Elody In The City

The palace of Gelmina was one of the biggest single structures that Elody had ever known. But then, she would be the first to admit that when it came to man made objects, she was far from an expert. For most of her existence, she had known only the trees of the forest and the distant shapes of the villages which sometimes came to harvest wood. It had been a good life as such things went, but Elody had never truly known what it was to exist until the day that Vrasha had wandered into her forest. Up to that point Elody had known only the villagers who did not stay long and constantly looked over their backs for any sign of danger. They sensed her presence even when they did not see her, and were always wary and afraid.

But Vrasha was not afraid. She came into the forest like she owned it, and the stark contrast had made Elody curious. That night as Vrasha had set up camp, Elody had approached her and the two had gotten to talking. Somehow during that time, they struck up an unlikely friendship and when Vrasha was later endangered by her brother's forces, Elody had intervened and saved her life at great cost.

Since that point, they had travelled together. Sometimes Elody posed as a maid or a servant. Sometimes as a sorceress of lady of the court. Ranks and stations meant very little to her, so she was free to take up whatever guise she wanted. However it was sometimes hard to blend in. Humans were strange to her at times, like flitting insects that danced to a tune she could not hear. She knew that she came over as direct, or icy or sometimes distant. But Vrasha did not mind. It was for Vrasha that Elody had left her forest and for Vrasha she still fought.

Was it love? Elody did not know. She did not understand what a human might consider love. It was a distant feeling, an ache in the back of her head. An annoying conception that she might one have understood but had since faded in the ages since her transformation.

She had been human once. All the things that Vrasha was, she had been too. But that had been so long ago. So very long ago.

Since her blue robe would not work for this type of mission Elody was allowed to borrow some of Vrasha's clothes. They didn't fit quite right - Vrasha was taller and wider than she was - but it was close enough. She took a pair of woollen leggings, a green tunic and a belt which bound them in place around her waist.

Then she made her way through the maze-like corridors of the palace. She looked very out of place among the well dressed servants, but concealing herself from view had been one of the very first things she had learned to do. No one saw her. Their eyes seemed to simply pass her by. She walked freely past guards and through doors, no one noted her appearance.

There were defences against this sort of thing, of course. But they were meant to be triggered by the magic of wizards or sorcerers. Elody's power was neither. If they had known what to look for, they would have found her.

But they didn't.

Her kind did not often leave their domain, so when they did it tended to cause confusion. No one expected to seek a Nature Spirit in the middle of a city.

She made it out of the palace soon enough and followed one of the roads which led back top the main city. Gelmina was massive, and girdled behind three great walls. The first wall surrounded the palace and its districts, the second around the nobles and their homes. The third wall surrounded those who had less money, as well as places of commerce and creation.

Vrasha's words rang in her head. She had to find out what was behind the slaves and for that she would need to be where they were. While there would be slaves in the rich part of the city, there would probably be more in the poor area as well as markets and places of training.

She would go there.

The poor section of Gelmina was still very rich compared to most other cities. Karden had not been lying; Gelmina was wealthy. Even the poor seemed to live in at least some luxury, and Elody passed by many shops or stalls which employed slaves to sell their wares. Naked woman or men were hawking items, or pleasuring the clients. Among the many things that it had, Gelmina evidently included a certain indifference to certain acts. It seemed that no one batted an eye at obvious sexual acts taking place in the streets so long as it included a ****. Social custom still frowned on free men or women going without clothes but didn't seem to care if one of them decided to have their way with a **** there and then in the middle of the ground, so long as it was their ****.

And there were many slaves. Elody didn't turn as she passed them, but noted them all the same. Many of them were female as Vrasha had noted. According to Gelmina, women were naturally submissive at least in part. That idea made her smirk as she thought of Vrasha and shook her head.

Not a chance.

Everywhere she went, the cries of the crowd were interspersed with moans of pleasure or cries of lust. Slaves were on their knees, or on their backs with their legs spread. Their masters pulled them along in chains, or dragged them by clamps attached to their nipples. Some of them had their hands bound while others were **** to pleasure themselves constantly. Many of them should have been miserable and yet Eldoy did not detect a single one who was. At worst, she could find only resigned acceptance. As if this was not merely natural, but inevitable. She was quickly starting to think that Vrasha had been right. There was some other **** at play here. It was impossible that every single **** in the city had simply accepted their fate and yet that was how it appeared.

What could it be? Magic sprang to mind. It wouldn't be the first time some wizard, sorcerer or magus had tried to create mind-controlled slaves. It wouldn't even be the best success. But Elody could not sense any magic on them at all. If it existed, it was subtle such that she could not easily detect it. Or perhaps it was connected not to them but to what they wore. Every single **** had at least a collar. Maybe that was the point of connection?

She nodded to herself. it was the most obvious lead. The one piece of clothing that every single **** shared. She would need to examine one up close. Not one of the palace slaves either. If they thought she was a sorceress they probably would have masked those collars. She would need to acquire one for herself from the city.

But this seemed easier said than done. Though every **** had a collar, there were none that were not in use and Elody's power of concealment would break if she got too close to someone. Plus, due to the fact that the slaves were all loyal if she was seen fiddling with a collar belonging to one, they would likely call for help. She didn't want that. It would endanger Vrasha. So she had to acquire a collar without causing a fuss.

How could she do that?

Ah. Yes. Of course. A most simple and yet logical idea.

She would simply become a **** herself.