Michael sat quietly as he watched the two eat. The younger of the two, Direm, was probably no older than 7, maybe 8 years. The elder, Sonja, was likely around 12 years old. The two had to be siblings. Given the ease with which they slept next to one another, their relative ages, and their similar appearance, Michael couldn’t think otherwise.

Once the bowl was emptied by Direm, Michael filled it up once more and handed it to Sonja. She proceeded to taste the food carefully. Her eyes lit up at the taste. She forgot all etiquette she might have been taught and the bowl was soon empty once more.

“Good, you two look a bit better than you did yesterday, but you’re still too weak to travel. I’m going off hunting. You guys stay near the camp. I’ll be back by the time the sun is three quarters of the way to the western horizon.”

For some reason, Sonja didn’t argue. Michael had thought she would make some comment, or perhaps insist on following, but she only nodded timidly. Her ears were lowered and hugged her head closely, her tail completely still as it dangled on the ground.

Michael left the two. He wasn’t certain whether they would still be there when he returned.

“Ah, it doesn’t really matter. It would actually make things a lot easier for me if they chose to leave, but I don’t really care either way.”

The day went by quickly, and Michael returned at the promised time. He found the campsite quiet. Not a leaf rustled, not a branch swayed, not a stick cracked. The fire was dead and not even smouldering. He didn’t try to hide his footsteps, and walked in.

“It seems like they must have left,” he said under his breath.

He placed his catch for the day on the ground and began with the by now instinctual process of butchering the animals. His haul was actually pretty good today. He had caught two deer, which he had already gutted, and one fox, which he was going to work on last. Sounds of flesh being cut and skin peeled danced through the small clearing and the surrounding underbrush. Occasionally one could hear the sound of humming rising above the sounds of butchering.

Just as Michal finished his work on the fox, he heard an uncharacteristic rustle in the underbrush nearby. He only attended to the sound momentarily before going back to work. Moments later Sonja burst into the clearing.

“You’re here!” she yelled as she ran over laboriously.

She had has Direm on her back. The small boy was white as ash with blue lips.

“What happened?” Michael asked as he turned to face them.

His hands were covered in darkening blood, and with the small knife clutched in his left hand he appeared quite fearsome. Sonja paused for a moment before she closed the remaining distance between them.

“Something’s wrong with Direm!”

“I can see that. What happened?”

We were busy heading back to our village when he suddenly grew faint and collapsed. The little boy on her back shivered and coughed. He groaned, but was clearly unconscious. Michael had Sonja put him down on the woollen blanket. He kneeled beside him and placed his hand on his forehead. His forehead was warm to the touch, and he was drenched in cold sweat.

“The last couple of days have been too much for his system. You shouldn’t have just up and left. He isn’t as grown as you. His body can’t take the constant strain. He’s pretty ill…”

Michael stood up and walked over to the small sleeper tent. Sonja’s face whitened and her eyes teared. She hurriedly got up and stumbled over to Michael. As she drew near she fell at his feet, wrapping her arms around his legs.

“Please, please help my brother!” she yelled, looking up at Michael from the ground.

Michael sighed. He shrugged her off and continued to the tent.

“Please! He’s the only family I have left! If… If you help him You can take me as your slave!”

Having no one else to ask for help, and no riches to offer, Sonja offered the only thing she had left: her life. Michael halted in his steps, and looked at her.

‘I’m not an immoral person, but I have my bottom line,’ Michael thought, ‘I always have to benefit from an exchange.’

“huh… You aren’t worth particularly much, but I suppose it’ll have to do. Very well. I’ll save your brother’s life in exchange for yours.”

Having said his piece, Michael retrieved the medicine from a small pouch in the sleeper, and returned to Direm. He placed the small vile to Direm’s mouth, and made him drink it. His face immediately regained a bit of colour, and his lips lost some of theirs.

“Good. It’ll be a few more days before he wakes up, but he’ll be fine.”

