Prologue

The man replaced his pen in the holder and turned from the aged mahogany desk with a satisfied expression on his face.  Leaning back in the leather chair he slid it smoothly from under the desk and watched as the naked young man with him fetched a neat scotch from the decanter on a side table.  As he’d done before too many times to count, the aging man couldn’t help admiring the youth’s beautiful body as he moved gracefully to the table.  It was hard to imagine he was much older than seventeen, despite his twenty four years of age.  It was even harder to believe how deadly he could be, hard to see past the face and body that were so undeniably…pretty. It was only because he had known the boy so long that he noticed the litheness of his body and the smooth control he exhibited with every movement – and only through experience that he knew that the economy of action that made him so graceful also added to his unmatched martial skills.

The young man came back, placing the small glass on the desk beside the man and kneeling before him in one smooth movement, back straight and head bowed, ever patient as the older man’s thoughts wandered.  After a moment the older man, Andre, came back to the present and the far-off look in his eyes vanished as he completed the last part of his affairs.

       “It is done.”  He said to the boy at his feet – even after all these years it was hard to actually think of him as the man he was – and reached down to gently cup his chin and lift his face to meet his eyes.

       “Yes, Master”  The look in his unusual silver-coloured eyes was resigned, but Andre could see the sorrow he tried so hard to mask.

       “You will remember what to do, Kori?  You will do everything necessary?”  His eyes were hard as he made his voice as commanding as possible, unwilling to allow the young man any doubt as to his wishes in the matter.  He tightened his grip, trying to convey the threat of grim consequences if he suspected there was anything other than complete obedience in the young man’s mind.

       “I won’t fail you, Master”  A hurt look flittered across the boy’s face, and his tone was harder than the meekness the boy usually displayed, trying to convey determination and surety.  His eyes flickered downwards in obedience, before he looked up again to meet his master’s eyes and prove he was telling the truth as he continued.  “I swear it, Master; I will do everything exactly as you wish it.  I will always obey you.”  He swallowed slightly, and looked down to cover the start of tears that he blinked away, while resuming in a softer voice.  “Even if I haven’t been good enough…done well enough…to be granted the honour of dying with you…I swear, I will do exactly as you wish, and whatever my new master wishes too.”

       “No, Korian.”  Andre replied immediately, “Look at me”, while forcing him to look back up again, somewhat more harshly than he had intended.  It was so hard sometimes, to get him to understand, so hard to combat some of his natural cultural beliefs, even after all this time.  But lets be honest here, he admitted to himself, he’s been a lot more successful in converting you to his way of thinking and living than you’ve been at converting him.  “You’ve been brilliant, never doubt that.  These last twelve years have been better than I could ever have imagined.  Listen to me.  I love you, Kori, more than I can ever really say.  You’ve given me so much…which is precisely why I can’t let you die with me.  I love you; the last thing I ever want to do is cause your death.  You’re simply amazing;  I have never understood how you can do all the things you do, and you’re far too precious to me to die for no reason.  You’ve barely begun your life – you’re only twenty four – and you have so much ahead of you…I will not let you die with me, you deserve so much more.  Besides,”  He added with a slight smile, trying to lighten the tone,  “It amuses me no end to think what life will be like for you with my nephew.  How he will ever cope with your ways.  His parents were far too straight-laced; this should definitely be good for him.”

       “Yes, Master”  Korian replied obediently.  Andre sighed and let go of him as he leaned back in his chair and took a sip of his scotch.  It was always hard to tell whether he’d gotten through to the boy or not; whenever they had an argument – or rather, whenever Andre’s temper was sparked by something the boy said – Korian just gave in, obediently going along with whatever Andre said and was usually overly timid and submissive for the rest of the day, as if to make up for doing something wrong.

       “And you won’t say anything of the sort to your new master, after I’ve gone.  I’ve said you can have a year to grieve and forget about everything, before you must face your new master and submit to him, but after that, you forget all of this nonsense about wanting to die.  You understand me?  It’ll all be hard enough for my nephew as it is, without you saying thoughtless things like that.  After I’m gone, he is your master and you obey him completely, serve him completely, as you’ve served me and with no indication whatsoever that you might be disappointed or sorrowful at having to serve him.  You understand, Korian?”

       “Yes, Master.  I have sworn.  I will be his completely.”  The repetition of his earlier determined tone reminded Andre that he’d probably repeated the same sentiments too many times now.  It did seem to be all he was saying at the moment, but it had taken so long to decide what to do about Korian and in the end he was still nervous about the fate of the person that mattered more to him than anyone else.  He knew the transition wouldn’t be easy, and he knew his nephew would probably resist it as much, if not more, than he had at the beginning, but it was the only real option he had, and he’d say the same things to Korian hundreds of times if it would do anything at all to ease the inevitable culture clash.

*   *   *

Korian shifted around to the side slightly, leaning his head against Andre’s knee.  There was still a part of him that tried to protest this was far too overly familiar and cringed in anticipation of his Master’s wrath, but for the most part he’d been able to overcome such feelings with this Master.  This Master was different from any he’d ever known.  Of course, his whole world had changed after his Master had taken him out of his old home, and it was all different from anything he’d ever known.  There didn’t even seem to be slaves here, at least none that he could tell.  There were some from the master races that he’d met with his Master that claimed to be slaves or “submissives” or some such, but they didn’t seem to be slaves like he was, and there was nothing like the slave race back in his old home.  He’d partly become this new sort of slave for his new Master, since it seemed to be the only way his Master was willing to accept having a slave, but he’d used it to be the slave he truly was, the one he was born as, in a way his Master found acceptable.

Korian felt his Master’s hand come down to stroke his hair and relaxed almost imperceptibly at the implied approval of his actions.  The action might have been too familiar for any of his previous masters, but this one said he loved him.  His Master loved him!  Him, a slave, and not even a good one at that!  Korian didn’t understand how such a wonder could happen, but didn’t allow himself to ask the whys or the hows for fear of finding that it had all been a dreadful mistake and his Master would suddenly realise there really was no reason why he should be loved.  And now the Master that loved him was going to die.  The inevitable reminder came.  He couldn’t stop himself thinking about it; every time he managed to put it from his mind for a bit it came back and caught him again, a fresh blow that never ceased to knock his breath from him and have him fighting back tears.  He’d never felt this vulnerable before, not even when he’d been back in his old home with his previous masters, even considering everything he’d had to endure.  He hated the vulnerability; he’d always been weaker than the other slaves he’d grown up with, and he despised the weakness in himself, which he’d tried so hard to eradicate.  And he wouldn’t even be allowed to die with his Master.  He turned his mind from such thoughts, trying to convince himself it was due to the customs of his Master and the world he now lived in, instead of his own failures, but it was hard.  The idea he’d failed this Master, who had given him so much, tore him up inside.  I will do better next time.  I swear, I will do better with this next master; I will not fail my Master in this, whatever this new master is like, whatever he demands of me, I will do it all.  Without hesitation, or question, or failure.  For my Master, I will not fail this new one-- His thoughts cut off suddenly as he realized his mistake.  If he obeyed this new master because of his old one…that wasn’t right, and he would never be able to fully give himself to the new one, not while he was still so dedicated to this one.  He swallowed slightly, and continued in his vow, I will not fail this new master in anything, my life will be his and I will give myself fully to him, be as devoted to him as I am to my current Master, even if he doesn’t care for me the way this one does, it doesn’t matter, all that matters is him.  I swear, all that will matter is him.

Korian felt himself relax a little as he forced himself to come to terms with his future.  Yes, perhaps he had failed his current Master in some way, and that would continue to eat at him, but there was nothing he could do about it now.  His Master had already arranged everything, already decided, so there was no way to redeem himself and be granted death by his Master’s side.  So he would give himself to the future, whatever it was, and his future master, whatever he was like, and hope that perhaps he could overcome his weaknesses and his failures, and be the slave that he was so desperate to be, that he was so desperate to prove he was good enough to be, despite what they had said at home.  With that thought, he allowed his mind to turn to his future for the first time, and to contemplate life after his Master’s death; life with his new master.  It seemed wrong somehow, to think about his future instead of his Master’s – oddly selfish somehow, and completely wrong for a slave – but then again, thinking of any future without his Master was too wrong to contemplate, so he ignored the feeling and let himself wonder about his new master.

“Do you think he’ll accept me, Master?”  He asked in a soft voice, barely above a whisper, not at all sure he really wanted his Master to hear.

*   *   *

Andre came back to the present with a start, his mind lost in pursuing the same question Kori had just asked.  He wanted to sigh, but knew that it would probably be taken the wrong way, and he didn’t want to discourage this sort of discussion.  He was somewhat surprised; it was the first time Kori had ever willingly started talking about either his death or the period after it.

“Yes, I think he will come to accept you, and love you as I do; who could not, after they come to know you and realize what a beautiful, marvellous creature you are?  But it might be like it was with me, at first.  Our cultures are very different, and he has no experience with owning a slave and will never have heard of your people or your culture, so it might take a little time for him to come to accept it in the way I have.  It just doesn’t happen here, and a lot of people consider it wrong.”  Biggest understatement of the century, he thought to himself, but he didn’t want to be too discouraging.  “It might be harder for him because he has a high-powered job in the city, instead of being a recluse like me.  But I am well experienced with your persistence and I have no doubt that you’ll get him to come to terms with it as well as I have.  He doesn’t really have a choice, after all.  But you’ll probably have to help him; have to explain your actions and reactions, and your customs, and you’ll probably have to help him learn how to fulfill his role.  Whatever he does, stick with him, OK?  Just go about everything quietly until he can accept it all.  You’ll get there eventually, I’m sure.”

It probably wasn’t the most reassuring speech he had ever made, but it would help no one to lie to the boy.  Richard would understand little enough of what was going on, so it was important at least one of the two understood how things would be.  He shook his head; he couldn’t stop the doubts that kept coming back to haunt his mind.  He didn’t know enough about his nephew, really.  He didn’t know if his nephew was truly dominant, whether the hints he’d glimpsed occasionally were real or whether he was mistaken.  His nephew was the one member of his family that he felt was most like himself, and it worried him how much he was relying on that.  He couldn’t really believe Richard would exploit Korian – certainly most of his fears were that Richard wouldn’t accept Kori and the situation – but he knew from experience that it was difficult to get the right balance, especially considering the way Korian behaved.  He laughed slightly at himself as he considered his thoughts; it had never been like this in business, he could make decisions – often with a lot of risk attached – and never feel any regret or doubt after he’d made them; there was, after all, just no point to it.  But this had been such a hard decision to make, and in the end there had been no right answer, nothing that he could see working perfectly, and since it was the future of the person he cared about more than any other it somehow mattered a whole lot more than his business decisions had.  But in the end, there had been no real choice.  There wasn’t anyone else he could entrust him to, he had few real friends and he’d been estranged from most of his family for a long time.  He had briefly considered his sister Kate, but although she could certainly understand and satisfy some of Kori’s needs, she wouldn’t care for him like he did.  He had, of course, for what seemed like the millionth time, considered setting him free – even giving him his large fortune as well – but he knew it wouldn’t work.  It had taken a long time, but he understood now what Kori had meant when he said his Master was his life; he’d been born and bred a slave and if he hadn’t been able to change his attitude throughout his life, freeing him on his death would solve nothing.  It would probably make it worse, as well.  Andre could just imagine what would happen; Kori would use his newfound freedom to follow his Master into death and the thought of that was enough to make him steer clear of that idea.  No, it was decided, Kori needed a new Master – a new life – a new purpose to help him get through his death, and it was the greatest gift he could ever give to the one member of his family that had loved and accepted him just the way he was, and ignored the disdain and possible stigma the rest of the family might have attached to him through association.

Ahh, Richard, I wish you luck and happiness in dealing with this one.  He’ll give you everything and anything you could ever want; I just hope you’re brave enough to accept what’s offered to you.  Then he laughed slightly.  Hell, I don’t think you could make a much bigger mess than I did at the beginning.

Chapter 1

       Richard looked up at the doorbell, getting up with a sigh.  He hoped – without much optimism, considering the late hour, and the fact he hadn’t actually ordered the pizza yet – that it wasn’t Naomi.  He just didn’t have time to do anything with her this evening, or to listen to her not-so-subtle hints that they’d hardly seen each other these last couple of weeks, but he couldn’t very well ask her to leave as soon as she arrived, and he did feel bad about how much he’d been neglecting her recently.  They were just so close to closing a contract with a new – and rather bigger-scale – client which would give their business a huge boost, and in a small company there just weren’t enough people that in important enough positions to deal with all the detailed aspects that would secure them the contract, so most of the work was falling to him and his partner Janeece.  So he was working long hours, and then coming home to work some more and his girlfriend was none too happy.  Not that he blamed her, but he was tired and still had a few items to research, so he really wasn’t in the mood for trying to pacify her tonight.

       He opened the door to his apartment, blinking in surprise at the man he saw there, instead of the annoyed face of his girlfriend.  It took him a moment to place him, and as he did he looked uncertainly at the young man, trying desperately to remember his name.  He recognized him as the man who used to live with his Uncle, but he couldn’t imagine what he was doing here.  He’d never had anything to do with this man; oh, he’d met him a few times in passing, but generally he wasn’t around – or he avoided them – when Richard visited his Uncle, and Richard had never gone out of his way to talk to the young man.  He’d seen him again at the funeral, of course, but that had been a year ago now, and it was the last time he’d seen him.  He hadn’t even been at the reading of the will, which had surprised Richard, although at the time he had thought it was probably because the man expected to get most of his lover’s fortune and didn’t want to be around when the family found out.  He felt the remembered shame again at his family’s attitude; sometimes they just behaved too disgracefully for him to understand.  It had taken ages for him to convince them to even come to his Uncle’s funeral, but they’d been more than eager to come to the reading of the will, and hungry for any part of his Uncle’s fortune. 

       “Ah…hello…”  He wasn’t quite sure what to say – how do you greet your Uncle’s male lover, whom no one in the family had ever really acknowledged? – and continued, somewhat lamely, “I didn’t you at the will reading.”

       Then he almost winced at his lack of tact.  It was still a somewhat sore spot with his family that his Uncle had left almost all of his fortune to charity, but, as his father had put it, ‘at least none of it went to that gold-digger whore of a boy he kept around with him’.  Richard might have believed the general opinion of the man in front of him, but he knew how his family tended to outrageously distort anything involving his Uncle – he still didn’t really understand their vendetta against him – and he’d seen the way his Uncle and this man had looked at each other, and didn’t doubt how much they loved each other.  He knew his parents had expected him to be the main benefactor, since he was the only one who’d had any time for the older man, and they’d been near-furious that he hadn’t received more than a few items, the most valuable of which being a beautiful landscape painting.  To everyone’s – including her own – surprise, his Aunt Kate had been given an unexpected trust fund, and was the largest benefactor, apart from the charities he’d split his money among.  He’d been happy his Uncle had had the last laugh and denied the family that had despised him his fortune, and happy with the keepsakes the old man had given him.  He’d never cared for his Uncle’s fortune – he’d always wanted to make his own way in life – and treasured the memories the items he had received gave him every time he looked at them, and the painting hung in pride of place in his sitting room.  It was these few things, the fact that his Uncle knew which painting he’d admired above all others, that showed the love the older man had had for him, and that was more than enough, and all he’d ever asked for.  He did, however, feel bad that the man who’d loved his Uncle so much hadn’t received anything, and he was more than surprised at his Uncle’s thoughtlessness.  He wondered idly whether the man had come to claim some of what should have been his inheritance.  If he had, Richard couldn’t really blame him, but he couldn’t help him either, and he hoped the man had had the sense to come to him before any of the other members of his Uncle’s family.  Well, his tactless opening provided plenty of opportunity to talk about it, anyway.

       “I was in mourning” was the man’s only soft reply.  Richard could well believe that; the last time he’d seen the man had been at his Uncle’s funeral, and it had hurt just to look at the wretched anguish and lost look the man had had.

       “Well…ah…would you like to come in?”  Richard was tired and busy, but he couldn’t exactly just ask him to leave, or come back another time, and besides, he was curious about why he was here in the first place.

       “Yes, thank you.”  A cautious smile appeared briefly before the man moved gracefully past, and Richard shut the door, before turning to look briefly at him and then lead him into the sitting room, trying desperately to remember his name.  Watching the man, Richard felt the same discomfort he’d felt every time he’d met him at his Uncle’s house.  It wasn’t just the man’s unusual colouring; his silver eyes and long silver hair that somehow seemed to reflect even the dim light of the hallway, and his pretty, youthful face.  The man had always moved with an unnatural grace and poise, but at the same time seemed humble and timid, and Richard had never really known what to make of him, even if it wasn’t for the complicated relationship he’d had with his Uncle.  Normally, though, Richard remembered seeing him completely calm and self-assured.  Today he seemed nervous, in a way, and even shyer than Richard remembered him; not that Richard blamed him, considering the way he’d been treated by his lover’s family, not least – Richard was ashamed to admit – by Richard’s own parents.

       After several moments he gave up and as he sat down in the sitting room, gesturing his guest to do the same, said with a sheepish smile, “I’m really sorry, but I can’t for the life of me remember your name.  We only met those few times…”

       “My name is Korian, my…Andre called me Kori for short.  But of course, you can call me anything you wish.”  He said in the same soft voice, no outward sign of his inward wince at his slip in almost referring to Andre as his former master.  Andre had advised him not to call Richard Master until he’d given him the letter, not to mention the word at all until then.

       Richard blinked, but before he could question the strange response, Korian continued, still standing, “I have a letter here for you from your Uncle.”  He reached inside the pocket of the rough coat he wore, handing out a surprisingly unruffled envelope.

       Richard took it automatically, even while his mind stumbled on what had just been said.  A letter from the uncle who had been dead for a year?  What kind of game was this guy playing?  He glanced down at the envelope, which had his name written clearly on the front in his Uncle’s handwriting, before turning it over and stifling a gasp.  He ran his fingers over the old wax seal, while smiling ruefully at the memories.  After a year, the pain he’d felt at the loss of his Uncle had faded so he could now recall the good times without the familiar heart throb.  Yes, this had to be from his Uncle.  Only he had such a taste for history and ancient customs.  Though to be honest, you did always think that sort of thing was cool.  But what was the man thinking, delivering this message a year after his Uncle had died?  He fingered it for a moment more before quickly breaking the seal and opening it to read;

       Dearest Richard,

I must admit I really don’t know where to begin with this letter – what do you tell a nephew from beyond the grave a year after your death? – and this is currently my third attempt.  I could spend pages writing how much I have loved you and our short times together; regaling you with memories of lazy summer evenings and crisp autumn mornings, but you already know all that and I’m afraid this letter has a more practical purpose.  There is a lot you never knew about me – which isn’t surprising, considering how little we saw of each other – and I fear that I will have to reveal some uncomfortable truths, for both of us.  I truly don’t know where to start or how to say this without you…misinterpreting what I have to say.  So I guess I will start at the beginning.  With Kori.  Because, really, this letter isn’t about me or about you; it’s about the man I love more than life itself, and I ask you to bear with me, and just hear me out – don’t close your mind to what I have to say, even though you may not like some of it.

