Around the table

Discussion of Glorina's past

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Note: IIRC, this portion was one of the hardest ones to write. I tried originally to write it from Glorina’s POV, but she’s rather withdrawn and trying not to pay too much attention to what she’s saying.

Jasin

I watched the young woman, scarcely more than a girl, only a little taller than my daughters, give another trapped look around her.

Belinda squeezed my hand under the table, then jumped up to get drinks for everyone.

Glorina stared down at the table now, not looking at us. "I have to do what my boss says," she said, very slowly, quietly. "He owns me. If I don't, I'm punished. Severely."

Tolly growled from the other end of the table.

"Hush, Tolly," An said. "We agreed that I would ask the questions." She looked back at Glorina. "When you say, owns, do you mean that you're his slave?"

"Slavery is illegal in Tel," I said without thinking.

"You be quiet, too," An told me severely.

"Yes," Glorina said, "I'm his slave. One of many."

"How did that happen?" An asked, more gently than I'd heard her talk in years.

"He bought me," Glorina said. "A long time ago. He bought me, and I belong to him. I don't know where. I don't remember any time before."

"Slavery has long illegal here," An said, with a glance toward me. "He cannot legally hold you."

"That does not matter," Glorina said bleakly. "He owns me, and when he tells me to do something, I will do it."

Tolly growled again, but at a sharp glance from An stopped.

"What is his name?" An asked.

"I cannot say it."

"Do you know it?"

"Yes, I must call him by name when I speak to him. But I can't say it now."

"Look at me," An said, with a sharp edge to her voice. "You can say it."

Glorina looked up, and her eyes caught on the Star-Stone as An held it. The stone flashed brightly for a second.

"You can say it," An said again, as Glorina looked at her face.

"Lord . . . Raltin," Glorina said haltingly. "Lord Raltin!" she said again. "How did you do that?"

"I didn't do much," An said. "Most magic is nullified . . . in this room," she said, with a side glance at Tolly, who nodded. "If it were a magical compulsion, it would be much reduced. And for other compulsions, all you needed was a boost of confidence."

"Lord Raltin," Tolly said thoughtfully.

An glanced at him. "Do you know the name?"

"No. I'll do some asking around later, but I doubt he actually has a right to that title."

"No! Don't!" Glorina said. "Please. He'll find out. And come after you. All of you."

Tolly frowned at her thoughtfully. "I'll be discreet," he said. At a snort from Jelana, he added, "What? I know how to be discreet."

An turned her attention back to Glorina. "Do you know any more about this Lord Raltin?"

Glorina shook her head. "We weren't supposed to talk about him. We seldom talked at all." She glanced back at An, and her eyes froze on the Star-Stone.

An looked at her thoughtfully, then took off the Star-Stone and laid it on the table in front of her. Glorina's eyes followed it, then she closed her eyes and turned her head away.

"How did he control you, Glorina?" An asked. "What did he ask of you? And how did he keep you from running off?"

"Where would I go?" Glorina said, sounding exhausted. "He has people everywhere. He would find me." She took a deep breath, and looked at An again. Or tried to, anyway. Her eyes were caught again by the Star-Stone.

"And what does Lord Raltin want of you?"

"He wants . . . While I'm out, he wants me to mostly keep him informed of everything I'm doing. I have to keep myself under control at all times. Not shame him. Not fail." She began shaking. "I have failed him. I'll be caught. He'll beat me, until I'm dead."

An inhaled sharply. Glorina's eyes were still on the Star-Stone. An grasped the stone briefly, then picked it up, and put it into Glorina's hand. "Only temporary," she murmured, whether to Glorina or the stone itself, I wasn't certain. The stone flashed, light coming from all of its facets sequentially.

"Oh no!" An said under her breath.

"What was that about?" I asked her.

"Tell you later," she said.

Glorina stopped shaking, and her breath returned to normal.

An took a deep breath, and continued her questioning. "How long has Lord Raltin owned you? Where did you come from?"

