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  Carla was crying in her sleep, her mind taken over by a vivid nightmare.

  Elloriann didn’t know what to do. Was it best to wake her or let her be? Did she have any right to try and comfort Carla? This was a vulnerable moment, and they were still barely a step away from strangers.

  Her mind was made up, however, after a particularly pitiful whine escaped Carla’s throat. Elloriann shook her gently until she woke up with a start.

  For a moment, Carla had no idea where she was, and Elloriann’s dark silhouette startled her, causing her to shuffle away.

  “I’m sorry, hey, it’s all right,” Elloriann said softly, trying to help Carla calm down.

  “I’m sorry, I...” When Carla remembered where she was, she felt bad for reacting this way to Elloriann’s presence.

  “You were having a bad dream, I had to wake you.”

  “I... Thank you.”

  Elloriann reached out and held Carla’s hand.

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “No. Sorry, no.”

  “It’s all right. I’ll stay with you until you fall back asleep, all right?”

  “You don’t have to.”

  “I don’t mind.”

  Carla squeezed Ell’s hand.

  “I’d like that, thank you.”

  Elloriann sat beside Carla on the floor, running her thumb gently over the skin of Carla’s hand.

  When Carla finally fell back asleep, Elloriann felt reluctant to leave her alone. So she reached for her bed and pulled down her own blanket by its corner. She spread it out as well as she could on the floor and lay down on it beside Carla, without ever letting go of her hand.

  In the morning, when Carla woke up to find Elloriann sleeping beside her, with their hands still entwined, she felt safe for the first time in years.

  10

  They had breakfast in companionable silence. Though Carla still never lifted her head for more than a few moments, she felt a lot more comfortable in Ell’s presence.

  Elloriann then showed Carla to the bathing room where Carla cleaned herself more thoroughly than she had in a very long time.

  The royal healer came to check Carla’s wounds at the princess’ request. After a thorough check-up the doctor concluded that no serious damage had been done, but that Carla should sleep on soft bedding for the near future and keep her wounds clean. She also gave Carla a bottle of healing lotion to apply to her cuts and welts.

  Elloriann offered Carla some of her own clothes, and though they didn’t fit her perfectly, they were far better than the dirty rags Carla had worn previously.

  When all the morning rituals and medical procedures were concluded, it was finally time to go and face the king. Ell asked Carla to come with her. Whatever else happened, Ell needed to tell the king about what had happened in Mordielle. If, by chance, Mordielle's royals ever wanted their slave back, Carla would need Evlirone's protection.

  After walking down many hallways and a few stairs, Carla and Elloriann reached the throne room. The guards allowed the princess and her companion to pass without a word.

  Luckily, the king was there and alone, reviewing some reports on the latest factory construction.

  “Elloriann, my dear!” the king said with a kind smile when he saw his daughter enter. “How was your trip? Have you made your decision?”

  “Father, do you know that Mordielle has not outlawed slavery?” Elloriann decided to address the issue directly, and without preamble.

  The king lowered his eyes for a moment. He had known, and felt guilty both for not discussing this with his daughter before sending her off to Mordielle, and for choosing to suggest her marriage to its prince in the first place. But he believed this alliance necessary, so he did what he thought he should.

  “Yes.”

  “And you still wish to ally our lands?”

  “I hoped we could negotiate. I hoped they would see things our way.”

  “And if they don’t?”

  “We won’t know that unless we try.”

  “But what if they bring their laws to our land instead of the other way around? Are you willing to risk that?”

  “We need to give them a chance, dear.”

  “Do we?”

  Finally the king could no longer ignore the presence of a strange person dressed in his daughter’s clothes that fit her quite poorly.

  “Who is this?”

  Elloriann sighed at the change of subject, but it was indeed quite rude to simply keep Carla standing there without an introduction.

  “This is Carla. One of the royal slaves. I happened upon the prince trying to beat her to death. I stopped him. Then I...brought her here.”

  “You bought a slave?”

  “Well...no.”

  The king’s eyes widened.

  “So, you stole her?”

  Elloriann felt righteous anger rising inside of her.

  “She is from our land. She was stolen by slave traders after the storm and sold to the royal family of Mordielle. If anything, I have rescued an Evlirone denizen and returned her to her homeland.”

  The king sighed. It wasn’t an angry sigh. He couldn’t blame his daughter for choosing to liberate a slave, but he also knew that things got complicated when it came to the differing laws of neighboring lands. Slavery was not unlawful in Mordielle, and that meant that their laws, however unfair, needed to be respected by foreigners who came there. A member of Evlirone’s royal family rebelling against Mordielle’s laws would not be good for the diplomatic relations between the lands.

  “I suppose marriage to Mordielle’s prince is out of the question now,” the king mused.

  “Well...he doesn’t know I took Carla with me. He doesn’t even know it was me who had stopped his assault on her. He might remember me, or he might not. I left the king and queen a letter when I left, telling them that I had to leave urgently. If necessary, this alliance could still be salvaged.”

  “But...you don’t want it to be?”

  Elloriann turned to Carla, speaking to her in a soft but respectful voice.

