When Captain Aiwenor had gone, the Prince did not linger, he stood from his throne, as did Sobella, he extended his hand, and she laid hers overtop of it. “Council meeting, immediately.” He said, all traces of humor gone away from his voice and from his face. Sobella smiled, a small, thin smile as her eagle eyes roamed the hall. ‘My Rasgen, this is you at your best.’

He set his back to the court and walked with Sobella to a single door wide enough for the two to pass abreast. He didn’t need to walk far before coming to a private chamber, a smaller door allowing only one to enter, he opened it himself, followed by Sobella, and they sat at the head of the table as one.

Moments later, various brightly dressed ministers began to come in. Older, mostly better fed than the average peasant, they wore thick beards on their faces and they each wore a ring on their right middle finger displaying the insignia of their office that doubled as a seal.

“Alright, I want impressions, I want news, I want whatever you’ve got.” Prince Rasgen said abruptly, dispensing with all ceremony as soon as the last of the old men sat down.

Sobella was quick to speak up. “My Prince, the skull concerns me, we live on the edge of death. Yet she speaks of her homeland as a land of prosperity and peace. So…” She exhaled a heavy breath, “why something so grim?”

“A reasonable question, assuming she returns alive, we’ll have to get to know her more… perhaps throw a ball, an occasion where she can be more broadly introduced to our city at large. A lot can be learned of someone, by who they are when they drink.”

“You sure you’re not just looking to bed her still?” Sobella asked archly, resting her hands on her prince’s shoulder, she whispered duskily into his ear, “If you are, it’s fine, but… she’s pretty, her eyes, hard as they are, have hidden passions that I want to explore.” She then extended her tongue, and teased the lobe of the royal ear, before seating herself erect and facing the council again when she felt his hand sliding up her thigh.

The Trade Minister, Ulmin was the next to speak, “Ah-bah, My Prince,” his head bobbed slightly as he spoke, a constant tic he was never without when he spoke, “I had the coins checked that she’s been using. Nobody knows the country they come from, gold or platinum but… they are very, very real. She throws platinum out like silver and gold like it was copper. Whatever her stories of fantastical lands far to the west… her wealth is real.”

“Anything else?” Prince Rasgen asked abruptly, giving the man his full, intense attention.

“The coin is very refined, I had one of each melted down, and there are no impurities. More than that,” he took out a platinum and laid it on the table, “have you looked at it closely, my Prince?”

“Not really… no.” Prince Rasgen said as the coin slid from hand to hand over the table until it reached him. “Skull on the face is strange but everything we’re dealing with here is strange. Strangeness is the only thing not new.”

“Look at the edge, my Prince, then look closely at the face.” The trade minister said before coughing several times, and as the prince did this, the minister reached into his pocket and took out a coin of their own currency.

“Compare the quality of your face, to the details on her own.” He said, leaning forward as his head bobbed as if urging the Prince with endless nods.

Rasgen frowned and took the coins and laid them side by side, eye going from one to the other, then looking at their edges, he slid them to Sobella.

“Dear?” He asked as he stroked his chin.

Sobella’s red eyes squinted as she did the same, then shrugged. “What are we to know?” She asked, sliding the coins to the next minister closest to her.

“We can tell a lot about a country by their currency. Ours is crude, hastily made, thinner, and misshapen. Your visage, forgive me my Prince, but a child could have done as good a job. Theirs are stamped with intricacy, and are exactly shaped the same. I’ve checked many, their weight is perfect, and their edges are milled. They have a ‘process’ of some sort for this, and it makes them unique. Harder to fake, and they have to be thicker. My Prince… whatever land she comes from, whatever fantastic tales she tells us… the empire that birthed her, is rich beyond dreaming. You don’t waste gold on thicker coins unless you have no chance of running out of it. You don’t bother with such precision, unless you have the luxury of doing so.”

He moved his shaking hand over to the mug he’d brought with him and took a long, slow sip.

“I’m a man of money, it’s what I know best, but in my view, the empire beyond the Triumvirate, must have a river of trade deep enough to drown our whole city in coin. That’s… that’s what I think anyway.” Ulmin rasped out and leaned back in his chair.

“What else?” The Prince inquired.

