A/N: 'Love is nothing but a joke without a punch line'…heh, I love that line…Anyway! Sorry that it's taken me so long to update! Noriko-sama disowned me…--goes to cry in a corner-- Anyway! Do any of you Eragon readers like yaoi? Heh, you people probably don't even know what that is…

Hmmm…I wonder if any Asians read Eragon. –shrugs- They would know what yaoi is…BUT DON'T LOOK IT UP, PEOPLE! Seriously, you'll regret it…

Chapter 6

—Squish—

Tornac slammed the dishes into the sink in frustration, not caring that a cracking sound ricocheted off of the chrome sink. The maid next to him who was washing dirty dished grimaced at the sound. Turning to the half-elf, she slapped his hand with a soapy wooden spoon.

"Careful, Tornac! You must be careful with the china, it came all the way from Surda!" she scolded. Tornac withdrew his hand and bowed his head apologetically.

"I-I'm…I'm sorry…Mia?"

"No, dear, it's Nina. Nina!" the maid corrected.

"Oh, yes…um…Nina…I'm sorry…I've just been…distracted lately…"

"Hmm…lemme guess…" Nina pretended to ponder Tornac's distress for a moment before snapping her fingers. "Master Murtagh, am I right?"

Tornac flinched at the name, but slowly nodded. Nina shrugged and offered the half-elf a comforting smile.

"You shouldn't worry. He really is a wonderful person…"

"Yeah, and that's why he has us all on a ball and chain…" Tornac muttered. Suddenly he felt a dull pain in the back of his head. He yelped and clutched the throbbing spot. Turning around, Tornac saw Arisa. She looked angry.

"Eh…? Uh…Arisa?" Tornac stuttered.

"Hey, kid! Look, I know you're pissed, but just chill out. Chill before you say something that you'll regret. Otherwise you'll get slugged! I know you may hate him right now…but stick around! I swear you'll get to like him. He really is a good guy…" Arisa told him.

Tornac looked down. "Why do you like him so much…? I mean, Murtagh was the one who…who put you…and…and everyone else into this…this…this slavery! How can you stand…to look at him after he took away your…your freedom…?"

"Kid, he doesn't have my freedom. No one has that. He has my loyalty. And my trust and my devotion. He deserves it after everything he's done for me. He deserves it from everyone, including you! If you think you're special enough to not spare any loyalty towards Murtagh, then you're dead wrong. The only thing special about you is that you're too dull to realize how great Murtagh is. He's already done more than enough for you. Why can't you accept that!"

Tornac hung his head, holding back tears of humiliation. By the time Arisa finished her yelling, everyone in the kitchen was staring at him, Arisa, and Nina.

"Oh…hunny…" Nina soothed comfortingly to Tornac as she put her arm around him. "Arisa, you really shouldn't be so harsh on him…He only just started working this week…"

Arisa put her hands on her him indignantly. "Well maybe he should toughen up."

"Arisa, can't you be nice?"

Everyone in the kitchen turned towards a door that led to the dining room to the source of the voice…Murtagh.

"Murtagh, can't you butt out?" Arisa rebutted.

"Of course not! He's been hanging around me too much!" Saikoro popped out from behind Murtagh and blew Arisa a kiss. She looked disgusted.

"You both can just go to hell…" she turned away from the two idiots.

"Meh, that's not what you were saying about me before…" Murtagh pointed out. Arisa growled.

"Whatever…" Arisa huffed. Turning around to look at the people watching her, she shrugged. "I can see when I'm not wanted. Tootles!" With a flick of her hand, Arisa headed out the door past Murtagh and Saikoro. Saikoro, laughing, took that chance to playfully grab Arisa. Arisa stopped and eyed Saikoro with distain, before smacking him as hard as she could. A satisfied smirk crossed her face as Saikoro drew back in pain and withered.

"Muwahahaha…" she laughed evilly as she left the kitchen.

"God…who shoved a stick up her ass, eh? Heh, must she be such a stiff all of the time?" he laughed while his eyes watered.

Murtagh shook his head. "Maybe if you weren't such a rapist, Koro, she would lighten up…"

"Rapist…?" Saikoro blinked, confused. Then he became angry. "Murtagh, don't speak of such things! I would never do that! So watch that tongue of yours, missy, or you might ruin my reputation. And if I go down, you're goin' down with me! Believe it! Don't think it won't! It will be your downfall if you do! Muwahahaha!" he finished, laughing psychotically.

Murtagh waited patiently for Saikoro to finish his ranting, holding back his laughter all the while. When the older boy finally did finish, Murtagh chuckled and shook his head.

"'Missy'?" Murtagh inquired.