I will attempt to sum up twelve momentous years in a paragraph or so, and since I am struggling to write this while imagining your opinion, I will do it as matter-of-factly as possible.  Kori is a slave.  A real, live slave.  I first met him when he was twelve years old and I was on a trip deep in Australia.  I got lost, my car broke down and I stumbled upon the village he lived in.  He comes from a community within that wilderness that is so far removed from anything we know as to be almost indescribable.  Certainly a lot of the ways he acts can easily be incomprehensible to us, but you must understand he has a completely different culture – a completely different set of beliefs – that his life is based on.  And nothing can seem to shake these ingrained beliefs; believe me, I’ve tried.  In this community, there are two ‘races’ – the ‘master’ race, and the ‘slave’ race that he belongs to, and they all have the same unique features of silver eyes and hair that I’ve never encountered in any other race.  I saw the way he was treated in this community and bought him on the spot.  It was always my intention to free him, but…he was born and bred a slave, it’s so deeply ingrained in him that no matter what I tried he wouldn’t accept anything else and eventually I accepted him for what he was and what he wanted to be.  He didn’t understand freedom, and even more importantly didn’t understand the world he’d just been plunged into; for our world is vastly different from his own.  At the time I thought to use his slave mentality to get him to learn about our world and learn to survive on his own.  As it turned out, he was rather more subtle than me and managed to use my desire for him to learn these things to let him act like a slave and show me his culture and beliefs.  Don’t ever doubt his intelligence; he may be a self-proclaimed slave, and this culture may still be foreign to him in many ways, but his intelligence is on par with the best.  So in the end, I got converted more than he did, and I finally accepted our living as master and slave, even if in my mind I always considered him my lover first.  And before you even think it – no, I did not have sex with an underage twelve year old boy.  I may be bisexual, and yes I may have a tendency toward younger men (although I didn’t so much before Kori) but I am not a paedophile, and I didn’t take advantage of a slave.  Or, at least, as much as I could, I tried not to make it about the master and the slave.  I waited until he was eighteen, and he offered himself – I didn’t ask.  I clarify that because I understand after hearing this you are probably going to be disbelieving and you may think I am an awful person for keeping a slave – I wouldn’t blame you; I was wracked with guilt for the longest time about Kori – but I couldn’t stand it if you thought of me as someone who would take advantage of an underage slaveboy.

Richard stopped part way through, unable to take in any more.  He sat staring at it for a few moments before going back and reading it again.  And again.  Then he blinked a couple of times, still staring at it, trying to understand what on earth it was talking about.  He’d always known his Uncle was the eccentric one in the family, but it had always been the cool sort of eccentricities that appealed to young boys; a fondness for ancient times and the paraphernalia that went with that and living almost in isolation on estates large enough – and with enough things to do – that he’d always come back from a couple of weeks with his Uncle thinking he hadn’t done half the things he’d wanted to.  And he’d always known his Uncle was gay, and knew the rest of the family seemed to despise him for it, but he’d never seen the harm in letting people be what they couldn’t help being, and hadn’t cared about his Uncle’s sexual preferences.  The idea of his Uncle owning a slave was completely absurd.  And wrong.  Very, very wrong.  People had fought for centuries against slavery and its repercussions.  Richard just couldn’t understand it.  How could the Uncle who always had a warm smile for him – who had such decided opinions on what was right and wrong with the world – possibly even conceive of owning a slave?  Richard glanced back through the letter.  To save him, the part of his mind that was still desperately trying to hold up the image of the Uncle Richard had known insisted, he did it to save him.  But Richard wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to defend his Uncle anymore, wasn’t entirely sure he could ever really have known the man he thought he remembered so well.  Desperate to distract his mind from dwelling on the information he couldn’t accept, Richard plunged back into the letter.

Anyway, now the really difficult part: why I’m telling you this now.  I’m dead, gone, and I’ve left the man I love and the man who needs me more than anyone has ever done, all alone.  Kori has been the hardest part about all of this.  I sorted my financial affairs out months ago, dealt with my businesses and the people who worked for me.  But Kori…again I considered giving him his freedom, but it would be worse now than it ever would have been before.  If I let him free now, he would follow the ancient customs of his people and follow me into death, and I would not be able to stand that.  I could never accept being the cause of the death of a loved one, especially Kori.  I apologise for the suddenness of all this, but I really couldn’t tell you beforehand…you see, for him to move on, for him to live again, he needs a new Master.  And that Master has to be you.  You’re the only one I’d trust with such a thing, and the only one I feel safest about giving him to.  I believe I can trust you won’t exploit him, and you’re the only one who I feel can come close enough to accepting him as I have, and letting him be what he has to be.

I realise this is all a shock to you, and your mind is probably already rejecting it, but I’m afraid to say you – just like I – really have no other choice.  I have already given him to you, and he considers himself yours, and he needs a Master.  I’m begging you now, to at least give this a chance, at least accept him enough to let him into your life and let him be around his new Master – which is as essential to his well being as any physical sustenance, perhaps more so.  There really is no one else I can ask, and definitely no one else I could trust.  Even if you cannot accept this all at once, that’s understandable – really, I didn’t either – but at least let him stay with you, help him as best you can.  Consider him a friend or a companion or whatever would make you feel more comfortable until you can get used to this all.  Just please give him the chance to show you more about what all this means – if not for his sake, then for mine.

I could give you all sorts of random advice right now, in dealing with him, and it won’t be easy because he thinks in a completely different way from us, but it would be best if you found your own way together and didn’t rely on what I discovered along the way.  Just a couple of things; I don’t know how he will behave with you, but there is a good chance he will revert back to something similar to how he was before I bought him, and taught him that what I expected in this culture was completely different from what his previous culture expected.  This will probably be because he will be unsure how to act around you and what you expect from him, so be patient and don’t forget some of the obvious things – make sure he eats, drinks and sleeps; he probably won’t do anything without permission at first, and when I first bought him he wouldn’t even ask for permission, waiting until it was given (or in my case until I realised he wasn’t doing the above and asked why).  Always ask why he’s behaving in a certain way, and get to know some of his customs to understand everything better.  I realise this advice isn’t so relevant if you can only accept him as a friend or some such at the moment, but I include it anyway because it is important regardless and you must understand that for him, he will probably not accept you – inwardly, anyway – as anything other than what you are: his Master.

And so, to you, the only member of my family I have loved truly and without reservation, I give my most precious possession, and my greatest gift:  my slave, Korian, I hereby bequeath to you.

Dearest nephew, whom I have loved like the son I never had, I hope you can come to love and cherish my gift as much as I have, and accept him if nothing else.  Truly, in this one bequest I have given you everything you could ever wish for, if you have the bravery and strength to take it.

With all my love, and hope for the future,

Your Uncle Andre x

       Richard read with increasing disbelief, until by the end he could almost convince himself it was all some horrible joke.  He closed his eyes as he finished.  This cannot possibly be true.  The whole idea is absurd; more than absurd…my Uncle did not own a slave.  He wouldn’t do that, not for all these years – maybe, yes, to take him out of a land where there was no future or hope for him, but he wouldn’t then continue to own a slave, he’d free him, especially if he loved him as much as his Uncle had loved Korian. Korian!  Richard blinked and looked up for the first time since opening the letter.  Korian could refute everything; explain how it had all been some mistake.

       Except Korian wasn’t standing awkwardly anymore.  He’d stripped off his worn coat and the shirt under it – as well as his shoes and socks, Richard surmised as he glanced at the neat pile of clothes – and was kneeling on the floor wearing only his loose trousers, with his back straight and hands behind his head, elbows locked stiffly out to each side, and his eyes cast down.  His chest proudly displayed the two small, simple nipple rings that dimly reflected the light.  Richard swallowed, opened his mouth as if to say something, then quickly glanced back at the letter in front of him, just to have something else to look at.  This can’t be true, he insisted again to himself.  Well, not looking at him isn’t going to make him go away, the part of his mind that could still think rationally mocked him.

       He looked up again, and his stomach flip-flopped.  It made him uneasy, even this simple gesture, this simple show of…submission.  It sent tingles all along his arms and made him shudder inside.  It’s wrong.  We’re equal.  We’re all equal.  And the cries of denial that his Uncle wouldn’t own a slave turned into something far more heart-wrenching.  I do not own a slave. 

       Taking a small breath, he began tentatively, “Korian…”  He was desperate to do something, anything to clear this mess up.  But what do you say to a man who has just delivered a letter that equates to a deed of ownership and then knelt silently before you?  “Korian…this isn’t really true.  It can’t really be true.  I mean…my Uncle – he would never…and I mean…you’re not really…are you?”  It wasn’t the most coherent sentence he’d ever formed, but then he wasn’t at his most coherent tonight, surprisingly enough.

       “Yes, Master, it’s true.  Your Uncle was my former master.  I am a slave.  Your slave.  Do with me as you will.”  Korian replied in a quiet voice, not moving at all until at the end he slowly lowered himself until his forehead touched the ground before rising up again and resuming his previous position.

       Richard’s breath hitched at the word ‘Master’ and the denial continued to rage inside him.  No, no, no.  This is all wrong.  “Don’t call me that.  I am not your Master.  You are not my slave.  I don’t know what my Uncle thought he was doing but I am not going to be part of it.” He replied, rather more harshly than he’d intended.

       Korian didn’t move, just replied again in that quiet voice.  “Yes, you are, Master.  It is already done, and cannot be undone.”  Then he seemed to take a small breath before continuing in an even quieter voice, “Forgive me for not being acceptable to you; I swear I will do everything I can to be worthy of being your slave.”

       Damn, that wasn’t what he’d meant.  He didn’t understand this, couldn’t work out what was going on, and the whole situation was making him completely uncomfortable.  And it didn’t help that it was infuriating talking to someone who wouldn’t even look at you.  It made the conversation feel completely one sided somehow.  He hadn’t quite understood how much of communication was non-verbal – even after all those company lectures about body language he’d been to – until he was faced with talking to someone with downcast eyes, who kept his face expressionless and held himself rigidly still.  In what looked like a very uncomfortable position, at that.  How am I meant to deal with this?  He desperately cast around for some excuse, some way out of this situation.  Something in the letter jogged his mind and he glanced back at it.  Even if you cannot accept this all at once, that’s understandable – really, I didn’t either – but at least let him stay with you, help him as best you can.  Consider him a friend or a companion or whatever would make you feel more comfortable until you can get used to this all.  OK.  He could deal with this if Korian was just a friend of his Uncle’s, who needed some help, just for a little while.  If not for his sake – then for mine.  Yes, for the sake of his Uncle he could help out the man he’d loved for a little while.  Long enough to help him get over the death of his lover and to show him that he would be better off taking the freedom offered, that he could survive on his own and owed no slavery to anyone.

       “Korian, listen.  I didn’t mean that – it’s not that I don’t want you or anything, it’s that I don’t agree with slavery.  In any way.  I don’t want a slave…I’m just not comfortable with it.  I…I don’t mind you staying here.  For a while.  While you get yourself sorted and everything, but please…none of this stuff.  Don’t…don’t kneel or anything like that.  We’ll just share the apartment for a little while, OK?  Do you understand?  I just can’t accept all this…slavery…stuff.”

       Korian was silent for a moment, before bowing his head slightly and saying, “Yes, Master.”

       Richard sighed as Korian didn’t move.  “Don’t call me that, OK?  My name is Richard.  And you can get up, all right?”  He ran his hands through his hair as he thought of the forgotten work sitting in the other room.  “Look, surely you weren’t like this all the time with my Uncle?  I mean, I was there some of the time, and I know you weren’t.  Can’t we just be friends?  You can stay here while you adjust to everything, but you can’t act like this or it’s just going to be completely awkward.”

       Korian glanced up briefly, then tentatively asked, “You want me to act informally, Master?”

       No, I want you to stop acting like a damn slave at all.  But it looks like this is going to go one step at a time, and right now I just want to complete the first step and get you out of my hair for a bit so I can finish that blasted research.  “Yes, that’s it.”  Richard tried to smile, biting back his frustration, “We can act informally around each other.”  Remembering another part of the letter, Richard figured he might as well clear up a few other things now as well.  “You can do what you like, OK?  You’re free to come and go, and use anything in the apartment you like.  Now, I’ll give you a quick tour of the apartment, and then I really have to get on with some work.”

       Richard stood up, relieved when Korian finally stood as well, and started showing him the apartment.  It didn’t take long, since the apartment only had a bedroom, sitting room, bathroom, kitchen and study.  After asking Korian not to go in his own bedroom, he paused as he realised he really didn’t have anywhere for someone else to sleep.  His parents had been arguing with him to move into a bigger place for ages, but he’d always liked it here in his apartment; it wasn’t big, true, but it was big enough for him, it was convenient and it didn’t require much effort to keep up.  He passed the airing cupboard on the way back to the sitting room and pulled out a pillow, spare duvet and some blankets.

       Dumping the bundle on the sofa, he turned to Korian and said, “I’m afraid I don’t have a second bed, so you’ll have to sleep in here.  Now, I have to go and finish off some work, so just…make yourself at home, I guess…”

       Not really knowing what to say to his unexpected guest, he turned and hurried back into the study, closing the door behind him.  Once inside, Richard sighed with relief and sank into the chair behind the desk.  He didn’t know what to make of it all, but he was glad to be alone again.  He didn’t really want to be stuck with another person staying in his apartment – it was, after all, meant for one person – especially considering they’d now have to buy food for two people and everything.  But he knew how much his Uncle had cared for this man, and his Uncle had never refused him a favour.  As long as we don’t have to go into the slave thing, it’ll be OK.  It wouldn’t be too bad having some company, I guess, and as soon as he realises he really is free, and he can do what he wants, he should be happy enough to take the opportunity.  Richard recalled what part of the letter, and frowned to himself slightly at that thought.  Just be sure he’s over Uncle Andre’s death first, in case those predictions were right…if you get him settled into a new life, show him there’s plenty to live for, then you should be able to convince him to embrace freedom.

       Feeling better for having decided what to do, Richard settled down to continue his research.  A few minutes later he caught himself staring blankly at his computer and sighed.  It was just so hard to concentrate when his mind was still in a state of numbed disbelief.  He couldn’t believe Korian was really a slave.  I mean, come on – a slave!  They didn’t exist; hadn’t existed for centuries, and for a good reason.  Where on earth did one suddenly appear from?  He shook his head at the questions running around his mind and tried again to concentrate on his work.

       An hour later there was a knock on the study door, and Richard looked up and cautiously responded, “Come in.”

       Korian entered unobtrusively, still wearing nothing but his jeans and with his eyes downcast.  He quietly placed the cup of coffee and plate of biscuits he was holding on the desk, bowed his head and turned to leave.

       Richard blinked, surprised, “Wait.”

       Korian turned back and glanced at him briefly before looking back down.

       “Uhh…” Richard wasn’t quite sure what he’d wanted to say, but was unwilling to just ignore Korian as he entered and left silently.  “Thank you…but you know you really don’t have to do…”  He glanced at the coffee, and blinked again in surprise, his train of thought flowing into a different question.  “How did you know how I like it?”

       “You were a guest in my former master’s house, Master.”

       Richard’s teeth clenched at being called Master again, but he didn’t want to get into an argument about that now.  “Well, thank you, but as I was saying, stuff like this isn’t necessary.”

       Korian simply replied, “Yes, Master” but Richard wondered if he’d really taken any of it in.

       Korian waited there in silence for a few moments, before Richard realised he was still waiting for Richard to let him go.  “OK, well, I’ve still got quite a bit of work to do, so why don’t you settle in a bit or something…?”  Damn it, I am not going to give you permission to leave every time…that sounded far too much like a dismissal for my liking.

       Korian gave another “Yes, Master” and left as unobtrusively as he’d entered.

Richard sighed and settled down to try and get some more work done, but he couldn’t help but be distracted.  His mind kept replaying one awkward scene after another as he sipped at his coffee – expertly made, with a dash of milk, sugar and cream just the way he liked it.  Eventually he managed to get absorbed in the research again, and was almost done for the night when there was another knock on the door.

       Gritting his teeth, he called, “come in” again and watched as Korian came in and silently collected the empty cup and plate.

       He glanced at the clock and was surprised to find it was already 11pm; he lost track of time so easily when he was buried in this research.  Then he frowned, wondering what Korian had been doing for the last couple of hours.

       He yawned and asked, “Why’re you still up?  I’ve got the research to do, but there was no need for you to stay up this late…”

       Korian paused, “I didn’t know when…or if…I was allowed to sleep, Master.”  Then it was his turn to look awkward for a moment, “and a slave shouldn’t sleep while his Master is awake.”

       Richard refrained from yelling at the man – just barely – telling himself that it wasn’t Korian’s fault he’d been raised a particular way, and felt he had to follow a set of rules that Richard couldn’t even guess at.  Allowed to sleep.  The thought made him shudder.  Why do I even ask questions when I know I won’t like the answers?

       “Listen, Korian, you can sleep anytime you want.  You can do what you want, OK?  Eat, drink, sleep, dance on the table.  Anything you want.  I’m not going to object.  In all honesty, as busy as I am at the moment, I might not even notice.  So don’t worry about asking for permission or doing any of that, OK?”

       “Yes, Master.” 

Another automatic reply.  Richard felt like sighing, or yelling, or running his hands through his hair in frustration.  He did none of those things.  Instead, he just nodded at Korian, hoping that would be enough to be taken as permission to leave, since he really did not feel like saying it aloud.  He just felt like some stuck-up idiot when he did that.  Korian seemed to take it as such, anyway, and disappeared without another word; perhaps that could be counted as progress.

