Philodus entered the office giving a sideways glance to Nadine chained to the pole in the middle of the red sands. There had not been much dancing there recently and his face set grimly as he looked to Brutin who was sitting at his desk going over manifest which were quickly thrown down and ignored.

"There is a woman at the gate wishing entrance." Philodus reported and Brutin shrugged. Yet another simple woman come to meet her fate as an object of beauty rather than an object of contempt.

"Send her to the pens stripped and naked, I will give her some time tonight." Brutin said casually and Philodus grinned at him, turning to go.

"This place does sport one flavor of woman we do not get back home. Peers." Philodus commented and started for the open door. Brutin caught the word and looked up.

"Peer? Did she claim to be someone?" He asked lightly and Philodus turned and shrugged.

"She simply asked that I inform you she was here. Said her name was Lady Soulbinder." He said with a shrug and Brutin closed his eyes and sighed, then opened them. Already Philodus' attitude had changed, defensive now.

"See to it she is brought directly here and treated with the utmost respect. And in future let us do our best not to insult family when they return home."

Brutin could feel the presence in his doorway, the door standing wide open and there she stood, the days having passed seemed as nothing and old familiar memories flooded back in on him.

"Greetings Natolii, be welcome here, welcome home." He stood up and graciously offered her a seat as he snapped his fingers for Cookie to attend them for refreshments::

"What can I do for you?

Brutin smiled warmly and bent over the income, stabbing the proper button.

"Tara, set up Natolii's old office if you please. She has come home." He sat back in his chair and smiled as he reached for his brandy, taking a sip and rolling the flavors over his mouth. "Welcome home indeed, if there is aught you need, see Tara, she will see you running smoothly in no time."

Brutin smiled warmly, the chance to simply visit overtaking him as he nodded.

"How are things with you, please, fill me on and catch me up, so much time has passed." He was eager to hear of life within the Association, so much business and so little in the way of memories such as family would entail.

He smiled as he listened to her speaking and then sipped his brandy. He sat back in his chair and thought of her words before adding his own. "If there is a single family I feel close to or would drop my defenses for to say that I truly cared for them, the it would be the DeAusters. In my eyes they can do no wrong. I hired Fio as a matter of course years ago and she rose to the very heights on skill and hard work alone. What affected me the most however was her husband, immediately throwing in his lot with her and willing to stand beside her, accomplishing the same tasks I paid her for, seemingly for free. I had no choice but to hire him and give her a raise. Now with her children it is much the same way, they work for me because it is what the DeAusters do. They are just all too willingly to do it for free instead of rightfully for the gold their earn." He said thinking on last night's conversation with Cieara.

"As for the bloods, I have a very strong alliance with them and though I interact with them rarely, I trust them, which is no easy task where I am concerned, you have managed to ally yourself with the very people I trust the most. When I returned to Gor and left this place for what I thought was the last time, I gave Tara over to the care of Belial as there was no one I trusted more at the time excluding Fio of course."

He sat forward for a moment and then looked up at her. "I am glad to hear that your children are doing well and I am sorry to hear about Marcus, perhaps reports of his death are overrated. As for your children, please remember that an employee you have access to my medical facilities and that does entail the Stabilization Serum. There is no reason for you or your children to grow old. The Serum is a simple injection and not invasive, the effects are immediate and your only consideration is at what point their growth is arrested." He let that sink in for a moment, the considerations of a mother would always outweigh those of employee or tyrant.

"And of course, the larger question, what would your ideal position be here now that you have come back, what would you like to do? It is the least I could do for a returning alumni to give her a choice of tasks. I would not want to put you to task that put a burden on you but I am anxious to get you working of course. In fact, it swells me with pride to see you come home. Now tell me, where do you see yourself in the interim?"

He leaned forward to sip his brandy and await her response to the calm tirade he had put forth to her, a smile on his lips.

Brutin looked up and smiled. "Yes, the realm is crawling with would be slavers, they see and emulate and never understand the why of it, and it is all very funny until they get hold of a girl and ruin her, then stand back and laugh, convincing everyone they meant to do that, when in reality it just shows us they are both incompetent and stupid."

He leaned forward and adjusted some papers on his desktop, after all, they should be turned once a month so they weather both sides equally. "Very well, You will be needed with protection as I increase my stock and gather the hearts and minds of those RhyDin's that do not remember me. As for training, I will be increasing the size of the pens and doing a brisk business so be prepared to get these girls the basics before we ship them off to Embarkation sites."

He finished toying with the papers and sat back, think of his next endeavor.