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Thread: The Legend of the Gamble (Safehold and butterfly0408)

Darius brought his hands up to his hood and lowered it. Fingers toyed with his beard as he pretended to consider the choice. Appearances had to be maintained, after all. He furrowed his brow. Hmm... He gazed at all of the animals who called themselves men around him, felt their anger and frustration at how he had denied them even a chance to possess this beauty for themselves. Even for him, 10,000 Dinars was a hefty sum. But he had accomplished two things... he had saved a true treasure of a helpless girl, and he had provided this vile slaver a sum to retire comfortably on and, hopefully, if there was in fact an Allah with mercy and compassion, get out of the business. You shall be granted mercy, once. Darius nodded. With a flick of the hand she was led by his eunuch manservant Abdul to the horses that Darius and his limited companions had arrived on. He saw to the final arrangements with the auctioneer and then turned to follow. Upon his return to the estate, Darius decided it was time to drop the act of reluctant buyer, tempted to such excess by the beauty of a product he'd made a public career in opposing, as any Good Muslim should. It had been a nice diversion, but he had more important purposes. Such as the sharpening of his sword. There was quite a story behind this sword, the one that he had used to free himself, at the expense of his oppressive master's life. As he sat working the smooth stone with the oil against the traditionally curved blade, he wondered how long it would take. How long until... The girl stepped into the courtyard where Darius had taken up his roost, clearly confused. Upon their arrival, her binds had simply been cut without a word. Darius saw her look around with uncertainty as he ran the stone along the edge. The soft flow of the courtyard fountain was the only other accompaniment to soft, consistent scratching of the sharpening of the blade. The sun was beginning to set, and then Darius turned to consider his new property. He smiled. Ah, there you are. Come and sit, if it pleases you. His unusual accent would probably be noted at this time, he figured. Back to the blade. He flipped it over, poured oil all over it, and set to work. The small smile on his face would just barely be noticeable.
Thread: The Legend of the Gamble (Safehold and butterfly0408)

Arya only seemed to lower her gaze further towards the ground as he spoke to her, his voice only adding a heavy weight upon that same anticipation that had overcome her just moments before. She nodded her head to show her thanks for the mercy he would grant upon her but one and only one time. It was more the another master might have given her and for that she was thankful. As he binds her turned over to his own servant and he lead her towards the horses, there was no why she would be able to climb the horse herself with her wrists still bound tight. Without a word thought, Abdul had her lifted up onto his own horse and was soon seated behind her. As they traveled he whispered to her, Fear not. You have found yourself in the hands of a fair master. He will not harm you and you will live in a splendor you cannot imagine. Arya did not speak back to the eunuch as she did not know her try place or limits within this new household she suddenly found herself in. The servant only smiled and let her be the rest of the ride. Upon arrival at her master's home, she understood exactly what Abdul had meant. The home was like a palace, far more grand then her father's home had been. Then again, for a man to be able to spend such a sum upon one virgin, he had to be rich. Abdul helped her down off the horse, pulled a dagger to cut her binds, and then as he took the horse away, Arya turned to realize... she was alone. Her master had gone off to someplace without acknowledging her. The servants had all gone off to their own business and not a single one of them had taken the time to show her to the master's harem. Was she meant to locate it on her own? This was highly unusual. Seeing the main doorway however, Arya took a deep breath for encouragement and stepped forward to bravely face whatever was to come now. At first, there was only the sound of her own footsteps as she wandered aimlessly though the front halls of the estate, yet a distant sound seemed to pull her in it's direction. It was a strange, unfamiliar sound that grew in volume as she approached a great archway that lead outside once more. Stepping through, she admired the splendor of what was before her. Her eyes moved across the space and for a brief second admired her master once again before she recalled her one gift of mercy and swiftly shifted her gaze towards the ground. His invitation to sit beside her she viewed not as an invitation but as a command. Something learned within growing in her father's harem. Nothing is very truly and option. You do as you are told. With eyes down she crossed the space and stopped before him, leaving a reasonable distance or respect between them. She took no real seat but lowered herself to kneel upon the ground before him, awaiting what he will, not speaking without permission from him first. Not looking up even as something within her yearned to dare another look into his eyes.
Thread: The Legend of the Gamble (Safehold and butterfly0408)

Darius set the sharpening stone aside as he resumed toying with his beard. He'd tried, ages ago, to dispense with the nervous habit but he'd never quite kicked it. He studied her closely. She was a treasure to have, but Darius viewed her more as a symbol for now. 10,000 Dinars was a sum, but it was no sum for a human life. That had been his point, and she would be his symbol. Perhaps something more... in time. For now he simply had a potential friend, and a task to put his mind at ease. The extremely pacific courtyard was the perfect place to do this. After several moments of silence, he sheathed the sword in its scabbard leaning up against his position on the courtyard's finely crafted stonework and finally addressed her. He could see her cringe, her fear. He would put her above that. Do you know, that I was once a slave myself? As she hesitated to answer, he leaned forward to position himself at the closest distance to her face that he had yet been. I know, the ground is quite attractive. It must be, to so reliably hold your attention. My architects have truly outdone themselves! He said with humor, studying her. How would she respond to his attempts to reach out to her? To get her to relax?
Thread: The Legend of the Gamble (Safehold and butterfly0408)

