Time ran past like a river of wine as the hundreds of attendees sat around the long table, drinking, toasting, laughing and singing. The stiff and formal earlier matters were settled, as were the more formal dances, now with feasting and flowing wine, the debauchery began.

Nua took her place at the head of the table, and raised a cup in cheer, “A toast to the glory of Pas’en! May it stand for ten thousand generations, and all our houses with it!” Her silver cup was high overhead, and against that toast, nobody was prepared to argue.

But she felt it.

Eyes.

Eyes.

Eyes.

Creeping up and down her body the way it had her first time she’d been stripped and put on the auction block, and sold to the house of Hodge. Eyes glazed over from the heedy desires that rested behind every pair of pupils. Still, Nua kept the smile plastered on her face. ‘I’m far past that, go ahead and look, I know what you really want… you see a marriage prize, or a rival to be disposed of, or a pawn to be used. You are no friends of mine…’

She looked around the room, her many servants were, after a fashion, a source of strength to her, she felt her heart pound harder, ‘They’re counting on you to take care of them.’ And more than one looked in her direction with warmth, hope, or longing, but it wasn’t long before Nua noticed something else.

‘I don’t recognize many of these… I didn’t have this many women, where…?’ Nua’s curiosity was beginning to bother her, ‘Is this a threat?’ She wondered, ‘Are they plants?’ She reflexively reached to feel for the security of her knife, and found nothing.

‘Damn it…’ She cursed as an unfamiliar woman in the black and white outfit of a maid approached with a knife in hand, Nua’s heart raced, the succulent scent of the face meat of the boar in front of her was forgotten as her body tensed in anticipation of violence.

But as the maid approached, she noticed something more, and felt herself relax again. ‘Their outfits are… a bit shorter than the ones I use.’ She then caught sight of Diana out of the corner of her eye, despite being a great beauty herself, she was not directly approached. The courtesan was moving about the room giving directions, pointing out the more handsy nobles, merchants, or mercenary leaders, and sending a shorter dress in to deal with them.

Diana of Komestra seemed to have a knack for identifying just the one to send for the job, and once seen, it could not be unseen. Nua watched keenly as some of the more rapacious Pasenian women were distracted with vigorous young men in turn, and even that was not unique.

A part of Nua felt laughter rise, each servant sent in as a ‘replacement’ carried with them a mask which was taken and placed on the person who was ‘targeted’ and once on, the servant donned one of their own, drawn from the same pouch in their uniform, and the party would depart.

As the minutes passed and the alcohol flowed more abundantly and the remaining tolerance for it decreased, it happened more and more often. Only when it began to slow down, as intoxication washed away desire, did Nua leave her place and cross the long smooth floor to speak to the dark haired beauty.

As soon as she was in front of Diana, the slave curtseyed. “Lady Aiwenor, congratulations to you on your ascension.”

The thin dark eyebrows were arched and a pleasant wink of emerald green eyes passed over her face, while ruby lips formed a happy smile.

“I assume this was your doing, Diana?” Nua asked, and for a moment the ruby smile vanished.

“Yes… I…” Diana looked to the floor and considered going to her knees. ‘Did I overstep by hiring those prostitutes…?’ She felt her pulse race a little, but relaxed when no anger came her way.

“That was very smart…” Nua said and put a hand on Diana’s shoulder. “I take the safety of my servants seriously, maybe they’d think nothing of an evening of rutting to entertain one of my guests, but I know not everyone is you. You may not have followed an order, but you followed my will. You were worth every copper spent on you, many times over.” Nua said, and the radiant ruby smile returned to the servant.

She lowered her head, “You’re a rare one in some ways, mistress, but like many others in some respects at least, I knew that had you thought of this, you would have ordered it yourself. But I did nothing special, just hired a few extra ‘specialized’ servants and modified your masquerade concept to something better befitting the upper classes of your city.”