The next to speak was the minister of Justice, Barsam. His beard was long and thin and he stroked it reflexively, with every rasped out word. “Ahh, from what I have been able to uncover through the rumors around the hotel, she acquired two female slaves, and has kept them naked since their purchase, and secured in her room. I had the guests on either side questioned, and only once was there any hint of fear or outcries, if she is tormenting them, she’s hiding it well.”

Rasgen rapped his fingers on the table in a steady rhythm as he thought out loud, “So she’s soft on slaves… that could be a problem, go soft on those, we could face another uprising… but maybe she just doesn’t know better. If we educate her about the bronze exclusions of the levy and…”

“Ah, my Prince, no. Purportedly, after speaking with some of the servants who have seen their demeanor, the two are absolutely terrified of her.” Barsam rasped out, then opened his hands with palms up on the table. “I recommend that we try to get them alone, speak with them, slaves often have insights into their owners that acquaintances don’t. If what they know or see, is frightening enough that they live in fear without even a whip in her hand, perhaps we should be concerned.”

“Fine. We’ll ensure we get a chance to talk to them. Question them… lightly, though.” Rasgen raised a finger from the table in caution. “There’s no need to be cruel if they’re already living in fear, perhaps… an offer to buy them from her, perhaps to buy their freedom? See what can be made of it when the chance permits.”

“As… as you say My Prince.” Barsam replied.

“Next.” the Prince stated sharply, pointing to the next minister in the row.

“The fact that she wouldn’t kneel to you… I would have killed her for that had you but given the order, my Prince.” Said a gruff, older man with armor covering his ‘thick’ body.

Rasgen managed a smirk in spite of himself, “You’re a little old for that, you mean you’d have had one of the guards do it, General Leaman.”

“Same thing!” The old man groused, his fist clenched on the table, “Outrageous… come into the home of our Prince, and not kneel? Anyone who doesn’t submit fully, they can’t be trusted. Whether she succeeds or fails, I say she should be arrested and executed immediately. I definitely don’t approve of letting her raise arms here.”

“And… your impression?” Rasgen asked, bringing the old man to focus.

“Yes… I did have some things checked out, she can fight. To tame the slaves she bought, she beat them herself, by hand, at the peak, she fought three men and made them all submit. If she’s from some sort of warrior order, I’m not surprised. She’s traveled halfway across the world here in search of conflict. So she says. But remember the Komestran Prince? He was brave, he was a skilled fighter, but you still killed him because he was stupid enough to ignore everything else.”

“Ah… minor correction,” Rasgen raised a finger, “He’s not dead. He will be when he’s eaten, but he’s not dead yet. Still, your point is well taken, she’s brash, proud, physically dangerous, and rich. But I won’t count her clever or more until Bracer is alive and at my feet.”

There was a round of acceptance of the statement, and then the Prince continued, “I can live without the kneeling, faith runs deep, but it’s strange that any empire or kingdom would have a faith that prohibits such a common form of respect to royalty… I am curious about this religion of hers.”

Sobella shook her head, “I don’t think that matters, my Prince, gods are more common than men in this world, what does it matter if she’s got one we’ve never heard of?”

Rasgen looked over to her affectionately, “Because my love, people will go as far for faith, as they will for love. And both may lead people to some very… very dangerous places.”

“Alright… that’s enough of that.” Nua said when the two slaves remained at her feet a few inches away and just kept staring at her adoringly. “It’s very tough to work when you’re just staring at me that way, you know.” Nua said down at them, but she couldn’t bring herself to glare, her spirits were too high after all the success of the day.

“Here, if you have to do something, pour my wine for me, and order some food for myself, Solution, and… something reasonable for yourselves.” Nua grumbled as she tried to not think about the stars in their eyes. She quickly regretted it, from the rapidity of their actions, that she had no longer tasks to give. Their swift scurry they had used to complete both tasks, and the worshipful looks given to her whenever they found an excuse to look her way.

Nua drank liberally as she wrote, and began to think matters over. ‘Do I really want to take them out there? Bad enough I’ve kept slaves, bad enough I’m convinced them I can literally take lives by touch. Do I really have to take them out there too? Eventually yes, but… with an army. They’re just not necessary to put down bandits. Besides, what I was going to do, can be done out at the stable and simulated like a field camp just as well.’