       Turning back to the computer screen, Richard tried to ignore the unease gnawing away in his stomach, the butterflies that wouldn’t let him concentrate, but it had gotten too late and Richard couldn’t simply push the events of the last few hours away any longer.  He swallowed hard as he thought about Korian’s servility, about him kneeling half naked before him, body stiffly presented for his pleasure, his mouth repeating the word Master over and over, asking if he was allowed sleep.  He shook his head, hoping to clear it.  Some of his deepest fantasies, the ones he always pushed to the side and tried his best to ignore…the ones that surfaced often just before he climaxed…the ones of a slavegirl kneeling at his feet.  But that was just fantasy, and he didn’t want to be like that.  Didn’t want a relationship like that, not with anyone.  And his fantasies had never been of actual slavery; he wouldn’t want to force another person to do anything truly against their will.  But some of the glimpses he’d had of consensual relationships like that – glimpses he yearned for while still trying to avoid anything of the sort – some of those relationships…well, now you know why that was never a good idea.  True, when he thought about the fact there was a slave nearby, who’d come running at his slightest gesture…who’d service him however he desired.  Yes, it made his body hot, his heart race and excitement flood through him.  But the moment he considered that this was a real slave, someone with no choice and no actual desire to be here or to do what he was forced to do, all of that faded and just left him with an extreme guilt that the idea of exploiting someone like that could even cross his mind.  And besides, even if Korian wasn’t a real slave, even if he were here by choice, once the scenarios left his mind and actually became reality, all he felt was unease.  It was fine inside his head and his imagination, but faced with a kneeling man, faced with Korian’s subservience, the heat quickly changed to chills that spread along his arms, and a deep unease in the pit of his stomach.  The idea of actually doing any of the things portrayed in his fantasies just made him feel like a pretentious fool.  See, you knew those sort of scenarios would never really work out in real life.

       Sighing, Richard put the folder he’d been working on back into his briefcase and switched off the computer.  He was far too wound up now to get the rest of this work done.  He’d have to go in early tomorrow and see whether he could finish it off before meeting with his partner to go through it all.  He bit back a groan at the thought of getting up early again and slipped out of the room, hoping desperately not to see Korian on the way to his room.

       Suddenly, I’m really wishing it had been the simple distraction of a neglected girlfriend that had come knocking on my door earlier this evening.

*   *   *

Korian paused where he was standing at the sink as he heard his new Master leaving the study.  For the hundredth time that evening, conflicting instincts rose within him.  You should go and find out if he needs anything.  The words of the bone-deep training warred with his former Master’s advice.  Don’t overload him all at once; give him time to get used to everything.  Just serve quietly, using your own initiative, until he’s ready to lead.  Taking a deep breath, Korian turned back to what he was doing, trying to ignore the shudder of unease that spread through him.  He had spent so long, tried so hard to be a good slave, to be worthy of being bought by one of the more influential masters…and then had tried so hard to prove he was worth all the effort and cost his former master went to…but in the end, he had evidently failed.  No, don’t think about that now.  That’s in the past.  You have a new future now, a new chance, a last chance to prove you’re worth something.  And his former master knew best, when it came to this new master, and in this new country – it was still new, still different, even after thirteen years – so he would follow that advice, even if it went against everything he’d been taught a good slave should do.  Besides, your former master was right, this situation seems very like how it first was with him.  He smiled briefly as he remembered how it had been, and how it seemed to be with this one too.  Telling him not to do what he was supposed to do, not to act how he was supposed to act, telling him to do what he wanted instead.  Why couldn’t they understand that what he wanted was to be a good slave?  It had confused the thirteen year old boy so much all those years ago, but he’d learnt a bit more by now, understood a bit more.  Take it slowly.  He knew this Master, like his former one, wouldn’t want overt signs of slavery, overt actions to acknowledge his ownership.  Just subtle service, without many reminders that he was a slave.  Korian refrained from sighing, wishing that he could be good enough that his Master wouldn’t want to conceal what he was, wouldn’t want to pretend that he wasn’t his slave.  It had been the same with his former master; he was never worthy of being recognised as their slave, never good enough to be a proper, acknowledged slave.  He scrubbed harder at the plate he was washing, before realising his feelings were showing themselves externally, and slowing down with a jolt and a furtive glance around to make sure his Master hadn’t seen.  No wonder they never want you as their slave.  He focused on the task once more, carefully this time.  I will be good enough.  Whatever it takes.  However slowly I have to take it, I will show my Master I can be a good slave, I’ll show him he can acknowledge me without being ashamed to own a worthless slave.  Whatever I have to do.

Chapter 2

Richard’s alarm went off at 6am and he groaned, hit it and turned over.  He had to get up soon.  He knew he had to get up soon.  But he just couldn’t quite bring himself to leave the warmth of his duvet for another long day at work.  Hopefully once they got this damn contract someone would realise the business was actually expanding, and therefore they needed to employ more people.  But no one was willing to take that risk until they got the contract, even if having more people working on it would make it more likely that they got it in the first place.

He was just about ready to drift back into sleep when he caught the scent of bacon.  His stomach grumbled, reminding him that with all that had happened last night, he’d forgotten to actually order pizza.  Then he remembered the events of last night and groaned again.  Why was he always so hopelessly slow in the mornings?  He glanced at his alarm clock – 6.10am – and figured he really should start getting up now.  He wanted to be at work by 7am, so he could quickly finish off the work he hadn’t gotten around to last night.  At least the smell of bacon gave him some encouragement to quickly get dressed and hurry down the hall.  I hope Korian cooked enough for two.  Then he snorted; he was pretty sure his slave wasn’t about to forget to cook some for him.

He entered the kitchen just as Korian – still wearing only his jeans – was serving up what looked like a full English breakfast – bacon, sausages, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, beans, toast.  His stomach rumbled again as Korian turned and set the plate down on the table.  He bowed to Richard and then silently moved to pull out the chair.  Richard accepted the invitation without comment, more intent on the food, which he quickly dug into.  It was the best breakfast he’d had in months.  For that matter, it was the best meal he’d had in weeks; spending every spare minute working didn’t leave much time for cooking, and he’d never exactly been a brilliant cook anyway, which meant that while this deal was going on he’d been living on takeaways.

He was halfway through before he realised that Korian was standing to the side and hadn’t even served himself up the remnants of the meal – which, Richard admitted, wasn’t really much, since most of it seemed to have ended up on his plate.  Seeing him glance up, and misinterpreting it, Korian offered the remaining couple of sausages.  Blinking, Richard looked down and realised he’d finished the sausages on his plate off, and then realised Korian intended all the food for him.  His stomach gurgled half-contentedly and he admitted to himself that it wouldn’t actually be a hardship to finish it all off.

Shaking his head at the offered sausages, Richard went back to eating, considerably slower this time.  He glanced semi-suspiciously at Korian and asked in between mouthfuls, “You’ve already eaten?”

Korian looked at him, clearly slightly surprised by the question.  “Ahh, no…I didn’t know what you wished me to eat, or when, Master.”

Richard’s eating slowed to the point of stopping as the food settled into a ball in his stomach.  “Korian.  You can eat whatever you want.  Whenever you want.”  He tried to keep his voice pleasant, even when he realised that his reply hadn’t really helped, that Korian would still want permission for eating specific food, at specific times.  “Eat what I eat, when I eat it, OK?”

“Yes, Master.  Thank you, Master.”

Why did he sound like that was such a great privilege?  Well, considering what I’ve been eating the last couple of weeks, I’m pretty sure you won’t be so happy about that soon.  …There was a point…he hadn’t exactly been home to eat much recently…

“Except for lunch, I eat that at the office, so just make yourself something from whatever’s in the fridge.”

And sometimes I eat dinner in the office too, if we go on late enough.  But don’t complicate things too much; if that happens I’ll just bring home some pizza or whatever for Korian.

“Yes, Master.”  Korian hesitated.  “Master, may I ask a question?”

Doesn’t that count as a question? Richard frowned inwardly at himself, stop being so pedantic.  It isn’t his fault how he was raised or how he’s been forced to live.  And it certainly isn’t his fault that you feel so uneasy and guilty about the whole thing, so stop taking it out on him.  It isn’t his fault that all this rubs you the wrong way.  He’s done nothing wrong – the opposite in fact, considering this meal – and you’re being beastly towards him. 

“Yes, Korian, of course.  You can always ask whatever you like.”

Korian paused for a long moment before asking tentatively, “May I buy some food, Master?”

That was a good point.  Richard couldn’t imagine there was much in the fridge, since he hadn’t been shopping for at least a week, probably two.  In fact, he wondered briefly where all this food had come from, before remembering his girlfriend’s horror a few days ago when she’d opened the fridge to get a casual snack.  That had ended with half the fridge in bin liners and her arriving with bags of shopping a day later.  Guilt flashed as he considered that he hadn’t touched the food she’d gone out of her way to get for him.  Well, at least now if she asks, I can honestly say I did eat some, and thoroughly enjoyed it at that.  Thinking about when he was next likely to have a chance to get to a shop, he thought it would probably be a very good idea for Korian to do some shopping.  He could probably buy himself some more clothes and supplies and such as well.  He glanced up to say as much, only to find Korian once again kneeling, this time bent slightly forward, with his head bowed almost to his chest and his palms lying upright on his spread knees.  He seemed to have gone even paler and Richard could see the beginnings of sweat forming on his forehead.

Alarmed, Richard asked, “Korian?  What’s wrong?”

Korian swallowed, “Forgive me, Master, please, I beg you.  I didn’t mean to—”

Realising his silence had been misinterpreted, Richard cut Korian off, the sight in front of him turning the pleasantly full feel of his stomach into an uncomfortable weight.  “No.”  He quickly amended, “I mean, no, there’s nothing to forgive.  I was just considering that you were right, there really is very little in the fridge…please, Korian, get up.  It’s fine.  Everything’s fine.”

The sight was turning his stomach, and he had to stop himself from sighing with relief when Korian did eventually get up again, hesitantly, to stand awkwardly with his head bowed, looking as if he was trying to brace for a blow that would knock him to the floor.

Trying to ignore that in the hope that would make Korian feel easier, Richard went back to answering the question, and this time mused aloud.  “Yes, it would definitely be a good idea to get some more food in.  Do you know where the nearest Sainsbury’s is?”

Korian hesitated before replying, “No, Master.”  He swallowed, and added quickly, “I’m sure I could find it easily, though.”

Richard was about to give the directions – which was the sensible thing to do, as it would probably save Korian a lot of time and effort – but after glancing at Korian’s face, which seemed distraught, he decided to just leave it at that, and nodded.  “OK.”  He smiled ruefully, “I don’t suppose you have any money?”

“No, Master.  My former master gave me a card, which he said had enough money on it…but it was only for the year…it’s expired now.”

Surprised, Richard thought about this.  Well, that answers a question you hadn’t even gotten around to thinking about yet: how Korian survived for the last year.  But it raised some other questions.  He’d thought all his Uncle’s money had been sorted through after the will, to give to charity.  Ah well, he shrugged, Uncle Andre probably set the account up before his death, and transferred it into Korian’s name.  Pity he couldn’t use it now, it would make it easier supporting the two of them.  It was a good job he lived in a small place, after all, and was expecting a bonus if this contract came through.

He got up and went to find the cash he kept around the apartment in case it was needed.  Coming back, he handed Ł80 to Korian and said, “That should be enough to keep us going.  If you have time, feel free to pick up some food if you want.  And while you’re out, get anything else that you need or want.  Especially more clothes.”

It wasn’t often Richard gave someone his money and said, get anything you want, but Richard had the feeling Korian wasn’t about to spend extravagantly.  Hopefully Korian would get some food soon, since he wasn’t sure how much was available at the moment for lunch.  Well, Korian didn’t exactly have many pressing demands on his time.  In fact, Richard wondered what he was going to do to keep himself occupied.  He probably ought to find something Korian might be interested in doing, to get him out of the house a bit and start him experiencing what life had to offer.  One step at a time.  Right now, you need to get to work; Korian isn’t your only concern.

“Well, I need to be off now.  I’m going to be working a lot, until we manage to close a particular contract deal, so I’m not sure when I’ll be home.  You can do what you like…feel free to go out and explore or whatever.”  Something occurred to him and he stopped.  Korian couldn’t be leaving the house without locking it, which meant he needed a key.  “Wait here a minute.”

He disappeared down the hall and came back a few moments later, holding a key.  “This is a key to the apartment.  Lock up if you go out.”  It was the key he’d had cut for Naomi.  He’d planned to give it to her…well, a few days ago, really, but he hadn’t had a lot of chances to see her.  It made sense, after all.  They’d been going out for almost a year now, and she was pretty much his only regular guest.  He shrugged; he guessed he could always get another one cut for Naomi.

He turned to leave, Korian’s still obvious discomfort making him uneasy, when another thought occurred.  He glanced back and said, “You will put on the rest of your clothes when you go out, won’t you?”

Korian blinked, “Yes, Master, if you wish me to.”

“Yes” Richard replied, rather abruptly, “I do.”

He didn’t even want to think about what would happen if Korian went out as he was at the moment.  Turning, he left quickly, and once out of the apartment, hurried down the street to where he worked.  Part of the reason he was so attached to his apartment was its convenience; it was right in the centre of London, only 15 minutes walk from where he worked.

He swallowed hard as he tried to concentrate on what needed to be done when he got there.  He picked up the pace to try and rid himself of the images that kept intruding, the ones that had made him leave so promptly after breakfast, and made him shudder with horror now.  Korian kneeling before him again, but differently.  Pale and sweating.  Afraid.  Afraid of him.  Why on earth would anyone be afraid of him like that?  What did Korian think he was going to do?

*   *   *

Korian hurried down the street, not appreciating the too-familiar feel of the shoes and shirt.  Slaves aren’t supposed to wear such things.  But even his former Master had insisted upon them on the rare occasions when they went out.  And he’d insisted on them throughout the year he’d been given for grief.  You haven’t been living like a slave, like you should.  You allow yourself to forget the training too often, you’re making too many mistakes.  He winced at the thought even as it appeared, and corrected himself; even one mistake is too many.  A slave can’t afford the luxury of mistakes.  He shied away from thinking about his latest – and completely disastrous – mistake, instead concentrating on where he was.  He wasn’t sure if he’d been allowed to use a map, but even though his former master had let him, he wasn’t going to do anything his Master hadn’t specifically given permission for.  You took your former master’s advice too far.  It’s time you remembered your training.  That made it somewhat harder to work out where Sainsbury’s was, but he’d lived around this area for a week or so while he’d tried to locate his new Master, and while he was waiting for yearly anniversary that would signal it was time to submit to the new Master.  So he had a basic idea of where things should be.

He found Sainsbury’s relatively easily – and more importantly, quickly – and was soon inside, sorting through the various items and trying to decide what to buy.  He wished he knew more about what his Master liked, and rifled through his memories of what he’d cooked when his Master had come to stay with his former master, as well as what was currently in the fridge.  Dedicating his mind to such tasks allowed him to relax a little for the first time in several hours, and to recall his mistake relatively calmly.  How could you be so stupid, so presumptuous, as to ask such a question?  Even before you did, you knew it was wrong, knew you shouldn’t be asking it.  It wasn’t a slave’s place – especially a new slave, let alone a slave like him – to ask permission to leave his Master’s property.  That sort of trust and privilege was bestowed only on the best, the most honoured and longest serving slaves.  And a slave never asked for it.  Not to mention a slave absolutely never asked for anything that could be interpreted as a request for money, or that would mean the slave would handle his Master’s money.  To do anything.

True, there wasn’t a lot of food in the fridge, but he could have worked out how to continue to make satisfactory meals for his Master.  Should have done that.  Should never have said anything that might be taken as a complaint about the resources he was given.

He swallowed and leaned against the trolley slightly as weakness flowed through him again.  He knew very well how he should be punished for such a transgression.  His people wouldn’t have seen it as a mistake; it would have been thought of as wilful disobedience, stepping out of his place.  And despite his attempts to eradicate any weakness, to make himself able to withstand anything his Master may choose to inflict…the thought of the unrelenting torture still twisted fear out of him.  But he wasn’t afraid of that nearly so much as he was of the reason he hadn’t been punished at all.  Masters didn’t bother punishing slaves that they felt were beyond hope, slaves that weren’t worth the time or energy to try to correct.  Hopeless.  Worthless.  The words had been used before, had already started consigning him expectations he’d live to be nothing more than a community slave, unwanted by any of the masters.  But even then, even those masters hadn’t considered him so far gone they’d given up on punishing him.  Not like this Master had.

He took another deep breath as he moved through the aisles, weaving in and out and around people without conscious thought.  One day.  It took one day for you to completely throw away the last chance given to you.  Even his former master, who’d hated the idea of punishment, who’d only given the lightest of punishments…actually, you probably wouldn’t even have realised they were punishments if it weren’t that you realised he believed they were punishments.  But they’d been there.  Even if his former master hadn’t seriously taken on the task of punishing him, he had cared and understood enough to make an effort to correct him when he was displeased. 

He paused as he moved past the clothes racks.  His Master had wanted him to buy some more clothes.  A frown flickered across his face as he considered this.  There was only one reason a Master would want extra clothes for a slave.  Only one reason a Master would want to dress a slave up.  He remembered the slaves that wore extra clothes back at home as he ran his fingers gently over the shirt in front of him.  Pleasure slaves; the most honoured, highest form of slaves.  Allowed to be in their masters’ presence more, to spend more time practicing the martial skills that would keep their masters safe, to serve and please their masters in every conceivable way.  The fine weave of their clothes, cut to display their bodies for their masters’ appreciation.  He’d dreamt of being one once, a long time ago, of offering himself in every possible way, giving himself entirely to his master.  But it was a foolish dream for someone like him, as he’d quickly been made to realise.  Too slow, too weak, too loud, too clumsy.  He had no right to expect to be honoured as those slaves had been.  But masters could be interested in a slave’s body, could want to dress him up and use the body, even if they had no intention of making a pleasure slave of him.  His former master had been like that.  When he’d finally accepted the use of his body, he’d done everything he could to ignore his slavery.  He’d made it very clear he had no desire to have him offer himself as a slave…he had enjoyed the body, but hadn’t wanted him as a slave.  He hadn’t thought this new Master was interested in his body like that, but he guessed he might have missed the signs.  He hadn’t exactly spent much time around his new Master so far – probably less than an hour, all in all.  Still, you should have noticed.  He really hoped he hadn’t missed any signals or anything.  That would be unforgivable.   No, even nervous and preoccupied with other parts of serving as you’ve been, you wouldn’t have missed something like that. 

