shuhaige
52
The place we were in was used by the men that harvested the worms. Master Kein took me deep under the surface and showed me where the worms lived. About ten feet down you could see them clinging to the surface of the rock and flowing with the current. If you got to close to them they dipped into the crevices of the rock and hid.
Master Kein caught several worms and brought them to the surface. They were each coated in a thick layer of that horrible slime. The men each ate one and commented how much better they were fresh. Frankly, I couldn’t tell a difference, the worms were just nasty. I didn’t want to be the odd man out, so I agreed with the men.
“Ciara,” Master Damien chastised, “don’t lie to us. We have been too lenient and it is now a habit for you.”
We were all sitting on the wooden platform and Master Christof was pulling some food out of the bags they had brought. They all stopped and stared at me, waiting for a response.
“I wasn’t…” I started to say and five sets of eyebrows raised in tandem. “I don’t like the worms. They are awful. They’re just saltier here,” I finished defeated.
They all just laughed and returned to what they had been doing before.
“Master Damien?” I whispered.
I had to know how they knew I was lying. I was afraid to ask, but they hadn’t gotten mad at my other questions today. I settled for looking pleadingly at him for a moment.
“Your breathing changes and your eyes move in a specific pattern each time you tell a lie,” Master Evan answered the unspoken question. “We spend a great deal of time training to recognize all your human reactions.”
“You will help us train others that wish to keep an Earth slave one day soon,” Master Bane said.
All of them were staring at me, as though waiting for a reaction.
I started to ask another question, “How would I…?”, but stopped short.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
Master Evan laid out a small pad and gestured for me to kneel. Master Christof brought out bowls of food and set them down before he responded.
“We will take you to the tent. Those that wish to learn about Earth slaves will come into the tent and be trained by us. We have been asked many times to take you, but have resisted. Now the Warriors are all very interested to see your leg. Even the General has asked us to put you in the tent for a day to quell the curiosity,” he explained.
My eyes were wide and I wasn’t sure this was something I should be scared of or not. I searched their faces for an answer, but none came. They all just continued to look at me.
I was surprised when Master Evan laid a hand over my heart, which was beating wildly in my chest.
“It is afraid,” he said simply.
“Of course it is afraid,” Master Kein said irritably. “It fears our cousins.”
“They will not hurt you in the tent, Ciara. They are there to learn,” Master Damien soothed.
I nodded numbly and tried to relax. I watched the little waves in the blue water.
“We could tell the General no,” offered Master Christof handing out the bowls of food.
The men all murmured in consensus and my head shot up.
“You’ll make him angry, Master Christof,” I responded feeling shocked.
“We do not wish to see your pain,” Master Bane told me as he offered me a chunk of food.
“Are they going to hurt me?” I asked. All day at the mercy of other Warriors sounded terrifying.
“No, we will be there and they will not touch you. Slaves are not caused pain in the tent,” Master Damien responded.
“You will be there, Masters?” I asked to the group.
“All day, Ciara,” Master Bane told me as he pressed food to my lips.
I didn’t want to eat, but that upset them, so I did. During the meal they discussed anything but the tent. I tried to focus on the conversation and ate what they gave me. I forced myself to relax and the knots in my stomach untied.
What I wanted to do was ask Rose about this new practice. I hoped the other girls would still be talking to me after what I had done. There was no way to fix it now.
After the food we rested on the platform for a while. I dangled my legs in the water.
“Is there anything like this on earth?” Master Christof asked me.
It was a thing the old Christof would have asked, but never in front of his brothers. I stuttered for a moment before telling him there was.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.
Master Kein wanted to know all about the ocean on earth, so I told him what I knew. When I asked they told me things about the sea here. The discussion was open and it was really a nice change.
“May I ask a question about you, Master Evan?” I asked hesitantly. “I don’t want to get in trouble if it is a bad question.”
“Ask, Ciara, we do not mind,” Master Evan assured me.
“You found me in the middle of the ocean. I don’t understand how you couldn’t find your brother in the mountains. Please forgive me if I shouldn’t ask, Master Evan,” I pleaded looking down.
“There is something in the mountains,” Master Evan said tilting my chin up, “that disrupts our ability. We cannot feel each other as strongly from a distance and I cannot track using my sense. It is very strange. We have always believed it was because the air is different in the mountains, but I am not sure.”
We talked about the mountains, then. They would never take me there, because it was too dangerous. That is where the women lived. Master Damien talked like the mountains were an unpleasant and difficult place, even for them. I couldn’t imagine how bad it would be for me.
They asked if I had mountains on my planet and I told them I did. I had lived by the sea most of my life, but my mother had taken me to the mountains to see them once. The hills and valleys were beautiful on the television, but going to them was another experience all together.
Laughing, I told them about the awful trip mom and I took. She got drunk and wrecked the car, our only transportation, late one night. We had to take a bus all the way back home and it took days.
The memory made me sad and I tried to brush away the tears before they noticed. I hated to think about my mom, I still missed her. They didn’t chastise me for being sad. Master Bane just pulled me onto his lap and let me cry quietly for a moment.
“Why do you make tears, Ciara?” Master Damien asked.
“I miss my family, my mother and my uncles,” I told him honestly.
“They did not make you happy when you were there, Ciara,” Master Kein said. “I do not understand why you miss them.”
“How do you know that?” I sniffled.
I’d never told Master Kein about my family.
“We share what we know with one another. You have spoken to both Christof and Damien. You told my brothers they beat you and did not feed you. They often left you no good place to sleep. How is it you miss these other humans?” he asked.
It was a hard concept to try to explain to him, but I did the best I could. As a group we talked a long time about family. Surprisingly, it was an interesting discussion and distracted me from being sad.
When the sun started to set the men dressed me back in my dull brown outfit. I stood silently watching the sun set over the horizon as we waited for the transport pad. The sun setting over the water was beautiful, but the men didn’t seem to notice. I chuckled a little at that, when did men ever notice things like a sunset?
Master Evan pulled the head covering off of me and watched my face. My smile faded quickly. I hadn’t meant to get their attention.
“What’s so funny?” Master Kein asked from my other side.
I rambled out an answer that sort of made sense, “The sun setting is pretty and you didn’t notice. Men from Earth never notice things like that either and I was laughing because you don’t watch things like that.”
“We have seen the sunset many times, Ciara,” Master Damien said, “almost every day, actually. It is hard to miss.”
“Yes, Master Damien,” I answered quietly as Master Evan replaced my hood.
I still disagreed with Master Damien, but I wasn’t stupid enough to tell him. It’s one thing to see something, it’s another thing entirely to appreciate it. They didn’t seem to get esoteric ideas like that. After trying to explain feelings to them, I figured I’d leave that discussion for another day.