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--- literature:i_am_orghysh [2025/08/17 20:18] – shyriath
+++ literature:i_am_orghysh [2025/12/09 14:51] (current) – shyriath
@@ Line 94: / Line 94: @@
 As he regained more of his strength, he finally began to feel as if he might be able to attempt an escape. But he felt compelled to dismiss the notion almost as soon as it had occurred to him; they were surrounded by water, and his people were not skilled swimmers even with their hands free; with his bound as they were, he would not make it to shore. In any case, he had watched the four-legs diving for fish, and it would not take long for them to catch him.
+He proved to have little time, in any case. The current had carried the barge swiftly along the river to its destination, and soon they were surrounded by the bustle of Tebech. He had never been in a permanent settlement of any sort before, but this one, a patchwork of stilted wooden buildings and platforms raised above the marshy islands of the delta, could have held a dozen or more tribes. There were four-legs everywhere, and despite the seeming sense of normality in their business, their blank empathic impressions and peculiar smell were curiously upsetting.
+He was marched off the barge and along wooden walkways until he was brought to a wide platform, apparently the place where trading was done; everywhere were people and four-legs haggling, arguing, discussing. The woman who had spoken to him along their journey murmured quietly to a four-legs standing near a series of upright posts, to which other people, men and women in their prime or in their youth, had been tethered. The four-legs inspected him carefully, said something to the woman, and gave her a carved token; then she and the others dragged their sledge away to sell the rest of their merchandise. She did not look back.
+---
+"What about this one?"
+The slave trader looked askance at Tōlik. Between her muscles and the definition of her status-markings, she was an intimidating and commanding presence, but business was business. "On the kind of budget you're talking about?"
+"Don't tell me it's worth more. Look at it. Skinny, wounded. You should be paying //me// to take it off your hands."
+"It's young, got good muscles. Just needs feeding up a bit, that's all."
+"Needs to be //propped// up a bit, more like."
+They spoke in [[https://shyriath.a2hosted.com/avishraa/doku.php?id=language:imperial:start|Imperial]], which the native clearly did not understand; he glanced back and forth between them, eyeing them warily. The slave trader caught one of his looks, and lashed out at his face with his tail.
+"Not kept well, either," Tōlik added promptly, "not with you smacking it around like that. You can't expect to make me a sale, behaving like that."
+"Pah! I barely touched it."
+Tōlik shook her head stubbornly. "Honestly, I don't see the point. This muckhole used to have promise, but I didn't bring my ship all this way just to get cheated on slim pickings."
+The slaver grimaced as she turned away. He was not the most civic-minded man, which would have been a major drawback in his line of work, but he was keenly aware of the economic realities. Ships like Tōlik's were what kept Tebech afloat, and it would be bad for business if they stopped coming. She might be willing to pay only barely more than what he'd gotten for the native, which was bad; but her deciding not to come back would be worse.
+"All right, look-"
+Tōlik turned. "You said something?"
+"Throw in a bottle of that liquor you carry around and you can have the wretch. Then at least I can drown my sorrows."
+She gave him a crooked grin. "I think I can live with that."
+---
+Though his bindings had been loosened, the slave looked bewildered. All told, Tōlik couldn't blame him. He stared around at the ship, bobbing up and down on the waves; the rigging, with the takmar of the crew swooping around it unfurling the sails; and above all, at the land opening wide on either side to reveal the vastness of the sea. Every time he looked at it, he seemed to drink it in; he breathed deep of the salt smell, as if it cleansed him.
+She knew the local trade language well enough, and spoke to him in it. "You've never seen the sea before, I take it."
+He flinched at being addressed, and replied, "I have only heard of it." He looked her in the eyes. "What is to become of me here?"
+"Work," Tōlik replied. "I'm not normally in the market for slaves, but some of my crew decided to get themselves killed while they were ashore. No skilled sailors around to replace them, but at least you were cheap. We can teach you which ropes to pull and when, I imagine."
+Cautiously encouraged by her conversational tone, he asked, "And I will be doing this forever?"
+"Oh, no." She smiled. "For a few turns, until we get back home. The work I get out of you should be worth the price. And when we get there - well, it isn't allowed to own another person there, even one like you. You'll be free to go, if you wish. Of course, if you prove to be good at it and decide you like it, maybe we could come up with a more... equitable arrangement in the future."
+He found himself turning to stare back at the fabled sea. He, and his new master, and the great raft on which they rode, all moved deliberately out into that hungry expanse, and it would eat them one way or another - maybe in its depths, maybe in its boundless horizons. But the prospect of facing it did not seem quite so bad as it ought.
+Though Tōlik did not emit any feelings that he could detect, she could read them, and his were open to view. She said, "Yes. It's right to fear it and to respect it. But there's something there to embrace." She jerked her head toward the hatch. "Get below, get fed, get some sleep. When you wake, you're going to start learning your way around a ship. And at least //some// words in a [[language:ǣdyihozhn|decent language]]."
+She began to turn away. He hesitated, then called after her. "What is your name?"
+She paused. "Tōlik."
+"And what are your people called?"
+"Takmar." She looked back. "And you?"
+"I am Chrgadz." He smiled, tentatively, in the way of one who had not smiled in a long time. "And I am orghysh."