When the hours waned and people parted ways, Nua had dozens of faces matched to the names she’d managed to gather in preparation for her arrival. ‘Could that have gone better? Maybe, but I can’t see how.’ She thought as she finally set two platinum coins on the table and walked away, as if to mock the very idea that she had to worry about cost. ‘The lewdity in this part of the world will take some getting used to.’ She thought as she replayed the heavy lidded eyes of Lady Sobella and the occasional touch of the Prince on her skin. She rolled her eyes, ‘If he saw the other side of me… but maybe, if it’ll help me reach my goal, there are ways I can keep him from seeing that.’ She cursed the bitter thought that tainted the moment. ‘But do I really want to win anything ‘that’ way?’ She wrinkled her nose, and found herself swearing under her breath at herself yet again.

As she climbed the stairs, she sighed with that fresh annoyance at herself, ‘Oh come off it Nua, you’re not some quivering innocent virgin, and I guess if you’ll kill for power, it’s no worse to screw your way to it, more fun too. But… really? A human?’ She pursed her lips in a frown ‘Can you do that? You couldn’t with Raymond, even though…’ She shut her eyes tight, and leaned with her back against the wall on the long walkway. She put her hand over her eyes, tried not to remember… and failed...

..."Please... just let me see you once more before the end, let me see your face, the way I want to remember it in whatever afterlife lies beyond this one." Raymond asked of her with longing.

Nua choked on her response and struggled with an aching heart to push the words out. "I'm not ready for you to go yet... I want you to live... You saved my life, so many lives, and this... this is how it ends..." She shook her head bitterly and he moved to stand in front of her, he put his hands up and held her face.

"I've lived long enough, I've done enough, right and wrong, for an elven lifetime, let alone a human one. But most important of all, I got to see the rarest jewel in the world, the birth of a free soul, got to see you go from frightened and chained, to free and happy, got to see you stronger than you ever thought you could be... that's enough. It's time to let go, I'm the last thread of your past, the last piece tying you to a place you never should have been. And it's time to cut that thread for good. Thank you... for coming for me, for thinking of me, for trusting me. For everything." He said, and leaning forward, he tilted her head and kissed her forehead.

"Raymond... you dummy... you big dummy..." She said as she slowly collapsed to her knees. He held her shoulders and smiled weakly down at her.

"Maybe so, if I'd known I'd have gotten to know someone like you, I'd have burned the Theocracy myself, before I let you enter that dark and twisted city." He sniffled once, and stepped back from her. "I'm ready now." He said, and looked to Solution.

"Thank you, for everything, you were a great help, I couldn't have done it without you. I leave my body to Nua for final disposition, oh, and I have a letter for Queen Zesshi in my pocket, have it delivered to her, would you, one last favor to your favorite demon in human skin?" He asked it as casually as if he were about to go out for a meal, and she nodded.

"You were fun, and you were good at what you did. Nice knowing you." Solution said with a casual wave, "I'll do what you ask, and good luck over there." She winked at him as he went to the chair that had been brought out.

...She opened her eyes before she could recall the swaying of his corpse. “If I couldn't be with him that way?” She cut the question off and dragged her hand down the front of her face.

“Ugh, come on Nua, you had too much to drink, don’t get sentimental, don’t get stupid now.” She muttered under her breath and walked the rest of the way to her room. She clicked the lock open and her ears twitched at the sound of scrambling within, like frantic motions and the sound of something dropping. Her hand paused after turning the lock. ‘Are they trying to escape?’ She wondered, and shut her eyes tight against tears for them, she smacked her forehead on the doorframe. ‘Damnitall. Poor things… when it’s done… how… how can I ever make it up to them? How do I say, ‘I’m sorry?’ Will I even have a right to?’ She rocked her head back and forth on the corner of the door frame as she composed herself and failed to find answers to her ugly questions.

She opened the door inward and entered, a few feet away as she shut and locked the door behind her, Kaiji and Priceless had prostrated themselves side by side with their heads down over their hands. “Welcome back, mistress.” They said together.

Nua listened for a moment, and heard the light sound of Solution snoring. She suppressed her sigh of relief, and approached. And then Inspiration struck.

