"When do we get to do it again?" Shi asked her siblings after leaving the schoolhouse.
"You ask that every day like 'we' would know." Veema replied, her small fingers closed tight over her slate, her bare feet squished on the ground and her toes crinkled over the grass and the soft earth to which it clung. A pleasurable sensation washed over her every time she did that, counteracting her tiny annoyance at her sister's repeat of the question. The slate was smooth on her fingers, and except for the noise it made when nails scratched over it, she found she liked it. The smooth stone was always cool, making writing a pleasant experience on warm days.
"It doesn't hurt to ask." Shi replied, absently picking at the little red and black dress she wore. It was simple, coming down to the thighs and having a belt around the waist and a cross band over her chest to secure it around behind the neck. Almost a mockery of the little maid and houseboy uniforms the other children wore, Veema, Lenah, and Straen were dressed the same as Shi. It set them apart from the others.
"Only because she's not able to defeat you just yet." Straen giggled a bit, and was joined in laughter by her twin sister.
Shi scratched her head, "Was something funny?"
"Never mind, Shi." Veema replied with a roll of her eyes as the estate grew closer. "Look, just because I'm technically a free person, that doesn't mean I know any more than the rest of you. Why are you so eager for it anyway? I mean, it…" Veema shivered, "It felt good…" She trailed off for a moment, "but there's lots of other things to do too."
"You and your books." Shi chuckled a bit, "One of those detection things again?"
"They're called 'detectives' Shi." Veema stuck up her nose and gave a sound 'hmpf'. "And yes, I happen to like them. Thank you very much. I like being able to read, and don't pretend you haven't been glimpsing through the library's blood section."
"It's called 'horror'." Straen corrected her, and Lenah nodded sagely. "And that's 'us', our sister here has taken to something else."
"Bilology… I mean, 'Biology'." Shi gave a harumpf sound of her own, "Lots of pictures of insides. Horror takes too long." The little blue haired girl explained with a casual wave of her hand.
"Alright, fine. But what's your rush anyway? Teacher will tell us when to do the next one, and we will." Veema inquired.
"No reason." Shi replied defensively and looked away from Veema and toward the estate, she chose a quick change of subject, "How come you're always trying to talk to the others? They don't talk to you."
Veema flinched and almost got angry, but a glance at the wide eyed innocent green of the blue haired girl beside her, showed no hurtful intent. 'Strange girl…' She thought, not for the first time.
"Well, we used to, so I thought we could be friends still…" Veema explained as if Shi were younger than her actual age.
"Free range and fettered don't mix." Shi replied.
Three little heads traded very confused looks.
"What?" They asked in incredulous unity.
"Free range. And fettered. Don't mix." Shi repeated, then scratched her head and sighed heavily as if they were idiots.
"Look… free range are the ones that like… they're outside, they run lots of laps, they breed with each other, do lots of manual work, and get taken for 'speriments. Don't ask, I don't know what that is. But they don't come in with the fettered. Fettered folk stay inside all the time, breed in the building and only leave for daily exercise or to go to heaven. Fettered might see the free range, but don't mix, what's to say anyway? Got nothin in common." Shi turned her head back and forth to her sisters and scratched her head at their frowning, sad expressions and glassy eyes.
"What?" Shi asked, "What did I say?"
"Shi…" Veema felt overwhelming pity in the pit of her stomach and moved closer to the blue eyed innocent, "Just hush, come here." She hugged Shi as tight against herself as she could, and after a minute they went back the rest of the way to the estate, ready to return to another of Teacher's lessons.
Sado stood before the gathered worshipers with the confidence of a man born to stand before numbers. He read from the sacred text of the god of patience and wisdom, and in front of him a hundred sets of ears listened and looked on in silence. When he finished reading behind the lectern, he reverentially closed the book and laid it down, then opened his arms before the crowd.
"I stand before you, a sinner, guilty of the sin of weakness. My weakness was rashness, my weakness was impatience, and though the sin was mine, it was you who paid the price. I stand before you in atonement, and ask your forgiveness." The former Prince bowed his head deeply and closed his heavy lids to them.
