You Break it, You Buy it

[Lenne Fayth]

He had to ask. The girl didn't know how to lie outright, but she just... couldn't tell what she'd been told to do here. Or could she? She thought so highly of her new Master. She really couldn't stand it if he started to completely hate her.
But lying was not something the girl had ever learned.

"I was sold to the owner of a pleasure house," she explained quietly, "For the first two years, I cleaned and worked the kitchens. Then, one day, I was told to.... go to work."

She tried to say it as nonchalantly as she could, but her face was glowing red. No. She was not proud. She had not chosen to do that, but her choices were to work the brothel, or be whipped and worse. They might have even killed her if she refused. There were no choices in a slaves life.

[member="Azriel Zadimus"]

 

[Narfi Hróðson]

Azriel remained quiet for a few moments before he placed his ship on auto and stood up, walking to [member="Lenne Fayth"] and placing his hand gently around her chin to raise her head to look up at him. "You don't have to be ashamed to tell me what you've gone through. Simply because I understand you had little choice most if not all of your life. There is however one thing I must ask, during your stay... at that establishment were you taught the subtle ways one could gather information from ones environment?" He then said in a gentle tone before he asked her, he had, had a friend who worked in a brothel and had been taught such skills. Though that friend had been alive nearly a millennium ago.
Part of him disliked slavery but another knew the benefits it could bring to an owner of a talented slave, and Lenne had yet to show her true talents or at least that was Azriels suspicion about the young slave girl.

 

[Lenne Fayth]

Her eyes went up to meet his, unafraid, truly completely unafraid for the first time since he bought her.

"Yes," she answered, "I vas taught from ze other girls in ze pleasure houses. I have.... talents."

She did not explain further. There was no need. Talents in many shades and colors. People let their guard down around her. She was just a slave. People never suspected the slave. They never thought to lower their voices.

[member="Azriel Zadimus"]

 

[Narfi Hróðson]

Azriel smiled and placed his hand from her chin to her shoulder reassuringly. "I will only ask you to use the information gathering skills the other skills and talents you learned in the brothel are yours to use as you see fit, if at all." He could tell [member="Lenne Fayth"] would be a valued servant in the future and a part of him wanted to see the look on her face when he brought her back to his estate and showed her to her new room.
The line finally began lurching forwards enough for him to begin the landing procedure. "Lenne I want you to be prepared at least for what you might hear, few slaves survive the arenas." He said in a calm voice as the ship landed and sent a small shake through itself as the landing gears gripped onto the landing pad bellow.

 

[Lenne Fayth]

She had no time top react to what he said. He wasn't going to tell her to do.... that? She was stunned. Honestly stunned. It just felt like a normal part of her life now. She was used, broken, discarded and sold to another for less than before. She thought her life would end when a Master got sick of her. But this one... he almost made her feel like a free woman.

"Yes Master," she replied quietly to his suggestion that she ready herself for the worst, "I don't expect to find him alive. I just.... want to know. It's all I've ever really wanted for myself."

[member="Azriel Zadimus"]

 

[Narfi Hróðson]

Azriel nodded to her and stood from the pilots seat as he gestured for her to follow after him. "Then I believe you've been kept in suspense for to long." He said as he lead her out of the ship and onto the landing platform, were they were greeted with another customs official. "Nature of Visit?" The man asked even before he looked up from his datapad and up at Azriel with a scanning look and then towards [member="Lenne Fayth"], giving her the same scrutinizing of his look before looking down again at his datapad.
"Pleasure." Azriel answered, it was the easiest answer to give on Nar shadda and it showed on the customs officials face that he hated to hear that answer. Looking over to Lenne he asked her the same question, Azriel didn't even try to tell him that she was his slave, this was his way of testing her a little.

 

[Lenne Fayth]

The Zabrak tilted her head to the side, brain working at light speed. In her black uniform, she looked every bit the slave. Lying would do them no good here. This was Nar shadaa, after all. Slaves were nothing new. She fully expected to be ignored, but what happened had surprised her.

"Business," she replied, eyes sliding to the side to subtly indicate her Master. The implication was obvious, and something entirely legal. People brought pleasure slaves along all the time. They were property, after all.

