"Welcome, sisters up and down the rails to Girl Life! This is your one and only Life Advice Girl, Xue Mei! Recorded live and direct to resin platter and now resin pod! Invest in a resin pod player today and save space, get extra stable playback, and save five coppers on postage fees on every resin pod you order compared to the old and much more fragile resin platters! Resin pod players are available at all music stores now! Mention Girl Life to get a discount of forty coppers when purchasing your new player! Offer available this month only, while stocks last, not available in Tamebo or Awaba Lake."
Chastity and Chynella Wilison sat demurely on straight-backed wooden chairs, listening attentively to the resin recording. Twins Chyler and Chyley sat fairly still on the floor under their big sisters' watchful eyes. They were less interested in the recorded programme than the older girls, but they knew better than to complain or risk jostling the resin player by moving too much. Even little toddler Cherish had been confined to a blanket and was keeping herself occupied with a book of shapes and colours.
"Can you believe we are already up to our thirtieth episode together? It really is true, this is Girl Life number thirty! Last week, we discussed the importance of mothers in shaping our lives. This week, we will build on that topic to talk about the role of... Can you guess? That is right, this week we will be talking about grandmothers!"
The boys were all out in the fields, helping Father. Mother was in her bedroom, caring for baby Cheska.
"Before grandmothers became grandmothers, they were of course mothers first. Every grandmother has had experience raising and caring for at least one child — one of your parents — so she has much wisdom and skill to pass down. Not every grandmother has had a daughter though, so having a granddaughter may be a new and different experience for her."
Chastity glanced over at Cherish to check whether Cherish had dared to leave the blanket. She had not moved. Suppressing a bored sigh, she turned back to face the resin player's flared sound aperture.
"My two grandmothers are very different in station and stature, but both are excellent models of how a woman should serve and honour the Great Maker, her husband, and the Pure community. I thank the Great Maker daily for blessing me by putting two such amazing women in my family."
"Do we have grandmothers?" little Chyler asked from the floor.
"No. Hush now," Chastity answered, softly so as to not speak over Xue Mei.
Chyler was not satisfied. "But Xue Mei said grandmothers are our parents' mothers. How can Father and Mother not have mothers?"
"Shh!" Chastity glared at Chyler. Chyler glared back, almost making Chastity laugh at how adorable it looked. She quickly realised that Chyler would not relent, and admitted to herself that she did not really care to listen to Xue Mei praising her grandmothers. "They did."
"But..."
"Our grandmothers died before you were born. So did our grandfathers."
"Oh." Chyler's face turned thoughtful.
Chastity tried to focus back on Xue Mei. "...youngest of five children, and two of her brothers became junior clerics. Because she had no younger siblings, she had no opportunity to learn to care for children within her own family, so from the age of twelve she worked as an assistant and a nanny to neighbouring..."
"Like Gregory who fell out of the tree?" Chyler asked.
"Huh?"
"Gregory. The boy who fell out of a tree and stopped moving. Father said he died and we went to the fewnal convocation and saw him lying still in a box. Seeing him scared me."
"Funeral," Chastity corrected. "Yes, they died like Gregory."
There were a few moments of silence in which the twins exchanged significant glances. "Did they fall out of a tree too?" Chyler asked.
"No, they got really sick. Lots of people got sick from a bad disease at that time and many died."
"Did they have fu-ner-als?" Chyler asked, carefully pronouncing the word.
"I expect so," Chastity said, trying not to let her impatience show. While she did not really mind that she was missing Xue Mei's message, answering the continual stream of questions was exhausting.
The twins exchanged glances again, and Chastity knew better than to try picking up the thread of the recorded monologue. Chyler seemed like she was done asking, until Chyley nudged her with an elbow. "Why did Chalice not get a funeral?"
Chastity forced herself to stay completely rigid, barely keeping herself from groaning at the question she desperately did not want to answer or even consider. Beside her, Chynella flinched. "Chalice..." Chastity stopped, tried to reach for a scrap of composure, and started again. "Chalice was very badly hurt. By fire. Burned all over. Burns must not be seen. It is forbidden by the Codex. So we could not have a funeral."
"Oh. But Mister Friche has a burn on his face! Why—"
"I don't know why!" Chastity snapped.
"He told me once," Chynella said, speaking up for the first time. "I will tell you... if you sit quietly until the resin finishes playing. Can you do that?"
Chyler nodded in silence.
"Good girl."
"Thanks," Chastity whispered to Chynella, glad for the silence.
"...when I was only seven years old," Xue Mei was saying. "I remember we had travelled to Empyreal and Father let us choose something from the bakery. Kim wanted to get a custard tart..."
Chyler nudged her twin, and Chastity almost groaned when Chyley spoke up in a very small voice. "Charity?"
"Charity is gone," Chastity said in a warning tone.
Chynella leaned forward in her seat. "Gone? Cleric Quire said she is dead but—"
"No, Cleric Quire said she is dead to us. There's a difference," Chastity firmly corrected.
The twins' identical faces scrunched up into identical confusion.
