Reila was going through recovery fine, it hadn't been the first and she wasn't so eager to get out and run from the pack lands. She knew what she was doing.

She was starting to get up and walk around still with the splint. Usually she had one of the healers with her but she was getting more confident with moving around without them. Confident or stubborn, either were accurate words.

She was resting on her bed now though after wandering around the room. She didn't go far from where Chimera had originally left her, especially not on her own. Her days of stir crazy had been long gone, and she had mostly practiced just mediating when there was little to do which is what she was doing now.

"Reila"

On top of his standard responsibilities, Chimera was now tasked with looking after the broken woman. Sure, he could have just pushed her off on Erystotle or one of the island servants, but he needed to know more about the escaped slave before he would be comfortable letting the other members of the pack around her. If she was sullied, she would go in the pen with the rest of the livestock. If she wasn't, then Chimera would ensure her safety while she was healing and see her on her way. First, he had to figure out which category she fell into.

With the handles of a woven basket between his teeth, the massive King made his way to the bungalow where he'd placed the woman. Her housing ways a short way down from where Balthier and his sister resided so that the pair could keep a secret eye upon her, but not close enough to disturb their privacy or her own. The man wrinkled his nose as he walked. He couldn't even remember her name. Ramba? Rumple? Hmph.

With a single scratch to the wooden doorframe for proprieties sake, Chimera slid into the bungalow, taking up quite a bit of space. The giant's pale pink eye found the woman resting and a low rumble pulled from him before he placed the basket on the floor between them. "I've brought you some things," he spoke in his low tones. One black toed paw extended, pushing the basket towards the edge of the fae's cot where she rested. Within was food, fresh water and a warm bison hide as the nights would soon become colder with the arrival of autumn. The beast seated himself in the doorway. "How are you faring?" Pleasantries first.

"Speech"

Reila responded calmly and quietly as Chimera entered the room, her soft attention was brought to him and watched as he shifted the basket over to him. Being given the food and resources wasn't new here, but was always met with the same appreciation. "Thank you." She spoke through a small smile pulling the basket over to the end of the cot but wouldn't dive down into it while he was here watching her. She had known punishments in starving, but for the most part she was kept healthy for her value. She wouldn't turn savage at the sight of food.

She did however pull out the bison hide, placing it in a bundle on top of the bed. Her eyes flicked to him as he continued conversation, she was still laying up on the bed while her unbroken paw traced over the split that kept her other one together. "I'm healing. Trying not to take it too quickly. I don't want to extend my stay longer than it should be." It was out of respect for the pack, and the king. Fortunately the trade wouldn't have gone to extremes to find her, there were always replacements. But she didn't want others to think they had to tend to her every need.

"Reila"

The woman assured him that she was doing well. She seemed well enough and was more relaxed around him this time. Chimera took the time to get a good look at her as she lay resting upon the bed. She was pretty enough, her coat of natural shades, rather than some of the nasty, vibrant coats that he'd seen. She had dainty, delicate features and a kind look in her blue eyes, if not a little jaded. He couldn't blame her for that. Chimera knew all too well what slavers did to their merchandise. He'd seen some nasty results from their 'care' as well. The black and white brute wondered what Reila, (Hey, he remembered her name!) had been subject to during her stay with them.

"How did you end up in the service of the slavers?" He would come right out and ask. Chimera wasn't one to beat around the bush. He needed information from her, and information was what he would get.

"Speech"

It didn't seem she was bothered by his curiosity, but of course there was a part of her down inside that didn't want the life she was given. It wasn't part of her nature to do the things she had done, but she really had no choice. She had only been beaten down physically and emotionally, so maybe she wasn't really different from other slaves. Though some had chosen to accept their fate in only means to survive. She took her own risk jumping off the ship.

"I was born there." She spoke in a strong tone, showing as if there wasn't a strain in her emotions. Her head tilted lightly as she looked at the dire before her, though the kind smile she had at his arrival was no longer present. Just a plain face, "You seem to know some about the trade." It may have had her own curiosity because it may have concluded some of his own interests. "I don't have any secrets. You are free to ask what you wish."

"Reila"

It didn't take the fae long to answer his question at all. She was born into the trade. That answer made things better for him and worse for her. She hadn't been given to the slavers for some nefarious deed, which was a point in her favor. However, being born into the slave trade, no doubt the woman had to deal with many unsavory things in her life. He could imagine the horrors that she had faced and it wasn't difficult to do so, being the kind of beast that he was.

Reila spoke again and Chimera gave a soft huff of amusement. "I know quite a bit about the slave trade," he admitted in purring baritones. "I do business with various traders regularly." The man's gaze stayed on her face, watching for any sort of reaction. Had he planned to give her back, he wouldn't have been taking such good care of her. Would she make that deduction or no?

An open book... he could ask her anything. "Do you believe that you're a good and decent wolf? Have you killed? Have you done unsavory things of your own volition?" The question that remained unspoken was, 'Are you worth my time?'

