Closed The Prices We Pay

[Shayna]

Winter 89th 513

The season was slowly coming to an end, the bitter cold winds no longer blew quite so chilly in the swamp -at least chilly for the swamplands. It had been a bad winter in Kenash, one that Shayna was eager to put behind her. The city needed a time to heal, and to put the season's unrest behind them. Slaves needed time to grow confident with their owners once more, owners needed to time to trust their slaves. Shayna herself was going through some radical thought processes, radical for her anyway. She had been raised a slave, knew that her very life was in the hands of her owner, and because of how the political atmosphere was most likely in the hands of Dynasties themselves. Yet the events of the day that the slaves were referring to as The Purge had made her heart cold. It had opened her eyes to how little value she held in the eyes of the Dynasty. It also opened her eyes to the plight of others that were branded such as she was.

Shayna worried that her new found discontent with her lot in life would be seen by any who looked at her, but her training was stronger for the moment then the constant outrage at seeing the bodies of the slaves killed. The fact that it very well could have been her strung up from one of those Cyprus trees, considering her experience with interrogators about the Rujaro before their activities were rampant.

There was a somberness about the city now, slaves moved with their heads bowed more, barely making eye contact with each other. It would take some time of peace for the atmosphere to return to normal. Today Shayna was moving along the West Bank closer to the Travelers Inn mostly because she was half curious as to see if the girl and her husband was still there and safe.

However she had not taken into consideration that there might be a Dynasty near where she was standing watching. She wasn't lurking really, but she couldn't think of a reason to ask after the couple and she doubted that anyone would answer her questions. So she was simply watching to see if she could spot them. It wasn't until she noted a man walking towards her quickly, that she realized that something might have been wrong. Her green eyes watched with a hesitancy, knowing it was better to acknowledge the man who did not bear a brand that she could see then to try and run when it was clear he was on his way to her.

"What are you doing here?" The man demanded, his clothing was fine if not a little rumpled, and his dark hair was slightly disheveled. His eyes narrowed on her brand and his hand reached out to capture her chin between his fingers and thumb moving her head easily considering she immediately relaxed to not seem as if she were fighting. "Did someone send you?"

Shayna was confused, utterly and totally, and forced her hands to remain open and not curling into her clothing. "Uh, No M'Lord, no one sent me. I was.." He cut her off with a rude noise in his throat.

"Sure no one sent you.. your just a slave with nothing to do but watch the Inn?" The Ackina man looked back with a bit of paranoia at the Inn, wondering how much she had saw. She was marked but not by the house that his lover was apart of, though that meant very little. She had a freeborn slave's brand on her, which meant that she might very well be owned by a person someone hired to spy. The person he was meeting clandestinely was promised to another, and they swore they would stop these meeting once the wedding was done. However both of them stood to lose quite a bit if their affair was discovered.

"No M'Lord, I was just looking for someone that I knew who was staying here." Shayna quickly added, keeping her eyes lower then what was normal for her usual wont. When the man's hand reached to grip her upper arm she bit her lip even as his fingers curled against her arm tightly. "I swear M'Lord, I had a free afternoon. My owner is Mamoru, I finished my duties so I came out here to check on someone."

"I don't believe you." The Ackina man spat, "Where is your master now girl? I think he and I will have to have a chat about lazy slaves and wondering eyes." He never once let go of Shayna's arm, even as he turned to allow her to take him to her master. Shayna felt a brief moment of relief that he was allowing her to take him to Mamoru, instead of doing something else however that relief was overshadowed by her thought of how this was going to affect her master.

[Kalesserimamoru]

It was to be a day of relaxation for the trickster. He wasn't due to see the Magistrate and didn't have any affairs to handle in the city either. Mamoru had allowed Shayna to wander off on her own since she had finished her chores for the day.

He liked to think of himself as a generous master, and whenever his loving pet did a good job, he would reward her in various ways. This left him home alone to relax or do what ever else he decided to. He moved outside the cottage and took a troll around it. Dressed in a simple dark shirt and black pants, he moved about with his trusty katana in his right hand.

