A little help to the readers (more to come if needed):
"Hello." Speech
" (Hello.)" Thought
"Mouko Takabisha" Attack/ Technique
„U-chans" Signs
„/Hello/" Panda signs
„\Hello\" Telepathic
„/Hello\" Telephone
Author's note: Good news is, I'm not dead! Bad news is that I started roleplaying again and got a job so the amount of time I have is limited.
Part 16: AND HIS NAME IS...
The path of a martial artist is full of peril and it was more than true for a certain pigtailed girl. "WHERE DID THIS STORM COME FROM! IT'S NOT EVEN SEASON FOR IT!" The redhead ran as fast as she could to find some sort of shelter. Setting up camp in this weather would be more trouble than worth. "Good thing Lum went back to her ship. At least she is safe." The oni girl quickly departed this morning and came back to say that she will be preoccupied for the day but she will try and hurry.
The Saotome estimated that she would reach at least halfway to the usual training place she visited but no luck. "Maybe I'm not pushing myself enough? Pops and I did this distance in a day if we hurried!" Her father was a cruel taskmaster but he was also doing it to himself and that is something that earned his son's respect.
There were a lot of places Ranma would rather be than somewhere in a forest in the middle of a storm. That was when her eyes caught a safe zone, a cave.
"Finally! Now to get a fire started than I can dry mahse-ACHO!"
"Gesundheit." Ranma accepted the offered tissues and was about to blow her nose when she realised an important thing. Quickly turning to the person in question, she saw the ugliest... make that the third ugliest old person she ever met.
"Where did YOU come from?" The small man didn't care about the girl's attitude as he lit a pile of wood that was on the ground.
"I was here first young lady. You should warm yourself by the fire..." The monk's face suddenly contorted as he gazed upon the redhead. Said girl didn't like the stare she was getting.
"Why are you staring-"
"YOU MUST BE CAUTIOUS! I SENSE A GREAT EVIL THAT WILL DESCEND UPON YOU! It will freeze the very life blood in your veins." The man blinked a few times and his ugly mug became more hideous as fear took over him. "I am too late! I can now feel the darkness that has settled on you..."
Ranma just shook her head and let the man ramble on as she went over to the fire and fished out some rations from her pack. While the pigtailed played around with the idea of kicking the monk out of the cave... he DID come here first and was kind enough to let her warm up by the fire. If only he would shut up than his company wouldn't grate her nerves. As she opened the packed soup the monk's words popped up in her mind.
"(I don't care what that crazy creep is babbling about great evils and darkness? Bull. My daily horoscope is more threatening than his crap... at least that fortune teller was right about danger, her tarot cards attacked me!)"
Dismissing the thought that followed, she returned to her meal... only to see that the food in the packet was gone.
"What the..." looking around she could see the monk eating what remained of the noodles. "Thank you for the meal."
"There was no need for violent acts." The monk said, a huge lump decorating its bald head. Buried up to his shoulders, only its smug mug poked out. "Shut up. Who are you anyway?"
"I am Sakuranbo, a head priest in Tomobiki, but call me Cherry." The idea to completely burry the arrogant monk was tempting. As she contemplated about the boons of following up on the thought, a sudden sneeze stopped the chain of violence.
In the end she rummaged through her bag for a blanket, draped it around herself and got closer to the fire.
"(This is so not my day. I'm alone... with an annoying monk in a cave, and he even ate my food.)" A shiver ran through her, the air seemed colder than before and even though the monk was in the same space as her, the young Saotome never felt loneliness to this level. Her thoughts came to a halt as she waited for a dramatic entry but only silence greeted her.
"(Why won't he say a word?)" Her eyes closed for a moment as she relived the fast few days."(It's all... fucked up. Things were crazy before but... this unneeded revelation. Could I have caught, Lum without his help? The flying technique DID help a bit but I could have done it without that. Maybe I'll be better off if he never responds...)" Her eyes opened and the redhead girl quickly reeled back as the monk's face was just an inch away from hers.
"Finally caught your attention."
"What do you want?"
"I just thought that you might be interested that the rain stopped." Now that the deviant monk mentioned it, Ranma couldn't hear the rain. Looking at the mouth of the cave she couldn't see the rain either.
"That was quick I thought that we'd get stuck here for the day." The monk already had his hat on when he looked at the redhead. In response the Saotome (sometimes daughter) answered with the universal 'the fuck you looking at?' look.
