Tali Ch. 06

More apologies for the incredibly long wait... Inspiration has been hard to come by, but I also made sure to actually start on the next chapter before submitting this one so I could guarantee less of a wait this time around.

Warning/reminder to readers that there is no sex here, and to please, please read the previous chapters if this is new to you. The characters don't make sense otherwise.

Like the story? Tell me why! Don't like the story? Also tell me please! Writers love feedback and comments in general, so don't hesitate to point out what I might improve in, besides the absurdly long time it takes me to write!

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Tali awoke well before her master did. She felt his arm around her, and laid still as she listened to the rhythmic sounds of his breathing. As she lay there, indecision crept into her mind. Should she get up? What if she woke him? What would he want her to do?

She wished she knew. It wasn't particularly every week or month... or even year that she slept with him. There had never been any real protocol for this situation. The rise and fall of his body as he inhaled and exhaled gave her an idea.

Every time he exhaled, she inched a little bit out from under his arm. Every time she thought he might've stirred a little, she stopped until his breathing stayed even for a while. Eventually, she got to the edge of his hand and breathed a sigh of relief as her master's hand touched the bed.

Tali got up and smiled, declaring a small victory for herself in accomplishing that task.

"Where do you think you're going?"

She gasped in shock, spun around to face him and fell to her knees by instinct. Knowing how early it was and how he had just woken up, she kept her voice quiet.

"S..sorry master, I didn't mean to wake you, I wanted to get started on my morning routine, if.. if that would please you, of course."

"Why don't you decide what you want to do this morning?" He was curious to see what she might do.

Tali thought about it for a moment, but she actually feared deviating from her normal routine. When would it get done if she didn't do it now? What else could he want her to do? He must've given her a choice for a reason... but what?

"Master, forgive me please, for... being dense... I don't know what else I could do, if... if you could teach me, please, I want to do what would make you happier."

He shrugged in response. "Your imagination is the limit. I'm still tired, so I'm going back to sleep," she cringed at the reminder of having woken him up, and he noticed. "Don't worry about it, girl, I'm glad you did, so I can see what you come up with." He gave her a smile of encouragement.

Tali was still stumped for the time being, but knew she shouldn't keep her master up any longer than she had.

"Yes master, I'll see you later," she replied, trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice. Also... I'll see you later? Where did that even come from? Of course she would see him later...

While she left the room and closed the door behind her, the gears in Tali's mind were churning. What could she possibly do better than what she was trained to do? Wasn't she trained in the best way to please him? She always anticipated his needs or waited for him to tell her what to do...

Sighing to herself, she started doing her normal tasks. Maybe by not thinking about the problem, the answer would come to her. She started off with doing some light dusting around the house, anything that had gathered over night or was missed a previous day. The early sunlight through the windows made it easy to see certain dusty areas that would look clean in the shadows later.

She then started the process of doing laundry, following the way her master taught her to be particular about having each type of clothing or towel washed properly. Next would be to make breakfast.

Checking the clock, Tali estimated that she had about an hour left before her master woke up. She figured it was time to start up breakfast.

While she started up the heat for the pan to scramble eggs, a thought clicked in her mind. She had a faint memory somewhere about breakfast in bed. Maybe she could try to do that! She instantly started to doubt herself.

What if he didn't like it? What if she got the sheets dirty? What if he expected her to do all the normal routines as they normally were done, but do something extra on top of all that?

She had an idea to ease her worries. She would cook his normal breakfast, and also make him something special for breakfast in bed. If he accepted her idea, she would eat the norm for herself. If he didn't, at least he wouldn't find breakfast lacking.

Smiling to herself in happiness, Tali began cooking up an extravagant breakfast to bring him. She didn't know when she started humming, but as soon as she noticed, she stopped, worried that she shouldn't be.

"Why'd you stop?"

Tali gasped, her body jerking as she moved towards her master's voice. The egg she had been in the middle of cracking hit the bowl awkwardly and she ended up making a mess. She groaned inwardly at the shells she'd be picking out of the eggs later.

"Master!" Fighting between trying to stop the mess from getting worse and kneeling in his presence, Tali made jerky movements and eventually stood like a deer in headlights, wondering what the proper action to take was.

"I... umm.. sorry.. the mess..." her knees twitched again and she finally got to the floor in position, "I didn't know you were awake, please punish me for my inattentiveness." She winced as soon as the words came out. To offer a reason for her failure was to give an excuse, one of the first lessons she learned not to do.

He looked at her with a mildly amused expression, knowing of course the turmoil that flickered constantly through her face. Her normal human instincts were beginning to resurface.

"Oh, Tali... you have no idea how much progress you are making. And I snuck in here intentionally avoiding detection. No reason to punish you." Her body relaxed visibly. At least he wasn't blaming her, but she had difficulty letting her thoughts settle. In fact, now that the shock was over, she started to feel a little defeated.

Her intention was to make him breakfast in bed, but she was too slow and he was out of bed... All the work she put into trying to make something special was for naught, and she began to feel a little sad over that fact. She would have nothing to show him.

Miro noticed as Tali's face fell a little after he mentioned that he wouldn't punish her. His first reaction in the past would have been to be angered that she was ungrateful, but he was pleased at what he did instead.

"Girl, what's wrong? I won't punish you for anything related to my presence this morning." Worrying about her and asking for her feelings was becoming easier now.

"M..master..." she was scared. She wasn't sad over anything that pertained to him. She was sad over a selfish reason... that her own time and effort had been wasted. "The.. breakfast, it... it won't be a surprise anymore."