In the nest he had others to train with when he wanted to test a weapon, but since coming to Kenash he found himself very alone. The only person in the city that he trusted was Shayna and she didn't know anything about combat or weapons.

The Dhani had taken to shadow fighting inside his cottage, but without the opposing force to battle against, he felt that he wasn't getting anywhere. Behind the cottage he found a tree with low hanging branches that looked almost like large snarled fingers reaching out for him. It wasn't a moving person but it worked well enough.

Mamoru held the katana in front of him, both hands gripping the handle as he concentrated on the form before him. He attacked the tree, simple swings and thrust, the exact same things that he had showed Shayna to do earlier that season. The teen slave had took well to the weapon, he thought.

For someone who had been afraid as she had, things turned out very well in the end. But the teaching had stopped there, the trickster was still learning the weapon himself and knew that he needed a better understanding of it, if he really wanted to teach Shayna to use it.

He had to be careful and he always reminded himself that this weapon was as dangerous for him as it was for anyone else. The blade was the finest he'd ever seen and could cut through thick scales and the roughest of meat. In human form he was even more vulnerable and so the need for caution was that much greater.

He attacked again, and brought his weapon down in a slant towards the branch that curled to the right side of the tree. Mamoru stepped back, tightened his grip and took another swing at it, this time with a over head slash that curved as the weapon sank into the bark.

The slash was hard and the weapon didn't fail. There was a crunching sound that followed and a tick later the branch dropped to the ground in front of him. Again he stepped back, one foot planted in front of the other and he steadied his ground, arms lifted and swung at the branch to his left.

The hacking was swift, a knocking sound echoed softly across the swamp as this too crashed onto the ground at his feet. With the branches that had reached for him gone, Mamoru turned to the tree and attacked the body. His legs were spread to keep his balance and he drew his arms in close, but kept his body angled away from the blade. Yellow-green eyes found the spot that he wanted to strike and he thrust the sword directly into the tree.

Mamoru didn't put his back into it, not wanting to lose his weapon into the thick, hard body of the tree. Instead he only poked it, recreating the thrusting action as if he had been in a real fight. A voice from around the cottage caught his attention, and it set off an alarm. The Dhani didn't get visitors and he knew that Shayna wouldn't bring anyone home. Unless she didn't have a choice.

Mamoru turned his katana in his hand and moved back around to the front of the cottage. He moved with light steps, hoped to catch who ever was there off guard. No one stood in front of his home, but the voice continued and he turned to see two people coming his way. Shayna was one of them, he knew his girl well, even down to the way that she walked.

It was interesting how the teen slave never sought to walk or appear seductive, and yet whenever she was sharing affections with her master, there was no lack of feminine grace on her part. Mamoru could tell that something was wrong, nothing about the two walking together seemed friendly. That's when he saw it, the man's hand around her arm as he pushed her forward.

This wouldn't due, Shayna was his and only he was allowed to touch her. Mamoru moved to greet them, taking the descending stairs that led to the cottage to meet them half way. "Come to return my property good sir? I take it you didn't damage her?"

[Shayna]

The Ackina man noted the tall figure moving down the steps toward them, and when he confirmed that the slave girl had not steered him wrong, he stopped short pulling Shayna up short as well. She did not try and pull from the man's grip, however she did raise her eyes up toward Mamoru briefly before lowering them again. She was unhurt, other then perhaps bruising from the man's grip.

"No she is unharmed, though perhaps she should be taught a lesson about spying on her betters." The man said coldly, though his brow curved upwards in an annoyed glare. He didn't really believe she would be spying on him on her own account, if she was it was at this other man's orders. If she was spying on her own then she would need to be taught her place once more. "I want to know what your slave is doing nosing around in my business?" Of course she couldn't be looking for anyone else, in his paranoid mind it was obvious that she was watching for him and his lover. He wanted to know exactly what she had seen.

