Em'brel cowered against the stone at her back. She wanted to run, but she'd already strained the leash on her neck to its limit. She tried to fight, but her eyes were held captive by the monster in front of her. When he spoke, the acrid smell of death assaulted her nose. "Now, now, is that any way for a pet to greet her master? You didn't think you'd gotten away from me for good, did you? You know you can never run far enough, hide well enough, or fight hard enough to escape me!"

He crouched down next to Em'brel and grabbed her face in his talons, preventing her from looking away. "You know that wooden wall and your 'brave' friends can only protect you for so long, right? Soon the wall will burn, your friends will be dead, and you'll be back where you belong. Chained out in front of my tent."

His sneer made Em'brel's heart freeze in her chest. "If you're a very good girl, I may even keep you all to myself, instead of passing you around the camp as a toy for my men!"

Em'brel sobbed desperately, but even with her eyes held shut, she could hear his laughter and feel his breath.

A bright light pierced through her eyelids, and she heard a voice shouting to her. "Wake up! It's only a dream! Em'brel, please wake up!"

Em'brel's eyes shot open, only for her to squint against the bright light in her room. Angela dropped the illumination by half and floated in front of the girl, concern evident in her face. "It's that same dream again, isn't it?"

Em'brel hugged her knees as she waited for her body to stop shaking. She eventually answered by nodding silently to her friend, now sitting on the bed at her feet. The AI woman looked desperate to somehow be of more help. "Why don't you talk to Jack and S'haar about the dream? They might be able to help. But, for all my knowledge, I'm not very good at really understanding things like this…"

Em'brel shook her head 'no' this time. Angela waited patiently until the girl was able to find her voice again. "I don't know if this is something they can help me with… I know they're there, which helps, but ultimately, I have to deal with this. I can't hide in their bed like some child every time I have a bad dream!"

Angela tried once more. "Maybe not, but this isn't just some bad dream. You experienced some severely traumatizing events not long ago, and that's not the kind of thing that just goes away!"

Em'brel sighed and got out of bed. Now that she was awake, she might as well get started on breakfast. "Maybe not, and it's not like I'm pretending nothing's wrong. I just don't want to depend on them for everything. They've already got enough to worry about. Running this camp, managing relationships with the man who probably tried to kidnap me while also trying to get out from under his thumb, not to mention dealing with their own traumas and issues. I honestly don't know how they function!"

Angela floated alongside the girl, her fists resting on her hips. "Maybe so, but you've not exactly had it easy, yourself."

Em'brel nodded as she started mixing up the eggs for her churlish omelets. "You're right, which is why I depend so much on you and the two of them. I just don't want to add more to their burdens than I have to. I promise if it gets worse, I'll bring it up."

Angela glared at her friend for a moment before relenting. "I'll hold you to that!"

Jack and S'haar were finally drawn from their room by the scent of breakfast. Em'brel had learned enough about human physiology to know the bags under his eyes meant Jack hadn't sleapt all that well either. Still, his smile was genuine enough to bring out Em'brel's.

With a final hug and a whispered word to S'haar, he broke away to his own chair so they could all enjoy the food Em'brel had prepared.

With her family's presence at her table, the last vestiges of her nightmare were abolished, and Em'brel greeted them with plates of warm breakfast.

-

After the meal, Ger'ron approached Jack and S'haar, a question evident on his face. "So, how soon were the two of you thinking about headed out to another village to trade and bargain?"

Jack looked thoughtful. "Well, we've got a shipment of ore due soon, and we'll be getting the rest of our guards at the same time, so probably shortly after that. Why do you ask?"

The veteran cocked his head to the side as if contemplating for a moment before speaking. "I know between the Lady and your weapons, you two are a force to be reckoned with, and your reputation alone will probably keep most sane folks from picking a fight with ya, but I'd consider it a personal favor if you'd take a couple guards along when ya leave."

Em'brel, who'd been cleaning up nearby, perked up when she overheard that. "It's a good idea for appearance, as well. If you want anyone to take you seriously as the equal to a noble, you should have a couple of guards, and maybe a servant."

Jack frowned at that. "I don't particularly like the sound of a 'servant.' The connotation seems a little demeaning..."

Em'brel shook her head. "Regardless, it's a symbol of your status. No reasonably well-off noble would ever travel without at least one."

Jack shook his head. "I miss the days when traveling was as easy as merely loading up the cart and setting out. What happened to those days?

S'haar shook her head. "You had to go and make yourself a hero and get everyone's attention. Now you can't go anywhere without at least a dozen different eyes watching and word of mouth spreading."

