Presenting, chapter two! I don't go into deep detail about certain unsettling themes because honestly, gross, and one doesn't need to detail concepts I assume everyone can figure out from reading in between the lines. This is a different POV.

Trigger warning: mentions of rape, human trafficking

- ML

Chapter 2: Miss Nectarine and the Butterfly

The robes of silk lazily draped on her shoulders as soft lips traced down her cheek to her petite shoulder. Her partner kissed the tattoos along her right bicep, featuring a spiraling pair of snakes caught in an eternal dance of pale flesh. The heavily tattooed pale girl leaned her bald head back, letting her equally tattooed, darker skinned lover kiss her neck once more.

Her partner was an Elf with golden eyes showing a pale copper in the full moon's radiance. The paler Human girl's eyes were grey, with a ring of blue only visible in sunlight. The equally tattooed Elf allowed her pale skinned companion to get on top of her, their lips meeting in a passionate kiss.

The dark Elf broke the kiss, whispering to her lover.

"We shouldn't do it here," she said.

"Oh? But you were so eager to kiss my body just seconds ago," the paler girl teased. The Elf blushed in response, sitting up fully.

"I was just happy to see you, that's all!"

"Happy to go down on me, you mean."

"No, not out here!" the Elf huffed, turning away.

"Oh, don't do that, Farrah, I was joking," the pale woman pouted, places her gentle hand on her lover's cheek. Farrah sighed, meeting the other girl's stone grey gaze. "I'm just worried, Fae. What if someone finds out?"

"Well, let's just hope they don't," Fae said, kissing Ferrah's cheek after. Fae pulled her dark blue and pink robes back on fully, wrapped them, then tied a red sash securely over the thin layers. Fae wore all white, opposite of her black ink showing through the fine fabrics. The lovers sat together in the grass, listening to the sounds of the night around them.

The pale girl had a lot on her mind. The previous night, she dreamt of a blue spirit. The spirit was a dragon much like those in the Fire Nation stories, but this one was trying to warn her. Fae didn't understand as they were both underwater, and the girl was struggling to breathe. She had awoken in cold sweat, feeling abnormally angry. But that was what motivated her meeting Farrah in secret. The Elf was a great source of stress relief. Their nights together were their special secret.

Master Dimitri didn't have to know.

15 years ago, six months after the Air-Water War began

Northern Air Temple

Little Fae ran and ran as bullets and bombs of blasting jelly went off around her, searching frantically for her caregiver, Councilman Tenzin. The man had cared for the five-year-old all her life as the father figure her true lineage didn't provide. She tripped over a large obstacle, falling face down on the dirt. She looked back. The body of an airbender, permanently stuck in between a grotesque human and harpy state. Its gaping mouth and bulging, dead eyes stared through Fae. The body appeared to be twisted and contorted in ways only a bloodbender could've been capable of. Fae scrambled to her feet, eager to get away from the horrible sight.

However, she ran straight into someone else, a man much bigger than her. He smiled a toothy grimace. The five-year-old met his gaze, trembling in fear.

"There, there, little Air Temple girl. You don't have to keep looking for your daddy anymore, because he's already been replaced!" he grimaced. There was a greedy look in his eyes, like a starving person about to tear into a juicy steak platter. Little Fae couldn't understand why he looked so famished. The man snatched Fae from the ground, carrying the kicking and crying child toward a massive airship. It held no specific symbolism of any of the four nations. The night sky was soon filled with the smoke from burning buildings.

This temple was supposed to be one of the last safe places from the war between the Air Nation and Water Nation. It traditionally only housed boys and Air Acolytes, but those traditions had to be warped to accommodate refugees and lost souls with nowhere to go. Even then, the refugees and airbenders outside the war were not safe due to a new threat targeting the weakest links of the warm torn countries: slave masters from the "Kingdom of Men," where the full blooded Humans ruled over other creatures.

