Wrong side of the cage (Rook)

[Shiress]

42nd day
Spring 519

Chamomile - A white, long-stemmed flower with a yellow center. Leaves and flower are dried and used primarily in tea form to aid in intestinal distress.

Coltsfoot - So named for its resemblance to a horse's foot, the leaves are used primarily in tea form or inhaled to treat respiratory distress and fever. The plant's bright yellow flowers are used as a poultice to treat inflammation of the skin and insect bites.

Fenugreek seed - A teardrop shape leafed plant whose seeds are beneficial in the form of a salve to treat skin irritants and fever.

"Doctor?"

Garlic - A root herb ingested for blood and heart ailments. Can also aid in stamina and energy.

"Doctor?"

Motherwort - A bird footprint-shaped plant that is used in tea form to treat female reproductive disorders and is used to induce labor.

"Shiress?!"

Shiress nearly jumped from her seat at the small desk, the tome that she had been studying slipping from her fingers, landing with a dusty thud by her feat. "I'm sorry" she said, offering the woman a sheepish grin. "I'm not used to being called that yet." Shiress paused awkwardly, before bending to retrieve the tome and standing. "I've been studying the material you gave me." she raised the book as if to validate her words. The stoned face nurse, Minni Shiress thought her name was, didn't even offer the book a cursory glance, but instead just glared at Shiress as if the new doctor had just insulted her mother. Shiress fidgeted. "I am so..."

"There are new slaves down near the market, " she cut in, expression never wavering, "They need to be examined and deemed healthy before they are auctioned. I usually do it myself, but since you were.." Minni cleared her throat, redirecting her thought, "since you need the experience I recommended you. You'll need assistance, and no one is...available. You'll need to find your own." the nurse turned to leave "You are expected in half a bell. Your bag is on the table." she shot back over her shoulder.

Shiress's stomached reeled. Slaves? To be given a physical so they can be sold like cattle. Swallowing hard, she placed the book on the vacated desk and smoothed down her dress, as well as her nerves. What could she do but comply? She was newly employed at the hospital. To not go might very well cost her her job. Sliding the medical bag from the edge of the table, Shiress left the small room, cleared the foyer, and stepped out into Syna's midday rays. Two guards fell in beside her, both Elias's. A gesture of security, Elias had said, but Shiress was reasonably sure that the guards were there to keep her from getting into trouble more so than to guard her wellbeing.

Shiress turned to the guard at her right. A huge brute of a man, bald as a baby with a close-cropped beard and arms bigger than her thighs. "Can you return to the Manor and bring Rook to me?" The guard nodded, but before he left, she added with a hard swallow, "I'll be down by the slave market."

The ex-slave's heart skipped several beats with the realization that this would be the first time she had ever been to the markets on the other side of the cage.

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[Rook]

Rook was feeling restless. Since Shiress had left the manor for her job earlier that morning, the wolf boy had been pacing the long dining hall from front to back, back to front. Pacing was usually a good method for Rook to string his thoughts together, but today his mind was infuriatingly blank. He could feel a deep, buried frustration thrumming in his bones that he couldn't put words to, and it was driving him half mad with impatience. With a growl, Rook turned another circle. Maybe he would feel better if he was in his wolf form? The wolf boy began undoing his collar at the thought.

"Ahem." Rook was pulled out of his wandering non-thoughts by Elias' Butler, standing at the hallway door. The man's face was impassive, but Rook felt a fierce surge of impatience at the man's presence.

"Yes?" Rook snapped.

"Might I suggest you do something more productive with your time then wear holes in the floor?" Alaric suggested lightly. "There is cleaning to be done, but the last servant to attempt to enter here was fairly convinced that if she stepped through the door you would eat her."

"And what exactly do you suggest I do?" Rook growled. His patience was thin and brittle, and he was in no mood to be sassed by Elias' sarcastic servant.

"Oh, I don't know. Go pace outside? Bother someone else?"

"I'm fine." Rook added a growl of warning in his voice.

"Let me put it this way," Alaric said. "If you do not kindly find something else to do with your time, away from here, then I will kindly see you removed."

Rook's anger flared, but he bit back the compulsion to act on it. He had no doubt that Alaric had the means to back up his threats.

"Fine!" Rook snarled. "I'm going to see Shiress!" The words themselves were as much of a threat as they were a decision of action. In that moment, Rook was positive that his bondmate would be furious at his treatment. Alaric didn't look particularly concerned; so with a growl Rook stormed past the man and out the front door, slamming it behind him.

Rook had hardly gone more than a dozen steps in the direction of the link tying himself to his beloved, when one of Elias' guards approached him. Rook gave the man an annoyed look, but before the wolf-boy could say anything the guard was speaking.

"Shiress has asked that you come accompany her," the man said. Rook's irritation paused a moment, replaced by puzzlement. At the hospital? Why? He knew a thing or two about herbalism, sure enough. But surely Shiress' coworkers knew more. For the first time all day, Rook quieted his rampaging emotions and listened, feeling along the link tied between him. Rook felt a small burst of concern as he sensed Shiress' uneasy feelings. What was going on? Did she need to be comforted?

It was easy to forget his frustration when something was wrong with Shiress. "Take me to her," Rook said to the guard. Wordlessly the guard nodded, and wordlessly the wolf boy followed.

He hadn't expected the guard to lead him to the slave market, and Shiress' unease made slightly more sense to the boy. Rook's eyes roamed over the iron bars with shackles of all sizes hanging from him. Rook's nostrils flared, and automatically the wolf boy turned and looked towards the stacks of cages of various sizes, each containing anxious looking animals of all kinds. It seemed like a lifetime ago he had been here himself.