Jack looked back at the woman accusingly. "I seem to remember you pulling a heroic stunt first. So why aren't you the center of everyone's attention?"

Ger'ron cut in with some laughter. "Oh, she is, but everyone knows that the Lady is never far behind yourself. So it doesn't really matter which of you two people are paying attention to. Though, to be fair, what she did was heroic. What you did was impossible. It got a few more tongues a-waggin."

The look Jack directed at the old guard clearly indicated he didn't think the older man was particularly helpful, but Ger'ron didn't seem to mind.

With a sigh of exasperation, Jack surrendered. "Alright, fine! Go ahead and pick out a couple guards that you trust. Also, keep an eye out for anyone willing to play the role of 'servant.' Though be clear, it's for appearances only. I'm not looking to lord over anyone, regardless of what people expect."

-

Lon'thul was in a good mood. At the moment, he was acting in his role as Em'brel's bodyguard, a position he'd happily taken upon himself after her kidnapping and subsequent rescue. It seemed his days were now taken up by hunting, watching over Em'brel, or practicing with old Ger'ron. It would be a perfect life, except something had been off with Em'brel ever since she got back from her capture.

She still was quick to light up a room with a laugh and a smile. However, her eyes now lingered a little on any shadows or unfamiliar faces. When something loud and unexpected happened, she'd freeze up for a moment, as though trying to keep herself from fleeing the room. He'd caught her tending to wounds on her palms more than once after digging her claws in until she started bleeding.

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But right now, the old Em'brel was back. She was sitting in a field with her new friend, the herder from the village. Something in the new female seemed to soothe Em'brel's spirit. Lon'thul was happy to be here to witness it, even if he was keeping his distance to give the two females some time to themselves, despite it involving them talking about some embarrassing moments from his past.

Em'brel was sitting back and laughing. "Oh, he's not all that scary. Why, the first time I met him, I walked right up and slapped him for talking about me like I was something to be bought and sold. After getting to know him a bit more, I doubt he meant it quite like it sounded, but at the time, I was exhausted, furious, and he said the wrong thing at the wrong time. Although, to his credit, he did have the good grace to apologize afterward."

Sare'en looked horrified. "You slapped the hunter chief's son? And he apologized? You could get lashes for something like that!"

Em'brel shrugged. "Even if I wasn't kind of nobility myself at the time, we operate under a different set of rules here than they do in the villages. In here, it's merit, not birth, that determines a person's worth, and even those of the ‘lowest’ station are to be treated with dignity and respect. Anyone who can't abide by those rules quickly finds themselves on their way back to the village."

Sare'en's eyes started to dilate in fear. "You're nobility? I've been getting a noble lady's clothes dirty in the grass?"

As the girl started to stand up, trapped between apologizing or fleeing, Em'brel caught her hand and used a small amount of leverage to keep the girl from escaping. "I said I was a noble. These days, I'm just another orphan. Even if that wasn't true, like I said, we operate under a different set of rules here. Haven't you ever noticed how quick S'haar, the camp leader, is to pick up a hammer or saw and get to work? Honestly, I think she'd prefer to do more work like that, rather than being in charge of anything."

Em'brel tilted her head to the side in thought. "I think that's part of what makes her a good leader. She knows exactly what it's like to be on the bottom. She's worked hard to get by almost every day of her life. It's given her knowledge and understanding that many nobles seem to lack."

When she released the other female's hand, Sare'en hesitated but sat back down. Though, she was a little more cautious in her movements this time. "If I might be so bold...you said you were a noble, but that means you aren't any longer...what...what happened?"

Em'brel looked off into the distance with a sad smile on her face. "My father was the lord of a small village not far from here. I might be a little biased, but I think he was a decent person, even if he wasn't quite up to being the leader of a village going through a bout of bad luck, and our village was going through some hard times. It was even beginning to look like it might fail in the next year or two. So, to secure some much-needed supplies and form a partnership with a much larger and more successful village, I was offered to the village lord's son as his bride."

Em'brel's vision was still distant, but her smile was gone, replaced by a stern look as she dug her claws into the ground beneath her. "As we traveled between the villages, we were ambushed by raiders. My father was killed, and I was taken... They...did things to me..."

After a long pause, Em'brel took a shaky breath and continued. "Things that are better left in the past, where they belong. Luckily, I wasn't in their hands for long. Jack and S'haar saved me and took me in. They made me family."

