Chapter Text
“Rebecca! There’s someone that wants a human to see them!”
I sighed quietly at Dr. Orn’dane’s shout, before marching to the bed that she indicated. “Right away doctor!”
I came to the bed, elbowing past the hundredth orc this afternoon, that one carrying a male I would assume is her husband over her shoulder with a cast on his leg. Before I could check the chart at the foot of the bed, another orc tapped my shoulder - some orc with black hair tied back in a ponytail. “He doesn’t speak Orcish, just ask me the questions, and I’ll -”
I look the male on the bed over, seeing his face swollen and bruised, an eye almost shut completely. Even if I wanted to direct questions at him, the gag in his mouth would render his answers useless. He was wrapped in some black-and-white dress, clearly sized for an orc, several belts fashioned around his waist and chest held it tight to him, the frilly bottom stained brown from the dirt, and dried blood in small spots all over it, his marriage collar matching the orc’s bracelet, a thin chain linking the steel pieces of jewelry together. The orc’s qualifying statements wash over me as I take in the pitiful site - at least it’s not the worst of them today, maybe only the last hour - this morning an orc brought in a male on death’s door, I’m shocked that they found a single bone in his body that wasn’t broken. And just like the rest, when he got patched up enough, we sent him home with her.
“Sorry,” I interrupted the orc overseeing this trainwreck, “what was his name?”
She blinked, before saying “Jason.”
“Right… so what’s wrong with Jason today?”
“Well… he’s bruised up quite a bit, and I want someone to see if his wrist is broken.”
I gesture to him to lift up his arm, but it doesn’t budge. The orc jumped into action, stepping next to him to untie his hands, whispering something in his ear before he lifted his arm feebly. I held it in my hands - he must be around forty, by the way he looks. That’s a bit strange, the orcs on raids tend to favor the young ones. I turn his wrist over in my hand, making him shake, crying out into the gag. The orc next to him tells him in Imperial Basic “quiet now honey, she’s just checking to see if it -”
“I think we should get it x-rayed. It could be broken, it’s hard to tell. It’s clearly swollen and causing pain, so in any case I’ll get Dr. Orn’dane to write a prescription for a strong painkiller.”
The orc blinked at me for a moment, before asking “wait, aren’t you a doctor?”
I smiled, “humans can’t be doctors, even if they’re women - I’m just helping out in line with my duties for the temple of Esta.” I waved an orc doctor over, and started explaining that he needed an X-ray. The orc standing by the male grew tense, putting a hand on his shoulder, making him wince again. I sighed, and tried to alleviate some of the tension. “Miss, the doctors here are not interested in taking your male from you. If it will help put you at ease, you will not be separated from your male at any point in the process.”
She didn’t move an inch, stammering “w-why can’t you get the humans here to do it? Does it have to be another orc?”
“I already told you, we aren’t doctors, the orcs are. We aren’t qualified to -”
Suddenly, a thick hand clasped my shoulder, making me jump. I turned to see the familiar, smiling face of Dr. Orn’dane, her eyes squinting behind her spectacles. “Sorry Rebecca, but you’re needed upstairs, Ms. Wilson is nearly done.”
I sighed again, and gave her a brief rundown of the situation with this couple. “Right,” she said, scratching her chin while she thought, before shrugging, “we can see if we can get a few human women to see to him, but we are really busy… it’s gonna be a long wait -”
“That’s fine!” the tense orc barked out “we’re in no rush!”
The doctor shrugged again “good, then you two can wait here until someone can see you.”
The orc faltered in her tension for a moment, before asking another question “also… can someone take a look at his… rectum? He’s uh… well I’m worried that…”
Dr. Orn’dane smiled, and gestured for the orc to turn him over. “Relax, we’re all professionals here.” The orc turned her male around, and showed off her male’s reddened, puckered, swollen anus, visibly damaged from abuse. Dr Orn’dane looked it over while asking “have you two been using lubrication?”
“Um… well, the first time it wasn’t really…” She trailed off, sheepishly.
“No need to be embarrassed, it happens” Dr Orn’dane muttered, “but you said the first time, have you been using lubricant since?”
“Uh yes, every other time we’ve used plenty of lubrication.” She pulled a jar out of her pocket, showing off a lube sold by the temple of Fei’nadi.
“And has he expressed discomfort since you started using the lube?”
“Well uh… he has been whining but it’s not easy to tell with the… uh…” she trailed off again, clearly embarrassed.
“So you’ve had him gagged for a while?” The doctor asked, leaning back on her stool.
“O-only until he can behave himself! He keeps being so mean and spiteful and -”
The doctor put up a hand “you don’t need to explain yourself, just tell me if you can translate for him - I need to ask him questions more directly if I’m to assess the problem.”
