Cedric had spent about a week onboard the Hwain Gus already, time moved quickly. Faring never pressed Cedric after the night he took his leave. They didn't spend time together for casual conversation either, with her priorities on the command bridge. She did however, take time every morning to teach him the Korellei language, both high and low variants a few hours after breakfast. This was the time they'd engage in small talk, and Cedric used it as an opportunity to learn more about the world around him. The United Empire was ruled by House Von Strauss, and the empress's family line could be traced back several generations. The houses were allowed to act independently of the main house, they even would get involved in conflicts with one another. If too many alliances were agitated and the seeds of a global war began to plant, that's when House Von Strauss would step in to end it before it had a chance to catch ground. United, the houses could easily obliterate House Von Strauss. Common sense, alliances, and a respect for peace and authority prevented such an action. Most rebellions were sparked by the outer colonies, being so far removed from the core systems they'd often fail to identify just how much stronger the houses were than their shabby colonies. Rebellions often started as small, hushed plans in dark shadows. In these shadows were House Von Strauss's elite espionage units. All houses had specialties - Von Strauss's was espionage and spycraft. Allegedly, their house rose to power without a single shot fired, or any war declared. A popular rumor was that the higher echelons of Von Strauss were vampires, draining the living of their blood to expand their life spans. It was nothing more than a colony rumor, however - encouraged not by the harsh treatment of the Empire as one would expect - but rather the lack of any treatment at all. Colonies on the border rarely, if ever, encountered imperial forces in their day to day lives - their position on the border of the galaxy making communication and direct rule not only horrifically ineffcient, but a grand net loss that impacted their logistics network as a whole. It is this difficulty that has prevented the Empire from expanding any more than it already had. From what he learned so far, the UE was actually rather small unlike the popular media he was used to consuming. Part of the Houses' jobs was policing their territory, but there were only so many houses that had the extra resources needed to dedicate to such an effort.

Cedric took the time to learn as much of their language as possible in their short time in space, hoping to at least memorize some basic conversational words before they landed at Saint Amelion. Normally this would be difficult for a regular person was learning a new language, but being surrounded by people who spoke the language he was now learning made it significantly easier to retain as he was constantly hearing words he had learned repeated every day, similar to how a child learns their primary language by not only being taught at a young age, but also being constantly exposed to the words they had learned- in graining the information into their minds via repetition. Aside from his current task, he often spent time in his cabin with his own thoughts. He felt a lot better emotionally after letting out all his stress in his grand cry, he was still emotionally distraught at his current situation, but at least it was tolerable unlike before. Cedric checked the clock near his bed, not unlike the digital clocks he was used to. Most likely another 'magitech' discovery from the Korellei that saw widespread use in the UE. Its time frame was also similar to what he was used to, splitting wake and sleep times into twelve hour time slices. He had tried to use the computer a few times, but his lack of understanding in the language and ineptitude with their keyboards forced him to give up. Maybe he'd ask Faring about getting it to work sometime. It was almost dinner time, Faring often dropped food off for him at the door - to discourage him from leaving his cabin and getting lost, terrorizing the regular crew. He hoped at least one of them would try and visit him, or at least make him do something. He was a slave, after all. Either at Faring's behest, or a want to not associate with him, nobody did. Even if they had, he supposed, it's not like they'd be able to say anything to each other. A familiar rasp on the door pulled Cedric from his musings. He got off his comfortable bed, that somehow was able to support his ridiculous weight, and opened the door. Why she didn't use his doorbell he wasn't sure.