"It has been raining for hours my dear girl. You must have been looking at the bottom while soul searching." Before the girl could say a word, the monk continued. "I called for your attention a few times after sensing that you weren't sleeping. At the least you could have given some form of acknowledgement to my presence."
The girl didn't want to stop using a working method so she turned around and turned her attention to her bag and started packing away.
"Such a rude girl, you will never find a good husband with this attitude."
"That felt good. Maybe that is what I needed, to unwind a bit."
Leaving the cave, the redhead duster her hands off and walked away not even looking back at the carnage she left behind.
"Darling! Where are you?" A much welcomed voice reached the redhead's ears, looking up, she could see the green haired alien floating, trying to spot her. She waved at the oni girl, until the green haired maiden saw her and dived bombed down to hug the petite redhead.
"I missed you darling. The ships mainframe told me that there was a storm, all you alright?" The redhead nodded.
"It was just a dribble, don't worry about it. What were you up to?" The taller girl landed and took up the Saotome's pace. Fishing out something from her bra, she held a thin circle shaped gadget. The confused expression on Ranma earned an answer and a smile.
"With this the mainframe on the ship contacts me, if it needs my attention. As it turns out a friend of mine wanted to contact me." A quick flashback, about the girl Lum talked with on the computer came to Ranma's mind.
"The one you talked with when I woke up?" The look and words that girl used told plenty enough that Ranma wanted to have as much distance between them as possible.
The worry that sat upon Ranma's face made Lum giggle.
"Don't worry, darling. It is not Benten." A big sigh of burden left the pigtailed girl which earned another giggle from the alien girl. "She has things to do but I'm sure she will visit someday. It is another one of my friends that wishes to see us.
"Us?" The surprise was strong with the redhead. Lum nodded with a charming smile forming on her lips.
"Oyuki heard about you from Benten so she requested a meeting with you and I agreed." Ranma was a bit annoyed that her training trip will be disturbed... but then again she might just end up relaxing which didn't sound as bad in her head.
"And when will we meet her?" Just as the words left her lips, the pigtailed girl felt vertigo take over her body as a dark tunnel swallowed them up! "Don't worry, Darling. Just keep close to me." Only darkness greeted the wandering eyes, strangely the redhead could see Lum clearly. "What is this? Where are we?" Panic came over the pigtailed girl, this eerie place felt familiar somehow and that made it even more chilling. The sense of touch brought Ranma out of the stupor.
"Calm down, Darling. This is a fourth dimension tunnel. We often use it to cross long distances."
She looked behind them... it felt like something was watching them. "You use this to travel? This doesn't look safe. Why couldn't we use your ship anyway?"
"The normal gates are safer." The slightly panicked look was brushed away and the alien girl continued. "What we are using now is a temporary tunnel, which will dissolve after fifteen minutes, but don't worry the tunnels are not that long. See? There is the exit." As the girl pointed forward, the redhead could see light coming from the distance, in a minute or two they would reach it.
"So what happens if the gate closes before you reach the exit? Do you wait till another one is opened or call someone to come and get you out?" Lum had a slightly impish look as she let him go and levitated in front of the redhead.
"You can stay and find it out if you want, darling. I would rather leave, thank you." After giving a coy smile that showed a bit of her fangs she flew away and out of the tunnel.
As if an earthquake hit her, Ranma fell to her knees. A certain feeling loomed over her, one that she didn't have since the forest.
"(I got enough trouble as it so I'd rather not stay for more.)" Quickly getting up she ran through the gate.
A loud scream erupted from the redhead as she fell about twelve meters and landed face first into the snow. "COLD!" Her usual clothes did NOT do much to protect her from this winter wonderland. "Where am I? Lum! Where are you?"
"Darling! Are you alright?" The oni girl's words came from above as she floated down to him. "I did not know Oyuki set the tunnel here. She should be here any moment." Both were cold and Ranma was about to give her shirt to Lum who turned a slight blue tint at the moment. "Here, you take it." Just as the pigtailed girl said that her eyes caught movement, it was a lot of people... almost like a greeting party.
"Oyuki!"
This friend of Lum's had a very interesting look and feel. Ranma was reminded of Nabiki and Kodachi as she looked at the white woman... and unlike the Kuno girl this one actually had grace like a noble! The greeting party brought coats that they draped around them to keep them from freezing.