“I have clothing… real clothing…” Kaiji whimpered joyfully as she prostrated herself at Nua’s feet over and over. “I didn’t even have this much enchanted clothing on when I was free and stood beside my Prince. You aren’t my mistress… you’re my goddess, giver…” She said passionately, but then said with a quiver, “and taker of life…”

Nua kept the pang in her heart from showing, but when she called Nua a Goddess, she put her right hand out to stop the former mistress from her praises. “I’m no goddess, I serve a god, I’m just a priestess turned officer. Trained by the best, to kill better and serve my god’s true will. Never… ever call me a goddess. I have met my god, and I know I do not compare to that.”

Kaiji stumbled through her apology, her demon-elf eyes blinking rapidly, fearing the displeasure of her mistress, “I’m sorry, mistress, I meant no offense! Just… when you give… you give like one to me, when you take, you take like one to me…”

‘Wow… I… I really meant that. Didn’t I?’ Kaiji thought in shock at herself, but looking up at her mistress, so powerful and impossible and rich, she really seemed divine. ‘Am I…?’ The question started to form in Kaiji’s mind, when she caught the eye of Priceless.

The tiniest nod of her ecstatic companion whose head had not left the base of her mistress’s foot, told her enough. “Maybe I shouldn’t take you two with me out there…” Nua pondered aloud as she tapped her replacement quill on the paper.

Kaiji was quick to speak. “Mistress… I shouldn’t even be alive right now. I failed my city… failed my Prince. Everyone I’ve known for the last fifty years in that city… dead or in chains, and many… so many…” She felt her lip quiver, “are going to be simply eaten. I could die a hundred times and not atone for it. It doesn’t matter if… what happens to me. I want to live, I’m scared of dying but… even if I weren’t in a collar… I have no right to live to see any tomorrows. Use me how you think best, it doesn’t matter if it takes my life. I just… I want to serve one use, just one use, to someone, ‘anyone’ before that end comes.”

“You don’t mean that…” Nua said quietly.

“I do…” Kaiji whispered, “I really do, mistress. They’re all gone! All of them! My Prince, my… my city, yet here I am in finer clothing than I’ve ever worn! I was responsible for them!” She began to get louder and louder, but could not stop herself, the words poured out as if over a waterfall, “I’m a slave… but to a wealthy woman who clothes me! You took some years of my life, but fed me! You haven’t even beaten me yet even when… and I’m sure they’re suffering… so many of them… what does it matter what happens to me now?! Take me into danger! I beg you! If you need to sacrifice me to save yourself, then let me do that! Let me just DIE and have at least done something that saved someone before the end…”

Kaiji fell to sobbing in misery, and Nua sat stonily silent, every fiber of her being was furious, her hand came up, the desire to hit the despondent slave was overwhelming. But Nua held her hand frozen aloft, ‘This is not the result I expected from giving her clothing.’ Nua pondered, and then removed the glove from her left hand, lowered it, and held it out.

‘How did Raymond do it…’ Nua thought for a moment as she remembered the day she broke down.

Kaiji saw the dread black gem and open palm, “I shouldn’t have spoken out of turn, forgive me, Mistress.”

Nua’s hand stayed fixed insistent. Kaiji took the hand and cradled it, Priceless was still choking out words that only herself could understand. And so Kaiji lowered her lips and touched the jewel that took two years of life from her. ‘How many years do I lose for this?’ She wondered, but felt the gentle touch of a hard artificial thumb stroking her cheek.

“Enough.” Nua said with ice in her eyes, “I’ve given you back the two years I took from you, that is punishment enough.”

Kaiji looked at her in shock, her mouth fell open and closed and her red eyes went up to look unblinking into the face of wrath that ruled over her.

‘Tell her it wasn’t her fault! Tell her you know she did her best! Hug her! Hold her! Tell her it will be alright!’ Nua screamed at herself in her own head. She did none of those things. ‘She won’t believe a word of it. I wouldn’t have.’ Nua mentally swore, so instead she said… “You have a lot of sins to make up for, slave.” Nua glared down at her with hardened eyes, “But you’re ‘my’ property and you don’t ‘get’ to die that easy. I paid a lot for you. Along the way, the chance will come here and there, to atone for your many sins, for your free self’s failures. You serve me well, and maybe, just maybe, you can make up for the deaths of those who were turned into Tlalmok dung, and those who died in the fighting or the plunder, and those who die in the mines or the fields…. You can die when I’m done with you, if that is what you really want.” She jabbed her left hand’s forefinger down an inch from Kaiji’s nose, “But until that day, you’ll serve me, and you’ll tell yourself ‘this’...”

