Dinner was uneasy. Aicha was still getting used to sitting with the device fitted to her crotch, and was anyway too cross and sad to enjoy the meal and the conversation.

Later in the evening, Aicha's mother told her to go to the toilet, brush her teeth and wash up, then call her to the bathroom. Aicha was about to object to such micromanagement, more suitable for a little girl than a young woman, but just sighed and went with it.

To her amazement, her mother took out some large plastic basin and poured some warm water in it, along with some liquid from a jar… some kind of antiseptic soap, from the label.

"Raise your gown and sit in it.

— What?

— Raise your gown and sit in it. You'll have to do it every evening for one week with antiseptic soap. Then you'll just use warm water. Every evening."

Aicha expected her mother to leave. Evidently, she did not intend to. So Aicha raised her nightgown and sat in the basin. Her mother stayed. Aicha's patience wore off.

"Mom!!! Why did you have them do that to me?

— I told you already. To keep you away from sin. To prevent dishonor to the family. Why are you always arguing?

— But mom. You did not have to do this…

— That's what you think. And then in a couple years, we would have found you pregnant, or at least no longer a virgin, and then unfit for marriage."

Aicha's mother looked away, in a mixture of embarrassment, sadness, and anger.

"Your father insisted that you should not be cut as is the custom for virtuous women. Well. I saw you touching yourself. And doing it again, despite my prayers, despite punishment. It had to stop before it was too late.

— But mom! I'm eighteen! I'm a woman now, not a little girl."

Aicha's mother sneered.

"A woman! You can't even tidy your room properly! A girl becomes a woman only when she's married and runs her own house. Or maybe when she reaches 25. You're not a woman, you're a spoilt girl. I hope this device will remind you your place."

Both women stared at each other.

Aicha had some lingering doubt. She asked the question.

"Mom… Underneath the device, am I still intact? Did the doctor… cut me?

— Yes, you are. She did not."

The mother then announced "Sit there for five more minutes. Then rinse yourself.", and left.

So Aicha sat. She was reassured to be still intact, but could not still stomach the events.