"It is good to see you again, Lum. But who is this girl? I thought you said you would bring your husband." A huge sneeze erupted from the redhead. "We should not stay outside anymore. Let's go into my home."
The palace they were taken to was intriguing on many levels. From the outside the structure looked like a drop of water frozen in momentum. When Ranma asked about the place Oyuki told the redhead that since the male half of the population is almost always off planet, the rest of her subjects gather in these "mega cities". This way they save a lot on building material and heating costs.
Oyuki lead them to a lavish room. A large rug in the middle with big pillows that looked rather comfortable, a table big enough to feed a platoon and something that looked like an uncomfortable couch, but all this paled in comparison to the scenic window that had a great view of the snow world. While Ranma was enjoying the view Lum and Oyuki sat down to catch up. After a while the Monarch of Neptune turned to Ranma.
"I hope everything is to your liking. Please excuse me but when Lum talked about her husband I..."
"You didn't expect a girl." Oyuki nodded, slightly taken back by the quick answer. "If you can get me two glass of hot and one glass of cold water then I can explain this." One of the servants stood up and went to fetch the necessary item.
The oni girl felt a little ashamed that her loved one was left out of the conversation for so long, so she embraced the redhead. "Sorry for that darling. Oyuki and I had a lot of catching up to do and when we got to the part where I met you and well it was easier to say that you are MORE than meets the eye."
A certain theme song started playing in the pigtailed girl's head.
"The water you requested." A voice said over Ranma's shoulder, the redhead didn't even see it when the water was placed on the table! Oyuki chuckled at the redhead's curiosity. "Mizore loves to show off when I invite someone. You must be parched from the outside -" The queen was shocked when her guest slowly poured the hot water on herself. She was about to protest when she realised something wasn't right. Black hair, stronger face features, broad shoulders, different muscle structure and body fat distribution.
Oyuki looked at Lum, who didn't seem startled by this change of appearance. "You weren't kidding when you said more than meets the eye. I don't remember that earthlings can do this so please tell me everything in detail." A loud sigh escaped Ranma as he went on to tell the age old story.
"Interesting story but pray tell me why didn't you and your father just turn back and find this spring of drowned man?" The queen of ice asked and Ranma already knew it was coming. "I wondered that a lot my self... but as it turns out, we later found out that the curses mix. It was kind of bad for a while, but now that I think about it, me and pops kind of lucked out... sometimes I wonder, if the old man knew about this or just guessed it."
A light knock on the grand door put an end to the conversation and a servant entered. The servant looked like she could be someone's grandmother, if Ranma would have to guess her age.
"My precious Oyuki it is nearly time to retire for the day. I took the liberty end prepared the guestroom." Oyuki looked pleased by the old matron's words and actions. "Thank you that will do." With that the old woman was gone.
"Well than we should retire soon, my servant, Shiyaka will lead you to your room."
Without a word of goodnight or such, Oyuki stood up and walked over to the door which the pigtailed boy guessed was her room. The moment the ruler of the planet left the room two servants appeared to show Ranma and Lum to their rooms.
"It looks pretty good." Ranma appreciated the style of the room. Since he was used to Spartan living conditions the very notion that there was more in the room than the bare necessities felt good for a change. "Oyuki and I usually shared her room when we were younger." Lum glanced at the pigtailed boy who was looking at the giant bed. "The guest rooms have their own bathrooms so we don't have to use the public baths." Ranma liked the idea of a hoth bath to soak in and he liked the idea of that giant bed even more! The only problem was the sleeping arrangement. The room had only ONE bed. Luckily it was big enough that the two would not make contact... unless they wanted to that is.
"I'll be right back, dontcha worry." With that the oni girl disappeared into the bathroom.
"Oh boy..." Certain memories with girls and baths came up and the pigtailed boy wasn't sure what to expect. Getting tense from imagining what COULD happen and how bad it could turn out for him, he chose to look around the room. The giant bed was clearly the centre of the room, not in a literal sense... though it isn't that from it. The windows were the same as the ones in Oyuki's so probably the whole building had a unified style. Not only were the windows the same but the walls and even the floor as well. Other than the bed the only furniture was a table with seats for two and a big mirror standing beside what the pigtailed boy suspected to be a pair of wardrobes for guests.
It looked all so normal and yet there was something alien about it. Taking a look outside, he was greeted by darkness and a blizzard he didn't want to face anytime soon.