  “Carla, could you tell my father what you’ve told me? About the prince.”

  Carla nodded and took a shy step forward.

  “Your majesty,” she addressed the king, bowing her head lower still. “In the 2 years I’ve spent in Mordielle, Prince Rondall has ended 5 lives – 3 horses and 2 people. Slaves. He is cruel, uncompromising, and spoiled. He has no respect for anyone but himself, and no compassion. I...” She hesitated about stating her opinion to the king, but when she glanced at Elloriann, she was rewarded with a reassuring nod. “I don’t believe he would be very open to negotiation. Nor do I think it would be safe for your daughter, or anyone else, to marry him.”

  The king took a deep breath, then let it out as a sense of surrender settled in his gut.

  “Thank you,” he said to Carla. Then he turned to his daughter. “Perhaps Mordielle is not our best choice for alliance. What we would gain from it financially and militarily would pale in comparison to the danger in which we would put Evlirone by allying with a land that does not value its inhabitants' rights, that will one day be led by a cruel and selfish leader.” The king sighed again, but now that the decision was made, he was more relieved than he could have expected. “We’ll find another way to help our land recover.”

  Elloriann smiled at the king. He might not have been the best father to her, but he had always been a good leader to Evlirone.

  “Thank you, Father.”

  Elloriann turned around and exited the throne room, with Carla silently following her down the spacious hallways of the castle.

  They returned to Elloriann’s bedroom and sat down by the table.

  There were no more excuses to postpone the inevitable.

  “So,” Elloriann said with an awkward smile, “I suppose now we need to decide what you’re going to do next. Or, rather, you need to decide that. I’ll just...do whatever I can to help.”

  A few moments passed as C
arla tried to understand exactly what her future looked like going forward.

  “Your highness–”

  “Ell.”

  “Right. I...I don’t know what my...status is now? Am I still a slave of Mordielle’s royals? Am I a fugitive? Do I have to hide? Can they take me back if they find me?”

  “That’s...those are actually really good questions.” Elloriann thought about it for a good 3 minutes before saying anything else. “I want to believe that you are free now, but we need to consult someone more knowledgeable in these matters. I’ll be right back.”

  With that she existed the room, leaving Carla on her own.

  For the first 5 minutes Carla simply sat in the same position, unmoving, staring at the floor. Eventually she raised her head and looked around the room. She’d seen most of it by now, but she hadn’t truly looked at it, as she’d mostly kept her head down and followed Elloriann’s instructions on where to go and what to do. Now that she was alone, she could study all the details.

  The room was elegant, tasteful. It was comfortable, but not extravagant. There were no golden statues, no jeweled furniture. The sheets on the bed were simple. The only thing Carla would consider a luxury was a small bowl of apples on the table in front of her.

  If Carla didn’t know this room belonged to a princess, she probably wouldn’t have guessed so. It warmed her heart to know that the royal family did not bathe in riches while their people barely survived after the storm.

  The mattress on which Carla had slept was still on the floor, and she suddenly felt a pang of regret and a sense of loss as she realized that, whatever her future held, she would likely not be sleeping there again. This was the first place that made her feel safe in a long time, and a part of her feared that wherever she'd be going next, it would not make her feel the same way.

  Elloriann was only gone for about 15 minutes. She went down to the library to find one of her former teachers who now mostly tended to the books, and occasionally served as an adviser to the king.

  Soon they were both entering Elloriann’s bedroom where Carla was still sitting in the same spot. When they entered, Carla instinctively lowered her head again, then hastily rose out of her seat. It had been a rule enforced by both of her owners that slaves were to always be standing in the presence of free people, and Carla had gotten used to jumping up whenever anyone at all entered the room, just in case.

  Elloriann sighed. She hoped eventually Carla would feel safe enough to look people in the eyes again.

  “Carla, this is Professor Azlo. Professor, this is Carla.”

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Professor,” Carla said quietly.

  “Likewise.”

  “Professor, we need your help,” Elloriann said as she offered Professor Azlo a chair. “Carla, would you mind summing up your story in as much detail as you’re comfortable retelling?”

  Carla nodded shyly and began talking, occasionally looking up at the women in front of her.

  “I grew up on a farm here in Evlirone. The storm killed both of my parents and destroyed everything we owned. The slave traders took me barely a day after the storm and sold me to an earl in one of the neighboring lands. Later I was sold back to the slave traders, who sold me to the royal family of Mordielle, where I served until yesterday, when Princess Elloriann saved me and brought me here.”

  Though Elloriann couldn't help but smile at the way Carla described what had happened in Mordielle, a part of her also felt uneasy about it. Carla clearly felt indebted to Elloriann, and understandably so, but Ell feared that this would prevent Carla from feeling that her life was now truly her own.

  “Right,” Elloriann said, turning to Professor Azlo. “We’d like to know if this means she’s free now or if she’s still a slave? What do we need to do to make sure she’s not in danger?”

  Professor Azlo took a moment to think it over, rubbing her chin with her left hand as she often did when she was turning over large amounts of information in her head.