Nua pursed her lips, “I’m only a Duchessa, it isn’t my city.”

Diana leaned in, taking Nua’s hand, she placed it on her breast as if the mistress was about to engage in some debauchery herself, and when she leaned in, Diana whispered to her. “Yes it is. They just don’t know it yet. Why don’t you go, my lady, they’re all so drunk nobody will notice.”

A loud, thunderous crash briefly stopped everyone, and Nua turned to look, Ambassador Botisa collapsed in a drunken heap, most of him quite under the table, his tail still flapping about for a few moments before that too went limp.

“You can handle the rest?” Nua asked with reluctant hope, her eyes rolling with a little annoyance as the men and women of hardier constitutions grew louder.

Diana released her mistress’s hand and let it fall away from her breast, she nodded affirmatively. “Of course, My Lady, this is what I do best, and at this, I am the best. By morning the powerful and influential will want you to remain wealthy and powerful so they can do this all over again. My ears will have gathered all kinds of whispers for you, and you will be exalted for how thoroughly you’ve embraced the ways of Pas’en.”

Nua felt tension begin to flow out of her body at the promise, “See me tomorrow before I leave, Diana.”

“As you wish, My Lady.” Diana replied, and Nua walked away. She caught the reflection of Diana in the mirror, alternating between pointing out the passed out to be carried to various rooms, and those whose desires managed to rise despite the alcohol.

‘Prude.’ Nua called herself and made her way to her bed. Solution was waiting for her there, still in her maid uniform and with hands on her hips.

“You took your time.” Solution said and chuckled, “Rasgen wanted more than Tir did he?”

Nua huffed, and raised her arms to shoulder level, Solution went behind her and began to unlace the dress. “Of course not, he was happy enough to be reunited with her. Frankly I was expecting Tir to be a bit more resentful of him.”

“Maybe she will be later, when she’s calmed down from her initial excitement.” Solution proposed as her fingers deftly made their way down Nua’s back.

“Maybe. But I sent Kaiji to take care of everything, if everything goes smoothly, the Prince will let the matter of Ulmin’s death lie, as long as he gets back what he felt he lost.” Nua replied, and Solution paused in her unlacing.

“Really, student, you sent Kaiji to bed with them?” She laughed behind Nua’s back and finished undoing the laces of the dress and started loosening the cuffs of the sleeves.

“Not that, teacher I just told her… ‘I don’t care what he wants, he gets it.’ but… that doesn’t mean anything.” Nua said defensively, “They were friends before the war at one point, and he protected her when she was captured. He wouldn’t really…”

Nua barely noticed as Solution undressed her, the rest of the way and brought over her night clothes, as if to taunt her student, she answered the question. “Maybe? She’s still the captive woman from an enemy nation, who knows what he’ll do with her if she’s been gift wrapped for him the way you just did.” Solution pressed herself behind Nua as her night clothes went on, and reached around to grab Nua by her jaw.

Nua heard the rough whisper in her ear, “Everything you do, is on you, a word the wrong way, and someone can have a really hard night.” Her heavy breath was hot on Nua’s long, sensitive ears.

She tried to turn to look over her shoulder, “I’ll go fix that order and… and I’ll be more careful, by the dead gods of the west… how could I say something so stupid? I was just trying to make sure she understood he could have anything, not giftwrap her for the Prince’s amusement. It just didn’t occur to me that he might…”

Nua relaxed and Solution’s hands went to her shoulders and forcibly turned Nua around. Nua turned her eyes up the little ways to meet those of Solution who upbraided her sharply, “You can’t do that now, student. What will the Prince think if you withdraw your offer, I’m sure Kaiji made it known to him. You’ll look like a terrible host. And what about Kaiji, she’ll be mortified and humiliated. What if Rasgen thinks you were playing a joke on him? A taunt like that is not a small thing. Everything will be set back, if not ruined. All because of your poor choice of words.”

