Victoria barely noticed Majnun, as Brittany had made a mess of the table. Victoria rose and cleaned table and child without much emotion. She felt herself rather like a somnambulist. Victoria lifted her daughter into her arms and took her to her room. The dress Orchid had made was laid out on a chair ready to be packed for the trip to Islamabad. Victoria briefly closed her eyes as she passed it, and wondered what her husband might have gone to see Orchid about the evening before.

With Brittany Leigh on her lap, Victoria powered up the monitor and glanced over her computer's system manager. She decided to check her messages. Brittany wriggled in her lap and a thought crossed Victoria's mind: Whatever happens, I still have Brittany Leigh. She looked over the addresses on her messages. It was all usual stuff.

She had newsletters from several museums she was a supporting; she guessed they all did mailings around the same time of year. There were invitations to lunches and tea from wives of other politicians or old schoolmates. Orchid had sent a message saying he hope everything was going all right, and said that he would be in Islamabad for the debates should she want to talk. There was a message from The Library of Alexandria with several included files.

Victoria remembered requesting assistance from a librarian in finding some old picture files of ancient art. The current Library of Alexandria had so large a system that Victoria hadn't been able to find what she wanted. But here the librarian, Andrew, apparently the head librarian, was going so far as to explain shortcuts through the system and to give his own impression of the ancient tablets.

Victoria saved the files. She had been to Alexandria once while in school. The city had impressed her. The Darkling had made the Mediterranean resort city the capital of their Union, and had immediately planned and carried out major construction projects. It boasted not only the most complete library in the world, including many rare and ancient works supplied by Darkling, but a beautiful non-denominational centralized structure church, an impressive lighthouse, an efficient underground system, and those curiously Egyptian intra-city bridges which were triumphs of engineering and art in concrete.

Victoria viewed her newly saved images of ancient Indus Valley art. She thought Pakistan could use a few new monuments.

Victoria and Brittany had their lunch with the boys and their nanny, and then Victoria let the nanny take a break and led the children to the nursery. She sat before the large monitor with Brittany in her lap watching the boys play. Brittany was reading an animated storybook, with areas on each page that would show additional amusing animations upon interaction. It was rather amusing, the cute animals in clothing with their cute American voices, of course they could choose what language you wanted to have the story told.

Victoria laughed and then she felt as if she were being watched. She turned slowly and saw Ahmed was standing in the doorway grinning at her. He smirked and bowed his head. Ahmed came into the room and held forward some discs in static-free sleeves. "I got some new programs for the children, I don't know how good they are, so, would you please watch them with the children and then tell me what you think."

Victoria nodded as she reached up and took the discs. She moved Brittany to one side and went to fit the first disc in. The media discs appeared to be blanks, meaning Ahemed had saved them from another source. He'd only labeled them with numbers.

"Try to get the boys to watch too," Ahmed said.

Victoria looked up at him again. He'd never done this before. Sometimes he came back from the city or a business trip with gifts, sometimes store bought media, but he'd never searched something out just for the children.

Victoria called to the boys. "Daddy's brought you something new. Sharif, Azim, come along and watch. Do you want to have the first turn with the controls, Sharif?"

Brittany was already interested. Victoria looked up at the screen. There was a smiling little boy, highly rendered animation. He was asking if they wanted to read a story or come into his house and meet his family. Brittany pointed to the story, and Sharif chose the story. Titles of several short stories came up with small pictures representing each. The animated boy, who Victoria then gathered was named Shiv, announced the title of each and then told what kind of story it was: a funny story, a story about friends, a scary story—"but don't worry, it's not too scary." Sharif looked to Brittany and Azim, and then chose the friend story.

The story began. Shiv was riding the underground alone for the first time on his way to school. As the boy was show in close-up, it occurred to Victoria that his eyes were set on his face at a strange slant, and that they were a piercing ice blue, and his eyebrows grew rather long. The boy was one of the Wolfbreed.

Victoria turned slowly and saw Ahmed was still standing behind. "I really need you to give me your opinion of them," he said. Then he turned from her and left.

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Secret?: Although this novella was not originally intended to be published, and was written in order to understand the background and motivation of several supporting characters in the Trepidation Trilogy, Indulgent Filth marks the first appearance of most  members of the Jinnah family, including Brittany Leigh Jinnah, whose future daughter is a main character in Serpents in Eden. (A younger Victoria appears as Claudia's online acquaintance in Trepidation, set prior to Indulgent Filth, but her identity was only confirmed in later drafts.)