The refugees and airbenders were pitifully outnumbered against their allies, the Western Water Tribes of Men, who utilize bloodbending as a weapon of war mercilessly. But in Fae's eyes, she simply watched as her peers walked themselves off cliffs, shot and stabbed themselves and each other, or simply broke bones out of nowhere. Even the women of the Western Tribes and the Kingdom brought a storm of massacre, supporting the monetary gain of selling animorphic bodies for physical and sexual labor.

Fae was squeezed into a crowded lower deck in the air ship, which was filled to capacity with angry, scared, devastated, and shell shocked civilians. There was hardly enough room to sit down, much less safely airbend without harming other captives. Fae cupped her hands over her ears, shut her eyes, and buried her face in her knees through the whole six-hour travel. The shouting and protest had since died, the morale of her people lost to exhaustion.

Suddenly, her muscles stiffened and she was pulls back to reality, her limbs frozen at her sides as she was lifted from her hiding spot. Little Fae had not noticed until now, but the rest of the captives were already taken away. She had no idea where they had gone. Outside, the airship was on the ground of an airport surrounded by many other airships and war balloons. She saw other captive creatures and humanoids at the mercy of their bloodbending enemies, taken away to different carriages after being bound in ropes and chain.

Fae watched helplessly as her wrists and feet were cuffed before getting tossed into a carriage. This time, she noticed a branded symbol in the wooden floor. It resembled the side profile of an elf with horns and a French phrase underneath. She sat up, scooting herself into the corner of the carriage. It was cold, with only a tarp shielding her from the wind picking up outside.

The young airbender was soon joined by the strange man who first grabbed her. He grinned once again. Fae noticed one of his teeth was golden, his belly was round most likely from lord of drinking and overeating, and he was dressed like a nobleman drowning in wealth. Fae tried to shrink herself further, but there was no escape bound like this.

"Hello again, little one," he smirked, grabbing her once more. Fae cried from the pain of her strong hand on her wrist. "From now on, you will call me Master Dimitri. If you want to live, you will do as I say, understood?"

"Y-you're hurting me," she whimpered. Master Dimitri promptly slammed her on the floor, pushing her head against the wooden surface. The hours following that short introduction was a time Fae would never speak of to anyone else for years to come.

Four years ago, 11 years after the Air-Water War began

Agosberg, Brutstin Country, Kingdom of Men

Fae had never seen an Elf dancer as delightful as Farrah. Her brown skin glowed so elegantly in the sunlight. The way she swayed her hips and captured the attention of her audience so effortlessly, even Fae was caught in a trance. Farrah moved like a waterbending master across the stage among the other dancers in the show, matching and perfecting the choreography. She was a natural, showing of her flexibility and strong abdomen in her belly dances, arabesque, and jeté. Fae felt like she was watching something sacred; it was a worship to faeries she was an intruder. She used to fear these strange emotions, falling one of her sex.

The bruise of being 16. There was nothing Fae wouldn't do for the brown Elf. She would give all the ink on her body to the spirits themselves to taste her lips for the first time again...

When Elf's set ended, the crowd of Humans erupted with cheers. Farrah and her four dance mates bowed before exiting the outdoor stage to change for a later set. Master Dimitri announced to the crowd that tomorrow, A band was to perform traditional songs of the Fire Nation. Technically, the music was a human-catering imitation of authentic Fire Nation music, but the Humans did not care. The Kingdom of Men were full of copiers and frauds like him.

16-year-old Fae stood in one of multiple rows of women, men, and children of the Air Nation, Water Nation, and other non-Human creatures she did not care to recognize. As concubines of Master Dimitri, they all bore the symbolic ink brand of the Dimitri Paradise Orchard upon their bodies. It was the head of an Elf with horns in a small circle on the skin, "Dimitri" or "Mobius" or some other unique words sketched underneath. Fae's tattoo contained the phrase "Air Princess," also noted by the artistic black designs of a master airbender's arrows permanently drawn on her body, a sickly reminder of the life that was taken away from her all those years ago. Her head was also completely shaved, an ancient practice of the air nomads, to further emphasize her airbender heritage. However, she never actually learned how to airbend and was forbidden from practicing "otherworldly affairs" in the Kingdom of Men. Only the elite Water Nation colonies were fortunate.