Sonja sighed upon seeing her brother recover some of his countenance. She sat down beside him and payed Michael no further heed.

Michael felt a severe headache coming on, so he left the small clearing and headed to the stream at the foot of the hill.

‘What have I done?’ Sonja asked herself, clutching her head. Her fingers dug into her temples, turning into small, white sticks from the pressure. She felt her heart race, and her mind dull.

‘What the hell did I do? How could I sign off my life like that? How am I supposed to look my father in the face?’

The figure of her father appeared before her. He was a tall, slender man. He had very striking features. He had prominent cheek bones, large, pointy ears, and a strong, thick tail. He had immense hands that could completely hide Sonja’s face, and he had a voice that sounded like a hammer striking wood.

He had told her so many times that even now she could hear his voice clearly.

“A Theon never bows. A Theon never bends. A Theon never breaks. You must only ever bow to your parents, you must only ever bend to your family, and you may only break in death.”

Were these not the words her father had told her countless times? Was this not the code by which she was sworn to live? Then what was this? She had sold herself, her life, her pride, and her honour, and she wasn’t even an adult yet.

Sonja opened her eyes, and her gaze came to rest on her sleeping brother. His breathing was calm and his breaths deep. His face was tranquil, and his body relaxed. There was no sign in his countenance of the desperate state he had been in but a few hours earlier.

The sight untied a knot in Sonja’s heart. She had sold her life, yes, but had it not been done to save her brother? Everything she had done had been for her brother. She had bent not to Michael, but to her brother, to save him. She had not bowed to Michael, but to the life of her brother, and she had most definitely not broken.

If worst came to worst, and her family was no more, or was scattered to the wind, though she could no longer carry the legacy of the family, her brother could. And that was enough. Her life was a cheap price for her brothers.

Michael splashed his face with the cold water from the stream. Immediately the muscles in his face contorted and he made an unpleasant face. It lasted only moments before his face relaxed and shot back into a frown. He sighed deeply.

Around hi the sounds of the forest echoed from the side of one hill to another. The leaves in the canopy above him rustled, and spots of light danced like crystals in the stream.

‘What on earth did I just do?’ Michael asked himself, ‘What the hell was I thinking? Ugh… clearly I wasn’t. Why would I demand that the girl become my slave?’

Michael had just started playing. He hadn’t even levelled up once. He hadn’t bought property, he hadn’t procured proper weaponry, nor had he familiarised himself with this world. And yet had gone and gotten himself a slave? How was he supposed to pay the maintenance, how was he supposed to look after and protect the little thing? He had barely the skill to protect himself from anything more than the random stray animal…

His head hurt, really bad.

It was then that several peculiarities of the whole situation struck him. First of all, Sonja appeared to be a very proud person. She wasn’t arrogant, but she had an internal pride to her that wouldn’t have allowed her to even think of making the offer of selling herself into slavery. In addition, she had been very weary of him from the beginning. She had never let her guard down, and had even chosen to leave despite her lingering exhaustion because she no doubt didn’t trust him. And yet she had suddenly given herself up to him completely?

There was himself as well. He was so shocked at his own behaviour because it wasn’t something he would normally do. This wasn’t like him at all. He had always been a slow and cautious person, someone to think through every conceivable set of circumstances before making a move, and yet he had impulsive chosen to take her on as his slave?

Something about this whole turn of events felt unnatural.

“How to deal with this matter? I can’t just go and tell her that I’d changed my mind, I would seem indecisive. I can’t just out and reject her, I would seem stupid. And I can’t accept her as my slave at all, definitely not now.”

Michael scratched his head, pulling a few strands out of his scalp at the same time.

“Alright, I’ll just ignore this whole business for now. If I can push back having to make a final decision for a few days I should have enough time to come up with a good excuse to turn her down.”

With his mind resolved, he splashed his face one more time before standing up and heading back to the clearing.