If she were going to come out and say it, she would have to say that she was a slave. Not that such a fact was totally surprising in Roman society, or that she could hide it. If she ran far enough away, she might be able to find a place to be able to find a place to be free, but she knew that she'd be missed before she could put much distance between herself and her servitude. Yet, she didn't want to, as she felt some pride in being where she was at the moment, as there were people who would want to be where she was right then.
Technically, she was supposed to belong to the one sent by the gods, Kuesaku Nadsumeh of Neehaun. Everyone, from workers to senators wanted to have a close association with the knowledgeable one, and there she was, directly serving him. Doing so was even a surprise, as he was not the sort of master who would beat her. In fact, the very idea of him owning another person was not exactly something that he wanted, and the only reason that she had not been freed was that he just tended to be too busy and absentminded to get done so that it would be formalized.
Still, when she looked up at the sight of the workers building the large structure that would house his workshops better than what he'd started out with, she found herself happy with her situation. There were few women who had such comforts, and not many slaves could say that they were more in charge of things than their masters. Rumors flew over the various possibilities of what he could be, as people had thought that he was just a person sent to test the people, a showing of favor to the Roman state, and even the god Vulcan, given human form by Jupiter.
She knew him as the forgetful man that she usually had to track down, as she was doing now. Seeing him with his upper body stuffed almost into one of his machines, she found herself worried for a moment, but realization set in that this was just him getting into his work... literally. "Master? Master? MASTER!"
"Wah! Eh! Huh? OW!" Kyuusaku Natsume slid out of the machine that he was fixing and rubbed his head where he'd smacked it into some metal. "Oh, hello Korisa."
"What are you doing, Master?"
"Working. What else?"
"I can see that. But you don't have to hurt yourself," she sighed.
"Didn't mean to."
"I know, but you do have time to work on this... this...."
"'Steam engine'."
"Yes. But you've made them before."
Moving to a standing position, he moved so that he could get the kinks out of his back. "But this one is better. And it can move more."
"Wonderful. Just like all of the others," Korisa admitted, thinking of how just the work with metals had brought advances in everything from farming tools to weapons, to material building. "You have helped."
"I try, though some are easy. Lead pipes? Bah."
"Still, you are forgetting something."
"What? Is the new travel line not working? The water pumps? The hot air balloon."
"Lunch," she told him simply.
"Huh?"
"You forgot lunch, and you have that meeting with the sea captains later this afternoon."
"Oh.... Right...."
"I'm sorry to interrupt your work, Master, but you really need to feed yourself."
"I could miss a meal or two in the pursuit of science...." he told her, and then rubbed his belly when it growled.
"I see."
"Well, maybe something to eat wouldn't be too bad...."
"Of course, Master."
"Just one thing? What did I say about this whole 'slave' thing?"
"Master? I am your servant, and so I am supposed to call you 'Master'. That's it."
"But...."
"Would a slave nag her owner like I have to?"
He looked like he was trouble thinking of a refusal to that. "Umm... no...."
"Exactly."
"Still...."
"Let's just go, Master," she muttered at him, dragging him along by one arm as she took him in the direction of where the food was served, while:
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(Posted Fri, 14 Apr 2006 22:58)
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