She sat thinking about the evening at the fire. For the most part, it had been quite pleasant. Ba'atar had been in a rather "playful" mood, and was showing her exactly how much he had missed her during the day. It was a lot.
She was not all that sure if she welcomed the invasion of their space by the slave, or if she was not in a way, glad to see her before things went further. But that is another story.
A noise was heard, and their attentions drawn to a slave that was chained to a wagon, under guard. Ba'atar asked for her to be allowed to serve them, and she was released to do that which slaves do. As she approached, she recognized her as being a slave that had belonged to Jerus before he died, by the name of tanya. In fact, the girl had served around Jerus and Silken's wagons for a long time, caring for the children, helping Silk, along with her duties at Jerus' paga wagons. She had always found the girl to be quite efficient and respectful, and tonight was no different. She was a pleasant creature, and served them with respect.
Ba'atar had questioned her about her abilities, and she told him about taking care of the children, serving at the paga wagons, and about being a dancer. Well, this caught his attention, and he commanded her to dance for them. She did. Now, it was not unusual to walk through the harigga and see a girl dancing for a group of men, in fact it was just a part of life. But, the girl danced beautifully. A dance of need and submission, that affected her on many level. And it affected Ba'atar on the most basic one. And since she was sitting in his lap, she was well aware of his.......interest. When tanya was finished, Ba'atar even mused as to whether or not she could teach his new girl to dance.
It was a beautiful evening, they were relaxed, enjoying the company of the girl, then Shi arrived. From what she could tell, he was not happy to see the girl there. Ba'atar even offered to purchase the girl, but Shi was not interested. The why of it, she does not exactly understand, but after some conversation with the girl, he told her to hug the whipping post and took his whip from his belt.
At this point, Ba'atar sent her to put Also and the other boys to bed, and for that she is thankful. She caught glimpses of the whipping as she quickly herded the two older boys into their wagon, so that they would not see it. They were a bit young for such. She has seen whippings before, but this one seemed excessive. The lash could have been laid to the girl, the point made without trying to injure her. Shi is a fully grown man, quite strong, and he seemed to be trying to wield the whip with all of the strength he had in him.
Now, the knowledge that slaves must be punished occasionally is known. But to her, there is a time and place for it. And the main fires is neither. It would have been a simple thing for him to have taken the girl to those Gold Star wagons, and proceeded with her punishment. Why did he feel compelled to subject all those enjoying the main fires to the beating?
After putting their sons to bed for the night, she returned to the fire in time to see Shi's girl jessa putting ointment on the wounds. Ba'atar pulled her back down into his lap, wrapping his arms around her and they tried to salvage the rest of the evening, but there was a bit of a pall over it all now. Shi left, telling the girl to eat, then she could rest. Wonder how much rest the girl would get?
When they were alone again, Ba'atar rolled her to the furs and was trying to rekindle the fire that had been building before they were interrupted. And just as he started, up walked a very pregnant Silken just to say hello. She did not stay long, and during her short stay, Ba'atar managed to doze off. So much for fire making.
When they were along again, she nudged him awake and teased him a little. But the real tease, was when she stood, walked off towards the wagons then tuned to crook her finger at him. He did not have to be asked twice.
The fire was kindled and burned for most of the night.
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