Welcome to Gaia! ::

Viecada stood stonily on her front porch, staring across her expansive yard, out to the imposing gate that guarded the entrance, the wrought iron black and hot under the sun. She didn't bother moving, both hands clasped together in a semblance of pleasantness in front of her. She seemed to be some form of evil statue, standing in the sunlight in her black dress that was far too fancy for only being one color.

She was impatient at the moment, and extremely unhappy. this didn't mean she would give in to childish urges of pacing, and instead, kept her grim visage up, waiting. She had sent for that new slave a whole two minutes ago, and he had yet to arrive, and her patience was now running short. She was unsure what sort of joke it was of that family to have sent a slave with their daughter. It wasn't as if Viecada didn't have an over-abundance! It wouldn't have been so bad, but she saw the relationship that he had with her new charge and entirely disapproved. Slaves were not cuddly creatures, they were disgusting, and the sooner the young lady understood, the better.

It was good advice, too, or at least advice that if followed would keep him alive. The girl would only be strictly reprimanded. Such a familiar slave in Viecada's care would be subject to a significant amount of reprogramming. It was definitely a different situation with her, even than most other feminist slave owners. While many put men into the social cast of footstools and dogs, Viecada took it a step further with outright derision, hatefulness and abuse.

Naturally, she could see him coming from her perch on the porch. She disliked the idea of a slave having weaponry, but would allow it for the sake of the girl's parents, who did not dis encourage such behavior. When he came close enough, her lips pulled back over her teeth in what might have been a thin smile. "You have kept me waiting. Do not do so in the future. Do you know why I have called you here?"

(We gonna have Penden play Shelah?)

"Oh, child, don't worry." The voice suddenly sounded sweet, but it was certainly sugar laced with salt. It only lasted for a moment, before she looked back up at the slave, tone flat. "I was referring to him." She briskly turned, dress swaying about her in a manner that did not suggest playfulness as it might have in a young maiden. "Now come along, dear. I'll show you to your quarters."

She pushed open the door into the house, a rather spacious area, simple, yet elegant. Most everything seemed to be made of wood, finely carved and aged. "I would have had a slave come greet you, but it seemed to be more appropriate that the master of the house greet you on your first visit. As such, I will personally show you what you need to see." It wasn't quite a tour she was giving, but close enough.

"The doors on the right lead to the dining hall. I expect to see you there for dinner." She paused, then glanced at the slave once more. "You, on the other hand, do not go in there. Now, past the dining room is the kitchen. It is not an appropriate place for a young lady such as yourself. Still, i'm certain you will be adventurous enough to go in there from time to time, and I shall not attempt to stop you. And if you," She waved to the slave off handedly, the words almost like she had spit on him, "Feel some animal hunger pang, the doors to reach the kitchen without going through the dining room are over there. The others will explain the meal plan in detail for you."

Shelah nodded when appropriate, although her saucer eyes stuck more to Viecada's visage than to her changing surroundings. She would remember everything that she heard, but she was used to depending on Kal for directions, as she completely lacked such a useful sense. Having a good memory for what people said to her sometimes helped compensate, but did her little good in situations where she could not interpret subtext. Even when she did not immediately understand, she was sure to follow up with "Yes Ma'am," and other appropriate responses.

By the time the tour was over, her nerves were stretched thin, and she was grateful for the designated opportunity to freshen up. Kal was to give her over to a female of low social class who would help her try on and chose appropriate attire for her first meal there. Her family had sent clothing and measurements, but she was a growing girl and even clothes already in her possession would need to be tailored sometimes. It used to be that Kal would help her with these things, but as dress became more of a status symbol in the upcoming teenage years, and especially in a strict household like Viecada's, it was thought that a woman would be more capable of distinguishing desired intricacies of dress.

Kal, then, was left to wait outside the door to her new room, as an insult to his previous position that was suddenly untenable here. He would be able to guard her, yes, but the existing lower-class women and even other slaves would subtly vie for position with the new comer. He would be asked to stay outside a lot of doors, and it would be up to him to figure out when, or rather, who, he could challenge on the matter. On his first day here, any woman was probably out of the question. He might consider himself lucky that he was allowed to walk the child the couple of yards down the hall and down the stairs to the dining room, where the door would be shut on him again as the two dined.

Kal followed Viecada and heard her talk about testing him. His grip on his spear tightened and a small twitch played on his mouth. It had been awhile since he was allowed to fight. His former mistress had trained him lightly, and his mistresses’ mother, Shelah’s’ grandmother, had made him fight slaves that had been disobedient. Kal’daka’s fighting style was if nothing but un-orthodox. Now he got to test his skills against a real opponent, hopefully. When he heard Viecada tell him he would be replace if he was unworthy, it sealed the deal for him. He was not about to leave Shelah to this woman, and maybe he could give this woman a bit of a fright. Although Kal was well aware that accomplishing that would be as easy as him leaving Feretris.

‘Lovely another woman looking to assert herself. Did every women in this city have a oversized ego.’

Needless to say Kal wasn’t thrilled nor impressed. All she wanted to do was to see how much he could probably endure. She wasn’t willing to see that he was capable of fighting. It almost seemed to Kal that these women were growing more afraid of what the men could do if given freedoms then looking to assert there superiority. Sure women of Feretris had magic but they were still only mortal. A mortal who had fears, a mortal who had weaknesses, and a mortal who bleeds.

Kal really should stop hyping himself up like that. Every time he thought about things like that he believed he might be able to kill one. After all, women like Viecada were more of an it to Kal. Mortal they may be, but they were far from human. More like a wild beats that likes to play with its food before it eats. Kal came to his senses though and remembered were he was. His arms had been outstretch since the women asked and now he just waited for his test.

‘hmm, I wonder? Will it be the lash, magic, or something more barbaric. Always hard to tell there fetishes right away.’

This was something new. How long could he hold out? The bricks were not all that heavy but since he couldn’t use his muscles to actually take the weight he felt every pound. This would put his relax muscles and joints to the test. Then there was the mental half of the test. Sure he could keep his arms like this as long as he could tell his brain to keep it up. However if pain pushed his brain into survival then he might not have an option of if he keeps going.

Kal was starting to feel the stretch pain in his elbow. He decided to put his mind on something else. He wanted to do the best he could. Not for that women, to hell with her, but for Shelah. He locked his thoughts on the girl and of her smile. Her smile was different then the on Viecada showed. Shelah’s was one of pure joy and happiness. The first time he saw her smile was when she had asked him a question. Come to think of he couldn’t remember the question anymore, but that was probably because it wasn’t the important part. Kal had reacted amusingly, well to Shelah anyway, an the girl smiled. When Kal was alone with Shelah they would actually talk and make suggestions to each other. Never anything important but that’s what made it nice. He never had to tell Shelah something out of fear, he just talked. For that reason he had considered himself lucky as compared to the other men. His “owner” was still to young to have understood fundamentals of the Feretris society.

How long had it been? Kal had lost track of time thinking about the young girl. Come to think of it, he hadn’t felt the weight of the bricks the whole time he was thinking.

‘Wish I had more things to think about. That’s not a bad trick to keep in mind.’

Kal’daka continued to let his mind wonder to small memories an events that had impacted him the most. Maybe he could think his way out of there. He began to wonder about the outside. Thinking about the what ifs. Kal had found his keystone in his mind, Hope.

Those bricks were still damn heavy though.

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((By the way Fenrir, that has to be the scariest costume I have ever seen.))
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