Kari stayed flopped on the bed while Nevis walked around the room and threw open the thick curtains.
“You should come here and check this out. You haven't seen the view yet.”
The omega looked up and saw the other slave standing in front of large windows. He beckoned him forward and Kari hauled himself off the bed before dragging his feet across the carpet towards Nevis. He realized with a start they weren’t actually windows, but doors inlaid with large glass panels that led out onto a balcony.
The beta carefully opened the door and Kari stepped out into soft afternoon sunlight. He gasped at the sight in front of him and ran to the railing to stare in wonder. He could see the yard below with people training and the stone wall surrounding the manor.
But it was the city sprawling beyond that took his breath away. The afternoon light cast the city in a warm yellow glow and the massive collection of rooftops was astounding.
They were all done in red or orange tiling and gave the feeling of a warm summer dream. The sunlight reflected off a large blue surface beyond the rooftops and it took a few minutes of breathless wonder before Kari realized what it was.
“Is that…is that the ocean?”
“Yep. Welcome to Mishal. It’s built right on the ocean’s edge. We get lots of trade ships here, so we get people and things from all over. It’s really pretty, right?”
Kari stared wordlessly out at the sheer expanse of blue. It stretched as far as the eye could see beyond the city and seemed to melt into the lighter blue of the horizon. “It’s so big…”
Nevis looked at him in surprise, “Have you never seen the ocean before?”
“No,” Kari said with a shake of his head but keeping his eyes riveted on the sight before them. “I grew up in a place opposite to this. A little village in the shadow of a mountain. The largest body of water nearby was a lake that I could swim across, one side to the other in one go without stopping. Most of the year it's frozen solid though, since we had long winters and short summers. Snow would be past your ankle for months and the summers would be a bit warm in the day but still cold enough for long sleeves. A far cry from here.”
He closed his eyes and held his face up to the light wind buffeting them. Under the cool breeze he could feel the sticky residue of the heat that must surely surround this city normally. He hadn’t noticed it earlier while he was inside but outside the manor would be another story. He slept through most of the travel here and his recovering body never noticed the increasing heat.
“That seems so crazy, but then I’ve never seen snow.” Kari turned to look at Nevis in surprise. The beta leaned against the railing and stared out at the city. “I grew up in a tiny little fishing village just south of Mishal. It’s so warm there that we can fish in the ocean all year round. Apparently it snows up north in the capital and beyond. But never down this far south. It must seem as crazy to you as you never having seen the ocean is to me. When I was younger, I pretty much lived on the boats. We would sometimes go so far out all you could see in all directions was the bright blue of the water. My whole life revolved around the ocean until I was sold to the Prince.”
“How did you become Lezzker’s slave?”
“You shouldn’t ask people that. It’s rude,” Nevis chided. “And make sure you address Master properly. I’m sure you’ll be allowed to call him something different in private but outside of the bedroom, you need to be respectful.”
Kari flushed and ducked his head. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I don’t mind but some people do. There are lots of reasons people become slaves, and it’s rude to pry into people’s pasts. Remember, slaves don’t have a past. That’s why we only have one name. So it’s okay to talk about it if you want but you should never ask someone. For me, I was sold a few years ago. I came from a big family that have been in that little village as fishermen for generations. A few years ago, there was a really long hot summer with very little rain and then it went into the coldest winter in living memory. Still no snow though.” Nevis chuckled before continuing.
“Most of the trade here relies on the fruit grown outside the city and products from those. So, alcohol mainly. But with the drought the crops were poor and even the fruit trees gave little produce that year. We could still fish but most of the people we normally traded with had no produce or money to trade with us. So, we had all this fish that was rotting while we weren’t sure what to do with it. We ended up giving a lot of it away to those starving after the failed harvests. But that meant that we couldn’t afford anything either, all we had was the fish we caught.
“When my little sister got sick, my parents couldn’t afford her medicine so I offered to be sold. I’m not the oldest or the youngest, just one of the in-between and another mouth to feed. I was young enough that I would fetch a good price because I could be used for anything and even trained if desired. Prince Lezzker was looking for a new attendant and brought me to learn that role. That’s how I ended up here. My friend Prue in the kitchens was in a similar situation. His family runs a bakery in the main Mishal market. Tthey were affected during the same year and he was also sold to give the family enough money to stay afloat. They are one of the busiest bakeries in Mishal now and he works in the kitchen.”
Kari stayed silent while he digested the information. It hadn’t really sunk in that what Enid had said about people wanting to sell themselves until now. It just seemed so absurd to him before but after hearing Nevis’s story, he kind of understood.
“Now we need to get moving before Master comes back and gets distracted again.”
Nevis pushed himself off the railing and motioned for Kari to follow.
“What do you mean ‘distracted again’?” The omega trailed after the other slave as he walked inside and closed the large balcony doors, shutting off the cool breeze. He realized it was a nice temperature inside, not warm as such but not cold either.
“The prince is usually looking over reports in his study at this time of the day but he came into the bedroom just to see your wardrobe. Trois was standing outside grumbling about distractions while he waited for him to come back out.”
Nevis laughed and ushered Kari out into another room. “He normally works too much, so it’s nice to see him having a little fun now and then but you’ll have to watch out for Trois. He’s a real workaholic and gets grumpy if His Highness skips out on work. Now, we need to tidy and dust this room before heading down to the kitchens to help with dinner preparation!”