Kaiji kept her lips trapped shut and stared at the hardened metal fingertip, “Lady Kaiji was the failure. Slave Kaiji can still have some success in her life, this is your life, this is your place, and it will be until I say otherwise. You’ll do your best for me in that role, and…” Nua drew her hand back and shrugged, “your people don’t cost very much. I’m not pointlessly cruel, maybe I’ll send you to the market to buy people when I need them. If you happen to buy Komestrans, and bring them to a safer existence? Well what is that to me, as long as they’re able to do what I need them to do?”

“Mistress… yes. Lady Kaiji was a failure… Slave Kaiji will be a success.” Kaiji repeated the phrase over and over the way Priceless had repeated her name. ‘She gave back my years… as a punishment?! She really IS a giver and taker of life!’

Then Nua turned her attention to Priceless, who had lost herself in her pleas.

“Please… don’t sell me.” Priceless said without looking up. “I… I like being ‘Priceless’ I’ll never get a name like that again if I’m sold… If I’ve displeased… punish me, take some of my years… but please… please don’t sell me.”

Nua took a few sips of wine.

“No, not sell you, Priceless. Keep you here at the hotel, in the city, it will be safer. Where I’m going is dangerous, and maybe I shouldn’t risk you two yet.”

‘A few glasses of wine… and she’s the kindest mistress ever… even when she’s being hard.’ Kaiji thought with wonder.

Nua reached out and stroked Priceless’s soft brown hair again, and she felt the girl lean into the hand with what seemed like sincere affection. ‘Maybe it is, she really does seem fond of her name. Poor thing.’ “I’m your owner, I’m supposed to keep you safe as can reasonably be done.” She let a hiccup come out as if she’d had a little too much, and watched as their bodies visibly relaxed. “This list of things I was working on… I was going to have them done after I came back. But instead… why don’t I leave them to you two?”

“Mistress Nua…?” Kaiji asked hesitantly, pausing her ongoing repetition.

“Yes, Kaiji?” Nua asked with a cockeyed look at the unexpected interjection.

“If… if you’re going to do that, leave us here that is… and… and not sell us. Can I ask… beg… for something?” She gasped and stared up into the sky blue eyes that sat a world apart from her just by sitting at an ordinary table.

The blue eyes that had held such wrath and caused such terror, instead felt comforting, inquisitive.

Kaiji shot the words out as fast as she could. “For the permanent collar before you go?!” She asked and threw herself forward onto all fours with such force that her dark hair flew over her head and hung down in front of her. “The leather… it is true this is enchanted against my magic. But also, leather collared slaves are the lowest status. If we’re to do anything for you, we’ll have a hard time while wearing these, and we might even be stopped, interrupted, or detained as suspected runners.”

“I’m new here, I don’t recall hearing about this. Explain it to me.” Nua set her quill down and focused hard on Kaiji, clenching her fist briefly before she forced herself to relax so as not to terrify the demon-elf.

Kaiji flung herself into the role she’d been given. ‘Slave Kaiji won’t fail!’ She thought, and recited what she knew by rote. “Collars for us come in a variety of types. Leather is the cheapest, used for transient slaves, the ones who have no permanent owner, they’re what you see on the auction block. Iron is typically used for laborers. Silver for the slaves of tradesmen, merchants, officers and so on, and bronze is used for the highest class of slave, and cannot be harvested for the tribute, only donated by their owners, those with those highest of the high also having colored tags that denote the status of their master and allowing them to speak with their owner’s voice.”

“If you want to impede my magic…” she swallowed, “the mages guild, they sell collars already made with that in mind.”

“Priceless?” Nua held her right hand out, and the grateful slave fell to relieved nuzzling.

“Yes… mistress?” She asked with relief in her voice and emphasized on the final word.

“You two would look lovely in bronze.”