Slave - First Part

Somewhere in the vast reaches of time and space lives the wealthiest man in the galaxy.  This man is not just a hypothetical; he is so rich that he owns an entire planet.  With all his riches and his vast empire, however, he does not simply squander his wealth.  He uses his wealth and his connections for the good of all life forms.  His planet is a haven, a sanctuary, a safe place.  Those who find themselves there are the victims or war or famine or plague on their home worlds, catastrophic events from which there was no escape until the richest man in the galaxy swooped in to save them.  He calls him refugees and his "children".  Those who find themselves beholden to this man's generosity use another name for themselves.  The name is SLAVE.

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Everet was not always rich, but he was never poor either.  His father was a successful landowner and businessman.  His father before him had owned a single plantation of land from which the family fortune slowly grew.  Everet took it the a whole new level.  Inter-world travel had been perfected in his early years, which meant that when it was his turn to take things over, it was easier than ever before to find workers for the farms.

At first, Everet hired people on, paying them a good wage, but he soon realized that some people didn't really need money, they just needed a safe haven away from those who had tortured and oppressed them before.  It was this realization that led Everet to start the refugee program.  It was just after his first son, Stephos, was born that things really took off.  Everet's wife had expressed concerns about the new business model, but Everet dismissed them as weak-hearted.  He knew what had to be done.

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It was a brisk day.  The celestial body in the sky above was not shining as brightly as it usually did this time of year and a strong wind was howling up from the east.  Fortunately for those working in the fields, the dome blocked out most of that.  Stephos was watching over the workers, making sure no one tried to call an early day of it and making sure those who looked to be getting tired received the tonics they needed to keep them going.  This son was heir to these vast lands and great riches, and with his father's gradually declining health, it was likely to be only a few more years until he inherited it all.  That was, of course, unless his younger brother rose up and took it all.

Keeping Edmundo happy enough that he did not need to resort to such measures was always at the forefront of Stephos's mind.  Stephos was not entirely afraid of his younger brother, but he was certainly uneasy around him to say the least.  Stephos glanced warily up at the sky that day, wondering when Ed would return from the latest humanitarian mission.  That was what their father called Ed's frequent trips to worlds where chaos rose up, the trips where Ed would find those who had no one left and take them to the paradise that was their planet of Evest, the very planet where Stephos now stood looking up into the sky.

Even as Stephos stood there watching, he heard it approaching before he actually saw it, the roar and groan of the engines as the massive spacecraft descended from the heavens.  Ed did always like to make an entrance.

The dome opened up and the spacecraft landed right on the end of the field while half a dozen workers scurried out of the way.  With a grimace, Stephos walked over to meet his younger brother.

The door slide open and the entry ramp descended and then there was Ed, marching down with his arms outstretched and a big smile on his face.

"You're going to destroy the crops if you aren't more careful," Stephos said, looking his brother right in the eyes.

Pale-haired Ed just laughed.  "Relax, big brother," he said.  "I come bearing gifts."

"Gifts?" Stephos eyed him cautiously.

Ed gave a little smirk.  "Well, one gift in particular," he said.  He turned back to his craft and gave a nod, after which two men in uniform marched out, each holding a shoulder of their handcuffed captive.

Stephos couldn't help but let his jaw drop at the sight he saw.  Held by two gruff and somewhat dusty guards was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen in his entire life.  Her skin was a dark tan and had no blemishes to be seen.  Her hair flowed in golden and white strands all the way down her back, and her eyes, when she looked up him upon reaching the bottom of the ramp, her eyes glistened like diamonds, and flashed different colors, first the deepest blue, then emerald green, and finally the most pure silver.  Her lips were a deep red, but they did not smile, and as Stephos looked at her, a tiny tear rolled down her cheek and he felt as if his entire world was crashing down around him.

"Wh-who is he?" he managed to stammer, taking a step back, but still transfixed on her.

Ed shrugged.  "I couldn't tell you exactly," he admitted.  "She won't talk, and who would want to mess up a face like that by hitting her?  But she's mesmerizing, don't you think?"

"That's putting it lightly," Stephos mumbled, trying to pull his eyes off of her but finding himself unable to do so.

Ed gave another smirk.  "I think dad will get a kick out of her," he said, then he glanced back at her, "and maybe a little more..."

Stephos shot Ed an appalled look.  "What are you trying to say?" he asked.

Ed looked back at him, then just rolled his eyes, shook his head, and laughed.  "Oh come on, big brother," he said.  He looked Stephos in the eyes, wiped the smile of his face and said in foreboding tones, "Don't pretend you don't know what our father truly desires these days."

Stephos could think of nothing more to say, so he simply watched in dumbfounded silence as Ed turned and, with a snap of his fingers, had his captive loaded back onto the ship and taken off to the big house where their father lived.  Stephos's insides were a sea of emotions as he watched Ed sail away.  His little brother was up to no good, and that was unsettling.  But Stephos had to admit, he did know what their father did with the most beautiful of the refugees who came their way, especially now that their mother was gone.  It had never bothered him before.  But somehow with this woman or creature or whatever she was, it was different.  When she had looked at him, it had felt like she was peering into the very depths of his soul, and her thoughts seemed to be his own as they echoed a single word:  "Help."

---------------------

Days passed and Stephos did his best to try to forget the girl.  He slept half way around the world from his father, so at least he couldn't literally hear her cries and screams, but they haunted his sleep even still.

"I don't even know for sure what he's doing to her," he tried to tell himself.  "And besides, even if he is doing that, maybe she's okay with it."  But deep inside, he knew she wasn't.  Why did she have to be so different, make him feel so different?  Why couldn't she be like all the other refugees:  just happy and thankful to be alive and carried for.  Why had she wanted his help, and how had she even asked for it?  Who or what was he?

These thoughts and questions ran through Stephos's head every hour of the day until finally a full week had passed and he could stand it no more.  He contacted one of his other younger brothers, one who was born of a fugitive and not a threat when it came to taking over their father's fortune, and arranged for him to come keep an eye on the field workers while Stephos paid a visit to his father at the big house.

As Stephos landed and got out of his craft, he felt his heart pounding inside him as he walked up the front steps.  He had just been here a month ago, but somehow it felt so foreign, so frightening, as if he had never been here before in his life.  What was happening to him?  As he reached the front door and touched the handle, he thought he head a whisper in his head, saying, "Help me."  Was it her?

"Hello?" he said aloud, but as he glanced around he saw no one and with a nervous shiver, he opened the front door and walked inside.

He quickly learned that his father was not feeling well today and had been sleeping in his bedroom all day.  He asked if his father had had any company lately and he was told, "Not for over a week."  Somehow, that made him feel better, knowing he hadn't been with her yet, but why hadn't he?  Had father not liked Ed's gift.

Stephos couldn't help but smile a little bit at that thought.  Any little thing to bring Ed down a notch was a good thing in his book.  But if their father had rejected her, what had become of her?  Stephos started to feel nervous and uneasy again, and he wasn't even entirely sure why.

He couldn't imagine that his father would hide such a lovely treasure away in the underground rooms, but his chest gave a little start when he realized that was exactly what he was afraid of.  "Have there been any new... occupants of the deep rooms?" he asked one of the serving girls.

She looked away from him as if ashamed and embarrassed, but gave a simple nod and that was enough for Stephos.

He was sure why he ran.  Surely there was no need to be in a hurry.  But still, he bolted to the lift which took him, after a finger print and retina scan, down to the "cells", as Ed called them.  Stephos preferred not to think of them in that way, but he knew Ed was somewhat right.  Hidden far underground, with no light and very little contact with other life forms, the "deep rooms" were said to be reserved for those refugees who just really needed a little more time to adjust but really, they were there to break the slaves who weren't ready to be subjected to their new lifestyle quite yet.  Stephos was sure Ed would not want to damage that gorgeous creature's appearance, but her soul... that was a whole other matter.

Normally, Stephos would have understood.  He had taken problematic workers down to the deep rooms himself from time to time.  Sometimes it was necessary to help them realize just how much they had on this planet, but for her... even though he had only seen her for an instant, it didn't seem right to keep her down here, no matter how troubled her soul might be.  She was a beauty that must be seen and cherished, not a some secret prize to be locked away.