He ran his eyes along the clothes, but there was nothing suitable for what his Master would want.  He guessed those sorts of clothes weren’t usually sold at a food shop.  Looking at what he’d already selected, he guessed he wouldn’t have the money to buy that sort of specialist thing anyway.  Besides, his Master wouldn’t want to be spending too much money on that sort of thing anyway.  Not to mention he couldn’t find another shop; his Master had specified this one, and there was no way he was going to betray the trust he should never have asked for in the first place and go wandering off.  He glanced at the clock and figured he was probably taking too long, as well.

Taking another assessing look at the various clothes offered, he selected a few.  He hesitated over the tops and shirts, but it wasn’t improper for slaves to wear such things to make themselves more pleasing to their masters, and – glancing down at the shirt he currently wore – it was obvious his Master didn’t completely object to him wearing such things.  He chose mainly black, white or gold colours.  Those were the ones that most suited his complexion and silver colouring, and while they were completely inappropriate at the moment, he could adjust them easily enough if he picked up a little bit of thread on his way out, and create some patterns to make the plain designs more interesting.  He’d already found a small sewing kit in the apartment; it looked unused so he figured his Master wouldn’t mind if he borrowed a needle or two for a day.  He hesitated over a midnight blue top, before taking it too and hurrying to the checkout.

As he walked briskly back to his Master’s apartment – going a more direct route now that he knew where he was going – he passed a gym and saw a large hall through the windows, not filled with all the equipment he was used to seeing.  He couldn’t help a wistful glance in that direction before continuing on.  He needed to practice.  If he didn’t keep up the skills, then he wouldn’t be able to protect his Master.  No, you’ll just have to make do with what you’ve got.  You’ve lost all right to take time to practice, to serve your Master in that way.  He sighed; well, you’ve had a year of very intensive practice.  That will have to be enough. 

Until you can prove that you’re worth more than you’ve shown so far.  He shivered a little as he considered what, and how much, that might take.  First impressions aren’t everything.  It doesn’t matter if it takes weeks, months or years.  You’ve got a lifetime to prove yourself.

*   *   *

“Gods, you look awful, Richard.”

Richard glanced up with a jolt as he realised Janeece had come in and set her stuff down on the desk next to his.  He rubbed his eyes and tried to focus again on what was in front of him.  He’d been drifting in and out for the last  couple of hours or so, too distracted to concentrate.

“Thanks, hon.  You know just how to make a man feel good about himself.”

She shot him a playful smile as she started up her computer and pulled out her folders.  “Seriously though, Richard, you look as though someone just died or something.”

He attempted a smile, but couldn’t hold it long, and sighed.  “I’m just tired.  I haven’t been getting much sleep lately; this damn contract…”  Well, that was true, even if it’s wasn’t the whole truth.  But he wasn’t exactly ready to tell Janeece about Korian.  In fact he wasn’t ready to tell anyone about Korian.  And would never tell anyone about the strange dance of slave-and-Master that someone seemed determined to put him through.

“You work too hard, Richard.”

“So do you.  Everything’s pretty hectic at the moment, for everyone.”

“Noo…”  She shifted slightly and her face became more serious.  “You’re doing far more than anyone else.  We’re partners, you know what that means?”

He wasn’t in the mood for her word games.  “We work together.”

“Yeah, we work the same projects, the same contracts.  We split them, half and half.  You must be doing, what, 60-65% of this contract.  And I’m not happy about that.”

He huffed out a breath.  “We agreed to split it so I did the research.  The research always takes longer, it’s not more work, it’s just…longer…”

“Yes, but you do the research and then spend hours with me, talking through the research, pointing things out and helping me analyse it.  It’s not fair on you, and there’s only so long you can go on working with me throughout the day, and then going and doing the research yourself in what should be your own time.  You’re going to collapse soon.”  Then, before he could protest, she shifted the mood, looking despairingly upwards and rolling her eyes dramatically.  “And then what am I going to do?”

The breath he huffed out this time turned into laughter.  He loved Janeece.  Out of all the people he’d worked with, he’d got on best with her.  She was professional and hard-working, but always willing to put on an act and lighten the mood with teasing and banter.  And she cared.  She cared about her work, about what she was doing and why, and about the people she worked with.  And it made a difference.  Some people were just there for the money, or only interested in getting through the day, but she was genuinely interested in the business and what she did.

Now she was flicking a pen at him to recapture his attention.  “Go home, Richard.  Go and get some sleep.  Come back when you’re going to be some use to me.”

He thought of going back home, of what he would be going back to and shook his head just a little too quickly.  “No.  I’ll sleep tonight, I promise.  The research is pretty much done now, so there shouldn’t be much to do tonight, and even if there is I’ll put it off until tomorrow.  I promise.  But I can’t really justify going home when I’ve only been here a couple of hours.”

She mock-scowled at him, and muttered something about the definition of normal working hours, but didn’t object again and scooted closer so they could discuss his research.

Relaxing slightly, he plunged into the work, relieved to have the distraction.  This would be much better than going home.  Janeece’s attitude was a familiar comfort and always left him feeling cheerful.

“It’s lunchtime.”

Richard looked up, vaguely puzzled at Janeece’s sudden announcement, as she left where she had been sat next to him, and walked around to her desk.  He reached for the phone.  “All right, I’ll order something from the deli.  What do you want?”

“Nah, I’m going out.  For a few hours.  Since you won’t be able to do much without me, you should too.”

Unable to work out if she was inviting him to lunch with her, or trying to convince him to go home and sleep – yet again – he just looked at her.

She huffed in exasperation.  “Spend some time with Naomi, you dolt.  She’s probably at least half the reason you barely seemed able to concentrate today, so go and see her and apologise and promise to spend more time with her.  And mean it.  I feel sorry for the poor girl.”

He felt a flash of guilt.  Actually, he hadn’t even considered Naomi since last night, though he was more than willing to let Janeece jump to the conclusion that that was what was bothering him.  But he had been neglecting her, and in truth he felt sorry for her as well.  The door closed and he looked up in time to see Janeece disappearing down the corridor.

Richard glanced at the work in front of him.  Janeece was right, there was very little he could do, now that the research was pretty much done.  At least, not without stepping on her toes in a very big way.  And he knew exactly what her reaction to that would be.

He smiled slightly as he reached for the phone again.  Perhaps Naomi would be another distraction, and it would make him feel better to see her and make sure things were still OK between them.

“Hello?”

“Naomi, it’s me, I was just ringing—”

“Ohhh, so you are alive.”

He winced.  “I guess I deserve that.  I’m sorry about the way things have been for the past couple of weeks.  It’s just—”

“The company has a potentially huge contract coming up, if you can only work forever and a day to secure it.  Yes, I know.”

At least she sounded amused, rather than annoyed.  He must have caught her at a good moment.  “Well, I’ve got a couple of hours free.  Any chance we can get together and I can grovel and we can make up?”

“How’d you manage to get a couple of hours free in your oh-so-busy schedule?”

“Janeece kicked me out of the office.”  He grumbled.

She laughed, “Remind me to send Janeece a thank-you card.  OK, sure, I can spare a few hours.  My lectures are finished for today.  Meet you in The Gazebo in fifteen minutes?”

The Gazebo.  A large, exclusive restaurant conveniently situated between his work and her University.  That also happened to be rather expensive, and wasn’t usually a place frequented for lunch.  Unless you happened to have quite a lot of time on your hands for the extensive meals that seemed to be their norm.  Grovelling indeed.

“Sure, see you there.”

He put the phone down and started to make his way out, before turning and penning a short note to Janeece.

Gone to The Gazebo,

See you soon,

Richard

He didn’t know how long Janeece had intended him to be out, but thought it prudent she know exactly where he was going, in case the ‘few hours’ she was out for tended to be rather shorter than his.

She’d evidently gotten there quicker than he had, because when he walked up to The Gazebo, he saw her standing waiting for him.  She came over to him and kissed him on the cheek, putting her arm around his waist.

“Stranger.”  She said accusingly.

“I wouldn’t want you to be treating all the strangers you meet like that…” He smiled at her, trying to lighten the mood as he walked them over to the entrance.

“Shall we sit outside?  It’s a nice day and I’ve been inside a bit too much lately.”

“You can say that again”  She muttered.

Taking that for assent, he asked to sit outside to the waiter ready to show them to their seats.  The Gazebo was one of the few restaurants to boast a genuine garden in which to eat, which was impressive for a restaurant in the middle of London, and it was one of their main attractions.

After they’d sat down and ordered drinks and their food, he sat back and looked around.

“Seems pretty quiet at the moment.  I don’t think many people come here for lunch.”  And that’s all the protest you’re going to make about her choice of restaurant.

She sat back too and nodded, deceptively acquiescent, “Yess…it really is better for romantic dinners, don’t you think?”  Now there’s a hint if ever I saw one.

“Besides,” she continued, a mixture of amusement and exasperation in her voice now, “I wanted to make sure you got a decent meal at least once in two weeks.  All that trash you’re eating at the moment can’t be good for you.  I bet you haven’t even touched all that food I bought you…”  She muttered the last.

“I have.”  He replied defensively, “I had a great English breakfast this morning.  Sausages, bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, eggs…everything.”  Thank you Korian, he thought as he saw her evidently surprised and pleased expression.

Then he paused as something else occurred to him.  Did you even thank Korian for that meal?  For the meal he cooked and you ate all of?  Guilt flashed through him as he realised that he had been first too intent on the meal, then overwhelmed by the sudden change in Korian’s attitude that he’d just wanted to get out.  Away from that fear.  He pushed his mind away from that, and promising himself he’d thank Korian when he got back home, turned his attention back to his girlfriend.  Luckily, she appeared not to have noticed his silence and was still talking about his lack of good food.

“Yes, I know.”  He said, making it clear he had heard this all before, before changing the subject to something a little less critical.  “How’ve your lectures been?”

She wrinkled her nose, “Not bad really, but pretty boring.  I already know this stuff.  I picked it all up while working.  I don’t see why I need a degree to advance…”

It was a little strange having a girlfriend in University; it made him seem like a bit of a pervert when he mentioned it to others, but really she was only a couple of years younger than him, 25 to his 27.  She’d dropped out of Uni at 19 and joined a business, wanting to get on in the world and work, only to find several years later that she’d reached the furthest she could advance without a degree.  So on a scheme sponsored by the business she worked for, she’d gone back to get a degree in Business and Management, at pretty much double the usual pace.

“Well, at least you shouldn’t have any trouble passing the exams or anything then.”

“Yeah, but I wish it wasn’t necessary.  It’s just such a waste of time.  I want to be out in the world, back working and moving on up the business!”

Considering his recent experience of that, he snorted slightly and said, “I’d think about that stance a bit more carefully if I were you.”

She laughed,  “Yes, well, I’m not going to make your mistakes and forget to eat, or sleep, or talk to your girlfriend…”

“Don’t you think we’ve mentioned that enough yet?”  He mock-growled.

She smiled and her eyes twinkled with amusement, “Perhaps…”

But she let the conversation move on from there onto more interesting topics, throughout the long meal.  She was right, he realised, the good meal really did help, even if it might have cost a dear penny.

Towards the end, she sighed and said, “I really will be glad when you get this contract sorted out.  It’s been great to see you for a solid amount of time without you constantly hinting that you need to get on and work, but you’ve been distant the whole meal…I do understand, I’m just looking forward to when it will all end.”

He looked at her, somewhat surprised.  He hadn’t realised he’d been distant throughout lunch.  OK, yes, he was distracted at the moment. But it wasn’t work distracting him today.  He suddenly had a much bigger problem to deal with, one that wouldn’t go away nearly so easily as the work contract would.  Well, it was understandable that he was distracted at the moment.  He’d just had a man come and proclaim he was his slave, and then start…well, acting like one.  It was damn discomfiting.  But it should get better once he worked out how to convince Korian to stop acting like a slave, and started getting him used to the idea that he could be free, and could survive once he was free.

He mumbled something in agreement with Naomi, and thanked her for spending the time with him before heading back to the office.  He really had enjoyed it, and felt again that he should be spending more time with her – but this time more because he enjoyed it than because he felt he was neglecting her.

*   *   *

“Come on, we’re leaving the office now.”

He was interrupted again by yet another sudden announcement by Janeece.  He looked up to see who ‘we’ was, before realising she was including him in her statement.

“Not yet, there’s still a little more…”  Seeing her expression and realising that argument wouldn’t get him anywhere, he changed tack.  “Besides, there’s not much point me going home now.  I’m still a bit full from lunch, so I wouldn’t be able to order something to eat for a while, which means I wouldn’t get around to that sleeping I promised you any earlier than if I stayed here.”  It wasn’t exactly true.  Lunch had been very filling, but he probably could manage a takeaway pizza now.  Well, maybe a small pizza.  It would, after all, be pretty much his third main meal of the day.  And he hadn’t ever really had reason to consider breakfast a ‘main’ meal before.

She snorted.  “It’s 7pm.  There’s more to life than working and eating and sleeping.  Go home and flop in front of the TV or something.  An evening of flopping would do you good.”

“You’re so damn bossy sometimes, you know that?”  He grumbled.

“Well, someone has to be, Mr It’s-OK-just-let-me-do-all-the-work.  You’d let a duck walk all over you.”

He tried to pretend to be outraged, but the image was just too absurd, and he ended up bursting out laughing.  “What…kind of a…saying…is that?”  He said, in between gasps of air and laughter.

She joined in the laughter, though he couldn’t tell if she was laughing with him or at him.  She recovered faster than him, and left with a last, “Go home.”

After recovering and getting his breath back he sighed, though still with a smile on his face.  He didn’t really want to face whatever it was he’d find at home, but delaying it probably wouldn’t help, and that idea of flopping didn’t actually sound half bad.  You haven’t done that in a long while.

He gathered all his stuff up and left quickly, locking their shared office behind him.  He wasn’t the last to leave, but most of the building was dark as he walked across the street and down the road that led back to his apartment.

Outside his apartment, he took a deep breath and opened the door, trying to overcome the butterflies that were in his stomach yet again.  Entering your own home really shouldn’t be like this.  He stepped inside and closed the door, looking around for the post.  Frowning as he didn’t see any, he started to shrug out of his coat, only to find it gently pulled off him and replaced on the hanger.  Turning around, he saw Korian kneel and then sink forward, pressing his forehead to the floor.  His heart dropped down into his stomach and unease spread throughout his body again.  How in the name of Hell am I supposed to acknowledge or respond to that?  Then he took in what he hadn’t been paying attention to before.  The smell of something appetizing enough for even his well-fed stomach to appreciate, and the hallway that was cleaner and neater than he thought he’d ever seen it.  No.  This has to stop.

“Korian.  I need to talk to you.  Now.”

Stepping past the kneeling man, he headed toward the sitting room, and was amazed to see every room he glanced at in the same condition as the hall.  He knew what the apartment had looked like yesterday.  He hadn’t had a chance to clean it or tidy it up for at least two weeks, and in that time he’d been eating mainly takeaways, and scattered papers and various books all over the apartment as he flicked through research.  Even if he spent most of the day, he didn’t know if he could sort out even one room to the standard he saw around him.  And Korian has cooked dinner too.  Then he realised Korian must have gone out and bought the food, as well.  Richard didn’t understand it.  What could have been driving Korian so hard that he managed to do all this?  He remembered how they had parted, what Korian had acted like.  Not fear.  Please don’t say he did this because he was afraid of what I would do otherwise…Richard swallowed hard as he reached the sitting room and turned to face the man silently following him, head bowed, eyes downcast as Richard was coming to expect.  Have you ever actually met those eyes?

Richard went over and sat on one of the sofas, gesturing Korian toward the other one.  Korian went over, but knelt in front of it instead of sitting on it.

Richard frowned slightly, but went on with what he had to say.  “Look, Korian, I said you could stay here.  And you can.  But not as my slave.  It makes me feel uncomfortable and awkward.  And no one should feel that in their own home.  So you can’t continue with all this – the bowing and scraping, and calling me Master, and the cleaning and cooking.  It’s got to stop.”  Korian looked to have gone completely pale, and seemed to be shaking slightly.  But he couldn’t settle for an automatic answer again, where Korian agreed with him and then continued on as he had been doing before.  Janeece was right; he let everyone else walk all over him far too much.  “Do you understand me?  And I mean it this time.  Either you say you do and you mean it, or this isn’t going to work out.  Look at me.”  The last was growled with frustration.

Korian looked up, and met his eyes for the first time.  The hint of despair in those swirling silver depths pierced Richard.  “Master, I am a slave.  How can I not be a slave?  I cannot not be what I am.”  He took a deep breath and glanced down again before looking back up into Richard’s eyes.  “Even if you have to sell me, Master, I can only be what I am.”

Sell him?!  The idea struck Richard straight through the heart.  How could one person…sell…another?!  Is that what he was afraid of?  Is still afraid of?  Set him free, yes, in a heartbeat.  Sell him, never.  Apart from the fact that it was an abhorrent idea, it would be impossible.  There was no one to sell him to.  No way to even suggest the idea without being hated and imprisoned.

“Korian, no.  I could never sell you.”  He was too caught by the very idea to convey the thoughts rushing through his mind.

For some reason, this made Korian’s despair and anguish greater, and the shaking became more noticeable.  His voice was barely audible as he whispered, “Even if you have to give me away, then, Master, because I displease you so, I can’t change that.  I can’t change what I am.  I can submit to whatever you wish me to, suffer anything you wish to inflict, serve you with everything that I am until the last breath has left me.  But there’s nothing I can do about that, nothing I can do.  I can’t stop being something I am.”

Richard couldn’t speak for the longest time, shock rooting him to his seat and his tongue completely tied.  He hadn’t meant that he’d give Korian away, or that Korian…displeased him.  The way he acted just made him uncomfortable, that was all.  And what he’d said!  Why would he say such things?  He wasn’t going to force him to do any of those things.  But those promises…they moved something deep within him, something he didn’t even want to think about.  And they were beautiful, in a way he’d never allowed himself to consider.  Beautiful.  And completely, completely wrong, he reminded himself.  Unwilling to delve too deeply into those ideas, he seized on the one part he could really argue with.

“Korian, listen to me.  I’ve said I won’t sell you.  I won’t give you away, or anything like that.  That’s not what I’m suggesting, not what I would want.  I don’t find you displeasing” he shuddered slightly at saying such a thing…it seemed to demean Korian, make it seem as if the only thing that mattered about Korian was whether he found him pleasing or not.  But that wasn’t the point; he would use Korian’s words to refute Korian’s claims, and hopefully that would help.  “But it’s not true that your being a slave can’t change.  You can be free, Korian.  I can help you be free, be able to pursue what you want to do with your life.  Not be dependant on another’s will, not have to worry about getting hurt if you do something wrong.  I want to set you free, Korian.  Do you understand?”

