Where am I?

  • Aalis
  • The Library
  • The Uniform
  • The Vicomte
  • Medicine
  • Sign language
  • Sewing
  • Plague doctor uniform and mask, perfumed with lavendar
  • My father's medical library
  • Blackmail on the Vicomte
  • Cateline : my best friend, confidante. She keeps bees for leisure, but has started selling her wares in an attempt to gain a bit more independence.
  • Vauquelin : the apothecary owner. He provides me with the herbs and other materials I require without asking too many questions. He knows what I'm up to, he must, but he's never used it against me.
  • Rolant : my lover. He is a doctor, and has always insisted my interest in medicine is endearing, but ultimately frivolous. I won't tell him what's I'm doing. At least, not yet...

Journal

Aliis si licet, tibi non licet

to others it is permitted; to you it is not permitted

The World Before The End

Amidst the boils and screams, I step into the version of myself they would never let me be.

Memory 1: Aalis

I am Aalis, daughter of a nobleman, born to a beautiful French landscape and a dull noble life. I dream of following in my father's footsteps, a scholar and a doctor, but it seemed impossible. That is, until the Plague came.

Memory 2: The Library

There are so few activities for a lady in polite society. I passed my days in my father’s medical library, reading tome after tome about science, math, astrology and matters of the soul. But it's hard to find comfort, nestled with a book by the tower window, when the scene below smells of death and rot.

Memory 3: The Uniform

The plague arrived in France to a fanfare of wailing. Desperation and despair cling to us like the miasma. I'm an upper-class woman, raised by a physicians medical library. I offered to help the plague efforts by performing menial tasks with the other women. One day, a dying man brought me a torn plague doctor’s coat. He forgot his mask when he left. I never saw him again. I kept the uniform.

I go by "doctor". They don't need to know my gender. They're so desperate for the help, they don't ask many questions, and so I don't need to respond. When I do, I use the bit of sign I know, letting my hands speak where my voice would betray me.

Memory 4: The Vicomte

Nobles always believe their servants oblivious, even moreso when they are mute. The Vicomte never should have discussed his plans to conspire against the King on front of a serf, but he did, and the serf told his family when I was close enough to see the quick dance of sign language passing between them.

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