Sure enough, it was Faring's familiar canid form. She was adorned in an orange and white jumpsuit, with what he assumed was badges of her station. It wasn't exactly form hugging, but it got the job done - in fact it was probably quite comfortable. After all, might as well be comfortable if having to wear the same suit every day. This time, she had brought two portions of food, one for the both of them he surmised. He had asked her to being him larger portions, he knew that to maintain his new physique he'd have to intake a lot more calories than he was used to. She obliged, up to a point. Apparently he ate so much that she couldn't keep giving him more portions than she already was, as it would actually negatively impact their food availability that was always meticulously prepped before a mission. The food was always incredibly plain, the only spices they seemed to use were some variation of salt and pepper. The food itself was plain as it could be - but he did recognize some of the products they used. Salads were common, and carnivores seemed to meet their protein requirements with eggs. He was yet to see any actual proper meat in their foodstuffs, most likely it was some kind of taboo. It was unfortunate, Cedric quite enjoyed the taste of meat. Sometimes he'd be spoiled with some variation of green beans and corn - but that was only served about once or twice a week from what he could observe. The food wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. Considering they were in space, he didn't really complain. It was a lot better than freeze dried or dehydrated rations. It was nice to have proper cafeteria food onboard a ship.

"We... Need to talk. We can eat together though, if you want to."

Her tone was concerning, was this going to be about the other day?

"Sure, come on in."

She nodded, and let herself in. She sat herself at the desk across from his bed. There was only one chair, so Cedric took his bed instead - taking careful steps to not spill any food on his sheets. Without much pause, Faring went straight to business. So much for a pleasant conversation during a meal - no rest for the wicked, as they say.

"I wasn't expecting the news so soon but... House Rax has already begun negotiations for your transfer."

"What? How did they find out already?"

"Gurantee there's a Von Strauss informant aboard my ship."

"What business would Von Strauss have with your house? It's not exactly a well known one."

"You're right, but the imperial family is notorious for their agents. It could've simply been a stroke of bad luck, or they have been monitoring us for a while now. Probably in case we tried to do anything outside the norm to increase the status of our house - that's my best guess. I knew people would find out about you, I just didn't think it'd be so soon."

She heaved a distressing sigh.

"I don't want them to take you away from me. You're mine, not there's."

"I don't belong to anybody, but I understand where you're coming from. I take it your family is more than willing to be rid of me for brownie points, or profit."

"Brownie points?"

"It's a phrase, basically meaning to get credit on something, like scoring points in the opinion of someone else for example."

"Oh, strange phrase but I think I get it."

"I feel like if they met you, they'd be willing to fight for your possession. I find it hard to believe that they'd do something so thoughtless."

Cedric thought about it for a moment. If the imperial family is notorious for its agents, then maybe...

"Is this normal behavior for your parents?"

"Not really, but I can never tell with them sometimes."

"Is it possible they're being pressured, or you're being fed incorrect information?"

"I'm... Not sure. Possibly I guess? But no other house has any reason to fear House Kilik."

"They would if they found something incredibly valuable. They wouldn't have the strength to hold onto it."

"You don't think..."

"I think I do. I think your house is being pressured into doing something they don't want to do."

Faring cracked an odd smile that Cedric couldn't quite decipher.

"Just a week and you've already got better political sense than I do..."

"To be fair, I just have a different way of going about things."

"I suppose you do. Even if my parents were being pressured to get rid of you, I don't think they'd abide. My parents have always been good people."

"Well, they have the interests of their house and I assume their children at heart, if they were offered enough money - or threatened with conflict..."

Faring was indignant, startling Cedric.

"My parents would never!"

"They're your parents, not mine. I'm just an asset - a product to be negotiated with. If it was my family, I'd pick the logical option."

"You don't seriously believe my parents would want to get rid of you? You're my property, I have the final say."

"You're an accessory to your house, not its leader. Your parents have the final say - not you. You can just influence them. Influence can only go so far before circumstance will lead a matter another direction."

"Ugh. I hate that you're right."

"Your parents may not want to, but they may have to. House Rax is on the council of five - the Pentarchy right? They probably have Von Strauss in the palm of their hand."

"It's probably the other way around, but yeah. Possibly..."

