“Who are you?” Nua asked and looked around. Behind her, the front ranks of her soldiers looked at one another questioningly.

“Who is she talking to?” Vargas whispered.

“I’m watching the same thing you are… how should I know?” Valira replied.

‘I’m part of you, down here… your hand, wielder.’ The voice replied.

Nua looked down at the open palm, the jewel there pulsed in a slow and steady rhythm. ‘You don’t need to speak out loud, I will hear your thoughts, and you will hear mine.’

‘I see… Can you tell I’m looking down at you, how ‘aware’ are you of what is around you?’ She asked as she tried to process the situation ‘at hand’.

‘I know when I am being observed, I am aware of life and death, I can focus myself on a target by aligning myself to your will, wielder, but I do not have the usual senses as you understand them.’ It replied to her.

‘Why haven’t you spoken before now?’ Nua’s curiosity began to overtake her caution as she felt the warmth of the glow in a hand that should have felt nothing.

‘You didn’t meet the requirements… you have a hatred in you, which is good, but you have not used it in my presence. Your torment and execution of the dead Tlizin was what I needed, though anyone would do. If you killed those two slaves you left behind you, that would have done just as well.’ It answered with a hint of hunger in its voice.

‘So you know about them, do you have all my knowledge?’ Nua asked, suddenly concerned, ‘I admit I rather like having some privacy, it’s uncomfortable to think of you rifling around through my head like an unlocked file drawer.’ Nua responded to him with some mild annoyance growing at her own analogy.

‘Surface thoughts, those two are close to your mind, as is your Teacher, as is the dead one that you want back… and… my master, my master is bound to all of it.’ The gem replied to her happily. ‘Do you serve my master?’

‘You were given to me by his servant, so… yes, I serve the same god you do.’ Nua answered with some relief, closing her eyes and glancing skyward as if to praise her lord.

‘That makes us children of the same god, you are my sister in death, and I am the Orb of Death.’ The gem replied in a happy, singing voice. ‘We will wreak havoc together as you… yes, you crave power… you’ll kill for it, you’ve vowed to kill anything in your way, haven’t you? Yes of course you have!’ The Orb of Death sounded excited, happy.

‘Yes, but… ‘Orb of Death’ is so… cumbersome. A real mouthful, and you’re clearly not an orb, just a piece of one if I’m to judge by the shape here, can I give you a simpler name?’ Nua asked innocently as she reached down and touched the gem with her right hand, rubbing it slowly with increasing curiosity.

‘If I approve of it… what did you have in mind?’ It sounded more hesitant, and Nua thought for a moment.

‘Yersin… yes, Yersin will do nicely. What do you think?’ Nua asked as she stroked the gem still, marveling afresh at its smoothness.

She felt the gem pulse happily, ‘That will do, my wielder. Of course if you spread death, I should be content to be called anything, I suppose.’

‘Good, now Yersin, we need to lay down a few ground rules. First, don’t bother me during ‘private’ times. You should know when those come up, when this and that is going to happen… I don’t need your voice in my head, go to sleep then. The rest of the time, I’ll hear you out, but when my clothes start to come off, you rest.’

Nua thought the matter over for a moment, and the brief time in the bath with Solution, that close touch, and her time touching and being touched by the monster she admired… she blushed. ‘Or when I’m… in the mood and certain feelings come up.’

‘Like this one?’ Yersin inquired innocently.

‘Yes oh yes exactly like this one!’ Nua mentally exclaimed and stared down at the gem in her hand as she tried to keep the blush from her face.

‘I see. Then I will sleep now, we’ll talk again later, but let me close with this… the more death I absorb, the more power I can give to you. That first one… that was enough to wake me. Give me more, and I will work to give you all that you desire… you simply have to be willing to kill for it.’ Yersin responded with a grim, dark utterance that could only be described as laughter.

‘That, Yersin, will not be a problem, I believe this is the beginning of a beautiful partnership.’ Nua replied, ‘Go ahead and sleep, I have annihilation to plan.’ Nua answered, and the pulsing gem faded away to its shiny, solid, silent state, and Nua went silent with it.

In the morning, after Kaiji and Priceless each bathed, ate and each had contemplated the curiosity of their seemingly consequence free giving to one another, they were out the door of the hotel and on the way to the slave market. The bronze collared pushers were fewer in number as the rains had been less intense, but in the waning days of the season, they were still a necessity. The sun had barely risen in Pas’en, and the wealthy would be asleep… but the slaves were not, at least not mostly.

“Are you sure this is wise?” Priceless asked, “Mistress didn’t tell us to do this.” She wrung her hands together as she followed her companion, every step trembling with fear, her eyes darting from Kaiji and back to the path ahead of her.

Kaiji covered Priceless’s hands with one of her own and gave a gentle smile with only the smallest upturn of the corners of her lips. “She gave us permission to act with some discretion as well, and said she wanted useful Komestrans. This one is on sale today, if I can get him at a good price, our Mistress will be pleased. Don’t worry, I won’t go overboard on the budget, and we’ll keep him in the stable, he won’t like it, but he’ll live.”