"Can't believe I'm on Neptune."
As he watched the storm raging on as the only source of entertainment, the silence and dullness started getting to him. As an answer to his trouble, he could hear was the water stream and what his ears could make out as Lum humming. The green haired alien girl, who just popped into his life, a little forceful maybe even violent sometimes but she does care in her own way. And she is only a door away, in the other room, taking a shower...
"(Don't even dare to go there brain! I know and YOU know that it won't end well, if we go there right? Right.)"
"Is everything alright, Darling?" Lum's voice interrupted the storm brewing inside the pigtailed boy.
"Yeah, don't worry! I'm just... thinking out loud."
The door opened and Lum floated out of the bathroom, all she had on was towel on her head and a bathrobe to protect her modesty. The alien girl smiled in a way that promised many things to come. Blood ran to the pigtailed boy's head as the girl got closer. She even teased him, as she slightly leaned back and let the towel around her chest a little loose, giving a tease of what is behind the fabric.
"If you want to look Darling then you are free to do so." Long years of discipline, experience and memories of pain gave Ranma the willpower to quickly enter into the bathroom.
After some outside help from Lum who explained how to operate the steam shower, the now clean pigtailed boy got out of the bathroom and to his surprise the Oni girl was already fast asleep.
When the pigtailed boy opened his eyes, he found himself in a long corridor with pictures filling every inch of wall he could see. He quickly stood up ready for the worst when he realised where he was. "Well haven't seen this place for a while. You finally ready to talk with me, Ranryu?" No answer came, but something changed when he mentioned the spirit's name. Not sure what to do the pigtailed boy looked around. One end of the corridor led to a not so inviting darkness while the other seemed endless. Not sure what to do, the boy took a look at the pictures. After a few minutes one of them caught his attention. On the picture was a young women but not the one from the "dream" he previously saw. She looked more like...
"It's the Queen! But she's different somehow." On a whim, his fingers brushed the frame. The picture became animated as the woman in the picture started laughing, tears of joy forming at the corners of her eyes. She spoke something but the pigtailed boy barely heard it and from what he did it wasn't a language he understood. Taking a step back from the picture, something caught the pigtailed boy's eye. "The corridor which was well lit previously became dim.
"I'd better get out of here." Ranma rarely, if ever said he felt fear... well you know except cats but now that shadowy place gave him the creeps. As he walked away, the pigtailed boy was sure that the darkness crept closer.
As he walked forward, the corridor slowly changed. The walls disappeared, the pictures lost their frames and distant ones looked crystal like. "It kind of looks like the planetarium where we went on a fieldtrip... I wonder if they rebuilt it by now."
After a while, he had a feeling that someone was watching him, he didn't feel anyone around him but he had a feeling that in this place he could never be sure.
"Anyone here? Hello?" His voice echoed for a moment before disappearing but there was a response. On the sky, five pairs of huge eyes appeared and all of them locked onto him. Shiver's ran down his body as the eyes observed him.
"Alright THAT is creepy... I need to wake up somehow." Ignoring the eyes he started running what he decided to be forward. Ranma was human like any other and curiosity got the best of him. Every few minutes he looked at the eyes staring at him... sometimes the eyeballs were looking at each other instead."(Why are the eyes looking at each other so much?)"
After what seemed like an eternity the landscape started changing. In front of him land started forming and a hill formed. On the top of it sat a throne made of crystals with a man in it.
Ranma wanted took a step forward and everything turned white. He was in the bed whit Lum sleeping next to him, the smell of ozone and a spark that flew off from Lum gave him a good idea what happened as the girl was still holding his left hand. Gently freeing his hand the pigtailed boy got out of the bed and walked over to the window. The blizzard was still roaring, its icy fangs and claws attacking the whole building.
"Still can't believe that I'm on Neptune. This is strange... even to me! It feels unreal." A moment of silence passed but somewhere in the back of his head, the pigtailed boy felt that something was stirring in the background. Suddenly a tremor shook the building, the ceiling cracked and everything that wasn't fastened fell over. Lum woke up screaming, as the floor gave in, the bed pitched down and she fell down on the ground!
"Darling, what is going on?" Another tremor forced Ranma on his knees. A loud cracking noise was heard as a part of the ceiling collapsed right on the pigtailed boy. The excess weight and the lack of stability caused the floor to give in to the pressure. Lum flew over to the giant hole leading to the floor below.