They shared a familiar moment of silence as they plotted their next move. There was two weeks to go before they arrived at Saint Amelion, so at least they had time to think and maybe come up with a course of action. No matter what elaborate plan they might come up with though, it could do nothing in the face of raw political power. In a world ruled by noble houses, political prestige was everything. No matter your intentions or personality, if you didn't have the political or military strength to back up your way of life - then it'd be crushed. Cedric made a mental note of this plain fact. He may need it in the future.

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"Cedric I... don't know what to do."

The concern on her face was a painful sort. Realizing that for all she had done, it was all for naught. That was simply a matter of fact in her society. She hated it.

"There's a very real possibility that you won't be able to do anything, but you can damn well try. Do you have some kind of subspace communication? Some kind of magical device capable of long distance communication?"

"Uh, yeah that's what I used to learn about this situation in the first place. Most of the communication magitech onboard is for getting autonomous information from the collectors, so it'll take an hour or so for them to get the message."

"That's still pretty fast. Why is it you don't have better comms onboard?"

"It's a refinery vessel, not a combat or scout one."

"Hm, okay I suppose that makes sense. What's important is that you can communicate with your parents though, right?"

"Yeah?.."

"In that case - simply send them a text, voice your concerns."

"A text?"

"You know, like sending a letter."

"By the GODDESS you're right!"

Faring smacked her forehead, thoroughly confusing Cedric.

"Huh?"

"A message with just text would be a lot faster to send than a vidcomm!"

"You... you never thought about that?"

Faring's ears drooped in response.

"Ugh, no. There was just never a reason to consider it. If I just communicate via message, then it should only take a few minutes to reach them. I hope I don't spook them thinking something something bad happened, like an emergency."

"Well, I'm totally biased but I'd say making sure I don't go to dedicated slave traders is pretty important."

She laughed at his humor, she always welcomed his attempt at relieving the stress of the situations they found themselves in. She found him impressive, always calculating - if not sometimes difficult to get along with.

"I'll see what I can do, but I don't know if it's going to work, Cedric."

"If it doesn't, at least you tried."

"How can you take this so nonchalantly?"

"I'm not, but I also understand that a perfect world is hardly plausible."

"I guess."

Cedric was hardly nonchalant, in fact he was terrified. He had it good with Faring, and he didn't want that to change. Being part of such an uninfluential house though, they weren't able to pull the authority necessary to secure valuable assets. The way things were going, it wasn't very well possible for them to acquire the political force necessary to combat such a powerful house. They couldn't even be considered rivals. House Kilik was industrial, not military. They had the most influence in the middle class market, not much elsewhere. The ability to influence commerce was a powerful tool, but not the one they needed to protect Cedric from the house that specialized in slavery.

"The only thing I can honestly think of here, is if House Kilik just outright buys me somehow."

"Why would that work?"

"Your family deals with commerce right? They should have a lot of money compared to other houses."

"Maybe, but not House Rax. Slavery is one of the most profitable things to do in the Empire."

"Damn. Beaten at their own game, huh?"

"Yeah I guess."

Cedric finished his food and set the tray to the side. No matter what solution he considered, none of them would work.

"I really can't think of anything."

"Well, thanks for your input Cedric. I'll send some messages to my parents, I'll fight for you."

She collected her tray as well as his and silently exited the room. Cedric felt happy. He'd never heard anyone say those words to him before. Tern would say similar things, but not in that exact way. It resounded with him. He then felt sorrow. Clearly, she cared about his well being - not to mention he was the discovery of the century. She couldn't even celebrate, because the politics of this new world he was thrust into simply allowed no rest. How could something so backhanded be so influential? Checks and balances were important, but still. Lower houses simply couldn't do anything. Being in the Pentarchy was the holy grail of influence. They most likely all worked together to solidfy their positions as well. It was a fruitless effort to combat them. Yet here he was, trying to work together with someone of no repotoire to fight the impossible. It wouldn't work, he knew. He hoped that at least the fight would be respected.