“But…” Priceless began, and Kaiji looked around, for a moment, they were alone, and the Demon-Elf turned Priceless to face her, then pressed her forehead against her human companion. It was a very small pressure, but it was firm.

“Trust me, Priceless, I promise I’m acting in Mistress’s best interests, if… if I’m wrong, I’ll tell her the truth, you advised against it, and I acted anyway, only I will be punished.” Kaiji responded and put her arm around her companion.

Priceless’s brown eyes welled up briefly, “I don’t want to see you punished though… you’re all I’ve got, she hasn’t hit us… yet. But I don’t want to provoke her.”

Kaiji put her hand on top of Priceless’s head and tilted her slightly back, then kissed her forehead, “If I’m punished, I’ll just have to count on you to help me feel better after. Come on, are you just scared of going to the slave market?”

“Th-That too. Told you, coward, I’m a coward and I’m always afraid…” Priceless replied and lowered her head in shame.

Kaiji took Priceless’s hand, “If you want the truth… I’m scared too. Thinking about myself up there, stripped for the crowd while they say who I was, people looking me over, all those comments… and I was going to be bought by the city as a tribute. So from humiliation in life, to an animal’s death. All there, it terrifies me just to go now.” She squeezed Priceless’s hand, “Lady Kaiji used to go to these things and… she enjoyed them, it was… fun for her, to watch the bidding even when she wasn’t buying. Fun… god I hate her… finding amusement in you being…”

“Don’t…” Priceless said weakly, “Don’t even think about her. Just continue to kill her, and never let her rise up… and remember, that didn’t happen this time, the mistress saved us both from that. We must be grateful.”

“Yes… grateful.” Kaiji squeezed her companion’s hand, and drew her on. As they rounded the corner, there it was. A large wooden platform with a long mirrored back that showed whoever was up on the platform, from multiple angles. While along the long wall below, stood a series of men and women clad in nothing more than loin cloths that mocked the very idea of modesty, and the chains that secured them to a wall, with the loop securing that, being close to a door out of which more stock would be led. “Come, if this works the same as Komestra, then slaves bidding for their owners will stand on the left side, and… it seems they have a sign for it.” Kaiji said as they drew closer and she saw the shape of a collar painted on a wooden sign.

A few like themselves in bronze collars made their way over to the same area, a small crude wooden enclosure no more than waist height that was being set up in a modular fashion. Individual pieces were simply ‘set’ side by side to create a facade, and a freestanding swinging gate let them in.

“Why…?” Priceless began to ask as they came closer to it.

Kaiji thought for a moment before replying, “I would guess it is to limit the rich buyers. Anyone who can afford to send a slave to buy ‘for’ them, can destabilize the market by buying too many. If this is like Komestra that is. This place is even more… ahh… less hard working, than Komestra, in the upper classes at least, if what little I’ve seen is the norm. I guess maybe some could get around this restriction by sending multiple slaves to take up spots, but… I guess nobody wants to make a fight over it.”

“Oh… then should we both go in?” Priceless asked with sudden anxiousness in her voice. “I don’t want to be alone here…”

Kaiji touched her companion’s cheek, “It’ll be alright, just go wait over there, Priceless,” she pointed to a cafe across the street with an outdoor seating space that wasn’t yet in use, and looked down to Priceless’s feet, “I don’t want you to see this.”

Priceless took Kaiji’s hand and brought it down, “I already know… but that one is dead, you’re just using her knowledge, it’s alright. But OK, I’ll wait.”

She left the place by the little half gate and went to sit down as Kaiji went inside and took a front position with the best view.

Priceless went across the street and stood against the wall at the outdoor cafe and watched as things began, as she did so, another slave, a handsome looking young man of tan skin and intelligent, observant looking hazel eyes, came and stood next to her.

They stood in silence for a while, and she appraised him quickly, he wore clothing not dissimilar to hers in quality, though far more brightly colored, and his red hair was braided down his back. “Are you with your master today?” He asked as she started to lose herself watching things begin.

“N-No.” Priceless said hastily, not really minding him as a dark elf woman took center stage and stood poised with one foot crossed over the other, and her arms entwined together over her head. She didn’t seem to move, but her appearance began to draw a crowd.

“Oh, free time?” He asked curiously, looking at her sideways.

“N-No. I’m here with another slave, she’s doing the bidding, I just know the way better. W-We help each other a lot.” Priceless replied, unable and unwilling to keep the broad smile of happiness from her face.

“Oh, that’s good. You must have a very loving owner, to let that bond grow that way. You’re lucky. I’m Anders, by the way.” He said and inclined his head to her.

Priceless paid little mind. “Oh, Priceless. My owner named me Priceless. And… I don’t know. And my mistress is… very different.” She swallowed uncomfortably.

