She was one of those lowborn. Born a slave, lived as a slave, who didn't know another life.
When she'd been rescued by the strange surfacedweller, she'd recognized his power and done what had seemed completely natural for her. She'd sworn service to the stranger, forsaking her old (and unlamentedly deceased) masters and thereby increasing her chances of survival.
It had taken more than a week for her to convince him that this was what she considered normal and natural.
She was fond of the uniform when someone finally figured out what it was supposed to look like, and could put it together.
The expressions on the part of Lady Hinata and Lord Naruto (or Mistress and Master if one preferred) combined shocked and other things that she was not familiar with. But they DID agree that it was better than the diaphonous outfits she was used to, or naked which was also something she'd done more often than not.
Actually the outfit covered quite a lot of skin, some of the scars she was a bit self-conscious about, and it provided a lot of places one could hide weapons - which was a good thing considering what she'd been able to understand of the Master and Mistress' occupation.
Now she was with Lord Naruto and Lady Hinata (they seemed more at ease with this sort of term used to reference them than her previous method of referring to them) and was in the presence of their king/overlord/high priest?
As was the case with their odd language, Lord Naruto of House Uzumaki being the only one who had that odd translation effect going, she was only able to understand brief snatches. Most of it used words and sometimes concepts she was utterly unfamiliar with.
Her eyes flicked from the too-bright windows to the various furnishings of the room to her Masters, to their King.
The term 'ninja' was used - which indicated the profession that she understood the Master and Mistress practiced. The term 'drow' was of course a reference to her own species. 'Konoha' - sometimes followed by 'gakure' was a reference to the settlement.
"If this one should be trained in combat, to better fit in with the service to the Master and Mistress, then this one would be pleased to do so," said the slave. Which was the truth. Service to this Master and Mistress had been oddly pleasing. They had not so far done so much as raise a switch to her, nor even raised their voices except in alarm a few times. There was something else that had occurred several times so far, which she hadn't quite understood herself. There was nothing of amusement in her previous life but she'd found herself laughing aloud when the Mistress had accidently drenched the Master in purluu juice and then become focussed on trying to get his clothes off of him. When the Mistress had realized what she'd been intent on, that fair skin had changed color to a bright red that seemed incandescent to her darksight. Which had furthered the bubbling up feeling within her.
It was odd, she'd only heard laughter before from a Mistress when torturing a victim or servant. This was entirely different somehow.
She'd been allowed to arm herself after awhile. So far her only regret had been that they had given her a name of 'ruby' - which she understood to refer to her eyes. She thought that overly extravagant as she was simply a lowborn, and naming her after a gemstone far too above that station.
Not that she was going to refuse it. Her last Mistress had given her the name of 'sickly maggot.'
Master Naruto turned to regard her, noting her position kneeling on the floor and cleared his throat. "You know, you could take a seat."
"I would not think of it," said Ruby, managing to sound properly scandalized.
Once again Master Naruto got that bit-into-something-bitter expression and slumped a little as he returned his attention to the aged King.
Ruby was surprised when the King's look indicated he'd caught her brief smirk at the antics of the Master, and merely raised an eloquent eyebrow. He too looked amused, and not in the manner of a Mistress listening to the cries of pain and despair of those under her control.
Yes, Ruby thought to herself, she definitely preferred her current Master and Mistress to the one she'd previously had. Now if she could just convince them to stop trying to turn her loose. She'd have to find a way to make sure that they knew how valuable she could be as their servant.
"She's learning the language, but she don't speak much of it, and apparently I can't teach her a damn thing," complained Naruto. "Anything I say gets translated. Hinata's doing a better job of that."
"Then she should take this 'drow' under her wing," said the Third Hokage. "There are jobs that a non-ninja can do around the village, and since she seems to refuse to leave you..."
"Yes, uhm, that does seem to be the case," admitted Hinata.
"Then it is settled," said the Hokage. "She will be your personal retainer, and you can teach her the language. Eventually she may find a job away from you two but the language barrier will have to be overcome before that becomes an issue."
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(Posted Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:46)
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