Cedric didn't know how shrewd Faring's parents were at influencing the political machine. The only reason they most likely weren't absorbed by another house via force, was simply because they didn't cause enough of a problem to warrant such a reaction. Live and let live, as the saying goes. Until of course, someone gets too powerful - and everyone goes on the defensive. Akin to World War II deep in the past, now that he thought about it. The parallels of politics seem to reign supreme even during a vastly different time frame. Was it a possibility that he could simply... Just make his own House? Unrealistic, probably. Taking over another one though... that remained to be seen. It wasn't necessary, not for his current goals. If he began to hit roadblocks though, that was an option. He returned to his lonely musings in his bed, figuring he'd take a nap - until he heard a ping on the other side of the room. He looked at the clock, about thirty minutes had already gone by? He must've spaced out and dozed off after all - and just didn't realize it. He had done that before at school, normally caused by a deep moment of thought. 'So that's what that black slate was, a monitor' he thought. He walked over to it, and tapped the screen - it was Faring's face on the screen. She appeared to be in some office, probably her area of residence while commanding on the bridge. A private channel, most likely closed loop. Made sense, since they now knew they had an informant on board. Or at least they thought they did. It was a most likely truth.

"I got a reply. They were worried at first, thinking that it was an emergency message. They weren't happy when they realized it wasn't, but they were understanding about it."

"That's good. Why didn't you use this before this week?"

"There wasn't a reason to until now."

"That seems to be a growing trend."

Cedric expected some sort of response to his off-joke, but none came. Faring was clearly distraught - but holding her demeanor.

"House Rax wants to buy you immediately. My parents are on the way to Saint Amelion right now."

"It's that big of a deal? How much do they know?"

"I don't know, but Rax is offering a lot of money for you. Like, a lot."

"Define a lot."

"Millions of UE credits."

"What? That's obviously a lot, but in what context?"

"Well, the average price for a good slave is about ten thousand."

"And they want me for millions? That's insane."

"This might be a good thing though!"

"How?"

"I told my parents a lot about you. Us. That you were important to me. They said they'd do what they could - it honestly surprised me."

"Your parents must love you an awful damn lot."

This time, she did manage a giggle.

"They have a funny way of showing it. They're making the exchange public."

"That's... Really smart."

"It is?"

"Think about it, they're making the exchange public. Millions for a slave? It's going to create waves. Rax is going to have to fight for the deal now."

"Cedric, it might do the opposite too."

He thought about it for a moment, he was so caught up in the excitement he failed to notice the gravitas of the situation.

"Fucking... You're right. Nothing is stopping other houses from just issuing the deal with force. If Rax ups the price, your parents will take the deal for the greater good..."

"I didn't think about the price going up influencing my parents' decision - but yeah... Ugh, this is so messed up."

"Sorry Cedric, I tried."

"Yeah, I know you did. So what now."

"Well, I guess we'll know when when we make it to Saint Amelion. If we make it to Saint Amelion."

"Your parents didn't already make it public did they?"

"They did. They had to."

"Son of a bitch..."

"You mean son of a mother?"

"Don't worry about it. It's uh, derogatory."

"Oh."

The same thought was running through their heads. Pirates. If they found out what vessel he was on, they very well could attempt to raid it in order to steal Cedric for themselves, now that the deal is going public. He could imagine the headlines now - The Million Dollar Slave, Stolen from House Kilik! Even if they didn't know where he was, they could attack other House Kilik vessels to get the information they wanted - or just on the whim of them thinking he was onboard their chosen quarry. Beads of sweat began to form on his face, this was not an ideal situation.

"Are you okay? Your face is... Leaking?"

"I'm fine, it's sweat. It's a stressor response."

"Oh. I'm sorry, I know this is really bad for you. I'm trying my best."

"I know, I know. Why did your parents have to make it public so soon?"

"To give the information time to circulate. I think the hope is to force House Rax into giving more than they can afford."

"So it's possible that your parents are trying to get a better deal, rather than secure my place here."

Faring's ears drooped - her muzzle becoming down cast.