When Stephos reached the door leading to the hallway from which all the locked deep rooms extended, he paused.  Did he really want to see her down here like this?  Why did he want to see her at all?  But then he heard the voice in his head again.  "Help me," that was all it said.  That was all it ever said.

He opened the door.

As soon as he opened it, he heard the crying.  It wasn't the terrified wailing or angry groaning he was used to hearing down here.  It was just sad and empty, and it made him feel like there was no other sound in all the world.

"Hello?" he called out down the hall.  The crying stopped, but he had been able to tell where it was coming from, and he walked straight to that door.

Guards were not needed down here.  In fact, they were detrimental.  Only Stephos's father, Stephos himself, Ed, and their other two younger brothers born before their mother was lost could open the doors down here.  No one else needed to be down here except to bring food and clean linens to the guests.  There was no way anyone got out from here until one of the true bloodline, and Stephos's father called it, let them out, and in reality, that never happened apart from father's knowing.  Stephos knew he couldn't and wouldn't let her out, if she was even the one he heard down here.  So why was he here?  What he was doing?

He pushed the questions out of his head and opened the door.

What he saw inside shocked even him.  The refugees he had brought down here before, they at least had a bed of straw, a little night stand, a private bath area, and were free to walk around.  When he opened this door, however, he saw the most beautiful creature in the galaxy chained to a wall, her head lowered with her now dirty hair flowing down over those gorgeous, now unseen eyes.  She didn't even look up when the door opened, though she must have been able to hear it if she stopped crying when he said "Hello".  He just stood there, transfixed by the juxsteposition between this woman now and how he had first seen here, until he heard her whimper and then he rushed to her shackles and with a touch of his hand, the uncuffed themselves from her wrists and her hands fell to her side.  She looked up at him, expressionless, but through the strands of dirty hair, he could now see her eyes, flashing all those bright and brilliant different colors he had seen before, only a little bit dimmer now.  Her lips did not move, but she rubbed her wrists and he heard her say, "Thank you."

He forced a bitter smile, looking tortured himself without really even knowing what empathy was or that he was feeling it, and said, "You're welcome."

And that, her eyes grew even wider, and she put her hands back at her side as she stood up a little straighter.  "What did you say?" she demanded.

Her voice was like thunder and a gentle whisper at the same time.  He had no other way to describe it, but when he heard her speak he was filled with both overwhelming dread and a strong desire to kiss her, which he knew would be highly inappropriate.

"I- I said you're welcome," he stammered out.

"Why?" she demanded in the same forceful voice.

"Because you said thank you?"

She turned away, and this time her voice was only a whisper when she spoke.  "Impossible," he heard her say.

"Why is it impossible?" he asked, starting to really regret having come down her and wondering what sort of trouble unchaining this bizarre creature would get him in with his father and, even worse, with Ed.

She turned back.  "You could hear that, too?" she asked.

Stephos eyed her warily, looking her up and down and side to side.  "Yes...?" he said hesitantly.

"That's not possible," she said.  Her eyes were glowing red now.  Where they some sort of reflection of emotion, or of her soul?  Either way, Stephos was getting annoyed now and starting to remember that as beautiful as she may be, he was this woman's superior.

"And why not?" he asked with his hands on his hips.

Her eyes softened, back to a greenish-blue.  "Because I didn't say anything out loud," she said quietly, clasping her hands in front of her.

Stephos's mouth must have dropped open as he dropped his hands to his side and took a step back.  "What?"

"When I you heard me say, 'Impossible', I was only thinking it," she said, "And... and when you heard me say 'thank you' I was, I was praying to my god."

Stephos smirked.  "Well maybe I'm actually your god then," he said.

She looked down as she wrung her hands.  "If you wish," she said in a hush.

Gone was the fire, gone was any pain or fear or sadness, there was now simply submissiveness, and though it was exactly what Stephos usually looked for in the hardest working and best refugees, in this creature, it scared him deeply, right down to the core of his being.

"No, I'm not," he said gently as he stepped forward and touched her arm.

She looked up again, her eyes now a brilliant golden color, "Then who are you?" she asked.

Stephos released his touch from her and shrugged.  "I'm just a man," he said.

At that her eyes sparkled with glints of red.  "And the son of a slaver," she added, with some of that thunder creeping back into her voice.

Stephos stepped away again at that.  "Slaver?" he asked.

She actually laughed then, and Stephos though he could feel the earth shaking.  It was a deep and bitter laugh.  "Oh come on," she said with a smirk.  "Surely you know what this is."  She held her hands out.  "I mean, just look where I am."

"My, my father wants to help you," Stephos insisted.  "It might not seem like it, but this is for your own good."

"Then why did you come down here?" she asked, taking a step towards him.  As she walked, he noticed that the tattered clothes she was wearing sparkled and shone and changed colors just like her eyes did, and he recognized them as the same clothes she had been wearing when he first saw her a week ago, except that then they had been whole.

"You, you needed help," he answered nervously.

Her lip twisted into a bit of a snarl.  "And why would that be if I wasn't a slave?" she asked.

"I, I'm sorry," Stephos shouted, and then he turned and bolted out the door, pressing it locked behind him.  He just stood there for a moment, wondering what would happen next.  There was no banging, no shouting.  Curiosity got the best of him and he pressed his hand to the spot on the door where the window opened.  There she was, sitting in the corner, knees pulled up to her chest, head down on top of them.  She might have been crying, but it wasn't loud enough for him to hear.  He was about to walk away, when she suddenly looked up at him.  Her eyes were entirely black, even the part that would normally be white.

Stephos jumped away and the lunged forward to close the window again.  He briefly considered going back inside to re-chain her to the wall.  She was clearly either a monster or demented.  But somehow, he couldn't bear to do it.  It wasn't that he was afraid of her, though really, he was.  It was more that he still didn't feel like she deserved it.  Monster though she may be, there was something more to her, and part of him still wanted to figure out what it was... just not today.

------

He slept in one of the spare bedrooms that night, the one he had grown up in back before the world had become so big, before the entire planet belonged to his father, but not long before.  Even in the most comfortable bed that money could buy, he could not stop the dreams, and tonight they were more light nightmares.  He saw her, shacked to the wall, and a wind was blowing from somewhere, and her voice was saying, "Help me," even though her lips didn't move, and he just stood there doing nothing.  The wind picked up and began to spin around her, her hair and clothing billowing about in it until the wind was so strong he had to close his eyes and when he opened them, she was gone, though the shackles hanging on the wall still remained as they clanged together and then the next thing he knew, he was in them, shackled to the wall, screaming for help at the top of his lungs, but no one came.  All he could hear was his own screams but then, just beyond that, the sound of a man laughing.

Stephos awoke with a start and a gasp.  He sat upright and bed, his head pounding, his brow sweating, and his whole body feeling numb.  When he looked out the window, he saw it was still dark out, but he could see just a glimmer of the prime heavenly body starting to peak out on a golden horizon.  On most days, he would have called it beautiful, but not today.  He knew today that true beauty was locked away in the dungeon.

As he stumbled into the kitchen, the staff was startled, but no one got in his way, and no one stopped him from taking the tray to deliver to the deep rooms.  First, he confirmed what he already suspected to be true:  she was the only one down there and had been for the entire past week.

When he got to her door, the first thing he did was knock, but there was no answer, and she couldn't see it was him anyway.  He held his palm on the door until it opened.  It took a little longer to read than usual because he was still sweating.  When he walked in, she as sitting up in the bed.  Her hair looked less tangled than the day before, somehow, and her eyes were back to the same radiant brilliance they had displayed the first day he saw her.  No red and no black in them.

"You brought me breakfast," she observed meekly, tiredly, without the same force of thunder she had used yesterday.  It seemed as if his knock had woken her up.  He wondered if she had dreamed last night, too.  "Thank you."

She ran her hand through her golden hair and then managed a sliver of a smile as she patted the bed next to her.  "Come sit with me," she offered.

To say Stephos felt confused would be an understatement.  Hadn't see been angry at him yesterday?  Hadn't she called him a slaver?  Who was this strange woman?  "Who are you?" he asked aloud.

She shrugged.  "No one important," she replied.  "Or they would have come for me by now."

"Who is they?" he asked as he sat down beside her.

She shrugged again and grabbed a piece of dry toast from the tray he brought.  She eyed him suspiciously as if afraid to take a bite.  "Clearly no one you need to worry about," she said, some of the thunder and bitterness starting to creep back in.  She sniffed at the bread and took a nibble of the crust.

