Welcome to Gaia! ::

(yours is longer than mine! hehee)

Marean called him inside, but kept the other slaves with her. What it came down to was that she wanted him patroling her borders, but that there was no rush to get him there just yet. She saw him not only as an integral part of her survival now, but as a strong man whom it was her pleasure to keep.

She smiled at him and told him to take his rest in the House for a few days as they reorganized the structure of the guards. That meant they were finding a place for him, either moving people into new positions or redefining the positions themselves in order to get the most out of himself and other slaves. It was a process carried out entirely by women, to which he could only aid by answering questions and providing a few demonstrations.

He was shown into the guard's quarters of the House. By then, Cedric had caught wift of his arrival and was actually waiting in his new room for him. In fact, he might have been the one to set it up properly, and was now lying quit improperly on Ross' bed as he waited. The other slaves mostly let him alone, though, knowing that he wasn't doing any thing really against the rules. It was just rude, considering that he didn't really know Ross and had no right to bother him when Ross was to be resting. But Cedric remembered Ross and viewed his return quite differently than the other slaves did. He had sensed a kindred spirit, and he was here to find out if he was right.

It also happened to be a time when he was allowed to rest. When Ross came in, Cedric opened his eyes but didn't sit up. The other slaves had enough sense to vacate the room, to let whatever was going to happen happen. "Ross! You're staying here for a bit, hmn? Welcome back!" Cedric was relaxed and in clothing that made up about half of his guard uniform. That is, he was wearing the undershirt and the proper pants, but none of the armor and no boots. If he had any weapons on him, they were hidden.

Most slave quarters were plain, except for the slaves who lived on the top floor next to Marean.

"Yes," Cedric said simply. There was no attachment to the word; it didn't mean, but I wish I hadn't been, or, as I should be. It just meant that he had not gotten in trouble recently. But if Ross has to guess, Cedric had not succeeded in becoming a typical slave.

"You learn any thing useful out there?" he prodded. He'd never been any where on Feretris that was not Eldic Estates. Then a more important question: "Did you get a meal yet?"

(that makes him, what, 21?)

"In the House we eat when the women are done, and they won't be for another hour. They're eating right now," Cedric explained. "Sorry."

He stared at Ross from his deceptively relaxed position. The door to the room was closed, so they had some privacy. He decided to risk getting in trouble. "Unless, perhaps, you suspect that I might have some food stored away somewhere." If Ross didn't want to know, he didn't have to.

((awesome *switches majors to math*))

Cedric laughed. Good, Ross was probably still a safe person to talk to. "It's in my room, buddy. You aren't carrying any thing extra, are you? Nothing heavy?" He eyed Ross' clothing curiously. It was a bit different than what Eldic Estates had, with their compounds' symbol on the chest.

Cedric slid into a standing position beside Ross' bed and stretched. "My room isn't far from here."

Cedric smirked, swallowing a rude comment.

He led Ross through the hall way on tiptoe, trying not to disturb any one who might be napping on their break or doing other things. They slipped into his bare room, which looked exactly like Ross' but without the things Ross had brought from outside of the compound. Just a bed, a chair, and a place for his few clothes and weapons. Every thing was neat because it had to be.

Cedric shut the door behind them and moved furniture and wiggled wooden boards to get at what he had hidden. He gave Ross a peice of bread, which meant that he must have stolen it that week because it was still good, and jerky, which lasts much longer. It seemed to be all he had in there, but he didn't seem to mind giving it all to Ross. He started moving things back into place.

Cedric sat on his bed, stifling a yawn as he watched Ross eat.

"I'm a guard, yes. Unfortunately, I've been doing too much. I have other duties... Normally I don't care so much, but in the summer months the tourists come, and it's not just Marean I have to please. I can feel myself getting sick. I'm worn out."

He wanted to look at the floorboards, but instead he looked at Ross. Some of the other slaves shunned him simply for living in the visitor's house, and some of the other guards didn't know how to talk to him because of his other job. Or maybe it was because of who he was, he was never quite sure. He didn't exactly make himself appear friendly to the other slaves.

As a guard he was given a trusted but not a difficult position. As a personal slave, he was given a difficult position that didn't fit in well with his "wild" views. It wasn't exactly bad. To please the women he had to be pleased as well. But it wasn't something he had ever imagined himself doing, and since he lacked some of the conditioning that other slaves with the same job had recieved, he didn't have the same outlook on it, and he knew it. Marean had wanted some one wild. Then later his knowledge had been supplemented, but it wasn't the same as training like that from a younger age. He would never exist solely to please them.

"She kept me because of my looks. Now she doesn't sell me because I'm good enough in bed that I can keep up with the reputation the other slaves have established," he said more plainly.

"I don't hate it that much," Cedric said quietly. He didn't want any one over hearing. "But I was thinking I should go to Marean and, umn, exagerrate my ill feelings, so she'll send me to a doctor and get me some rest." He sighed. "Like I said, it's not so bad, until all these visitors come."

He was often at peace with his job, and was trying to give that impression now. However, he felt antsy. Probably both because he felt he was getting ill and because Ross was here, which reminded him of when he was first captured. His hiding food away was proof that they still used a starving technique on him when he was being difficult about something, or accidentally offended them.

"Maybe I won't have to exaggerate. I could fall asleep standing up." He yawned again. "I'm sure they worked you hard in training, right?"

"Tell me what you learned," Cedric asked, clearly more interested in that than in sleeping at the moment. "I used to listen to the army men talk about battles and tactics. I could never do it myself, but I always liked hearing about it." He lay back on his bed with his hands behind his head. "Most of the battles Tok fought were attrition based with a few scare tactics thrown in. Sometimes I didn't believe the numbers."

Yeah, that was because his people often had the aid of a dragon, who was at least willing to growl at a few people even if they didn't want to fight in a human battle. But that was carefully cut out with rewordings in the public histories.