I wish I had a soap that could wash away my sins – it would save me a lot of trouble

Modesty had bought her son out to the plains so they would be in a well ventilated space for today's experiment. She had lined the bottom of a pot with gravel and half filled the thing with ash from the fireplace before topping it up with water the night before, and now a pigeon egg floated on top, slowly cooking she was sure. She had fats and oils her muscles still ached from processing, goats milk, scents to add to give the whole thing a pleasant aroma. She just hoped it would all come together the same way it had with the small batch she had prepared earlier.

She had some boxes set up (they would have once been loaf pans, but Modesty wouldn't know that), and she had lined the trays with banana leaves. With the tortoise shell in front of her and big spoon for mixing she did one last check of the ingredients, knowing Moo would find her son any moment and bring him to her.

“Speech.”