He sat in silence for a moment as she took a few more cautious bites and then looked into her eyes, her gorgeous, ever changing eyes, and he felt a chill down his spine.  "What's your name?" he asked.

She gave a little snort.  "You really care what my name is?" she asked.

Stephos felt angry and hurt, though he didn't know why, and replied rather forcefully, "Yes, of course I do."

She looked back at him, her eyes seemed to stare right through him, and after a moment she said, "It's Lenara."

Stephos felt his pulse quicken.  Why was talking to her having the effect upon him?  It was almost the same as when he would talk to... But she was a fugitive.  He couldn't afford to think of her in that way.  He close his eyes and asked, "Where are you from Lenara?"

There was silence and then he felt a chill on his chin.  He opened one eye and saw that her face was now very close to his and she held his chin in her hand.  "What are you so afraid of?" she asked him instead of answering his question.

He said nothing, just stared at her until he had a sudden flash in his mind, a feeling of joy, and as if through a fog, he saw Lenara laughing and himself smiling as he grabbed her in his arms.  It was so disturbing, yet so comforting.  He didn't know what to do.  "I have to go," he exclaimed as he pushed the tray into her lap and stood up.

He was almost to the door when he heard her say, "Do you know when you will see me again?"  It was a strange question.  The tone in which she asked it almost made it sound like she knew the answer herself and was simply quizzing him.

He had intended to say never, but then he glanced back and her and saw her eyes again and instead he said, "Soon."

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It continued like this for the next three days.  For every meal, Stephos would find his way to the kitchen and take the tray for Lenara before a servant got to it.  He wasn't secretive about it, and if the staff had been less afraid of him, they probably would have talked about it.  But they all just assumed he was using her for the purpose for which she had been brought here.  He knew what they thought, but he didn't care, and he made no effort to correct them.  They probably wouldn't believe him anyway.

And so, three times a day, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Stephos would bring her the tray and they would sit and talk.  She told him about her family, but she wouldn't say what had happened to them.  She told him about her home town, but she wouldn't give the name of her home planet.  She was open and mysterious still at the same time.  And she always wanted to know about him, too.  She started calling him the slaver's son, but it didn't bother him after the first time or two.  Somehow, it became a term of endearment.

And then, during lunch on the fourth day, she asked him the question.  "So tell me, slaver's son," she said, looking into his soul, "What will happen to me now?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but he realized his reassuring lies would not work on her.  He knew his father was recovering from illness and was certain Ed would want to present her to him once he had fully recovered.  He knew what would happen then, and he didn't want it to happen, not to her.

Instead of answering her, he touched his ear and said, "Call Ed."  He was still looking at her when Ed answered.

"Hey, big brother!" he practically shouted.  Stephos would hear loud engines in the background.  Ed must be out collecting or gathering or whatever he wanted to call it.

"I want her," Stephos said flatly in reply, his eyes fixed on Lenara.  His hand reached out towards hers ever so slightly and she took it.  He felt a chill down his spine.

"You want who?" Ed shouted over the background noise.

"Lenara," Stephos answered.

"Who?"

Stephos closed his eyes and took a breath.  Of course Ed didn't know her name.  Why would he?  He didn't care about her, not even a little.  He was just bringing a prize home for daddy.  And what of Stephos?  Had he been the same way?  Was he still the same way for everyone else but her?

"Hello?" Ed said, breaking Stephos out of his cage of doubtful thoughts.

When Stephos opened his eyes again, he saw her still sitting there, squeezing his hand, just hoping...

"The girl you brought back 10 days ago.  The most beautiful girl in the galaxy."

Ed laughed.  "Oh her," he said.  He sighed.  "She was supposed to be a gift for father."

"Yes, I know," Stephos answered, fighting to keep his emotions in check.  "But I have to have her, Ed."  He gave her hand a squeeze and looked into her eyes, hoping she realized he had to say it this way to get Ed to comply.  "I want her for myself."

Ed made a little scoffing noise and then said more quietly, "Alright, big brother, what do I get in return?"

Stephos only had to think about it for half a second before he answered, "The Elena Mountains."

Ed laughed.  "Come on brother stop joking around.  You wouldn't really..."

"The Elena Mountains," Stephos repeated.  "I have to have her, Ed."

Ed sighed.  "Okay," he agreed.  "I had wanted her for dad, but if you going to give me the mountains..."

"I promise, Ed."

"And you're a man of your word."  It wasn't clear if that was sarcastic or not, but then Ed said, "Okay, agreed."  There was a pause and he said, "Are you recording?"

"Yes."

"This is Eduardo, son of Everet.  I release my claim on the refugee known as... what was her name?"

"Lenara."

"Okay.  The refugee known as Lenara, and in exchange..."

"I, Stephos son of Everet, will give him the Elena Mountain range previously given to me by our father Everet,"

There was a little beep on the line and then Ed said, "Alright big brother, it's done.  Hope she's worth it."

"You've seen her, Ed," Stephos said, and then he hung up.

Stephos just sat there looking at Lenara and she looking at him for a good ten seconds and then he said, "Well, are you ready to get out of this hole?"

"Did you just trade a mountain for me?" she asked, still holding his hand.

"No," he said.  "I traded nearly 50 mountains for you."

And that was the start of Stephos's first real kiss, a kiss that came naturally and without asking from the most beautiful girl in the galaxy who had become a slave.

------

They flew halfway around the world that afternoon, returning to Stephos's "mini-palace" as he called it by early evening.  It was always strange to Stephos that flying home from his father's house took the same amount of time as flying to a far-off galaxy, but of course that was because the black hole generators that made intergalactic space travel so much faster could not be safely used within a planet's atmosphere.  What was even more strange, however, was bringing this beautiful woman into his home.

Lenara was very quiet for the entire ride.  Stephos didn't know what to say so he didn't say anything.  He was sure she was glad to be out of the hole she had been in, but there was a certain iciness to her demeanour and when he did glance over at her, he noticed her eyes were fluctuating among different shades of blue and she wasn't smiling.  This observation made Stephos frown as well, but she was probably just contemplating, or coming to terms with all that had happened to her.  Stephos was sure it was hard losing your family and home and being taken to a far off land, not matter how much those on the fall off land may welcome and try to help you.  And Lenara had not gotten the most gracious welcome.  Well, Stephos was going to set that right now.

Stephos had, of course, had visitors of many kinds in his home before, but never one who planned to stay for more than a day.  He smiled as he held the door for her and let her enter.  She was silent as she took in her surroundings.  The carpet had been recently cleaned and the large bay windows at the back of the living area were letting in a gorgeously breathtaking sunset.  The only thing that made it more beautiful was the sight of her standing there as the rays of evening light streamed around her.  "Welcome home," he said softly, stepping forward and placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Home," she repeated in a whisper.  She moved her hand up to touch his and then gently pulled it off of her shoulder.  Stephos felt that chill again and fought to keep from shivering.

She took a few steps away from him and continued to glance around.  She looked back at him, her eyes dull and grey, mouth slightly agape as if she wanted to say something.  Stephos frowned and his brow furrowed up.  "What's wrong?" he asked.

She looked at him carefully, as if she were trying to read his emotion as much as he was trying to read hers.  Then she shook her head.  "I suppose it's nothing," she said.  "Can you show me to my room?"

Stephos nodded and said, "Sure.  It's just upstairs."  As they walked up the stairs side by side, but most decidedly not hand in hand, Stephos was sure something was wrong, but he didn't want to press any more.  She had been through a lot, and maybe things would get better in time.  But still, he couldn't help but feel like this was not the same woman who had kissed him just a few short hours ago.

--------------

For the next two nights, Stephos mostly left her alone.  He brought her meals, just like at the big house, but he didn't stay and talk with her.  He tried to bring her books and even offered to play a game with her that his father had taught him, but she didn't seem interested.  Each day, several times a day, he would glance up at the window where her room was, but he couldn't see her there.  Not until the third day as the celestial body was starting to set did he see a flash of movement at her window, and a sparkle, two sparkles, that had to have been her eyes looking down at him.

That evening, when he knocked on her door with dinner, instead of just leaving it there and walking away he called out, "May I come in."

