The Pride of a Slave Ch. 02

I nodded and walked into her apartment seeing that her husband looked drained and his hair was very messy, "Um, whats the matter."

"Oh, Edward's pair is sick with crying, and no one can get the poor thing calmed down. I offered to have her go visit her family, but she said that they would disown her if she gave us any problems, which is just strange. I figured, since you might know each other, you could help calm her down."

I nodded knowing that if the girl were sick, her energy wouldn't do anything other than make Isadorre's husband sick. She opened a small, yet very nice room and I saw the lump under the home made quilt, and could hear her sobbing. I could tell instantly it was home sickness, which happens to every slave but had to be delt with quickly when the slave was in a pair not a mating.

I walked slowly to her bed and sat down and pulled down the bed enough to see the haggard face. I was stunned to see my friend Becka, and I jumped up and yanked the bedding off, "Becka!!"

Becka lifted her head and stared at me a moment and then tackled me sending us both tumbling to the floor. We hugged each other and giggled each exclaiming the surprise at finding the other. Finally after calming down I looked at her and the first thing I did was send her to take a shower.

After a very brief shower she ran back out, as if expecting me to disappear. I sat on her bed after I had made it and waited for her knowing what she would do, simply because it is what I would do. She wrapped the fluffly towel around herself and sat down next to me.

We both talked quickly, telling each other about what had happened in such a sort time. I told her about how the boys were acting, and how overwhelming it felt at the University. She nodded, being the only one that could possibly understand what it felt like to not have enough money for school. We complained to each other for a good hour, both of us feeling much better when everything was out.

Isadorre came in worry still on her face, her husband closely behind her. Becka stood up and bowed apologizing and Isadorre hugged Becka, surprising me and Becka and said that she was just worried and that she felt better knowing that Becka felt better. Becka blushed and apologized again, Isadorre waving it off.

"I couldn't help but to hear some of your conversation, and I must have forgot to mention Seraphina, that your scholarship covers all of your school supplies, in fact they should have been shipped here this afternoon."

I gaped at her, "All those boxes downstairs are for me?"

She smiled, "Of course dear, Ill have them brought up to your room. Why don't you and Becka go open them, it would do her good to get out and stretch her legs."

Both of us nodded and Becka threw on a dress and we ran out of the apartments to my room, arriving just as the boxes did. I grabbed the letter opener and we started tearing the boxes open, seeing book after book come out. I piled them carefully onto the floor and then opened the box with the tablet. Both Becka and I ogled the thing, I was afraid to touch it, that I would break it. I opened the package and pulled out the instructions, reading out loud as Becka and I followed them.

Eventually we had the tablet worked out and I left the last box of art supplies unopened, wanting to open them by myself. Becka looked fondly at the tablet and sighed handing it over, "I wish I could have one."

"Oh?" I smiled at her waiting for her to finish.

"I need to get back."

I nodded and we got up and slowly meandered through the hall quietly until Becka sighed, "Im so bored all the time Sera. I know I have to keep my energy healthy and up, so I don't do much, but Im so used to running around taking care of a house full of little kids that im getting lonely."

I chuckled, "You want a house full of kids to take care of?"

Becka shook her head, "No way, but if I had something like your tablet I could write."

I smiled, "You want to write?"

"Well, I always wanted to write childrens stories, I remember telling all sorts of stories to the kids." She sighed. "But you know how it is, Im a slave, I cant do something like that."

I looked at her and shook my head, "You are so slow Becka. I would bet if you asked for a tablet and asked to write, they would let you write in your spare time. My mother learned how to draw, and that's what she did during her resting times. She taught me too."

Becka perked up but then slumped back down, "I would bet it would be rude to ask for one so soon upon knowing them."

"If they thought it would keep you from getting so depressed, they would get you one. Maybe I can see if Dimitri or Ryder have an old one and you could use that one. You would have to get permission from your Pair first."

Becka hugged me as we reached the door and the Duke opened it. She squeezed me tighter and then turned and brightly pranced into the apartment, the Duke staring at her startled. We both watched her prance into her room and close the door behind her.

I bowed to the Duke and turned to go when he stopped me, "I, uh, wanted to thank you. Becka is my first Pair and when she got depressed so quickly, I, uh, didn't know what to do. Thank you."

