Minutes later, the rest of The Pack appeared behind Blake. They, like him, were in shackles.

"What's going on...?" Nash said.

"Silence," the queen said, threatening to hammer her weapon into the floor.

Indeed, there was silence.

"Blake. You are still the 'owner' of Riley. You, a 'good guy', own a slave. This is despite how much time has passed since coming into this world and seeing the effects of slavery firsthand, fighting bandits and bringing slaves to us. Why? Tell us now."

"Uh... It's complicated. Like I said earlier."

"Hmph. Indeed it is possible that 'it is complicated'. Technically possible. Your contract is not the standard one, but we could not find the difference."

"Wait, you—"

"We did not say that you could speak!"

Blake winced.

"We are aware that it is possible for minute differences to twist and turn the ropes of Logic and Magic themselves to act in ways in which they are not keen to act. But as we could not find such a difference, we were unable to assess its impact. Things that we do not understand are dangerous to us, human. But by all means, justify your ownership of this slave. Speak freely."

"Okay so full story again I asked Riley what she wanted me to do and she told me to bring her here to Queensland. But then I realized I had Scribe skills and could erase her contract myself. But if we did that she'd be in danger until we actually got here. So we decided to wait on that, to make me her owner—"

The queen narrowed her eyes, but did not say anything.

"—until then. And then I fiddled with the contract so I couldn't order her around even if I wanted to, because I hated the idea of owning a slave."

"A plausible story. But it is not complete. Why have you not freed her yet? You have come here many times. And yet she is still your slave."

"She didn't want it."

"What?"

Blake took a deep breath.

"She said that she didn't want to live here. It was just a safe place for an escaped slave to be, like, she doesn't feel like she's supposed to be here. And if she had a broken contract... Uh, it was something like that. It's fuzzy and hard to remember, it got really emotional. Something about a better world? Point is, she asked me to not free her here."

The queen turned to Riley.

"Wolfling. Is it true that you requested that this man not free you? Tell us now."

Riley nodded.

"Confirm over the medium of words, wolfling. Words have power. Gestures do not. Tell us now."

"Y-yes," Riley said.

"Hmph. There are many plausible explanations why a young girl might exhibit such behavior while under Dominion... Very well, human. What, precisely, was your alteration to the contract? Tell us now."

Riley's brow furrowed at 'young girl', but she knew not to speak.

"Look for the sentence that starts like 'shall not disobey master's orders' and look for a sneaky period," Blake said.

"Very well."

The queen brought Riley forward and invoked her Dominion contract. She studied it.

"Bw—Bwahahahah! Incredible! Truly incredible! Do you understand the significance of this, human? The lack of care given to semantics, the ignorance presented to how this section interacts with the rest of the text? My word, it wouldn't even be strange for you to inherit in part any curses or boons that your 'slaves' have!"

"Uh... Well, I read the whole thing through at least once."

"Ahahahah! Oh my! This is too absurd! Our chest! Oh, our chest!"

A'Vahi took a step towards the queen, worried for her safety.

She hammered her weapon into the floor.

"We did not say that you could approach," she said, fully returned to her normal icy composition.

A'Vahi withdrew.

The queen spoke again.

"Very well, human. So you meddled with the contract system for the sake of this young wolfling girl in a way that satisfied your moral compass. So it has been observed. On the subject of her contract, we have exciting news for you. It is not longer necessary to hold this contract over the wolfling girl."

"What?" he said.

"Yesterday evening, we communicated with all plausible 'original' 'owners' of Riley. They have officially relinquished their claims to her. We have their statements in writing, signed, and bound by magical contract."

"Really? That's great! Wait, why?"

"But that is not enough. For her to truly be safe, meaning that she could not even possibly be robbed of agency once more, it was necessary for her to be recorded as a Protected Free Demihuman. Transporters will no longer so much as attempt to 'recapture' her, and she will be freed from bandits if ever she is captured by them and then later returned to the guild by adventurers. This was not a cheap expense, human."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

There they were, the four of them, together in the presence of the Demon Queen. They were under question. Their lives were in danger. But for the life of them, they could not hope to guess what was going through the queen's mind. Why would she do this?

Blake's expression soured.

"Uh..." he said.

"Do not misunderstand. We did not do this of the good of our hearts, humans, but we are not cruel. We will not indebt you to a sum that you did not agree to pay. Nor will we accept repayment if you offer such. This is a calculated political maneuver that we have decided carries more value than it costs, and nothing more."

Silence.

Blake had to process this. This didn't merely mean that Riley was going free. That was always an option. It meant that they didn't have to hide from anything any longer. That was new.

"Free her now. Nullify the Dominion contract," the queen said.

Blake's shackles were released. Riley was brought in front of him, still bound. The other two were silent and still.

Riley stared up at Blake for a moment. He put his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm going to do it. Okay?" Blake said.

She hugged him.

"____."

"I can't hear you," he said.

"Yes," she said.

"Rewrite," he said.

WARNING: ATTEMPTING TO NULLIFY CONTRACT. ARE YOU SURE? THIS CANNOT BE UNDONE.

"Yes," he said.

A white glow surrounded them, followed by a symphony of magical-looking white squares, appearing from nowhere. These white squares circled the two for several seconds, then shattered into a fine glowing dust. Soon after, the glow faded. Then, silence.

A moment passed.

"I'm not sure how you feel about this, but it's the right thing to do," Blake said.

