Cass sighed heavily, leaning against the wall for a moment.

“This is… Too much,” she muttered under her breath. “Just too… fucking… much…”

Berentrad had been hauled away and Cass should be heading back to her rooms, but she was just so tired. Cass had woken up in a strange place after being ambushed and kidnapped away from her Master, she had seized every opportunity she could and twisted and manipulated every person around her.

“Is this who I am freed from hunger and poverty,” Cass sank down against the wall until she was sitting on the floor. “Is this all the control I can muster without my Master to hold my leash?”

She closed her eyes for a second, Cass just needed a bit to compose her thoughts before she met with Odal and Natalie again. Cass considered her current situation, she had Odal wrapped around her finger, a few Warriors, Merchants and Strioi under thumb, and even had the means to fulfill her deal with the Matron in the Sand while currying favor with the Strioi usurpers with knowledge about her glyphs.

Cass struggled to her feet, she no longer had time to rest. This was not her, but it was a part of her. Cass was leaving things better than they were when she came, even if blood pooled at her passing. And she couldn’t say she was not enjoying it… Because she was, as exhausted as she was, she felt alive… Almost how she felt under her Master’s whip… But she would deal with those feelings later.

Cass pushed open the door, only to quickly duck as a bottle flew at her head.

“Let me go!” Natalie was screaming and crying while Odal tried to calm her down, unfortunately for Cass, it appeared the only thing this girl was truly afraid of was being seperated from her family.

“So that you can go starve in the Sand?” Cass replied dryly as she finally entered the room, “You do realize what I saved you from, right?”

“I don’t care!” Odal was holding her arms now to stop Natalie from throwing anything else, a quick glance around showed Cass that Natalie had been quite the handful while she was away. “I want to go home!”

Cass let out a frustrated sigh, it was amazing how one kid could be more difficult to deal with than a fully trained Warrior…

“Listen Nat,” Cass spoke seriously for a moment, letting the emotions she normally controlled around the little girl out. “How about I make deal with you? Because you have no home to return to, the only way your family will even have a roof over their head is if someone gives it to them, and I can do that, but…”

Cass stepped in towards Natalie and gripped her chin to force her to look into Cass’s eyes. Even now her gaze had such determination, and quite a bit of hatred too, it almost hid the terror that Cass could see lurking behind all of it. Almost.

“If you want your family taken care of,” Cass smiled sweetly, though her words seemed poisonous. “Be a good girl and behave, otherwise who knows what might happen?”

Natalie paled, likely remembering how she had first met Cass and eventually nodded. Both Odal and Cass released her and aside from a bit of sniffling she was quiet and submissive. Also burning with anger, but that did not bother Cass much. Far better to be angry than empty after all.

“What has been going on Cass?” Odal asked in a more serious tone than Cass had ever heard from him, “these past few days have been so chaotic…”

It would seem that there is a limit to how much Odal could be blinded by his infatuation, Cass thought. Still, it isn’t like he is intelligent, so even if he can see a glimpse he cannot really understand what he sees…

“The city of Beergmutar has a society far more rotten than Tyine. To accomplish any good here requires both chaos and evil, because the rules that bind this kingdom are so strict. Some things must be torn down, others must be broken and controlled, and still others must be pushed hard to become more than they are for this place to become better.”

Cass had not really lied with that statement, she had just left out that the tearing, breaking, pushing and controlling were an utter joy to her. She also left out that a good portion of anything good she accomplished was because of Maurice and the Church she believed in, and the guilt Cass felt not being able to live up to Heather and Maurice’s expectations.

“Odal,” Cass wanted to change the subject, since she was unsure of herself right now as well. “Let’s begin the training today, I would rather not wait…”

“Of course Cass,” Odal switched gears completely, seemingly delighted by the request. “Are you sure you want Natalie to join as well?”

“Training?” Natalie interjected upon hearing her name, “as in fighting training? It would be illegal for me, and I don’t want to hurt people anyway.”

“You don’t want to hurt people? I guess that bottle was just a friendly greeting then.” Cass said sarcastically, “as for legality, even though you are Stone you are my adopted daughter, and the children of Stioi have many benefits.”