"I don't know. I was young. Maybe eight or twelve. I don't remember anything before that. I was still struggling with the language. But I was here with other girls, all around my age. We were all frightened."

"Other girls?" An said. "He has other girls out there?"

"Not now. They're all gone. Culled one by one as they failed in classes, and other things."

"Culled? What happened to them?"

"I don't know. We were discouraged from asking. And those that asked tended to be the next ones culled. I had the impression they were sold again. To people who would use them up quickly." She shivered. "I didn't want to go back to that."

"Back?" Tolly said, sharply.

"Hush, Tolly," An said. "Did you come out of something like that, Glorina?"

"I don't know. I don't remember. I only remember what happened here."

"What is the first thing you remember here?"

"I . . . I was still new." Glorina's voice sounded far away and tired. Like she was more there than here. "We all were. And we were brought into a room. There was a girl. A woman. Younger than I am now, I think. Though she seemed old at the time. She was bound to a chair. Bruised. And they told us she had failed. Had failed her mission. Had failed him. Lord Raltin. And this is what happens to those who fail. We had to watch."

"What did they do?" An's voice was gentle again.

"They hurt her." Glorina's eyes were closed, and she was gripping the Star-Stone tightly. "Hurt her in every way possible. First with their fists. Then . . . Then other ways. After they had broken her, the knives came out." She shivered again, and opened her eyes and looked at An. "I fear the knives."

"Of course you do," An said.

"Then, at the end, Lord Raltin stepped up and put his hand on her shoulder, and the side of her face. Like . . . Like he loved her. He said soft things to her as she died, looking into her face." Glorina's eyes were closed again. "She died. I didn't know then, but Lord Raltin never touches anyone. He always wears gloves and stands apart. Only when one of us is dying does he touch."

An exchanged glances with Tolly, who looked puzzled, and shrugged. She looked at me then, and I shrugged as well.

Jelana slipped out from her seat, and stood behind Glorina, and began rubbing her shoulders.

A pause. Then An said, "Were they hurting you as well?"

"Not then. We were learning. All about art, paintings, culture. I caught on quickly. Some of the others never did. At night, we had our own rooms, alone. We were supposed to meditate, to fix what we had learned into our minds. When we did well, we had a pallet to sleep on. Otherwise it was the floor. Some days we were taught how to move, how put on make-up, to make ourselves irresistible." She shivered again. "And as we got older, they showed us how irresistible we were."

"Is that how you got that black eye when you first came?" Belinda asked.

She showed a sudden flash of anger. "He was supposed to ask! Not that I could say no, not too often, anyway. But he was supposed to ask. He just took." She shook her head. "And he knew I was going out soon. No bruises anywhere they can be seen if you're going out soon."

"Breathe, Tolly," Jelana said.

I tore my eyes away from Glorina's face, and looked at Tolly. His face was flushed, and I think his jaws were clenched. He was gripping the edge of the table, his knuckles white. As Jelana looked at him, his hands slowly released the table, and he deliberately took a few deep breaths.

I looked at Glorina again. The longer she talked, the younger she looked, and I kept thinking of my girls, trapped in a situation like hers, with no hope, no place to run to, unable to get out.

I quietly slipped out, Belinda gripped my arm briefly as I pulled my chair back. I don't think anyone else noticed I left.

I barely it to made the facilities in time, before I was ill. Repeatedly.

"Mister?" I heard my daughter's voice from outside the room. "Are you all right? Should I call someone?"

"Just give me a moment," I called out. My stomach was gradually returning to normal. A few deep breaths. I looked around, nothing to clean up. Good.

Stepped back to look in the mirror. Not too pale. I should be able to go back without raising questions. A couple more deep breaths. I could do this. I stepped out into the hallway.

"Dad?" Toritha sounded scared. "Are you sick? Should I get Mom?"

"No!" I almost shouted without thinking. Then I grabbed her in a tight hug. "No, Ritha, I'll be fine. I just . . . You and your sister—and Mom—are very precious to me."