"Okay," came a resigned reply that made Stephos's heart feel like it was shattering.  When he opened the door and saw her, the pain grew even deeper.  She was wearing a simple sea-green robe, one that he had arrange to be ready for her when they first arrived.  There wasn't a lot to it, but on her it looked gorgeous, especially considering that the color of her eyes had somehow shifted to match.  And in those beautiful and perfect eyes, pools of tears were welling up.  She wiped one of them away.  They just stared at one another for a moment, and then she said, "Stephos, I'm so sorry.  You've been so good to me, better than I could have ever hoped for given my circumstances."

Stephos was silent for a moment, just taking in her beauty and feeling the pain that he couldn't understand.  "But something is wrong," he said softly.

She nodded and let him approach her.

"What is it?" he prompted, reaching out to touch her shoulder.

At that she moved away and turned away from him.  "I just feel like I left one prison to enter another," she said.  She quickly spun back around and gave him a look of apology as she said, "Of course this is a much nicer, more hospitable prison, but it's a prison nonetheless."

Stephos's heart sank to hear her talk like that.  "I'm sorry you feel that way," he said, "and I don't want you to feel that way.  You're free to go where you want and do what you want.  You've chosen to stay locked up here all day."

Her eyes flashed a bright orange at him at that.  Her voice had grew suddenly sharp, like the strike of a snake and she hissed, "I didn't choose any of this!"

Stephos let out a deep sigh and took a step back, attempting to imitate the freedom he was trying to give her.  "I know you didn't," he admitted.  "But what else can I do for you beyond what I've already done?"

"You could take me home," she said, staring right at him as fire burned in her eyes and on her lips.

Stephos took another step back at that and let his jaw drop in surprise.  "You home?" he asked.  "Why would you ever want to go back there after... well after whatever happened there."

Now it was Lenara's turn to look surprised.  "Whatever happened there?" she repeated.  "What happened there was that I was taken forcably from my family.  That's exactly why I'd want to go home."

Stephos leaned in slightly, trying to understand.  "You mean... are you telling me... you're really sure that, that your family isn't dead?"

She threw her hands up in air at that and exclaimed, "Of course they're not dead!"  But then a flicker of doubt flashed in her expression.  She looked down at the floor, wrung her hands a little, and looked back up at him.  There was pleading in her voice and her eyes as she whispered, "What makes you think they're dead?"

Stephos could feel his heart beating faster, except it didn't seem to be his heart, it seemed to be hers.  How could she not know?  Did she really not know what had become of her family?  Was that why she had never answered him when he asked?  But she thought they were alive.  How could he tell her... how could he let her know?  He frowned even deeper, if that was possible, and held out his hand to her.  She seemed nervous as she stepped forward and took it, but she looked up into his eyes as he said, "I'm sorry, Lenara.  I don't know how to tell you this, but your family must be dead.  There's no other way you would have ended up here?"

"What to you mean?" she asked meekly.  He could feel her trembling.

"We never take anyone who has anyone left behind," he said.

Her eyes grew wide in shock and then terror and then anger.  He felt her nails digging into his hand as she practically screamed, "You mean you let your brother kill them!?"

A violent wind flew in threw the window that Stephos hadn't realized was open and sent him tumbling back away from her as her hair flew all about her face and the robe she was wearing billowed out around her.  Stephos opened his hand and looked down at his palm to see it was bleeding where she had scratched him with her nails, and then looked back at her to see her hair had tumbled down over her face and she was panting heavily.  What he could see of her eyes was like pools of blackness.  She no longer looked soft and gentle and beautiful.  She looked dark and horrifying, but somehow beautiful, too.

"No of course not!" he exclaimed, not trying to hide his hurt that she would think such a thing and trying to remain strong despite the fear her appearance was making him feel.  "We would never... What I meant was that we only take people, refugees, who have already lost everything.  That's the whole reason we take them to begin with:  to help them."

She let out a little snort at that.  "You really expect me to think you believe that?" she sneered.  Stephos felt a little twinge of doubt and of fear.  He must have shown it because before he could answer, the angry panting slowed, she moved the hair out of her face, and with a softened expression she said in a hush, "My god, you actually do believe it."

"It's what my father always said," Stephos told her.  "He said we helped people, gave them a place when they had no where else to go.  Let them in and cared for them."

"Like I was cared for?" Lenara spat out.

Stephos frowned.  "Unfortunately, sometimes, yes.  It never bothered me before, I thought it was just part of what we had to do, but now, with you..."

She smiled and stepped forward.  She placed her hand upon his cheek and it was like a sudden chill followed by a warm and comforting breeze.  "I know, slaver's son," she said with a voice soft like the morning dew.  "You've come a long way, and I can help you go farther still."  She continued to smile a smile that seemed smooth and luxurious like silk, and dropped her hand down to take his hand.  "My family is alive," she said.  "I was taken without violence, but with the threat of violence.  My family was not there.  They couldn't have known what happened to me; it all happened so fast.  I hope to go back to them one day, but now, now, I just want to go to bed.  Will you come to bed with me?"

Stephos looked deep into her eyes and in place of the usual feeling he got when he looked at her this way, he felt like this time it was him looking into her soul.  As much as he wanted to say yes, he knew this was a test, and a test that he had to pass.  He gave a little smile and brought her hand up to his lips where he gave it a kiss.  "Not tonight," he said.  "Tonight I still need to sleep alone."

--------------------

Stephos did go to bed alone that night, and he slept fitfully.  He did not hear Lenara's voice, but he say her.  He imagined her out in a field alone, far off from her village, but still on her planet, the planet she still didn't name for him.  She was happy and free and then from out of the sky came the all too familiar shadow of Ed's spacecraft.  It used to annoy him before, Ed's entrances, but in this dream, Stephos felt the terror of its approach as he had never felt before.  It was like he was Lenara, feeling the intense fear, wanting to run but not knowing where she could go, her soul screaming silently, longing for someone to hear as that monster swooped down from out of the sky.

He bolted up right in bed, shivering as the cold sweat covered his body.  Then he heard a rustling and saw her standing there in the doorway, the light from the hallway framing her perfect form.  Through the shadows he couldn't see her face, but he could feel her eyes, as always, beaming down upon him.  "It's okay," he heard her whisper, and the way she said it, he knew her lips weren't moving.  "I'll keep you warm."

---------------

When he woke up the next morning he was sure it must have been a dream, all of it, until he rolled over as saw her lying beside him.  Startled, he wasn't quite sure what to do, and then she opened one eye and smiled at him.  "Good morning, slaver's son," she said.  "Why don't you make yourself useful and get us some breakfast."

Stephos was all too happy to comply.  As he jumped out of bed, it didn't even register with him that the "slaver's son" was taking orders from a "slave".  He didn't who or what she was, just that she was here and she was safe and she was with him.  Why was she with him?  Why was she still here?  If her family was really still alive, why hadn't she snuck out in the night?  She wasn't locked in here, like the other slaves were.  She could leave any time she wanted to.  But then he realized, where would she go?  She wasn't authorized to fly a ship, even if she did know how.  He further realized that she needed him.  She needed him to get her home.  Was that what all of this was about?  Was she just using him because she wanted to go home?

He shook his head as he poured her coffee.  It certainly was possible that that was all this was.  Strange as it was to think that a refugee would even attempt to do such a thing, he couldn't blame her.  If her family really was still alive and she had been taken without good reason... he didn't want to think about it.  As much as he got irked by Ed and his father sometimes, he didn't want to believe they would take it that far.  But if he didn't believe that, then how could he believe her?  Was she confused or wrong?  No, she couldn't be.  And she couldn't be lying either... could she?

As Stephos finished getting the tray ready he realized there was only one way to be sure.  It was a risk, a big risk, and he would probably get into a whole heap of trouble, possibly even lose the inheritance he had been trying so hard to protect from Ed, but he had to know.  It would be worth it either way.

And so, when he opened the bedroom door and saw her there, practically glowing in all her radiant beauty, he kept his face as stoic as possible and said in all seriousness, "I'll do it, I'll take you home."

She smiled as she got up out of bed with the grace of beauty of a butterfly.  She walked over to him and gently took the tray from his hands and set it on his dresser.  "That's sweet," she said, stroking his cheek, "And I was hoping with all of my heart to hear you say it, but it isn't time yet.  We aren't ready."

