt it happen.’

‘What if it did?’ Wonda demanded. ‘Should yu’ve let yurself get et by a demon, instead?’

‘Of course not,’ Leesha said.

‘No point laying blame when you’ve a fever to fight, Bruna used to say,’ Darsy said. ‘Everyone’s got perfect vision—’

‘—when they’re looking back,’ Leesha finished.

‘I read the same books you did,’ Darsy went on. ‘There’s notes on how to treat this.’

‘Treat it, how?’ Elona asked. ‘Some herb is going to close its slit or make its pecker dry up and fall off?’

‘Course not.’ Darsy shrugged as she stared at the child. ‘We just … pick one. A girl that handsome could easily pass for a boy.’

‘And a boy that pretty could pass for a girl,’ Elona countered. ‘That don’t treat anything.’

‘Ay,’ Darsy nodded to the operating table where Amanvah still worked, ‘but that combined with a few snips and stitches …’

‘Wonda,’ Leesha said.

‘Ay, mistress?’ Wonda said.

‘If anyone other than me ever tries to perform surgery on this child, you are to shoot them,’ Leesha said.

Wonda crossed her arms. ‘Ay, mistress.’

Darsy held up her hands. ‘I only …!’

Leesha whisked her fingers. ‘I know you mean no harm, Darsy, but that practice was barbaric. We will not be pursuing surgical options any further unless the child’s health is in danger. Am I clear?’

‘Ay, mistress,’ Darsy said. ‘But folk are going to ask if it’s a boy or girl. What do we tell them?’

Leesha looked to Elona. ‘Don’t look at me,’ her mother said. ‘I know better than any that we don’t get a say in these things. Creator wills as the Creator will.’

‘Well said, wife of Erny,’ Amanvah said. She had come last from the operating table, hands still red with birthing blood. She raised them to Leesha. ‘Now is the time, mistress. There is no casting stronger than the moment of birth.’