Korian just looked at him, some of the anguish diminished, but still there.  And now he was evidently confused as well, as he reluctantly shook his head, obviously unwilling to directly contradict his Master, but not believing what he claimed.  “I’m a slave, Master.  Not free.”  He said simply.

“Yes, but you can be free.  I will set you free.”

Korian looked even more confused.  “I’m a slave, Master.”  He repeated.  “I can’t be free, because I’m a slave.  Slaves aren’t free.”

Richard tried to leash the frustration; there had to be some way to get him to understand.  “Yes, but if I freed you, you wouldn’t be a slave anymore, and then you’d be free.  Hasn’t a slave where you come from ever become free before?”

Korian frowned slightly, “No, Master.  No slave has ever been free.  And there’s nothing you can do about the fact I am a slave.  You can’t change it.  And I can’t be free.  I am a slave, Master.  I was born a slave.  I will always be a slave.  That is what I am.”

Richard massaged his temples with his thumb and forefinger for a moment.  There was something fundamentally wrong here, some confusion that meant they couldn’t understand each other.  Go back to basics, then.  “OK, do we agree that a slave is a person who is owned by another?”

Korian nodded, “Yes, a slave is always owned by a master.”  Then his eyes flicked down for a moment again.  “Or by the community.”

Richard didn’t really understand that comment, but it didn’t clash with his point so he continued.  “Right, so if the person – or community – that owns the slave decides to free them, then they would no longer be a slave, since they are no longer owned, right?”

Korian looked at him for a while, also seeming to sense the problem they had, the miscommunication and trying to work it out for himself.  Eventually he reluctantly shook his head.  “No, Master, the order is wrong.  A person isn’t a slave because they are owned, they are owned because they are a slave.  The slave would always be owned – never freed – sold…given away…yes, but never freed, because they are a slave and slaves are always owned.”

“What do you mean, a slave is a slave before they are owned?  A person can’t be a slave without being owned by someone first.”

“A person is a slave because they are a slave, Master, not because they are owned.  They are owned because they are a slave.  But they are always a slave, Master, just like I am always a slave.  It is what I am, like I have silver hair and silver eyes.  I can’t change any of these things.”

A person is a slave based on the fact that they are a slave.  All their lives.  Taught that they are slaves, that there is nothing else for them to be.  To live without hope or optimism their entire lives, knowing that they’ll never have any chance at anything better than what they’ve got.  The idea was horrific.

“You could dye your hair, or wear contact lenses.”  Richard argued, in part to be pedantic and in part to combat against the idea that chilled him all the way to his soul.

“Yes, Master.”  Korian agreed, seeming to turn sad, “I can cover up my silver eyes and my silver hair.  But deep down, at the roots, they’d always be what they are.  They can’t be anything else.  And I can’t change that.”

Suddenly chilled, Richard wanted to stop the discussion.  He’d suddenly got a small insight into a completely alien – and absolutely horrific – culture, and the life Korian must have lived.  It was enough for one night.  He didn’t agree with it, with any of it, but in a way that wasn’t the point.  Korian did, Korian believed it, and he could suddenly understand why he was so resistant to change, to alter his behaviour – the behaviour of a slave – for he believed that was part of him, would always be part of him.  Was part of who he was.  Unwilling to follow that thought further, Richard stood up.

“Mmm…I’m tired.  Do you know how long it will be until that food is done?”

Korian blinked at the sudden change of topic, but accepted it without comment, bowing his head once again and lowering his eyes.  “It should be done now, Master…unless you’d rather wait, in which case I could hold—”

“No”  Richard shook his head, “Now’s good.”

Korian half-bowed from his kneeling position before rising and leaving smoothly and swiftly.  Richard took a deep breath, prepared to accept – at least for a little longer – such behaviour.

He made his way slowly to the kitchen, trying to give Korian time to prepare, but when he arrived Korian was ready with no sign of undue effort on his part.  He pulled a chair out for Richard and tucked it in again once Richard was seated, then placed a plate in front of him, of what looked like a full roast meal, with beef and all the trimmings.  When on earth did Korian have time to make that?

“Thank you,” Richard smiled at Korian, who stood off to the side again with his head slightly bowed and his eyes checking on the food.

He was about to start eating, before remembering he’d said they’d eat together and wondering why Korian wasn’t eating.  Glancing around, he saw a plate with much smaller portions on the side, but Korian made no move to join him or to start eating.

Puzzled, he asked, “Why aren’t you eating?”

Korian glanced up at him briefly, “You said I may eat when you do, Master.”

Richard frowned slightly, still confused.  Unless he’s being completely literal.  But that’s just too pedantic.  Except it seemed to be true.  Deciding not to argue, Richard took a bite, watching Korian out of the corner of his eye.  Korian still didn’t move.  Shrugging slightly, Richard continued to eat, hoping Korian would join him when he was in the middle of his meal.  Instead, Richard noted, Korian would occasionally take bites from the plate on the side, but was evidently paying more attention to how Richard was doing.  Glancing at Korian’s plate, Richard’s frown deepened.  Even with those small portions he’ll never finish by the time I do.  Richard sighed.  I thought we’d gained some understanding today.  Yes, he could accept more than he’d been willing to before.  But some things were going too far.

“Korian, come sit down opposite me.  With your food.  We need to go over some things.”

Korian hesitated, but brought the plate over and set it on the table.  He seemed more uncertain about the chair, glancing at it before moving it aside and starting to kneel.

“I said sit, Korian.  On the chair.”

Korian hesitated again before perching gingerly on the edge.  Richard took a quick mouthful of food to cover the shudder that wanted to sweep through him at the picture that was forming of Korian’s life.  Don’t think about that now.

“Listen, Korian.  We really need to compromise here.  I understand more now.  I understand why you feel certain behaviour is necessary, and I’m willing to accept some of that behaviour, but some things really do make me feel uncomfortable, and those we need to compromise on, OK?”

“Yes, Master.”  At least this time it sounded more thoughtful and less automatic, even if Korian was still looking down.

“That’s the first thing.  Please, look at me.  I find it nigh-on impossible to talk to someone who won’t look at me.  You don’t need to bow your head all the time, or look down.  I’ll understand a lot more if I can see your face, and your eyes.”

Korian looked up, but it was clearly reluctantly.

Richard sighed, “OK, perhaps we should start with what I’m comfortable with, or what I can accept, anyway.  I will accept that you consider yourself my slave, and consider me your master, even though I do not consider such myself.  Since I will accept your point of view, you have to meet me part way and accept that I don’t consider us in that way, and please do try to consider us as something more…companions, perhaps, or flatmates.  As part of accepting your point of view, I’ll therefore accept you calling me Master when we are alone and in private.  And I’ll accept – to some extent – your deference.  But all the constant bowing and kneeling makes me uncomfortable.  So I would appreciate it if you limited that to being far less regular.  I don’t expect you to stop entirely, but I don’t like seeing it all the time.  What I do expect you to stop – almost all of the time – is keeping your eyes lowered the whole time.  As I’ve said, it makes it very difficult for me to talk to you.  Also, you don’t have to be silent and expressionless all the time.  I want to know what you’re thinking and feeling.  It helps me understand.  I’ll accept you will be deferential, and will probably accede to me in most matters but I won’t accept you mindlessly going along with what I say.  Talk to me, tell me your opinion of things.  I won’t accept, any more, at all, you just saying ‘Yes, Master’ and then ignoring whatever it was you agreed to.  Either you agree and you’ll do as I wanted, or you don’t agree and you’ll tell me.  There is absolutely no point in anything else; it gets us nowhere.”

He looked at Korian to see how he was absorbing all this, and was relieved to see a look of almost intense concentration on his face.  Well, this is the first time you’ve laid down the ground rules, in a way, and explained how things stand.  Encouraged, he continued, “I also expect you to be flexible in interpreting what I say.  I’m not experienced at this at all.  I can’t give you specific orders, and say exactly the right things.  So be flexible and use a bit of sense, eh?  I mean, when I said you could eat anytime I did, I did not literally mean you had to wait for me to take a mouthful before you did.  And please, eat with me.  It makes me very uncomfortable for you to just be stood there eating to the side while I’m sitting down.  I understand and will accept you want to…serve me.  But there’s a limit.  I’ll be more accepting of your service if you do it more subtly, and avoid making me feel uncomfortable.”

He looked directly at Korian, and asked very deliberately, “Do you understand?”

Korian hesitated, understanding the importance of what he was agreeing to.  Then he nodded.  “I think so, Master…although some of it may be hard to…adjust to.  I…it’s part of what I am, the way I behave.  I act like a slave should.  It will be hard for me to stop, or reduce, what I do…”

Richard nodded, more relieved to be given an honest answer than he would have been if Korian had just agreed.  “I understand.  Or at least, I understand more than I did before.  I appreciate that you feel this is part of what you are, and what you have to act like…but with some things, with some aspects of your slavery, couldn’t we just…”  He thought back to their previous conversation, “cover them up a bit?  Like with hair dye and contact lenses.”

Korian nodded, “Yes, Master.”  He sounded like he meant it this time.  He didn’t sound very happy about it, but he sounded like he understood.  Richard didn’t know how much of it had gotten through, or how much he would really change his way of thinking.  But, perhaps, as his way of acting changed, that would prompt the change of thoughts.

“OK, also…the stuff you do.  You don’t have to be here all the time, you know?  And you don’t have to only be doing stuff for me.  I mean, I understand you’ll do the cooking and the cleaning and everything, but this place really isn’t that bored and you’ll probably run out of things to do pretty quickly.”  He glanced around, then added drily, “Especially if you go at this pace.  So…I mean, you could develop your own interests, hobbies, that sort of thing.”  It would be really good if Korian started thinking about other things apart from…well…him.  “Do you have anything you think you might like to take up?  Like a sport or something, maybe?”

It wouldn’t really be so bad if Korian did continue with the cleaning and cooking.  He couldn’t argue that it ought to be done, and he just hadn’t had time recently.  Besides, it wouldn’t be too different from paying someone for looking after the apartment; after all, he was letting Korian stay here for free…

Something flickered across Korian’s face and he seemed struggling to make some decision, probably wanting to say something but afraid of what his reaction would be.  Wanting to give Korian some space, he went back to his meal and started eating again.

“Master…I…forgive me if I am out of place, if I do not deserve the honour…”

Richard’s jaw clenched instinctively.  He hated hearing Korian talk that way, but he didn’t want to interrupt whatever it was that Korian was about to say.

Korian continued after swallowing, getting quieter as he spoke, “I…sometimes my former master would allow me time to…to practice my martial skills, to improve them in order to protect him better…”

Korian trailed off, obviously unable to bring himself to make the request directly.  Richard couldn’t stop the surprise from flittering across his face, and looked up at Korian again, despite his intention to not react to whatever Korian might want to do.  He wanted to act like whatever it was would be no big deal, but the idea of Korian doing martial arts just didn’t work with his image of the man, who – he had to admit – looked more like a boy than a man.  His gaze took in the pretty face, the smaller than average build, and the lithe, lean image he made with muscles that had obviously come from hard work and a body that had been undernourished as it grew.  There was no way Korian could practice martial arts…he’d get beaten into pulp…and besides, he considered himself a slave; what on earth, in his mindset, would make a slave consider martial arts an appropriate activity?  In order to protect him better…What the…?  What on earth did he think Uncle Andre would need protection from, anyway?  It doesn’t matter, whatever he wants to do, however he wants to justify it, it really doesn’t matter.  If he’s interested in developing other activities – especially ones not typical for a slave – then let him go for it.  He had a nagging thought that he didn’t want Korian’s first experience of trying to do something outside of his slavery to be a bad one, but he saw Korian register his surprise and start misinterpreting it.

Jumping in before his surprise and silence affected Korian, he said, “Of course.  If you want to practice martial arts, go ahead.”

Going back to eating, still trying to make it seem like it wasn’t a big deal, he continued, “Do you have any idea which type of martial art you’d be interested in?”

Korian seemed surprised now, and it took him a moment to answer hesitantly, “Well…Master…it’s not so useful to just stick to one martial art.  And they’re taught differently where I come from…so I tend to just sort of mix them together…”

“Umm…”  Richard replied uncertainly, “I’m not really sure how you’d find a club to join if you don’t have a specific one you’re interested in…”

“I…well, I wasn’t thinking of joining a club, Master.  Unless you wish me to, of course.”

Of course.  But he was too confused by what exactly Korian wanted to do to pay much attention to that hastily-added sentence.

“Isn’t it better to practice with other people?”

“Sometimes, Master, but since no one in those clubs would practice the way I would, it would be a bit difficult…”

The way I would?  Don’t ask, just go along with it, at least it’s one idea.  If he doesn’t want to practice with other people, perhaps he has his own reasons.  Like not being able to actually fight, for instance.  Stop it!  It’s hardly his fault that he has the sort of body he does, and not his fault he hasn’t exactly been able to practice.

“If you weren’t going to join a club, what were you planning on doing?”

“Umm…my former master let me practice in one of the halls in his house.  When I was walking back from Sainsburys, I saw a hall that would work…”

Walked?!  Richard forgot about what they were talking about as he heard that Korian had walked back from Sainsburys.  It was like, 4 miles from the apartment!  To walk that far with all the shopping…

“You walked to Sainsburys?  And back?”  He demanded.

Korian seemed slightly taken aback at the abrupt change in topic.  “Yes, Master” He replied, in a confused tone.  Then he took in Richard’s outraged stance, and quickly bowed his head.  “Forgive me, Master, I didn’t think to run…I thought I could get everything done in time…”

Damn it, calm down, whenever you’re not calm, Korian always assumes he’s done something wrong, and then makes outrageous statements like that, and then you get even less calm.  Damn it…walked…ran…damn.

His breath hissed out as he exhaled to try and calm himself down again.  “No, that’s not what I meant…I gave you enough money for a bus…why didn’t you take a bus?”

Korian blinked, “Spend your money on transport when I could easily walk…Master, I’d never do that, those things aren’t meant for slaves…”  Korian glanced down again and continued just above a whisper, “Besides, I wasn’t entirely sure where it would be, so I didn’t know which bus would’ve taken me in the right direction anyway.”

Confusion flittered across Richard’s mind for a moment – which he was blessedly glad about, since it meant he didn’t have to pay attention to the first part of that reply – before he remembered their earlier conversation, and Korian’s insistence that he could find Sainsburys.  He’d thought Korian would use a map or something.  What did he do, just wander around until he found it?  This city isn’t exactly small…

“Why didn’t you use a map?”

“I didn’t know whether I was allowed to, Master.”

This time Richard did grit his teeth.  “OK, let’s just clear some things up.  You can use anything in the apartment that you want to – without asking for permission first.  I’m not going to be around all the time, and if you need to use something, or to do something, just go ahead and do it.  I’m really not going to object.  In fact, if you need to use something, or whatever, and you don’t because you haven’t got my permission first, I’ll get more angry about that than about you going ahead without telling me.  Understand?”

Korian seemed surprised, and paused before answering.  At least that means he’s thinking about it.  Maybe he did take in some of what you were saying before.  “Yes, Master, I think so.”  Then he glanced meekly up again from where he was sitting, reminding Richard of a boy who was anxious to please, but unable to work out what the reaction would be if he said something.  “Like now?”

Richard snorted, “Yes, Korian.  Like now.  But I guess you didn’t know, so I’ll forgive you.”  He added the last as a joke, amused by Korian’s attempts to understand something that seemed so obvious to him, before realising it may not have been such a good idea, given that it probably meant something else to Korian.

Korian’s head raised again, but he wouldn’t meet Richard’s eyes.  “So…you won’t punish me, Master?”

Richard’s amusement immediately died.  So we’re back to that again.  “No, Korian, I’m not going to punish you.  You don’t have to worry about that from me.  Ever.”  He replied with obvious irritation.  Punish someone for not using a map, because they were worried they might not have permission and would therefore probably be punished?  It was too twisted for him to work out, but it seemed completely counter-intuitive.

“Yes, Master.”  Damn it, why did Korian sound and look sad about that? It made no sense.  Ask.  If you don’t understand the whys of something, ask.  That’s what you’ve learnt today.  But he didn’t want to ask about this particular issue.  Didn’t want to think about it, didn’t want to hear whatever Korian’s answer would be.  The very idea stirred up all sorts of feelings of wrongness inside him.

“So, anyway, back to martial arts…what were you saying?”  That’s right.  Change the subject.

“Oh, umm, there was a hall that belonged to a gym on the way back from Sainsburys…it looked quite similar to the one I was using before, Master.  I thought…well, it might be possible to hire it…”

Hire a hall?  A whole hall?  Richard tried to suspend his disbelief.  How ridiculously expensive would that be…Clubs hired halls, since they had lots of members and could afford it.  Where on earth did Korian think he could get the money for that from?  Of course, Uncle Andre probably never put limits on his spending.  Or needed to, he thought ruefully as he remembered his Uncle’s fortune.

“Umm, well, that might be a bit expensive…but I guess we could enquire.  How long were you thinking of booking it for at a time?  And would you need all of it?”  Richard was reluctant to just dismiss the only idea of a non-slave-related activity that Korian had had, but he didn’t think he could afford it.  A club would’ve been better anyway; then Korian could have gotten to know other people.

“Forgive me, Master.  I don’t want to cost you a lot of money.  It’s not important…”

But the look on his face said it was, much more than Richard had anticipated.  Why does a self-proclaimed slave want to learn martial arts so badly?  Especially one like this…Richard didn’t want to judge, but really, Korian was many things and a fighting man was not one of them.  Maybe he wants to protect himself.  The idea flashed through Richard and he couldn’t help the pity that followed.  He’s definitely got enough reason to want to do that.  The images that followed weren’t pleasant.  Well, he’s never going to have to protect himself from me.  The uncomfortable feeling in his stomach returned – which made him realise that it had left him as the conversation had gone on.  It’s not bad, actually, just sitting and talking to him, having an actual conversation.  It’s only when he acts like…well, like a slave…

Annoyed with Korian’s immediate dismissal of the idea – why does he have to take a small emotion, like a little reluctance, and blow it out of all proportion? – he replied, “I said we’ll look into it, OK?  So, how long were you planning on booking it for at a time, and how much of the hall would you need?”

Korian’s eyes flicked down in apology before he answered, “I don’t know, Master.  However long you allow me.  As for the hall…I would probably need about half of it, but what’s more important is access to the equipment.”

