" you called for me, master"
I opened the door and stepped in. He is standing by the window watching the river flow, a habit I have come to associate with his nerves,this means whatever he wants to talk about is either bad or difficult.
I sigh, things were finally settling down around here.
" Master" I mutter hoping he would speak now so I could get back to my book; a privilege I earn from being good for my master. He doesn't turn but speaks instead:
" Mother sent letters" he pauses, glancing at the letters on the table. I have a very good idea of what that letter means but I wait for him to speak first.
"They arrive in a day " I nod along knowing what that means. Our act of master and slave begins again. " How many?" I ask.
" I believe it should be just mother , brother and sister, but you know my uncles ,they can appear any time" , he doesn't look at me nor does he leaves the window side. " And how many slaves should we expect?" ," the usual, although rumor has it my sister has gotten a new thing, she might want to bring it along, so be prepared for them", I wait for his dismissal but he doesn't do it , like he wants to say more. I wait patiently for what ever follows, but he just waves his hand in dismissal after a while. I turn to leave already planning my moves but he stops me.
" Dina " , I stop a bit shocked and confused, he rarely ever calls me by my birth name , most times he calls me by my given name, Feria, which means fire fly in quaris. He only ever calls me Dina when I do something wrong. I wait , knowing to give my master time to say what he wants to say, " don't...tell."
" I understand master" .
••••••••••••
I don't like admitting it and I could never tell my master openly even though I know he already knows but I don't like his family one bit. I dread the day they come over and count down every day till they leave. And I can assure you it is mutual. To me, master is the only good thing that came out of that family and I can see why he lives miles away from them.
First, there is his sister, an obnoxious little girl who always has a lot to say about everything anyone does. She changes slaves like one would change dresses , and she has no respect for slaves nor does she respect the terms of ownership, she wants what she wants and she always gets what she wants.
Then there is his brother, a pervert both from looks and at heart. He can never look beyond from a lady's body; quaristin or human, hence why he has been divorced twice already.
And then there is his mother, our mutual hatred is not hidden from anyone in family. She could never tolerate a slave, not to think of one who might have brought shame to the kïn family.
You see when I first became masters slave, I was at awe with his treatment. All my life I have been told that the place of a slave is at her masters feet, that the highest of kind treatment a slave should expect is a pat on the head or a kiss to the nose, so imagine how I felt when my master gave me a room and fed me the food he eats at the table, it was a privilege, a privilege I loved and was very proud of.
On my first ball, the ball held every year to celebrate the victory of quaris in the aä grilax mitcha', I had eagerly shared my pleasing fate with fellow slaves I had befriended over the three days of the ball and those I had known from the land we grew up in. I had expected them to be happy, and feel glad for me and even though they didn't, keep our talks between us but I guess jealousy knows no loyalty.
They repeated my words to their various masters who repeated it to others, soon word spread that the kïn family younger son was being controlled by his slave. The mockery that followed hit hard, for days my master locked himself away out of shame. He neither retracted his kind act neither did he speak of it,but deep down, I knew I had lost favour in his sight.
If it wasn't for his mother's intervention, his name and that of his family would have been dragging through the mud and anyone whose name began with k would have to hide their face. Yes I was happy his name was saved, but it cost me the scars on my back and a lot of ridicule too.
I the end I learnt never to trust another soul whose loyalty isn't sworn to my master himself with the secret of his kind acts. But the damage has been done, the master's mother hates me and I her for how much hatred she bears for me.
But as much as they are bad, none reach's the dread I feel at the arrival of his uncle's, master gerbil and master gerdil, brothers to lady gemar. From their walk to their talk, one thing is very clear, to them slaves are as good as beds. Although they have no slaves of their own, a common site in the gïn family, their spiteful criticism and foul punishment styles is known all over the earth and is dreaded by every slave that have masters, I included.
I put my skirts in my box, arranging all my perfumes and cosmetics in a smaller box, I arrang the bed , putting new bedsheets on the bed and replacing the paintings to their rightful places.
Whenever his family comes over, my room is allocated to his sister, it helps clear suspicion about why a unused room look so clean.
I move my things to the hidden closet next to my cage closest to master's room, it is big enough for me to roam around a bit, but it would feel stuffy if I added my things, so we had a hidden closet made, so I could store my things.
As I laid in bed that night, I couldn't help but dread the days to come, days spent with his family around.