The first village that Kaiji and Priceless found themselves coming up to was in a word, ‘typical’ of something of Pas’en. There was no wall to speak of, and the buildings were almost all of gray stone that had been stacked and cemented together, with a straw thatch woven into segments, almost like a carpet. Simple, efficient, easy to use and replace, but also providing sound protection from the weather. Each house had several barrels outside of it to capture the high rains that blasted the region, and all of those they could see were obviously full. Notably, there were ample ditches dug away from the homes, and every home had been built on a mound of earth, which had been packed down tight so that it was at least a little above the surrounding ground. “Peasant practicality.” Kaiji praised the sensible design, “I’d suppose that their small channels run the water to a common source for their animals.”

Priceless looked around the village into which they rode, and a vague, tiny fog of a distant memory stirred of homes much like these. “I think… I think I was born in a village like this.” She said with a humble look over to her once mighty lover. “Please… I know we have to impress them with the need to obey the new laws of our mistress, but please be kind to them.”

Kaiji reached over to take her lover’s hand, “I will treat them as I would you. Our Lady will decide if harsher measures are needed. For now we only inspect, we observe, we learn the needs of her lands… and we…” Kaiji put her free hand to her face and briefly covered it.

Priceless required no explanation, she moved closer, so that she was whispering over Kaiji’s back when her lover looked away, and into the dark, long, sensitive ear she loved. “Yes, we will see what she has bought in Komestra. Are you going to be OK with that… I did serve a city administrator once. I know well enough what to look for.”

Kaiji sniffled and wiped her nose, she reached over to her shoulder and covered Priceless’s comforting hand. “No, I can do this. I need to see it all anyway, most of it will be torn down… Old Komestra will never be again, and the new one will rise in its stead, in her image. I saw Komestra through some of its brightest days, I saw it die… this is just looking at a body. It will hurt, but pain will pass.”

The carriage ground to a halt in the center of the village, but even before it stopped completely, villagers in duller clothing than typically worn in the city, had already begun to gather. An unlooked for event like an expensive carriage coming to a halt was not only a curiosity, it was an opportunity.

A tiny hint of Komestran pride burst forth in Kaiji’s heart when she saw that they were gathered like a mob, no order, no evident discipline. ‘Even Komestran peasants know to line up in an orderly manner.’ She let out a ‘hmpf’ and waited for the coachman to get down and open the door. It clicked audibly and the black door swung wide open, allowing them to leave.

Kaiji was the first to emerge, stooping slightly under the low arch, and then down into the dirt. She stepped down as hard as she could, ensuring that the coin purse at her side jingled audibly.

Kaiji took the lead, falling easily into place, holding her head up high to ensure her purple tag was on full display as it dangled from her neck. Priceless, to Kaiji’s unutterable pride, adopted a compatible posture, holding out a simple clipboard and document and holding her head the same as her lover to display the tag of her own.

“I am Kaiji Najin, Majordomo of Duchessa Nua Calen Aiwenor, the Lady of these lands.” Kaiji held her left hand out to her side, gesturing to Priceless. “This is Priceless, her personal secretary as well as my assistant. While I am sure you have heard of her recent acquisition…” She swept her eyes over the crowd of curious families, “you may be wondering why she hasn’t come herself.”

Kaiji grinned with fierce pride, her blood red eyes alight as she fell into one of her greater gifts, storytelling. She told the story of their dread mistress, her daring rescue of a mere slave, and the personal appointment to venture alone into the heart of the Tlalmok Empire as the escort of the tribute meant to save them all from the wrath of the beastmen. Her powerful noble voice was on full display, and by the end of it, she’d made her mistress a hero out of an epic.

“...So we come in her stead, with her written laws to be inscribed on the hearts of all her people, that you know her will, for the betterment of all. So first, we will outline the future of this, and all her villages and towns. Then hear out any concerns, present or future that you may have.” Kaiji finished her speech and gestured to the space in front of where she stood.

An elderly man with his arm folded behind his stooped back, his hand holding a crooked walking stick, managed to raise his bald head a bit. “What do you mean… Voice of the Duchessa…? What future plans are there? We’re a farmin’ place, we plant, harvest, and repeat. Nothin different ever happens.”

