Eubexa woke in pain, like always. She was something of a connoisseur of pain at this point. Years of cataloging an ever-increasing list of ailments and places that hurt did that to a person. So, when she woke, the particular pattern of pains she felt told her immediately that something was different.

She wasn't very hungry.

That was a big one. She couldn't remember the last time she had gone to bed with a full stomach and woken up with only the normal hunger to break her fast. Parts of her guts felt offended by the change in routine, even if it was a good one. Eating differently always took some adjustment.

She had slept on her back, as usual, and a few new places ached because the bed she was currently in had not been adjusted dozens of times by tiny amounts to minimize her pain from lying down. Slowly, she flexed her fingers, then her arms, then her neck, in her daily ritual to find out what was working and what was not.

Her neck…

Eubexa felt her eyes widen and blinked them hard. I'm not wearing a slave collar.

I'm not wearing a slave collar.

Immediately, she was torn between joy and terror. Being found without her collar on was a death sentence. Yet all three of the elves she had seen were not wearing them, either. Just the redhead had put one on before going out. As if it were just for show.

As if it were just for show.

Eubexa started to get choked up and forced the feeling down. Wake UP, girl, you're in danger. Figure out what's going on before you get yourself killed. Drop the fantasy, face reality. What do I know?

She grit her teeth as she adjusted her position slightly, feeling the strain on her skin as stinging flared along a certain trouble spot. The familiar pain helped her focus. What do I know? she repeated to herself.

I'm not in Madam Louisa's. She sold me. I have a new Master. Tom…Tom Walker, I think it was. He was disgusted when I showed my face, but he didn't turn away. It was a stupid risk to take, Eubexa. Stupid! What if he had backed out of the deal?

Eubexa was very angry with the small part of her that kept trying to reclaim shreds of dignity. Wanting things—wanting anything—is asking for trouble. It's just a weakness to exploit. I'm going to get myself killed one of these days. Then she snorted faintly. Not as if I have a lot longer to live, anyway. If he had found me years ago, then maybe it might have been different. I hope he's not too angry when he figures out I'm dying. I saw him pass more than one gold coin to the Madam. Even if he is rich, that's a lot of money to go to waste.

She thought about the fantastical tale Diavla had told her. She wasn't sure how much of it to believe. Diavla seemed to think Tom was doing this out of the goodness of his heart. Eubexa knew better. Everyone had an approach, a plan. She just had to figure out what Tom's was.

She had to admit, he was doing a masterful job of looking good, no pun intended. When he let the elves out of the cage, it was really because he knew that it was his only hope for survival. Eubexa had a lot of experience reading people, and she could tell that the other elves were not being completely truthful. Diavla had gotten evasive about the extent of Tom's injuries and how they had nursed him back to health. The man had carried her across town in his arms. Either he had been hiding the strain he was under, or he hadn't been as injured as Diavla had claimed.

Everyone had an agenda. She needed to know what the other slaves thought, what they wanted. She'd gotten the impression that Diavla was the head slave, not that they called it that yet. They were still getting used to their new existence. They'd figure it out, eventually.

I'll have to watch them carefully, see how they react to each other. Tom will say one thing and mean another. They always do. I'll have to read him and figure out what he really wants, what will please him, and what will encourage him to treat me well.

Her body intruded on her thoughts, as it often did. Eubexa grimaced. She thought about the three flights of stairs down to the waste room. That was going to be very inconvenient. Many things had been terrible in the Den but at least there had been only two stories and a single flight of stairs to worry about. I'll need a chamber pot at the least, if there isn't one already somewhere. I'll still have to lug it up and down myself, but at least I can save up my energy.

The air was a bit stuffy in her room; there wasn't enough ventilation. It was a common problem when so many buildings were mashed up together without room for windows. Eubexa wondered what would be expected of her on her first day, and debated getting up versus resting more. She decided to get rest while she reasonably could. If that was a mistake, then hopefully she would be forgiven.

It was only a few minutes later that she heard other people stirring. They weren't the only people living on this floor, but she caught snippets of quiet Elvish, which she hadn't heard in years, beyond the words she had taught Heather for her elf act. They were saying something about breakfast. Eubexa wondered what their standard fare would be. They were new to the city, and she didn't know whether they had any routines set up yet.

There was a soft knock at the door. Eubexa braced herself, then carefully pulled her veil closer and put it on. “Yes?”

Diavla stepped in. “Good morning. How are you feeling?”

Eubexa considered how to answer. “Happy to be out of the brothel.”

