Getting to Know You... (Viveca)

[Ileana Erika Ionescu]

510 AV, Summer

"Here is where we're staying. For now, anyway."

They were standing on a flat spot of ground in the lee of one of the many hills in the area west of the town of Sunberth. A travel tent had been set up, a fire pit made, and the area cleared of debris.

Ileana turned to her new slave. "Put your things away, if you would. You'll sleep in the tent." That way, if Ileana needed anything during the night, she could have Viveca do it -- and she would be able to keep an eye on the Kelvic should she try to sneak away. "There's food in a pack in the tent, and once you've finished arranging your things, you're to make dinner for us." She didn't have any idea whether Viveca could cook or not, but there was no time like the present to find out, especially since Ileana loathed cooking.

"Also, you're not to shift unless ordered to," Ileana said. "Do it and I'll kill you, regardless of the fact that it'll put me out eighty mizas. I can put a collar on you to make sure of it, but I imagine you'd rather just promise to behave?"

Somehow, Ileana figured that Viveca would rather remain uncollared and behave than have to put up with the indignity of a collar. It was a calculated risk, but she believed she was reading the other girl right.

"Anyway, it's been a long day." This served as a sort of dismissal, a signal for Viveca to go about her business. Ileana stretched once, then sat down with her back against a nearby stump to relax.

[Viveca]

Viveca grumbled under her breath, but went about her work. "Not that I have many things." She said to herself angrily, she threw her bag into the tent. She wondered what she should make. She approached her new master hesitantly. "What would you like for dinner? Are there anythings you can't eat?" She asked her mind already going over the possibilities, she wondered what her master had in the way of food. 'I can't make something out of nothing' she thought to herself.

[Ileana Erika Ionescu]

Ileana shrugged. "No, I don't have any special dietary requirements. As far as what I'd like, I've got some travel supplies, some dried meat, some vegetables. Some kind of stew, perhaps? Unless you've got any particular recipes that you know." She didn't really think that this Kelvic was trained as a chef, but it was worth asking.

She looked up at the sky, which was beginning to turn orange and pink as the sun started to set. "Where are you from, Viveca?" She could assign the slave a new name, of course, but she didn't have any reason to, and it was better not to get in the habit of calling her "slave" before they got to Syliras and she had to break it. "It would be useful to me to know where you have been, and what skills you have."