Vaila was a small city, not even close to the size of Beergmutar, which itself was much smaller than Tyine. Perhaps with many cities this would be where someone would say, ‘but it has a nice atmosphere.’ Or something to that effect.

However, Vaila was a pit. Little more than a military checkpoint with a mine and some basic facilities for travelers passing through. Still, it would be the pit they would have to live in for the next three months. Cass purchased the best rooms in town, and even for someone who had lived on the street she thought it was rip off. Still, there were not a whole lot of options and this inn at least had relatively decent food as well.

Cass hid her identity as Strioi and presented herself as an extremely wealthy Merchant, she would rather not deal with the Voni in this area. At least for now. Nat was her daughter of course, and Odal and Rowig were her guards. Incredibly rich Merchants would occasionally have guards after all. Honestly, Cass didn’t think that the innkeeper believed a word she said, but an extra gold coin bought his silence. Hopefully.

“What will the others do?” Natalie asked, referring to the other refugees with them.

“I won’t lie to you Nat,” Cass sighed. “I would not be surprised if most of them died.”

“Can’t we help them?” Natalie reminded Cass of Maurice sometimes, Nat was a better person than Cass was.

“It would attract too much attention,” Cass replied. That was the truth, though she had to admit she was envious of Nat’s kindness. Cass could not remember a time when she had ever been that innocent. “A Merchant annoyed that they have to stay the winter in this shithole is nothing to make a note of. A Merchant trying to rescue everyone around them is noteworthy.”

“But, they could die, and we could help them.”

“And then everyone would be looking into us, and we might end up dying along with them.” Cass said that, but the sorrow on Natalie’s face was more than she could really deal with. “Fine, I will try and help them out- quietly.”

Why did Nat have this much of an effect on her? Whatever, Cass would think about it later. This winter would be a long one, and Cass wanted it to be calm and peaceful. Well, as peaceful as it could be with Rowig training her and trying to find a way out of this blasted country.

“Lady Cass,” Odal spoke from the side. “Could I talk to you for a moment?”

“Ah, I needed to speak to you as well Odal,” Cass would push helping the refugees onto Odal- she would have him make it look like loans of some kind, and pretend to be driving them into debt-slavery. If push came to shove, she could actually do it to. “What did you need?”

“I think you should go and talk to the Voni here, explain to them what has been going on.” Odal said passionately, “you did not see this country at its best, but we are better than that.”

Cass frowned, “Odal, I know you aren’t that bright but try and think for a bit. Do you honestly think that you could simply eliminate the Voni in the capital city and have none of the other leaders notice? They were either in on the plan, being blackmailed, or are too idiotic to be worth speaking to.”

“Why would you go back to slavery?” Odal pressed, “why support a society than enslaves others?”

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Cass sighed, “Odal, go grab Nat and come up to my room. I think I should explain this once and for all.”

A few minutes later, Cass and Nat were sitting on the bed and Odal was seated on the floor. Rowig was taking care of a few things elsewhere, Cass didn’t really care what he did, she did not intend to take him to Haj with her.

“So Nat,” Cass began as she settled down on the bed. The bed she had overpaid for she could not help adding as a mental note. “To bring you up to speed, Odal asked me why I would go back to slavery and why I would support Haj over Beergmutar, you and I have had similar discussions before.”

Natalie nodded and Odal remarked that he was interested to hear Cass’s reasoning.

“The simple answer is that I think this society is more enslaved than my own.” That was boiling it down quite a bit, but not an untrue statement from Cass’s point of view.

“We have no slaves at all!” Odal protested, and Cass could only shake her head.

“Odal, you cannot become a Merchant, you cannot be a servant, you cannot even not fight.” Cass ticked off the things Odal was disallowed to do, “from birth, your job and duties were already planned out, without any possibility of change and to deviate from that would only bring punishment- how is that not a slave?”

“I am not owned by anyone!”

Well, I am pretty sure I own you Odal, Cass thought to herself. But she did not say that.

“You are owned by the society itself, not by any specific person. That your owner is not a single individual does not make you any less a slave. And Natalie has even fewer options.”

Natalie’s future in Beergmutar was to work and get married to another member of the Stone and to keep working until she had to raise kids. And that was it. To be fair, most women ended up doing the same thing- but Natalie had no other choice. Cass had seen many women end up on the street after failing to reach for something more, but at least they had the chance to do so. Nat had no chance whatsoever.

“Odal, you know I don’t follow your religion- in fact it makes me sick.” Cass would not presume to make a judgement, but she felt that the religion of this region was likely an affront to the Church. A stagnant and tepid faith that strangled growth, it was the antithesis of all the Church stood for. “You ‘spirits’ tell you to stay and obey. To live and work and die within the shackles you have worn since birth. My faith tells me to grow, to become better tomorrow than I was yesterday, how could the two possibly compare?”

Cass wished she could explain better- for that matter she wished she could live closer to those principles. Natalie had listened well, and Cass hoped that Nat could learn from it. Odal… Well, he just seemed confused. Still, Odal was not making any arguments against her.

“Speaking just for myself,” Cass took a breath, and decided to be honest. “Natalie… Odal… I sometimes feel I am out of control- that I am spinning and twisting and manipulating everything around me almost on instinct. This success, is intoxicating… But it is luck, and it will run out. And when that happens I will end up in an unmarked grave somewhere, and I am terrified by my own fervid and wanton actions… I… I need someone holding my leash…”

Cass’s face burned admitting that, but her plans had been fraying and falling apart for days now. She had to go out on a limb if she wanted to keep this group together, and frankly she needed to remind herself that she needed that guiding hand.

“You have never seen Haj,” Cass continued after a moment. “And I won’t lie and tell you it is a wonderful place. I cannot say that anything in your life will change, in fact I can say that it probably will not. But it could- the opportunity exists, and you might be able to seize that opportunity if you try.”

Well, she didn’t lie, but that was not really the complete truth. The real truth was that success had more to do with luck than anything else. Cass had just happened to be pushed out of her area and grabbed by the right guard and had just happened to survive the experiments before she was given that small chance to impress her Master. That last bit was from her own effort, but everything before that was pure luck.

Still, Cass was sure Hall would see the benefit of these two. She would make sure that Natalie, at least, was given an opportunity.