  “This is very complicated,” she said, somehow managing to express both compassion and interest. “As a native of Evlirone you should be protected by our laws. You were enslaved in our land, where slavery is against the law, which means that your very becoming a slave was unlawful. However, the royals of Mordielle were not breaking any laws by buying you, and it could be considered in violation of their rights to take you away from them, as your unjust enslavement was not their responsibility as buyers.”

  For a moment she felt bad for speaking of Carla as though she were an object, but verbal flourishes would hardly change the meaning of what was happening.

  “What does that actually mean for her future?” Elloriann asked.

  “This is likely unprecedented, and if it came down to being reviewed in a court of law, it could go any number of ways.” She rubbed her chin again. “But I do believe Carla has good chances of winning her freedom. Forgive me the comparison, but imagine that something was stolen from you. A family heirloom, perhaps. It was then resold several times, and you finally find it in someone’s possession. The person who’d purchased the heirloom was unaware that it had been stolen, and is not at fault for the theft. However, the heirloom would still likely be returned to you, because it had been stolen from you, so in the eyes of the law, it is still yours.”

  “Well, that’s good,” Elloriann said with an optimistic smile.

  “There are, of course, many complexities. For one, you’d need to prove you are a native of Evlirone, which could be difficult considering that your family is dead, all your property has been destroyed, and a long time has passed. There are two different lands with different laws involved; not to mention, royals, who sometimes tend to feel entitled to things regardless of whether they have any right to own them.”

  “Yes.” Carla allowed herself a bit of bitterness. “I believe that could certainly be a problem in this case.”

  “Hmm.” The professor nodded her understanding. “I would conclude that your best course of action would be to simply avoid your former owners. As long as they do not claim you, you are free. Especially if you stay in Evlirone.”

  “Thank you, Professor,” Elloriann said as the professor rose from her chair.

  “If it does ever come to a trial in court, I would be honored if you chose me to represent you.”

  “Thank you, I would really appreciate that,” Carla said, daring to look up at the professor’s face.

  “And if you stay with us, you can always find me at the library,” Professor Azlo said as she exited the room. “Good day.”

  11

  Carla and Elloriann sat at the table for a few minutes, neither of them sure of what to say next. Finally, Carla spoke.

  “What did she mean by ‘if you stay with us’?”

  “If you stay at the castle,” Elloriann said hopefully. “You could, you know. It’s all right if you don’t want to, but... Well, we’ve lost a lot of our help after the storm because we couldn’t afford to pay them anymore, so there are plenty of empty rooms in the servant wing. It’s all right if you’d rather leave though, I won’t hold you.”

  “Where would I go?” Carla raised her head slightly, stealing glances at Elloriann’s face every few seconds. “My fathers are dead, my farm... I don’t even know what happened to it. It’s been years, someone else probably claimed it.”

  “Yes, that’s likely. After the storm, a lot of land was abandoned, so Father decreed that any land that has been without an owner for more than 6 months reverts to ownership by the royal family. We then gave that land to those able to make use of it, under contracts that obligated them to give all profits to the treasury for the first 3 years.”

  “That’s...I suppose that’s good,” Carla said, though she wasn’t quite certain if she believed it. “Perhaps it’s better that the land isn’t just...dead.”

  Selfishly, Carla almost wished the land remained abandoned. It pained her to know that someone other than her own family was living and working on it now, bu
t she knew it was better for Evlirone, and for whomever had that land now.

  Elloriann saw the sadness on Carla’s face, but didn’t know how to comfort her. Nothing she could say would make it better.

  “I’m sorry about your parents,” she said quietly.

  “Thank you.”

  In order to avoid another stretch of silence, Elloriann spoke again almost immediately, hoping that a distraction would help Carla feel better.

  “We could find you a good room in the servant wing if you’d like. You can rest for now, heal. And then...perhaps we could find you something to do? Our financial situation isn’t as dire anymore, I’m sure we could find the money to hire you. I’m sure you have skills we could use. If not, you could always be my handmaiden. I’ve never had one before, but it’s not uncommon for royals.”

  Carla smiled at that, but quickly quelled her joy. It wasn’t appropriate to laugh in the princess’ presence.

  “Thank you, your highness,” she said, lowering her head again. “I’ll be happy to do any work you wish me to.”

  Elloriann sighed. She moved her chair to sit as close to Carla as possible.

  “Carla... Please look at me.”

  Carla hesitated for a moment, but an order or a request from a royal was to be followed. She looked up to see Elloriann smiling at her kindly. Carla couldn’t help but smile back, and this time she felt almost no fear about doing so; she knew she would not be punished.

  “I’m sorry, your hi– Ell. I’m sorry, I don’t know how to act. I’ve been a slave for so long, I fear that’s all I’ll ever be now.”

  “It’s all right,” Elloriann said as she took both of Carla’s hands in hers. “Take your time. You’re not doing anything wrong. I just want you to remember that you’re not a slave anymore. You’re free, and you’re my equal.” She squeezed Carla’s hands tighter as Carla shook her head. “Yes, you are. You’re not royalty, so I suppose in the eyes of most we are not equals, but your life is worth as much as mine. You deserve happiness, comfort, and dignity as much as me or my father or that creature I almost married in Mordielle.”