Kaiji swallowed the whimper growing in her throat when her owner didn’t say anything. Due to how they prostrated themselves, with her face down, she couldn’t see the woman Solution told such dark stories of. The not knowing, not seeing, despite her other demon-elf senses to help her, set dread growing within her belly. Out of the crack of her eye, she saw that Priceless was already shaking with fear. ‘If she’s angry… offer yourself to sate her anger. Priceless already put herself at risk for you… you owe her. It’s just the two of us, I may not be Lady Kaiji anymore, but that doesn’t mean Slave Kaiji has to be a coward.’

The resolve only made her breathe more deeply, the sound of feet approaching softly over the floor hit her ear.

Priceless looked out of the crack of her eye at the prostrate Kaiji, ‘I hope she has enough sense to follow my lead, this owner is ‘odd’ enough, who keeps a monster for a servant? Who gets ‘taught’ by a monster?’ The mysteries were not pleasant ones in her mind, and they made her body shake to think about, she cursed her nakedness, as it hid not a single quiver of anxiousness.

No blow fell, she felt the proximity to herself, but didn’t raise her head. Not until the faintly slurred voice of her owner came out.

“You poor… poor thing…” Nua whispered with a faint slur, and her right hand came out with her palm up. “Did you enjoy your dinner?”

Priceless reached out to cradle the hand, and pressed her lips into the giving palm of her owner’s right hand. “I… yes mistress…” She said with teary eyes, “It was… the most wonderful thing I’ve ever eaten… so good… I’m so… grateful…” She whispered. She wasn’t lying, the rich, savory flavor on her tongue sliding down her throat was bliss embodied in food form. “I didn’t know anything that wonderful could really exist. Thank you… thank you…” Her tears struck her owner’s palm, and she dared a look upward to see a most unexpected thing.

Nua looked at her with soft eyes of blue, and withdrawing her hand, she stroked the soft brown hair that fell down loosely at either side of Priceless’s head. “It’s sho sad… you did nothing wrong, did you? Just born unlucky...” Nua slurred her words very slightly further, and continued to stroke as if she were calming a cat. “Go on, go rest, you did good work today Priceless, shleep well, and work harder tomorrow.”

“Yes mistress, thank you mistress. I’m glad I pleased you.” She said and looked up with shimmering eyes. Priceless searched the soft blue eyes of the woman who gave her her name and found no hint of malice, no hint of cruelty or mockery. She found only a gentle, sympathetic face that seemed to belong to a whole other person. ‘Is this… really her?’ She wondered, but didn’t dare break the seemingly enchanted moment by argument. She instead let herself savor a touch that bore no pain with it, and went back to her cage to curl up in the small space it allowed.

Kaiji could barely believe the words she heard coming from her owner’s mouth as the elf addressed Priceless. Nor was she less mystified when she saw the right palm of mistress Nua extended to her. “Was she food good, Kaiji?” Nua asked her.

Kaiji cradled the giving hand, and lovingly pressed her lips to it, “Yes, mistress. I am grateful beyond words… I thought I’d never taste its like again… and… I’m grateful for your sparing Mr. Karlo, if I’d known what he intended, well I would never have gone with him. I swear it… I belong to the mistress who saved my life…” ‘It seems the mistress has had a little too much to drink… and she’s nice when she drinks, at least.’ Kaiji thought, and with wild hope, she pressed the advantage of her sobriety.

Kaiji called up a memory of a slave she had long before, and borrowed his words for herself. “I kiss your giving palm, that feeds me and protects me, you are my mistress… and I will never forsake you.” She whispered, and kept her lips returning slowly, softly to the steel like skin of her owner. ‘Did he mean that when he said it? Will my current mistress believe I do when I say it now? And how much do I even mean it? For all her seeming cruel imperiousness she’s barely stung me. More than that, she paid an outrageous sum, more than I’ve ever paid for any ten slaves, just to own me, and thereby saved my life.’

Nua’s hand left Kaiji’s cradled touch and abandoned her lips, and went instead up to stroke her long dark hair. “Poor shing… once a mistress yourself, weren’t you? I’ll bet shoe were a nice one, nyshe to your stock, all that power… jusht to be naked at my feet… ah don’t shlame you if you actually shate me, or yourshelf… it’ll be allsrhite, just be good, obey, and I’ll be as loyal to you as shoe are to me. Everyshing will work out. Y-You’ll hab a good life.” Nua hiccuped, and stood, shakily to her feet, and held the wall with one arm straight out.

