Once the meal was cleared and regular chit chat was dispensed with, Carson sat up straighter and cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention.

“Now, as to why I called all of you here.” Carson said turning his drink in his hands. “I’ve been told by the King that I’m to be married.” Carson said concisely.

“What!” Ander said spluttering. The announcement completely unexpected.

“It’s been 5 years since your mother passed, and the king asked if I would marry a merchant named Cathleen Arsoone, from the Atlia kingdom, to help strengthen trade relations. She is a widower with no living children. She owns one of the largest slave exchange companies in Atlia. The match will give her a formal title and the king assures me that if we were to have any children, they wouldn’t be in line to inherit any of our current holdings. He instead gifted me the nearby barony of Quickia for such a purpose. If for some unforetold reason all of you should die, the county will return to the crown. His majesty said this was drafted to discourage any shenanigans on the part of the Atlian. I’ve given it some thought and tentatively told the King that I would agree, as long as we can accept each other.” Carson said, looking around the table.

“Wow, um ok.” Nita said intelligently, with a long pull from her bottle. It’s was clearly one of those days, she thought to herself.

“When do we get to meet her?” Edward asked.

“In a few weeks. We have been corresponding for a few months now, and she was to leave Atlia’s Capital just over a week ago. She intends to do business at the various markets on the trip so It will take her some time.” Carson answered.

“How old is she?” Cid asked a little uncomfortably.

Carson let out a quick chuckle. “That’s a little forward, but I’m told she is 43.”

“At least she’s older than me.” Edward muttered with a sigh.

“Is she human?” Ander asked speculatively after everyone had digested for a minute.

“The straight answer is no. The main reason the king came to me with this proposal, other than the financial benefits to the kingdom, was that she is a mutt and a widower who has had three late term miscarriages. His majesty doesn’t believe she can have a successful pregnancy. You all know how mutts are. Either they are wildly successful and have tend to have lots of children or are effectively barren and her mix isn’t promising. Her father was half human, half skunk-kin, and her mother was parts; elf, human, panther and weasel-kin. Though if the painting that I received of her is accurate, she is quite the beautiful woman. Hells, she looks like she’s in her early 20’s, and will probably outlive me with her elf blood.” Carson explained.

“No doubt your open disdain for purists helped in the king’s decision.” Cid said rubbing his chin.

“I can’t picture it. That’s quite the mix. Can we see the painting?” Nita asked hopefully.

“The most important thing, in my opinion, is that she is very Intelligent and witty, but I think it will be best for you all to wait to meet her in person. I hope we will all be pleasantly surprised.” Carson said with a bit of mischief, sitting back into his chair.

“Did she inherit her business or build it herself?” Nita asked after another long silence.

“Both in parts. She inherited an auction house in a small city, uh… what was the name of it Corten? I need to remember this. Anyway, she started with one and now owns half the houses in Atlia. This marriage is in part the price of expanding into Walcester.” Carson responded.

“The name was, Anwall sire.” Corten said.

“Thanks, Corten.” Carson said raising his glass to him.

“Alright, I’ll leave everyone to think on it for the day; I have a meeting in an hour.” Carson said while standing up and leaving the room.

“Well, shit.” Cid said as he finished his drink and followed his father out.

Back in her rooms Nita sank down into her couch and peered intently into her bottle, and frowned; finding it nearly half gone. Fuck, I need to sober up, or I’m going to be a wreak for the auction tonight she thought to herself. Concentrating slightly, she increased the efficiency of her liver to remove the alcohol in her system. After a few minutes of this, she got herself a few glasses of water and proceeded to down them quickly. Her flesh magic gave her a deep and profound understanding and ability to see how her body worked, and she was able to process the alcohol quickly. The only requirement she found was the need for water; to combat the dehydration.

Once she was done, she got up and did the necessary, then plopped herself back into her couch and studied Kit who was standing there frowning at her.

“What?” Nita finally asked Kit, exasperated. The others hadn’t returned with her. Corten had collected them and took them off to begin the training Carson suggested.

“Were you serious? What you asked earlier?” Kit finally asked after mulling it over.

“What, you mean when I asked for your opinion on what to do with my life?” Nita asked for clarification.

“Yes that. I’m not sure if you know how this type of relationship usually works. You do realize I’m your slave, right?” Kit asked a little tentatively.

“I don’t care about that.” Nita said waving it off. “You know, most people that become slaves are poor who don’t really have a choice but to become criminals in some way. That or they come from the savage tribes or are taken in war. That doesn’t mean you don’t have an opinion.” Nita clarified.