His aged, gray, careworn face had obviously seen many winters come and go, as far as human lifespans went, and Kaiji answered him truthfully. “You may have seen people coming this way, looking for work, and if you haven’t, you will soon. Our mistress intends to allow them to settle, behind us come teams to build new homes for new workers. You’ll have a small branch coin exchange erected, a place you can safely keep your earnings so that they won’t be stolen. In addition…” Kaiji pointed to a distant field, “Why is there no windmill there?”

“Ain’t got the time ta build on’athose. Ain’t got the people even if’n we did, ain’t got the money fer supplies even if’n we had both.” The old mayor groused.

“And if you had all that, would your lives be improved, your production improved, your village improved?” Kaiji asked it sharply, but she saw the way his understanding took shape.

“You sayin…” He began.

“Yes. You tell the crew what to build, they’ll build it, we’ll leave money to pay them. This isn’t a gift of the Duchessa, this…” Kaiji pointed to the village, “Is an investment in you. Our new Duchessa believes in you, her people, and this willingness to put her coin at your back is proof of that. In addition, there will be families of her mercenary unit joining these villages. She wants it understood that they are to be welcomed as you would wish to be. It will not be a large change but… expect to have a few new faces. Expect also, that this will improve your lives. Next, please, unless you have other concerns, old man?” Kaiji flashed a charming smile while Priceless scribbled notes about the windmill and the cost of payment for the crew and supplies.

One by one, she heard them out, noted their concerns about disease and the lack of regular visits by those with healing magic. Their concerns with the cost of shipping rice and their limited transportation as well as the lack of a way to safely store it. Kaiji heard them all, and Priceless wrote it down.

It was sunset by the time they departed, with their coinpurse a little lighter, while the goodwill of the village that was being put at their back, increased by the coins and promises left behind.

“This is going to take quite some time, isn’t it?” Priceless asked, covering her yawn while she watched the sun descend over the horizon.

“Maybe so,” Kaiji answered, sliding next to her and nibbling teasingly on Priceless’s delicate, soft earlobe, “but Komestra wasn’t built in one day the first time around, so I don’t expect differently the second time either. Now come here, and let’s enjoy this bumpy road a little more…” She whispered duskily into her lover’s ear, and savored the feel and sound of Priceless’s increasingly rapid breathing as they gave in to one another.

Sobella’s clinging to Nua was more subdued as they left the village waypoint, there was no ceremony for their departure, and though their bodies carried them farther west, at least for Sobella, her heart and mind were carried east. When the gate of the small village was a distant dot, Nua began to sing a low and mourning song. Memories of her time in the fields of her former masters, where she and other slaves bent their aching backs to thresh the wheat that filled the bellies of their owners, and the songs they sang, haunted her.

For the nearly timeless and long lived elves, any master among humans was almost nothing, the lifespan of a horsefly… but if one is forced to hold one’s hand out to be stung by the short lived insects, a minute can be an eternity. As she passed the final note of her song of the fields and great latifundias, Sobella’s relaxed grip grew much, much tighter.

“I’m sorry I overreacted back there…” She finally said, resting her forehead against the back of Nua’s neck.

“It’s alright, Sobella. That was a lot to endure, who could blame you for not being able to bear it?” Nua asked rhetorically, only for the demon-elf to smile bitterly.

“You bore it.” She replied with quiet calm.

Nua dismissed that with a wave of her hand. “I’m supposed to. It is what I am trained for. I’m a priestess of the god of death, the lives I take are given to him, the course of my life takes me through many… unpleasant places.”

“Is that why you didn’t close your eyes?” Sobella asked, “Do you like it?”

“No. I don’t. But I wanted to remember it, because someone should. I will remember their gluttony. I will remember that they loved knowing you were suffering. I will remember the smell, and what I saw on my way out. I will remember it all, and never forget.” Nua answered with clinical coldness while her eyes scanned the horizon. Her answer put off Sobella enough that the demon-elf woman went quiet again. Only the sound of hooves scratching at the red dirt road beneath them, broke the stillness of the day.

“What will your next ‘experience’ be?” Nua finally asked as gently as she could.