The brief relaxation of her body evaporated like a puddle of water on a hot day, and was replaced by fresh tension. “On the other hand, this will make for quite a test.” Solution said practically and gave a bemused smile to her student’s distressed face.

“But she trusts me.” Nua replied urgently.

Solution gave an indifferent shrug, “She’s committed, just like you. If my Lord gave the same order to me that you did to her, then I would make him beg to serve my lord, if only he could have another night with me.” Solution’s face was smug, and she placed her index finger on Nua’s nose.

Solution’s icy voice washed over Nua like a flooding river in winter. “This is a test, my student, of her loyalty, of his nature, and your commitment. You wondered how far she would go for you. You wondered if he was like the humans you escaped, and you promised me that there were no lengths you wouldn’t go to. Fail here, and you will fail your goal in the end.”

“So… what? I just have to wait, that is what you’re saying, Teacher?” Nua asked and went to sit on the bed.

“Yes, besides, you keep thinking everybody here is like you, they’re not. Liaisons of this sort happen all the time here, everybody looks for their pleasures because of the storm just on the other side of the border just waiting to take their lives.” Solution’s hand stroked Nua’s cheek, soft as it was, Nua felt the steel like strength behind it.

“Everybody is telling me to relax, is this your attempt at doing the same?” Nua asked, and when Solution nodded, Nua gave up. She opened her arms and fell backwards onto the soft bed. The blankets and soft mattress sank somewhat beneath her.

“I just want to know she’s OK, she trusts me to take care of her, they all do, I am responsible for them. It doesn’t sit well with me, if she thinks I threw her at him.” Nua answered unhappily.

“And she will trust you the same in the morning, she was a Prime Minister, she gave the same orders to Diana regularly, and think about Sobella, for that matter, you sent Diana to seduce the Prince’s cousin in Hanak’sen. If Kaiji had an objection, she would have raised it herself. Do you want to go down the same road Sado did, Nua?” Solution asked in a thoughtful voice that caught the elf off guard.

Nua snapped her head to the right to look at where Solution was already seating herself on the bed. “No, of course not.”

“Then you win, you win or you die or wish you did. Everyone is a pawn to be moved, you can’t let sentiment or your own personal fixations get the better of you. Rasgen isn’t just your friend, he’s your rival, even if he marries you, you are rivals. He wants things stable, safe as they can be. You intend to threaten that.” Solution warned her student, and Nua’s eyes glassed over.

‘She almost never uses my name… not unless she’s exceedingly serious. By god’s bones, what have I gotten myself into… but she’s right, I’m committed. Now all I can do is wait.’ Nua considered unhappily, and closed her eyes until morning.

Vargas lay on the stone, his limbs were on fire still, everything hurt. ‘Forget being a threat, I couldn’t even swat away a fly right now.’ Freyjin took the knife from her belt in a smooth, practiced motion as soon as he was stretched out.

‘So, that’s why she offered to look after me, to get a chance for this. Elven lies… this is what they do, this is how their king is… was, too.’ But there was no help for it, nice to know I’m vindicated at least.’ He thought, and then Vargas just relaxed, looked away from her, and quietly stared up at the ceiling instead.

Vargas felt the tug at the sack he was wearing as it was pulled tight against his body. The knife was still in her hand, but it didn’t puncture his flesh as he expected, instead she was cutting the sack away, leaving him exposed. ‘A little humiliation, or mutilation beforehand then? Whatever, the dead don’t care, what does it matter if I die naked?’

The knife clinked lightly against the stone when she set it aside, and she moved the bowl and a pitcher of water close by, the only sound for a moment was the sloshing sound in the wooden dish, and then she took a part of the sack, soaked it, and began to wipe his body down, cleaning off the red blood that stained his flesh.

“Tell me if it hurts you where I touch.” Freyjin ordered.

“So you can do it twice, I don’t think so.” Vargas coughed, spitting up blood onto his face that ran out his body’s warmth over his flesh.

