Closed Marked with a chain [Coryn]

[Lilith Krauss]

3rd of Summer 517.a.v. [Black Waters] Early mornings were always a drag, Lilith had never been an early bird and it seems to be one quality of hers that will stay with her ‘till she’s laid to rest. It had been some time since she had woken up, but the woman still kept yawning, not even the ravosala ride could wake her up completely, the only hope was that the energy of her co-workers will wake her up.”Good morning, Lilith” she was greeted by a young woman as soon as she entered the Black Waters building. ”good morning, Enil” she replied with a polite smile, before heading up to the upper floors of the building. Without much hesitation she entered the small kitchen on the fourth floor, greeting the people on the way. Lilith had overslept and didn’t have time in the morning to actually eat anything, so she decided to take advantage of the food they had here. She began cutting a slice of bread for herself, just as a co-worker of hers came in as well - obviously seeking food as well, the difference was, that this one actually lived here in the employee rooms. ”morn'” she greeted her, putting a pot of water on the fire ”did you hear the news?” the woman asked, pulling out two small cups from one of the shelves. ”likely not, new rumors?” Lilith asked, finishing to cut a few bread slices. ”Oh right, you don’t stay here, I always forget” the woman thought out, before passing Lilith some butter. ”so…?” she prompted the girl, spreading some butter over her bread slices and quickly moving on to cutting some salted fish to place on top of it. ”We’re having a slave over today” ”I’m not sure, what you mean by that” Lilith raised her brow. ”Oh right, you haven’t been here long enough. Once in awhile, the Mistress rents out a slave to help out around here” Right, the slaves, it was a concept that was still fairly hard for Lilith to gasp in this city ”is it some sort of...internship?” the other woman laughed as she poured the boiling water into the two cups, brewing tea for the both of them. ”That’s one way to put it, but not exactly, the slaves that come here are somewhat experienced or knowledgeable in what we do here, but I don’t remember the last time I’ve heard the Mistress buy a slave that came here to work for a day or two” Lilith took one of the two cups from the woman ”Then...what’s the gain?” the idea seemed a bit illogical to Lilith, to have someone of whose skills you aren’t sure of, come and work...just like that? ”Not sure, it could be that it helps with the whole ‘connection’ thing in the city, maybe our Mistress is gaining something out of it, maybe it’s something like….not sure, skill improvement for the slaves?” Lilith still didn’t quite understand, but it felt like this wasn’t really something she could grasp, considering that the whole ‘connection’ and ‘reputation’ part of society was not something she was interested in. ”slavery seems so odd to me...” she said without thinking, just before taking a bite of her fish sandwich. ”you aren’t from here, that’s all. People often think that slavery is immoral, but trust me when I say, it’s far better to be a slave in Ravok, than a citizen in a lot of other places” the other woman replied without hesitation. Lilith decided to drop the topic, as it was likely not going to bring her any more insight, so it was just aimless chatter for the two from this point on, till they finished their tea and cleaned up after themselves. After finally having her breakfast, she walked to the room she usually worked in, but before she entered, the Mistress herself stopped her. ”Lilith”, the woman stopped in her feet and turned to the woman ”Yes, Mistress Seron” ”Today you will have a...companion, a slave, join you for the day” Lilith didn’t dare question her employer about the choice ”understood, is there anything I should know?” ”Nothing in particular, just work with her as you would with any other of your colleagues, answer questions if she has any - about the work or the city. I will have someone bring her up to you once she is delivered.” she was about to leave, when she added ”Two people are better than one, so I expect splendid reviews about you two by the end of the day” with that Seron left, and Lilith finally entered her workstation.

[Coryn]

“And how am I to massage someone with these?” Coryn asked for the second time, raising both her arms to emphasise the impossibly chunky cuffs on her wrists. A clunky metal chain connected the two handcuffs, meaning that Coryn couldn’t hold her arms wider than two foot apart. ”Not exactly relaxing, is it?”

She was speaking to Ren, her current owner’s apprentice. Thus far her master and Ren’s tutor Voron, a slaver, had not managed to find her a suitable new owner, resulting in his temper to become even more short and his tactics more desperate. He was leasing Coryn’s skillset to anyone, even if Coryn had no prior experience in that field. Only yesterday she had been the assistant to a blacksmith; she had been painfully useless; and not just because of her arms being cuffed together.

