Bolt would expect her brother to raise her child, in the unlikely event she bore one in the first place. She's avoiding pregnancy because she has no desire to raise a child blackmailed by the mob as she is. Contraception and termination comes up in the story. Her brother was 5 when she ran away at 17, but he would expect the job if he knew she still lived; she feels bad maybe dropping the news on him one day without warning—not about actually expecting he would do it. Child rearing is the societal norm for men, not unlike women decades ago expecting to grow up to become housewives. Bolt's lucky she has a brother; people are so infertile many people are only children, or twins which is common (1:5:17 ➝ single birth:fraternal:identical). The WIP touches on psychology of male child rearing, for example Bolt's friend Blue. He's a praetorian, a man with a rare essential job and he worries about having one day to quit the job to raise his sister's child, or how horrible it would be to say no to her.

Cc: @floofpaldi: Thanks again for another great question, though I didn't answer exactly as intended. Answering it, I finally realized how the segmentation between genders in the society works and sparks certain discrimination and expectations the characters struggle against.

[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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