Brutin was roused from his thoughts when Nadine shifted her weight, the chains clinking in that dreadful sound that always brought up every other slave's head to see with the look of remembrance on their own faces. Her back was still to him, the welts were gone but he was betting the skin was still tender. Her arms were still over her head as she knelt in the red sands, wrists shackled to the cross bar of the dancing/whipping pole.

She wore only chains.

His gaze fell back to the window and the darkening sky. He had his dilemma set before him, the law was the law. He was the bringer of law to this crossroads of worlds. It would not do to flaunt the very same laws he shoved down other people's throats. Even a King obeyed the rules he made in his own kingdom.

"Speaking to a free person using their name." He said and heard her rustle the chains as she started out of her silence. He had been quiet for a very long time. "That punishment is usually done by that person, but you do it knowing they will not. I chose to ignore that as I to wish to show my contempt for them. Unless of course they know no better. Therefore you are instructed to teach this fact to those that do not know, and if they still allow it, contempt you may show." He said and she visibly relaxed where she hung but could not see his face.

He sipped at his brandy and glanced back out the window, he had been thinking on this all day, his guards stood stoically as if guarding a war camp while Philodus allowed his own temper to lash out at the vagrants of the soldiers he encountered. Still, they all left him alone, business being turned away for the day. He regarded his brandy and stared as the little waves of liquid pulled too and fro as he shook the glass. Fate.

"You assaulted a free person." He said looking up at her and watched as she flinched, her perfect back corded under the strain the shackles afforded. All slaves worked out, she was in perfect shape, a perfect creature, subject to laws different than those of war. "For that the punishment is the whip." He intoned and she shuddered remembering the lash falling on her last night. Did she wonder if that was punishment or just her Master venting his own anger and frustration? "Consider yourself lucky we are not mainland barbarians where the punishment is death." He added and she shuddered again, she knew full well the implications, she had confessed all under the lash last night. He knew everything.

He glanced across his desk and spotted the various trade papers, bills of lading and cargo manifests. It was interesting to note that every piece of paper was for general merchandise, not a single slip of paper contained a reference to a slave, male or female. Tara. The message was clear, for now he only had one slave. Concentrate.

"You held coin in your hands, you touched money instead of him placing it in your mouth as is proper." He said and she hardly reacted, the list of offenses was getting shorter, getting to that all important one. The one that really mattered. "The punishment is the whip." He said and still she did not react. She had faced it, would face it again, there was no mistake, she would feel the whip again and soon. "Be thankful you do not live in Thentis, the punishment is the loss of your hands." He commenting, she was well aware this his own rules paled in comparison to others, but he was not cruel. At least not to slaves.

He got back to his feet, abandoning the brandy for now and Nadine jerked in her chains, sure he was coming for her, his anger risen again. But she could not see that he had merely moved closer to the window to glance out.

"You held a weapon." He said and now he could tell she was affected, she was trembling so badly that the chains shook like a ghost seeking solace. "Punishment for that is the clamp." He said evenly and in response she struggled against her chains. She was whimpering in terror and he did not blame her. He thought of the assailant having forced this Ray to throw his weapon away and he unwittingly threw it to her, never realizing that she could not touch it. A life had been at stake and possibly hers thereafter.

There was no time for thinking wistfully now, the girl was back to crying and struggling and he would show compassion, speaking her crimes and punishments so that she could get it out of her system. He would not wait for her to recover and then subject her to it yet again. She was a slave.

"You struck a free person with a sword." He said and suddenly she was not moving at all, her focus on his words behind her as time seemed to stretch forward. Then suddenly she burst into vigorous activity and did not stop her struggling until she ran out of energy. He could not continue because he could not make himself be heard over her rattling and begging.

"The punishment is death."

Sudden silence. How does one take news of their impending death? The man had been intent on killing her only defense, she would have been next as she was a witness. Ray had not understood the circumstances so he could not react accordingly.

Nadine was back to crying, the pitiful shrills spilling from her plaintive and would have affected anyone else differently but he had become hardened to it by now. He ignored it so that it did not effect his decision. Punishments had been established and he had only to apply mitigating circumstances and pronounce sentence.

By the time he had come to his conclusions she had passed out where she had hung. For some things there was no helping it and for others horrific crimes could be downplayed due to circumstances, the bottom line was that while mixing with cultures unfamiliar with their laws it was ludicrous to hold slaves to standards respected by cultures where Slavery was the norm.

Ray was her saving grace.

Brutin thought of the man and his complaints, how a mere slave had saved his life twice in one day never realizing that he had saved her life from the catastrophe his being discovered with her entailed. But if there had been a reason for it, to humble him or cause him to train harder perhaps he would never know the answer, nor the answer to the question raised on Nadine's behalf.

He glanced at the slave hanging from her chains and sighed. Ever mindful of tests he had decided one thing, a last night for her to enjoy any friends she might have made, to put the miscommunication with Hex to rest and perhaps reasonably assume she could enjoy her last night in life.

Would she run? He felt the grin begin as he opened the shackles around her wrists.

Brutin ignored Tara as she crossed the room to her chair and sat down in it, watching him as he went back to his desk and tossed the key to Nadine's shackles on top of it.

He turned to see Nadine hunkered down trying desperately to get circulation back in her wrists and arms. Her hair was down over her face and she chose to keep it that way to hide her expression as she left quietly, probably more fearful that he would take notice of her than ignore her.

As she padded silently through the now open door to his office and disappeared Brutin sighed and then turned to Tara and affixed a pleasant smile to his lips.

"Well then, by all means, speak." He sat down on the edge of his desk and ignored his brandy.

Brutin stood there watching her for some time and then smiled, bless her heart she was trying to help in her way, she was going to rescue Nadine and she was the only one in the entire Nexus to debate with him and win. Still.

"Tell me Tara, how many weapons did you touch as a slave girl while rescuing the girls? Tell me how many men you killed Tara, how many people lost their lives at your hand during that rescue? Indeed, though you have been slave in the past and we play that I do not like to hear it, that you are no sexual creature I have always considered your slaveries a sham, play, knowing that had they ever gotten out of hand I would step in and force your freedom.

You worked so hard to live in my world as a man, strong, respected, a power in your own right, that I thought it only right you observe it as the women do. You had earned that right." He glanced towards his window but knew that now was not the time to lose himself.

"The truth of it is that you went in there a free woman playing a slave, the truth of it is that you worked on my behalf and all laws in my eyes were at your sole disposal. The truth of it is that you can do no wrong Sweet Thang for I would burn the heavens and flood hell itself should you come to harm.

Perhaps it is unfair then to put yourself as an equal to her where I give her great leniency because she serves exquisitely, but for you I would make a sham of my life's work to forgive the ultimate sin."