“Well I don’t - I mean I could… y-yes, I can translate…”
The male’s orc started to undo his gag, as Dr. Orn’dane turned to me.
“What are you doing? Get to the maternity ward right away, we’re far too busy for you to be skulking around!”
I nodded and speed-walked to the stairwell, only to open the door to an orc pinning a male against a wall, hand over his mouth as she plugged in and out of his asshole hard and fast. She looked at me for a moment before sneering. “Fuck do you need, woman? Can’t you see we’re busy here?”
I bowed slightly in apology, brushing past the sweating, grunting pair, while the male moaned and groaned as the cage around his cock leaked thin watery semen onto the floor. “Esta bless!” I called out to the copulating couple, running to the fourth floor, rushing down the hall to Ms. Wilson’s room. She was laying with her legs apart, crying out in a pain I’ve felt seven times myself. A crowd of women surrounded her, pulling the infant from her, an orc watching from the corner of the room, visibly excited. The orc looked over at me to address my entrance.
“Good news,” she remarked, “it’s a male.”
I sighed in relief “Esta bless, truely…” I walked to the bed the woman was laying on, seeing the baby pushing its way out slowly, the women surrounding her looking to me for instruction. “Keep supporting the perineum!” I call out to them “and you two, keep her legs held up!”
It takes another twenty minutes of groans, grunts, screams, and swears, but she finally pushes the baby out, the baby itself crying, covered in blood as the afterbirth sloughs out of his mother. She looks over to the baby, but I close in on her quickly, grasping her hand as I rub her forehead with a damp cloth.
“You did well Ms. Wilson, he’s a strong, healthy boy.” I reassured her with a coo.
“When…” She choked up, swallowing a gasp of pain “when can I hold him?”
I try to keep a cheery face as I break the news gently. “Ms. Wilson, you know that’s against the law. I know how you must feel, but -”
“I can’t even have a look at my own son?” She gasped in between deep breaths, verging on tears. The orc called out to me, asking what she was saying.
“She’s just confused is all, let me speak with her a moment.” I replied in Orcish, returning to speaking with Ms. Wilson in Imperial Basic.
“I understand how you feel, but you must remember, he is in the care of the temple of Esta from now on. He will be well cared for, and will wan-”
She grasped me by my shirt, pulling me close, growling between bared teeth “Don’t fucking give me that! Let me see my son!”
I sighed again, clasping her hand again, holding her firmly. “Ms. Wilson, he isn’t your son. He belongs to the Kingdom, you knew this before you -”
“That was before I spent nine months with him inside me damnit!” She gripped harder, on the verge of shouting. She struggled to sit up, as the orc carried the baby out of the room, smiling at him as she swaddled him closely. “G-give him back to me!”
We pushed her gently, making her lay back down. “You need to stay calm, please! You just gave birth, we need to make sure you’re okay before you even try to get up.”
She gripped my forearm tightly, tears welling in her eyes. “You said… you said you’ve gone through this before… how could you live with yourself?”
I looked into her eyes, trying to hold my own tears back. I’ve known her for her whole pregnancy, the whole time I kept doing what I could to convince her that this would all go so easy. Sure the childbirth was painful, but the money for birthing a male in the Kingdom would be worth nearly a decade’s wages in the Empire, and even a female would be worth plenty. And I’ve popped out seven children for the Kingdom, for the Goddess Esta. And yet… the only thing I could think to say… is too cruel for a mother in grief.
“You're lucky it wasn’t a futa. You wouldn’t want to see what they’d do if that’s what came out.” With that, she fell silent. She just looked down at her lap, as the other midwives all scurried around, trying their best to avert their eyes from either of us. I turned away, leaving the room to return back to the floor below, the aftermath of the couple in the stairway sticking to the soles of my shoes as I entered the room where Dr. Orn’dane was talking with the pair from earlier. The male had the gag back in, and the orc translated the doctor’s instructions.
“And be obedient! An orc’s love is a gift from the Gods, resistance will only mean more doctor's visits! You’re lucky you were actually able to get any help tonight, we’ve never been so busy, with the raiding party moving through Harge’nza like this, we’ve been swamped all week!”
The male’s orc patted him on the back, laughing as she translated the instructions from the doctor, the gagged male looking down at his feet past his swollen cheeks and eyelids, visibly despondent. My breath caught in my throat - I remembered it was only thirty years ago when I had my first son - is this what could be of him now? Being beaten and impregnated by an orc while everyone encourages her? I speed walk over to a counter to organize some paperwork, right before I’m called over to help an orc with a broken arm, thankfully not allowing the thought to wallow. Whenever the thought crops back up, I just mutter the same thing I have for these past three decades…
“The money is good… Esta is good…”