Molpe:
[SBLOCK]
"Thank you sister...I...I think I can continue."
"The operation worked without a hitch, just as the doctors had said, except one thing that nobody expected--instead of a hideous monster, which I was still prepared to love with all my heart, there emerged instead the most beautiful baby girl that I had ever seen. It was as if the angel that my Mireau had become had bypassed all physical and spiritual boundaries to become the father of my child instead of the Tralg through my dreams of him...This was clearly a miracle, and it filled me with Hope, and so I called the girl Esperanza. The doctors set my injuries as best they could, but they warned me that I needed to stay in bed off of my leg for three months or else something terrible could happen."
"But I had only been thinking about ensuring the baby's survival...I had no money left at all. But I needed to eat more than ever in order to produce nutritious milk to give suck to my little Esperanza. I tried begging and using the baby for sympathy, but I had grown somewhat sick from one of my 'special patrons' who must have infected me from just before the birth, and it didn't produce enough on which to live well, though it at least brought me enough to rent this run-down hovel here and buy enough nourishment to keep my pap from running dry, at least at first. But Esparanza was a big baby, though she has become quite small for her age since then--I like to think that it was not from malnourishment so much as adaptation to lack of food or a blessing from the angels to help her need less--and it simply wasn't enough."
"And so, ignoring the doctors' warning because I had no choice, I did the only thing I could think to do and begged for my job back at the Dance Festhall...happily, the owners, who were somewhat fond--if not of me then at least of the profits my previous dancing had brought in--allowed me back...And after only a few weeks, I had more than enough money to let me feed my Esperanza through the first six months of the crucial first year, assuming I lived in utter poverty. But then, my stubborn disobedience to the doctors caught up to me. The not-quit-healed leg just snapped in the middle of the performance, turning at an odd angle and reopening the hole in my thigh, causing bleeding that everyone could see. Combined with the fact that I could never dance again, this fiasco was mortifying enough to cause the owners to throw me out and turn their backs on me. The doctors told me that I should have listened and that now the leg could never be fixed..."
"Without any means of income, I was still able to last for six months on what I had, looking for a job. Much to my surprise, I found that Esparanza grew in size and mind at twice the normal speed, and better still matured physically at three times the normal rate. This was another blessing from the angels, for it meant that she was more quickly able to eat her own food and be weaned from my pap, and I became able to simply feed her and ignore myself--only eating once every other day--not to mention that I had provided the proper nourishment and constant love for the equivalent of her early developmental years, when they say demons can possess a child if she does not have love and nourishment...but living in the filth, I grew sicker by the day."
"Eventually, I found the job at which I still work today. And it pays better than any other that I could find--much better!--though I wish I could spend more time with my little one. I work cleaning up the toxic fumes, spills, and run-off at an alchemist's lab, and the alchemist pays me fairly well because the last few people at the job have died from exposure to the chemicals and so nobody wants to work there, but I know that I will be able to go on until I have enough money to let Esperanza live the life she deserves. But come inside...let me show you."
[/SBLOCK]