[member="Azriel Zadimus"]

 

[Narfi Hróðson]

The customs officer looked her up and down and then looked at Azriel. "Given your ship, this was the best you could do?" He commented to Azriel about [member="Lenne Fayth"], but seeing the red glow appear in his venomous stare back at the man. it was like he had chocked on a drink suddenly as he raised his hands to grip his throat but then he was raised in the air. Azriel stood looking at the man holding his hand up, towards the man.
"Insulting a man for his choice of slave is unwise, especially in this most recent of galaxies." Azriel then said in a cold and challenging tone as he then let the man go. As the man fell down to the ground again he caughed and looked up at Azriel. "Y-your a sith?!" He whimpered, only to earn a chuckle from Azriel as he shook his head. "Oh no I'm something else." He simply replied but before he could do anything the man ran away. "Hm seems he was spineless." He then said in an amused tone before he Looked towards Lenne with a smile. "So then lead on to the arena."

 

[Lenne Fayth]

She should feel insulted. Should, but her Master stepped in before she had the chance to even blush. She watched the other man go down, scurry away, and a twinge of pleasure at knowing her Masters willingness to defend her, washed through her veins.

"Yes Master," she nodded, moving ahead to lead on towards the arena.
The streets reminded her of Hutta, garbage everywhere, the stench, the slaves. Another hutt controlled world. Another slave market. She kept her head high. She was not like these slaves anymore. She was high-end now. Her Master was not a junk shop owner, nor a brothel owner. He was a noble. That put her one step above.

Not that it made much of a difference. A slave was still a slave.

"Here, Master." She stopped, gazing up a the towering wall. She choked back a gasp. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest. She was about to finally find out. One way or another. Either how he died, or how he was freed.

More likely the former.

[member="Azriel Zadimus"]

 

[Narfi Hróðson]

Azriel found the way [member="Lenne Fayth"] seemed to be beaming with pride a little like a child getting a new dress or candy for being good. He found it adorable in it's own way but he still followed as she guided him to the towering wall. "Good." He said as he looked around for an entrance and as he saw it he walked towards it. A guard stood in front and halted their advance, Azriel simply crossed his arms and looked the guard up and down. "I seek entrance to find a gladiator named..." He said stopping to look to Lenne to make her say the name of her brother to the guard, he spoke with authority and it was clear he was a noble of some considerable standing were he was from, at least he used to be a millennium ago.

 

[Lenne Fayth]

"Xavka," she said, "Xavka Duquo."

She felt silly now all of a sudden. What if after all this, he really was dead? What then? What would she do with the rest of her life? Serve her Master, she supposed. It wasn't the worst life a slave could lead. He was kind to her. Treated her with respect. Spoiled her, actually, she realized, startled.

The guard looked down at her, grunted as if to ask why a slave girl was talking, but said nothing more about it. He went to the datapad at his hip and looked it up.

"Says he was released," he replied in gruff huttese, "Left. No information after that."

The slave girl's eyes went wide. Released. She bowed stiffly, turning excited eyes to her Master, only just then realizing that her Master probably had no idea how to speak huttese and would need a translation.

"He was released," she said excitedly, "It means he might be alive somewhere!"

...But where? The trail ran cold now.

[member="Azriel Zadimus"]

 

[Narfi Hróðson]

Azriel smiled to her. "Well then I guess this lead is over." He said before he handed the guard a few credits as payment for the information. He headed back to the ship now, humming a small tune into the stale Nar shadda air around him. "Until we find another lead let us retire to my estate on Serenno. I'm sure you would like to see your room and were you will be working from now on." He said with a smile as he walked through the throng of people, who, with a little nudge to their minds, parted around them so they had a free and clear path to walk along back to the space port.
Azriel stopped however near a food stand and looked over the food on selection. "Lenne, pick what you'd like." He said to [member="Lenne Fayth"] as he picked something for himself in the process, a hungry slave was an unhappy slave after all.

 

[Lenne Fayth]

Room? The slave girl felt her eyebrows shoot up. She... she was going to have a room in the estate too? But she just assumed that when she arrived, she'd be put into the slave quarters. Surely, he had other slaves too. But no. She was getting a room. Would it have a bed like on the ship? She felt her eyes begin to water and she quickly shook it off.

"Yes Master."

They stopped by a food stall. It was only at this point that Lenne even realized she was hungry. Back with her last Master, she was hungry all the time. They never did feed them much, so her body had gotten used to the sensation of starvation. After years of it, your body learned to hold on to what little nutrients it could get. She hadn't eaten since her master bought her. She supposed that was longer than usual.

She looked the food over, knowing from experience how terrible certain dishes could be. It was always a risk, picking a plate if you were unfamiliar with the food. Thankfully, Lenne had experience and she picked something that would both sustain her for longer and not make her sick at the same time.

