"As is my right as day judge, I claim these two for my house," Travakain called out to all that could hear. A commotion rose from those that were seated.

"He is violent," the Captain yelled as he stepped forward in a panic. "And she is worth ten times the minimum. I have taken losses. I have families that must be made whole." Kelton had no idea what lay in store for him and Yanda, but the terror in the Captain's eyes was pleasing.

"The law is clear," Travakain said to the Captain, "You should be pleased. The boy has delayed his vendetta and in time, will probably forget all about it." Kelton smiled at the Captain and shook his head.

"The law was created to compensate you for your time," a tall man in the stands argued. "Not to snatch a picture mind. His value is well beyond the 10."

"It matters not, but you will remember I argued that very point when he was classified." Travakain looked about the room. "I heard no descent then. In point of fact, the good Captain argued against."

"I did not know," the Captain said. "I demand he is reclassified. Or better yet, both their real values determined and the compensation be fair." There were a few in the seats who joined him in agreement.

"If only the law saw it your way. As written, I may claim two with the stipulation that they are not sold or lent for five years," Travakain said. "Normally, I disdain this duty. On this day, I find it...less painful. " He grabbed two orange strips of cloth and handed them to one of the guards and waved the man toward Kelton and Yanda. "Perhaps you can argue your points to King." His tone hardened. "Do know that when the King rules against you, I'll demand the removal of your flag for the insult." There was silence in the seats, and the Captain's face lost a few shades of color.

The guard removed the Captain's cloth from Kelton's shackles, and wrapped the orange strip in its place, then repeated the process with Yanda. With a wave of Travakain's hand, he directed them toward the exit. To Kelton's joy, they passed close to the Captain.

"I think I'm getting better at bargaining," Kelton told the Captain. The Captain's mouth struggled, but no words emerged. Kelton shrugged and added. "Till we meet again." He enjoyed the confused look on the Captain's face. It was the first pleasant experience since the ship was taken.

Yanda and Kelton were led outside where a group of twenty-some soldiers waited, most sitting idle against the wall of the building.

"Finally,! " one of the men said as he stood up. "Thought they'd be at it all day."

"This one caused a ruckus," the escort said and indicated Kelton. "The day judge acquired him amid some arguing. Should go quicker now."

"Class?"

"4, but I doubt he'll give you any trouble."

"No trouble," Kelton agreed calmly.

"Still, the law says I got to put you in the cage," the soldier said, loosely taking his upper arm and leading him off. Two other soldiers followed close behind.

"You'll be fed at midday with a latrine break," the soldier said.

"Where are they taking her?" Kelton asked, looking back at Yanda. She looked apprehensive.

"Women's barracks. She'll be fine for the night."

"No one will touch her?"

"Not if they fear the spear," the soldier said, sharing a laugh with the men that followed. "Like you, she's uncollared. Untouchable unless you fail to cooperate. Law's clear on that."

"But the Captain who took us," Kelton said. "He let his men..."

"The law of the sea differs. You will be told some of it tomorrow." The soldier shared a smile with the men who followed.

"The collaring?" Kelton asked.

"Unpleasant, but for the best," the soldier replied. "Better to know now so you can avoid problems in the future. It's made it easier for everyone."

"Everyone?" Kelton asked as his apprehension grew.

"Before the law, there were many more problems," the soldier said while nodding. "Bad for the owners and the owned. Now, things run smoother."

"Your laws don't seem to favor someone like me," Kelton argued. The soldiers behind him moved closer, and the hand on his arm tightened. "You will have no problem from me," he repeated in a calmer tone. The hand loosened.

"You will come to understand."

Kelton doubted that. The guards and everyone else he had seen seemed entrenched in their belief that the everything, including people, can be owned. He wondered how that came to be, how so many people can find it reasonable. It was no different in Anagoria with the wilted rose. One day you are free, the next a slave. At least this place didn't hide behind the Goddess. Or, perhaps, profit was their god.

Yanda deserved Kelton's capitulation, at least in the beginning. For all that had happened, Travakain promised him a clothed future for Yanda. He couldn't imagine her surviving as one of the cursed. Physically, she was stronger than Juno. Mentally, Yanda was weaker and would surely die inside, if she didn't first seek a true death.

