Lena is studying to be a Scribe in this Fantasy/SF story. Out of money, she is forced into ways of making ends meet that will have an irreversible impact on her life, culminating in extreme imprisonment and hard labour. Inspired by a chapter in the Hellicona trilogy by Brian Aldiss.

Lena is a young female law student and freedom fighter in an unnamed Eastern European country. Her career in the resistance movement is cut short by a kidnapping and subsequent emprisonment followed by interrogations. This is a specific day in her ordeal.