He heard the sound of people rising from their seats and speak, "As we forgive your sins, you must combat them, and we will help you."
"As you forgive, so are you forgiven." Sado intoned in return. "As the Dark Savior was forgiven by her divine father, as she forgave those whose pain caused them to sin, so are we bound to forgive and try again."
"We discipline our bodies to discipline our minds. Though the true priestess of our god, gracious mistress that she is, grants us these days of rest in her mercy, we use them wisely, as grateful servants. Not foolishly, as those who wait for the silent stars to tell them what to do." Sado spoke with deep conviction, and clutched a fist over the center of his breast, with his head bowed deeply, "I am grateful to you all for joining me. It heartens my spirit, and I do all I can, to hearten yours as well. Now, let us reflect in silence on the watching shadow, and when the candle dies, we part."
A few feet away, a one hour candle was nearing the base of the wick, and the congregation of death worshippers sat to stare into the shadowy alcove in silence and reflection, until they felt it staring back at them.
And the candle flickered out with a tiny hiss.
Sado's sonorous voice soared to the back when the hiss faded to nothing. "Rise, greet one another no matter your collar, and go, good of heart in the knowledge that all will look after all. Follow the mistress's example, bleed or sweat for one another, as she does for us, and we will be closer to the divine god's true nature."
The gathered worshippers rose to their feet, turned to left and right, and whether iron collared or silver, they clasped hands as brother or sister, bade one another well, and began to filter out of the temple.
While they filtered out, Sado reached beneath the lectern to a small shelf and began to dust the seating, windows, and whatever else he could see needed it. He felt the eyes on him when his back was turned, but he pretended not to.
After several minutes, he heard her beautiful voice, he didn't need to look to know her hands were on her hips. "Oh come on, Sado, you know I'm here, just invite me in already."
Sado laughed and went to a small door in the back right that held a few simple convenient supplies. "You say that like this is mine to invite you into, Diana. But you know it isn't, I own nothing anymore. If you want to come in, please, come in whenever you like."
Diana rolled her eyes and walked through the door, she looked the fallen Prince over, the golden collar was ever present, and his clothing was entirely black, save for a red strip of cloth that he had flung over his shoulders to hang down in front. "That's new." She pointed to the cloth.
"Yes." He said with a little smile and reached down to touch it, rubbing it between his fingers. "I borrowed it for this, it seemed right to distinguish the speaker from the listener somehow, but I wanted it to still be humble… does that make sense?"
"Not really. Humility was never your strong suit." Diana playfully remarked, but Sado hung his head. "One of my other sins that you paid the price for. Pride is fine, but pride beyond the reach of my ability was not."
Diana was stopped short and her dark eyebrows shot up at his response, "Sado… I wasn't trying to insult you…" She replied to him and resumed her approach.
"You're not wrong though, Diana, not wrong at all. I was arrogant and foolish, and have been humbled time and time again since. Humbled by defeat, humbled by capture, humbled by rescue, humbled by having to buy back my own people to give to someone else, humbled by her rejection." He managed a somewhat bitter, ironic laugh, "You called me Prince of Dreams, I am more the Prince of Humility now."
"Maybe so, but… you seem to have taken very well to this." Diana swept her arms about the temple as he took up a small broom from within the little supply area and began to clean out what had been tracked in.
"I have, haven't I?" Sado answered with a suddenly serene voice, "I've learned my lessons, I think. From Solution, from our lady, from my enemies… and… congratulations on your freedom, Diana. You truly deserve it, far more than I ever did. I will serve you well, I swear it." Sado went down on one knee to her without hesitation, again catching Diana unawares.
She put a hand over his soft hair, which glinted a little as it caught the light, giving it an almost golden hue. "Sado, you don't have to do that for me, I've known you my whole life, we were lovers, and friends as much as a free man and a slave can ever be. We may have switched places but… my harshness sometimes… It was born of fear, not resentment. I didn't realize how hard you were working or really why. Besides," she gave him a lewd look, "you can do a lot on your knees, but protecting me is not one of them."