“Or born into it like me.” Kit said finally crossing to perch on the couch beside Nita.

“Fair point. I understand the system is in place to make use of people that would otherwise be executed or jailed, but I too disagree that those born to slaves must become slaves. But I’m only one person with a power that only I believe is useful. I would make some mighty powerful enemies if I were to oppose them. You know how powerful the breeders are, and not just in this kingdom. You wouldn’t be a purebred Bengal catkin if they weren’t. Your kind originate on a different bloody continent, finding your parents must have been costly. The most I can do is be nice to the people I surround myself with, or buy I guess.” Nita said getting up to pour herself anther glass of water then pacing back and forth as she talked. “Alright, none of this is important today. So, what do you think about being a mercenary?” Nita finally finished.

“It’s expensive and dangerous, at least to start out. Good contracts don’t come until you have a reputation, and then, only if it fits the clients’ needs.” Kit reasoned.

“Well if Corten is to be believed, about the wagon, I have nearly five kings. Carson said he would lend me enough capital to get started as well: though I would rather start without his help. Five kings could go a long way if we do this right.” Nita said.

“What do you have in mind?” Kit asked studying Nita as she paced.

“We buy the dross.” Nita said. If I buy the weaker or otherwise impaired people at least I can try and give them a better life. Though forcing them to be mercenaries is awkward. What if they die? How do I justify myself then? Shit, this is hard.

“Dross?” Kit asked with a frown.

“The people no one wants. Like you, unfortunately.” Nita explained getting her thought to finally coalesce.

“Right, you bought me for 3 chits.” Kit grimaced.

“Exactly.” Nita said with a small pause in her pacing.

“Well if you want to do this, we should be careful about it. What exactly can you do with your power? Can you regrow limbs?” Kit asked

“Yes and no. Mass has a lot to do with my power: both mine and the person I’m working on. It also takes a lot energy from the person I’m working on and the minimum that comes from me is roughly 10%. If I’m not careful I start losing muscle mass. As it is, I end up eating a lot, just to do the magic I do, do. The personal cost is also the reason I haven’t tried to change someone’s race or add major traits that others have. I know my magic can do it, the sense is there, but the idea scares me. Though I intend to try and copy your muscle layout and maybe spinal structure for myself, but I will do that slowly and since it’s me, I’ll be conserving my mass. Worse case, I’d end up shorter or need to work on building up muscle again. To answer your question, I can regrow limbs, but the mass would have to come from the rest of their body, and I would potentially lose mass myself if I don’t have enough personal energy reserves. Best case I’d be really hungry, and they would be significantly smaller.” Nita explained.

“Huh, holy mages can’t regrow limbs, but you’re right, that sounds like quite the risk. So, you can basically fix wrongly set bones and anything cosmetic? What about changing eyes and ears?” Kit asked.

“Yes, I can do both those. In fact, I can completely change eyes for the better. I used to have terrible vision for one, needed specks. I’ve also changed my eyes to work, and look, much like yours, but the change wasn’t seen favorably in court, so I stuck with greatly improved human looking eyes. My night vision is on par with yours. As for ears the shape and location on the body both have about as much effect as the inner structure as far as I have found.” Nita said.

“So, you can make small changes over time and fix a lot of current issues. I can see how this might work if you concentrate on the dross, as you said.” Kit said.

“Yea, healing of any sort, seems to take a lot less energy, unless the wound is a significant loss of mass. It’s just not instant like holy mages. Seeing as flesh mages are rare, I think it’s a perfect opportunity for some decent purchases from those the large companies and breeders are only slightly interested in. Though the local Auction has a holy mage on staff, so we will have to look for mutts that have problems from birth, or people that are scarred or disfigured.” Nita clarified sitting back down beside Kit.

“When you say you’re going to copy parts of my spine, does that mean you’re going to grow a tail? You do know it has a lot to do with my balance, right?” Kit asked with a smile as she pictured Nita with a fluffy tail.

“Maybe. Anyways, I’m going to have a nap, I’m beat, too much happened for one morning.” Nita said with a smile and a yawn, getting up and heading for her room. “You should take one too, the auctions tend to go long, at the beginning of the week.” She said over her shoulder.

“Can I, maybe, join you?” Kit asked nervously.

“Sure, why not! You’re soft, I could use a good kitty cuddle.” Nita said with a smile and a laugh; not noticing Kit’s nervousness.