Sobella’s voice became childlike and small, her fingers dug into Nua’s side, pressing against the wood elf’s armor. “Sound. I will have to listen, and so will you. We will be hooded, our noses plugged, but the hoods will have holes for our ears. General Leaman should have told you this so that you wouldn’t panic or resist. If you were to do either, then you would become part of the feast and royal escorts would carry me to the Tlalmok emperor.”

“I see. He really does want to get rid of me, doesn’t he…?” Nua asked the question, but clearly rhetorically, not expecting a true answer, but Sobella gave it anyway.

“He does. You’re a foreigner, and he’s not fond of those, he never minded me because my status always depended on the Prince. I made Rasgen happy, and he helped raise the Prince to manhood. Besides, I could never make a true heir as I came to him as a slave. But you? You come with wealth, with power… you disrupt the balance, a thing that is always delicate, and he doubts your loyalty to our Prince.” Sobella gave a small squeeze to Nua’s body. “He shouldn’t, it isn’t fair. You’ve done much for us, and I’m sorry he tried this with you.”

“It’s alright, it wasn’t your idea, nor Prince Rasgen’s. Besides, he seems to be in the minority, not that I’m exactly loved, but he seems to be the only one to hate me enough to try to have me killed.” Nua said truthfully. ‘At least now that Ulmin is dead. Though now that I think about it, I hope Lodira is alright. It can’t have been a pleasant way to wake up.’ Brief pity welled within her for the pleasant, hedonistic woman, but she quashed it before it could rise too high within her thoughts with a slow blink of her eyes.

“Can I ask you something… Sobella?” Nua asked, taking a deep breath and savoring the fresh clean air. ‘The Tlalmok Empire’s countryside is beautiful.’ She thought. The red earth beneath must have been quite fertile, as plants seemed to grow everywhere, rolling hills framed distant great mountains, and in all directions, she saw signs of wildlife. ‘Perhaps there is a reason behind their travel restrictions. They may be more than simple brutes as I first believed. Their buildings were simple, functional, and well made. I will have to rethink a few things, and keep my eyes open. How kind of them to let me ‘spy’ on their empire before visiting it in force.’ She thought to herself before Sobella answered.

“Go ahead, Nua.” Sobella replied politely, cocking her head curiously behind her escort.

“The last night in the Pasenian village, I know you went off to an, well for lack of a better word, an orgy… maybe this seems strange to you for me to ask, but… why? Aren’t you in love with the Prince? Isn’t that a strange choice…?” Nua asked the question that had nagged at the back of her mind, only for Sobella to titter.

“So you were awake, I suspected you might be faking it, no, you didn’t give yourself away. I just didn’t think it was very likely that you would sleep while not knowing I was safely back with you, even there.” Sobella released her hold and put her hands on Nua’s upper back. “It’s OK to ask, and the answer is simple. Yes, I love my Rasgy dearly, but I told him to consider me a dead woman as soon as I was out of sight. The dead have no claim on the living. I just wanted one more night of pleasure, one glorious evening of desire and being desired… one more declaration of my life before it’s gone. Besides, I was a slave once, and ‘fidelity’ of that sort is almost a laughable concept.” She proved it was more than almost with the laugh that followed.

“I’m sure right now my Rasgy is on top of our dear Contessa having all kinds of morning fun before the day gets going for them both. So why shouldn’t I have a little more pleasure before the pain? See, not complicated at all.” Sobella finished her explanation, and Nua felt the playful smile behind her.

‘I suppose that makes sense… is that what I’m doing though? Giving the dead a claim on my life? Am I letting my fixation on Raymond deprive me of happiness, pleasure, life?’ The question itself made her tense, it was an unhappy moment, and one she chose to fill with another song, a happier one, of a soldier’s reunion with his wife after the war. It was a wild, romping song full of dirty jokes and innuendo, and when it finally ended, Sobella immediately said…

“Sing it again! I want to sing along this time!” Within a few minutes their heads were bouncing to the rhythm, and the lyrics barely uttered before they broke into laughter over a size joke or a mockery of what sort of vessel to drink from.

For all the unpleasantness of the journey, for awhile at least, they might as well have been just two travelers enjoying a beautiful day on an open road, with nothing but sun at their back, wind in their billowing hair, and endless tomorrows ahead. It was the only thing Nua could think to offer to the woman at her back.