Her whole body tensed as he spoke to her. So, he had been a slave once as well. That could mean one of two very drastic things. Either he felt sympathy upon his own slaves now and showed them mercy like he never saw or he took out the pain inflicted once upon him now upon those he held dominion over now. His tone was light, playful, but that could easily mean that he was taunting her. Toying with her like the little puppet she was. Even with her eyes cast down, she caught his movement as he came closer to her. Arya made a very sudden gasp of uneasy as she shut her eyes, as if to prevent herself from even looking upon the ground any longer but more to prevent her from daring to move her head just a bit to the side and tilting it up to see his face. Her nerves were clear to seen and it would take more to break her of such fears.
Thread: The Legend of the Gamble (Safehold and butterfly0408)

Darius smiled. You are going to take a lot of work. All right then... He rubbed his hands together, and grabbed the sword positioned at his side. He brought his hand up to support a shrill whistle. A young boy ran into the courtyard from the hall, and Darius tossed the sheathed blade right at him. The boy caught the weapon with one hand and smiled. The usual place, I think, Ahmed. The boy took a slight bow. Right away, sir. He also bowed before Arya, which prompted Darius to put on a wry smile. Just as quickly as he had come, the boy left. I swear that lad treasures that blade more than I do, and that's saying something. Anyway. Where was I. Ah yes. Why don't you tell me then what you're all about. Who are you? Where have you come from? How did you end up in the market for a dashing celebrity merchant and soldier such as myself... He briefly flexed his arms with a sarcastic grin, to come and retrieve you?
Thread: The Legend of the Gamble (Safehold and butterfly0408)

The whole while that her master interacted with the boy, still she kept her eyes closed and down before him. She was respecting him and in doing so missed how the lad has shown her a sign of respect as well. My name... is Arya, though if you wish for me to go by another name, your wish is but my command, she told him, her voice meek at first thought it seemed to gain confidence very little by little as she went on. My father was a rich sheik. My mother one of his foreign slaves. It is how I have come across my rare looks for they were of my mother as well. I have lived my whole life within my father's harem and have been taught by his slaves in their... she paused a moment and seemed to for the moment grow meek once more, art of the bedroom. I know what to do for you master. I hope you will not find me a waste of money. She left out the details of exactly how she had gone from her father's harem to the auction block.
Thread: The Legend of the Gamble (Safehold and butterfly0408)

Very well. Darius crossed his arms, studying her closely. I want you to put that out of your mind now. That is the only command that I will give to you, to completely forget about any role which involves you as my sexual servant. That is not what you are for. He reached over to rest a reassuring hand on her shoulder. At this moment I am not sure what you are for. You are my guest. Officially you will remain my slave -- in order to have you in my house I must either own you or marry you, and it strikes me that maintaining the fiction might prove to be an enlightening, perhaps even humorous experiment at times. But for all intents and purposes, you are free to do as you will. Trust me on this. There's a part of me that wants to accept your offer, just like all those other ingrate fools whose bids I smothered to bring you here. But I am not those men. He toyed with his beard again. Any questions?
Thread: The Legend of the Gamble (Safehold and butterfly0408)

Arya's eyes opened then and her head shifted up without even thinking of stopping herself. She had the same look upon her face suddenly as when she had heard him call out his overwhelming bid for her as she stood upon the block. The moment his hand reached out to talk her, her gaze shifted a moment to look at it as it rested upon her before her gasp shifted back to him once again. None of this made sense he had spent a fortune upon her to have her do... what? Sit there and look pretty? There was only one possible question she could ask. Why? Why... if you did not intend to use me for my body and my virginity, did you spend so much money upon me? Even if you were to enter into a bidding war with someone, you could have spent far less upon me in the end. I don't.... understand....
Thread: The Legend of the Gamble (Safehold and butterfly0408)

To make you a symbol. To show that you can't put a price on a human life. Darius grinned. To show that I have more money than I know what to do with. All of these things, and none of them. Because ultimately, it's not about what I want, it's about what you want. Our society is not yet ready to see the end of slavery, but little by little, I intend to undermine it. Today I think that I struck a major blow towards that end. My bid and the potential reasons for it will be talked about for months. Years, even. There's truly been nothing else like it. It could upend the entire slave market, make prices go up, make access to slaves more difficult all on its own. But some of the things I want to do will, with Allah's blessing, produce even more powerful results in time. He leaned back in his seat. What role you have in those things remains to be defined. I would like for you to be able to help me do that. That's a request, not an order. He smiled. I have engaged in much risk, much adventure in my life, all over the world, touching on all walks of life. It's time for something a bit more personal.
Thread: The Legend of the Gamble (Safehold and butterfly0408)

