Four elves made their way towards the high-walls of Bar'rintla, a medium-sized town near the outskirts of the Elven Kingdom. "So… the Elves just built right on top of the Maze, huh?" Andrew commented.

"Kinda hard not to." Greg shrugged. "The Maze is freaking huge. It goes miles in either direction, all through this entire area. That much territory isn't going to just be left alone."

"I guess, but I'm not sure I'd be comfortable living above a giant labyrinth filled with monsters." Andrew replied, his expression twisting.

"Well, it isn't like the Maze is right there under them. The bulk of it is at least a couple hundred meters down, with only a fraction of the tunnels leading to the surface." Greg explained.

Andrew frowned, before shaking his head. "Still feels weird to me."

"Alright, guys, focus up." Victoria clapped to get their attention as they got closer to the town. "You're both clear on the plan?"

"We're traveling merchants who lost our wagon to a wolf pack. Thankfully we managed to escape due to the wolves being more interested in the food we were selling than us, but it left us with little to no money, just what we were carrying on us at the time." Greg rolled his eyes, reciting their cover story and shaking a small pouch full of coins. They'd gotten some examples of Elven currency from the party they'd encountered, and after interrogating their captured Elves a bit to determine how much the money was actually worth, along with a few other things they'd need to know for their infiltration, Greg had made enough to cover their living expenses for a couple weeks at least. As for any holes anyone might poke in their story… Well, the elegant solution they'd arrived at was to actually find a wolf pack and get attacked by it, which they did.

"Not that part of the plan." Victoria rolled her eyes. "The part where we aren't using our abilities while we're here. You're both clear on that, right? The point of this is to blend in and do some information gathering, not to draw the attention of everyone and get cultivators sent after us!"

Greg sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I'll be good."

"I barely use my ability anyway." Andrew grumbled.

"And I will be bored, boring, bored." The other Greg added in the blandest tone he could manage. His job was to act as a stand-in for when Chris eventually joined them, which mostly meant avoiding interacting with people as much as possible so the switch could be seamless. His plan was to pretend he was recovering from the attack, so he could spend most of his time in whatever room they ended up staying in, doing his best to keep himself entertained.

Victoria glared at him. "You aren't bored, you're disinterested. There's a difference."

"And because I'm disinterested, I'm bored." Greg retorted. "Don't worry, I can pull off Chris. All I have to do is suppress the urge to entertain myself, and I'm pretty much there."

Victoria shook her head, but couldn't exactly argue. Greg was the only one of them who was even close to understanding Chris, even if she still thought he was wrong. But as long as he stayed back and kept quiet, it shouldn't be a problem.

It didn't take much longer for the four of them to reach the gate of the town, doing their best to look tired and worn down as they did. "Sirs! Thank the heavens we made it!" Victoria began breathlessly as she stumbled up to the guards. "Our wagon was ravaged by a wolf pack! We barely escaped!"

The guards eyed them for a moment, taking in their injuries and generally disheveled state, before nodding. "Come with me. You'll need to file a report, but we can get you some food and have a medic look you over while you wait." One of the guards offered, waving for them to follow him through the gate.

"Thank you! Thank you!" Victoria thanked him profusely while the other three put on relieved expressions. A part of her was actually thankful they were doing this without Chris. She wasn't sure if he could manage to pull off even that simple level of acting.

The guard led them to a small barrack and set them up at what looked like a break table, before heading off to get his superior. Shortly after he left, two halflings came in carrying plates of food and a pitcher of water, Victoria suppressing a grimace as they did. During their interrogation of the Elves in preparation for this, they'd learned that they kept halflings as slaves, and she wasn't exactly comfortable with that. "Your food, masters." The lead halfling bowed as she set down their food, her partner following as she set down the pitcher as well.

"Thank you." Victoria nodded with a smile.

The halfling blinked in surprise. "Of- of course, mistress." She bowed again before the two of them filed out.

"Pretty sure you aren't supposed to thank slaves." Greg commented, taking a bite of the food before grimacing, surreptitiously sending some smoke into it and making a few changes.

Victoria shot him a glare. "Just because they have to obey, doesn't mean we shouldn't appreciate their work. They're still people."

"Obviously, but aren't we supposed to be blending in? Elves don't think of halflings as people, so you acting like they are isn't blending." Greg pointed out.

"Just because you keep slaves doesn't necessarily mean you don't think they're people." Andrew interjected. "The Bonded keep elves as slaves, but that's because they're too weak to protect themselves, not because we think they're not people. They literally rely on us to survive, so slavery is pretty much the only way they can repay us. Maybe this is a similar situation?"