I beamed at the Duke and shrugged, "More often than not, slaves are never left time to themselves, especially mated slaves. Becka has been trained since she was a child to be mated which means that Becka is used to getting up at sunrise, cooking for a full household, and then doing tasks all day or going to school, then taking care of children until nightfall. When someone as busy as that, stops having so much to do, they do, on occasion, get depressed. May I make a suggestion?"

The Duke nodded, "Please, anything." I smiled at his eagnerness, "She was talking about writing childrens stories. I am aware that slaves are not supposed to work and doing something like writing books would be considered working, but my mother used to paint during her resting time, and the late Queen just sold the painting under her name and used the money to keep my mother well stocked in supplies."

The Duke nodded, "I have one of the late Queens paintings, actually."

I beamed, "Well, she was drooling over my tablet and wants to ask you for one, but is too shy. I can ask Dimitri and Ryder if they have a used one she could have, which would make her feel better, but she still needs your permission to do what she wants."

Isadorre came to the door and smiled at me and slipped an arm around her husbands waist. He smiled at her and shrugged, "I don't see a problem with it if you don't."

"Oh, I think it's a marvelous idea, however, it would be nice, though, if Seraphina would come by every so often and visit though."

Both nodded and turned to me and I agreed heartily, then bid them good night and walked back to my room. I packed my bag for the next day, making sure I had the books that I needed for the next day out, so that I could do the assigned reading assignment for tomorrow. I sat down and opened the first book, relishing the sound of the new binding popping as it was opened.

I settled down and read the chapters, taking notes on my new pad as I did so, marking down questions to ask the professor, so that I could better understand what was meant by certain things. After about three hours I realized that it was close to dinner and that someone would be coming up soon to fetch me, or to drop off a sandwhich, depending on how upset everyone was by how I acted earlier.

My mother had once told me that the worst time of day for me was right after school, I was always in the worst mood, having had to deal with the social stresses, as well as the mental strains of my classes, and finally the physical troubles because I often got harassed in school. It had become a tradition of my mothers to leave a stack of my favorite cookies on the table so that when I got home, I had something sweet to greet me.

The arrival back at the Palace had made me feel that gaping hole that my mothers absence now left me with. I didn't like being yelled at when arrived back, and having to confront the boys and deal and their stupidity had simply become too much for me. I had snapped and been very rude to people that had done nothing but be kind, especially when they didn't need to be.

I stretched my arms and listened for the soft pattering of feet, which I heard only minutes later and the soft knock on my door. I opened it and the servant informed me that dinner would be served soon. I thanked him and grabbed my tablet, hoping that maybe Dimitri would be in a good enough mood that I could ask him about the reading on the first chapter in the first class.

When I arrived however, I found myself having to clutch my tablet, in order to keep it from falling, because right in front of me was the girl again, this time having obviously been invited. And doting on either side were Ryder and Dimitri, but what had upset me more was that Mariah and Victor were there and they were engaged in conversation with the girl, laughing and carrying on as well.

A very deep pang of jealousy shot through me, and for a moment I realized that no matter how close I was to my friends, or their parents, that I would always be a slave to them. A human interloper. And had I been born this girl instead of myself, that my comments would be doted over and I would be admired as well. I became self conscious of the wrinkled state I was in, but as a final act of defiance I grabbed my tablet stylis and twisted my hair up and off of my neck, rubbing my brand for a moment.

I shook myself out of my jealousy, remembering that if I were born this girl I wouldn't be anything like who I was right now. In fact, I would be like her, and if everyone else were too beguiled by the charm to see the sharp look in her eye, the small downturn of her mouth when something other than immortals were spoken of. No one noticed any of it, and it bothered me greatly that Dimitri and Ryder didn't listen to her snide remarks about humans in the University, or that Victor and Mariah mearly ignored them and changed the subject.

I walked in and sat at the far end of the table, making sure not to sit in the late Queens place, but instead sat at my mothers chair and feeling ignored by the happy little group I put the tablet on the table and flipped through my notes, occasionally taking the stylis out of my hair and correcting something before twisting my hair back up.

"So, Sera, how was your first day of school.'

I looked up at Mariah and smiled, noticing the corners of the immortal girls lips instantly twist downward. I shrugged, "It went fine, I suppose. The classes and reading are interesting, which is all I can ask from a class."