He felt a flutter of doubt, in her and in what he had said, and then he picked up on something... "We?" he questioned.

She flashed him a teasing smile.  "We," she repeated.  "You aren't done here yet, and I'm not leaving until you are."

Stephos wanted to ask her what she meant, especially since the whole point of last night was letting him know her family was still alive and that she had wanted to go home.  Why, now that he understood and was willing to take her home, did she not want to go?  He felt he had to know, just as much as he had to know if everything his father had told him was a lie, but he couldn't know, not yet.  Maybe that was what she meant.  "Okay," he said.  "Let's just eat breakfast then."

------------

The next few days passed much more pleasantly than those before them.  Lenara came out with Stephos that morning after breakfast to look at the fields.  The workers all stopped to stare at her, but Stephos couldn't bring himself to punish them for that.  She was quite a sight, after all.  It did seem, though, like anytime she noticed one looking at her and would look back, he immediately looked away.  "What are their names?" she asked Stephos as they walked back to the house together.

That took Stephos aback.  "I, I don't know," he admitted.

She frowned as she looked at him.  "Not a single one of them?"

Stephos felt ashamed, ashamed of something that he had never even thought about before.  "No, I guess not," he admitted, trying to avoid her gaze.

She wouldn't let him get away that easily, and as she lifted his chin back up so that he was forced to look into her eyes, she said, "But you asked my name."

"Yes, I suppose I did," Stephos admitted.

She gave a little tilt of her head and shot him a sly smile.  "So why not ask theirs?"

Stephos knew the answer to that, but he realized he couldn't tell her.  The reason he had asked her name was because she had been in pain, been in trouble, and he felt sorry for her, plus she was the most gorgeous creature he had ever seen.  How could he help her and not know her name?  But these men, they were just workers, just ordinary people who had already been helped.  They had a fine life here, working for Stephos.  Stephos had never had the need to know their names before.  But somehow, he knew he couldn't say any of that to Lenara.  She wouldn't understand, and maybe, just maybe, she would be right to not understand.  So instead, he just said, "I don't know."

She continued to smile as she dropped her hand away from his chin and saw that he still met her gaze.  "I guess you have something new to do today," she said.

------

It was more than a little awkward for Stephos to go around asking the names of the refugees who had worked with him for years, but he did it anyway to make her happy.  He wasn't sure if the outcome was what she had in mind, though.  The men and women he talked to seemed confused and scared and avoided looking at him when he looked at them.

"They're scared of you," Lenara said that evening over dinner.

"Why would they be scared?" he questioned.  "They work hard and they are cared for.  I'm not cruel.  Sometimes there are punishments, but never undeserved.  They always seemed to respect me."

"Before you asked their names," Lenara said.

He nodded.  "Yes, before I asked their names."

"They're scared," she said again.  He looked at her, expecting her to say more, but she just smiled and went back to her soup.

------

The next day, Stephos felt the workers casting glances at him throughout the day.  After lunch, he felt he had to say something.  "Listen," he said, addressing all of them, "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable yesterday, I just... Well, it came to my attention that I didn't know any of your names and that this wasn't right.  I just wanted to know you; that's all.  I'm here to help and protect you.  I should at least know your names."

Most of them stared at him, but he heard one make a noise, something like a grunt, and when he looked over that way, he saw one of the workers briefly making a little sneer, but when the worker noticed Stephos's gaze, he quickly looked away and Stephos though he saw the man shiver.  "They really are afraid of me," Stephos thought.  "Why would they be?"

------

"How did you know?" Stephos asked Lenara that evening.

"Know what?" she asked as she looked up from the bird she was eating.

"Know they were scared."

"I could see it, feel it, even hear it," she said, gazing into his soul with a straight face.

"How I saw you and felt your fear and heard you thoughts before?" he asked.

She blushed at that, perhaps the first time Stephos had even seen her do so, and looked down at her plate again, poking at her food with her fork.  "Perhaps," she said softly.

He took another bite or two of his own dinner, but then once he had swallowed it all he looked up again and asked her, "Why can't I hear them anymore?  Your thoughts, I mean."

She shrugged and swallowed her own bite of food.  "I don't know," she said.  Then she looked up and added, "Maybe you don't need to anymore."

He looked at her for a moment and then he thought he heard her whisper something.  The word "scared" maybe?  "What was that?" he prompted.

She just smiled and shook her head.  "It was nothing," she said, and they went back to eating.

-----

A few more days passed of Stephos trying to more friendly with his workers and his workers trying to to show how uncomfortable it made them.  By the end of each day, he felt ready to give up and go back to how it was before, with him ignoring them unless they did something wrong and them neither meeting his gaze nor visibly trembling when he walked by.  But every evening when he saw her for dinner, he felt like he needed to keep trying.  Was he doing this just for her, to keep her happy?  Or was he really starting to care about who these refugees were?

He was certainly starting to care even more about her.  He wanted to ask her more about her family and her home, but he knew that would only make her sad or angry.  So instead he asked her what she thought of the food they were eating or what she enjoyed from the books he brought her to read.  At first, she would say simply that the food was good or that the books were interesting, but a week or so after he started asking, she said instead of answering, "What do the slaves get to eat at night?"

His first reaction was to feel hurt that she called them slaves.  She had taken after his approach of calling them workers before.  But then he remembered that to her they really were slaves and he realized that part of the reason he was doing what she wanted in making an effort to be nice to them was that he wanted to show her that he didn't think of them that way.  So he answered, "The workers get their own food rations and can make whatever they want.  They get their own share in the bounty of the land that they work."

"But you get the best share," Lenara said.  It wasn't a question.

"Well, yes," Stephos admitted.

"And someone cooks it up for you."

"Yes as well," Stephos said.  "But my chefs aren't the same as the 'slaves' as you call them.  They come in from other planets willingly and take turns preparing my meals."

She looked at him with a little smirk and a twinkle in her now brown eyes and it took Stephos only a moment to realize what he had said.  "They have other homes to go back to," he quickly said.

"So do I," Lenara countered.  Her voice was gentle, but her eyes were growing darker.

Stephos sighed and put down her fork.  "Yes, I know," he admitted.  "And I've offered to take you back there."

She shook her head and closed her eyes.  When she opened them again, they were light blue.  "Not yet," she said.  "Not until we're both ready."

He wanted to ask her what it would take to be ready, but before he could figure out exactly how to best phrase that question, she was already looping back to the topic of food.  "I think from now on, I'd like to eat the same food the 'workers' get."

Stephos let his jaw drop a little at that.  "You mean you want to prepare it yourself as well?"

She smiled just a little.  "Of course," she said.  "I know how to cook just fine, you know."  She folded her hands in front of her and gave a little wink.  Stephos was speechless.  "And one more thing," she said.

He let out a nervous laugh.  "What is it now?" he asked, trying not to sound too hostile.

"If your 'workers' earn their food by working, then I want to do that, too.  Starting tomorrow, I want to work in the fields like the rest of them."

Stephos jumped right out of his chair at that, sending it toppling to the floor.  "You can't be serious!" he exclaimed.

She shrugged.  "And why not?"

"I thought that this 'slave' life was exactly what you were trying to get out of, with getting back to your family and all."

She shook her head and just looked at him.  There was something like pity in her voice as her eyes turned white and she said, "In some sense, but I'm not trying to get out of it alone."

--------

Stephos lay away half that night trying to make sense of what she had said.  She's not trying to get out of it alone.  Did she mean she wanted Stephos to come away with her, to leave this all behind?  Or even worse, did she want him to free the 'slaves' and send them to almost certain doom out in a wide universe in which they no longer had any home?  He was sure, beyond sure, that she didn't want to send anyone to their doom.  Maybe she just didn't understand what would be waiting for the refugees out there if they left the safety of this world.  After all, it was the big terrible universe out there that caused them to need to be here to begin with.

But what of Lenara?  If what she had told him so many days ago was true about her family still being alive, then it was this world that had taken her away from safety instead of giving her a safe place to be.  Could it be even remotely possible that it had been that way for some of the other slaves as well?