“Go to sleep, work hard for me tomorrow.” Nua ordered her, and Kaiji scurried to obey without a second order being needed, and curled up in her cage.

Nua approached, and looked down at where the two captives lay with eyes already shut. She then reached to the small chain that held the keys, and locked each of their cages shut. As the lock turned, Kaiji’s heart skipped a beat, fear of being trapped, safety from not being outside of it, chaos swallowed her heart and the fight within made it pound with fear.

Nua’s boot was slightly in the base of the cage, and she recalled a slave of hers, that abased itself to her by the touch of lips there. ‘What did I think when it… no… ‘he’ did that?’ She tried to remember, but it was like swimming against the tide to try to recall her former life. Like it really was another person. ‘Lady Kaiji would never do this. But Lady Kaiji is dead, Lady Kaiji would look at me, bark orders, and ignore me otherwise. How would I try to win safety, favor, with her?’

She put herself close to the bars, and murdered her former self with a flick of her tongue over the soft shining leather boot and looked up at the slightly drunken face as her owner put away the key.

“You’re a hard worker… Kaiji, you’re safe.” Nua said, and patted the demon-elf on the side of her head as it lay down atop her arm, lightly touching her horns.”

“Thank you mistress… thank you…” Kaiji said softly, yawned, and closed her eyes, but cracked one slightly to watch for the safety of her owner’s distance from herself.

Nua stretched, took a deep breath when she saw the red eyes of Kaiji shut, and walked straight to bed. Stripping off her clothing when she stood beside it, she climbed into her spot and curled up, reaching out to the warm body of Solution, she let out a softer sigh. “Teacher is so… warm…” she murmured happily, wondering how much of her intoxication she’d been faking with her talking to her slaves, and then she drifted off into a very deep sleep.

Kaiji continued to watch through a cracked eye as her owner went to the side of the bed, stripped off her clothing, and slid under the covers with her bodyguard. Her eye shut thereafter, leaving her with much to ponder, such as an unexpected hint of a scar on her mistress’s body, until she too, fell asleep within the bars of her confinement.

Nua woke up to the feeling of heat on her breast. Heat that was rising.

Her eyes popped open and she saw the twisted, monster smile of Solution. “Good morning, my pervy student.”

“Pervy?” Nua murmured, “You’re the one with you hand on me like this.”

“Yes. I am waking you up, which you’ll want to do faster if you don’t want a burn mark on those boobs of yours, now while you think about that, please answer me a question.” Solution said with a very warped, twisted smile spread over her face.

“Teacher?” Nua asked hesitantly as she began to draw herself away from the beautiful monster.

“How long do you plan on leaving your hand there, pervert?” Solution inquired as she continued to lay still, and let Nua’s eyes follow the length of her own arm, till she reached her right hand and found it nestled on Solution’s right breast.

Nua began to blush, and drew her hand away with a yank as if she’d previously thrust it into a nest of vipers. Her blue eyes popped open, “I’m sorry, Teacher!” She explained with a squeak, “I must have done that in my sleep!”

“So you’re a perverted dreamer.” Solution replied as Nua got out of bed, she put her back to the wall and looked across the far side of the room Kaiji and Priceless still slept.

“Did you keep them up the whole time?” Nua asked as she reached for a robe and swiftly put it on.

Solution got up a moment later and stepped close to Nua’s body, taking the robe’s belt in either hand, she tied it tight, performing a maid’s duties from an inch away. “Yes and no, I told them to work until you came back, so however long that was.”

“You weren’t worried they’d try to escape? They weren’t in their cages.” Nua inquired, barely restraining the impulse to bite off her own tongue.

“No, as I fed them by hand, I told them the story of that bitch I had you skin alive, and some of the things I had you do, to turn you into the student I know today.” Solution’s smile spread out as she yanked the knot tight over her student’s waist, jerking Nua a little as she did so.

Nua, far from terrified, leaned in intimately close to her Solution, and whispered savagely into her demon teacher’s ear, “Yes… you did a number on this little elf, and she’ll make her teacher proud of her. I won’t be a waste of your time, I promise you, Teacher.”

