Auction

Entry #3

First Year ~ Stories and a Name

Settling into our surroundings and the routine did not take long. It was remarkably like most of our home lives. We also got to know many of our fellow year mates, especially our roommates. One of mine was even from overseas, the other two were from the other side of the country. It was thrilling to hear about their childhoods and how their fathers ran the home and his wives. They were also not as educated, as their father did not permit any unnecessary learning. They had only ever heard of what books may contain as the only ones they would see would be if their father or another male asked for them to pass them one. The girl from overseas had an accent that was an incredibly unique feature for anyone here as they do not often bring girls from across the sea. Most girls from that area of the world go to an Auction city there.

The early days after the split we were instructed on the rules of The Auction Houses. Such as where we were permitted to talk, only certain rooms we could speak freely outside of those rooms they could only speak if asked a direct question by the Ladies of the house or by men or boys that happened to be there. We were also only allowed to be in our year building, unless going to the training hall. The later years get a little more freedom but very few, as we are here to learn and become respectful wives of our future husbands.

Training in the first year was hard work, we were to wash the clothes of all of Auction City, aside from those homes with families living in them as the wives of those homes were expected to their duties as wives. Dishes were also another which we were taught how to do properly as no husband would want dirty flatware or silverware to eat off of. We were also taught how to set up a home, and how to properly tend to children. Laundry took up a lot of our time.

Though the cleaning and laundry was hard it was one of my favorite parts. They had us practicing with dolls for the child caring classes. This was weird, turns out I developed flaws tending to my younger siblings, many of those days were spent being reprimanded.

Being taught by the Ladies of Auction was seen as an honor, they were retired women that chose to come and pass on their knowledge to the future wives of the world. Many had been aged out of breeding or have met the requirements of retirement set by their husband or head of their house. They made it far knowing and following the rules set out by society and the men they came across.

Learning their stories was an interesting class. What most amazed me was this one Lady, Lady Cindy, she was in her early sixties and had instructed the girls here for many years now. Lady Cindy gave birth to forty children over breeding period which ranged from the age of seventeen till her last at forty-one years of age, a few were multiples including a set of MALE TWINS! She also had two other singleton male pregnancies, four male births, that was exceedingly rare. Each of us that listened to her story hoped we could be even half as successful as she was. Her daughters were very sought after in hopes that they would provide more male children. I hoped to learn how to successfully bare male children from her.

Some of the other Ladies took longer to have their first and not as successful, one reminded me very much of my mother. Lady Eveline was her name, it took her till nearly twenty to have her first child. Her husband was to have her eliminated soon if she did not start to produce, thankfully she did. Though she went on having difficulties producing she still managed to conceive every few years. Her husband was patient with that as her first pregnancy resulted in a male child.

That first year I never seen nor heard of my younger biological sisters, occasionally I would see my birth year sisters. The girls in my intake year also never spoke of our mothers. Unless it was part of discussion in class, referring only about their children, particularly on how many male children they had or if they broke rules and if they had any Termi's. I did not like this discussion, I was ashamed of my mother, ashamed of her rule breaking by having a Termi and lack of male children. My hope was that her disappointments did not secure my place with a cruel husband, I was hopeful that I would be chosen by a man like my father, or even a leader of a house.

The first year really was packed full of knowledge and work, but the one thing that made it one of the best years was we got our names.

I was given the name of Nancy. Nancy of two C one. I loved my name! My roommates were given the names of Clare, Beth, and Lucy.

This was the name placed on the top of our file, in which contained our geographical history, genealogical history going back four generations as well as our mother's childbirth history with how many male children and if any Termi's were birthed. Our file helped determine if we were a desirable choice as a wife for the men coming to look. We could go to any male that comes to Auction, however if the man has similar relations the chance of deformities resulting in a Termi being born increases. Even with this risk some men still choose to get sisters and nieces. Though some of those resulted in a healthy offspring which included occasionally a healthy male.

Did I mention I loved my name, then and even now!

Till our next meeting.

~Nancy
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