Victoria grimaced. "That- still doesn't seem like a great situation to me. The idea that you get to treat someone however you like just because they depend on you to survive-"

"Hey, I didn't say you could abuse them because of it." Andrew retorted. "I mean, it's like pets, or better example, kids. You have almost full control over their lives, but you still have to treat them well. Any power you have comes with an equal amount of responsibility. Power over another person gives you the responsibility to take care of that person. And yeah, for the person under the power of another, it isn't a great situation, but when you're incapable, you have to make concessions."

Victoria opened her mouth to retort, before pausing, cocking her head thoughtfully. "So… sort of like you give up certain freedoms in order to live in a society? Because you're incapable of surviving on your own, you have to make concessions to fit into society."

"I guess?" Andrew shrugged.

Victoria frowned, turning to Greg. "This still doesn't say I can't thank the slaves."

"Hey, ideal slavery aside, that girl looked surprised when you thanked her, which implies it isn't normal around here, so by thanking her, you aren't blending." Greg pointed out. "I'm not saying you should be an ass about it, I'm just saying this isn't the time to champion emancipation or slave rights or whatever."

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Victoria grimaced for a moment, before letting out a sigh. "Yeah, you're right. I still don't like it though."

"And I don't like having to pretend to be Chris. We all make sacrifices." 'Chris' commented.

Victoria stuck her tongue out at him, before digging into her food. They didn't have to wait much longer before the guard returned with his superior, the superior taking a seat at the table with them while the guard returned to his post. "I hear you've had quite the ordeal. Something about a wolf pack attacking your caravan?"

"Just a wagon. We're a small merchant band." Victoria corrected.

"Ah, of course." He nodded. "Were there any casualties?"

"Thankfully no." Victoria replied. "The wolves were more focused on getting to our wares than us. We'd recently picked up a large amount of meat from Kal'nifta… we think the packaging may have been damaged at some point, which is what drew in the wolves."

He grunted. "Are you seeking damages?"

Victoria sighed, shaking her head. "No, we couldn't prove the packaging was damaged, or that the meat drew the wolves in the first place. Unfortunately, this is simply our misfortune to deal with. We just want to warn people of the wolf pack, to help make sure no one else gets hurt."

"An admirable position." He nodded appreciatively. "We'll send some scouts that way to see what we can recover. Is there anything of note we should keep an eye out for?"

"Just the lockbox, but there isn't much in there." Victoria sighed. "We spent most of our funds on the meat."

"Regrettable." He grimaced. "Well, thank you for the report. We'll be sure to let everyone know to be on guard between here and Kal'nifta. Once you're finished eating, one of the halflings will take you to the infirmary where a medic will see to your injuries. If you require lodgings, we have a few extra beds in the barracks for a night or two."

"Thank you for the offer, but we still have enough funds to put ourselves up at an inn." Victoria assured him with a smile.

"Then it was a pleasure meeting you, and I hope you all manage to recover from this misfortune." He gave them a nod as he stood to leave.

The four of them quickly finished their meal, and a few moments after, the two halflings returned, one collecting their dishes while the other led them to the infirmary. "How did they know we were done?" Andrew muttered, leaning in to whisper to Victoria.

The halfling hesitated for a moment, glancing back at them. "My- ability grants me enhanced hearing, masters." She explained with a well executed moving curtsy.

Andrew blinked. "So… you could hear everything we said?"

"I- yes, master." She nodded nervously, stopping as she turned to give them a deep bow. "Please forgive this one for eavesdropping, masters! I will accept any punishment you deem fit!"

Victoria grimaced. "That won't be necessary."

"Victoria, we can't just let her go if she heard us talking." Greg interjected. They hadn't exactly talked about any major secrets, but they'd said enough to be suspicious. "What if she tells someone?"

Victoria turned to glare at him. "What other options do we have? Anything we do to her would be even more suspicious than what she heard!"

"Well… we could replace her?" Greg offered.

Andrew pinched the bridge of his nose. "Greg, we're not killing someone just to keep our secrets!"

"That isn't what I was suggesting!" Greg protested. "Andrew, you said you could create a Bond like the one with Cathryn, right? Bond her, store her, and I'll make a body to replace her! Then we find some way to die at some point, maybe a suicide or something, and boom, problem solved!"

Andrew's expression twisted. "That- could work… but I feel like I'm tempting fate if I Bond another woman."

Greg blinked, glancing at the halfling, then back at Andrew. "Hey, she's cute enough. I say go for it." He chuckled, patting him on the back.

Andrew glared at him. "Then how about I Bond her to you?"

"Whoa, hey now. I don't want to steal your girlfriend." Greg snickered.