Fae accepted her role as a concubine of Master Dimitri after several years of dreaming of her real father coming to rescue her. That hopeful day of course never came. She had no choice but to lay down and accept her role as his "Air Princess."

The other concubines of Master Dimitri were spared from a life of dancing nude on poles or selling their bodies to strange Humans in his many orchard houses on the manor property. Such a life was below concubines like Farrah and Fae, as she came to learn. Master Dimitri did not care how young or old his noble slaves were, as long as he got off wherever and whenever he wanted.

Unfortunately—or fortunately, she supposed—for Fae, she could never have a child. So she was daily by Dimitri who had nothing to do with the children who shared his noble Human blood. This was brought to light based on all the sexual favors she was forced to give over the years—eventu, but yielded no offspring even as a teenager. What should be devastating news for a woman was a blessing from the spirits themselves to Fae.

She was always within arm's reach of her master. Anytime he demanded her company to vent, to relieve stress, to play foolish games of Pai Sho, she was there in no time to tend to his needs. Fae had grown to love him, in a way. What other choice did she have? This man took her from a world she barely remembers and gave her a life of wealth and superiority over the other concubines. If this was what the rest of her life would be like, she may as well indulge.

Fae saw Farrah emerge from the concubine wing of the Mobius Dimitri Manor, a massive property owned by the master himself, where his wives, husbands, and concubines lives together but segregated. Even his servants had a residential wing. Fae was only familiar with the concubine wing, where Farrah also lived.

Fae and Farrah met in secret in the woods untouched by the gardeners or guards, as it was full of wild creatures and the buried bodies of impure souls vanished by Dimitri's court. It was a magical place under the full moon, a natural beauty of lightning bugs, water falls and streams filling creeks with a peaceful silence free of humanity.

Farrah wrapped her arms around Fae in a tight embrace, their lips meeting in a soft kiss. Fae wore her fine white silks that revealed the skin underneath, while Farrah wore solid purples, reds, and pinks of her native culture, which she didn't remember as she was also made a concubine as a child. It didn't matter now, though. All Fae cared about was cherishing the moments they had together.

"I meant to leave sooner, but Dimitri wanted to see me," Fae explained as they sat together on a long, large rock.

"Of course he did, you're practically one of his wives already!" the brown Elf teased. Fae blushed, looking away. "Well, about that..."

Earlier That Day

Master Dimitri, I've arrived upon your request," Fae said, sitting on her knees to take a low bow for the Human. He had lost a little bit of weight as recommended by his doctors. He sat in his throne, tapping his polished, manicured nails on one of the golden armrests while resting his chin on the other fist. He was dressed down for the evening, only wearing his nightshirt and pants, which hung a little looser from his fit frame. Fae sat up, awaiting his next orders.

"You will become of marrying age soon, my princess," he began, sitting up. "I'm sure you understand what this means."

"Girls my age marry or get sent away to the highest bidder," Fae replied. Although, Fae couldn't be married off as she would not produce children for any man. Besides, there were also concubines older than her still here. She only knew Dimitri's body. Was he going to abandon her? She swallowed, looking at her folded, gloves hands in her lap.

"You will become my third wife," he said after a long pause. The 16-year-old's eyes widened in surprise. Her hand in marriage? She couldn't believe her ears. "You won't have to live in the concubine wing anymore, you will become one of the mistresses."

"What does a mistress do, master?"

"You will become one of the caregivers of my 19 young children. As you already know, my concubines have bore 53 children over the span of 30 years, and only my 14 marital partners care for them. As my Air Princess, it is your duty to join them. You should be honored," he smiled, holding his arms out as he preached of her newfound honor. Fae smiled politely.

"A caregiving wife. Yes, it would be my greatest honor," she said, Boeing once more to suppress the sinking pit in her stomach. Once she became a wife, she would most definitely be stuck on this manor forever.

