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Chapter 2

William Cipher was not the only unfortunate birth that province experienced that year.

To be frank, having a Square was the last thing on Clarence Kryptos' mind. The idea would have been repulsive to him, in fact.

The Kryptos family was well off, all things considered. There were members, cousins, all the way to the lower Polygonal classes— not Circles, certainly, but well on their way. Clarence himself, of course, was only a Square, but family connections were family connections and he had managed to secure a great number of high-profile cases defending Heptagons and Octagons and classes even higher than that, mainly rich young sons of esteemed nobles who had made mistakes that could easily be explained away to the right audience. Easy cases to win, but Clarence didn't mind the lack of challenge, any chance to get on the good side of someone who could give him a leg up more than made up for the lack of stimulation his job provided. He was well-liked amongst the upper-class and he quite enjoyed their approval.

A Pentagonal son was all he needed to stay steady in climbing the social ladder.

His marriage had been a well organized one— the Line had been from a perfectly Regular family, with a Pentagonal brother and a few cousins up to the rank of Heptagons. Her father was, of course, a Square, but he was an esteemed law professor, and a Square who was allowed to teach was certainly nothing to scoff at.

He was, of course, not in the delivery room when the child was born, but he was eager to lay his eye on the boy.

When he was called into the delivery room and the child was not there, simply his wife, looking tired and confused, he sighed, turning to the doctor and solemnly asking if his first child was a Line.

The Pentagon cleared his throat and asked Clarence to sit down.

"... An Irregular, then."

"No, sir, we'd be able to explain that, tragic as it would be. We are still examining the child, but it appears you... well, we'll get the least confusing part out of the way first. Your child is a Square."

"That isn't possible." The answer was immediate. "My family is perfectly Regular, my wife's family is perfectly Regular, her father is a professor and I have won cases for Polygons. You must have mixed my son up with some Equilateral's, because if you're implying we somehow aren't intelligent enough to have—"

"I would ask you mind your configuration and not insult the intelligence of a Pentagon, Kryptos," the doctor snapped, and the Square immediately silenced himself. "We have not made a mistake, we are talking about your child."

"Of course, I— I apologize for the slip, I— I'm afraid I just don't understand. He should be a Pentagon, at the least. It should have been guaranteed..."

The doctor's eye softened and he sighed. "Of course. To be frank, we don't understand either, and beyond that, we have had him examined by a Circle, who seems perplexed as well."

"The Circles are confused by the boy?"

It was the first time his wife had spoken, and normally, she never would have entered a conversation between her husband and another Shape, especially one who outranked the both of them, but Clarence had forgotten himself as well and he could hardly scold his wife for doing the same.

The Pentagon seemed to feel the same way, and he answered, still looking at Clarence. "Unfortunately. On top of being a Square, his frame is... tilted. Not Irregular, mind you, he has perfect ninety degree angles and all sides are perfectly even, if it weren't for the placement of his limbs and his mouth, he would be a fine specimen of a Square, but... instead of both legs on one side, and an arm on each side of the body, as the Laws of Compensation intended, the child has both an arm and a leg on one side, and the same on another, with an angle in between. He almost looks like a Rhombus."

Clarence blinked. "A Rhombus? So the child is a line, then. Just a— a rather thick one?"

"No, the child is a Square, his limb placement is simply unheard of."

He tried to imagine what his son looked like, and found that he couldn't. Besides, another detail of what the doctor had said was standing out to him.

"You mentioned a mouth," the lawyer asked, sounding drained, finally sitting. "What's wrong with his mouth?"

"He... has one," said the Pentagon, unable to muster any tact. "Somehow, repulsive as it seems, his mouth and eye are not the same organ. He has both at once."

There was a long period of complete quiet that lay over the delivery room. His wife, safely still in bed, had even neglected her Peace Cry in the solemnity, and neither Shape could truly hold it against her.

"The Circles will be putting it out of its misery, I assume," Kryptos finally said, breaking the silence.

"... No, Mr. Kryptos. He is not Irregular, so he is not a threat to the public. The Circles have decided that the... charitable thing to do seems to be to allow the child to live. His angles are perfect, so it is possible his mind is intact. Should he fail to fulfill his duties as a Lawyer, the possibility of examination may come up again, but... he is not technically Irregular. He is simply an... abnormal Square."

"And we're expected to raise the boy." Clarence Kryptos made no attempt to hide the bitterness in his voice.

"I'm sorry. I would not wish this on you and the Circles asked me to express their pity, and there is always the possibility he will drift more solidly into the realm of Irregularity, in which case an inspection may be possible, but for now... Yes. They would like you to raise the boy."

There was another long silence, and when the doctor finally broke it to ask whether or not they would like to see their son, it was less of a question, and more of a tired warning.

And when Clarence Kryptos finally held his son for the first time, saw the child stare at him curiously and give him a gummy grin all at once, he could physically feel himself fall off his carefully constructed ladder into the abyss.

Notes:

Every character I write gets a birth defect and some future medical trauma, that's just my Brand.

Also, congrats to Bill and Kryptos, ten minutes old and already destroying your family lines! Your future selves would be so proud.