Victoria rolled her eyes. This would have been so much easier if they had Chris and they could have just tossed her into his world. "Bond her to me, I don't care. Let's just do this and get it over with!"

"Right, you just have to be touching her." Andrew agreed, sending his aura into both of them as Victoria grabbed her by the shoulder.

"What are you- ulp!" The halfling squeaked as Andrew condensed his aura through the two of them, creating a simple summon Bond. He hadn't done one of these to anyone who wasn't him before, so he was surprised by the effort it took. Victoria didn't resist it, but the halfling did, more than he thought she should be able to, giving him a bit of a headache as the Bond formed. "Wh- what did-" The halfling cut off as Victoria summoned her into herself.

"Greg, body." Victoria ordered.

"Done." Greg nodded, his smoke condensing into a copy of the halfling, which Victoria immediately sent some points in to possess. "Why did you do that?" Greg asked, giving her a weird look. He'd figured he'd be the one controlling the copy.

"I have access to her." The Victoria in the copy shrugged. "Easier to just ask her if I need to know anything, rather than have you ask me then I ask her. Come on, the infirmary is this way."

The visit to the infirmary was thankfully short, the medic giving them a quick look over before sending them on their way. None of their injuries were life threatening, so if they wanted them healed, they'd have to go to an actual healer and pay for it. Thanks to her newfound knowledge of the town through her Bond with Cecelia, the halfling, Victoria led the four of them to the second best inn in town and they got themselves a suite to stay in. She was finding that the Bond was making it easier to read Cecelia's mind, so she practically knew her entire life by this point.

"So… what are the odds that there's another person with an enhanced hearing ability around?" Greg asked as they arrived in the suite.

"Seeing as abilities follow family lines, pretty good." Andrew grimaced.

"She does have a sister with the same ability, but she works across town. Also, the ability is only strong enough to hear through walls, so we should be fine now." Victoria sighed, letting Cecilia out.

Cecelia blinked in confusion as she reformed, yelping and covering herself with her hands before Greg clothed her using some smoke. She blinked down at the clothes that had suddenly appeared on her, before looking up at them with wide, terrified eyes, then falling to her knees in a full bow, shivering in fear.

"Hey, it's okay, we aren't going to hurt you." Victoria assured her softly, kneeling next to her, placing a hand on her back. Cecelia glanced up hesitantly, feeling the truth in her words, before quickly putting her head back down as she saw the four of them staring at her. Victoria sighed, sitting back on her heels, glancing at the others. "Guys, could you leave us alone for a bit?"

"Sure." Greg shrugged. "We need to get cleaned up anyway."

The others left for their own rooms while Victoria turned her attention back to Cecelia. "Alright, it's just us. Are you ready to talk?"

Cecelia glanced up again, before turning back down. "How- how may I serve you, mistress?" She asked, defaulting to subservience. All she could tell at this point was that these people were beyond her in ways she couldn't comprehend, so her best chance at survival was to do whatever they said.

Victoria's expression twisted. "You don't need to serve us at all." She insisted. "Do you remember what we talked about? We're not proponents of slavery. You don't need to do anything for us to keep you safe. We just can't risk drawing any suspicion right now, so we had to take you, and I'm sorry for that. But we'll free you as soon as we're able, okay?"

Cecelia's head snapped up in shock. "You'll- you'll free me?!?" She asked incredulously.

Victoria nodded. "We will. We'll free all the halflings if we can. Including your sister."

Cecelia just stared at Victoria for a moment. "But- why?"

"Because slavery is wrong." Victoria growled. "People should be free to make their own way in the world. People have to be free to make their own way in the world. The only thing that should limit people is their own capabilities."

Cecelia blinked. "O-okay?"

Victoria sighed. "Look, you don't need to understand it. Just trust that it's going to happen, okay? I know freedom is a… bit of a foreign concept to you, but- ugh, I can't say your life will be perfect after this, but at least it'll be yours."

Cecelia slowly sat up. "What- what does this mean for me now?"

Victoria paused. "Well… for now you're pretty much just going to have to stay here, or go back inside me. In a week or so, one of our friend's will get here, and he'll be able to take you to a place where you can live a bit more freely. A lot more freely… you'll have your own home, you can make friends, get a job, whatever you want, really. But until then, yeah, you're kinda stuck either here, or with me."

Cecelia hesitated. "And… what should I do here?"

Victoria raised an eyebrow at her. "What do you want to do?"

"Clean?" Cecelia offered tentatively.

Victoria frowned. "Is that what you want to do, or what you think you should do?"

Cecelia fidgeted awkwardly. "I- I don't know what I want to do…"

Victoria smiled. "Well, how about I help you figure that out?"