What did one man need half a hall for to practice martial arts?  And what equipment did you need for it, anyway…

“Right, well, I’ll look into it.  Do you remember whereabouts this hall was?”

“Yes, Master.”  As Korian gave him the address, Richard realised this must really be something important to Korian.  For him to have noted the address of a specific place where it was possible for him to do this, despite not daring to mention it…to have just stored the address away for future reference, in case there was ever an opportunity…I’ll do something.  I don’t know what, but if this is the first sign of Korian wanting something for himself then I’ll do my damndest to encourage it.

“So, did you buy any clothes then?”  Richard asked, wanting to continue the conversation and eyeing Korian’s still half-naked body.  It surprised him how much he was enjoying having a proper meal, and company, and how casual interaction like this let him get past what Korian considered himself to be.  You should look beyond the slave persona he puts on; after all, that’s what you want him to do.  And Naomi has been right on several fronts, you really should eat with her more.  You’ve missed her more than you thought.

“Yes, Master, but they’re not suitable yet.  I need to adjust them first.  They should be ready by tomorrow.”

Richard nodding, half wondering why Korian needed to adjust the clothes but decided just to let him get on with it, since it could only be a good sign Korian was adapting clothes to his own style.

They finished the meal in relative silence after that, Richard lingering a little longer over it to make sure Korian finished his, and also because his stomach was starting to protest the huge amount he’d eaten today.  Feeling suddenly very tired, Richard decided to make good on his earlier promise to Janeece, and simply go to bed.

Wishing Korian good night, he headed for his room, only to be surprised by the state of it after having seen what Korian had done to the rest of the house.  Remembering he’d asked Korian not to go in his room, he smiled slightly ruefully.  Guess I’ll be clearing this up myself.  But it comforted him, and as he collapsed onto the bed for the night he felt much more positive than he had at the same point yesterday.

Chapter 3

The next day, Richard woke up feeling better than he had for the past couple of weeks.  He’d needed the rest, he admitted to himself, and actually getting a good meal had meant he didn’t feel the hangover-like effects of rubbish food and little sleep.  He glanced at the clock and was surprised to see it was already 8am.  You must have forgotten to set the alarm last night.  Normally, he guessed he’d be panicking since he’d been aiming to get in at 7am recently, but he figured it wouldn’t be so bad if he went in a little late for once, after all he was meant to work from 9am, and Janeece might be impressed if he got in later than her for once.  Leisurely getting dressed, he stepped outside his room to be greeted by the same appetizing scents from yesterday.  Gods, is he going to cook breakfast every morning?  You are going to put on so much weight…

Walking into the kitchen, he smiled a greeting at Korian before accepting the chair held out for him.  The food was ready just as he’d come in again, and he took his time over it today, appreciating it more.  How does he do that?  Have it ready at the right time…there must have been a 2 hour difference in the time I got up today and yesterday…

“Sleep well?”  Richard asked, hoping to start a conversation.

“Yes, Master” Korian looked slightly surprised, but Richard chose to ignore that.

Noticing Korian was still standing off to the side, he frowned slightly and nodded to the opposite chair, “Come join me.”

To his surprise – and relief – Korian acquiesced without argument, or even much hesitation, though remained perching on the very edge as he had the night before.  Richard turned his attention back to the food in the hope it would make Korian feel more comfortable.  Richard finished the meal in a silence that was surprisingly comfortable, and got up to head to work.

“Well, have a good day…I guess I’ll be back around 8pm or something…it’s kind of hard to tell at the moment.  We have a major project going on and the hours we’re all working have really gotten messed up.”

Korian stood up with him and nodded.  “Yes, Master.”

It was better when we made actual conversation.  But it was still early and he wasn’t a great conversationalist in the mornings himself.

“Oh, yeah, I got some cash out yesterday.  I’ve left it on the side over there, in case you need money for anything…food, stuff like that I guess.”

Korian nodded, “Yes, Master.”

I really hope that stock phrase doesn’t start to annoy me…But it didn’t, and he wasn’t sure if that worried him more.

Shaking his head slightly, he added, “Well, I’m already a bit late for work so I ought to be going.  I’ll see you tonight.”

“Have a good day, Master.”

Smiling in reply, Richard headed for the door, in a surprisingly good mood considering the situation.

*   *   *

“There you are!  I was considering sending out a search party.”  Janeece looked up from her desk as he walked in.

“Hmmpff, what happened to wanting me to work less?” Richard set his briefcase down and started up his computer, taking out the various files he’d probably need.

“Honey, I’ve been suggesting that for a while now, you never seemed to pay attention…and how would you feel if the person who’s never arrived later than you suddenly isn’t there?  As far as I’m concerned, anything could have happened…”

Richard snorted, “Glad to know you care so much, but I’m not even technically late, you know.  Maybe you should have a bit more confidence in your own advice…I just slept late today.”

“Well, you’ve never given me any reason to believe my advice had the slightest effect before.  But you should take it more often; it obviously agrees with you – you look better than you have…oh, since I can remember, I should think…”

“Pff, you have a very short term memory then.  So what have you been up to without me?  Anything I’m meant to be helping with?”

She shot him an amused glance before replying.  “You know, hun, I can cope without you for five minutes.  Besides, you don’t even need to be that involved in this side of things – not if I’m doing my job right, anyway.  I need to work out the details of some of this stuff, and then I’ll write up a couple of summaries and we can go over them together later.  Guess you have a little free time to look at some of the stuff you’ve sidelined for a while.”

Richard mock-groaned.  “I was really hoping to avoid that stuff for a bit longer.  I haven’t looked at many of my normal projects for a while, it’ll take a bit to get my head back around it all, and nothing ever benefits from neglect so I can only imagine the problems…”

“Well, if you want something to look forward to, I was thinking we should get a decent lunch somewhere today…any ideas?”

“Ugh, Janeece, it’s a nice idea and everything but I don’t think I’m going to be up to it today…”

Scowling at him over the top of the papers she was reading, she repeated her usual mantra, “You need to eat properly, Richard—”

Not waiting for her to go on, he interrupted without thinking, “Yes, I know, I’ve been told – many times.  But another three main meals in one day are going to kill me…”

She raised her eyebrow, “Three main meals?”

“Oh, uh, I already had a cooked breakfast today, and I’ll probably have another large meal for dinner.  I’m going to go easy on lunch.”

She looked at him, “What’s going on?  Don’t tell me that on top of actually sleeping, you’re cooking too?”

Damn, shouldn’t have mentioned anything.  It was just kind of easy to let things slip out around Janeece.  Now what do I say?  But he realised he wasn’t nearly as reluctant to mention Korian as he had been yesterday, and it wasn’t that hard to think of the obvious explanation.

Shrugging, he replied casually, “A friend of my Uncle’s has come to stay with me for a little while, and he’s offered to help out with cooking and cleaning and stuff while he’s here.”

Janeece blinked, clearly surprised.  “Oh, you didn’t mention that…”

“Well, it only happened yesterday, and I was rather surprised myself.”  Understatement of the year, “But he’s a nice enough guy and it’s not bad having the company.”

“Or the food, I’d imagine.”  She replied dryly.

He shot a smile in reply, “That too.”

And that was the end of it.  Thank the gods for Janeece’s remarkable intuition of when not to ask questions.  Maybe Korian wouldn’t be so hard to explain after all…just so long as no one actually met him, he guessed…but he wouldn’t think about that now.

“You go ahead and have your lunch, though, don’t let me stop you.  If you want ideas for where to go, you could always try that new Italian just down the road; I’ve been wanting to know what it was like since it opened…”

She pouted slightly, “I’m not having a meal in a place like that by myself; not even to help you explore all the nearby restaurants without actually taking the effort to go there yourself.”

He shrugged casually, “Why don’t you ask Ian to go with you?”

“Ian?”  She sounded just a little too innocent there.

“You know, Ian from Communications…office just down the hall from here…I’m sure he’d be more than willing to join you.”

“I am not asking him to go out to a restaurant with me!  In fact, I can’t invite anyone to go there for lunch with me.  It would be…inappropriate.”

Affecting a confused look, Richard pointed out, “You asked me.”

Glaring at him, she said pointedly, “You don’t count.”

“Thanks” Richard replied dryly.  “But, you know, you should go anyway.  A good friend keeps advising me that you need to eat several good meals a day…”

Ducking the pen she flicked at him, Richard decided maybe those projects he’d sidelined recently wouldn’t be so bad, and buried his head in searching for the relevant folders.

*   *   *

Heading home again, Richard smiled as he reflected back on the day.  It had been the most relaxed he’d been at work for a while now.  The meeting where they’d pitch their ideas for the potential client’s approval was next Monday and he felt more prepared than he had for a while, since there was relatively little left to do and they’d narrowed it down to a few options.  Most of the work left to do was on Janeece’s plate as well, which meant he wouldn’t be scrabbling to finish everything off at the last minute, which was the original reason why he’d wanted to work so hard for the last few weeks.  It was always better to be over prepared and ready ahead of time than the other way around.  He’d also had time to spend with Naomi today – and they’d both been impressed by meeting up two days in a row.  They hadn’t gone anywhere nearly as expensive or filling, either, opting for a café near the University campus since she’d only had a little time before lectures.  And she hadn’t accused him of being distant today, which he considered a big improvement.

About to turn into the road that was a neat short cut to the street his apartment was on, he hesitated.  If he went the other way, he could catch the bus and probably find the hall Korian had talked about yesterday.  He didn’t know if that would really help; he suspected he’d need to ring someone up, but it couldn’t hurt to go and see if he could get anywhere.  He sighed as he wondered how he could satisfy Korian’s request.  He didn’t really believe that even if it was available for hire – and he’d never really heard of individuals hiring something like that – it would be cheap enough to hire it to make that a feasible option, but it had clearly been important to Korian.  Well, you’re not going to know unless you try and find out.

Getting the bus was relatively simple, and he managed to guess which stop to get off at, but finding the hall wasn’t quite as easy.  He had the address, of course, but it was mostly main roads around where he got off, and it was always hard to find signs naming them.  Plus, he may have had the address, but he wasn’t entirely sure how to get to the road mentioned in the address from where he was.  Eventually he found it, noting a nearby bus stop on the way, which made him simultaneously annoyed he’d gotten off at the wrong stop and relieved he wouldn’t have to walk as far back.

Approaching it, he noticed that the main part of the building was a gym, then saw the hall that Korian had mentioned and guessed it was used for classes or clubs’ activities.  At least being a gym it should have a receptionist or some such, so that he could enquire about the hall.  Not entirely sure what he was planning on asking, he walked into the entranceway of the building and smiled at the woman sitting behind the main desk.

“Hi there,” she smiled back at him, “can I help you?”

“Yes, I noticed that you had a small hall as well as the gym here.  Ahh, what is that used for?”

She looked slightly puzzled by the question, but replied, “There are a number of clubs and activities that affiliate with the gym, and they use it, mostly at a reduced rate.”

As he’d thought.  He felt awkward about asking about hiring, as he’d never heard of individuals doing things like that; and especially considering he was pretty sure he didn’t have the money to back up the question, but he figured he owed it to Korian to try.

“I don’t suppose it’s possible to hire it – or part of it – for an individual’s use?”

Looking confused, she blinked, evidently not having been asked that question before.  “Well, I don’t know…I could possibly contact the manager or someone who may have the authority to let you know, but I wouldn’t imagine so.  The gym generally has a policy of only hiring it out to those clubs that they’re affiliated with.”  She shrugged apologetically.

That probably makes sense, from a business point of view.  Well, at least you tried. “No, don’t worry about it.  I was just curious.”  He was about to turn to leave when he had another thought.  Perhaps it wasn’t quite what Korian wanted, but maybe it would be an acceptable alternative… “Are there any clubs specialising in martial arts that use the hall, that would accept members?”

She turned to look at the computer in front of her.  “Yes, there are a couple. Was there a specific type of martial art you were interested in?”

He had no idea.  “Ahh, if you could just tell me what’s available, then I can think about it and decide later.”  Perhaps Korian would have a preference.

“There’s Karate, Judo, Taekwondo and Jujutsu, though not all of them are for all levels.  Would you like me to give you the contact details of the person that runs each club?”

“Yes, thank you, that would be really helpful.”

Relieved he didn’t have to stumble around, sounding like an idiot as he didn’t know what exactly he was looking for, Richard took the contact details she printed out for him and with a smile, retreated out the door.

Making his way back towards the bus stop he’d seen, he tried not to think too hard about the whole idea.  He didn’t want to see Korian hurt or discouraged from trying to pursue this, and the whole thing was turning out more awkward than he’d wanted, but he wanted to encourage any independent requests Korian might make.  He sighed, at least I enquired; I’ll give Korian the information and let him do what he wants.

*   *   *

Richard approached his home feeling a lot happier than the day before.  There was still the worry of what to do about Korian, but he hadn’t realised how much the pressure of work had been getting him down and how tired he’d been.  He felt like he’d at least got through to Korian a little yesterday, and that there was hope he’d grow to enjoy things independently and eventually want the freedom he was being offered.  Half wondering what Korian had been up to all day – since he’d effectively taken care of cleaning the apartment yesterday, and there wasn’t much else to do – Richard opened the door and stepped into his apartment.

Korian was there almost immediately, appearing from seemingly nowhere to help him with his jacket.  Discomfort with the arrangement flickered through him again, but he shook it off, not wanting it to ruin his good mood and optimistic that the whole thing would get better.

He attempted a smile, “Thank you Korian.”  Feeling the need to make some sort of conversation – just silently accepting service and disappearing seemed wrong, even if he was really looking forward to that evening off in front of the TV – he continued. “Have you had a good day?”

Korian hesitated, seeming puzzled by the question until he seemed to realise – or remember – it was just a casual greeting. He glanced down before looking up and replying. “Yes Master, thank you.”

“Good, well…since there is at last an end in sight for my project at work, I’m just planning to relax this evening…” He felt awkward, he shouldn’t need to justify that he just wanted to collapse in front of the TV, but at the same time he always felt guilty about doing nothing all evening when others were around.  It’s my house, damn it!  Annoyed at himself, he settled for just repeating the phrase he suspected didn’t really mean anything to either of them, though it made him feel better; “…feel free to do what you like.”

Korian bowed his head, “Yes Master.”

Retreating to his sitting room before any more awkwardness could be exchanged, Richard loosened his tie and lay down on the sofa, turning to face the TV and turn it on with the remote.  He flicked through the channels, mostly unimpressed, but not really needing anything more than something mindless to relax to.  Settling on some new comedy program, he settled back and sighed slightly.  He hadn’t meant to sound annoyed at Korian, it wasn’t his fault…not exactly, anyway…he just wasn’t used to living with someone and wasn’t entirely sure he liked it.  He didn’t really feel comfortable just being himself and doing what he liked while he had a guest – and since that was the only way he could accept viewing Korian, he couldn’t help but feel slightly imposed on.  He hated feeling uncomfortable in his own home and he wasn’t quite sure how to get around it, or make himself feel more at ease around Korian.  He couldn’t help but wonder how long Korian would end up staying and hoping it wouldn’t end up being too long.  If it was just a casual, friendly relationship with someone…well, normal, he wouldn’t really mind, would probably even enjoy it.  But this was just difficult and it rubbing him the wrong way.  And he hated that he seemed to take it out on Korian; it wasn’t his fault and the poor boy seemed nervous and worried enough as it was, without Richard acting…displeased…the word coming to him from a place he didn’t want to contemplate.  I just want to relax and forget all this “Master” stuff!

“Master?”

Richard turned with surprise – and a small amount of exasperation – to see Korian kneeling to the side of the sofa, elegantly profiled with his hands on his knees, palms up, his legs apart and his head bowed slightly.  When he’d slipped into the room and come to kneel beside him, Richard had no idea.

At the indication he had Richard’s attention, Korian continued, “Would you like something to drink, Master?”

Richard didn’t often drink alcohol but considering his current situation and his desire to just forget what was going on and relax tonight, it suddenly seemed like quite a good idea.

“Ah, yes, some beer would be great, thank you.”

Korian rose silently and disappeared, and Richard tried to still the swirling emotions that kept running through him due to this ridiculous situation. I mean really, having a ‘slave’ turn up in his life!

Korian returned, setting the glass gently on the table before him and resumed his position kneeling silently by the side of the sofa.  Richard reached for the glass, taking a sip and settling back.  He eyed Korian uncertainly, but the man stayed with his eyes lowered and seemed to have no intention of moving.  The irritation flared again – he was just supposed to continue with his evening as if there wasn’t a man kneeling beside him and, he supposed, waiting for any order or indication he wanted anything?  Richard closed his eyes for a minute and forced the biting comments of the voice in the back of his mind away, trying to find calm again.  It was no good just getting annoyed or irritated at all of this, for the situation to be sustainable he would have to find a way to make it work.  He could ask Korian to leave, he guessed, tell him that he just wanted an evening by himself and he was sure Korian would make himself scarce. But then he’d still have the sense of guilt and unease at essentially sending the guy away.  The problem was that although he could accept the idea of letting Korian stay here and him cooking and cleaning in exchange for the place to stay, that didn’t really cover all the rest of the behaviour, the serving and obedience.  Skirting around the whole ‘slave’ thing, the most he could liken it to was having a sort of servant, and he’d never wanted that, found the whole idea uncomfortable, not to mention not needing anyone to do little things like taking his coat or fetching him drinks.  He’d always been more than happy with his own company, taking care of himself.  He continued sipping at the beer, but the TV went largely unnoticed as he stared into the distance and tried to think things through.  Korian felt he was a slave, behaved as if he was a slave.  In some ways, it felt better to acknowledge it directly than pretend it wasn’t there and wasn’t happening.  It was wrong, and not something he could ever agree with, but it wasn’t his fault Korian acted how he did, so he didn’t need to feel guilty just because Korian was here and behaved in certain ways.  No, except a part of you likes it.  The voice came back, stronger and no doubt aided by alcohol, pushing the images he refused to accept back into his mind; of slavery and submission and all his darkest thoughts, only this time interspersed with the real images of Korian from the last few days.  Instead of forcing his mind away from it all this time, he let it happen and admitted to himself that that was the reason he really was uncomfortable, really did feel guilty whenever Korian acted…well, whenever Korian did anything really.  He didn’t like the effect it had on him, how it brought up all the things he’d spent so long burying and ignoring.  He was scared of how it might make him feel, of the things that lay behind the feelings of discomfort and guilt, scared of what he might want to do and how he might want to treat the man kneeling beside him.  Would I do that?  Could I do those things to someone, to a man who didn’t have a choice?  He shook his head – he knew what was right and wrong, he still clearly knew the reasons he had suppressed any imaginings about such things.  He had a happy, stable life with a good job, a lovely girlfriend – he was happy, he didn’t need those things and they were not places he wanted to go, things he wanted to do with his life.

