It was like she was floating through air, in a dream. Everything was black. She felt nothing under her. She wondered if she even existed anymore... did the waves on the ocean take her life? She supposed that wasn't so bad though not really what she wanted. All she wanted was freedom, to not be locked in a vicious cycle of the masters above her. The life she lived before was maybe something to be expected of a slave or maybe not. She had at least known the life she knew was not normal, though as fate went.

Somewhere in her scrambles in the open sea she found some driftwood that she latched too, and maybe passed out from the exhaustion of swimming and inhaling ocean water. The wood had drifted her here to the island, one she had not visited before. But none of that mattered while she laid on the pull of the shore, under a sprinkling sky through bursts of moonlight. Almost appearing lifeless and unknowing where or even that she had landed somewhere.

"Reila"

Night was better than day. A few of his children thought so as well, having inherited their father's sensitive eyes. Because of this, Chimera spent a great deal of time out at night as well as during the later hours of the day. During his standard patrol of the island, the hulking brute happened to notice a strange shape bobbing on the waves that kissed the beach. Assuming it was just another dead animal or chunk of drift wood, the man continued at his set pace. There was no urgency in his steps. If it was either of those things, it would still be there when he reached it.

To Chimera's surprise, the item on the beach wasn't a dead animal or a chunk of driftwood. It was a woman. One brow arched in silent question. He didn't recognize her as one of his slaves, so she had to have come from somewhere at sea. Reaching out with one paw, he rolled the woman onto her side and placed a paw on her chest to see if she was in fact alive. Beneath speckled pads, he felt the woman's heart beating. Lucky girl.

Gently, Chimera worked the waterlogged fae onto his broad back and began moving back towards the resort. She would need to be seen by a healer, but he wouldn't risk a stranger around his children, so he eventually deposited the woman in one of the empty bungalows. Sliding her from his back, he placed the unconscious fae upon a pallet covered in furs. Only then did he gently slap her cheek, trying to rouse her from her sleep.

"Chimera Klein"

She was completely dead weight when the brute came across her and hadn't even felt him touch her, pick her up, and carry her. While she was positioned over his back though, it started to push out whatever water was still lingering in her lungs and she started to cough and become more responsive in the waves of his movement. She still wasn't fully there until they made it into to the bungalow.

She heaved for a few seconds, feeling the small slap on her cheek as her eyes started to flutter open and she was fully coming back to reality. But she didn't realize where she was, she couldn't. All she saw was a massive brute over her and it frightened her to hell. She didn't get a good look at him and had instantly believed it was the slavers that could have followed her into the water. With the push of her front leg, she went to roll onto her back and reveal her throat to him still heaving for air. It was what she was trained to do to be at the mercy of the masters. Though when she pushed her leg against the furs of the bed, she let out a sharp yelp in response to a broken leg she must have made over the railing of the ship she was being transported on. Her whole body tensed through shut eyes as she waited for him to grab and drag her back to a cell. They wouldn't have killed her, only punished her in other ways.

"Reila"

Having bounced the woman around, the action seemed to push just right and she projectile vomited seawater, narrowly missing the Fenmyre king with its propulsion. When she was in the bungalow, the fae's eyes flittered open and she wasted no time in throwing herself into her back, exposing a length of ivory throat to him. Chimera sneered at her action. "A slave, I see." It wasn't one of his though. They didn't expose their throats to him. They completely debased themselves, becoming one with the ground, if they were able.

The shriek of pain from the woman drew the brute's pink gaze to an oddly positioned leg. By the way it shuddered when she moved, he could tell that it was broken. "Settle down," the massive brute growled. "You'll just damage your leg even more." Sticking his head back out the door, Chimera called for Aliana.

Turning back to the woman, the black and white brute sat in the door way. "Now why don't you tell me where you came from?" His gaze narrowed. "And don't lie. I'll know if you do."

"Chimera Klein"

When the brute spoke, she couldn't recognize his voice but had wondered if maybe the masters were already undergoing her punishment. Her ears flicked toward him while she still struggled to get all the remaining water out from her lungs. He told her to settle down but... she couldn't. He had called for someone while she may have pulled her chin back in but was still balanced on her back.

Break. He had asked where she came from and she couldn't help but feel frightened that he would take her back if she wasn't back on the ship. Break. Her eyes carefully opened as she realized she didn't recognize the room. Break.  She still didn't move from her position. "The... Atlas trade." Her voice was quiet as she stared up at the ceiling. She wouldn't have lied to him anyway, but she still had that nagging fear of being taken back. She could have begged him not to, but she knew better than that. She was interested in who he called but wasn't sure of his intentions with her overall. All she could feel was him leering over her while she almost refused eye contact with him, but true fear had fled from her emotions long ago.