It was easy to find Shiress, as his proximity to her caused the feelings of her anxiety to heighten to a razor point. Rook took the lead away from the guard and plunged into the crowd, soon finding his bondmate. "What's wrong?" Rook asked her. The wolf boy gently took Shiress' face in his hands and looked her in the eye, concern filling his features.

[Shiress]

The tick that Shiress had arrived at the slave market she knew precisely why nurse Minni had volunteered her for this particular assignment. Up against the backside of the dock's edge were five large cages. From one side to the other, they measured exactly ten heels to toe steps and stood around five feet tall. Shiress had measured them herself countless times as she sat imprisoned within their iron bars. Each cage held around fifteen slaves, human and nonhuman alike, there were even animals, Kelvics no doubt, from what she could see, but it was the second cage that held Shiress's disbelieving gaze.

Within the boxed cell dirty and drawn faces peered around nervously, each exuding expressions of fear and uncertainty and each one familiar to the caretaker. Radcliffe Lark's household slaves. People that she had lived and worked with. Her friends, stripped, caged, and bound in shackles awaiting a new master.

Shiress stood several paces away from the cage's occupants, her emerald gaze studying each face that turned to her in recognition. She feared the resentment of her freedom from the slaves, or their hatred that she had gained something so precious while they still were chained. But as the eyes of each slave turned up to the ex-slave Shiress was greeted only with a sad attempt at joy upon seeing a friend, heavy-lidded eyes vacant of the smiles dry and cracked lips endeavored. One azure gaze caught and held the doctor's, and these eyes had retained the innocent joy of an eleven-year-old little girl.

It was Niya

Shiress's heart splintered at the sight her.

The little girl that Shiress had shared a room with, had taken under her wing and cared for at the Lark Estate was staring back at her with pure delight at seeing her, no matter that she now stood outside the cage as a free woman.

In an attempt to bar the sob rising from her chest Shiress drew in a long, steadying breath and would have run to the cage had it not been for the echo of Rook's calming presence running through their bond. She turned just in time to face her Bondmate, his steady hands lifting to her cheeks. "The slaves," she said, feigning calmness, though the tears brimming in her eyes as her gaze lifted to Rook's belied the attempt "are Radcliffe's."

Clearing her throat, Shiress peered over her shoulder in the direction of the cell, taking a moment to compose herself "I am to examine them and deem them viable for the auctions." she said, then turning back whispered "Niya is in there, Rook. How am I supposed to -" her voice broke then, and she pressed forward, wrapping her arms around Rook's waste

Shiress did not have to tell Rook what dangers lay in wait for a young and beautiful girl in the slave auctions.

"Are you from the hospital?" A males voice asked from behind. Shiress turned to see a bald man dressed in leather armor standing a few feet away, looking very impatient. A slaver's guard. Shiress nodded her reply. "Your clinic is set up over there." He pointed to a tent-like structure set up near the cages then reached a hand out gesturing toward the pack slung over her shoulder. Shiress handed it to him. "I will see you are set up and then begin sending in the slaves." The man turned on his heel and left.

Shiress stared after him a tick before turning to Rook, eyes still lined with tears.

"How am I supposed to do this to them?"

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[Rook]

Rook gently nestled his nose into the crook of Shiress' neck, feeling the stress and anxiety pouring off of her. He didn't honestly know if he could offer his bondmate anything other than comfort, but he drank in that worry anyways, pushing at her anxiety with his own measured calm. One hand rested against the small of her back as the other held her hand, and he pushed away at that anxiety and worry, nipping away at it in the hope of giving his bondmate some relief.

Rook's gaze fell upon the caged people who had once been Shiress' fellows. He had personally not felt much of a camaraderie towards his fellow slaves, but Rook knew perfectly well that he was not Shiress, and the pair's experiences were ultimately different. All that mattered was that this was something that Shiress was worried about. He felt a pang of sympathy for the caged people, particularly the child, and wondered for a moment if it was his own heart or Shiress' that sympathized.

When a voice pierced the conversation between the bondmates, Rook turned to glower at the man who had interrupted them. Even after the man had finished speaking and departed, Rook's glare followed as the man disappeared into the crowd. As Shiress voice came to Rook he turned to look at her, his copper gaze meeting her emerald eyes. The anxiety within her was still frothing, like a simmering stew waiting for the slightest increase in heat to boil over. Rook leaned forward and nuzzled her forehead gently with his nose.

"We have to do something about it, right?" The matter seemed quite sensible to Rook, but not even the straightforward kelvic could elude himself into believing that it would be that simple. What could they possibly do to help these slaves? Neither of them had the money to buy them, which would be the most direct route in freeing them. And freeing them, particularly in this crowded marketplace surrounded by guards was inherently risky. Rook pondered the question before taking Shiress' hand.

"Let's go and look at the tent," Rook said. "Maybe then we'll be able to think up something."

Rook lead the way, Shiress' hand in his. Any time a passerby drew to close, he would give them a sharp, cold glare. In essence, Rook was acting as a perfect guard dog and no one gave the kelvic more than a second glance or questioned his presence there. Still leading, Rook found the tent and headed forward into it, eyes peering into the lamplit gloom of the tent. His eyes roamed briefly over the sets of medical instruments he didn't recognize atop a stool and tray, the shackles nearby. Rook's nose twitched, taking in the telltale scent of both fresh and old blood. He paced around the tent for a moment and examined the tent covering for a moment before returning to his bondmate. Not knowing what prying eyes and ears might be listening, Rook moved his mouth to her ear.

"This area is pretty enclosed," Rook told her. "Whatever we decide to do, I don't think anyone outside will be able to see inside very well." The wolf boy gave his bondmate's hand a gentle squeeze, and waited to see what she would say, ready to take direction from her.