The girl laughed, "Especially with that awful new grading scale the teachers are doing." She then rambled off about the new grading and only after telling them what the second period teacher had said did Victors head jerk up and finally take more than a passing glance at me.

"How many people do you sit next to Seraphina?"

"None, I only need to focus on myself." I watched as Victor gave his son a very black look but it quickly disappeared when the girl giggled about the seating and how it will be nice to have Dimitri to help her study. My stomach started to twist and I felt my appetite leave as the girl kept rambling on and on about herself and then about her classes with Dimitri and her classes with Ryder.

I suppressed and sigh and returned to my notes, finding the answers to one of my questions only after having re read that section of notes for the seventh time. My nights were going to be very long if it was going to take me multiple times of reading to understand the content.

I looked at a different question, the answer plying at my head, when I shook away the food offered. I asked instead for an apple and a glass of juice, to which the servant looked hesitantly from the group of immortals and back to me.

He dropped his voice low and leaned in closer to murmur to me, "um, begging your pardon, but the lady chef said that you were to sit and eat your meal. She said she is well aware of your appetite problems and insists that you at least try."

I nodded and looked startled at the dish, taking a moment to look at the other end of the tables meal and seeing that mine was drastically different. I thanked the servant and felt a tear glide down my cheek. The cook wasn't playing fair, it was a stack of cookies with a glass of milk right in the center. It made me miss my mother greatly and I quickly wiped the tear away before grabbing one and biting into it, if only just to keep from openingly sobbing.

"I'm terribly sorry we are late." I looked up, startled to see Isadorre, her husband, and Becka walk in. Isadorre looked at me then at the other end of the table then back at me.

"What the hell is this?!?" Her outburst startled everyone out of their own thoughts and Victor finally realized where I was, by that time it was too late. Isadorre glared daggers at everyone and very loudly stomped over to me and sat across from me calling in a bit of a shrill, for her table settings and food.

Becka sat next to me, obviously having already been told not to sit in the late Queens chair. She saw the tears in my eyes and looked at me worried until she saw the tower of cookies on my plate. She breathed in a shuttered breath and closed her eyes, obviously trying to hide her tears too.

She reached over and grabbed a cookie and biting into it sighed, "Sometimes I think I will call your house and your mom will answer saying you are over here studying."

I nodded and looked down at my plate, ignoring the chatter on the other side of the table. Isadorre leaned forward, "I don't understand."

Becka cleared her throat after swallowing and said softly, "Sera's mom would bake her cookies so that when she got home she would have a sweeter temper, that and her mom always knew Sera didn't hardly ever eat."

I took a sip of the milk and pulled my knees up to my chest, tucking myself up onto the chair, "Today was the first day I ever came to where I live, and there wasn't a stack of cookies on the table..."

Becka started crying softly, "And a two glasses of milk."

I started to cry now as well, "And a letter: To sweeten your day, to help the hurts go away. To sugar your brain, to keep tears from falling like rain. Every day is a bump, but don't make it a lump. For a bit of laughter, from my darling daughter.

Becka and I said the note together, having read it for four years straight. I stood up and grabbing another cookie, walked out of the dining room without a word, knowing that Dimitri and Ryder didn't even see me walk out.

I got only a few feet before I listened to Isadorre yelling, "someone had better explain what's going on, and I don't want to hear a single syllable out of you Miss Patrine. And while your at it, someone can tell me why she has a bruise as black as my hair on her wrist!!!"

I ducked through the halls embarrassed that Isadorre felt the need to yell like that. I wanted and needed to take care of myself. I ducked out of the back doors and into the garden and sat down in the dark, in the flowers, touching their bright heads and trying to tell myself that I would be alright.

I felt the wind then, strong, sharp, and cool. It smelled of rain and I looked up just in time to see the sky flash brightly, followed quickly by a loud, deafening crack. I stood up and faced into the wind, feeling its strength push against me. I pulled the stylis out of my hair and put it in my pocket, letting my hair whip around me, snapping against my face and stinging it.

I missed my mother, I missed my life, but more than anything I missed my two best friends. This had been the first time in my life that I was feeling myself drowning and neither of them was there to laugh at me and tell me to stand up, because the water wasn't that deep. I missed Ryder's warmth across my back and Dimitri's cool hand in mine. I missed the talks and feeling like I had two people who totally understood me.

I missed them.