"Reila"

Chimera's call caught Aliana totally unprepared. The young mother of six boys had, as usual, been busy corralling them and making sure her sons didn't hurt each other during their roughhousing when her mate's call rang across the island. Chimera never summoned her, so for him to do so must mean she was needed urgently. She reluctantly left the pups in Erystotle's charge and hurried out to where Chi had called her. Dainty paws carried her swiftly down to one of the cabanas near the beach. That was odd... What was he doing down here? Stepping quickly inside, Ali realized very soon after what it was. Chimera was hovering over a smaller fae she didn't recognize, the scent of salt and sea clinging to her fur and she looked half drowned. Her right foreleg was twisted at an unnatural angle and she lay belly up and throat exposed to the alpha, making herself as small as possible before his appraising leer.

"Oh, dear. Um... I'll be right back," she spoke softly, having not realized she'd be tending to a patient today. Aliana scurried back out of the bungalow and sprinted back up to the Klein estate, rushing into her apothecary and hurrying to grab an assortment of extracts and tossing them in her satchel along with some medical tools before hurrying back down to the cabana. She walked up to the woman lying on the pallets and set her supplies down. First, she brought out a strip of leather. That would be needed momentarily. Then she fished out an extract of meadowsweet and wintergreen, removing the cork stopper and placing it beside the wolf on the pallets. "Drink this," she directed the stranger. "It will help the pain." Then she pulled out a flower of wolfsbane—a potent poison, but a powerful painkiller when used in proper doses. She looked over the fae, guesstimating her height and weight, and plucked a single petal from the plant to place beside the bottle. "Do not swallow that. Stick it under your tongue until you feel a numbness, then spit it out." The petal wouldn't be enough to kill her if she swallowed it, but it would make her quite sick if she chose to be silly.

All that was left was to tend to her leg. For that, Aliana glanced to Chimera. She would need his assistance with this part. "Chimera, would you mind breaking off two pieces of flat wood about the length of her leg, please?" They would need to fashion a splint for her to make sure the bone set properly, otherwise the risk of arthritis or total loss of her leg would occur. Aliana then began to gather up long strips of cloth from her satchel, waiting for Chimera to gather her materials before moving on to the next phase. "I know you must be scared, but I promise you are safe," she spoke gently to the other woman, who carried herself with all the same mannerisms of slavery that she had been trained with for so long. "My name is Aliana. Would you like to tell me your name?" The queen wanted to get the other woman talking to distract her from the agony she was about to endure.

"Aliana"

Well, she certainly was a strange one. Her mannerisms spoke of training and the repercussions of disobedience. Though he'd told her to settle, she still stayed on her back, eyes closed. It irritated the man and his tail began to lightly flick like a cats. He willed Aliana to hurry so that he could push this responsibility off on her for a while. There were too many other things to do than to be stuck here with a broken slave.

Atlas, she finally said. Chimera had dealt with them once or twice, but hadn't been particularly fond of their manner of business. The Fenmyre King had a particular set of criteria that his merchandise must meet and Atlas tended to lie for the sake of coin. The world was a horrible place. It wasn't difficult to find wolves that had taken part in atrocities. Atlas didn't want to bother with questions, however, and so Chimera ceased his dealings with them. "Atlas doesn't come here," he growled low. Where was Aliana?

Just then the clouded woman pushed through the door. Her aqua gaze landed upon the fae, then she was out the door once more. Seated in the entryway, Chimera waited for his queen to return. Once she had and set to work on tending to the broken fae, he almost stepped outside when Ali asked him to fetch supplies. When he was younger, this may have annoyed him, but he'd grown since then. Without a word, the black and white wolf slipped from the bungalow and dissolved into the forest. In time he found a decently sized stick which he then snapped in somewhat equal lengths. On a rock, he smoothed out the rough edges, then took the two pieces of wood back into the bungalow.

Having deposited the sticks beside Aliana, Chimera once again sat in the open doorway, the sea breeze sifting through the thicker fur of his chest and ruff. He wouldn't leave her alone with the strange woman. Not until he could further gauge her level of fight. If she was a danger, she would be culled. Until then, she was safe.

"Chimera Klein"

She didn't really feel the irritation from the brute, just an overall tension maybe because of how much bigger, stronger, and blunt he was. She wouldn't have done anything intentionally to piss him off, but she couldn't fully understand where she was and how she got here even though it was pretty explanatory given jumping into the sea.

She didn't speak again even as she heard a woman come and leave momentarily, Atlas not coming here didn't ease her conscious or make it worse and the brute had stayed silent after that. Her now open and tired eyes moved to the woman who returned and started instructing her to take different supplements. She hesitated at first, just looking at the woman but finally forced words out of her mouth, "I'm sorry, you... you have to tell me to 'break'." She glanced over to the brute who was still in the doorway looking out before she actually relaxed more rolling over onto her belly and careful not to disrupt her broken paw any further.

She listened and followed everything the healer woman told her, not being a difficult patient in the slightest but she remained silent until the woman asked for her name. Not knowing of the woman's previous background she couldn't believe that she would understand not fully feeling safe. She was not one to judge though obviously. "Reila." Her voice was quiet while she mostly avoided eye contact with the girl but not so awkwardly. She stretched her paw out shakily as she prepared for the rest of the treatment.