"What is a picture mind?" Kelton asked. A change in conversation was in order. He decided to make sure the guards saw him as cooperating. Might as well gather some information since they didn't seem to mind.

"Picture mind? Why do you ask?"

"They called me that," Kelton said.

"I see why the day judge claimed you." The guard chuckled. "I'm sure the others were less than pleased. Bet they don't disdain their judge days in the future." The guard looked back and nodded to the other guards who indicated their agreement.

"The judge is not always the judge?" Kelton asked, trying to stay with the conversation. These people had a tendency to believe everyone knew what they knew.

"Nay, they take turns. All owners have duties and responsibilities dictated in the laws. Day judge is not one they relish, but if you are a picture mind, then today's judge has made a great profit."

"I ask again, what is a picture mind?"

"Someone who remembers what they see," the guard said as if it was apparent.

"Do you not remember what you see?"

"Someone who remembers ALL of what they see," the guard qualified. "I see words and numbers and can remember the purpose of a page and maybe a thing or two. A picture mind can remember each word and number, even when time passes. Very valuable." Kelton thought back to Rolic's cave and the ship's log he saw. All the numbers and their order were still in his mind. Never did he think it was something special to recall what the eyes saw. It had little value for him, more of a curse. His mind remembered every time his blade found flesh, as if it had just happened. It would be a blessing to have visions such as those dull and fade away.

"Latrine ahead," one of the guards behind him said, and pointed to a building with an opening that held no door.

"Need to piss? It will be a few hours before you can visit again," the lead guard asked. They were cordial enslavers. Free with the talk and worried about Kelton's comfort. The Brethren treated others like cattle. At least here he was a person. One with few rights, but human nonetheless.

"Aye," Kelton said. "And what are hours?"

Time measurement was confusing. Numbers were obviously based on the count of fingers, an easy concept to grasp. Minutes and hours were strange, seemingly arbitrary in their designation. Months were at least based on the moon cycles. For the sake of conformity with his new surroundings, Kelton promised himself to learn more then what the guards could offer. They assumed it always existed that way and there was no need to question the validity. There must be some import to it. If a people found it necessary to add more graduations of time beyond sunrise, midday, and sunset, there had to be a good reason. The guards assured him the time was tracked accurately by the movements of the sun and other devices. Kelton wanted to see those since the guards had no idea how they really worked.

After relieving himself, Kelton was deposited in a room divided by many iron cells. Class 4 barracks. He was the first, and found himself in the one closest to the door. First to be feed, the guard said as if it was some kind of great privilege. The prison was many grades better than on the ship. It contained a mattress of straw as well as an iron pitcher hanging by its handle on a crossbar of the cell. It was filled with fresh water by a small boy wearing a copper collar. He smiled at Kelton before running off to some other duties. The boy didn't look as if he was mistreated, so perhaps the future wasn't as horrible as imagined. Slavery was still a prison, but it was looking softer all the time.

As the day progressed, more of the cells gathered occupants. The boy returned and filled each new slave's pitcher and refilled Kelton's since he had found himself thirsty. Kelton nodded to the boy and said thanks. The boy nodded back but remained silent. Orders, Kelton suspected. Don't talk to the newbies, especially the violent ones.

"So, a picture mind," the man in the next cell said to Kelton. "Never met one of those before. Didn't really believe they existed." Kelton looked over at the shabbily dressed man, middle of age with unkempt sandy brown hair. He was laying on his mattress talking at the ceiling, though it was apparent he was speaking with Kelton.

"I didn't know until this day," Kelton admitted.

"How could you not know?" the man asked, turning his head toward Kelton. His eyes widened, waiting for the answer.

"I didn't realize people could unsee what they saw." Kelton shrugged.

The man laughed. "I am Darvin Rascivva." Darvin turned on his side, facing Kelton, and propped his head up forming a triangle with his shackled hands and elbow. "Tried my hand at thievery and here I lay. What was your great crime?"