"Master, if I may make a recommendation? The dish here has a far less chance of causing accidental poisoning."

It sounded harsh, and the vendor gave her a sour look. Lenne raised a single dark eyebrow and he seemed to shrug in a 'thats fair' sort of way, backing down immediately.


[member="Azriel Zadimus"]

 

[Narfi Hróðson]

Azriel smiled and ordered the dishes [member="Lenne Fayth"] had recommended to him. With those dishes handed to him, he handed one to Lenne and then headed towards the space port. "Lenne I must tell you this as your owner. You have to tell me when you get hungry when we are away from the estate, you have access to as much food as you can eat when at the estate. I don't feel hunger like you do, at least when it comes to physical food like you eat." He then said with a smile to her as he then took a bit of the dish she had recommended, it had an interesting texture and flavor that he was quite unfamiliar with but it wasn't unpleasant in any way. "There will be many things I have to teach you both about myself as well as what your duties will be on the Estate and when in my company."

 

[Lenne Fayth]

She took the dishes without a complaint. Eating. Yes. She needed to remember that. She looked down at her arms. Bony, too bony. She could spend a week without food by now and hardly notice a difference. Was her master saying that he wasn't going to let her go hungry anymore?

She felt... stunned. She was blinking stupidly as she followed.

"What ever Master wishes me to do, I shall obey."

[member="Azriel Zadimus"]

 

[Narfi Hróðson]

Azriel smiled a little at her as they walked into the space port and headed back to his ship once more. Once inside the ship he piloted it out of Nar shadda and initiated the hyperspace jump to Serenno. It felt like like he hadn't been there in ages and he wanted to see it once more, the seeming only constant through out the ages. He beckoned [member="Lenne Fayth"] towards him once more once the ship was in hyperspace. "Lenne I will be resting for a while now so I would like you to look after the cock pit if this sections begins to glow then you pull back this lever." He said as he began to teach her how to take the ship out of hyperspace and to bring it to an immediate stop. Once that was done he directed her to wake him once they had reached Serenno.

 

[Lenne Fayth]

And of course she would obey. She took the lesson to heart, memorizing ever detail. It was simple, of course. A simple pull of a lever. And she complete her task flawlessly when the time came. In a matter of hours, the flashing light told her it was time.

She then stood up and went to wake her Master, just as she was instructed.

[member="Azriel Zadimus"]

 

[Narfi Hróðson]

Azriel woke slowly, as if he was rising with purpose but his eyes were still closed as he spoke in a groggy and gruff tone. "Ohk eti canka hih?" He muttered as he comped his pitch black hair back behind his head and pointed ears. He had a habit of jumbling up the languages he knew when he was tired or just woken up. In this instance he spoke in Ryl, the language of the Twi'leks.
He slept in a simple pair of pajama pants and as he rose up out of his bed he gestured for her to move out of the room if she didn't want to see him get dressed. Once he was done he left his room, well groomed and impeccably dressed as yesterday, when he bought her. He then moved into the cockpit and piloted the ship down to the planet, taking a little circle around his Estate, mostly for her benefit so she could see were she would be living from now on.
He then piloted it into a private hangar located at the cliff face were the estate was built upon.

[member="Lenne Fayth"]
Ryl translation.
Ohk eti canka hih? «Is it time already?»

 

[Lenne Fayth]

A simple nod was all the slave gave in response to his question. Good thing she understood Ryl. It wasn't a difficult language though. She bowed at his gesture and quickly exited the room. She knew when she was not needed, although she would have been happy to assist him in dressing, should he need it. She'd helped her previous masters prepare for the day in the past. It was nothing she was not used to.

When he came out of his room, she followed behind in perfect silence. And when he circled the estate, Lenne was enthralled. This was not like the residences of her former owners. This was old money. This was class. This was... something she did not think she'd ever see, honestly. She was speechless until the moment they landed.

"Master, do you have any luggage I can fetch for you?" she asked automatically.

[member="Azriel Zadimus"]

 

[Narfi Hróðson]

Azriel looked at her and then smiled a little. "There is a box inside the cargo hold that you could fetch for me, It is a hovercrate so do not worry about it being too heavy for you." He said as he stood up and began to head towards the exit of the Cockpit before he stopped. "I will wait for you in the hangar, I shall then escort you to the main areas you will be working in, ending of course in your private chambers." He then said with a smile to her as he left the ship and began to get a report on what had been happening on the estate during his absence.

[member="Lenne Fayth"]