Serena had sprawled out in the biggest field of flowers she could find. The mixed sweet scents filled her nose and made her heart feel light. There was a warm breeze that spread the petals through the sky. Some of the silky rose petals landed on her face and in her hair. She felt so relaxed while looking up at the beautiful blue sky. She sighed in the soft happiness.

Darien watched her from his window.

"She's quite different isn't she?"

"Very different," Nephlite agreed.

Darien nodded and kept his eyes on the beautiful blonde. There were times when he was forced to turn away, but he tried not to. There was something completely different about this new slave. Something that had him enraptured.

When the sun started to fall from the sky, and the blue started to fade to black, Serena reluctantly reentered the castle. She smelled dinner as soon as she stepped in, causing her stomach to growl loudly. A butler who was passing by stopped in his tracks and turned around.

"The kitchen is just down that hall, second door on the left."

Serena smiled, "Thank you."
She hurried to follow his directions and pushed through the door into the bustling kitchen. Her stomach growled again, somehow everyone heard it over the noise. They all looked at her and laughed. She chuckled nervously with them, something she hadn't done in a very long time. Someone, she didn't know who, pushed a chair underneath her while another person put out a plate of steaming chicken. She looked around for some sort of signal, but no one was paying her any mind. She decided to forget the rules and eat without being told.

She was halfway through her meal when the kitchen door squeaked open. No one stopped working so Serena didn't stop eating. She felt a hand on her back.

"Hungry?" a man's voice said.

Serena panicked and stood quickly. She swallowed the food left in her mouth and lowered her eyes. She tensed herself for some sort of slap. When nothing came, she looked up tentatively and saw Prince Darien, as she'd expected, standing there. But his eyes weren't angry, rather sad. His mouth was set in a line of sorrow.

"I'm sorry," Serena murmured.

He shook his head. "There isn't anything to be sorry about."

Serena didn't move. She knew she couldn't eat anymore because she was sick to her stomach with anxiety now.

Darien nodded towards the food. "Continue if you want to."

She shook her head.

"Well then you're dismissed. Your room is down this hall, the third door on the right."

Serena hurried from the kitchen, hoping there was a privy connected to her room. She opened the third door, hurrying in. A door stood open in front of her, a chamber pot in sight. Her stomach that had been empty was now ready to explode. As she knelt over the pot, she felt something climb up her throat and didn't like it's taste.

When she had done what she needed to do, she stood and looked around. The floor was made of a cold gray stone. There was a bathtub made of a smooth metal as was the sink. She almost jumped for joy. She hadn't been able to use a sink since she'd become a slave, let alone a heated bathtub. The small joys were the only ones she had and she cherished them.

Quickly she started filling the tub. She threw off the dirty dress she'd been wearing and loosened the braid running down the center of her head. She turned off the water, sighing as she stepped into the steaming liquid warmness. She slid down so that only her head peeked out over the water, closing her eyes in ecstasy.

Her mind calmed. She could think clearly now, easing her into a state where the worst beating could not shake her. She'd done this many times on the Moon. One night a week she'd wait until the kitchen had cleared out, still warm from a day's cooking. Then she'd fill a tub used for washing dishes with water she'd heated over the stove. She could not fit herself all the way in, her knees and below hung over the rim. After just five minutes, she could let everything slip away from her memories, erasing what she'd been through that week, and opening it up for another round.

She soaked up the warmth until it was almost gone and until she was wrinkled like a raisin. As she was drying off, she studied herself in the mirror. Her right side was bruised where Diamond had kicked her. The left side of her face was swollen and purple, down her back were twisted patterns of green and black. Her arms and legs had blooms of blue up and down them. Her hipbones jutted from her skin and she could count her ribs. She looked into her eyes, sorrowful and turned blue from the tears she held back.

She found a brush in the bathroom drawer, and she ran it through her golden hair. She winced as she yanked out tangles. She remembered how everything used to be. She used to have healthy pink skin and just the right amount of weight. A maid would comb her hair for her, gently as to not harm her.

She'd never realized how good her life was until it was gone.

She wrapped her towel around her self, tucking it in so it would not fall. She walked out into the bedroom to see a twin-sized bed there. The walls were a plain white and the floor was made out of the same round stone as the bathroom. A bedside table sported a single candle while on the wall nearest to her a candelabra was hung. There was no dresser or armoire, but a closet already filled with clothes. She fingered the two dresses, two shirts, and pair of hide pants. An undershirt laid on the top shelf, along with unmentionables.

These were the most clothes she'd possessed since becoming a slave. A bubbly warmth inside her heart was full to bursting. She closed the closet, so as not to push on the good feeling. Good feelings never lasted very long.

Upon hearing voices in the hallway, she opened her door a crack to investigate. Outside stood what she imagined to be just about every slave in the castle. Women in robes and towels, chattered, catching up on gossip and exchanging soaps and candles. Men came in sooty and sweaty while their wives and mothers worried over them, ushering them inside to clean up. Children tugged on their mother's skirts, begging for a bedtime story or a toy.

Serena was astonished at the little community buried inside the castle walls. A woman caught her look, and smiled.

"What's your name, hon?" she asked. The woman was plump with large bosom. She looked like she'd mothered quite a few children.

"Serenity, Serena for short."

The woman's eyes widened. "Nick, Nick! It's the Princess from the Moon."

Within seconds the bustling hallway quieted. They all turned to look at her, especially the children who had heard. They blinked once, twice. Some showed sympathy, others jealousy.

"We heard you were coming," the plump woman said. "But we didn't believe it."

Serena blushed. "Well, I'm here." And so glad I am, she added silently.

"Good grief, child. You're so scrawny. And those bruises!"

Serena looked at the floor, still the bruises shone up at her. She couldn't escape them it seemed, couldn't escape her life.

The women gave each other glances, then looked at Serena sympathetically. The plump woman's mouth opened, but shut quickly as the sound of boots was heard coming towards the hallway they stood in. A sharp whistle blew, and everyone scrambled into straight lines up and down the hallway.

Serena did the same, knowing by now to follow the crowd. They all looked straight forward, at attention. She did the same.

Two sets of boots clicked to a halt at the end of the hallway. A man with hair in long, brown waves walked down the hallway, counting heads as he went. When he reached the end of the long hallway, he shouted back, "We've got one extra!"
Serena, against her better judgment, took a step forward and cleared her throat. "I just arrived today, sir."

A hand flew across her face, leaving her left cheek stinging. Pain pulsed through it while the blood rushed to the spot. "Did anyone say you could talk?" the man asked.

Serena mumbled, "No, sir." All the feelings of safety that had built up inside her, came tumbling down, crashing into a pile of raw emotions. She could be beaten here too. She was still a piece of property.

"Give her a break, Nephlite," the white-haired man down the hall called.

"She's been a slave for years now, she knows the rules."
Serena watched the two men bicker, and resisted the urge to hold her reddening cheek. She kept her head straightforward, meeting the eyes of the plump woman across from her. The woman looked disappointed.

"It's true, Nephlite, that she's been a slave before, but she's new here. Tomorrow you can punish her, tonight we will go to sleep early."

"Fine," Nephlite said. He blew his whistle as he left the hallway, and everyone relaxed, heading straight into their rooms.

"You set her up, Nephlite," Malachite said under his breath as they left the slave quarters. "You knew she was new here, you knew there would be an extra, and you set her up."

"I thought she should learn her place quickly."

"You don't like her because the Prince favors her, correct?"

Nephlite did not look at his fellow general. His reasons were his own.