Around the hour of midnight, five people had showed up at Travanix's warehouse near Star's End. Two were in charge, a diminutive almond-eyed man named Chen Pan and a tall, terse black woman he took orders from. Both had guns strapped visibly on their belts, but never touched them.
The other three were their cargo: three young women following in a silent line, their wrists symbolically bound with white silk cord. Taken from the Earth nation of China, they were similar in many respects: long shining black hair, almond-shaped brown eyes with slim eyelids, round pebbles of cheeks, a certain demure submission of manner.
Two were sisters: Chwun Yu, 17, and Chwun Hwa, 15. They were the daughters of a scholar who had fallen on hard times after the death of his wife. He had hugged them both as he sent them into slavery, and they had tried very hard to follow his instructions and not cry. They were quiet, moderately educated, dutiful in their household duties.
The other, Jing, was the eldest daughter of a minor government official, rather spoiled. She was 16 and a rare beauty, with luminous porcelain skin (the sisters were brown as baked clay.) She had, in her short life, only disobeyed her parents twice: once when she refused to have her feet crippled by binding, and then when she had tried to commit suicide to avoid her arranged marriage to an older widower. At this second offense, the family had sold her quite cheaply - they had other, more obedient daughters.
The two who delivered them did not bother to tell Travanix' people their names and histories. These facts, while interesting, no longer mattered. Those who had procured these girls into slavery were only intrigued by how much money the trained slaves would eventually fetch. The success of this venture would make their corporation more trusting of moving other commodities through this Rhy'din distributor, goods which had cost far more than the lives of these three females.
The other three were their cargo: three young women following in a silent line, their wrists symbolically bound with white silk cord. Taken from the Earth nation of China, they were similar in many respects: long shining black hair, almond-shaped brown eyes with slim eyelids, round pebbles of cheeks, a certain demure submission of manner.
Two were sisters: Chwun Yu, 17, and Chwun Hwa, 15. They were the daughters of a scholar who had fallen on hard times after the death of his wife. He had hugged them both as he sent them into slavery, and they had tried very hard to follow his instructions and not cry. They were quiet, moderately educated, dutiful in their household duties.
The other, Jing, was the eldest daughter of a minor government official, rather spoiled. She was 16 and a rare beauty, with luminous porcelain skin (the sisters were brown as baked clay.) She had, in her short life, only disobeyed her parents twice: once when she refused to have her feet crippled by binding, and then when she had tried to commit suicide to avoid her arranged marriage to an older widower. At this second offense, the family had sold her quite cheaply - they had other, more obedient daughters.
The two who delivered them did not bother to tell Travanix' people their names and histories. These facts, while interesting, no longer mattered. Those who had procured these girls into slavery were only intrigued by how much money the trained slaves would eventually fetch. The success of this venture would make their corporation more trusting of moving other commodities through this Rhy'din distributor, goods which had cost far more than the lives of these three females.