“Oh… I see, she bought you for ‘that’ reason. Some are like that, that must be why you and your companion are so close.” He said sympathetically.

Priceless didn’t blush, but she did shake her head, “No, we’re close because we’re, well, we just help each other, we’re the only two that serve her in collars and, you know how it goes. She’s never hurt me.”

He raised his eyebrow, “Forgive me, it’s none of my business, but the last master I said that about, used to make me walk on hot coals at home if I didn’t walk fast enough at market.”

“I’m sorry.” Priceless said, after an uncomfortable minute and noticing the crowd had seated itself, a large dark elf took the stage and began speaking, introducing himself as the auctioneer. “I guess we’re lucky, Mistress doesn’t hit us, she has the power to literally rip years of life away with a touch, or give them back, so… she doesn’t have to hit us, everything about her is terrifying… but she can also be so kind, gentle… and makes us feel safe. She saved us after all.”

“Saved you?” Anders asked as Priceless shut her eyes briefly as the woman holding her posture had her garment torn away from her, exposing her to buyers. She held a stoic face as the bidding went higher.

“Yes, from that…” Priceless gestured at the block, “She, I think she pitied me, got me for nothing, then gave me this beautiful name to get rid of the one that made me nothing. And she saved my companion from being sent as a tribute to be consumed. Because of mistress, I’m… yes she’s terrifying but she lets us eat, sleep, learn… she praises me when I do well, and touches me without hurting me. She lets me have my companion. Her magic is beyond my nightmares but… that means nobody will ever get past her to hurt me either. If I obey, I’m safe, we’re safe. In that way, even without everything else, serving her is happiness.”

Kaiji watched as the dark elf woman was led off stage and redressed before a buyer began to walk her away.

“Well that’s good.” Anders said with a warmth to his face that made her finally focus on him for a moment. “Myself, I wish I could just be… free, you know? But who doesn’t wish that?” He snorted.

Priceless shrugged, “I’ve never known any life but this one, I can’t miss what I never had. I think… I think my companion might, and if she wanted it, well… I’d want her to be free. If I have a good mistress that I’m safe with… that’s the best anyone like me can hope for. Kaiji though? She’s smart, real smart, she’d be good at being free if she got it. But that’s impossible.”

“Impossible? Why? A clever slave can win their freedom, earn it by good service… she shouldn’t lack hope if she’s what you say.” Anders replied, only for Priceless to laugh.

“Our Mistress got me for free, but for that one? She paid a number of platinum coins… you don’t spend that on someone you’re letting go. And besides, before the mistress bought her, she was bound for being eaten by the Tlalmok. So she’s too expensive to free, and too loyal, I think to consider it. Besides… I don’t think she’d want to leave me behind.” Priceless replied sweetly, and then froze while she watched a demon elf arm go up in the front where the slaves who were buying for their masters all stood.

“Something wrong?” Anders asked her, leaning over to catch her face.

“Nothing. Just remembered something unimportant.” Priceless replied, and watched in fascination as the arm went up again and again until it was the only one.

She pushed herself off the wall casually, “It was nice talking to you, Anders, it looks like my companion is about to finish her business.” She waved to him and gave him a shaky smile before crossing the slowly increasingly bustling city street.

She reached the other side just in time to see Kaiji handing over a single gold coin.

“...and have him delivered to the stables, the cages there and the space are rented by Mistress Nua Calen Aiwenor, room two twenty, just give them her name and believe me, they’ll accommodate everything without question. Also, my mistress is ‘extremely’ protective of her property. If he has ‘any’ damage to him… well in her land she was called ‘Death’s White Hand’ a sternly worded letter and a complaint to the Prince are not likely on the agenda. But… she knows the Prince, so bear that in mind as well. She’s handling a task for him, personally, right now.” Kaiji poured it on thick, and the dark elf seller paled a bit as the bronze collared slave explained the matter.

‘She’s not lying, not a chance, the way she moves, speaks, the confidence and authority… whoever owns her must have had her trained to a high degree, best to go along with her.’ He thought, but nodded emphatically as he added out loud, “Of course, mild discipline and we’ll deliver him tomorrow as you’re performing errands today.” He quickly scrawled out a receipt and handed it over.

Kaiji bowed and accepted it, “Thank you sir, on behalf of my mistress.”

“Come along Priceless, we’re done here, but we’ve got more to do.” Kaiji said with somehow more cheer in her voice and perky smile than Priceless herself expected.

Though as she took Priceless’s hand in hers and walked away, she wondered why it felt suddenly uncomfortable, and her companion kept giving her an odd look out of the corner of her eye. ‘No time for that now… perhaps she’s just hungry, or tired, or just, it was strange seeing my hand go up to buy someone. I can’t fault her for that, she knows who I was after all. Well, I’ll just make sure I’m extra nice to my Priceless today, and keep her spirits up!’ Kaiji resolved, and made sure to smile all the more as they walked the city on their chores to prepare for the return of Mistress Nua Calen Aiwenor.