"I love you too, Dad," she said, hugging me back briefly, before squirming away. "Did something happen?"

"No," I said quickly. And then, with a sigh, "Not to us, anyway."

"Oh." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Is it Ms. Hoi?"

"You know about that?" I said.

"I know you and everyone's in that conference about her right now."

"You're too smart for your own good," I told her fondly, chucking her cheek. "Tell you what, have the kitchen send in a tray of hot drinks for us all."

"But it's summer," Tolritha said.

"Still, I think we need it," I said.

"And a fruit and cheese tray?" she asked with a smirk.

"Too smart, like I said," I told her, grinning at her.

She smiled back up at me, and ducked away.

As I reentered the room, An and Belinda smiled up at me. I slipped back in my chair, and squeezed Belinda's knee. "Did I miss anything?" I whispered.

"Not much, just more of the same," Belinda whispered back, making a face. "An's been asking about her daily life."

Glorina said, "And then I came to this man."

"You mean Tolly?" An asked.

"Yes. This man. I was tired. I could not see a way out. And I think that each assignment they were giving me less information. Like they were intending me to fail. But I was determined not to end up in that room for as long as I could." She looked bleak. "I've only seen two other women sent out on missions. They both ended up in that room when they were younger than I am. I had to watch them die."

A long moment of silence, then Tolly said, solemnly, "Ms. Hoi, I have sworn that I will do all that is in my power to protect you."

An and I exchanged glances.

Glorina continued to look down. "There is nothing you can do. Please, I don't want you hurt."

"I have resources that might surprise you," Tolly said.

An regained control of the conversation. "What happened when you came here? Tolly said you fainted?"

"Yes, that was so stupid!" she said. "I hadn't eaten in three days, what of that? I'd gone for longer, with no problems."

"Weren't you hungry?" An asked.

"Of course. But I could ignore it, keep going. I always had before." She didn't look at Tolly, just kept her eyes on the Star-Stone. "But this man—I started feeling shaky when he walked in. And then . . . This man touched me, touched my arm. And all went dark."

"Do you think they did magic on her without her knowledge?" Tolly asked.

"Possibly," An said. "Dangerous. I've had to use sustaining magic from time to time myself. But I was always careful not to use it beyond a day or two."

"What kind of situations have you been getting into, Sis?" I asked her.

"Never you mind," she said. "And I got myself out of them, anyway."

"I don't understand?" Glorina looked back and forth at us, her eyes darting quickly. "This man asked about magic when it happened. That other man at lunch that day also. Why do you keep asking about magic?"

Tolly sighed. "Might as well tell her, An," he said. "She's figured out my age on her own, she'll figure out this as well."

"Tolly is a magic dampener," An said. "It doesn't happen around him. Which can at times be very annoying. Especially if you're trying something, and don't realize he's there."

"Very annoying," Tolly said, his hand on his bad leg. "It can happen, but the magic has to be overpowering to get through. Much more so than most folks can manage."

"It's nothing he does, it's who he is," An said. "But back to that first day here. You fainted. And then what?"

"I woke, both of us on the floor. I was on this man's lap. His arm around me."

An looked at Tolly, who was blushing furiously. "You didn't mention that before."

"Didn't seem pertinent," Tolly grumbled.

Then An turned to me. "I suppose you knew about this?"

"Um . . . It didn't seem pertinent?"

"Of course it didn't." An shook her head at both of us. "And then?" she asked Glorina.

""When I look at this man, his eyes say 'safe haven, safe haven''," she murmured, only partially answering the question.

"Do they now?" Tolly muttered under his breath, looking even more embarrassed than he had before. "That explains a few things."

"What does that mean?" An asked.

"I do not know," Glorina said. "But it cannot be true, anyway." She looked at An. "But because of it, I could not bring myself to betray this man. Though I must betray him. The only thing I could do was not bed him."

Belinda choked. "Bed him?"

Tolly scowled at her, then said gruffly, "Do you think that would have been entirely your choice, Ms. Hoi?"

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