Stephos closed his eyes and shook his head.  No.  Even if Lenara had been taken unwillingly by force, her case must be unique.  After all, she was unique.  Ed, that greedy brother of his, must have heard of her beauty or seen for himself or something and wanted to break the rules to get her for their father.  Only Lenara hadn't gone to their father.  If Ed was so intent on getting her for him that he would take her even though she wasn't a true refugee, why was he so willing to trade her away to Stephos.  Granted, those mountains were no small prize, but still, he must have considered her a rather large prize herself to break the rules to get her.

Stephos shook his head again.  Thinking of Lenara as a prize.  He ought to be ashamed of himself.  She wasn't a prize.  She was a person.  He opened his eyes.  Maybe that was her point.  She was a person, the same as everyone else on this planet.  As special and beautiful as she was, she still wanted to be treated the same as all of them because they were people too.

Stephos sighed and frowned as he realized just how heavily he had favored Lenara over all the other refugees who had been brought to this planet ever.  He'd like to say it was because he loved her, but was it really little more than admiration for how much more beautiful she was than anyone he had ever seen.  Stephos let himself uneasily drift off to sleep as he started to try to think of ways that he could show Lenara, no, show all of them, that they were all people, too.

-----

It was strange the next day, walking out to the field with Lenara in front of him, wearing the same somewhat ragged work clothes that everyone else got to wear.  They did little to diminish her beauty, but the contrast of her image now with that of the clothes he had for her before shocked Stephos into realizing just how much more privileged her life had been with him than what it would be working in the fields.  He wanted to call out to her, tell her to stop, force her back into the house.  But he knew that showing her favortism would only further prove her point that he thought of her more highly than all the others he came into contact with.

Even though he knew this was true, he didn't want it to be, not anymore.  The funny thing was, if he didn't care so much about her, he never would have cared so much about caring for the rest of them either.

So he let her do her work that day, fighting against all of his impulses to help her out and give her special treatment.  But it turned out she didn't need that much help or special treatment anyway.  She certainly wasn't weak, and she knew about the plants and the fields.  She must have worked with them some in her old life, the life she wanted to get back to... one day.

He noticed her talking to some of the other workers as well.  When that happened, the worker to whom she was speaking would glance nervously over at Stephos, but he would just smile at them and look away.  He had decided this was the best way to show his approval, that he was okay with the workers enjoying themselves in the fields a little more.  And after all, why shouldn't he be?  As long as they still got their work done, nothing but good could come from them being a little happier.  Maybe that was all Lenara had wanted all along.

-----

"So what did you talk about with the other workers today?" he asked her over dinner.  He felt odd eating the fancier foods while she ate the food she prepared from a worker's ration, so he had asked her if she was willing to make a little extra for him as well and had sent his chef away when she agreed.

She looked up at him and smiled.  "Why don't you ask them?" she suggested.

He was going to tell her that they would surely never talk to him as openly as she could, but from the twinkle in her flashing green eyes, he realized that was exactly her point.

-----

The next few days were awkward and slow.  Stephos knew the workers could tell he was being kinder to them and trying to get to know them better, but that it was only because of Lenara.

"Maybe that's good," he thought.  "Maybe it's good that they see that she has this power over me that she, a fellow worker, no a fellow 'slave', has some control over how I act.  Maybe they'll see that they aren't slaves and they're just people like me."  But he still felt a twinge when he thought of them as just like him.  The truth was:  they weren't just like him.  They grew up on far off planets, watched their homes of families destroyed, and were brought here in desperation to live a life they didn't choose.  Was this the life they would choose if given an option?  Stephos had never thought about that before, but now as he thought about it, he was afraid the answer might, for many of them, be "no".

Stephos didn't want the answer to be "no".  He wanted his workers to stay here with him, to help make this planet lush and green and profitable, more than ever.  But creeping into his thoughts was also this desire to make them happy.  The more he saw Lenara talk with them and smile at them and even, very rarely, get them to smile back, the happier he felt.  He had never really cared about how they were feeling or what they were thinking, as long as they got the job done.  This had always been his life:  looking over the workers, caring for them, but getting them to do things as well.  But their life was lived on the other side of that:  being watched, being told what to do.  Stephos wouldn't like it either.  Would he choose to stay if he was one of them?

Stephos was glad more than ever that he wasn't one of them, and that realization of gladness sucked some of that gladness away.  If he was so glad to not be them, how did he expect they felt?  Did they... could they... hate him?  Would he hate his boss, the man he literally saw as a slave driver, if he was in their shoes.  He didn't want to be hated, but it was more than just that.  Deep inside, he wanted to be loved.  He wouldn't admit it to himself, but he wasn't sure he had ever really been loved before, but anyone, except maybe his mother, but she had been gone for many years.

As he stood watching them work in the fields, he saw Lenara talking to an older woman.  This woman wasn't too old to work, apparently, but she did look a bit hunched over and her hair was starting to turn a bit gray.  Stephos caught Lenara's eye and motioned her over.  Lenara, to his surprise, held up a finger, asking him to wait, as she finished her conversation.  Stephos was a bit annoyed and noticed a few of the other workers were watching him.  He realized that they had just seen a fellow worker make a direct counter of his demand:  she had told him to wait a minute.  Normally, such an offense would cause a slap across the face, but he couldn't do that to Lenara.  And, he realized as he watched the workers watch him, if he couldn't do it to Lenara, he could no longer do it to any of them.  Well, if that was the way it was going to be going forward, then that was the way it was going to be.

He smiled and waited patiently as Lenara finished her conversation and the other workers stared at him in stunned silence.  A few of them dropped their tools as they stared, but he just continued to smile.  "What are they making of this?" he thought.  "Do they realize I've decided not to beat any of them anymore?"  He just hoped they hadn't lost all their fear or else they would never get anything done anymore.  So when Lenara finally finished and started to walk over to him, he let his smile drop away and ordered the rest of them, "Back to work!"  He was glad when they complied.

Lenara was frowning when she came over to him.  "That was a bit harsh," she said, apparently referring to his command.

He just laughed and shook his head.  "Hardly," he said.  Before she had time to protest further, he went right into the reason he had called her over.  "That woman you were talking to... what's her name?"

"Glados," Lenara replied, clearly a little disappointed that Stephos didn't know himself.

"Glados," Stephos repeated.  Catching her eye, he said in a whisper, "There's a lot of them.  I can't memorize all the names this quickly."  She didn't seem to accept it, so he again went on before she could interject.  "Well, anyway," he said, "I was thinking of inviting Glados over to dinner tonight."

Lenara's eyes lit up like that and shown a dazzling shade of purple.  "I think that's a wonderful idea," she exclaimed, clasping her hands in front of her.

"You don't think she'll be afraid or confused?" he asked.

Lenara gave him a little smirk, clearly understanding his own fear.  "I'll talk to her," she said.  "They all know I'm staying with you.  That's strange enough to them.  If anything, her having dinner might put her and the others more at ease around you."

"That's what I was hoping for," Stephos admitted.

Lenara smiled.  "That's wonderful," she said.  She reached out and touched his arm.  "I'm proud of you Stephos," she said.

Stephos looked into her eyes, now a deep,  dark blue, and felt something from her he had never felt before.  Was it simply pride, as she said, or was it something more.  He smiled back.  "I'm glad," he said.  "Now," he gave her a playful smirk, "back to work!"

--------

Despite the fulfillment of Lenara's promise to talk to Glados, the woman still seemed a bit uncomfortable as she arrived at Stephos's house that night.  She even gave a start when Stephos himself opened the doors.  "Come right in," he said.  And, noticing her confusion, he added, "It's not like I have refugees doing all my bidding."

Glados did not smile, but she did seem to relax a little bit, and she seemed to relax even more once they got seated at the table and started eating.  Stephos was especially glad that he and Lenara had made the change to preparing the meal themselves, well, that Lenara had insisted on it those many days ago.  He was sure Glados felt more at home, more comfortable, with the simpler meal laid before him.  And for the first time, recognizing this as a simpler meal really struck him as well.  He was still getting used to not having someone to prepare his meals for him every day, but this was life for Glados.

Through the first part of the meal, Lenara and Stephos exchanged pleasantries, and then Stephos decided it was safe to turn to Glados and ask, "Glados, if you don't mind me asking, where did you come from originally?"

Glados frowned and looked down.

Lenara quickly chimed in, her eyes a pale blue.  "If you don't want to talk about it, it's okay."