"Not sure," Kelton said, shaking his head. "I was traveling on an unflagged ship and we were taken. I am told the attacking captain was within his rights, though I never offered him mine."

"On the open sea?"

"Aye."

"A risky thing to lose sight of land, and the protection of a sovereign. Why was an unflagged ship so far from shore?"

Kelton shrugged and decided it was time for fewer facts. "Does it matter? Here I lay next to you, our fates the same."

"Oh, our fates are far different," Darvin said. "I am destined for the mines, and you have been taken by the day judge."

"What are these mines?" Kelton asked. "I was told it was where I was going, but...well...things changed."

"You have no knowledge of the mining?"

Kelton shook his head.

"Hard work, deadly work," the man said with a sigh. "It is where men dig rock from the earth. How can you not know of this?"

"I grew up in a forest, away from people. Most things are new to me," Kelton said. It was easier to hide behind a partial truth than to explain Aragonia.

"Then how did you come by sword skills? Isn't that why you are class 4."

"And you," Kelton deflected. Rolic would be proud. "Why are you next to me here?"

"Ahh, it is a tale of woe," Darvin replied, sitting up. "I was short in payment, not something that is looked on too highly around here. Now, there are those that have more than they need. I thought it wise to shift some things around, make the world a little more even. Alas, the man I had chosen to unburden, found the whole idea burdening." Darvin sighed. "I was cornered where I shouldn't be and in my haste to escape, I broke a few things. Expensive things. Guards were called and I fought when I should have called an end to it."

"So, slavery is your punishment for thievery?"

"Nay," Darvin said with a chuckle. "It is the things I broke that cost me my freedom. The only way to pay for the damage was to grant my servitude. Profits rule and I was the last thing of value I owned. Had I been more prudent and not fought with the guards, I could have avoided the mines."

"Are the mines really that bad?"

"The work is hard and, in time, the sickness takes you," Darvin replied. "They say It is the dust from the digging. Once enough gets inside you, the coughing starts. Five years, ten at the most, and you breathe out blood."

"Can you not cover your mouth and nose with a cloth?"

"It is done." Darvin nodded his head. "Still, the sickness sneaks through." He smiled. "I will try and make it ten years. I am told they feed you well to keep you strong. It will be good not to worry about food."

"Why do they do it if they know it kills?"

"Profits, my boy. Those that have it, want more." Darvin waved his hand about the room. "How else do you build all of this if you can't mine it from the earth? Profits built this city and many more like it. Profits are happiness to those who acquire them, and make up the dreams of those like us."

"It is unbalanced," Kelton said. "They allow wants to overshadow need. Men have value in my eyes and should they not be wasted digging in the earth."

"Wise thoughts for one so young," Darvin said. "I'd keep them to yourself though. If you weaken profit, you'll find yourself wasting in the earth next to me." His head tilted to the side. "What do they call you?"

"Kelton."

"Kelton the picture mind," Darvin said, adding a smile. "If you were living in the woods, maybe you'll find servitude to be a step up."

"Freedom has value," Kelton said. "There's no profit in being a slave." After he said it, Kelton wondered if he had ever been truly free. There was a time when Gossamer handled the worrying, but was he free. They were hiding in the forest whether he knew it or not. Bars of trees instead of iron.

"Careful," Darvin said. "You'll find that thinking out loud is just as unprofitable as breaking things that don't belong to you."

"It matters not," Kelton sighed. "I have made a bargain and will stick to it. Today turned out better than the last, so mayhap tomorrow will be better than today."

"That will not be," Darvin said, his tone lowering.

"I was told the collaring is unpleasant," Kelton said in the way one would ask a question.

"Unpleasant is not the word I would use," Darvin said. He laid back, his eyes once again finding the ceiling. "Unpleasant things don't make you scream."

"Scream?"

"A whip is not simply unpleasant, not the way they wield it," Darvin said. "Ten lashes to demonstrate what will happen if you become disobedient."

"But, I have not..."

"They find everything works better if we fully understand the punishment before we consider the crime." Darvin turned away, his back to Kelton. The conversation became too dark and was now over.

Kelton closed his eyes. He had no way to warn Yanda.