Richard turned his head and regarded Korian, actually looked at him properly and took in the kneeling subservience, the way he held himself completely still and the lack of any expression revealed by his face or body.  He actually thought about it, looked at Korian and saw the slave he claimed to be.  He knew that he still wanted to change it, wanted to have him free and doing what he wanted with his life, but he also knew that at the moment that wasn’t the case, wasn’t what Korian thought or felt or saw.  He thought about the last few days and felt guilty yet again, but this time not because of the slavery but because of the way he’d behaved; he’d been quite harsh, abrasive and abrupt and annoyed and irritated with the whole thing.  Had he really done the man any favours by refusing to accept what he claimed to be, by denying the whole thing and refusing to listen or try to understand?  Leaving Korian to just attempt to go about it all without any guidance, only able to hope he was doing everything ‘right’ and that he wouldn’t displease the man he’d now given control of his life to.  He thought how it must be for Korian; coming and submitting to a near-stranger, offering himself completely and not knowing how he would be received, knowing anything could happen to him.  Having that stranger treat that offering as an inconvenience, or annoyance, or something to avoid and ignore – not knowing what he’d done wrong or why the person that now controlled his life was so unhappy with him.  Richard sighed, knowing what he wanted and what he aimed to do was right, but also knowing his attitude about it had been appalling and completely selfish – only really considering the effect any of this was having on him and his life, and not thinking about what Korian might be going through.

“What do you want, Korian?”  He asked without even really thinking, wanting to give or offer something back to this man he couldn’t understand, that had placed himself at Richard’s mercy without hesitation.

“I want to please you, Master.”

But instead of the usual quiet response, eyes down and head bowed, Korian looked up as he said it, putting determination into the reply and met Richard’s eyes almost forcefully.  The silver had turned to steel, and as Richard met his eyes the fiery passion he saw within them silenced him for a moment, drawing out the moment until Richard felt unable to hold that gaze any longer; then Korian deliberately lowered his eyes and bowed his head again.  Richard felt partially stunned, unable to reconcile the power and strength he had seen in those eyes with his image of Korian.  He suddenly felt that maybe he had underestimated the man kneeling quietly before him, the strength that he must have to live as he had been forced to.  It made him reassess the picture he had of a weak and vulnerable victim, and Richard was suddenly uncertain as to how he should relate to him.  It was forcefully clear, though, that Korian meant what he said and he wanted Richard to know that; he felt his purpose was to please Richard, in whatever way he could, and he was determined to do so, however hard Richard made it for him.  It brought back the words he’d said yesterday, the ones that had been circling in the back of Richard’s mind and that he’d steadfastly refused to let enter his conscious mind. I will submit to whatever you wish me to, suffer anything you wish to inflict, serve you with everything that I am until the last breath has left me. The sentiment behind it left him with both a feeling of unease and discomfort, as well as darkly fascinating him in a way he still didn’t want to consider.  But it was a strong, fervent statement that showed some of Korian’s desperation to do this, to be this for him.  It might be wrong, and not something Richard could endorse in any way, but he figured he could at least acknowledge Korian and stop ignoring the fact that he clearly felt he was Richard’s slave.  It didn’t help that the very flicker of that word across his mind sent all sorts of shudders through him, but he could at least try to respect Korian, acknowledge his effort, even if he couldn’t agree with what he believed and claimed he wanted.

His gaze never having left Korian’s kneeling form, he said softly, “Come around in front of me.”

Korian moved around the sofa to settle in front of him, staying in the position he’d assumed since he entered the room, the TV playing unnoticed behind him.  Richard looked carefully at Korian, taking in the image in front of him and trying to force his mind into accepting and acknowledging it.  If he looked long enough, maybe the urge to dart his eyes away and ignore the situation that was blatantly staring him in the face would fade.  Despite what he’d just seen in his eyes, Korian looked almost boy-like kneeling quietly in front of him, making him wonder what was behind the youthful face and small body, the still, meek appearance he maintained in front of him.  The long silver hair fanning out down his back gave him a slightly foreign look and enhanced Richard’s impression of him as pretty.  He looked so young and innocent, so easy to see him being taken advantage of, being lost in the world without Uncle Andre there in front of him. But Richard had seen some of his spirit today, and tried to keep that in mind and look past the appearance Korian gave.  He noticed the way he held himself completely still, how he had done all evening and seemed prepared to stay for as long as Richard wished, the calm he seemed to have, despite not knowing what may happen to him, despite his future depending on the man sitting in front of him.  Richard took a deep breath, not knowing how anyone could live that way, but then he guessed Korian hadn’t had much of a choice, had lived in such a way that even when given a choice he couldn’t recognise it.

Richard stood up, gently telling Korian to do the same. 

Korian came to his feet in one movement, shifting to stand more rigidly than he had been kneeling, with his legs slightly apart and raising his arms to lock his hands together behind his neck, his elbows pointing outwards.  It was a movement that opened his chest out, the nipple rings glimmering slightly in the soft light, and exposed his body to Richard completely.  Richard didn’t know why he was spending so much time just looking at Korian, he was just trying to take in what was in front of him, to absorb it and acknowledge to himself what it was.  It was the first time he had really looked, really seen Korian; he’d spent so much of the last couple of days trying to avoid it, not wanting to see the way Korian behaved and presented himself.  The first time he’d looked and repeated to himself that this man considered himself Richard’s property, the first time he’d tried to see through those eyes.  He still didn’t really consider it true; it wasn’t what he wanted or would accept, but it was important to him to try and see Korian’s view.  The thought sent strange feelings through him and raised butterflies in his stomach, but he looked at Korian and tried to remove the pity and the unease, tried to just see the man in front of him as belonging to him, however alien the idea felt.  He couldn’t do it, couldn’t quite assimilate it all into that, it didn’t feel right, but he did take in Korian’s vulnerability to him, the power he’d been given suddenly and unexpectedly, the man who waited silently, completely open to and accepting of whatever he might choose to do.

Richard reached out slowly, hesitating a little before touching Korian, letting the backs of his knuckles rest slightly against his chest.  The muscle underneath twitched at the contact, but Korian didn’t move or say anything.  It was a strange feeling, doing that – touching another man as he held himself still and let it happen – but Richard felt compelled to act on the instinctive knowledge that he was free to look and touch as he liked.  He wondered idly what he could do without Korian moving or reacting and guessed that it would be quite a lot, with Korian striving to be still and open to it.  The idea sent a slight shiver through him and he withdrew his hand, letting out the breath he didn’t realise he’d been holding.  However he felt about it, it seemed undeniable how Korian felt and how far he was willing to go to show it.  Richard sighed softly; he still knew the whole thing was wrong and he would do everything he could to show Korian that he could live free, to encourage him to explore that.  But living as he had – completely ignoring the issue because of his discomfort – wasn’t fair to either of them and just put him in a bad mood that made things worse.  Looking back at how things had gone the last couple of days, he determined to make an effort to be understanding of who and what Korian felt he was, to make him more comfortable as well.  It may be inconvenient having him here – though the cooking and cleaning did make up for that quite a bit – but he wouldn’t deny his Uncle’s last wish, and besides he was beginning to feel for Korian, what he had evidently endured and how he threw everything he was into what he did.  It felt like the least he could do to try and make it all as easy as possible, to try and compromise and meet Korian half way with the whole ‘Master/slave’ view for the moment, to do what he could to reassure him.  He wasn’t that sort of person, probably couldn’t do or act half the ways Korian might expect – which may be a good thing anyway – but he could stop jumping sideways at the mention of it.

“Look at me.” Richard said, keeping his voice soft, as if afraid Korian might spook if he didn’t modulate his tone.  Which was silly, he knew, but he found the idea that he was telling Korian what to do hard enough and couldn’t possibly bring himself to speak harshly or abruptly as well.  Besides, Korian had reacted…disturbingly…to various comments or actions, and Richard really didn’t know the memories he had or what might set him off.

Korian raised his eyes and met Richard’s gaze, but the fire and determination he’d seen earlier had gone, leaving his eyes as calm and unreadable as before.

Taking a breath, Richard continued, “I can’t accept this all; I don’t agree with slavery and I don’t want to have that kind of power.  I want you to be free and happy with your own life, of your own choosing, and I hope that I can show you how you can have and thrive with that.  But I do accept that you view things this way, that you think this is how it should be, and…I guess I want you to know that it does mean something to me, what you are doing and offering.  I can’t take it as you want me to, but I do recognise the strength it takes to be…what you are, to act as you do.  And it means something to me that you’re doing that for me.  So I will try to be understanding and willing to see your view alongside what I would naturally want.  I will try and let you be what you want to be, until I manage to show you how much better your life can be.”

Korian’s expression didn’t change throughout his halting explanation and attempt to reach out, but as he was finishing, his gaze became more intense for a moment before lowering and nodding his head for a moment.

“Yes Master, thank you” was the only reply, let out almost inaudibly on a breath, but Richard sensed the words had sunk in, that Korian had heard and understood and it had meant something to him.  He hoped so, hoped that things would now be easier for both of them, that perhaps if Korian was able to act in more familiar ways to him it would give him a chance to relax and open up a little more.

Letting out a breath in an effort to relieve the tension that had built up, Richard sat back down on the sofa, leaning back against it.  He realised as he sank down into it that it was rather strange to be looking up at Korian, seeing him still standing open and exposed, but at the same time close enough to be almost towering over him.  It seemed Korian felt the same thing; he hesitated a moment and then sunk back to his knees, keeping his arms as they had been and remaining rigidly available in the way he had been before.  The position didn’t look very comfortable and Richard wondered how long he could stay like that, but then none of the positions Korian had assumed seemed to be for comfort and he guessed he’d had quite a lot of practice at staying in them for long periods of time. Korian’s eyes flicked up briefly and Richard guessed he was trying to make sure he wasn’t outraged at the unauthorised change of position, but if anything Richard was glad Korian seemed to be able to react to how he felt without being given orders, considering that he wasn’t sure how many orders he was comfortable giving.  He smiled a little, hoping it would help reassure him and tried to relax back into the sofa.

“So,” he started, feeling a change in subject was necessary to reduce a little of the intense atmosphere that had sprung up, “am I getting dinner tonight?”

He smiled as he said it, feeling better and able to play with the whole thing a little now that he was acknowledging it directly.

Korian’s body tensed a little and his eyes flicked up again, seeming both surprised and slightly chagrined by the question, clearly struggling through the possible implications that his Master was displeased that dinner wasn’t ready – or even started. 

Taking in Richard’s attitude his body relaxed a little but he replied quickly, “Yes Master, of course.”  Then he seemed uncertain; probably not knowing whether that was an indirect order to get started with it or not.

He looked at Richard as he hesitated, and Richard nodded, guessing what he was looking for.  At that, Korian bowed from the waist in the position he was in, then quickly got to his feet and left quietly.

Richard shifted his feet onto the sofa and lay there trying to calm down a little bit after the exchange he’d just had.  Noticing the TV was still playing in the background, he switched it off, preferring to take a little time to think.  He fiddled with the half-empty glass of beer, looking at it slightly distastefully.  He had never really liked the taste, but had tried to accustom himself to it as it was the standard go-to for guys for after work drinks.  He put it down on the coffee table before him, before leaning back and trying to sort through everything that had just happened.  Interestingly, one thing he had noticed was that despite being evidently very skilled at hiding his emotions and reactions, the one time Korian really did become animated and a lot easier to read was when he evidently felt he might have displeased his Master, or when he didn’t know what to do or what was wanted.  It seemed those things affected him much more deeply.  Richard imagined he could probably give him some horrendous task and he would just go about it calmly and unaffected, considering the self-control he obviously had, but it was when he wasn’t told specifically what to do – when things were just hinted at or implied – that he struggled, wanting to be certain and both needing and reluctant to look for help or guidance.  It was a good thing he didn’t seem able to hide those feelings though, as otherwise Richard didn’t know how he’d ever know what Korian was thinking or feeling.

*   *   *

Korian hurriedly moved around the kitchen, finding food and utensils before shaking himself a little and calming the slight panic he felt at the edges of his mind, settling into the quick, easy movements he usually displayed.  Choices for tonight’s meal had flickered through his mind as he had moved back to the kitchen, thinking of and discarding a dozen or so before settling on a deceptively simple pasta dish that with a bit of effort would be ready relatively quickly.  He didn’t know whether his Master’s question had been a pointed comment or not, but the last thing he wanted to do was risk keeping him waiting.  Especially now.  He let out a small breath as he thought back to the evening so far, trying to let it play out in the back of his mind as his body moved automatically to prepare what he needed.  It was hard not to fret about the things he’d done that went against his deep-rooted training.  Hard not to think how anyone back home would have reacted to him talking to and looking at his Master like that – daring to meet his eyes without permission was one thing, but the expression he’d shown!  He shivered slightly, but tried to push it aside.  He hadn’t been immediately punished or dismissed or thrown out.  Of course, he knew he wasn’t worthy of punishment in his Master’s eyes, but the lack of any other negative reaction was somewhat reassuring, even if his presumption sent shudders of anxiety through him.  He knew what was right and wrong, he knew the rules he had to live by and how he needed to behave.  But he also knew that it was different here, in some ways, and his former master had emphasised it, telling him to trust his instincts and do what it seemed his Master needed, what would help, instead of what was natural and right.  It seemed to have helped, too.  Why, he had no idea, but afterwards his Master had considered him carefully.  Korian had thought he was probably deliberating how to deal with his insubordination, but it had turned out to be much more an inspection of his property – looking at him thoroughly as he took him through several positions.  Thinking about the way his Master had looked at him, and even briefly touched, made his body buzz slightly as his nerves danced, and he was sure he could feel the echo of his Master’s touch on his chest.  He’d sensed something that he wasn’t even sure had existed with his former master – almost as if his Master was looking at him and seeing property he owned, something that was worthy enough to be regarded as such, looking at him and only seeing that instead of trying to ignore or disguise it.  His eyes closed briefly and he dismissed the thought; it probably wasn’t true, was just some misguided hope – after all, his Master had pretty much refuted that in what he’d said immediately after.  That he didn’t want him as his slave.  But still, he seemed to indicate he might be open to it, that he was willing to accept that Korian believed and wanted this, that he understood what was being offered, it just wasn’t something he wanted to take.  Of course, he still seemed to believe that there could be something better than being accepted and allowed to serve, that he could give Korian something else instead of taking him on as his slave.  But if nothing else, Korian knew he had shown how clear it was to him that there could be nothing better than pleasing his Master, and it seemed he might have been able to start convincing him that he was properly devoted to that task, that he knew that it was his purpose and life.  It wasn’t good enough for him yet, but even if it was just desperate hope, Korian felt there was a chance, that the opportunity was there for him to behave as he should, to show that he could be a good slave, and then maybe his Master would want him.  He just had to make it so that it was worth it to his Master to take him, to accept him as his slave.  In some ways it was harder knowing that; that he had an opportunity and if he was perfect then he might just be considered worthy of serving his Master.  But at the same time, any little mistake could destroy it all, could take away this last chance.  He saw his hand shaking slightly with the nerves and glared at it, schooling it – and the rest of his body – back into calm stillness by force of will.  Will I ever be good enough?  It was just so hard, especially here like this.  He had the ingrained training; had continued the physical parts as much as he could after his former master had bought him, and continually repeated the mantras from childhood in his mind.  But it was different here, the training wasn’t enough to tell him what his Master would want and need, what was expected.  Even the time with his former master didn’t really prepare him and he wanted so desperately to get it right, was so afraid of losing this chance.  There wasn’t anything he could really do, just act based on both training and instinct and hope that it was pleasing to his Master, just watch and learn and try to assimilate his preferences as quickly as possible.  He had to be good enough, though, he just had to.  He couldn’t even let himself picture what might happen if he wasn’t.

But all these thoughts weren’t right, they weren’t where his mind should be.  He shook his head slightly as he realised how much he had been concentrated and focused on what he wanted, on how he was going to achieve his own goal and become accepted by his Master, instead of having his mind run through everything that may please his Master and how he could best serve.  They may lead to similar thoughts, but the way he’d thought about it was wrong.  It wasn’t about him.  All that mattered was his Master’s pleasure.  Why can I never get it right?  Why does my mind stray from focusing where it belongs so much? He couldn’t get the thoughts of failure from his head – all the ways he had failed in the past, all the things he was told he would never be good enough for.  From when he was growing and being trained at home, to being taken by his former master but never good enough for him to really accept him as a slave, to the point he wouldn’t even allow him to die with him, and now here where he wasn’t good enough for yet another Master.  And with each remembered failure it seemed more likely he would never be able to please the way he should.

Korian brought himself out of such thoughts sharply; he couldn’t dwell on such things, he didn’t have the time and thinking about those things just took his mind away from focusing on pleasing his Master.  He could hardly believe he’d allowed himself such a self-indulgent moment of despair, but he was fortunate that he could work automatically enough to allow his mind to detach almost completely from what he was doing without slowing.  Bringing his current task back into focus, he saw it was almost done and concentrated entirely on the physical work for once, allowing it to centre him and drive his distractions away.  Calm again, he repeated inwardly the vows he’d made of how he would behave and serve, determined to put every effort into being the best, into being worthy of being his Master’s property.

*  *  *

       Richard saw Korian enter the room again out of the corner of his eye, but he continued watching the TV he’d turned back on shortly before.  He hadn’t really been concentrating on it, but it didn’t appear to be the sort of programme that needed much concentration.  He still felt slightly fired up from earlier, his body having reacted in somewhat unsettling ways to the way he had looked at Korian.  This time, with the way he had confronted it head on, the heat he’d felt at thinking about all of this in certain ways hadn’t faded to the chills or unease he’d started getting used to the last couple of days.  He had tried to banish it with determined thoughts that that was not who he was or what he would do, and had been somewhat successful, but it still didn’t really leave him in the right state of mind to watch some mindless programme.  He guessed he was curious whether Korian would interrupt him to mention – presumably – that dinner was ready.  But of course he didn’t, just coming to settle on his knees beside the sofa again and wait for Richard’s acknowledgement.  Richard spent a moment contemplating why it didn’t bother him as it had before, why he seemed much more comfortable with these things he still didn’t want.  But he supposed it was partly because now he felt he understood Korian a little more, and was accepting this, letting him act this way, for his sake and to make him more comfortable.  It was easier letting someone put you in the role of ‘Master’ when you felt you were doing it for them, and not taking something atrocious from someone else for yourself.