Solution raised an eyebrow at the death cold breath that reached her ear, and Nua stepped back and slipped into bath shoes. “Now, before you ask, Teacher, it was a great success. I’m meeting the Prince today to get an assignment. While I’m out… yes, I know, you’re about to say you should be with me, but this is a simple part.” Nua put her hand on Solution’s shoulder, “It’d be a disgrace if I couldn’t walk out of one meeting alive, and I want to get started as soon as possible. So while I’m gone, have them bathed,” she inclined her head toward the two sleeping slaves, “and wait for Karlo to bring word of the Headmen and any delivery of goods we get today. There should have been some blankets delivered to the slaves in the stables, and they should have been fed. Please make sure both things were done, and get them started on training as soon as they’ve eaten a morning meal. Take delivery of any goods we get, and make sure Priceless keeps working with Kaiji. Also, tell Karlo I want to see him this evening.”

“Of course, Captain Aiwenor.” Solution said with a tiny smirk on her face and an excessively formal curtsy that was met with a roll of Nua’s eyes.

“I swear, now I know what Raymond had to deal with.” Nua grumbled mockingly with a playful smile.

Solution shook her head slowly, “Oh no… no you don’t.” She stepped close to Nua’s space, “As much as I’ve done to you, little elf, what I did to him, how I twisted his soul, the agony I put him through the night he abandoned his faith and thrust his knife into his holy book…. You tortured someone else, to get something from me. You fed me your left hand, to get something from me. But him? That wonderful demon in human skin? I tortured his very soul, and it saved your life. You only knew that he slew his faith that night, with the blade in the book. But I made him choose… it was you, and all your people, or his gods, his faith, and the world he knew.”

Nua’s eyes widened slightly, but did not stray from the blue in the monster that was a reflection of her own. “I’m sure it was a hard choice but…”

Solution put her fingers beneath her student’s chin, and tilted it up so that the slightly shorter Nua was looking up at her, the scent of the monster filled her nostrils, and it was beautiful as a garden of roses… and yet Nua knew… ‘She is the thorns.’

“Oh no, you don’t know, you never… ever had to make that choice. Give up a hand, give up a tiny bit of conscience for your revenge on the woman who fed one of your kind to her guests? Those are nothing, but he loved his gods, his faith, his religion. He loved his holy book and temples, he wrought terrible deeds that got him hanged in the end, to protect them and to protect his nation. The night of your little rant, either I was going to kill you for him, quick and in your sleep as an act of mercy so you’d no longer have to bear his hypocrisy. Or….” She let the sentence hang.

“Or?” Nua asked tentatively.

Solution’s warm, silken breath was sweet and acrid, and caressed Nua’s cheek like a lover’s touch. “Or he’d kill every single thing that ever meant anything to him. When morning came, he’d damned himself, choosing to protect you instead. No, little elf, you underestimate your Teacher.” She leaned down close to her unmoving student. “You’ll know in time what he ‘dealt with’ when it came to me. But you don’t know, not yet, not by half.”

At Nua’s suddenly glassy eyes as she began to comprehend the night his faith died, Solution concluded the spinning of her story, reaching up, she twirled her finger through her student’s straight hair, briefly wrapping it around her digit as she spoke. “He never spoke of it, I am sure. But now, now you know… so… I wonder… how far will my student go in return? Will you damn yourself to bring him back? Or was that devotion false the day he died? Were you only taunting the dead man walking, when you put him at your back and took out the knife we taught you to use. He thought you were willing to fight a country, to die for him, when he said his last goodbye. Maybe it’s better he’s dead, if that wasn’t sincere.” Her pupils danced and sparkled with sadistic joy as she goaded Nua with her whispered words.

Iron grit settled in Nua’s guts as she glared with eyes of ice, her magicine left hand gripped Solution’s wrist, and squeezed. “How far do I have to go? Whatever that answer is... That’s your answer, Teacher. Only help me get there, that’s all I ask, what good is a soul that throws away the ones who matter.”

“That’s my student.” Solution patted her cheek, “Go, bathe, and hurry back to change, I’ll let the animals sleep a little longer so you can have your privacy, let me know how it goes at the palace, I think… you’ll do fine out there today.”

As Nua stepped away from her Teacher, she bowed politely, “As I said, I will make you proud.” She said with iron resolve as she squared herself up straight again. ‘And to think last night I was asking if I could sleep with someone if it helped me reach my goal… grow up Nua. You know better, in this world where evil is the only good, the smallest lineout of all of those to cross is the doorframe to a bedroom.’