81st Summer 518 AV
"Speech"
"Others"
"Speech"
"Others"
The market was not as busy as Klave had hoped. The man was on edge due to the difficult beast he had acquired on his travels, but he had transported Ssanya for miles and he'd be damned if he didn't at least try to make a profit on her. He prodded her in the small of the back, and hissed with grim and terrified intensity into her ear. "If you make a godsdamned sound I will kill you immediately, do you understand?" Ssanya stood stock-still, and nodded once. Klave, feeling mildly assured, put on his best salesman's voice, and the market began.
Ravok would have been beautiful, but Ssanya's eye was black with bruises and she was too fraught with barely controlled anger and fear to admire the scenery. She stood with a bowed head and gazed down at her feet, eyes stinging with hot and bitter tears, whilst prospective buyers wandered past and dismissed her over and over again, as Klave tried to work his magic to little success.
It still hadn't sunk in. The past days had been a whirlwind, passing by, leaving no stone unturned. She had slipped and made one foolish mistake, and had woken to found herself chained and in the bowels of a ship, a stranger's face peering down at her. Oh, how she'd fought and struggled, only to find herself surrounded by Laviku's iron-hard ocean, no chance of freedom for miles around. The journey had passed with sickening ease as it took her away from Riverfall and away from her love, to a place she knew virtually nothing about.
She had raged for a long time, and thought to escape at every possible moment. Each moment had come and gone, and Ssanya had grown increasingly sickened at her own weakness and her own terror. There was a time she had wished to subdue her Dhani side so as not to frighten her lover's heart, but now she berated herself for her own foolishness. She was a predator, and she was in chains. Her own heart was damaged, terribly worried and sore for the woman she had been snatched from, and even more fiercely beaten by her own anger and regret.
A man walked past. Ssanya continued to stare at the ground, not knowing what would come next. Perhaps, if she avoiding being sold, Klave would free her and she could go on her way. It was a ridiculous dream, and it wouldn't come true. The man doubled back. Ssanya inadvertently raised her head to gaze at him, and then lowered her head once more before reaching his eyes. Her heart pounded in her chest, and she clenched her fists at her side, but said nothing at all as Klave brightened and began his spiel.
"What is it you're looking for, good sir? Sanya here is a fine worker, although she's only small, she packs a punch. Feel free to inspect her. My goods are nothing short of perfection..-" He stopped short upon seeing the stranger's eyes flicker to the bruised eye, and hurried filled in the silence. "That is, I make sure my slaves are up to satisfaction, and Ssanya will obey. She makes a good slave, I promise you."
Slave. Ssanya repeated the word to herself, and felt the death-knell falling on her pride. Shame and anger flooded her tan cheeks with red, but she stayed staring at the ground as the stranger assessed her. Klave, well aware that this would be the clincher, rushed forwards and wiped his palms on his trousers nervously. He and his slave both knew what she was, and why she could never speak.
"She cannot speak, good sir. I've tried, but it doesn't happen. Something wrong with her tongue at birth, I think. But believe you me, a silent slave is a blessing compared to some of the loud-mouthed bitches I've seen before." He was growing cocky and confident now. The man seemed tougher than tough, but he also was the first person to speak and inspect his slave, and so Klave laughed and slapped her hard on the shoulder, making her stumble.
The urge to kill him swept over her, strong enough that she had to grind her teeth together hard to submerge the thought. She silently righted herself, and looked up at the man who was considering buying her, to study his face for a brief fraction of time as he started his bargaining over owning her.
"Meaning Through Death"
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