Vrasha's Turmoil

The night grew late and Elody still had not returned. By this point Vrasha had given the three slaves that Karden had offered her over to the care of some of her trusted aids whom she believed would not **** them. That meant she was alone in the room which was as she liked it.

She sighed, shaking her head as she sat at the table. A collection of books lay strewn there; volumes from Gelmina and works that she had brought with her from home. All of them were centred around the city itself; its history, politics and influence. She'd read most of them already before she came here but she had been hoping that she'd spot something she had missed before.

So far, the terms that Gelmina was offering her seemed more than generous. Karden had been pretty careful not to extend anything official but between the tour and the feast, they'd talked about it in a sort of unofficially official manner. Gelmina wanted stronger ties with Khol-Hon. Khol-Hon was the biggest kingdom in the area and even with its military decimated from the civil war, still one of the most powerful. It was offering money, generous terms for trade and even access to its magic and mages. That last part was particularly important; during the civil war many of Khol-Hon's mages had sided with her brother. Though Vrasha had a few, it was a ragged and sorry band compared to what a kingdom of their size was supposed to have. It would be generations before they were even back to where they had started.

Mages, magic and money. Help rebuilding the country, prosperity to prove to her people that they had done the right thing by rejecting her father and brother. With their help she could rebuild, connect cities which had been separated by the destruction of roads, encourage new economic growth and try to put a hold on the recession which was swamping her people due to the aftermath of the war.

No matter how she looked at it, Gelmina was doing them a favour. She would be a fool to refuse. A stupid girl who let her feelings get in the way of her duty as a ruler.

And yet...

And yet...

Vrasha did not like slavers. It really was that simple. Both her father and brother had been terribly cruel, and many of the nobles who had served them had also been harsh masters. She'd seen the look of pain or suffering on the faces of those enslaved and many of her best troops and supporters were ex-slaves who had escaped. She knew all too well the price and nature of any society which build itself on the back of slaves.

And Gelmina was not that.

No matter how she looked at it, there was something wrong. Like a jigsaw which would not fit together. As if one of the pieces was not the right shape to click with the rest. It looked like it was, but when you pressed it into the hole it just didn't quite fit. Gelmina was offering her so much and yet wanted to little.

That made her suspicious.

They made their money off stripping the freedom from others, forcing women and men to engage in both sexual and typical labour without consent or ability to refuse. That war her wary. It was something she considered evil. That the slaves didn't mind only made her even more sure that some sort of trickery was going on here. She could not comprehend that in such a society, every single **** would be happy with their lot. Even those who went to cruel or harsh masters who enjoyed dominating and humiliating them.

No, it didn't work. Even in the best possible case, it should have been a mixed bag. Maybe some slaves really could be content if they were promised later freedom and money to start their own lives but it would never be everyone or even most people.

Then there was another factor too which ticked her off. Most slaves were women, and Gelmina just happened to hold the cultural belief that women were naturally submissive and weak. Maybe it was the case that this meant more women ended up as slaves than men, or maybe some **** was acting on it in accordance with their own culture.

Was she being foolish? Maybe, maybe not. Vrasha felt she was on the verge of making a horrible mistake, but could not say which choice was the false one. Whether she aligned herself with Gelmina or turned them down would surely help to define her rule. The logical side of her brain told her to take their support, but the emotional part of her writhed with indignation at the very thought.

She shook her head, wishing that Elody was here. If she was, Vrasha would lay out the problem for her and in explaining it would probably be able to figure out something she had missed. Elody was logical to a fault, but sometimes her point of view was alien and she asked for explanations for things that Vrasha took as a given. Which meant she made Vrasha think of things she had not even considered...

She hoped Elody was all right. She should have been back by now. On the other hand, if there had been trouble, Vrasha would surely have heard of it. Elody wore the guise of a human but she was not one and one did not corner a nature spirit of her power and age and expect them to go down without a loud and obvious fight. Since there had been no mysterious explosions or earthquakes, Vrasha was confident that wherever Elody was, she was fine.

Vrasha's thoughts were interrupted when she heard someone knock on the door to her chamber. was anyone supposed to be visiting her tonight? It was already rather late and she had expected no one, she was sure.