Shayna gave a slight sigh that was cut off when she spoke quietly, "I told you M'Lord I was not there to spy on you." She might have explained further but the slight tightening of his hand against her arm -not much just a little added tension- told her that he wouldn't appreciate any more interjections from her.

As if she hadn't spoke, the Ackina man once more spoke up, "Tell me who put you up to interfering with me at the Inn? Tell me the truth or I will take the matter up with the Magistrate to ensure your slave is appropriately .. reprimanded for not minding her own business."

[Kalesserimamoru]

Mamoru stared at the man, but his expression stayed plain otherwise. The man's speech left much untold, but Mamoru listened more than he spoke and tried to figure out what he was talking about. He called Shayna a spy, and it made him curious of exactly what had he caught her doing.

She was his little spy, but he hadn't sent her out to do anything this time. Yellow-green eyes focused directly on the male as he continued to speak in riddles.

The man claimed that she was nosing around in his business, but Mamoru had no clue who he was, and he was sure that Shayna wouldn't do that, not after the way she was always warning him to stay clear of trouble inside the city. The trickster noticed the way the man held her arm and saw the discomfort in the girl's eyes.

It had to stop.. Mamoru was about to speak when they continued and the man mentioned the Inn. That was an interesting bit of information, and he wondered what she was doing at the Inn. There was only one reason that she would have gone there after what happened a few days ago, but even that seemed unlikely.

Shayna couldn't wait to get away before, and yet she returned again. He thought about it and figured that the girl must have felt for the couple and wanted to see if they got away. Mamoru already knew that she wasn't for telling Berk where they were, but he had decided to finish the job anyway. "You come all this way, bully my slave girl, and then you insult and threaten me?"

He almost laughed at the man, but continued. "Let us start again, hmm?" Mamoru lifted the katana and pointed it at the male. "You return my girl to me, and I'll put this blade away. Let's be quick about it." The Ackina man was shocked at the freeborns defiant tone, but he decided to release the girl.

The Dynasty man wasn't backing down however, and instead he had decided to put all of his frustrations on Mamoru. If the freeborn thought himself so high, he would just have to prove him wrong. He released Shayna and the trickster lowered his blade as he had said he would.

"Now, you explain right now, why you had this girl watching me? I look at you and I can see that you are a no body, so I know that someone put you up to it and I demand to know who." The Ackina man seemed even more angry now that Mamoru had pissed him off. The trickster on the other hand, wasn't as much and moved closer to him.

"I haven't a clue as to who you are, or what you're talking about. I'm a simple business man, I'm not a spy. As for my pet here, my guess would be that she went to the Inn to visit an old friend. The girl isn't used to having time off and she doesn't know what to do with herself. Unless you have proof of her wrong doing, I don't see any cause for alarm."

[Shayna]

When the man let go of her arm Shayna stayed put for a tick, not quite certain if she should move. She was cringing on the inside that her master was threatening a Dynasty, a Dynasty!- with his sword but on the other hand she was relieved to be free of the man's grip. Her hand raised to rub the area where his fingers and pressed into her flesh, and after only a tick or two she hurries to Mamoru's side, not quite looking at either of them.

It was her fault that she and now her master was in trouble, though she honestly didn't think watching the Inn would net this sort of trouble. She didn't reach out to Mamoru, though she wanted to, instead she moved up the steps so that she could stand a little to the side and behind her master.

The Ackina man barely even registers that Shayna had moved beyond his grasp, so focused on the Dhani was he. "You don't seem to understand your place. I am Dynasty. Proof of her impertinence is my word, as long as I don't call for her death I can have her punished however I like."

The Dynasty might have felt secure enough in threatening Shayna, but it might be noticed to the observant that he did not advance on Mamoru. Instead he stayed at a distance, his arms crossing but his eyes cutting from side to side as if he was just noticing that he was out here away from Kenash proper without another in sight. However he was Dynasty and it was ingrained in him the entitlements of his class.