"Yes. Missy." Saikoro closed his eyes and nodded importantly. "You have lost all of my respect as a man, so you shall no longer be called as such. From here until further notice, you are a madam! So what do you think of that, eh!"

Murtagh laughed some more. "Should I be scared for my virginity?"

Saikoro opened his eyes in surprise and blushed. "Sh-Shut up, already!"

The foxish boy spun around and socked Murtagh's arm.

"Hey!" Murtagh yelled playfully, enclosing his hand around Saikoro's fist. "I thought it was against your policy to strike girls, so what gives?"

By the time the two boys started wrestling, everyone had lost interest and had gone back to what they were doing before. Now cared to watch them…

…except for a really pissed off half-elf by a sink.

Tornac was still steamed about Murtagh's decision and just couldn't get over it.

"How can he be so casual about forcing so many people under his control!" he muttered to himself, not expecting anyone to bother listening to him. But Nina, who was still cleaning dishes from breakfast that morning, shrugged.

"Tornac, it all depends on how you look at the situation. Master Murtagh hasn't forced me to do anything. I became his servant on my own free will, and I work for him on my own free will."

Tornac stared at her in disbelief. "You mean you chose to spend you life taking orders from a selfish, uncaring, arrogant man like him?"

Nina laughed. "You make it sound like we've all signed our souls to the devil!"

"Well…"

Nina stopped laughing and looked at Tornac square in the face. "Like I said before, everything depends on how you look at it. If you look at Master Murtagh as some greedy slave-driver, life is going to be utter hell for you. You have to learn how to look at situations from different point of views. Even though I am only a few years older than you, I have already learned that lesson."

"But…everyone here seems to be looking at Murtagh as if he's this really great guy…everyone seems to love him…but I don't see why…"

Nina smiled warmly at the half-elf. "Don't worry…you'll see why soon enough. You just haven't spent enough time with Master Murtagh to understand him and see the good side of him yet. But you will…just stick around."

Hmm…Tornac thought. Maybe I will stick around…Then he sighed. Well, it's not like I have a choice…thanks to him…

Looking over at Murtagh who was still trying to pin Saikoro down for punching him, Tornac glared. Bringing his forefinger and his thumb up to his face, he closed one eye and looked through them with his other eye. Aiming his fingers for Murtagh's head, Tornac pressed his fingers together, squeezing them as hard as he could.

"Squish…" he muttered.

He opened his fingers and saw Murtagh's head there again. With an evil smile stretching across his face, Tornac squeezed his fingers together again.

"Squish…" he instinctively muttered again.

Nina glanced over at him. "What? What are you doing, Tornac?"

Tornac didn't look up, but continued to open his fingers and then squeeze them together again. "Squishing Murtagh's head…"

"Meep!" Nina meeped.

"…Um…" she mumbled shakily, slowly backing away from Tornac, looking at him like he was some psychotic penguin trying to do the Hokey Pokey without the music. Tornac ignored her and continued to squish Murtagh's head, saying 'squish' every time he pressed his fingers together.

Tornac crawled into the guestroom bed, exhausted. It had been a very, very long day and a very, very tiring first week. The first day was spent being shown around the whole west wing and finding an appropriate outfit for Tornac's new 'employment'. Tornac still couldn't understand how he was possibly ever going to remember everything. After he found a suitable set of clothes, he had to work in different areas to discover which talent he was best at, whether it be the laundry, dishes, gardening, or just tidying up.

And all because he had signed his life away to Murtagh…

Tornac took a deep breath, trying to ease the fire burning in his heart. Propping himself up on his elbows, Tornac looked around the guestroom….his new room. Once Tornac had accepted to serve Murtagh, he had gotten his own room. The guestroom—the room that Tornac had first opened up to that greedy, selfish boy was now his.

Tornac sighed as he rolled over on his side, recounting all of the events that had happened since he escaped from solitary confinement. Closing his eyes, Tornac grimaced. The truth was that he really did owe Murtagh a lot. It was Murtagh who had saved him from being beaten to death by that soldier. It was Murtagh who gave him a place to stay. It was Murtagh who had been caring enough to listen to his life's story. Tornac sighed again. Yes, he owed Murtagh so much…

But no matter how much Tornac owed him, there was just one thing that he would never, ever do…

…call Murtagh 'Master'…

A/N: Or will he? …Heh heh, it's so much fun being in control! And everyone keeps telling me not to make Murtagh with Tornac…but Tornac really hates Murtagh, so how can they ever be together?

…Once again, it's so much fun being in control!

Oh yeah, if you read, then you must review! Flames are accepted as long as they're an assessment…or something…Basically, review and criticize if my story needs to be criticized!