"You work in the garden, right?"
Sullha nodded.
"Why? As a mother of a small boy, you are not required to do anything other than the kitchen rotation."
Sullha shrugged. "I like working in the garden. It's peaceful. Besides, as sweet as Tomek is, sometimes I need a break from him. I need to spend some time with the plants and other adults."
"I know what you mean," Rohilah said. "Kids take over your life."
Sullha tilted her head. "Do you have other children? I mean before Bianca?"
The question was delivered casually, following the natural rhythm of their conversation, and Rohilah didn't seem alarmed.
"I have a son, or at least I hope I do. He was taken at thirteen to join the army, like all the boys are."
Sullha kept her expression attentive but without overdoing it. "How old is he now?"
"Twenty."
"That must be hard for you. Not knowing if he's okay."
"It is what it is." Rohilah sighed. "Agonizing over it is not going to help anyone. Not me and not him. I just let it go."
"What's his name?"
Rohilah's eyes flickered toward the sandbox, where Bianca was patting down a mound of sand with both of her chubby hands.
"Tersan."
"That's a nice name," Sullha said.
"I named him after my mother. Her name was Teresa."
"Any other children?" Sullha asked even though she knew there were none.
Rohilah shook her head. "I had three miscarriages between Tersan and Bianca."
The answer was delivered in a flat tone that indicated Rohilah didn't regret losing those babies. Many of the women didn't want to have children. They were forced on them by strangers who hadn't been kind or gentle.
Some of the so-called miscarriages were intentional, but that wasn't something anyone talked about because it wasn't supposed to exist. The women's job was to bear children for Mortdh. To do anything to prevent it, like drinking contraceptive tea or engaging in activities that could induce a miscarriage, was severely punished, and if caught doing any such thing more than once, the punishment was execution.
"Have you ever miscarried?" Rohilah asked.
"No," Sullha said. "I had Tomek at fourteen and nothing since."
"You're lucky."
"I am."
"Miscarriages are difficult," Rohilah said.
"I imagine they are."
"Even when you don't want the baby, it's hard."
Three miscarriages were a lot, and it was possible that not all of them had been accidents despite Rohilah saying that they'd been difficult. She might be referring to the physical toll they had taken on her body.
Sullha was not going to ask.