“I can only imagine. I mean physically. Do you need anything?”

“A chamber pot, eventually. But I need to be the only one to touch it.”

“We can take precautions.”

“My sickness is nothing to scoff at.”

“I'm aware. I have physicker training. You're still being overly cautious, though I certainly understand why.”

“How should I serve, now?”

Diavla raised her eyebrows. “Resting, and telling me what you need.”

“Is that an order from the Master?”

“I'm sure it will be, as soon as he wakes up.”

“When do you expect that?”

Diavla looked thoughtful. “Normally he's up by now, but he went out drinking last night and came back fairly late.”

“If I may make a suggestion, you could make sure to have water and bread ready for him.”

“I do. I'm returning the favor. He was very considerate when I had a hangover.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Eubexa digested that for a moment. Is she serious? What is this man like? I know what she said, but she can't be reading him right. There's no way he is what she says he is. Their naivete was maddening.

They're like a bunch of children.

She heard a door open, then after a pause, a man called out in heavily-accented Elvish. “Good morning.” It was the Master. Eubexa was still getting used to the sound of his voice, but it sounded extra rough from the hangover.

Now we find out how much of a temper he has and how much he will take it out on us, she thought grimly.

“Good morning, Tom,” Diavla said quietly. She quickly brought him water and bread, or so it seemed; it was happening in the hall and Eubexa couldn't see it. She listened closely but couldn't make out enough of the conversation to understand. They had to be talking very quietly for that.

Then the Master raised his voice. “Eubexa and I go temple now. Who go temple?”

The temple? Eubexa fought down a bit of panic. He's not going to spend a fortune uselessly on me. He's just evaluating the merchandise, getting a diagnosis and a prognosis. He's got to be.

“I go,” Diavla said at once. “Varga sleep. Kervan is no here.”

“I'll stay here to meet Kervan,” Orvan declared. Diavla rendered that into Elvish baby-talk for the Master. I can help with that, if they would come a little closer.

“Orvan, you have coin? You and Kervan eat?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

Finally, the Master entered her room, followed by Diavla. “Good morning, Eubexa. We go temple.”

“Master, I am fluent in Western, you can speak normally to me.”

The Master blinked at her a couple of times, then gave a weak grin. “My apologies, Eubexa. I'm a little slow this morning. I've gotten into the habit of trying to speak Elvish first. I know I must sound atrocious in your language.”

“No apology needed, Master, of course. Your Elvish is amazingly good.”

“Thank you, but I know I still have a long way to go.”

“Master, you said that we are going to the temple. May I ask why?”

The Master blinked again. “To do what we can for you. I want to know exactly what is wrong with you and how much it would cost to fix it all. I can't promise to do it right away—”

Her fear actually drove her to interrupt her Master. “Master, no! It would cost a fortune! Far more than I am worth.” At that, he finally showed anger. Shit. I should have waited until he finished speaking. Stupid, Eubexa, stupid!

His words surprised her, though. “You are a hum—excuse me, you are a person, I mean to say. Any person is worth more than all the gold in the kingdom. Don't ever say you aren't worth it.” Eubexa was momentarily stunned into silence, so he continued, “The questions are whether we can afford it, and how long it would take. But you have worth, Eubexa.”

Eubexa chose her next words carefully. “Thank you for your kind words, Master. I mean to say that financially, it makes no sense to heal me.”

“By that logic, all generosity makes no sense,” the Master countered. It was Eubexa's turn to blink. He's intelligent. That could be very good or very bad, possibly both. I need to tread cautiously with him.

“I see your point, Master.”

He still looked annoyed. “Call me Tom, Eubexa.”

Eubexa froze. Is this a test? It has to be a test, to see whether I will disrespect him. “I cannot do that, Master.”

“Why not?”

“It would be unseemly, and would be seen as a show of disrespect.”

The Master groaned, then muttered to himself. “And if I make it an order, I'm contradicting myself…gods.” He took a deep breath. “Fine. Call me Master in public if you must, but in private, I don't want to be called that—because of the slavery,” he finished quickly. Hidden behind her veil, Eubexa raised an eyebrow. Was that a hint? Interesting. If he likes that, maybe I can give some advice to the women. “Understood, sir.”

The Master winced. “I suppose it's an improvement, at least.” He sighed. “Is there anything you need before we go? It's past sunup, so we should be able to find a healer or at least a healer's aide.” Eubexa quietly explained again about the chamber pot.

Once she had been left alone and had dealt with her nature call, she warned Diavla repeatedly not to let anyone touch the chamber pot but her. “We're locking your room behind us and taking the keys,” Diavla assured her.