Glados looked up, directly at Stephos and said, "No, it's okay.  Besides no master has ever asked me before."  She took a deep breath and began.  "I came from the planet Erros and it's country of Spen.  It was a nice life in a peaceful land, until the Northerners attacked.  They took our lands, our homes, everything.  They even killed my two children and captured my husband.  Later he was found dead, and it looked like he had escaped only to kill himself, but I'm sure they were the ones that finished him off."  Her voice trailed off and she looked away.

Stephos frowned and Lenara reached out to touch Glados gently on the shoulder.  "I'm so sorry, Glados," she said.

"It wasn't long after that that they found me," she said.  She looked back up at Stephos.  "Your brother and his men, and they promised they would help me."

There was no anger in her voice and Stephos shot a glance at Lenara that he meant to say, "I told you so."

But Glados wasn't done yet.  "I told them what the Northerners had done," she said.  "But they didn't seem to care."  Now the bitterness was starting to come through.  "They just ordered me onto their ship.  They had guns and I was afraid so I did as they said."  She had been growing angrier as she spoke, but she must have suddenly realized who she was talking to because then her eyes grew wide with horror, she pushed her chair away, and collapsed to the floor, bowing before Stephos.

"I'm so sorry, Master," she cried.  "I didn't mean it.  They helped me.  Really, they did.  And you've been so kind to me.  I'm so grateful.  Please, don't punish me.  I'm sorry."

Stephos heard Glados speaking, but he couldn't take his eyes off of Lenara.  Her countenance had darkened and her eyes darkened to match.  Now she was the one saying, "I told you so" with her expression.  And for a moment, just a moment, Stephos thought he heard it in her thoughts as well.  He felt disdain from Lenara, this beautiful creature, and the fear and sorrow of the woman Glados laying before him, and it seemed like the thought came to him suddenly when he found himself wondering, "What am I doing?"

He looked around his beautiful home, the home given to him by his father, with all the wonderful things, even this food before them, prepared by him and Lenara, but grown by all the workers, and he realized that it was all wrong.  It shouldn't be this way.  This woman should have been free to do what she wanted.  Even if her home was destroyed, she should have been able to stay if she wanted.  And taking her here was not justice.  If his family really cared about justice, they would stop those who prayed on the weak, not take advantage of their leavings.  He thought of Lenara's story and how much it mattered for him to find out if she had really been taken while her family was still alive, but now, he realized, it didn't matter if they were still alive or not.  She never should have been taken against her will and this woman shouldn't have either.  The one good thing that had come of Lenara's capture was that she showed him all of this.  If she had never come here... Stephos shuddered to think of what he would have become, what he had already been on the way to becoming.  Before, he had only cared about Ed's treatment of him, but now, he cared about his own treatment of these refugees, no, these slaves.  That's really what they were.  Lenara, with her beautiful color-changing eyes, had finally opened his eyes to see the truth.  And the truth was going to get better than it was, starting today.

It took several seconds for all of this to run through Stephos's head, but when he let it all sink in, he did something even Lenara must not have expected him to do.  He got up out of his own chair and knelt on the floor besides Glados.  Placing his hand under her chin, he raised her face up so he could look her in the eyes.  "No, I'm sorry," he said with all sincerity.  "What we did to you was wrong.  I finally see that now.  You wanted justice and we gave you, well, we gave you close to nothing.  We saved your life but destroyed your spirit, and that's wrong.  I can't promise you justice now, Glados, but one day, one day soon, you have my word that you will have your freedom back."

He wasn't sure if she really understood or not, but she nodded and thanked him and sent back to her seat.  They continued the rest of the meal in silence.

After Glados had left, Lenara came up to him and put her hand on his shoulder.  "She might tell the others," she pointed out.

"Let her," Stephos said as he looked out the window and watched her hobble back to her own home.  "I'm done with this place.  I want them to be free, really free, like you wanted."  He turned around and looked at her.  "You showed me, Lenara," he said.  "It's amazing you broke through my stone heart so quickly, but you showed me that what we're doing here is wrong.  And..." he paused and glanced away before looking back at her, "and I love you for it."

She smiled softly and stroked her hand against his cheek.  "Stephos," she said softly, her eyes growing sea-green, his favorite color to see them in, "I'm glad you're ready, because now I can finally tell you that I love you, too."

-----

Over the next several weeks, Stephos invited all of his workers over to his house one by one and got all of their stories.  Some were afraid and just gave the line that they were grateful for the place to live and would never do anything to rise up against Stephos and his family.  Some may have even meant it.  But word must have spread of Glados's openness and subsequent lack of punishment because with time, more of them started to admit that they had never wanted to come here.  The evidence was mounting against Stephos and his family and the number of workers still to talk to was dwindling.  Stephos knew he had to do something to make this right, but what?  He couldn't lead a revolt.  Could he convince his father and brother that what they were doing was wrong?  Unlikely.  They had always been harsher than he had.  Should he just take these people and go?  Would that really solve the problem?  Well, Stephos decided, it would solve the problem for them, at least for now, and it might be the best he could do, at least for now.

When he talked to Lenara about it, she said, "I trust you to do the right thing."

He wanted to ask her what she thought the right thing was, but then she snuggled up against him in bed and he felt himself forgetting what they had even been talking about as they kissed in the moonlight.

-----

Stephos did not sleep well that night.  He tossed and turned as all the ideas he had about how to help the slaves rushed through his head.  He considered faking a disease outbreak to get them off island, but his father might want to investigate that.  He considered simply telling his father that he was choosing to take some of the slaves away, maybe say they were poor workers or something, but his father would wonder why Stephos had not done this before and would probably just want to replace the slaves.  Stephos dreamed of their faces, faces he now remembered, and faces he could match with names, but one face ultimate broke through all the others, still, and that was the face of Lenara.

When Stephos woke up the next morning, it was still dark out.  He just lay their staring at the ceiling for an hour until Lenara stirred and rolled over to look at him.  It was still pretty dark, but there must have been enough light for her to see his facial expression because she whispered, "What is it?"

"I don't think I can do it," Stephos said.  "I don't think I can save them all.  If I just steal them all away, I'll get in trouble and lose my inheritance here and then what good can I do for anyone?  If I tell my father some lie he may want to investigate, and if he discovers the lie, I'll be in the same shape.  I don't think there is any way I can do it perfectly."  He turned and looked directly into her soft brown eyes.  The sun was starting to seep into the room, he realized, and he could see them clearly.  "You're the only one I can definitely save."

Lenara was silent for a moment, and then she asked, "Why is that?"

He cringed a little as the answer immediately came to mind, but he realized he couldn't sugarcoat it.  Not now, after they'd come so far.  He sighed.  "Because in their eyes," he said softly.  "You're the only one that I really own.  At least until my father dies.  It might seem like my workers are mine, but really they are my fathers, given to him by Ed.  No one can really own them, but if someone were to be able to lay claim to them at this time, it wouldn't be me."

"I see," Lenara said, frowning.  She wasn't angry or even totally disappointed.  She was just thoughtful.  "Maybe," she continued slowly, "Maybe we need to wait just a little while longer."

"But what about you?" Stephos asked.  "You've been away from your family for so long.  Don't you want to go home?"

She reached out and gave his shoulder a squeeze.  "Not if it means giving up on you and all you're starting to do," she said.

He sighed.  "Maybe I can free some of them," he said.  "Glados... I can take her home, or wherever she wants to go.  I can't get her the vengeance she wanted, but I can help her along the way if that's what she wants.  They won't miss one slave."  And then another thought dawned on him and he gave a little gasp.  "And... and if I start working instead of just 'supervising' everyone else, they won't even notice a lose in production.  Heck, I might even be able to let two or three of them go if I do that."

Lenara smiled at him as she propped herself up on her elbow.  "You think you're that good, huh?" she teased with a twinkle in her eye.  Then she got a little more serious as she asked, as gently as she could, "Have you ever even worked in the fields?"

Stephos's initial reaction was to feel offended, but how could he feel offended when the answer he truthfully gave was, "No, not really."

"It's not easy," Lenara admitted.  "It's not the worst work ever, especially with the climate control you have in place, but it certainly isn't easy."

"Well, you can teach me," Stephos suggested.

She nodded.  "Yes I could."

"But first," Stephos propped himself up in bed and looked over at her, "I think it's time you went to visit your parents and told them you're okay."