“No, stupid, so I don’t touch it twice.” Freyjin replied and began to wipe it down.

‘Please let her be lying. By the six, let her be lying.’ Vargas thought with desperation that set his hairs to standing on end as if he’d been threatened.

He winced when she touched a spot, and her hand darted away, he relaxed, and she did not go back to that spot. ‘Damn it…’ He cursed, “Why are you doing this?” Vargas asked.

“Why did you do what you did?” Freyjin asked. She looked over her shoulder, beyond the low light of torches within, and their occasional sparking, crackling noise. They were alone. Her ears twitched a bit, seeking anyone beyond themselves, but there were none. None but they, and the loud celebration in the nearby estate.

Vargas was silent, “It was a drunken mistake.” He said, and Freyjin’s hand came out and slapped him again.

He turned his eyes to her, his mouth opened and closed, but no words came out, if his arms could have moved, he would have touched the spot she’d slapped.

She balled up her slender fingers into small, angry fists. “Don’t lie to me, Vargas. I was aware of more of that beating than you think I was. I’m not as weak as I was before, all I could think… all I could think was, ‘Why is my friend hurting me like this, why is my friend, why is Vargas, my comrade, beating me while I lie helpless on the floor? I want the truth! I deserve the truth, don’t I?” Freyjin demanded, and began to wipe the blood away again, wringing out the cloth each time, but with her eyes never leaving his face.

Vargas stewed over her demand, and finally he answered. “I’ll probably be whipped if she finds out I broke my silence… but you’re right, you do deserve the truth. It’s because you’re an elf. Most of my life, I was a human supremacist, my unit, we hunted and killed your kind, or brought them back to serve their human masters in conditions that would make even a Lur’gin company master oppose his own trade.

“Our faith told us you were meant to be of use to us or killed, there was no middle ground, and I… I believed it.” Vargas said, and as she continued to clean up the blood, he told her everything. His life, his religion, all the way up to the day he came back and injured her. “So, there you have it, Freyjin. You want to use that knife, go ahead.” He sighed heavily as if he’d unburdened himself to a priest, it was cathartic in a way.

Freyjin finished cleaning the blood from his body instead, the water in the bowl had turned a bright red in the light, and the stone around his body on the floor a deep burnt umber shade from the mingling of water and blood that ran away from his legs, arms, and body.

“That is quite a bit to take in.” Freyjin finally said in a tender voice. “I pity you. Living two lives like that… so… right now… look at me Vargas, tell me the truth? Do you see an inferior being, or do you see just a friend you thoughtlessly hurt?”

Vargas shut his eyes. “Open them, answer me.” Freyjin ordered.

He obeyed her, slowly, “You were helping me learn how to fight, learn how to be strong… so I could fight for my children, we traded so many blows… I came to see you like a brother… I never had a brother. So it was nice, you know, to feel like I had a bunch of them, and then one really great one who spent all that time making me sweat out my weakness.” Freyjin put her hand over his chest.

“I know you weren’t in your right mind, even if you weren’t drunk. And you know what else… I know you were trying to help me, too. You went and got help, you confessed what you did, you tried to help me after you were done… you wouldn’t have done that if you really thought you’d just put down an undeserving animal.” Freyjin pressed her hand on his chest very lightly, she could feel his heart throbbing in his chest.

“So…?” She loomed over his face, “Do I still have a favorite brother I can count on? Or did you, in finding your old self, kill my big brother?” Freyjin felt his distress as surely as her own, and without thinking, she pressed a little harder on his chest.

He winced, “Agh…” He gasped and his face twisted in pain when the pressure came down on his ribs.

She snatched her hand away, “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to…”

His breathing was labored for a moment, and when his gasps for breath through pain resumed, he answered, “Yeah… me too.” For the rest of the night, only the trickle of water into the bowl and the crackling of fire from the torches, disturbed the silence of the cell.