"Fae, that's incredible!" Farrah beamed, taking the airbender's hands in a firm grasp. "This is a great change for you, I hope you know that. It means we can meet more often. Maybe even... be open?"

"I might be a wife of the master, but that doesn't mean I can openly date, especially not a girl. I thought you knew this," Fae murmured, looking at her partner's eyes sadly. "It means that when you give birth to children, I care for and raise them like my own."

"Oh," the dark skinned Elf looked down, touching her stomach. The 19-year-old Elf had recently found out she was pregnant and didn't quite grasp that her child wasn't actually "hers."

"I see. I'll never get to meet this child," Farrah lamented. "I thought I was different. I thought I was special." Tears welled in her eyes. Fae wiped her lover's eyes with her sleeves. "You are special, Farrah, special to me. Master Dimitri cannot take that away as long as he doesn't know."

"What about my child?" she asked. Fae frowned. "There's nothing we can do."

"You get to marry him while I'm stuck with the rest of his whores," Farrah leaned away from Fae's touch. She wilted, seeing her partner shrink away in her grief. But Fae held her hands once more, kissing her cheek.

"Let's marry, right here," she whispered. Farrah looked at her in disbelief.

"Are you... are you serious?"

"Tomorrow, when the moon is still bright," Fae replied, meeting her lovers brown eyes intently. "We will each make a crown of daisies and exchange them, like when Dimitri has wedding bands designed for his spouses. It will be our special night," Fae promised.

"B-but what if we're caught by the others?"

"Screw them all to Koh!" Fae cursed. "I couldn't care less about their feelings. They might punish us, but my love for you is too strong to be broken with whips and hot coal."

"Oh, Fae..." The Elf stood up, sighing. Fae stared at her, puzzled. "Don't you want to be with me, Farrah?"

"I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have let this progress so far," she murmured tearfully. Something in her dreaded to hear those words, crackling through her conscious and gripping worse than the hands that suddenly grabbed her arms. Fae snapped back to reality as two of Dimitri's guards dragged the 16-year-old to her feet. "No, please! I'm not doing anything wrong!" she shouted in protest, looking to Farrah for support. However, she looked at the ground standing close to Dimitri, who had emerged from the dark shadows of the trees. Fury did not describe the look on his face.

"I trusted you, you little bitch," he sneered. All the love she felt for Farrah seemed to melt away like ice as anger and betrayal set in. Fae burst into tears, struggling to free herself from the strong Human men as they pulled her away.

"How could you do this to me?" she wailed to the Elf. The 19-year-old didn't so much as glance at her as the master placed his hand on her shoulder. Far had never felt like dying more than she did that night.

Fae was thrown down on a bed and her wrist chained to the wall by the bed frame. She soon recognized it as Farrah's chamber the Elf grew up in. Fae laid on the bed in defeat. The neat, fresh blue sheets still smelled like the girl she had fallen in love with. Fae began to cry again, suppressing her sobs as a needle of ink was stitched into her arm. She understood what it was: the wayward butterfly. It was one of those tattoos meant or concubines who slept with fellow concubines, one of the worst sins they could commit, next to theft, assassination, attempts, and refusing to please Master Dimitri.

With this little red butterfly tattoo, she was sentenced to the life of a prostitute. But Fae wasn't afraid of that. What she feared most was the Men who would beat and strangle her simply because they could. They could do whatever they wanted to wayward butterflies because they may as well be lifeless dolls.

And that was just what they did to her.

First, a guard would come in and warm her up with a syringe of unknown fluids. The world seemed to grow bright and more exhilarating as the guard used her himself. She would be injected three times a day, then four, then five, just enough to not kill her, but she was not present either.

After the injection and the guard forcing themselves into her, her chamber was open to different people who did different things to her, all for their pleasure, and profit to line Master Dimitri's pockets.

And third, she was fed through tubes down here throat, as Fae would eventually be so drained and delirious she couldn't eat on her own.

And then the cycle would repeat over and over. Fae slept dreamlessly, learning to crave the drugs and intercourse like a life force. There was no room for the heartbreak and betrayal she'd suffered months prior. She had lost track of the days, chained to that room for what felt like an eternity.

