Spoiler Alert: ending of "Son of a Witch"

After I finished Son of a Witch, I was puzzled over what kind of effect the rain would have on Liir's green newborn daughter. Here's a direct quote of the last two paragraphs:

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There was heavy rain in the morning. The light was greyish and mossy with the low clouds. He had to concede that the baby wasn't a corpse, really. She was alive. Maybe she'd been born stone cold. But she was alive now.

Still smeared with her birth blood, and the watery beginning of her little feces. He took her to the doorway and held her up in the warm rain. She cleaned up green.
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Any thoughts? I kind of got the impression that Liir was unconsciously killing her. Remember Elphaba's skin? She could tolerate a little bit of water without dying, but the baby? One would think she wouldn't be able to survive it as well.

I was really hoping someone had some input on this, but I guess not. I've explained it to other people as well, and they're uncertain about the whole matter. Someone felt that it didn't matter if the baby was green for the water to affect her the same way it had her grandmother, Elphaba. However, I disagree and associate the two matters of green skin and water sensitivity with each other.

If the author decides to write another book connected to this one and Wicked, I guess we'll see his interpretation of this. I feel that this kind of interpretation was not meant by the author, and think it likely that he will not bring the issue up. Probably, he only meant to establish that once the baby was cleaned, she shared Elphaba's green skin. Also, should anyone have questioned the baby being Liirs, the question would no longer remain after her skin color was discovered.

I don't think having green skin would make her sensitive to water. Elphaba's skin condition was unique to herself. The baby had a regular human grandfather and mother, which I think would "cancel out" the effects of Elphaba's...genes? Sorry, I'm not going to pretend I know anything about genetics and such, that's just the way I understood it.

Well, who could understand the genetics behind it, with a skipped generation of green skin? :) I might remind you that Elphaba's skin color was unique to her just like her skin color was. Though, I do see what you mean. The skin condition to water could be a sensitivity thing, and have nothing to do with genes. It's possible. As for canceling something out in the genes of the baby because of having normal parents, I'm not so sure of that. We can't look at real people (instead of fictional) and say they aren't affected by something neither of their parents were affected with, but a past generation was. (Examples of this possibly include red hair and twins, but there are many things out there.)

I can agree that not being full elphba and with her father being a normal man I believe little Baby doesn't have the sensitivity to water. remember that elpaba was born resulting from her mother's tryst with another man who gave her something green to drink. I'm not sure if he was experimenting or just wanted a little (winkwink) but this stuff changed elphaba. Maybe she truely was her fathers child but was so newly in the womb that the green elixer changed her like drugs or drinking can now to a baby

Good insight, polly! :) Thanks!

Polly: I hadn't thought about that, I just assumed she was the daughter of the Wizard/travelling salesman.

so did I until I thought it over, But whoever her father was there was something about this that made it wrong and all I can think of is something her mother ate or drank