Maria was glad the Ashina woman did not seem to take lasting offense at being treated roughly and having a sodden garment thrown on her face. Or if she had been offended, then hopefully returning the rough treatment had made them even.

The young woman stared fearfully at Maria as Maria used her remaining sword to break the chain that held her, and handed her the end of her own chain. "I'm sorry," she said, trying to sound gentle, not knowing if the girl would understand. Two of the children in her care, Shiro and Amana, were of Ashina-descent, but they had been born in Sorcier and knew the tongue. Briefly, Maria wondered if their mothers had been like this girl…

Maria looked around for something to clothe her with. There were soiled rags, soiled and bloody bed sheets, used clothing… good, a washing line. They weren't dry yet, but better damp without soap than naked and soapy.

Maria stood, gathered some clothes that seemed the right size and handed them to the young woman, who took them in confusion. She examined the young woman's wounds. They had faded a little, even the ones that seemed old. Up close, Maria saw how little flesh there was under her skin, how thin she was. The knight called more eldritch light to her hand, gently touching one of the burns on the young woman's bicep. They flinched at the contact, even though Maria hadn't touched the injury.

Maria didn't flinch back. "I'm sorry," she repeated gently. "I'm here to help." For a moment, she considered giving the lifegem she had found. No, not now. That boy was likely someone she'd known, possibly killed in front of her. She held still as the girl calmed down and continued to eye her warily. 'You can't put on clothes,' Maria pointed at the clothes, shaking her head, "with those burns," she pointed again.

Struck by inspiration, she reversed her hand, gently reaching to touch the youth with the backs of her fingers. The girl visibly kept herself from flinching. And then Maria let her magic flow.

The young woman let out a gasp of surprise and relief, breaking contact as Maria saw her wounds start to fade a little. Maria held still, not moving, arm in the same position.

The back door of the farmhouse opened, Maria spared a look.

A rough-looking tough stood there. He glared at Maria with fear and anger, and raised a wood axe, letting out a cry as he charged.

Maria threw her last throwing knife and it took him in the throat. She smoothly stood and stepped back as he stumbled, gurgling around the wound, and Maria helped him join his master at the bottom of the well.

When she looked back, the young woman was cringing, head down, trying to make herself look small, downtrodden, worthless. There were more hand-shaped burns on her back. Some of them where shaped like fists.

Gently, she touched the young woman with the backs of her fingers again. There was a flinch, but she fearfully looked up. Tenderly, Maria touched her and once more used her magic.

The young woman shuddered, letting out an indelicate sound as the burns slowly faded away, brilliant reds and oozing blisters slowly replaced by clear, pale, healthy skin. Maria watched her shakily touched her bicep. The burn was gone, and only pale skin, healthy and whole, remained.

"Onmyōji…? Shinobi…?" the young woman said, eyes flickering to the well, and then back to her arm. She looked down at herself in confusion, devoid of handprints. She started to cry.

Maria, feeling awkward, patted her on the head, got a bucket of water from a nearby barrel to wash the soap off herself, and went to see if she could find the key to the collar.

Maria found the key to the collar in a ring of several like it.

She also found more rings for chains inside the farmhouse. Thankfully, there was no one on them, though one room reeked of meat, char, death and phantasm slime. The bed had been stripped of linen, but that mattress was still stained. It was easy to deduce what had happened here. Never had the sight of blood pulled at her less.

To her self-loathing, it still pulled at her, even in there.

There was also no one else inside, for which Maria was glad. Her eyes kept wanting to slide shut, and she had to constantly remind herself to listen, look up, and beware blind corners.

The smoke from the fired fields was growing thick. Maria kept an eye on it, but there was nothing to do to stop the spread. The few workers on the field that hadn't moved to stop her had run away. Hopefully at least one would have the sense to call for help. The best she could do was make sure there was no one trapped in case the flames turned this way.

When Maria got back to her, the young Ashina woman had managed to get the trousers on– backwards– as well as a shirt, and held them up despite their bad fit with a sash from a torn sheet that served as a belt. She stiffened as she heard Maria coming, still looking fearful, and didn't significantly relax when she recognized who it was.

Maria, still moving gently, tried key after key on the collar, the young woman holding with a stillness that could be born only of terror. At last one of the keys fit, and the collar came off. The young woman practically ripped it off her neck, throwing it away from her into the well.

Then she grabbed a handful of sopping fabric and threw it in Maria's face.

Maria merely quickened out of the way. Keeping her gaze on the young woman, she turned towards the last, sealed barn, the ring of keys in hand. The young woman stared after Maria, balanced on the balls of her feet, prepared to run.

Maria turned away.

She was halfway to the barn before she heard the young woman's bare feet following after her.

Maria eventually found the key to the last barn.

In truth, there were three keys, each to a locking mechanism on a different side of the building, as well as a lever on the roof that needed to be thrown before the door opened. The ladder to the lever had been raised, but rather than search for whatever mechanism released it, Maria had opted to simply jump, and managed not to fall to her death from tiredness and swaying.

Maria reckoned the beast had been the hording, paranoid sort.

With the doors unlocked, she could finally pull the barn doors open. Maria was glad to see the Ashina woman help her without prompting. Thin as she was, it seemed she had at least been fed recently, for she set to the task with a will. The doors slowly opened

Crying, weeping, wailing, and the smell of unwashed humanity and its wastes were released almost as a solid wave. Maria barely kept herself from gagging, vividly reminded of hunts in the sewers of Yharnam, in the swamps in the woods, of having to dismember and hide the corpses of beasts for disposal in secrecy and having their offal exposed to the air…

Maria swayed, and she felt the tiredness, nausea and memories about to overcome her. She called her eldritch light, laying her hand on her face. Her mind cleared slightly, though the nausea remained. The way she swayed as she took her next step was alarming, but she powered through.