"Darling! Darling?!" The rubble under her started moving and a drenched redhead girl burst out from under the wreck. "Why couldn't I be wrong for ONCE?!"
The door slammed to the wall as one of the servants entered the room. "Are you both alright? Follow me we have to hurry and move to a safer location." Not waiting for a moment longer, the neptunian turned around and dashed away. Lum quickly flew out to the corridor and yelled after the servant girl.
"Wait! What is going on? And where is Oyuki!" The woman stopped and did a snap 180 degrees turn.
"Someone attacked us! The Queen should be in her chambers. Her room should be safe from almost any offence. We have to reach the shelter so hurry!"
Before Ranma could think about what to do, Lum was already in action and flying towards Oyuki's chamber.
"LUM!" The redhead yelled to the oni girl but she didn't even slow down. "(This is just way above me... damn it all.)" She sighed, Lum just turned the corner. Suddenly something flashed into her mind, a mantra that Genma made sure that she learns.
"A martial artist's duty is to protect the weak and those in need." Her lips formed a gentle smile as she murmured a silent thank you for her father.
Lum flew as fast as she could towards Oyuki's room and passed a few handmaidens who were running for safety. The queen's chamber doors were broken, a white furred monstrosity on top of the remains.
"B-bou!" The oni girl acted on instinct and went to check on Oyuki's body guard. She was no doctor, nor did she have a scanner on her but doing a quick check for wounds and basic life signs was something she could do. Precious moments filled with tension passed before Lum sighed in relief. "He seems fine for now... I have to find Oyuki and leave!"
Leaving B-Bou behind, the green head entered the room only to find it in ruins. The table lay in pieces, the windows shattered, signs of struggle and most importantly blaster marks on the walls!
"(Why didn't she freeze her attacker?)" Rumbling and blaster sounds caught the oni girl's attention. "OYUKI!"
The room was filled with ice in all kinds of shapes and forms and the Queen of Neptune was in the middle of fighting. Lum's cry distracted her for a moment and one of the soldiers capitalized on it. The muzzle of the weapon flashed brightly and Oyuki fell to the ground. The trio ran to grab the Queen but were quickly stopped by a bolt of lightning.
The scorched tiles gave pause to the attackers but after the second bolt knocked one of them out the duo scattered and concentrated on Lum. Not being a fool she ducked behind a big ice chunk before the two soldiers could fire at her. Luckily she didn't come unprepared. Besides her useful electricity, she also carried a lot of gadgets in her personal item space. Quickly reaching into the void that formed in front of her, she pulled out her own blaster along with a disk like gadget.
The soldiers moved to flush her out but got surprised when Lum popped out from the other side of the room and shot at them. While the blasts missed, the two dashed into cover but one of them got hit in the chest by Lum who was now behind the ice formation again! The remaining soldier dashed to the back end of the room, dodging and weaving out of the blaster fire. Seizing the opportunity Lum flew forward and threw a lightning bolt at the attacker. The electric projectile hit it in the back and the soldier keeled over.
"Oyuki, you really angered someone this time dontcha?" Lum strode towards when something touched her calf and her legs gave out. The soldier who she shocked before aimed a gun at her and the world turned blurry before her vision faded.
Gathering the unit and the two unconscious girls wasn't an easy task but it had to be done. With the two girls collected the trio huddled close as they gave the signal. Neither of them suspected the pigtailed boy appearing out of nowhere when the beam engulfed them.
When Lum woke up her head was pounding like a jackhammer. The memory of what caused it snapped her out of the stupor. Looking around she found herself in a large room. It was tall and wide, high tech lights that had light tint of red in them illuminated the room. Outside the windows the cold void of space greeted her. The furniture looked expensive, but on a second look the room was furnished in a way that hides the barren truth.
As she moved on the king sized bed, her hand touched something frosty.
"Oyuki!" The Queen of Neptune was still out cold under the sheets. The sedative must have passed out of her system as nudging and calling her name woke up the drowsy snow woman.
"Lum? What, where are we? I remember someone attacked us and then..."
"They shot both of us with some sort of sedative. For where we are... somewhere in space, if the view is to be trusted." Oyuki slowly stood up, her feet were a bit wobbly but she got over it soon.
A hatch opened on the ceiling and a screen descended from it. Both girls knew that the owner of this place is ready to greet them. When the screen turned on, a humanoid with light cyan colour skin and a face that was best described as beyond perfect greeted them. Brown curly hair rested above a thin brow line and steel grey coloured eyes looked at them.
