Paint your wagon ... Part Three

Now, the kaiila Master treated me more like a kid sister than he did anything else. We always knew I was slave and he was a Master but he has such an easy going manner beneath all that vain arrogance, I never seemed to be a threat to him. All that just wasn't very comforting right this moment. The tension between the two of them was even greater than what I felt personally from the outrider, and that is an understatement. It wasn't about me and the one behind that squeezing grip any more. He had never trusted Ts'ya, not even a little. Suddenly, it was all about a long standing dispute between the two men and now I was caught in the middle. Tuchuk do not take the blood of another Tuchuk, but that wasn't very consoling at the moment either.

"She displeases me. She is worthless. Nothing." I found that leaning my head to one side gave me a fraction of gap to drag in half a breath. I was doing that scream inside .. I am not nothing! But no one could hear it. Even to me it sounded far away, frail, echoing.

I could hear the prayers of a fool somewhere too. Hold on girl. Hold on.

That grasp was easing the slightest bit as Ts'ya's glance left mine to follow the kaiila Master. The kaiila Master seemed so cool, calm and collected as he leaned a shoulder against the wagon, his arms folding over his chest like this was just a quiet little how do you do at a fence post. "What has she done that displeases you so much, you would put an end to her?"

Good question. I wanted to hear that answer myself though my opinion could only come out as a wheeze at this point. "She does not ... look at me the way she does him. She does not .. want me the way she does him." It still didn't make any sense to me. Why did he hate me for that?

Vao just laughed. "Then she is probably missing your obvious charm. Why do you not take her to him and tell him why you are so displeased with her. I am sure he will find a suitable punishment. No use dirtying your blade over ... nothing."

I felt that clutch tighten enough to make my eyes pulse then the next thing I knew I was flung half beneath the wagon. All that pretty jar of red paint splattering the wheel I'd kept warm during this time. "Never mind. She is not worth my time"

Frozen in place, I could only watch the boots storm off down the rows of wagons. As I watched them disappear in the distance, I knew I had been given a blessed reprieve. There was nothing to actually stop the outrider from sending me back to my creator if he had decided to. The kaiila Master had known this too. When I did dare to look up, Vao was staring down at me .. no smile, no are you alright, just one of those narrowed glints. What had I done wrong? Why was he mad at me too? He never said another word just turned and walked away in the opposite direction.

The paint!

It was dripping off the wheel and onto the ground. Now ... HE was going to kill me for spilling paint, for having displeased a Master, for not asking if I could make something pretty on his wagon ... maybe for just being worthless like Ts'ya said I was.

I began trying to scrub to get it all off the wheel when the flood gate opened. and inside the tears I was still screaming ... I am not ... nothing!!!! I am bell. I am Leonette. I am Tuchuk.

No one could hear it. Even to me it sounded far away, frail, echoing. In the silence, I felt so alone.