"Reila"

Aliana was pleased that the stranger didn't resist her treatments. She took the extract and wolfsbane as instructed, and once the fear that the woman might try to commit suicide had passed, the queen began to relax more. The stranger's apology didn't make any sense to her, but Ali masked her confusion with a gentle smile. "Hush, you have nothing to be sorry for," she spoke in soothing velvety lyrics. She didn't know what "break" meant, but perhaps it had to do with some sort of trauma she'd endured. Chimera left and returned some minutes later with two sturdy pieces of wood that would make for an excellent splint. "Thank you," she said to Chimera, then turned back to him when he left to go sit in the door. "Don't go too far. I still need you." Ordinarily, Aliana would not be so direct with her king, but when it came to treating her patients, she reigned supreme here.

The stranger introduced herself as Reila and Aliana dipped her muzzle to her. "That's a lovely name. I am sorry for what I have to do, Reila. I hope you understand this is to help you heal." Aliana glanced back to Chimera once more. "Chimera, I need you now." She waited for the behemoth of a brute to come back to the makeshift bed while she prepared Reila. Her broken bone hadn't torn through her skin, so she had to resort to feeling across her foreleg with delicate paw pads until she felt where the bone had been fractured. Thankfully it felt like a clean break, so it should heal naturally once it was set. "Lie on your side, Reila." She waited for her patient to comply while she turned to Chimera to give him his instructions. "When I tell you to, I need you to put pressure on her leg right here. Not a lot, just enough to keep the bone set while I apply the splint," she explained, showing him with her paws where to hold. Then she looked to Reila and offered her the strip of leather she'd brought to bite down on. "I'm sorry, this will not be pleasant, but I need you to lie as still as possible for me, okay?"

With everyone set and prepared, she looked up to Chimera as she took the pieces of wood and cloth strips in her paws. "Okay, now."

"Aliana"

Since he hadn't planned on going any further than right outside the door, Chimera didn't bother answering Aliana when she told him to stick around. From where he sat, the giant could hear the conversation going on between the two fae's. The broken girl told Ali that she needed to be told to break and Chi almost laughed. Oh slaves... Such silly things. As they spoke, he heard the woman's name as well. Reila. It wasn't a bad name. He'd heard worse.

In time, Aliana called for him, needing his assistance apparently with setting the broken fae's leg. Wordlessly, Chimera listened. When she was ready for him, a large paw was placed where instructed. His gaze remained locked on the bobtailed fae, almost daring her to move while Aliana tied the splint in place. They were going through a lot of trouble for the woman. He hoped she wouldn't do something stupid like try to run away when they weren't looking. It was obvious that they were caring for her. She was safer here than out in the world on her own while broken. Who knew if she'd think the same way though? Slaves were inherently dumb.

"Chimera Klein"

The woman treating her was kind and worked well under pressure, not that Reila was bleeding out or anything more lethal. This wasn't the first time she had broken a bone or been treated for other things and she had seen the many different personalities of her healer slaves.

She mostly avoided eye contact with both the woman and the brute, but it was more so out of habit and not so bluntly awkward. Her gaze remained towards the furs or her leg, but it wasn't like she was scared of either one of them.

The way she responded may have suggested she had gone through something similar, exposing the broken leg and putting it in the position the healer woman needed, she didn't have to ask. She still stayed silent but was complaisant to every step she gave her. When Chimera finally came over to get her leg set, she grabbed hold of the piece of leather Aliana offered her through her teeth. When the brute put the pressure down on her leg, she whined a little sharply at first but her noises turned into grunts as she bit into the leather strap and forced herself to stay quiet still in the presence of others.

"Reila"

Chimera was quick to return to aid her and Aliana was grateful for his attentiveness. When she gave him the signal, he pressed right where she had instructed him to, and the result was a keening squeal of pain from the slave woman, muffled some by the leather strip in her mouth. Ali worked quickly while Chi held the fracture as close to set as possible, positioning the firm timber splint on either side of her leg and lashing it together with the cloth strips. Deft paws tied them tightly together, and when she removed her paws, the splint stayed in place. "Okay, you can let go now," she said to Chimera, waiting until the massive brute had removed his paws to inspect her work and make sure the splint hadn't shifted. When it didn't, she breathed a sigh of relief and nodded her head. "Okay, that should do it!"

While Aliana began to gather up her supplies, she took out one last bottle of extract and placed it before Reila. "Drink this, Reila. It will help numb the pain in your leg. You'll need to try to not put weight on it for at least a few weeks to let the fracture set, but it should heal properly now. I'll get you a sling so you can keep it elevated." Once she'd gathered up everything in her satchel, she gazed with empathy to the slave woman once more, then turned to Chi, gently tugging at his fur to bring his head down to her level. "It's an extract of lavender and chamomile. Extremely potent. She'll be unconscious in a few minutes. She needs to rest and not move her leg for a few hours," she whispered into her mate's black ear. "You can leave her here or carefully move her to a more comfortable bed, but please mind her leg." With her final instructions imparted to Chimera, Aliana ducked out of the bungalow and made her way back to the Klein estate to see about finding a sling for Reila's leg.

- exit Aliana -

"Aliana"