“I’ve told you, slave, don’t bother.” Ren replied stiffly, his dark gaze casting about the passing buildings. Though he was a young man – no older than seventeen – Ren fancied himself to be an up and coming slaver. He was well educated, arrogant because of it, and seemed to be a natural at delivering manipulative punishments. But his downfall was his own pride; he underestimated those around him, from the slaves he dealt with to the Ravosola men who he spoke to like simpletons and who he trusted not to share the so-called ‘classified business deals’ he gossiped in their company.

Coryn was quiet for all of two ticks, then she sighed and shrugged her shoulders in an act that was meant to be dejected, “it’s just that I know massage is an area of my strength. I was hoping this establishment might be…”

“I told you; don’t bother.” Ren reiterated with a blank stare that shut Coryn up. She chewed her bottom lip anxiously; thus far Ren had always been the slightly more tolerable slaver to deal with, despite his youthful arrogance. It was possible that even he was beginning to fret over Coryn’s lack of a sale. Or, rather, Voron was making his life so unsufferable that he was taking it out on her.

Whatever his reasonings, Coryn knew to be warier of the young male from now on. She gave him a final sideways glance as their Ravosola pulled up the Black Waters. As she awkwardly stood up to disembark, the apprentice muttered something that sounded a lot like “don’t make me regret this, slave,” before unlocking the cuffs at her wrists.

A member of the Black Waters staff greeted Coryn inside. The woman’s appearance made the Svefra falter, just minutely. Her eyes were black, endless, and transported Coryn back to Syliras, before the chains and slavery. She remembered a face with similar eyes that had belonged to a male she met during a Winter night. She couldn’t remember his name, but felt breathless all the same.

“You are Coryn, yes?”

Trying to recollect herself, Coryn nodded. ”Yes, I am.”

“Follow me.”

She was taken upstairs, to a room that contained a large bath, a massage table, and had the faint but heady scent of floral oils and powders. It was no different to the spa Coryn had worked in at Kenash, and yet there was something… odd about this place. There were no words to describe the sensation that had suddenly filled Coryn – it wasn’t unpleasant, but it’s strangeness made her feel uncomfortable. Had she recently eaten or drank something, she would assume she had been drugged. As it was, however, she had had no such privilege to have been fed yet.

The black-eyed woman said something else to the slave, but Coryn barely heard her or even noticed when she left the room. The Svefra was too busy trying to pinpoint what was happening to her, and why. Instinctively she touched the outer side of her right breast, in the area that her gnosis mark from Nikali lay on her skin. It was only at that moment – connected to her Goddess – when Coryn realised what that strange sensation was.

”Another Ranuri.”

[Lilith Krauss]

Unknowing who would be her companion for the day of work, or how skilled they would be, Lilith was unsure what she should or should not start preparing for the arrival of the slave. The woman settled for making sure that the massage table and the bath were clean, that there was no oil spilled on their containers and the massage rocks were all neatly arranged. Lilith had noticed that people don’t really notice the little things when they are in order - like the torches being straight, swiped floors, folded towels and oil containers that were clean, all of it was expected from a fine establishment like this. Expecting things to be a norm, made it so that a small detail like a badly folded towel would make the person raise a brow of displeasing. Lilith waited, and waited...until a wave of heat ran through her body, it wasn’t the type of heat you feel when you’re ill and have a fever, this was pleasant, like a warm ray of sun that wasn’t too hot nor too blinding. The feeling lingered and found it to be concentrated on her thigh, where Nikali had left the wine colored chains. This was unusual and she hadn’t experienced it before, but all cleared once a woman was brought into the room. Lilith’s eyes fixated on the blond, only distantly hearing what her colleague had to say and not quite being able to point at the moment when she had left. Her confusion and loss were, mostly, driven by the fact she had never met anyone who also was marked, another Ranuri. Chances are, if she met someone again, this state wouldn’t be as dazed. ”correct” was really all that Lilith was able to muster out at the woman’s statement, before she tried to recompose herself ”I...was unaware that, well, the mark would recognize another” Though it was questionable, was it her mark that sensed another near or was it Lilith herself that felt it, because of the connection to the goddess. ”my name is Lilith, I suppose that we will be colleagues, partners, for the day, what’s your name?” she stepped away from the massage table and made a step towards the light haired woman.”do you have any questions about the way we work here? Where to find things?” ”do you have any experience working at a spa? Or will this be a new learning experience? I wasn’t informed about that type of thing, and I must say, if we are going to be working from scratch, I might be disappointing as a teacher” Lilith admitted, not really having any experience in teaching others how to work or how to perform her trade, if that was the case, she was sure that Logan would do a lot better. Behind her formal questions though, she was eager to ask the other about Ranuri.