The wide open doors and the bright sunny day let light fill the barn despite the smoke from the burning fields. Maria stared grimly.

The barn was lined with cages. The cages were filled with people. Some wallowed in their own filth.

She should have taken the beast alive so he could die slowly. She should have used her Dark Magic on him so that he could suffer, and damn the consequences. The young Ashina woman, who had only briefly been stopped by the smell, ran to a cage which contained a dirty figure. Maria couldn't tell if it was man or woman or even how old. They were all foreigners, darkskinned folk from Gerudo, more Ashina... there was even a pale child with scales on her neck and ankles, a rare dragon-kin. Even those that weren't too foreign had exotic blue or green or pink hair.

Grimly, Maria began to check the ring of key against the cages…

When Maria next opened her eyes, she found herself staring at a sky full of pink, twilight-streaked clouds. Her head was resting on something made of cloth and–she winced– her hands, neck and other places stung as if sunburned.

Ah. Right. Someone had tried to set her on fire.

She smelled smoke, but it did not seem fresh, and there was no rising plume of darkness in her sight. Wincing, Maria slowly sat up and called her eldritch light. She began to run it over her skin and the stiff spots on her back from lying on what felt like wood.

She looked. Wood.

For a moment, as she waited for sleep to clear from her mind, all she could focus on was her magic and making the aches and pain go away.

"Lady Campbell! You're awake!"

Maria turned towards the surprised voice. She blinked a few times, not recognizing the woman before her. She wore simple armor reminiscent of the Royal Guard though. A squire of some sort? "You have the advantage of me, good lady," Maria said, rising smoothly and offering a bow. She'd been lying on the back of a wagon.

The young woman offered a hasty, if clumsy bow of her own, obviously unpracticed. "Alanna, your ladyship. Squire in the Royal Guard."

"Squire Alanna, what has happened?" Maria said. "I… appear to have fallen asleep. Most disgraceful on my part." She patted and found her sword still at her side. A relief to find. She had borrowed that from Lady Berg, and did not want to be unable to return it, as she would already have to do with this dress.

She remembered… opening cages. But they were through a blur, and she felt she hadn't quite passed out in the middle of doing so.

"Larna Smith thought you might come here when the squadron didn't find you at the Marquess Mason's manor," the squire said. She was giving Maria a very strange look. "Did you really take on all those men by yourself?"

Maria raised an eyebrow. "What are you implying, young squire?"

The squire blushed. "It's just… there were so many, and you weren't even wearing armor…"

"As the ancients most tritely put it, I 'got good'," Maria said, looking around. The burning fields had been put out, and by the muddy look it had been with either water or more likely Water Magic. She looked towards the barn

It was surrounded by knights.

The squire let out a cry of surprise as Maria quickened, moving with swiftness towards the barn. As she neared, she saw that they had cast aside their helmets, and she saw only female knights among them. Many had taken off parts of their armor as they helped women and children out of the barn. It was strangely methodical. They were slowly helped or carried out of the barn and towards a knight who used Water Magic to cleanse their bodies. Then they were covered with a blanket and led to wait with others huddled together in blankets while knights tried to find clothes that would cover them. Maria wondered where the clothes had come from, as she hadn't seen them in the farmhouse. One of the barns?

A flicker of movement, and she turned towards the woods she had approached from. More knights stood under its trees. Some were guarding men on their knees, prodding them roughly with cudgels. Others used shovels to dig up the earth. Maria thought they were preparing for an execution, until one of those digging let out a cry and knights swarmed in his direction. A corpse was soon unearth, a black lifegem glittering over its heart.

Someone touched her shoulder and Maria spun, her sword coming out and raised. Alanna let out a cry, falling back. Maria stared and let the blade fall to the ground, swaying.

"L-lady Campbell, it's all right," the squire said hesitantly. Maria was dimly aware of the sounds of blades being loosened in sheathes, of the… the people intended for slavery growing silently fearful. "We agreed to your terms. These p-people are under y-your protection, and we respect that. But you're tired. Let us help. Let us atone f-for being blind."

Under her…? Dimly Maria remembered bits and scraps… did she say…?

A familiar voice cut through her confusion.

"Maria! You're awake!"

Maria turned, stunned as Katarina Claes stepped out of the farmhouse. Her dress was still rumpled and dirty, with new stains on it, but her face had its usual smile. "Lady Claes…?"

"I figured since you came after me to see if I was all right, I should do that same," Katarina said. There was movement behind her, and Maria focused, recognizing the young woman she'd first encountered.

"Claes-dono, anata wa kono eiyū-tekina shinobi o shitte imasu ka?" the young woman said, sounding less fearful and looking mildly stunned the way most people do after first meeting Katarina.

"Hai, Maria wa watashino tomodachi desu!" Katarina said, responding to the young woman happily in the same tongue. "Jitsuwa totemo īdesu!"

Maria stared at her. "You… understand her, your ladyship?"

Katarina blinked. "Of course. Why wouldn't I?"

Ah… Maria realized. I'm still asleep and this is a dream. I should rest, then…

Maria's eyes closed and she fell into the peaceful abyss of sleep.

Translation of bad google translate:

Lady Katarina, you know this shinobi?

Yes, Maria is a friend of mine. She's actually very nice!