His sonorous laugh joined her silvery one, and he came up to his feet. "I may sound it… but, I'm not sad, I promise, nor am I whining. Just… reflecting on everything that happened. In a strange way, nothing has changed, I always saw myself as there to serve my people, I'm still doing that. So despite the unfortunate heartache of my Lady's rejection and her… her pending marriage, I am not discontented. But enough about me, what brings you to our mistress's temple to the divine?"
"I just thought I'd find you here." Diana replied, "Our lady marries in a few days, then when we get to Komestra the city will be renewed, and… I'm going to accept her name. If I wanted it, I could probably have my old name attached as well. I almost did." Diana went and sat down on the bench, and Sado set aside the broom, then moved to sit beside her on the stone that was still warm from the last to use it.
"Why didn't you, Diana?" Sado asked and put his hand over hers.
"Because they were traitors. Kaiji, she told me my mother's one concern was for me at the end, I thought maybe to honor her… but I can't. She was still a traitor who joined a line of traitors to destroy your house and take power for themselves. I want that treason to stay dead. I will be Diana Aiwenor of Komestra, daughter of the Prince."
"I… can understand that." Sado replied, "Something of a tradition has sprung up since our lady changed Veena's name to Veema. Some slaves have abandoned their former names that they held while they were free, and all of the ones in the twenty-five other than Freyjin, and to my knowledge, Vargas, have changed their names as well. The spouses of those set free all did the same. They threw off the names they took as slaves and registered new ones when they got to their new homes. It's fitting that you do the same for at least part of your identity."
Diana's face glowed with happiness, "You're a much wiser man now than you were before, I am impressed." She chuckled, "Thank you for understanding."
"I'm trying. That's part of why I'm here." He looked around the temple briefly, "was that all you wanted to say?"
"No, though all that does settle something else on my mind." Diana replied.
"Oh?" He asked with an interested look.
"Yes, when all is said and done, I'm almost assuredly going to rejoin Prince Yanlim, unless his desire for me has suddenly quelled." She paused to laugh, and Sado was quick to join her without any irony.
"You really did ensnare that one, didn't you?" Sado asked rhetorically.
She turned up her nose and huffed, "It's called 'seduction' you brute, and yes, I did. That's my job, and you know I take pride in my work." She gave him a heavy lidded look and whispered in a throaty voice close to his ear, "And you know I'm the best at it."
Sado became like a statue. But Diana was not done. "One more time, for old time's sake, before I'm bonded to someone else officially. What do you say? It's been some time for you, hasn't it?"
"Yes, it has been, but… are you sure?" Sado asked as he stood up, "You'll…"
She laughed as she rose to her feet. "Sado, I've never once in my life done this without something around my neck, without following some orders, everything had a goal, a reason, a purpose. Sure I had fun, but I'd like to see if there's a difference, how about it?" Her hand was out and she leaned forward a little with one hand on her knee and a gleeful smile on her face.
Without another word, he stood, took her arm, and they left the temple at one another's side.
"This is a problem." Nua grumbled as she looked at the new regulations that found their way across her desk.
"It does take away one of your finest weapons…" Kaiji said unhappily, "Do you think the Prince did it deliberately with harming your interests in mind?"
"No. He's smart, but this doesn't smell like ill will. It's too… clean. Besides, he's put the limits in there across the board. Nobody can just call in debts now, they have to be delinquent for a fixed period of time, with sale of goods and property taking place first. Rasgen is just being what I said… 'smart', and he hired all new council members."
Nua took a deep breath, "This… is just correcting a defect in the law. I should have seen this coming, I made a mistake."
"Mistress… you 'did' see this coming." Priceless pointed out, "You said yourself it was bound to happen eventually."
"Yes but not this thorough. Not this effective. This could have been copied from the law books of the divine one's empire. On the plus side… this will make Pas'en one of the most prosperous banking cities in the region." Nua pointed out, "And it'll be squarely in my pocket."
"Mistress?" Kaiji asked, "What do you mean?"