[Kalesserimamoru]

Mamoru watched as Shayna hurried to him, he looked her over to see if she had been hurt, then turned his attention back to the man after he was sure that he hadn't worked her over. "No, I understand my place just fine. You are Dynasty the most powerful in the city, and I will respect that fact without hesitation. But..what you don't understand is this..You are no longer in Kenash." At the word, the trickster uncoiled his djed from the dept of his being, his magical talents flowing out and pulsing with his eyes and mouth. "These swamps are dangerous, wild beast roam here and lets not forget your Rujaro. People go missing all the time I hear."

He smiled wickedly as he watched the man, and he pushed forth more djed and sent the Ackina feelings of uncertainty, and suggestions that he might have been in danger. "You don't have to take my words seriously, but hear me. I have special needs of this girl. Things you wouldn't understand but by punishing her, you could very well make her useless to me. That's even worse than stealing." The trickster pushed out more feelings of uncertainty towards the male and took another step closer.

"I've seen first hand the destruction that your Rujaro have caused and I think that we both know that you Dynasty are weak..you can't even protect yourselves. If you really want to make an enemy of me, then by all means. But ...good luck making it back home." Mamoru tapped into more djed and sent the man a flash of faces. Angry slaves, with daggers and large sticks. It was a memory that he had from earlier that season and it seemed perfect for this display.

The Ackina still looked pissed, but his chest wasn't puffed out as much and the fire in his eyes had started to waver. Mamoru took a few steps closer and by this point the Ackina male would see that the freeborn stood at least two feet above him in height. "Let us not make this into a big deal. But you do seemed troubled...have a spy on your hands, hmm? Perhaps I can help you with that..help you with your problem?"

[Shayna]

Shayna watched her master, trying to plead with him to step lightly without saying a word. She would take whatever punishment that the Dynasty wanted to give rather then see him make an enemy of a Dynasty. She knew he was powerful with strange powers that she had no ability to understand, but could he really battle entire houses? Could he really stand up to the houses of Kenash? She didn't want to see him try, fearful that he would fail.

She didn't dare follow him as he closed the distance between himself and the Ackina man. However the more he spoke, the more the Ackina man seemed to almost grow smaller, though she knew that was impossible. As the Ackina man seemed to almost deflate, Shayna grew a little more confident in her master's ability to keep this situation from growing out of hand. Her back straightened, her chin lifts, she keeps her eyes lowered but not to ground level. She still worried about her master but it was growing less by the chime.

The Ackina man felt irrational fear, he was the man in control, he was Dynasty not this freeborn nothing. Yet he could not shake the sensation that if he crossed him then he would be harmed significantly. He didn't want to be harmed, especially over an ugly little slave girl. Yet he his pride would not let him back down too much, though he stammered slightly before he spoke.

"N-no. I have a problem with.." His dark eyes slide back behind Mamoru to Shayna before he swallowed thickly. "I need to know what she seen, and what she.. is going to tell.. I need to be certain that she won't.. " Despite his best effort he could not keep the quaver from his voice. He tugged on the hem of his shirt, trying to build his confidence again but it was sorely lacking. "The .. spying issue.. well the Rajor house would rather not see someone continuing their dalliance with me. That doesn't negate that your slave was watching where she shouldn't have been. "

[Kalesserimamoru]

The trickster's tactics seemed to be working and the man wasn't as smug as he had been when he first arrived. However he wasn't going away and even with the hypnotic force Mamoru pushed down on him, he still stood his ground. He continued to blame Shayna and argue that she had saw something and heard something. To Mamoru the man seemed like a loon, but just to keep him calm, he'd play his game. "Shayna come here." he said and reached a hand back for her.

He led her to stand at his side and with her, he looked back to the trouble maker. "Tell Mr?" he paused not knowing the man's name. "Tell him that you didn't see anything, that you have nothing to say." If she spoke, Mamoru would continue his hypnotic touch, and send the man a different suggestion. One that said that the girl was telling the truth. The trickster also added to this suggestion the thought and idea that the slave teen wasn't a threat. Mamoru tried to ease the man's mind to see his pet as anything but dangerous. He didn't have to like the girl, just to leave her be.