"Speech"

The brute was... yes, frightening. But not to her. Not to the thick shell that surrounded her. She had learned to bend to the masters and buyers, it would have been no different with the king in front of her. It wouldn't have been of her own true will though.

Her brow raised carefully as he asked, and for a few seconds her gaze had dropped from him showing just that bit of hesitation though not to answer him, but for the answer itself. "The answer is no." She was blunt, she knew what she had done wasn't savory. But she didn't want to do those things. For what he was asking, there was no self worth in her. He probably couldn't understand.

She didn't stop there though, her eyes looking back up at him while speaking and keeping eye contact was in her training. "I've been in five tournaments. Meaning I've killed five other slaves. The more you win, the more they put you in." She sighed silently before continuing, maybe the glimmer of emotion from just the thought of the last couple years of her life. "The trade made good profit on the tournaments. The winning gamblers bought my time for their fantasies. The losing gamblers bought me for punishment."

She spoke openly as if speaking to a friend, though the emotion was void in her tones. Almost like a history lesson. "I refused once." Her eyes dropped from him after, she was ashamed for the things she had done and hurt for what she was born into. She couldn't do anything about it... not until she jumped ship.

"Reila"

No. That one word almost sealed her fate, but as she went on, Reila painted a different picture for the man. She'd been forced into the dirty, bloody tournaments that some slavers held. They seemed to like the sport enough that it was commonplace among the many different companies. Chimera couldn't imagine this small woman fighting for her life. She claimed to have won five times, but he just couldn't see it.

Reila went on to explain that she was bought afterwards for different reasons. The man doubted that either of them were reasons that the woman had agreed to consensually. "Slavery is no foreign concept in Fenmyre," he began. If she was going to be living here, then she would know what happened here. "I purchase slaves from the various companies. Slaves that meet a certain criteria. Wolves pay coin to use and abuse these slaves, sometimes to death." The giant's two-toned gaze was hard as he watched the small fae. "They're all very deserving of this punishment." The slaves in his pens were rapists, murderers, child traffickers and more. All of whom had sinned enough to forfeit their lives. Chimera liked to think that, by offering this service, he was saving the innocent from receiving the brunt of another's ire. Noble of him, eh?

As he stared down upon the fae, the hard edge in his gaze softened ever so slightly. "You are safe here, however." He'd believed her story and the woman's reactions to his question, the way that she had looked away in apparent shame before looking back to him, it had told him everything that he needed to know. "You may have killed, but killing for survival is different than killing for enjoyment." She was welcome to stay for as long as she wished, but just like the rest, she would have to pull her weight once her leg was healed.

"Speech"

Her eyes back at him were hard too. Not challenging, but focused on what he was saying. There were moments and only moments she had wished she were dead. Not overall though. She had jumped off the ship for a reason, and it was for a better life. Not a dead one. She could almost feel that he was ready to throw her in with the rest of the cargo, she couldn’t do much about it anyway. She could have nearly accepted the fate, that one day he would throw her away under his own or someone else’s maw. And she did wonder how relieving that would be.

But on a dime he had changed. His intention all along but he made the switch both subtle and drastically. "I don’t find it so easy to forgive, but thank you." She had offered him a small smile but it didn’t last long. She was lost in her own thoughts. A life out of Atlas was a whole new life, but a free life was a different experience. One she had never known. She wondered what she could do with it.

"Reila"

Again the woman spoke and Chimera scoffed lightly, though there was no malice in the sound. "Everyone has moments that they aren't proud of. You either accept them and move on or you let them eat you." The things that he'd done to Siren when they were little, the things that he'd done to Dalila, the lives that he gave to others for coin... if Chimera hadn't learned to accept and live with his choices, he very well might have been eternally at the bottom of a bottle.

"If you do intend to stay, everyone is expected to contribute as they are able," the king informed the woman. Everyone that fought patrolled. Everyone that healed cared for gardens and cultivated... whatever healers made. Those with the skill for building improved the structures. Everyone did their part.

Almost as an afterthought, Chimera added somewhat softly. "No one will look down on you for having been a slave," just in case that was something that the woman may have worried about. "Two of my queens and my consort are former slaves." If anything, having been a slave would help others to relate to her more easily.

"Speech"

The king was wise and understanding, though she felt like he couldn't relate. She wouldn't discredit the sanctuary he gave her or the words he had in turn for her. But she didn't believe he could fully understand what she had been through.

Not even when he mentioned his Queens. Reila was almost dead inside. She couldn't get close to those around her because she could be fighting them in a few months time. On the ship it was every man, or woman, for themselves. She was void of any external emotion, it would take time to unearth any part of that. Atlas had made her a good actress but that was not who she was right now. She was as raw as she could allow at this time for the king.

"I will consider your offer." She smiled with a little bit of a joking but true tone. Her paw patted down at the bison pelt he had brought for the room, gaze flicking back up to him, "Not to dismiss you, but do you have anymore questions?"

"Reila"