“It’s not that I want to return you, it’s just that I’m not allowed…oh, Hell.” Jillian sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “Come on—let’s go.”
Feeling extremely awkward, she shut the door to the antigrav chamber with the thaelite inside and the two of them walked back into the market and boarded the tram again.
This time they rode in complete silence, neither one saying a word as they went to the back side of the market and returned to the Yonnite Mistress’s stall. Kalis just stood there as Jillian rang the bell. After a moment, the Mistress came out and glared at them both.
“What are you doing back here?” she demanded, pointing at Kalis. “I sold you. Or did you forget something?” she asked, looking at Jillian.
And that was when the fighting started…
“As I said, there are no refunds, returns, or exchanges for any items sold at my stall,” the Mistress repeated for probably the third time, glaring down at Jillian.
“Look, I’m not trying to return the thaelite,” Jillian protested, thinking maybe there was some misunderstanding. “I’m trying to return the person you sold me—Kalis, here.” She pointed at the big bodyslave.
“Kalis is yours now—he’s your problem!” the Mistress exclaimed. “I will not take him back—you cannot make me!”
“But…I can’t take him with me!” Jillian protested. “I’m not allowed.”
“Well, that’s not my problem.” The Mistress crossed her arms over her bare breasts and shook her head adamantly.
“Well, then, if I really actually own him, I guess I can set him free,” Jillian said. “You shouldn’t be allowed to own people anyway,” she added, severely. “It’s horrible!” Turning to the big bodyslave she said, “Kalis, you’re free. Do what you want and go where you want and, uh, have a nice life, I guess,” she ended rather lamely.
“Wait! You can’t do that—you can’t free him!” the Yonnite Mistress exclaimed. “He is registered as a deadly weapon! If the Yonnite Sacred Seven who rule my planet think I set him lose without a new Mistress to look out for him, I’ll lose my license to sell at the market!”
“A deadly weapon?” Jillian repeated, staring at the big bodyslave.
Kalis shrugged his broad shoulders expressively.
“Seventeen years in the Blood Circuit,” he rumbled. “And then there’s the matter of my other form…”
“Your other form!” the Mistress repeated, shuddering. “Ugh—no, you must take him!” she told Jillian. “Credit has exchanged hands and all sales are final!”
“But…but you can’t just sell someone to me and then make me be their owner—I mean, their Mistress,” Jillian protested. “That’s dishonest! I would never own a slave—it’s reprehensible!”
“It is not!” the Mistress bristled. “It’s only right and just that males should be subjugated by Mistresses. And now that you’re a Mistress, you’d better see to it that you’re a good and responsible one! By which I mean, you are now responsible for Kalis here, and I have the bill of sale to prove it!”
And she waved the tiny paper receipt she had apparently printed out after the transaction went through.
For a moment, Jillian was at a loss. But she hadn’t made it to the top of the kitchen hierarchy by laying down in the dirt and letting people walk all over her.
“All right,” she said crisply, crossing her arms over her chest. “Let’s take this matter to the Master of the Market. Maybe he can decide who’s in the right in this situation.”
The Yonnite Mistress’s face grew pale under her thick layer of make-up.
“What? No—surely that’s not necessary,” she said quickly. “Look, why don’t you come with me to tea and we can discuss it. We’ll bring Kalis along and you can see what a truly fabulous bodyslave he can be. Why, by the time we’re done, you’ll be happy to be his Mistress. He’s a Kindred, you know—they’ll be loyal to the right woman until death!”
I thought he looked like a Kindred! Jillian mused to herself. But aloud, she said, “I’m sorry, but I don’t have time to have any tea with you. I’m going to go to the center of the market right now to speak to the Master. You can come with me or not—I don’t care either way.”
She started to walk away but the Yonnite Mistress screeched,
“Wait!” in such a panicked voice that she reluctantly turned around.
“What?” she said flatly. “Whatever you have to say, it’s not going to change my mind. You can’t force me to become a slave owner and make me responsible for a whole other person just because it’s inconvenient for you to be his Mistress any longer.”
“Come with me to tea,” the Mistress begged again. “And I’ll give you the ion-scoop you need in order to use the thaelite you purchased for free.”
“The ion-scoop?” Jillian said, frowning. “What’s that?”
“It’s the only tool that can render down a brick of solid thaelite,” the Yonnite Mistress said rapidly. “Without it, you’ve just got a dense, incredibly heavy mass that won’t disintegrate or melt or dissolve in any way, no matter what you do with it. Why, without an ion-scoop, you could drop the thaelite in a pot of boiling lava and the brick would come out exactly the same as it went in!”
Jillian felt her heart sink at these words. She’d been planning to put the thaelite into the boiling pot of jumja soup in order to give it the unique flavor the Nebrians adored. But if what the Yonnie Mistress was saying was true, that wouldn’t do a bit of good.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this tool I need before?” she demanded, frowning at the other woman. “I would have gotten back to the Mother Ship and been unable to do a damn thing with that expensive brick of thaelite you sold me.”
“Yes, but then you would have come back and I could have sold you the ion-scoop for twice as much!” the Mistress said. “I admit, it isn’t very nice, but a girl has to make a living, doesn’t she? And besides, now I’m offering to give it to you for free and all you have to do to get it is come to tea with me and give Kalis a chance to serve you.”
Jillian wavered for a moment. This was all getting too complicated for her and what if the other woman was lying?
But what if she’s telling the truth and you really do need that damn ion-scoop to get into the thaelite? whispered a little voice in her head. Then what will you do? The VIP dinner is tomorrow night—you don’t have time to make another trip out here to the market. There’s a hell of a lot of prepping to get done!
“All right,” she said reluctantly. “I’ll come to tea with you, but I want it very clearly understood that’s all I’m promising. At the end of this ‘tea,’ you will give me the ion-scoop for free and we will part ways. I do not promise to take, er, Kalis with me.” She cast a glance at the big bodyslave. “No offense.”
“None taken, little Mistress,” he rumbled. “I understand your reluctance to take me with you—I haven’t proved myself to you yet.”