"I understand... I just..."

She started crying. He hugged her back.

"There, there. It's okay. It's not even a question anymore. You don't have anything to worry about at all."

"I'm still..."

I'm still...

"It's fine..."

They stood there for a full minute, Riley crying into Blake's chest.

"Hmph," the queen said. "Just as we thought."

"Wait," A'Vahi said. "It is not as their auras appear. Humans and demihumans exhibit their emotions in much more subtle ways than we do. Never forget what we have so painfully learned."

The queen did not stay his speech. Times like these were precisely the appropriate times to break the chain of authority.

"Very well."

A few more seconds passed. Riley's crying finally stopped.

"We're... We're still doing this... Right?" she said, her face still buried in his chest. "Our party. Still going places and fighting stuff. It's not over, right?"

"What are you saying?"

"I don't want... I don't want to get left behind again..."

"There's no way I could leave you behind. Not now, not ever. Fuck abandonment."

She leaned into him harder. He hugged back.

"Thank you..." she said.

The demon queen clicked her tongue. She'd been wrong.

She ordered the party unbound. She explained that they passed her examination and were no longer suspected of being a threat to her.

"Ah," she said, "it may be wise for you to stay in Sky Crest for some number of weeks while the updated Protected Free Demihuman registry permeates through the legal Transporter network. There is no such thing as too safe."

"Oh, uh, sure, as long as we have a place to stay that isn't shady or run-down," Blake said.

"So it shall be arranged."

They were free to go. They left. Any amount of continued presence would only put them back into danger.

"A'Vahi."

"Yes, my queen."

"This line of investigation has grown cold. Your entire squadron shall investigate all potential targets of the Song of Cycles and reassess their danger levels."

"Yes, my queen."

She tilted her head back for a moment, then returned it.

"Come closer."

He did.

"Investigate why the duke that sold her was so eager to learn that she was freed, and so happy to legally disown her. He may be a rebel, or participating in machinations whose string-pullers may put our other plans at risk," she whispered.

"Yes, my queen."

"Go. Return soon, and resume your other investigative duties. In particular,"—she brought him in even closer—"_____."

"Yes, my queen."

He left.

----------------------------------------

"Ugh. I almost pissed myself. I thought I was gonna fucking die."

"There, there, you were right to be scared," Riley said, patting Blake's head as he sat at the bar of the inn they were directed to.

They were drinking. Sophia allowed it. It was a special occasion, after all, and she was here to make sure he didn't get out of hand.

"World's a lot bigger than us. Never gonna know everything. Not even what's right around the corner, 'bout to kill us..."

He hiccupped.

"Sis, aren't you going to—" Nash said.

"No. It's not my turn," Sophia said, looking out at Riley and Blake over at the bar. She and Nash were eating at a table.

"If you say so," Nash said.

Nash had water and juice, and a plate of local food. It was like what he was used to eating at human towns, but not quite the same. There was less than he expected, too.

"At least there's plenty to drink," he said.

He ate. Or tried to, at least. The meat was tough. Maybe demons had sharper teeth or something. Maybe the potatoes and greens would be better.

"Ick!"

Bitter as hell.

"Oh, come on, mix them into the sauce," a passer-by said.

"Huh?" Nash said, turning to look. It was a tall demon man with slick hair, wearing sunglasses.

"I get that you folk have a harder time with the local meat, but it's still edible. As for the rest, well, it's difficult even for us, which is what the sauce is for."

"Uh huh. Why are you telling me this?"

"Oh, random pity."

Nash raised an eyebrow, but didn't respond. He wasn't really sure how to. It was all too unexpected.

"I guess I'll try it," he said, after a few seconds. He rubbed the greens into the meat sauce first, and took a small, pensive bite.

Wow!

The bitterness was completely gone. Did this happen with the potatoes too?

It did. Amazing.

"I'll be getting back to my table, then. Take care," the passer-by said, leaving.

"That sure was weird..." Nash said.

"Hey!" Sophia said.

"Huh?" Riley said.

Riley had Blake slung over her shoulder. It was like old times.

"Did you let him drink too much? What happened to him?"

"No, I think he just didn't get enough sleep last night. I couldn't sleep right either. It was too scary. I'm going to our room."

"Not alone. This is foreign land to us. We might all be able to walk around freely now, but we still never know what lurks around the next corner, especially with what got us here. The more together we are, the better. Always."

Riley pouted.

"Come on, sit him down over here and wait until me and Nashie finish eating."

"Okay..."

So she did, sitting herself and Blake across from the two as they ate. Nash ate in silence, while Sophia ate and spoke.

"Say, are you going to remove that collar and chain?"

"This? No. It's still a good distraction, disguise, thing."

"Really now. You want to look like a Companion?"

"I'll attract less attention if I have it on. I don't want to stick out."

"Suit yourself."

"It's not about whether it suits me. I just... I don't want anything to change if it doesn't have to. I'm lucky to have ended up in this situation, I don't know what I'd do if I lost any of it."

"Fear of the unknown is dangerous, you know. It's very easy to trap yourself in a wretched lifestyle. Nash and I learned that the hard way."

"I'm not worried about it like that. It's more like... I don't want to get carried away."

"What are you talking about?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"It's no good to look away from your problems. You can work through them. I'm here to talk to, if you'd like."

"I said I don't want to talk about it."

"Well, I suppose I tried. Would you like me to order you a Rye Grasswisp?"

"Yes, please."