A smile returned to her face as Em'brel spoke. "Despite the horrible things that happened shortly before, those days where it was just us living in the mountain were some of the happiest of my life."

She shook her head to clear it as she continued. "But nothing good lasts forever, and one after another, everything seemed to fall apart. Jack was injured so severely he almost died, the deep freeze hit us in the middle of his recovery, and then..."

Sare'en stared wide-eyed throughout the story, only speaking when Em'brel seemed unable to. "And then the raiders returned."

Em'brel gulped down the lump in her throat and nodded. "Yeah... The raiders returned... For some reason...it was worse this time. It doesn't make any sense. They didn't hurt or abuse me the way the first group did...and yet..."

Em'brel sat there a few more moments, silently willing away the vision of the monster who'd held her captive. Unsure of what to do, Sare'en reached out and placed her hand on top of Em'brel's, trying to convey the support she didn't know how to vocalize.

Em'brel sat there and stared at the hand a moment before shaking her head as if to clear it. "Well, you know how the rest went. Everyone does. I think that story will be told for generations. Honestly, it could have gone so much worse than it did. It should have gone so much worse than it did. I'm here now, surrounded by friends and my new family."

Sare'en shook her head. "Here, I thought I'd had it rough, but the worst that's ever happened to me was getting beaten for forgetting something important or being ignored by everyone around me. I didn't even realize how close I'd come to freezing to death until after the fact, though I did have nightmares about it later."

Em'brel smiled as she dusted herself off before turning her attention to the other female. "You know, Jack once told me that a person's pain isn't diminished just because of someone else's. We all have struggles in this life, and we all need to depend on others from time to time."

Sare'en looked thoughtful for a minute before she spoke up. “What kind of a person is Jack? He seems so strange and alien..."

The other female laughed. "Alien? You have no idea! And yes, he's definitely strange...but in a good way. Honestly, though, he's a person just like any other in all the important ways. He has strengths and weaknesses, hopes and fears."

Em'brel cocked an eye ridge as she looked at the other female. "In many ways, you and he have a lot in common... I have a question for you. Don't worry, you don't have to answer right now, but how would you feel about being a servant for a noble?"

Sare'en looked lost and confused. "Ummm... What?"

-

As S'haar wandered around the dimly lit forest, the shadows seemed to stretch and twist around her, creating the illusion of monsters everywhere. She drew her blades slowly and crouched down to remain as silent as possible. She could feel her heart racing as she struggled to catch any scent, but the forest seemed strangely dead.

Creeping along in the darkness, S'haar heard a twig snap behind her. Whipping around, held her swords at the ready, there was a wisp of smoke fading in the wind.

With a cautious taste of the air, she turned back, only to nearly run over Em'brel. The younger female looked up at her with wide eyes. "What's going on? Why is it so dark out? What's that sound?"

Another crunch behind S'haar drew her attention for only a moment, but when she turned back, Em'brel was being rapidly pulled away, arms outstretched, begging for S'haar to save her.

The warrior woman leapt into action, chasing the fading Em'brel for what seemed like hours. Even after the younger female faded from view, S'haar continued her pursuit until she stood alone in a dark void... Alone, except for the presence she felt behind her.

She whipped around and saw Jack crouched, gun drawn and at the ready. He spoke to her wearily as he scanned the horizon. "Be careful. He's here somewhere!"

Then there was a movement to the right. It was fast, but Jack was faster. He pointed and fired, the loud crack of his gun shattering the silence of this world.

His first three shots missed, but the fourth shot finally connected dead center. The monster, S'haar's father, collapsed to his knees, grasping the hole in his stomach.

Jack lowered his gun a hair, his cocky grin warming the ice that had gripped S'haar's heart. "There, see? He wasn't so scary after all!"

As soon as the words were said, the monster stood back up and laughed. Then, as he leaped into action once more, Jack fired his remaining shots wildly but couldn't connect again.

Somehow, Jack had ended up a dozen or so meters away from S'haar, and the monster was now between them. Once again, S'haar leapt into action, closing the distance as fast as possible but knew never make it in time.

With a last burst of effort, S'haar propelled herself forward, swinging her swords into the shade just as it swung its swords into Jack. Hers connected first but passed through him, as though he were made of nothing more than smoke.

When the monster's blades made contact with Jack, both men exploded into clouds of mist, dissipating in a wind S'haar could neither feel nor hear.

S'haar's father appeared over her shoulder for the briefest moments to whisper in her ear. "You'll never be strong enough to save them from me!"

As she swung her swords, they passed through his fading form again, leaving her alone in the endless void.