She frowned.  "To be honest, I'm a little nervous about seeing them after all this time."

He reached over and gave her hand a little squeeze.  "They're your parents.  I'm sure they'll be thrilled to see you.  What's there to be nervous about?"

"Don't you feel nervous around your father?" Lenara asked.

Stephos let his smile fade.  "Well, yes," he admitted.  "The thought of seeing him fills me with a dread I've never imagined before now that I realize how all his workers have been taken.  But still, he's my father and he loves me.  He only does what he thinks is best, just before me before I met you.  And if I was lost to him, I'm sure he would search the galaxy to get me back and would be beyond elated if I simply showed up back on his front step."

Lenara let her smile return.  "Well then maybe you're right," she said.  "Maybe it is time I let them know I was okay."

Stephos gave a nod.  "Good," he said.  "I know Ed is on official break for the next two weeks so he won't be coming by with any surprises anytime soon.  We can leave tomorrow, but before we go, I need to find someone to be in charge of this place while we're gone."

------

Stephos decided that with all the progress he made, that someone could not be one of his brothers.  Instead, he decided it would be multiple someones.  He split the workers up into groups based on their most comfortable tasks and selected a leader from each group.  He realized he was taking a risk, but he decided to meet with the leaders and tell them that he was working to gain them freedom.  He chose leaders who had been the most honest and yet least hostile towards him when he formerly met with them one on one.  He told them that for things to work out, they would need to govern themselves while he was away.  He explained to them that he would give them more options for how to run their own lives, but for now, this was the first step, and that he didn't want to bring in someone else that they might not trust.  He tried to express the importance of having the farm continue to run smoothly while he was gone and promised that he would be back in a few days.

-----

Despite the preparations and the trust that Stephos felt in the five people he had selected as leaders, he still felt nervous as he and Lenara flew off in his personal spacecraft.  Once they were out of orbit, he glanced back at that planet, half fearing it would implode on itself.  He jumped a little when he felt Lenara touch his leg.  He turned and looked at her.  She was wearing the same clothes she had worn when captured, clothes that had been tattered and stained during her stay in the prison, but since returned to as much of their original glory as possible.  She looked radiant.

"It will be okay," she promised him.

He gave a nod to try to indicate he believed that, but he really hoped he had as much confidence as she did.

-----

Lenara's planet had several moons, so Stephos couldn't jump in quite as close as he normally would, which meant that the trip took about six hours instead of the usual 3-4, but it seemed like Lenara needed that extra time to prepare herself to see her family again.

Stephos had never seen her nervous like this before, and wanted to ask her again why she was so afraid, but he decided it was better to just leave it be.  She had told him it would be okay and he truly believed it would be okay for her as well.

When they finally landed on the planet, just a mile or so away from where she had said her village was, he saw she was shaking a little, so he gave her hand a squeeze.  "Come on," he said, "we can do this together."

She closed her eyes and shook her head.  "No," she said.  "I want to reunite with them alone.  Then I'll bring you there."

Stephos was surprised and a little hurt, but he was doing this all for her so he agreed.  "Okay," he said.  "I'll wait here."  He gave her a communicator.  "Please give me a call when you want me to come meet you."

She nodded.  "Of course I will," she said.  She gave him a kiss on the forehead, and then on the lips.  "And thank-you, Stephos," she added.  "Thank-you for everything."

And with that, she was gone.  As she went, Stephos felt his heart start to beat a little faster, as if he could feel her fear.  But he still didn't understand what she was afraid of.  She had told him there was no war or other calamity that had harmed her family or drove them away.  They would surely be there ready to welcome her with open arms.

Was that it?  Would they be too warm and inviting?  Was she afraid that she wouldn't be able to bring herself back to him, to help him finish what they had started?  The thought of losing her like that filled Stephos's own heart with sorrow, but he knew she had to do what was best for her.  And even if she did leave him here today, she would leave him with the strength to do what he now knew was right, even if it would be much more difficult and painful to do it alone.

-----

Stephos was surprised to hear footsteps running up the ramp to the ship only an hour later. He drew his weapon and turned to face the door only be be even more surprised to see Lenara running back to him with tears streaming down her face.  "Let's go," she said.  "I want to go back home."

Stephos was confused as he lowered his weapon.  "But you are home," he said softly.  "I've already taken you back home."

She shook her head and looked away.  "It's not my home," she said, "Not anymore."

Terror seized Stephos's heart.  Was she trying to say they had been invaded?  Was her family actually gone?  "Your family..." he said tenderly, taking a step forward.

She turned back towards him.  The tears had stopped and her eyes had turned black.  "They aren't dead," she said.  And then her voice seemed to grow darker and deeper as she said, "But they aren't my family anymore."

Stephos wanted to press her, to learn what she meant, but at the same time, he couldn't do that to her.  She was clearly in pain and she would tell him what she needed to when she felt ready, so he gave a nod and simply walked back to the cockpit and took off.

---

It was half way through their journey back home that she broke the silence and spoke about it.  "I wasn't simply taken from my home," she said softly.

He turned and looked at her, the ship safely on autopilot for now.  He looked into her eyes and said nothing.  He didn't even notice that her lips weren't moving when he heard her whisper, "My 'family' sold me."

He felt his heart break and tears began to trickle out of his own eyes as he felt just a fraction of the pain she must be feeling.  "Oh, Lenara, I'm so sorry," he said.

She looked at him, and said meekly, "You could hear what I was thinking?"

He was taken aback.  "Yes, I guess I could," he admitted.

She gave a sad little laugh.  "Maybe you are a god after all," she said.  "Only hearing me when I'm really in trouble or in pain."  And then she broke down and started crying again.  All he could do was hold her close and cry with her.

---

After she calmed down enough to speak some more, she told him how she had walked into her village and up to her parents house with a brave smile on her face, but when they saw her, they had not been filled with joy, but with terror.  Instead of expressing how glad they were to see her and how glad they were that she was okay, they told her that she couldn't be here and that she must go back to her masters.  They had told her to them in order to save their family farm.  They hadn't told her, thinking it would be better if she didn't know.  She had told them it certainly would have been better if she hadn't known but it would have been better still if they hadn't sold her off to begin with, and then she turned and ran away, not even bothering to tell them that she had been free to come back there and that she had fallen in love with the man who saved her.

"I was their daughter," she said, tears threatening to start to fall again.  "They should have loved me, the way you said your father loves you.  Even your father, the slave master, can love his son more than my parents loved me."  She turned and look into his eyes.  "They sold me, Stephos," she exclaimed.  "They're even worse than your brother who bought me."

Stephos wanted to say something to comfort her, but words seemed completely inadequate.

She sighed and looked out the front window.  "But it wasn't a total surprise," she said softly.  "When you said what you said about your father searching for you... that was when I got this twinge of doubt, this thought in the back of my mind that maybe my parents knew exactly what had happened to me because... because they didn't come looking for me."

She started crying again and when she had stopped, she made a confession that Stephos was shocked to hear.  "Those thoughts you heard from me," she said.  "Those were prayers in a sense, but they were more than that.  My parents, my own flesh and blood, should have been able to hear them.  They're like a distress call, more than just ordinary thoughts.  Sometimes others can hear them to, certain others specially attuned to my brain chemistry, the way you heard them.  The fact that you could hear my signals like that was part of the reason I came to fall in love with you.  But besides all that, my parents surely would have heard them, even across galaxies and they did nothing and now I know for certain that it's because they knew exactly where I was and why."

She took a few deep breaths and looked at him.  "Maybe they did love me once," she said, "but they loved their land and their lifestyle more.  They're the complete opposite of you, Stephos.  They deteriorated away while you grew into something beautiful.  I'll always love you for that, but them... now, in this moment, I feel nothing but anger and hatred towards them."

As he eyes flared red, Stephos wanted to tell her that they were still her parents and surely they loved her.  Maybe there was more here, more that she didn't understand.  Just like he hadn't really understood the horrors of what his family had been doing, maybe she misunderstood her families actions as more horrible than they really were.  But he knew he couldn't say any of that.  It wouldn't help, not now.  Maybe in a day, a week, a month, he could help her get back all that had been taken from her, but for now, all he could do was be here with her and go home to finish what they had started, as a once-slave and a once-slave driver who had fallen in love with one another and now were going to change the planet, if not the entire galaxy.