Arya knelt there still, looking up and listening to everything he had to say. His words only seemed to twist her face into a more and more confused look every passing moment until she eventually was looking at him as if he was the strangest creature on the planet. A two headed man would make more sense to her in this moment then him. It was simply because his whole train of thought. It was something do out there and different then anything she had ever known before or even dreamed of before. Well, maybe not that. Her parent's love yet the rules and laws that kept them apart had made her perhaps wonder what it could have been like to have been born into a way for them to have been together and love freely. To marry. You... are a peculiar one, master. The master was thrown in after a moment of hesitation as she was not sure exactly what to go about calling him. From all he had just told her of, she assumed that master might not be what he would prefer. Then again, perhaps it would be. Glancing around, So I am to just, reside within the harem? Until you find need of me?
Thread: The Legend of the Gamble (Safehold and butterfly0408)

I think it would be more like until you find need of me , but essentially yes. I wish it were not so, but I think that if I simply put you outside and left you, you would have no place else to go. I consider you now my ward, my protectee, if you would like. Legally you can only be my wife or my slave. Both because I do not anticipate you wishing to wed an ugly slob like me, he broke into a chuckle, then relaxed. And because your current status is simple. If you ever wish to go out into the city and do... whatever it is you wish to do, then all you need say is that you are Darius' servant acting on my directions and no one will look at you differently. Whereas as wife they'll wonder why I'm not escorting you. It's all just a mess that I'd rather avoid. He rose, stretching. I had best let you be to take all of this in. He tilted his head, studying her, curious to see how she would react to that.
Thread: The Legend of the Gamble (Safehold and butterfly0408)

It was indeed a lot to take in all at once. The crowning glory on top of this whole thing was not the notion that he would every marry her but... The city? You would... let me go out into the city? On my own? Just... walk out the door and... she trailed off a bit, having a very odd look filled with thought upon her face as she settled into a more comfortable seated position upon the ground. I've never been into the city before. I... I never left the walls of my father's harem in my whole life... Arya seemed overwhelmingly just, shocked. And then she glanced down at herself and the revealing clothing she was still wearing. Her face started to blush and she tugged her robes a bit more firmly to her body, I don't have anything I could wear outside a harem. It almost seemed like... was she trying to find a reason to not leave?
Thread: The Legend of the Gamble (Safehold and butterfly0408)

Despite himself, Darius couldn't help but eye her up and down then. Sure he told himself that he paid 10,000 dinars to suit his ideological purposes. But she was also the finest woman he had ever laid eyes on, never mind only pleasure slaves. In truth deep down within him there was buried a sort of arrogance which he knew intellectually came with the territory of his degree of wealth and influence. Go ahead and claim her. Just this once. He felt the desire within him, knew that in her current state of mind that Arya would easily, if not exactly happily, accept such a move on his part. It wouldn't even really be a matter of master and slave... and yet it would be. Darius grit his teeth and promised that harder in more ways than one and less controlled side of himself that fulfillment would come, as soon as he got this girl to open up to him on her own free will. He supposed that it was a bit odd to have this kind of internal debate between two conflicting desires within the same man, but he didn't really care. He certainly wasn't crazy... he admiringly looked her over once more and smiled. Yes, no doubt about that. I am quite certain that the right clothing could be found around here somewhere, that is, unless you desire to be garbed as you would be within the harem out there, Darius said playfully. I joke, I joke. But this brings up an important consideration. You don't understand the outside world at all, do you? You are afraid of it.
Thread: The Legend of the Gamble (Safehold and butterfly0408)

Her mind, at the moment at least, was far from the worries over her virginity and a place in his bed. The distract of such sudden freedom being thrown upon her was more then enough to get her mind away from that direction. She shook her head at first in denial of the assumption that she was afraid before pausing and sighing, Well, perhaps I am afraid. I know nothing at all about the world besides what I have read in books. I don't know how to act out there, talk out there, what is dangerous or not. I know what my place is inside a harem. I don't know what my place is outside walls that are meant to keep me hidden and safe.
Thread: The Legend of the Gamble (Safehold and butterfly0408)

