Quality Control

[Eoteb]

27 Summer, 512 Their private correspondence had detailed this time and place, discreet for all intents and purposes but also safe from the tangle of her own house’s sub-royal politics. Eoteb needed neither to drag their reputation through the dust of the slave market nor to concern them with her specific needs; this was her own personal mission, and it was best that very few were aware of it. She had only spoken directly with Kuya, but was promised an eypharian slaver named Noma and a human or eypharian specimen of docile temperament. Physical strength was unnecessary but favored and, most importantly, she required a person of good health. Such a detail might have been obvious to any buyer in want of a slave, but Eoteb had made certain to insist. She could not involve any preexisting complications if her experiments were to be sound. Pulling back the screen of the small and most modest litter, she examined the place from within it. A small shop, it was not far enough to escape the stench and clamor of the market but it was a fair compromise between the needs of buyer and seller. She stepped into the hot summer morning wearing a loose linen gown the color of cloudy dawn, dipped in rosy pink at the seams. A breeze rippled in it as she climbed the short steps to the doorway, and there she parted the curtain there without pretense. One of the carrying slaves followed her close behind, serving secondarily as a guard. He was a head taller than her, human and unspeaking, and even in private Eoteb all but ignored him. She frowned to herself when she saw that she was the first to arrive, running a thumb over the chain of a bronze necklace. The room was windowless, but the shade was cool. The noblewoman did not care for these luxuries, if she would be made to wait with them.

[Surei]

Surei arrived much before his scheduled appointment, in hope of catching sight of the buyer, and capturing her essence before moving in. He had it arranged during his favorite time of day, well before the sun had reached its peak. The heat was at its most bearable in those hours, enough for the cold-blooded Dhani to be perfectly comfortable. The object of the trade, a tall, dark-skinned man wasn't present. One of his associates was holding him further down the street, but still close enough to see him enter the building. Too much preparation for the task, according to Surei, but considering the peculiarity of the request, Noma had settled for more, rather than being caught off-guard. They didn't get much information on the other end of his deal, though he knew he had money, unless it was a she, but that would only affect the deal, not the end reward. Now that's something that would ruin the comfort of day: dealing with a female. Hoping to distract himself from the uneasiness that this perspective brought, Surei took another look at his surroundings. He stood opposite the shop where he was supposed to meet, in one of the more narrow alleys, just large enough for two horses to walk side by side. The sandstone buildings were mostly one story high, with some two-story ones extending their shadows over the entirety of the street. The Dhani took a deep breath then sat against the wall of one of those higher ones, waiting. ~~~ Not exactly one bell later, the buyer clearly announced herself in that horseless carriage, though her gender was only determined when she detached herself from the small cortege that accompanied her arrival. Surei didn't wait for Eoteb to enter the shop with her escort, or even to reflect on his bad luck, displacing the curtain merely seconds after her.

[Eoteb]

Eoteb’s scrutiny was short-lived. She turned quickly to the footfalls that sounded behind her. When she laid eyes on the man, whatever complaints she might have had were replaced anew. “You are not Noma,” she observed. Though she had never met the man, she knew how to tell whether one had even a shred of eypharian blood in him. Having never met one of Surei’s kind, she immediately assumed that she was to be served by a human slaver—an unsettling prospect, if not ironic. Crossing a pair of begrudging arms, she perched an elbow against them and twisted the chain of her necklace between a thumb and forefinger. Her painted eyes appraised him for a long moment before they glanced at the curtain behind him. He had arrived alone, she noted, with neither a guard nor a sample of his merchandise. It occurred to her that his presence here might be a mistake, that this meeting was not as secure as she had been led to believe. Her expression, while clinging to the typical pride required of her rank, twitched in confusion. She asked carefully, “Do you work for him?”

[Surei]

Everything about the woman tasted of confusion and misunderstanding, if taste was ever the right way to put it. Surei delighted himself in the moment before he answered, enjoying the brief sensation of power that Ahnatep usually reserved to those close to her heart. It wouldn’t last for long because in the end, it was that woman who held the bigger end of the stick. She made it clear with her arrival earlier, as well as the presence of the docile slave discreetly standing in the shadows of the room. Surei made note not to forget who he was dealing with. The only words Surei could make out of the Eypharian’s fluid Arumenic were the name of his accomplice and “work”. She probably thought the Dhani was some kind of lackey to the man, a statement he wholly rejected that he felt needed rectification. And so he did, in common: “You deal wiss me today. Noma and I are partners,…friends.” The Dhani smiled as he finished his introduction. His instincts told him the reason for this setup would come up soon, and maybe they would both be more at ease then. For now, he would play the confidence card.

[Eoteb]

Eoteb’s eyes rolled to the far wall. An unintelligible curse drowned in a mumbled breath; it was all she could do not to frown outright. The man was clearly less than Ahnatepan, and his poor communications offered her nothing that she had not already told him. It was becoming all too likely that he had followed a well-dressed woman into a room he did not know, and that Noma in his tardiness had treated her with a sample of the unshackled masses. She stepped backward to her guard. “I don’t suppose you—” Eoteb began, but then remembered his handicap. Folding a second pair of arms like impatience, she searched her memory for the words in the Common tongue. After a few long seconds, she turned to face him again, brow raised. She would not be the one to relent the secret, not entirely. “He did not tell you of the exchange? Or you are wasting my time? It is one of the two, and neither is good business.”

[Surei]

Nervousness followed Eoteb’s showy display of impatience, which was enough for Noma’s words from the previous day to come back. The Dhani had learned he’d be conducting the transfer of their human capture. He’d advised to be “as swift as possible, ‘lest we would waste the buyer’s time.” Now, Noma wasn’t the one to be easily impressed, but to recommend caution, especially to this brand of people, initially seemed pointless. “You’re right. We are wassting time.” No use trying the woman’s patience any longer. Time to move on. “We have what it iss you’re looking for. I understand you’d like to examine it for yourself beforehand?” Another detail Noma had slipped by him: the buyer’s wish for a non-standard exam could be the reason for this whole setup. Surei knew how eccentric Eypharians could be; he personally knew a couple, some of which were subject to the most unusual tastes. Would he be lucky to see another one of their devious minds at work? The Dhani had to step out of the room and come back in for his accomplice to bring their offer in. That would also mean a two on two in the event that things turned sour.