I was outnumbered. Pushing the memories away I let their combined consciousness take over. The girls would be fine and we would be fine. The worry floated away and I let it go.
“Good girl,” Evan praised as he poured warm water over my hair to start cleaning it.
The bath was just what all of us needed. It was warm and relaxing. The water washed away the strain in their muscles as they cleaned away the dirt.
The men weren’t particularly bothered by being dirty, but the cleanliness was expected of them. As children they had been trained that lack of concern over one’s physical being indicated weakness. A man must keep himself in top condition at all times.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtI remembered my uncles for a moment. They’d never bathed well enough to wash away the stale sweat or the odor of alcohol. Of course worrying over their physical health had been the last thing on their list. I remembered Uncle Eddy with his paunchy gut and toothless smile.
“Earth is a strange place,” Christof said laughing at my memories. We finished the bath and I was in much better spirits. The men were glad for my settled state of mind.
“We have questions,” Bane toldquietly as we dressed.
ninja.com
They did have questions, for once we all did. Nu-reeh was acting so strange. Damien and his Brothers would make the rounds and find out what was going on. They planned to find their friends and ask the pertinent questions.
Rose was good for me, so the men felt safe leavingwith her. She would keepfrom silly thoughts. They settledat the table she was at and strode purposefully out of our new area.
Rose was thrilled to haveback. She’d been trying to work on the stories herself, but she didn’t know enough words. Her owners’ Mistress, Mistress Catna, wanted her productive. Rose had been making blankets for men in the compound, but enjoyed writing a great deal more. Since I was here, we could get back to that.
We knelt together on the comfortable kneeling chairs and talked for a moment before Rose insisted we do swork. The woman that owned Rose’s men was quite insistent she not be lazy. Rose was terrified of the woman. She pressed the pad she’d been given into my hands and entreatedto begin.
I usually cup with what to write about and Rose made it sound good. I thought for several moments.
“We could write about scars,” I offered drawing the symbol for that horrible creature absently on the pad.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmThe pad lit up and Rose put her hand over her mouth. It was a drawn replica of the Scar from many different angles. She pulled it closer and looked at it shuddering.
“What,” she asked, “is that?”
The written words accompanying the drawing was too technical forto fully understand. It resembled a scientific journal article written for specialists. I read what I could to Rose of the introduction. The information was very detailed.
“Read the whole thing,” she requested politely. “Our story might be made better if we had more information.”
I smiled and nodded. The Light in Rose’s eyes was like nothing I had seen from her before. A teacher, starved of all education, finally able to learn again. She Looked radiant.
As I stumbled through the complicated passages, it struckagain. Rose’s talents were wasted here. Slavery was a waste of her mind. Hannah was right. The way this world ran was stupid, stupid, stupid…
After we read the article, we wrote a simple story about how to disable and cook a Scar. Fuji looked at the pictures and determined she could draw it. The article described how to kill it and she depicted her men doing just that.
A sound got our attention and Rose and Fuji leapt up. I watched as a woman strode into the room with her female companion. My eyes misted as I recognized Hannah and Ra.
I flung myself at my daughter and hugged her tight. Hannah grippedand pulledagainst her massive frame. We cried and hugged for several moments. When I was done with Hannah I gave Ra the saffection. From our first short meeting I realized it was expected.