"I welcome the ladies to my humble abode! I must tell you that I am overjoyed that you decided to accept my invitation. I hope my crew wasn't too rowdy delivering my offer."
The girls sneered at the creature on the screen, this resulted in a grin from their captor.
"I understand the scorn. It must be hard for ruler of Neptune, Queen Oyuki and the daughter of High General Invader, Lum Invader, to be forced against their will."
Suddenly the door of the room opened and the troops from before appeared. The soldiers acted in unity and removed their helmets. Lum and Oyuki were sort of surprised that feminine faces greeted them. Olive skin, crimson eyes, shoulder length red hair, horns grew out of her skull at hairline height her head. A grey skinned woman, with short black hair, her jaw and cheeks were adorned by exoskeleton armour. The last girl looked human, other than the scales around her snake pupils and the dark purple hair.
"We were once like you two. Livid, confused and terrified at what the future held. He rescued me from a mundane life. I got to see and experience what no other saurian could. Any planet where we landed I got to taste all the delicious food, wear clothes I didn't even..." At this point Lum's laughter got loud enough that the saurian couldn't take anymore. "WOULD YOU SHUT UP?! IM TELLING YOU ALL THE GOOD YOU CAN GET HERE!"
While Lum was on her back holding her belly, Oyuki stopped her soft giggling but she couldn't get rid of the smile.
"And it sounds nice and dreamy for such a backwater person, but the two of us who already enjoy such lavish life; do you really think this is going to change our minds?" The soldiers face showed disgust and the saurian was about to explode from rage when the arm bracer started flashing. The snake spat towards them and quickly left the room. The one with the exoskeleton remained as the horned woman left.
"You two should thank your luck because Raesso is not..." "INSTRA! MOVE YOUR BUT!" The woman known as Instra, left the room shaking her head at the manner of the saurian. After the soldier left, Oyuki looked over to Lum, who was on her back enjoying the comfortable bed.
"Do you see any way to break out?" The Oni girl sat up and kept staring out the window. "We could use your dimensional tunnel and leave." Oyuki agreed and got up to open the gate. "Do you smell that?"
Lum's nose didn't cheat her, as soon as Oyuki got up gas started to seep into the room. The owner of the ship heard every word and saw every move. "Can't let you do that darlings. I'll send Lalis down with the restraining bracer and that will put an end to their gate idea." A smile of pure bliss appeared on its perfect lips as his eye adored the majestic sight. To crown the moment it raised the glass to its lips and took a sip of the red liquid in it.
"Captain Himo, is everything to your liking?" The creature known as Himo looked at the servant. The man standing there, wearing a uniform similar to the soldiers, holding a tray seemed kind of out of place. His size was not uncommon, there were FAR bigger creatures like Golathians, but the two and a half meter tall, weighting at almost 300 kilo of mostly muscle (which made the uniform quite funny looking) he wasn't a member of the smaller creatures. His face was a strange mix of human and feline mix. The strong jaw line, feline eyes and ears, a well kept brown mane (that at this point can be called hair), claws instead of nails, a subtle thin layer of body hair coated it's granite like body. Some would call the manservant a tiger or puss in boots but the cat-man listens only to...
"Naier, great work... as always. The wine is great as usual and still... there is something missing." Himo looked around in the luxurious room. Plush colourful carpets, trophies from all sorts of wild animals, a majestic heart shaped bed, shelf after shelf filled with books of every kind and to crown it all: an aquarium filled with assorted water creatures looked at the cold void that is space.
And there was Himo, in his personal caption space, sitting in a comfy chair fit for a true captain, a dozer on so screens showing all the important information about the ship, fuel and other supply levels as well as the security cameras and system controls to help with certain scenarios.
"I might just know what you need, master." Naier lifted his arm up and started pushing buttons on his arm bracer. In a moment or two a primal but majestic song started playing. After taking another sip from the wine, Himo lifted the glass.
"You do have fine taste AND you always manage to surprise me, Naier. It was truly luck day for both of us when I bough you from those brutes. All this potential going to waste so you could be... a gladiator! While I don't doubt that you would have done well, I do believe my dear Naier that you are worthy of better life than what those fools would have give you." Himo, drank the remaining liquid then jumped up.
"Let's check up on our new recruit, I wish to talk to her personally."