Next, the man said something that came as a surprise. " The Rajor house?" If he wasn't mistaken that was the house of the Dhani Dynasty. "What an interesting choice..dangerous in fact. But I can assure you now. I have no ties with that family nor does this girl. I have yet to meet a Rajor, but I hear they are very fierce and cunning. So if you're done taking your frustrations out on my pet, why don't we see about fixing your real problem?" Mamoru wasn't done with his hypnotic work just yet and sent the man another idea that not only were they telling the truth, but that they could be trusted. Perhaps he wouldn't believe them, being a strong minded man, but that left him with a choice.

He could either take the offer and leave Shayna alone, or he could stomp off to the city to tell the Magistrate, and see exactly how far he could get with that plan. Mamoru stood firm in what he had said, and he believed that Shayna was also being honest. "Well then..how will this all end?"

[Shayna]

Shayna didn't hesitate when he held his hand out to her, she slipped her smaller one into his, moved to stand next to him. She was bold enough to keep a hold of his hand, her fingers twining with his, though she stopped short of pressing against him. "I saw only that you left a room M'Lord. I didn't see who you were with, or how long you were there. As I told you before, I was there to check after someone." Her hand in his did not cling, but she did tighten her grip in his gently, not in fear but in simple taking of courage from him.

"Trent. That is all you need to know." The man said, a little gruffly but without the fire as before. He still stared suspiciously at the slave girl but seemed more willing to accept her story now. "Very well. With those Rajor's you never can tell." He sniffed a little, his arms still crossed but his face no longer seemed to be mulish. He looked around once more, to make sure that they were indeed alone before he spoke again.

"My lover and I have enjoyed a nice relationship for three years now. However, she has been promised to a minor cousin of the Rajor family. Which is fine with us, we are just enjoying the twilight days of our affair before she is wed. However her betrothed is a very prickly person, perhaps because he is not.. fully a Rajor if you get my meaning. He has enough snake in him to be ... unfortunately disfigured, but not enough to have the bite behind it."

The Ackina man sighed as if he truly did regret the loss of his lover, and he might truly but he was more interested in the loss of his good name. He would not let rumors caused by spies from Rajor come between him and a potential marriage to another house. Alliances were forged and broken amongst rumors. "I wish there was a way to find out what these Rajor know."

[Kalesserimamoru]

If they had been alone Mamoru would have touched her fingers the way that he normally did. However with the Ackina man standing there, he didn't think it was a good idea to piss him off further by showing the girl affection when he was still pissed at her. It was only when he was sure that the man's eyes weren't near their combined hands that he turned his hand to lock with her better. "Ah you see? The girl saw nothing. She is no threat to you and yours."

He felt Shayna's fingers curl around his and he didn't mind the gentle squeeze, or the fact that they were holding hands. While he wouldn't show her the amount of affection outside as he did inside the cottage, Mamoru was always supportive of his pet and showed his pride in having her. Shayna may not have noticed this because she was usually trying so hard to dull down her intelligence and her appearance just so that the Dynasty could feel like the smartest and prettiest person in the room.

The trickster had been trying to teach his pet not to fear the Dynasty so much. Being fearless wouldn't work well for someone in her position, but he wanted her to try and use her fear to make her stronger and smarter when it came to dealing with them and their political and domination games. He still had a ways to go, but he knew by now that Shayna was a fast leaner and eager to please.

Trent was the Ackina man's name, but Mamoru still had no idea who he was. He listened to the story, and from what he heard, it sounded like there was a half breed in the Rajor family. That did seem odd, most Dhani resented half breeds and wanted to be rid of them, but these Kenash Dhani seemed to think differently.

Mamoru himself saw the lure in a particular half breed that he had met in the jungle, but it seemed that he was the only one that found her anything but ugly. He was starting to wonder if these Kenash Dhani had evolved into something more as he had..It was time to pay them a visit. "Perhaps I can help you with that. But I'll need to know everything that you suspect they might know. and the names of your beloved and her betrothed."