The Shattered Vessel (PG-17)

Writers: Heather
Date Posted: 4th August 2014

Characters: Rethisa, Verlow, Vernay, Everlow
Description: Welcome to a day in Rethisa's life.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 8, day 1 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: Zathris
Rating: PG-17

Vernay's bowl clattered loudly to the floor as the nine Turn old swept it away from himself with disgust. The porridge in the bowl was splattered on the floor, still steaming from where it had just come out from the kitchen. Rethisa's eyes flicked to her husband but as usual Verlow noticed nothing about the children. After eight Turns it still bewildered her as to why he was so angry over her infertility. He already had six brats by his first wife and he paid none of them any attention.

Vernay had only been a Turn old when Rethisa was married to Verlow. She had practically raised the boy, but his older siblings had taught him to spurn her presence as they did.

"Was there something wrong with your porridge?" She asked softly as she came around the table to pick up the bowl.

"I don't want it!" Vernay's tone was petulant.

Rethisa began cleaning up the spilled porridge, "What would you like then?"

"Leave me alone! Stop trying to be my mother!" The brat hissed.

It wasn't the first time Rethisa had heard the words. She remembered the first time as if it had happened yesterday. It was Vernay's fifth birthday and she had painstakingly spent days creating him the most adorable set of overalls to wear when he was out with the older boys tending to the herdbeasts.

"They're ugly." He had said with disdain as he dropped the offending article of clothing to the ground.

Her eyes had misted with tears of hurt as one of the older children laughed, "You are going to make your Replacement Mommy cry!"

Vernay's little lip had curled as he had speared Rethisa with a glare, "She's not my mother!"

Thinking about it caused a knot of emotion to swell in her throat. Shaking her head a bit and swishing her platinum bangs out of her eyes, Rethisa stood with the bowl, "Of course Vernay." She murmured.

"That's Master Vernay to you!"

Verlow barked out a laugh, his beady blue eyes crinkling, "That's my boy!"

Rethisa's jaw clenched shut. If Vernay were hers she would turn him over her knee and tan his hide until he couldn't sit for a week. Without replying she took the bowl to the kitchen.

"Vernay would like something else." She said quietly the two women that worked in the small kitchen.

"Oh, ma'am," the older one drawled. The pity and sympathy that showed in her old green eyes made Rethisa cringe. She still had her pride, what little remained after eight Turns with Verlow. "We will take care of that don't you worry."

Rethisa nodded and grabbed her basket from its place by the door, "I will be out in the garden." The herb garden was her only place of solace. When she was out there she could concentrate on the tender bulbs and leaves. It was also one of the only things Verlow allowed her to do. The fat creature was insanely jealous and did not like any men around his young wife, especially with her fine "pedigree" as he called it.

She wondered not for the first time how her life had become such a mess. The daughter of a Lord Holder married to some fat old cot holder who raised herdbeasts for a living. She had thought his sexual appetite would have been satiated sooner as well.... And yet after eight Turns he was still as depraved and crude as the first night he'd taken her.

Rethisa rubbed a mint leaf between her fingers as she contemplated what it must be like to make love with a normal man. She wasn't naive she was sure that not all sex was bad... Right? She knew women that raved about it as if it was the best thing ever. For Rethisa it was her never ending obligation. She had never known anything but cruelty and pain from a man's touch.

She stayed in her garden for hours weeding, cultivating, and planting. She was on her hands and knees when she heard him approach. Her stomach dropped.

"Husband." She greeted him in a way that she knew he found acceptable.

Verlow's eyes were bloodshot, and every muscle in her body clenched. He was drunk already. It had begun happening more and more frequently, and now he was beginning earlier in the day. Whenever he was drunk he had only one obsession- her.

"Wife." He greeted back, his eyes scorching. His hands were fumbling with his belt and she reared up on her knees, raising her hands in a placating manner.

"Verlow, Verlow please. Not here. Come on, let me take you inside." Rethisa glanced around at the hands who were working on the other side of the wire fence. Verlow's children played not far away in the barnyard.

The heavy man dropped to his knees, the smell of ale rolling off him in waves as he grabbed her by her elbows, "No, I am going to take you right here. Right now."

"Verlow," she begged, "please. People will see." She tried to keep her voice pitched low but she could see the workers casting furtive glances in their direction.

"Then they will know you are mine." He growled as he pushed her down onto her back, her basket of herbs knocked aside.

As his hand lifted her skirt and shift up to her waist, Rethisa tried to buck him off, her hands scrambling to keep herself covered. Verlow snarled and backhanded her, causing stars to explode behind her eyes.

"Keep still." He warned. One of his older sons jeered from the side of the house before coming to the fence, resting his arms over the top rung as he winked as Rethisa .

A red hot blush of humiliation washed over her.

**Not here! Not in front of everyone!** She pleaded, tears obscuring the blue sky and puffy white clouds from view. As she felt her husband's harsh touch parting her thighs she tried to find some place to disappear to within herself. But as his cruel hands bit into her hips she found that she was acutely aware of everything. The eyes watching her, the way the buckle of Verlow's belt felt cold against her bare skin, and the scorching paths her tears left down her face.

"Watch boy. Maybe you will learn something." Verlow grunted to Everlow.

And she was shattered. Any dredges of self-respect, of pride, all chipped away with each jerk of her husband's hips.

Last updated on the August 19th 2014

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The Shattered Vessel (PG-17)