"Now that I think about it - yeah..."

It was a smart move. A very smart move. Rax would either be forced to up the ante, and offer more - or the other houses would offer deals that were more lucrative than theirs - forcing them out. Sure you could buy a slave for an exorbitant price, but House Rax dealt in the business of slavery - not the nuance or pleasure of it. You could only sell a slave for so much, and Rax sought profit. Clearly they felt that if they made the first move, they could secure the deal - thinking House Kilik wouldn't retaliate out of fear. It seems that Faring's parents were shrewd politicians indeed. If someone were as aggressive as to declare war, then House Kilik must have alliances with smaller houses that specialized in military exports. If they didn't, they wouldn't have even considered making the deal public.

Here they had a catch twenty-two. If Rax offered more, it would ultimately benefit Kilik significantly. They pretty much picked him up for free, it was nothing but a grotesque amount of profit. If one or more houses declared war, then Kilik's allies would get involved in the defense. If other houses joined the aggressors, it would escalate to the point that the imperial family would have to step in and shut it down. Maintaining such a powerfully valuable commodity would open opportunities for Kilik to grow their house, the entire exchange skyrocketing their limelight. Either way, House Kilik would ultimately profit. Nothing lost, everything gained. It was so simple, yet genius.

"Your parents are incredible."

"What? What do you mean?"

"Think about it, they've locked the houses in a catch twenty-two."

"A what?"

"A win-win situation. Either Rax offers more, or they get shut out by better deals from other houses. If they fight, so many houses will get involved that House Von Strauss will have no choice but to step in. If they initiate a conflict, it will popularize House Kilik which will make it easier to secure more influence later. Either way, they win."

"You really thought about all that already? You're incredible, Cedric."

He couldn't help but blush. He liked being complimented - he finally had an opportunity to prove to someone that he had strengths, and where they lied.

"Ha, thanks. That being said, there is technically a lose condition."

"A lose condition?.."

"Yes, technically. But it's not realistic."

"You can't just say something like that and not explain!"

"Okay, well. If the houses all get into conflict and the imperial family decides to not step in, well to be frank. House Kilik is fucked."

"Oh, I see. You don't think that'll happen, do you?"

"I don't think so, no. This is a battle to secure a valuable item, not something as crazy as territory or anything like that. I highly doubt I'm valuable enough to warrant that kind of attention."

"Actually... it might."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll explain tomorrow, over lunch. My place?"

"Uh, sure."

"Okay! Sleep well!"

"You too."

The call ended somewhat abruptly with a satisfying beep. The monitor itself, after a few minutes went dark. Probably sleep mode. They were on a secure channel, so whatever Faring had to say she must not even trust her own closed-loop communication to say it. The only thing that could be that important would be... No, it couldn't be because he was a Human could it? Sure, revealing to the public that a mythological figure was real would ripple waves throughout the Empire, but not to the point it'd cause an all out civil war. There had to be something he was missing, a crucial piece of information or bulk of information he was not aware of. His knowledge of the Korellei language was still in its infancy, so he couldn't read what few digital books Faring had on hand about their fairy tales on the Ancients. Putting together her comments over the week about his strength and resilience, he wondered if maybe they saw him as some sort of mythological super soldier, an invincible beast that could slaughter armies. If that were the case, shouldn't Faring have mentioned something about the military houses, or even House Varkon getting involved?

All things considered, it seemed he wasn't going to get anymore information this night. It was close to bedtime anyways, sleep time also tended to include free time for unwinding after a work day and getting some entertainment in before hitting the grind the following day. Most operations in space were done in twelve hour blocks, it seemed that this was still the case even now. Cedric let his mind rest - mentally exhausted from the events of the day. He wanted to go back to a few days ago, where he was pretty much just relaxing in his cabin. Cursed to deal with daily life without much rest it seemed - as Cedric got comfortable in his bed, he hoped that this kind of situation wouldn't become a trend. Based on the events of the week though, it probably would be.