The training, however, was not what Cass expected. Both she and Natalie were struggling as they ran laps, Cass having been asked not to use her glyphs, as Odal was a surprisingly stern teacher and trainer.

“Training must be taken seriously,” Odal explained. “Every Warrior who dies is a blow to the one who trained them, they will always worry and wonder if it had been a failure of theirs. Every Warrior who slacks in training is a danger to all, because he might be the weak link that breaks and drags all his comrades down with him.”

Actual fighting instruction only occured after they had been thoroughly exhausted, with Odal saying that if they learned and performed under that condition they would be able to do so under any. Solid logic that did nothing to make it less miserable, as Cass quickly learned that despite no longer being malnourished and starving, her reliance on her glyphs and magic had meant that her actual physical strength had not much increased.

That night, both Cass and Natalie collapsed exhausted into their beds, much to the amusement of Odal as he bid them goodnight. Cass was too tired to even feel the desire to kill him for once, which was good since his chuckling would normally make it difficult to not rip his throat out.

Hours of running and other exercises followed by two hours of being told how to stand, where to put your feet, how to hold your arms… If Cass did not know better, she would have thought Odal was making half of it up just as an excuse to touch her and move her limbs into the right position, but she could feel the balance in those stances and understood why they were like that.

He still got closer than he needed to though…

Cass had not realized she fell asleep until she woke with a start. The door, well oiled though it was, made enough noise to wake a person who was used to sleeping on the street. Cass pretended to be asleep still, but whoever had entered her room would be in for a painful surprise when they…

“Lady?” A quiet voice spoke out, Natalie.

“Natalie?” Cass sat up, confused and wary. “You should be in bed.”

“I can’t sleep…” She sounded different than she normally did, more fear and sadness than determination, which made Cass worry. “I… I am not used to being alone…”

Cass considered the silhouette in the doorway for a moment, “would you like to sleep in here?”

Natalie nodded and Cass moved over to make room, she certainly did not need this gigantic bed to herself. Natalie was very timid, only taken a tiny fraction of the space Cass had offered her, but Cass found it more amusing than anything else.

It was quiet for a time, and Cass had thought Natalie had fallen asleep when that voice asked, “why did all of this have to happen? Why couldn’t we just have lived happily?” She was trembling, no she must be crying, Cass thought. From what she understood, Cass knew she was supposed to comfort her, but she herself had never received nor really observed that happening in the past so it was a difficult thing for Cass to do.

She decided to scoot closer and put an arm around Nat, who stiffened at the contact. Unsurprising really, she regarded Cass as an enemy blackmailing her by threatening her family after all.

“The answer to that…” Cass sighed and spoke quietly, “the answer is that this society kills dreams.”

Cass spoke to Natalie about her life, about trying and hoping for something more and seeing that hope dashed on the floor of a Church building. How she had eventually lost her dreams and lost most of her will to live, how her Master had offered her more, even if he punished Cass harshly for her failure.

She skipped over the details for Natalie, Cass did not feel comfortable divulging what had happened in that church, or that her Master’s punishment was both terrifying and wonderful, but she explained the important themes.

“However,” Cass finished telling Natalie about those parts of her story and continued. “Here in Beergmutar, the lower castes are not even allowed hope. A Sand will never become a Stone, a Stone could not join the military and become a Warrior. Birth decides all our stations, but here there is not even the illusion that we could do better, and so people turn to other things to provide that illusion.”

Natalie was sniffling less, she was done crying and seemed to be listening to Cass’s words. She had also relaxed slightly in Cass’s hug.

“You see it at night,” Cass looked out the window towards the Stone district. “Those that drink or drug themselves into oblivion, and lose the ability to control or think of their actions. Then they make stupid mistakes, and the same laws that drive them to escape into those substances binds their family to go down with them.”

“Why couldn’t you help them?” Nat’s whisper was bitter, “why only me?”

“I am helping them Nat,” Cass reminded her. “That is the payment I offered for your obedience, as to why I only offered this life to you… I admire the way you behave, and believe you have potential. I simply do not want to see it wasted.”

Natalie asked no more questions, and Cass said nothing else. Eventually they both drifted off to sleep.