Tali tried to hold in her sobs, to keep her voice from breaking. She regretted what she said, and tried to change the direction of her intent.

"I'm sorry master, it's nothing. May I continue making breakfast please? It should be ready soon." She placed her hands on the ground and bowed her head to ask for permission.

"Wait, what won't be a surprise anymore? What's changed? Girl... why are you crying?"

"Please.. master, I... I shouldn't be crying, please forgive me, I.. I had just planned something for breakfast that won't work now, that's all. I'm sorry for my reaction." She was spilling more than she intended, why couldn't she keep her statements simple and to the point?

Nothing was making sense to Miro. He took a step back in his mind and tried a different approach.

"What would need to be true for your surprise to work?"

Tali rocked back a little in surprise. "Master, it... it's ok, I mean, we'll still have breakfast..."

"Answer my question, girl, I won't ask again."

She cringed at being called out for avoiding his question, she knew she was toeing a line, but she had no idea where it really was. Still, his reminder put her mind back in its place.

"You would need to be in bed, master."

He raised his eyebrows. He didn't want to give it too much thought though. He put one knee down next to Tali and held her for a moment, feeling her relax in his arms.

"I'm feeling a little drowsy, actually. I think I'll go back to bed and rest for a while more," he commented while he started turning towards the bedroom.

"But... Master!" She surprised herself with her outburst. She wanted to shrink into the ground when he stopped to look at her. Terrified of anything else going wrong she took a couple quick breaths and got her mind back on track.

"I'm sorry, master, for speaking out of turn. Please... please punish me," she whimpered, fearing what she almost knew would be the response. He wouldn't punish her, and she would continue to feel horrible for all her wrongdoings of the past few minutes.

Miro looked at her in sadness. The conflict between trying to teach her to live a normal life and her mindset of being a slave was almost impossible.

"Stay there," he commanded. She relaxed and obeyed easily. She didn't know what he had planned, but she felt relief that he gave her a simple command. He walked back shortly with a belt.

"I know you won't be able to forgive yourself without punishment. Face away." He hoped this was a good compromise. He knew he shouldn't necessarily be punishing her for everything she thought she deserved, but he didn't want to take up too much time either. A light punishment to heal her mind then.

"You will take 10 strikes for your outburst. Do you understand?"

"Yes, master," she said into the tiled ground.

The belt fell ten times, and each time, Tali uttered the number of the strike. They weren't very hard, but the simple fact of having disappointed her master made everything feel amplified. At the end, she unbraced herself, sobbing, knowing on the inside he did this for her, so she could proceed with the rest of her day. She turned herself around on the ground towards him, keeping her face close to the ground.

"Thank you, master, for... for taking the time... for punishing me... for reminding me of my place in your life," she inhaled a sob, "for giving me the chance of forgiveness, that I surely don't deserve..."

"Shh... girl, it's okay, of course I forgive you, for you deserve that," and so much more, he thought to himself. He knelt down to comfort her as she let the resolution of the punishment and forgiveness sink in, letting her gather herself.

"Girl, I'm going to go lay back down now, alright?"

"Yes, master, I'm sorry I delayed your rest!"

"I chose to do that for myself, don't you be taking responsibilities for my own actions now," he chided lightly.

She blushed a little. "Yes, master."

As soon as he went out of sight, she got back up to resume her cooking. Luckily, there was nothing in the pan yet, though the fire had been on so she had to be careful. Fishing the shells out of the eggs was a tedious task, but all in all, Tali felt good. She would get to finish her surprise after all! She was lucky to have a master who thought about her as much as he did, for she was sure that was why he gave her a swift punishment on the spot.

When she finished preparing everything, Tali had another round of fears. What if he didn't like it? What if everything they had just gone through was for naught? She didn't know if she could take him being displeased with her so quickly...

She took a deep breath and steeled her mind as best she could. With her master's breakfast on a tray, she made her way to his bedroom.

Since she had never performed such a service, Tali made everything up as she went. She entered, put the tray on a stand next to his bed, and knelt. Should she wake him up, or wait for him to notice?

Tali decided that breakfast should be eaten warm so she slowly murmered, "master?"

He made a little sound but didn't roll over. She gave it a few more heartbeats, "master?" she queried a little louder.

This time she was rewarded with a louder moan of him waking up, and she knew now within a few minutes he'd be aware.

"What's that smell, girl?" he said through a stretch. He looked towards her and took in the breakfast next to him.

"Master, I thought... for my umm.. well, for what I would do this morning, I wanted to serve you breakfast in bed... and maybe try something a little different... I mean, if that would please you of course, otherwise we could... I could just bring the food back to the kitchen..." she realized she was rambling in nervousness. She was sitting back on her heels with her hands in her lap, looking down, trying to distract herself from being so uneasy.

"Of course I'll have breakfast in bed. That sounds wonderful!"

Tali beamed in happiness.

"May I?" she asked, gesturing that she'd like to rearrange his pillows.

He nodded and between the two of them, got him into a comfortable position. She then moved the tray over to rest in his lap, making sure everything was balanced well and the blankets wouldn't be in the way.

Once he was all set up, Tali knelt back down to wait for him to eat and decide if he liked the special breakfast she made him.

"I hope you're eating with me, Tali," he thought it would be a good idea to use her name when he was trying to teach her that the old ways were not necessarily correct.

"Oh! Um.. yes, master," and she glowed inside at having her plate ready on the other side of the stand where he couldn't see. She ate where she knelt.

He wished they could just be eating together as equals for a moment, but decided that could be done later anyway. She seemed happy where she was.