Darius smiled broadly. This was the perfect opportunity to fulfill his desire to see this woman free of mind and spirit and to get her to open up to him. Try as he might he could not purge the realization, the selfish side of him that viewed his every action in such a context. Either way this was the kind of opportunity he had envisioned when he had first laid eyes upon her and now all he had to do was seize the moment. He presented to her his open hand with a warm expression. Do not worry, my dear. Let us go out into the world and discover these things which you have missed in your life, these fears which you could not confront. He bowed before her and looked into her eyes. It was a tragedy that you ended up in chains, but it is even more a shame that you were raised in deprivation of what any properly reared girl needs... the attention of the world around her. Darius winked. I will keep you safe, and you can see what that feels like. What do you say?
Thread: The Legend of the Gamble (Safehold and butterfly0408)

Glancing up in his direction as he gave her a light bow and held out his hand... she seemed frozen in her spot. No man or even a woman of equal level had bowed to her before. A simple gesture yet, something more in her eyes. Not even her father showed her such a sign of respect in her whole life. Her hand rose up, hesitating in mid air about his own hand, as it it thought if it would take or deny his hand as it was offered to her. Eventually, she did take his hand, using it to help her rise up to her feet, standing before him. Hands held. They were very close together now. Closest they had been yet. I don't see it as I was deprived of anything. My father did it to keep me safe from the world. Myself and me mother. He didn't want to world to hurt us. And yet he did this to her now. She suddenly realized perhaps he had hurt her more then help for now that she was out in the world, she was completely ill prepared for it.
Thread: The Legend of the Gamble (Safehold and butterfly0408)

Darius released her hand, not wishing to impose himself upon her in that fashion and began to guide her toward the manor's gates, but she hurriedly caught up to his position and delved her hand around his arm in what he guessed was a sign of a lifetime of dependency and the fear of being cut off. Let us talk on that, he said, walking with her slowly as he subtly motioned for Abdul, his manservant, to abandon his post at the gate and follow them. The busy market could be seen in the immediate path ahead and Darius figured that it would be best to query her in this manner while they were still at least partly alone. Tell me. How is it you were sold into the market? He found his eyes wandering over her form again, then glanced away. Someone... like you was obviously raised with an emphasis towards beauty, if I may be so bold. He looked to her reassuringly, wary of stepping upon wounds that had not quite healed. You have spoken of your father. Were you born into slavery?
Thread: The Legend of the Gamble (Safehold and butterfly0408)

Her eyes looked out ahead of her, seeing the market. Earlier, she had only gotten a little glance at it and not really taken the time to take it in, thinking it was only a passing moment before she would be behind the locked doors of a harem once again. Now, she saw it as something completely different. Her eyes were kept forward as they walked and as she answered his question. Yes. My mother was a slave from some far off place she never spoke of to me. He bought her just as you bought me and took her into his harem. He already had a wife as well as a full harem, but he took a liking to her. She did not dare tell him of the love that was between them. That was their personal business, not his. I was born into the harem where I stayed all my life along with the other bastard children of the harem women. We had our own little world. Over the years, one my by my brothers and sisters were taken care of. Ones my father cared for were taken into the household as servants. Ones he did not care for in the same way.... were sold... Had her father not really cared for her that it became her fate? He had only allowed a handful of his offspring out into the world of slavery but they were honestly ones that deserved it. Perhaps this was somehow what she had deserved all along. She just could not understand what it was she had done.
Thread: The Legend of the Gamble (Safehold and butterfly0408)

Darius felt the color drain from his face and his muscles stiffen up. Wait a moment. Are you telling me that your own father sold even his bastard children into slavery ? He looked to her and saw the wordless confirmation in her eyes. Shaitan. Servant of the imp of hell himself! He truly could not believe such depravity was possible. Slavery in the Caliphate was certainly no practice of benevolence and goodwill, but there were certain traditions that were not violated. As the unwritten laws had defined, slaves were to be taken from the civilian populations of conquered nations at least as an original source, if a man who had honorably defeated the warriors of the subject nation so decided. But in that event, he was expected to care for, and so long as they remained obedient and efficient in their duties, treat well his slaves, for they were bound to him as his property. It was rather like ownership of a horse, Darius thought, rolling his eyes as he did. It did no good and, some might say, was unnecessarily cruel to beat an exhausted steed. So it was with human beings, Allah's children, as Darius saw it. The buying and trading of slaves was not an uncommon thing but it was frowned upon. Selling a slave told the world that they were so poor in performing their tasks that even their usual common possession of sub-human status was undeserved, and that they had no more use than any other bartered object. There were exceptions of course -- pleasure slaves, who had immense potential value varying on their physical attractiveness and whether or not they had been deflowered -- but that was generally how it all worked. One thing that was set in stone was that taking otherwise-free slaves for sale from the common population was absolutely unacceptable. That bordered on taboo alone. Yet to do so with one's own children, regardless if their mother had been a slave? It was unheard of. It made him angry, like throwing naphtha on a raging fire. He turned to Arya with an expression of sympathy. I am so very sorry to hear of your plight.