Chastity sighed in resignation. "That means we act like she is dead. Without a funeral. Because she did something bad."
The twins' faces turned to determined defiance.
"Yes, I know we have all heard the stories about Charity saving us from demons. And maybe that is true. But whatever good she did, she ran away. She left all her people. So she is not part of the community or of this family anymore."
Silence reigned, apart from the ignored voice of Xue Mei. She seemed to be answering a listener's question about a grandmother whose cooking she did not like.
The twins exchanged subtle looks and Chyley started to open her mouth.
"This is the last question I will answer, so you better make it a good one," Chastity said, hoping to cut off the stream before she drowned.
Chyley only hesitated for a moment. "Why?"
"Why did Charity leave?" Chastity asked to clarify.
Chyley nodded gravely, too gravely for a girl of eight years. It was saddening to see Chyler being the one to ask most of the questions. Before Charity left, Chyley had been the incessant interrogator. Now, hearing her voice two one-word questions was actually an improvement.
"I really have no idea. She was happy here," Chastity said, smoothing her dress over her knees. "I could tell that she was sad she would be leaving us to get married. So she must have been led astray by the evil one who took her. Maybe she is not thinking right." The twins seemed to have drawn into themselves and their eyes were startlingly wide. Chastity turned to face Chynella, who seemed to be just as frightened.
"Do you think the dark creatures will come for us too?" Chynella asked, trembling visibly.
"They already came to destroy the city, but they failed. We are safe," Chastity said, trying to project solidity like Father did.
"Not like that. To trick us into wanting to leave," Chastity said, and the twins nodded in fearful agreement.
"Charity always liked learning a bit too much, maybe she was promised she could learn forbidden things. If you trust that the Great Maker and his clerics understand what is best for you, you can never be lead astray by anyone. You know this."
"I know, but Charity was smart."
"Clearly not smart enough. You should not think that way. Charity does not know better than the clerics, and no one knows better than the Great Maker!" Even talking about the concept was terrifying to Chastity. She could not even begin to really consider the concept that the Great Maker or the clerics could not be right about anything. That way lay madness!
Chynella seemed to be satisfied by that answer, but to Chastity's intense frustration she had more questions. "Does this mean you have to marry the butcher?"
"I certainly hope not. He will probably marry someone else before I am old enough," she answered primly.
"He will if he finds out how terrible you still are at cooking meat. Is that why you do not want to marry a butcher?"
The distraction had gone on long enough. "Hush, Nella. Xue Mei is almost done."
Chynella made a sound which was suspiciously similar to the start of a giggle but rapidly turned into a cough. Chastity eyed her with intense skepticism, then looked at the twins. Both Chyler and Chyley expressed complete innocence and no sign of any amusement.
"...why you should tell every grandmother you have that you thank the Great Maker for placing her in your life when you next see her. And those should not be empty words. Remember grandmothers in your morning and evening prayers of thanks, and ask the Great Maker if there is any lesson from your grandmothers' life and words that you should apply to your life. The Great Maker often..."
"This is pointless," Chynella whispered.
"Show some respect. She puts a lot of work into this."
"Into reading a script, you mean."
"A clerical script!"
"We read the Codex and the other books daily and we listen to the clerics at convocation every week. Do we really need their words from Xue Mei's mouth too? She was more fun when she was on her sister's show. She didn't get to say much but at least she sounded like she was having fun reading from a list of responses to whatever Kim might say."
"That is enough! I will tell Father and he will give you a punishment for your attitude."
"Can't be worse than listening to Girl Life."
"It can and it will. How much worse depends on what you say next. I recommend saying nothing."
Chynella clenched her jaw.
"Good."
"...all we have time for this week! This has been Girl Life with Xue Mei, now on resin pod! Make sure your subscription is up to date, mail me your questions or comments about anything, tell a friend, and make sure your deliveryman knows to ring your bell so you can listen to next week's episode as soon as it arrives! Xue Mei, signing off!"
"I take back what I said before," Chynella said contritely. "She did sound excited at the very end."
Chastity stood to put the resin platter away. "Put the chairs away and go check the temperature of the goat ribs. I see a few clouds around so you might need to adjust the reflector. Twins, one of you can help me cut vegetables and the other needs to watch Cherish."
"Nella promised to tell why Mister Friche shows his burn scar," Chyler said as she stood up and stretched out her limbs. Chyley copied her twin's moves.
"Nella has responsibilities and can tell you some other time. For now, would you rather help me, or mind Cherish?"
"I'll mind Cherish," Chyley said.
"Chyler, you can mind Cherish. Chyley, you're with me," Chastity said, enjoying the power of seeing Chyley's face fall. "Start by picking a pair of pumpkins."
The younger girl dutifully set about examining the freshly gathered vegetables in the pantry. She looked like she wanted to argue, but she did not. Chastity looked away and smiled. Being the big sister was far from easy, but it had its benefits.
"So, did you girls learn anything from the part of the recording you heard?" Chastity asked as she chose a kitchen knife suitable for pumpkins. She had not caught much of it, but one thing she was almost sure of was that life would be much easier if she had a living grandmother.