"It's terrible when you can't trust the people who are closest to you."

Huh?

Fae began to stir, foggy mist blurring her vision completely. She couldn't see more than mere inches in front of her. She looked at her hands. No chain. No raw skin or rope rashes from months of humiliating bondage. She looked at her left arm. The red butterfly was still there, taunting her. She averted her gaze, forcing the memory to the back of her mind.

Farrah, Farrah, Farrah. I miss her so much. I trusted her...

"Trust is for fools. Fear is the only reliable way!"

Who said that?

Fae whipped her head left and right, seeing nothing the mist at first. She caught sight of a pair of small golden orbs, a low growl splitting the deafening silence.

"Come closer, Kalseng Fae," a female creature's voice rumbled from deep within the misty haze. Kalseng Fae?

She hovered herself closer to the golden orbs, seeing gold tinted, humanoid eyes form. Then a long snout breathing hot steam touched her hand. Fae jolted in shock at the intensity of its breath.

Then, the fog began to clear. Fae froze up in terror as the massive body of a dragon seemed to manifest from the nothingness. It's glowing red scales and out stretched wings left Fae speechless and feeling significant in size. She understood that only Fire Nation people were dragons, but not all dragons were firebenders. Why would a dragon appear where Fire Nation were not present.

Who are you, dragon spirit?

My name is... what do you wish to call me?

You don't have a name?

As soon as you give me one, I will have a name.

I guess I could name you... Pepper. Like the spice.

"You wish to name me Pepper? Is that your final decision?"

This is just a dream, anyway. So yes, your name is Pepper.

"Very well, Kalseng Fae. My name is Pepper, your loyal spirit passing on a gift from the Spirit World."

A gift?

"A little bird told me you turned 17 on this day."

I don't know what day it is. How do you know it's my birthday?

"I just know, through passage of time."

The dragon snaked itself around her body. At least she thought this was her body. The dragon shrank into a Human, her tail wrapping Fae closer. Kalseng Fae, she supposed it was now. The dragon humanoid had golden eyes unlike any eyes she'd ever seen. Her raven black locks were bound in dozens of small braids, loosely beaded in places. The top part of her hair was tied in a bun, topped with a Fire Nation hair piece Fae had never seen before. It looked like a tiny golden flame upon the dragon humanoid's beautiful black crown. Her lips were painted light pink, and her eyes bore finely painted wings. But that was where the typical beauty ended. Her body was a partial phase between reptile and woman, from the claws hands and feet to the thin slits for pupils, large wings, and long, wrapping tail around Fae.

"I present to you your gift from the Spirit World," the red creature whispered before pressing her lips again Fae's in a kiss devoid of any desire. Fae knew that kiss all too well from the dozens of lips who dared to defile her face and body in the real world. However, Fae's heart skipped a beat as dark red light spilled from her eyes and mouth.

Sleep, Kalseng Fae, allow me to take you away from here.

A rumbling of an overwhelming source roared in her fragile ears, threatening to burst her eardrums from the intensity. Images flashed before her eyes of a cycle of white glowing eyes, taking on thousands of human forms through the ages. She saw war, love, anger, loneliness of a deadly level. The innumerable amount of memories spilled into her mind of the darkness disrupting the cycle of light, stabbing it to death for the sake of pleasure for the night. Pepper kept herself wrapped around Fae, basking in the red light radiating from the 17-year-old's body.

A light burst through the darkness, the light of a star perhaps. Tears fell from Fae's dark eyes. She couldn't tell if the orgasmic sensations under her skill were joy, the drugs in her physical body, or the slow realization that the spirits have finally answered her pleas for release. She briefly saw the scowl on Dimitri's face replaced with the shark grin of her new spirit guide. Fae reached out to her savior, arms outstretched.

"Take me, take my body, my cells. They're all yours to keep."

Use this gift to set us free. Trust me, you won't feel a thing.

Thanks for reading. Review if it's good or sucks, I'll still read it :)

- ML