“I'm sorry, I'll be a few minutes getting down the stairs.”

“Tom can carry you.”

Eubexa was horrified at the presumption, but sure enough, her Master insisted on picking her up and carrying her down to the street, and didn't stop there. He carried her to a city wagon lot and up to a pair of wagons. As they approached the empty one, the Master swore.

“I forgot, I already made an agreement to meet a scholar here this morning!”

“Why?” Eubexa asked.

“To evaluate the last cargo. I don't know what to do with it, and hopefully, I can get the temple to take it off my hands.”

“Is it valuable?”

“Presumably, to the right person. Apparently, the cargo was being shipped to High Pass Temple. That's why I want a temple to take charge of it. Fortunately for us, we've got the spare wagon as a place to let you rest. Eubexa, I'm afraid we'll have to wait here for a while.”

“Of course, Master.” The Master set her down carefully in the empty wagon bed. It was extremely uncomfortable, but Eubexa disciplined herself not to make a sound.

“I apologize. Please translate all that for Diavla.”

Eubexa winced at the apology. “Right away, Master.” Quickly, she switched to Elvish and filled the other woman in. Diavla actually tapped her forehead for a moment.

“That's right, he told us, and it completely slipped my mind, too. Good thing we were coming for the empty wagon and got the reminder. It's been a very busy couple of days.”

“Indeed.”

Eubexa concentrated on breathing evenly to manage the pain. After a bit, Diavla distracted her by asking the Master about breakfast in their Western pidgin. “Tom, we eat?”

“Oh, right.” The Master winced. “I'm not thinking too well this morning, am I? Um, Eubexa, are there any special foods you want or need? I'm probably going to have to send Diavla to grab food for us.”

“Anything you give us is fine, Master.”

The Master gave a grunt of annoyance at that. “Diavla, food Eubexa need?”

“Big food. All food,” Diavla replied.

“All right. Diavla, you get…five breakfasts. You have coin?”

“Breakfasts?”

“Breakfasts,” Eubexa supplied. “He wants you to buy five meals. I hope he doesn't mean for me to eat two of them.”

“No, it's two for Tom, and three for us to split. All of us have been eating a portion and a half at meals ever since we got out of the cage. And I've been stuffing myself with sweets, besides.” Diavla turned to the Master. “I have coin. I go, I buy five food, five breck…”

“Breakfasts,” Eubexa reminded her.

“Breakfasts. Breakfasts.” Diavla repeated the word to herself as she started to leave.

“Eubexa, please tell Diavla to be careful and yell if she gets into any trouble.” Eubexa did so. Then it was just her and the mysterious Tom Walker.

“Master?”

Eubexa could actually see him gritting his teeth at that form of address. “What is it, Eubexa?”

“May I ask what my duties are as your slave?”

He appeared to be getting angry at the question. Eubexa was worried. Am I supposed to figure it out on my own? Should I ask the head slave instead? Fortunately, the human closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, he no longer looked angry. Instead he looked…sad. Pitying, even. Eubexa felt a churn of emotions at that. Outrage threatened to bubble up, but she squashed it back down with the ease of long practice. The Master's expression cleared before Eubexa had time to get too worked up with stress.

“Well, first of all, we are going to revisit this later. Please remember that.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Your duties…” He seemed to gather his thoughts for a moment. “Your first duty is to take care of your health to the extent that it is possible to do so. That includes telling me if you are in discomfort or have important needs not being met.”

Eubexa cynically took that under advisement, but answered, “Yes, Master,” as was obviously expected of her.

“Second, you are to translate as needed between Western and Elvish for myself and all the elves.”

“Understood.”

“Third, I want you to teach me more Elvish and the elves more Western.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Fourth, I will need you to read for me—ah, are you literate in Western? I should have asked.”

“Yes, Master. It's not quite at the level of my spoken Western, but I can get through the runes when I need to.”

“Excellent. And…ah…fifth…”

Eubexa waited, curious.

“I would like to learn a bit about Elvish culture and society. Particularly…” He paused to look for Diavla, then turned back to Eubexa again. “Courtship rituals.”

Eubexa blinked, hard. Wait, is he talking about him courting Diavla or Varga?

Before she could ask clarifying questions, a man called out to them. “Tom Walker?”

“That's me.”

“We spoke at the temple yesterday. I believe you have a cargo you want to be magically examined?”

Eubexa listened carefully as Tom began to recount a version of his story. This should be interesting.