Chapter Text
There are fewer women than men in the Fortress of Meropide. Young women, even fewer.
You hear these whispered warnings over and over. Some have true fear behind them. Most are repeated with scandalous excitement. Another spectacle, just like your trial. The Steambird’s newest headline, a young woman arrested for theft, many curious how she will fare under the care of the Duke.
Photos are snapped as you are escorted to the entrance. All your life, you have faded into the background. Now, all eyes are on you as you feel the sunlight for what could be the last time.
Better you than her, you keep reminding yourself.
An inmate named Deakin is assigned to give you a tour. Over and over, he repeats that he is only doing it for the coupons. The Fortress is all that it was described to you and yet, somehow more. It reminds you of the Spina di Rosula quarters beneath the Court of Fontaine that you grew up in, but larger. Just when you believe you have completed your tour, there is another lift taking you lower and lower.
“Usually at this point, people have asked at least one question by now,” Deakin says as the two of you approach the work station.
You’ve been listening to the little he has said and to the messages he has left unsaid, but the whispers from the Overworld have you counting each woman you come across on the tour, looking for safety in numbers. Up there, you were easy to miss. There are so many beautiful young women all over in their fine dresses and perfectly curled hair. No one would spare a glance at a girl who cleans for a living and always manages to have dirt smudged on her somewhere.
Meropide is different. You haven’t found a single girl your age that isn’t a guard or a nurse. You aren’t fading into the background. There is little to hide behind here. Men throughout the fortress are looking at you in a way you’ve never experienced, as if making a note about you for later.
“Am I able to lock my door at night?” you ask. Until you get the lay of the land, the best option is to stay sequestered all night and only venture into crowded areas during the day.
Deakin rolls his eyes.
“Is that a no?”
“Yes, you can lock your door.” With a grunt, he turns and points up at a red, lit up circle attached to a mechanical device on the wall. “If anything happens, there are cameras everywhere.”
“So, if something happens and the camera can see it… Will guards be notified?”
“I guess so. I think the Duke is the only one who can see the footage. But he’ll probably send someone if something happens.”
You look up at the nearest camera and imagine this fabled man watching you right now. The rumors about the Duke of Meropide run rampant throughout Fontaine, but no one that has ever spoken of him to you has actually met the man. He rarely leaves Meropide.
You ask no more questions during the tour, willing it to be over quickly so that you can hide in your dormitory for the rest of the evening. Deakin is more than happy to be done with you and collect his coupons. You’ll have to start worrying about those soon too, but for now, you celebrate surviving the first day by locking your dormitory door and crawling into the narrow bed.
A few tears slip down your cheeks as you let all your muscles relax for the first time today. Somewhere, far above your cold bed, your sister is fast asleep in her warm bed, safe from harm. She will never have to know what life is like at the bottom of the sea or that there are fates far scarier than death.
When the lights go out, your room doesn’t fall into complete darkness. A bright red illuminated circle just below the ceiling keeps blinking. Your tear-stained face stares at the camera.
Surely, the Duke of Meropide has better things to do than to watch an inmate lying in bed and crying.
You pull the blankets up around you to block out the blinking light.