       Turning to Korian, he smiled, “Dinner ready?”

       Korian still had his head bowed and eyes lowered, as Richard imagined was going to be mostly standard, “Yes Master.”

       “Great, thank you.”

       He rose and headed toward the kitchen, not really surprised when Korian came quickly from behind to hold his chair for him, and then served out the meal which looked – thank goodness – not nearly as heavy as the previous night.

       He gestured Korian to join him and started eating enthusiastically.  He couldn’t deny how good it was to have someone cooking amazing food for him each night.

       “What is this?”

       “Garlic prawn linguine, Master.”

       Korian might be unsure and not willing to risk more than small, inoffensive answers, but Richard was in a good mood and was happy to be talking, even if the conversation ended up a little one-sided.

Smiling, Richard replied, “It’s lovely, and it’s good to have something lighter than yesterday.  Too much rich food all the time would not be very sustainable, I think.”

       “Yes Master.” Korian glanced up briefly, hesitated, then quietly added, “Master, may I ask a question?”

       This time Richard saw no reason to kill his pedantic inclination, amused and having always enjoyed playing such games.  If Korian was going to live with him, he’d just have to get used to a little teasing.  It would probably be good for him anyway – stop him from tensing and semi-panicking at every little implication or challenging reply.

       Richard looked up from the food and said mildly, “Isn’t that a question?”

       As predicted, Korian tensed and blinked slightly in surprise – apparently no one had pointed out that little irony to him before – then glanced up briefly to read Richard’s expression before lowering his eyes. 

“Yes Master, of course.  Forgive me, please.  Is there anything that you wish me to do to request permission to speak or ask a question?  A gesture or posture that you would prefer to signal that to you?”  He paused and picked up his fork again, before something else seemed to occur to him and he quickly added, “Or would you prefer me never to do so?”

Richard chewed slowly, listening as the subject went further and further out of his comfort zone.  He let it wash over him slightly, refusing to be horrified by what Korian was actually saying and the image it was trying to create of how completely he could restrict Korian’s life with just a word or two.  Not allowed to speak, at all, ever.  He fought back a shudder, deliberately not letting his mind spin over all the implications something like that would lead to, not letting himself consider what Korian was casually asking as if being able to do simple, essential things like that were of no importance to him.  You’re going to deal with this calmly, now, remember?  You decided you were going to be all easy-going and relaxed about it.

Swallowing the mouthful that had slightly stuck in his throat, Richard decided to reply as he’d thought he would originally – he’d anticipated Korian withdrawing the question or asking what he would prefer him to do, he just hadn’t quite contemplated the extremity that Korian seemed to go to without thought.  He’d just asked the question to be difficult really, because Korian’s phrase had amused him and in all honesty he probably wanted to make light of some of the ‘slave’ talk.  Of course, he’d succeeded in doing the opposite, but oh well, he supposed it wouldn’t stop him from trying again in the future.  And besides, it probably couldn’t hurt to accustom himself to these casual questions or suggestions that Korian kept coming out with that stirred up so many wrong things within him. 

So he smiled slightly and said gently, “You can ask me whatever you want, and you don’t need to ask permission to ask questions or to speak.”  He shrugged slightly and added, “Or you can if you want to.  I don’t mind.  I was just amused.”

Korian nodded slightly, “Thank you, Master.”

Richard knew he was unsettling him, but part of him thought that maybe a little bit of unsettling was a good thing – and besides, the back of his mind added sardonically, it was hardly fair for him to be the only one completely overwhelmed whenever they made conversation.

“So, what was your question?”

Korian swallowed and hesitated before answering, seeming unsure whether Richard really wanted him to ask.  “I was just wondering whether you had any preferences for food, or meals, Master.  What you would like me to cook.”

“Oh, I’m easy going, I eat most things and I enjoy trying different food too.  I’m happy with you coming up with whatever you like each night.  It’s been great so far, and I rather like the variety and surprise.  If there’s anything in particular I feel like, I’ll let you know.”

“Yes, Master.”

It wasn’t a particularly helpful response, but Richard was actually enjoying the benefit of not having to think about what to eat for dinner, or plan or choose anything.  From what he’d seen, he doubted he’d be disappointed with anything Korian decided on.  Besides, Korian knew what he could cook and what food they had in the apartment more than he did – though he somewhat thought if he requested anything Korian would make sure it happened somehow, even if it wasn’t easy or convenient.  He turned his mind away from such thoughts and regarded Korian again.  His mind went back to the issue of martial arts and the gym he’d visited, but this time he considered it alongside his earlier resolution not to underestimate the boy-like figure in front of him.  Maybe his original opinion of Korian’s chances of learning something like that had been too harsh, and he wondered anew what was behind his desire to do so – after this evening he somehow doubted his hasty thought that Korian may want to protect himself.  The boy certainly seemed to have no inclination to protect himself from Richard in any way.

“Why do you want to take up martial arts?”

It was another abrupt change of topic, but that seemed to be the way of these conversations, since Korian didn’t so much talk as just answer Richard’s questions.  He seemed to be getting used to the erratic directions of Richard’s mind too, since he replied un-phased, in his usual quiet manner.

“To protect you, Master.”

This time Richard did stop eating, and openly stared. To what?!  He caught himself – just barely – before the slight laugh escaped.  He tried briefly to picture it, the small, unassuming man opposite him trying to protect him – from some unknown thing – and it just didn’t work in his mind.  That was certainly unexpected, and he had no idea where such a thought could have come from.  Shaking his head slightly, he tried to untangle that somehow.

“Ahh…from what?”

Korian shrugged slightly, indicating it didn’t matter.  “From anything that might happen, Master.”

Well, that was unspecific – quite a task Korian has set himself there.  Richard hushed the deprecating voice that responded internally and continued.

“Why?”

That was the big question, the thing he really couldn’t understand.  As far as he’d seen, Korian considered himself a slave, and the last thing he’d ever associate with that was martial skills or protection.

Korian looked up slightly at that, seeming confused, “It’s what I’m there for, Master.  Who I am.”

Back to it being ‘who he is’ again.  But still, it didn’t make sense.

“I thought you thought you were a slave.”

Korian nodded, the confusion seeming to dissipate as if Richard had figured it out.  “Yes, Master.”

Unfortunately, that made it no clearer at all.

“Sorry Korian, this makes no sense to me.  In what world would a slave learn to fight and act to protect his Master?”

Korian’s confusion evidently returned and he raised his gaze to meet Richard’s eyes, which Richard was thankful for as there seemed to be enough miscommunication without additional barriers.  “Forgive me, Master, I don’t understand either.  If you’ll allow me your phrasing, in what world would a slave not do so?”

Richard shook his head slightly, feeling they’d reached another point where their worlds were alien to each other.

“OK, so you’re saying that where you come from, that is what all slaves do?”

Korian nodded, “Yes, Master.”

“So…how does it work?  You have all the slaves trained in martial skills and such, so they’re able to protect their masters from whatever might happen.  What about the masters?  What are they trained in?  Do the slaves have weapons as well, or are they not allowed to use those?  Do the masters have weapons?  Are they different weapons?”

It was a lot of questions as he tried to picture the foreign system; he’d always been fascinated by how such things worked and was eager to sort it out in his mind, even if he found the subject matter distasteful.

Korian looked similarly absorbed – probably by the way Richard was trying to think about it, which would be completely foreign to him.

“The slaves are trained, Master, and many have various weapons, sometimes of their choosing and sometimes of their masters’.  It often depends on their ability – a slave has to be worthy of the opportunity to use or train with various weapons.  The masters aren’t trained at all, and don’t carry weapons either – unless they wish to for effect, which is rare.  They don’t need to be – protection is the slaves’ responsibility.”

It sounded an impossible system to Richard.

“But then how is slavery enforced?  I mean, if the slaves have all the training and the weapons, what stops them from overthrowing the people that rule over them?”

Now Korian looked openly horrified and was shaking his head.  “I…I’m sorry, Master, I don’t know how to answer that.  It’s completely impossible, no one would ever consider such an unspeakable thing.  Slavery isn’t enforced, Master, it doesn’t need to be.  It just is.”

Richard couldn’t really believe what Korian was describing to him, didn’t see how any people that had it in their power to free themselves from the oppressive life Korian had obviously grown up with could stay that way.  But he thought back to the discussion they’d had yesterday, that had revealed similarly appalling things, thought about Korian’s single-minded resolve to be his slave regardless of whatever else he was offered.  For these people, slaves are born, not made.  It didn’t seem possible, but Korian was obviously trying to explain, to show him with words how their system worked, and for him these concepts Richard was struggling with clearly seemed to be self-evident truths.  His shocked reaction to Richard’s questions had made it clear that nothing else was ever even considered.  Another awful thing to dwell on for another time. 

Changing the subject slightly, he focused back on where this had all originally come from, unwilling to have the system described play out in his mind.

He smiled a little, trying to show Korian that he was trying to understand and accept all this, and said playfully, “So, can you actually fight then?”

Korian looked down as he replied quietly.

“I was trained until my former master took me away when I was thirteen, Master.  And since then I have practiced intensely whenever my former master allowed me the time, and the last year I spent mostly building those skills.  But, I’m sorry, Master, please forgive me, I was never on par with the level I should have been, when I was growing up.”  He swallowed and Richard noticed him paling again, but he let him continue, wanting to hear this. “And since then, well I haven’t been subjected to the intense rituals or training that I would have been at home, so my ability has probably fallen much further below what it should be.  It’s…well it’s part of the reason I spoke out of turn and mentioned it to you yesterday, Master…the opportunity to train, so I could be able to serve as I should and protect you completely…it’s more than I could ever ask for, but I swear to you I’ll do everything I can to get to the level I should be at, to be worthy of serving you…please forgive me…”

He came to a slow stop – not because he’d said everything he felt but because he was no longer really able to express himself in words.  He moved off the chair, to the side of the table between them and sank slowly to his knees, his upper body lowering until his forehead touched the ground and he rested his hands on the floor to either side of his head.  Richard looked at Korian kneeling like that before him, pale but his body relaxed and giving all appearances of calm – something he seemed able to do at will because from the way he’d been talking, there was no doubt in Richard’s mind that his mind wasn’t calm.  Richard swallowed slightly and felt the wave of pity hit him.  It was much as he’d expected; Korian didn’t exactly seem like someone who would be able to fight particularly well, though the fact he’d trained throughout his life was unexpected.  But he didn’t realise just how deeply this affected him, how important it was to him.  If the way he described his home was accurate, he guessed he could understand why.  This was evidently one of the key things they valued in their…people.  He certainly hadn’t meant to stir up what were obviously bad memories for Korian.

“Korian,” he started gently, “look at me.  It’s ok, I didn’t ask you that to judge your ability, I was just curious and I really don’t mind what you can or can’t do.  If it helps, I stopped by that gym you mentioned yesterday and although they don’t rent the space out privately, I have the names and numbers of some martial arts clubs you can ring to talk to about joining.  And I’m happy for you to join and do that whenever you want, you can train however you want to.  But, really, you don’t need to worry about it; I’m not expecting you to protect me anyway.  Besides, there’s really not anything to protect me from, it’s hardly that dangerous here and we have our own systems for dealing with things, too.”  He tried to smile reassuringly, but if anything Korian looked more downcast at what he’d said.

“Yes, Master.  Thank you for the opportunities you’re allowing.”  Korian’s voice was barely audible and he stayed very still in the position he’d been in earlier, with his head tilted slightly so he could look up at Richard as he was required to do.  The vulnerable position that he looked up from made him seem even more pitiful, but his eyes flashed briefly for a moment as he added in an even quieter tone, “I will make myself good enough, Master, I swear I will be worthy of protecting you.”

Richard swallowed slightly and sighed a little.  He didn’t know how to make it right, how to take away the hurt that he could tell Korian was suffering even if he did give little outward sign.  He didn’t know how to show Korian that it was ok, that none of it was important and he wasn’t judging him.  His mind flitted idly to wondering how his Uncle had dealt with the same issue, but perhaps he’d never asked the question, especially in the crude way Richard had.  His Uncle had had the advantage of not needing Korian to describe his people; he’d actually seeing Korian as he’d lived previously and the culture he came from.  That would certainly have been an interesting experience, though from what Korian had described Richard wasn’t entirely sure it was something he would have handled particularly well.  He looked back at Korian, unsure what to do to change the topic or take his mind off the things that were clearly bothering him, but just wanting to continue the evening.

He nodded at the seat opposite, “Come back and join me, Korian, let’s continue dinner.  You don’t need to worry about any of this.”

Korian raised himself slightly, so he was sitting back on his heels looking up at Richard.  He took a breath and asked quietly, “Please, Master, may I serve?  May I just serve tonight?”

He met Richard’s eyes and the depth of emotion Richard saw there hurt a little.  Richard was unsure at first what Korian was asking, but realised that he evidently didn’t want to come back and join Richard for dinner.  Exactly what ‘just serve’ meant, Richard didn’t know, but intuitively he guessed Korian wanted to retreat to doing what he knew he could do well to overcome whatever he was feeling at the moment about being able to ‘protect’ his Master.  On some level it made sense to him, and he nodded before going back to his meal, hoping that Korian would feel better if he was just left to do whatever made him most comfortable.

“Thank you, Master.”

Korian rose smoothly to his feet and stood off to the side, presumably standing ready to serve Richard if it was needed.  Richard felt a little uncomfortable – it was slightly strange having someone just standing there while he ate, and he preferred talking as they had been – but he pushed it to the side and just enjoyed the meal.  Being ‘served’ wasn’t something he particularly wanted, but he was concerned about Korian and he had determined earlier to be more accepting of it all anyway.

Korian offered him some more when he was finished, but he shook his head slightly and rose.

“Thank you for the meal, Korian, and I’m glad we talked as we have tonight.  I’m going to take that night off in front of the TV now.”

He stopped himself from adding an invitation to join or from saying he was there if Korian needed anything, guessing that those things wouldn’t fit with Korian’s request to just be there to serve tonight.

Korian bowed his head and Richard left it at that, somewhat relieved to leave the room and head back to the sitting room.  He settled himself onto the sofa and turned the TV on again, happy to see that the programmes were rather better at this time.  He switched to a crime drama that was just starting – the easiest drama to watch stand-alone, he’d found.  Considering how little attention he’d been paying to the programmes he liked the most the last few weeks, he hadn’t really been able to keep up with any of the usual series he watched.  He glanced at the coffee table and saw the half-glass of beer he’d left earlier had been removed – he guessed by Korian though he had no idea when he’d done that.  It would have been warm and even less pleasant now, anyway, but he could do with something to drink.  He hesitated as he considered the thought before gently calling out to Korian.  The man appeared an instant later, standing to the side with his head typically bowed, his arms behind his back and his legs slightly spread.  Another position, it seemed.  Richard figured they must all be for different situations, though he had no idea what the rules were or what dictated each one.

“Could you get me a coffee, please, Korian?”

“Yes Master.”  The reply came quickly, and Korian turned to leave.

The brief interaction made Richard feel strange.  It felt wrong to be calling Korian to him when he wanted something, especially little things he could easily do himself.  He’d known that he’d feel that the moment the thought had occurred to him. But it was more important to him that he show his acceptance of Korian in the capacity he obviously wanted to be accepted in, that he show his willingness to think about what Korian said and claimed.  The coffee came a couple of minutes later, with Korian coming in and setting it down in front of him before standing back as if to see if anything else was required.  Richard just nodded and Korian bowed briefly before backing up a little then turning to leave.  Richard reached for the coffee, trying to absorb himself in the programme and ignore the increase in his pulse or the stirring in his body.  This really didn’t seem the time for those feelings, but in leaning back and relaxing he couldn’t help but replay the evening and see in so many different ways the things Korian offered that he could never accept.  Not being able to accept them didn’t make them seem any less intoxicating though, and he allowed himself a small sigh as he sipped at the coffee.

*  *  *

       Korian was a mess.  He knew he was, knew that the earlier exchange had unsettled him in a way he shouldn’t have allowed.  But it seemed that with every revelation his Master made, his worth and ability to please seemed to fall even further.  I’m not expecting you to protect me. Korian shuddered slightly.  His Master had evidently never considered him able to do that adequately; had doubted his abilities to protect him from the start.  Maybe that was one of the reasons he’d never considered him worth punishing – he’d known that Korian would be unable to serve and protect him properly.  And he was right.  Korian hadn’t really taken the time to assess himself in comparison to the abilities the other slaves from home would have now but it was suddenly clear to him just how far behind he must be.  He had been struggling and one of the weakest before he left, but he hadn’t thought about how his half-invented continuations of the lessons and training from home would compare to the results the full training would achieve for the slaves back home.  He actually had no idea how behind he was, but it must have gotten worse since he left.  Until his Master had asked, he hadn’t thought about any measurement of his ability, but now he couldn’t stop thinking about it.  Couldn’t stop thinking about what a disappointment and failure his Master must see him as.  Not even good enough for his Master to consider him able to serve in that way, to consider allowing his protection to fall to Korian.

       As he worked around the kitchen while listening carefully for any indication his Master may wish something from him, he tried to resolve to fix it; to work hard in any free moment to live up to what his Master should be able to expect of him.  But a part of him was starting to feel like he had too many things he was resolving to fix, too many failures.  He wouldn’t stop trying, of course, would never give up his desire and determination to perfect himself for his Master, but he felt wracked with guilt and failure whenever he thought of all the things his Master should have now from his slave.  All the things he seemed unable to provide.  He wished his Master would beat him for his failures, wished that his Master would take his displeasure out on him and allow him the chance to at least provide that outlet.  Wanted to feel the pain he deserved, to feel the reminder that his Master wouldn’t accept such failures from his property, to know that he was going to be forced to serve and please and protect properly.  But he wasn’t worth being given that either and it was hard knowing he would have to struggle to show his Master that he even had the potential to be the slave that he should be. 

Korian worked hard, using the opportunity he’d been given tonight to settle his mind and take him back to calm and determination.  It had been wrong to ask to be allowed just to serve tonight, especially in response to a direct order to the contrary.  But at the same time he had felt like he had to, he had been so desperate to show that he could be good, he could please his Master.  He was grateful his Master had allowed it, and he spent the evening making sure his behaviour and work was perfect, desperate to make the whole of himself perfect.  I will be a good slave.  I will.