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Christof informed his friends that slavery was wrong. Keeping a sentient creature and using it for your own needs was inappropriate. I liked to feed myself and I liked to sit on the furniture. Fuji, Rose, and I had innate rights to our own opinions about how to spend our lives.
Fuji screamed like a cat and wrapped herself around one of her owner’s legs. She didn’t like this conversation, it upset her. Looking up at her men she begged them not to get rid of her.
The men shushed her and stroked her head. One of them set her kneeling place right beside him and told her to stay close. That seemed to make her feel better.
Basin knelt next to Rose and tilted her face up to his. He stroked her cheek and looked at Christof.
“We care for what is ours. These slaves were too weak to survive alone. They require us to help them,” he said standing.
Christof disagreed politely. We would have done fine on our home worlds. Slavery was wrong. The taking and degrading of a creature such as a human was not honorable.
Basin wasn’t swayed by Christof’s argument. Rose had been delivered to them injured. It had taken them many turns of the small moon to heal her. The creatures slavers captured needed the care of strong, benevolent Masters.
I watched Rose and she watched the floor. Later I would ask Rose what Basin was talking about. For now we sat quietly as the men held a polite debate on the issue.
Lunch was handed around. The conversation got back to the women and mountains. As we ate Damien and his Brothers explained the mountains and the rules to their friends.
Even when I was connected to them there were things I didn’t know or wouldn’t have thought to tell the girls. The men talked calmly and answered all the questions their cousins had. They were completely honest and open, holding nothing back.
After lunch the men went outside and I sat with Rose and Fuji. None of us were in a talkative mood. Fuji was upset, Rose was quiet, and I felt guilty. When the men reappeared and asked us to come outside we did quickly.
Basin’s Brother was curious what watching me fight would be like. Damien relented, so in front of the three families and my two best friends Bane continued my training.
I was weak and slow compared to Bane. He seemed to be using just a tiny bit of strength to train with me. In sharp contrast I was huffing and puffing doing everything I could to keep up with him.
The men noticed every nuance and every misstep. There was a man in Rose’s family that apparently liked to teach. He helped Bane point out every mistake and wouldn’t stop until it was corrected.
The man in Rose’s family asked about getting me a shield. It seemed wrong to train without one. As Bane taught me I heard the man talking to Damien, he thought they should have one made for me.
Bane made a few changes to his training regimen. In front of his friends he didn’t slap me with his blade. Instead when I got distracted by the audience he’d reach forward and push me. Before I learned to anticipate the shoves I landed on my backside several times.
“It’s like watching you try to train a shopkeeper child,” someone laughed as I tried to do what Bane told me.
I redoubled my efforts and that made them laugh harder. Even my family found it humorous and started to tease me. Let them laugh, I decided.
When Bane was adequately distracted I managed to just nick him with my blade. I saw Rose smirk at the relentless laughter that earned Bane. How humiliating for him to be harmed by someone like me, they taunted. He wasn’t embarrassed; he just pushed harder and forced me to work more.
Bane told me if I’d managed to get the best of him, I must be learning. He’d teach me as much as he could today, he’d said happily. I groaned at the implication.
The sun was low in the sky when the men had enough entertainment. I was absolutely exhausted, which is probably why it wasn’t fun to watch anymore.
During the afternoon the process of forgiveness seemed to have been started, which I was glad to see. Basin talked casually with Damien and the men were all relaxed. Other than Bane and I, no one was fighting.
Once we were finally done, Evan brought me inside and stripped me of my dirty, sweaty clothes. He washed me efficiently. While we stood in the shower he praised me for learning. The other Warriors didn’t think a human could learn as fast as I did. He was proud of me.
I was changed into my ornamentation and brown cover. We flew back to the compound as the sun settled along the horizon. The other families had left some time before, so it was just us.
“I don’t think they believed you,” I told Christof.
We were still in rough countryside, so I didn’t think it would be wrong to talk right now.
Christof shrugged and grinned. “They invaded our private family time to fight with us. They stayed and asked us for the truth. It’s their own fault if they didn’t like it.”
He wasn’t alone in that opinion and the rest of the family agreed. If they didn’t like Damien’s opinion, they should not have asked for it.
I shook my head and what I said came out sounding like a scolding.Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g
“If you upset them, it will make the General angry. You can’t advertise an opinion that different without catching some sort of grief for it-”
Evan interrupted to bark a laugh. They would tell their two groups of friends the truth from now on. If the other men didn’t like it, that was their problem.
I saw an opportunity, an opening if you will, so I took it.
“I like to tell my friends the truth, too,” I said to the group. “Rose and Fuji are loyal friends. May I still speak honestly with just them?”
Silence met my request. I looked up to see the men deep in thought. They were lost for a moment in the internal conversation.
“Only,” Damien said, “if you inform us of what you are telling them and only if their owners do not mind. We do not like surprises from our cousins.”
That seemed fair, really fair in fact. “I would never tell them I was bonded to you when I was pregnant,” I promised. “I won’t say anything that may harm you all.”
“How would that harm us?” Kein asked from behind the control panel.
I stammered out an answer. It would be rude to discuss their personal thoughts and feelings with anyone. That type of thing should be kept private. They had a right to their privacy.
They roared with laughter at that. It seemed ridiculous to them. Basically, I didn’t want to discuss Kein’s love for the green stalks, but I’d freely share the biggest secret on the planet.
“Humans,” Christof finally said shrugging.
The very next day I was ornamented and taken to a different Keeper’s compound. It was right next to the old Keeper’s compound, I noted. We were separated from them by perhaps several hundred yards and a couple of walls. The small forest I frequently walked in separated the two areas.
Much like our other compound Damien approached the wall and a door slid open. I followed him inside. The short man inside greeted Damien and asked him what my talents were.
For once, I saw Damien speechless. He asked why my talents would be important. The Keeper explained that during the morning Administrator’s slaves did projects, we had our afternoons to relax. Damien was confused and his other Brothers joined him.
“The slaves,” the short man said, “must work as we work. It is understandable they rest in the afternoon to be ready to entertain you. The Administrators require everyone be used to their highest potential, though. I’m sure you are used to the indulgent way Warriors treat slaves. However, the Administrators have found many uses for the idle hands of their sex slaves.”
Damien and his Brothers continued to stare at the man in disbelief.
The short man seemed to be getting irritated with the slow progression of the conversation. “The slaves are not harmed and do not usually do manual labor, but many are talented. Some can be trained in letters or numbers. Others help us maintain the delicate equipment that run the transports, for instance.”
Christof spoke finally. He told the man I knew how to read and write. The tutors in the mountains had also taught me numbers. I had basic math training from my home world that augmented that.
“Good, good,” the short man smiled, “what else does your slave know about this world?”
I knew animals and plants in the mountains, Kein explained. Nu-reeh had trained me in mountain survival. I was quite knowledgeable about the dangers in the mountains.
That thrilled the man. Had I been trained on my home world, he wanted to know? What usable skills would I bring to him from that.