"This happened before, when the empire I came from rewrote lending laws to protect borrowers from exploitative terms. Contract rejection, repayment and interest limits, delinquency protections… people are more willing to borrow when they feel safe, and that means more profit in interest, which means money in the banks to make more loans, and so on. I'd hoped to introduce some of these laws myself, but the younger council members seem to be… very impressive." Nua acknowledged. "There's something to be said for old wisdom, but never underestimate the ambitious ideas of the young."
Kaiji and Priceless traded concerned looks, "Now that you've lost the power to simply ruin someone through their debts… what will you do…?"
"And… how will this change the former Lur'gin executives… their rumor mongering… we've done something about it but…" Priceless hung her head, "Won't they get braver, now that they feel safer?"
"I can't rule that out." Nua answered Priceless first and shuffled through documents in her hands, "Maybe we should put the Starlings to work starting with them. They're not without wealth or connections, it shouldn't be hard to introduce one into their beds."
"I suppose not. Tir seems enthusiastic about it all. We don't have many Starlings, but they're obedient and ambitious, it would be a good test for one of them and for her." Kaiji suggested.
"Fine. And as far as losing that weapon… Well, we need a new one. The fact that those criminals could operate for as long as they have proves there is a definite criminal underworld in this city, we need to gain control over it, as it might help us find out more about this... remarkable, unremarkable man. I'll bet he's been involved with them for years, though most likely through proxies. He seems to like that." Nua's voice was full of admiration, and it was obvious.
"My lady… he… what he did to Priceless… you sound like you admire him?" Kaiji said with her head bowed.
"I do admire his talent." Nua admitted, Priceless looked up from where she sat, on the verge of tears.
"Priceless, come here… come here." Nua said, seeing the flush to her face and her little quivering lip.
The brown haired young woman obeyed, approaching and kneeling beside where her mistress sat.
Nua turned around in her seat so that she faced the girl and taking her head in hand, she lowered Priceless's cheek into her lap so that she rested on powerful thighs. "Listen to me… I admire his talent, he's clearly competent and good at what he does… but that is all. I won't forgive him for what was done to you, my loyal servant. I won't. I promise you." Nua stroked the tear away from her doe-like wide brown eye.
"He will be severely punished, the pain your loyalty brought to you, I won't forget it. It is beyond price, just like you. We will make him pay, do you understand me?" She lifted the doll-like face and tilted it up to look at her, cupping the soft cheeks of her house servant, she held gentle brown eyes in her steely blue. "That is a promise from your mistress, your loyalty will be rewarded with justice. No one will ever just walk away from harming what is precious to me."
Priceless's heart ached, the prior praise for her kidnapper ripped into it, but the gentle touch, warm reassurance, and ferocious promise, was a comforting balm that she savored with every breath.
"Yes, I understand, mistress. I do…" Priceless gave a tiny nod, and kissed her lady's right palm.
"Good. Now speaking of that, you'll no longer be going to visit the executives, you're coming with me to Komestra, so have your final meeting here, I won't take any chances with you, not while all this is going on. Especially not while Freyjin is busy investigating. Which reminds me, who has taken up her duties?" Nua asked while Priceless slowly stood and returned to her seat.
"I have, my lady." Kaiji replied with her hands folded in front of her, "It isn't that much extra work for just a little while."
"Alright, that will be fine." Nua said and dismissed the matter, "Priceless, are there any Komestrans left in the city that I don't own?"
Priceless vigorously wiped her face one more time on her sleeve and answered after clearing her throat, "Other than the ones you've set free? None, mistress. I accepted all the 'returned merchandise' and all but emptied the stock of slaves from other cities at very high prices. You made a great deal of profit, and… I took it on myself to tell the Komestrans the story of our city's star you wore the day of the ball… they're in the pens still… but hope is rising. They know they're going home too, so discipline is as high as their spirits."
"Good, I want their spirits above the stars and kept that way, Komestra's revival isn't going to be welcomed by most of the others. Thankfully I have a few more contracts to take up immediately, so that will buy us time while they 'watch' to see what I'll do." Nua gave a solemn nod.
"My lady… I think I can say with confidence… that they're not alone in that." Kaiji said with a clever smile on her dark lips.