The 'Collective' Records [Naelona]

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

It seemed that Shaehern Azhrarn was always in good spirits. There was always a look that made all who beheld his image wonder what he was up to. It was all part of his strategy to get people to wonder what was going on in his devious little mind at all times, even when there was nothing there at all. However, there was a bounce in his step which betrayed the truth of his business tonight. He had something nefarious in mind, even if it wasn't planned out yet.

A couple of problems still stood in the way of his schemes, some of the additions being more recent than others, but it wouldn't be much longer yet. In particular, one thought kept his spirits even higher than normal. "The collective order," he snickered to himself as he nearly started skipping to his destination.

He abruptly halted before the entrance to the door. If there was anything that could ever suck the fun out of him it was a visitation with anyone from this family. They had a tendency to suck the fun right out of him if they got the chance. However, Naelona was fun to bother, but today it was a trip of business. He'd have to at least try and control himself until he had what he wanted.

It took only a moment before he looked about as serious as he could manage and he knocked on her door. Knocking before entering? Almost unheard of. Maybe he would even start off on the right foot with her this time. Only time could tell.

[Naelona Ezel]

Shaehern would have to wait a minute, maybe two. Maybe he'd get impatient and want to peek? Maybe he already had. Soon enough the handle turned and the door opened, and with a look of unknown turning to a slight frown stood Naelona, sparing a quick glance over to her sudden guest. As if picking up on some hidden cue, behind her within the room Mar started closing her books and setting her papers on a stack. Whatever it was she'd been working on would have to wait.

Now Shaehern was a peculiar boogie, even by boogie terms, and his sudden appearance at her quarters was an even more curious thing yet. He tended to be a consistent source of agitation and all things annoying, but to purposely seek her out? That was a bit different indeed. And maybe it was just her, but he seemed a bit.. ill.. as she would think of it. Something was certainly up in his mind.

"Shaehern, why are you here?" Naelona asked with a frown, resting one hand on her hip and the other upon the door. "If you're missing something via bets I assure you I don't have it." She hadn't dabbled in any for a while, either. "If you've come here to hide from Luther, I won't be aiding you." And the quicker he spoke, the better. Despite her other oddities, she did have half the mind just to shut the door then and there.

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

She had the nerve to make him wait a few moments before she opened the door. Keeping his energy from busting forth the instant she opened the door was a harsh trial, but one that he managed to endure. Before he even had the chance to speak she rattled off things he might have usually pestered her for. Shaehern had not lost any bets in quite some time for he despised gambling on what he did not feel was a sure thing. There was no risk to it, save for when the sure thing was that a plan of his succeed. Those were interesting gambles indeed.

The simple point was that he was not here for his usual sources of ire. "Nay, it is not respite from Luther or wayward prizes I seek, but I come here on the chance of business. My own business, perhaps, but business that cannot be completed without consulting records." Shaehern was not against keeping his own records, but to do so made things seem so firm and permanent. It locked the mind in a particular place with a particular way of thinking about things. One merely had to look at Naelona to see what such organization did to a mind.

"I have my eyes set on what might be a slave without a master or mistress. Quite a predicament, really. I was wondering if I could consult the best records for a necessary background check before I do anything I might regret." Throughout his entire speech his body seemed to be its usual animated self, but during the moments of silence he managed to keep himself mostly under control. Shaehern was exerting a conscious effort to not annoy Naelona too much. He hadn't even taken another step closer to her and left what to him felt like an unbearable distance between the two of them. He was certain that to Naelona it would still seem much too close.

[Naelona Ezel]

To heck who had the nerve for what and why for, it was Naelona. Things happened when she said so, and didn't when she didn't. But she noticed it all, how he spoke, where he stood. The fact he didn't advance any closer, and simply stated his business. It was a bit strange - given the boogie it was coming from - but refreshing all the same. It took a moment's thought, while Mar scurried to complete his small tasks, and then it clicked. She knew exactly what was going on.

"Who are you anyway?" She asked, watching with a critical eye while not budging from the door, yet neither closing it either. "You look like Shaehern but you're.. too formal. You're too polite." Naelona tapped her fingers upon her hip with a tired sounding sigh. "If you're related - heaven help you. But Sin Dre'vis, this is honestly one of your worst imitations yet. Whatever it is you want this time, you can forget about it." Sin wasn't a name that'd crossed her mind in some while, but it fit. That boogie could make a veritable clone of just about anyone and seemed to thoroughly delight in the practice, if not a little too much.

"So if you're Sin, leave while you're still intact. If not-" she glanced him over without another word. At that she turned and went back into the room, but left the door part way open. "At least you see fit to come to a proper source, I at least must approve of such a decision." Pausing at a very narrow (but tall) bookcase her fingers drifted past a number of very thick, aged books. Many easily the width of her hand. Passing the escalating numbers of years and ages, she pulled out a thin book at the very end. "Tell me what is their name, apparent age, gender, and role of service?"

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

"Who are you anyway?" The question left Shaehern stunned. Unable to respond for a moment. Then she continued on. "You look like Shaehern but you're.. too formal. You're too polite. If you're related - heaven help you. But Sin Dre'vis, this is honestly one of your worst imitations yet. Whatever it is you want this time, you can forget about it."

"Lies and cruel slander! I attempt to be thoughtful and genteel and you meet the kind behavior with baseless accusations. I am wounded." He brought the bony fingers up to touch his left breast before giving her a delightful smile and straightening up once again. "Is that better, darling? it was nothing more than an attempt to be polite to the one I ask assistance from." And truly there was nothing else behind his facade this time.

"I figured that you would approve of my decision to come to you. Honestly, I'd rather trust no one else when it comes to such things, but that's a conversation for another day." He still had some trouble believing that she had actually considered that he could be one of Sin's copies. It seemed to be a genuine insult to consider that someone would be able to copy him and his mannerisms. Shaehern always strove to be the most peculiar he could manage.

"The details about the slave are a bit fuzzy. It is female and appears to be a mid-adolescent--fifteen or sixteen. She claims that her name is Chiki, though I have my doubts. As for the role of her service..." Shaehern trailed off and snorted before starting again. "She serves-she serves the collective order." He tried hard to keep a straight face but failed miserably before he burst into laughter. No one else could really find something so mundane so amusing. "If it helps she lives..." Shaehern trailed off again as he realized that he couldn't seem to place where she lived. Not even a minute detail, and that bothered him a lot. "I seem to have forgot," he finally muttered. Forgetting details like that was not in the nature of Shaehern Azhrarn.

[Naelona Ezel]

Naelona's slim eyebrows rose a few notches and stayed there until the end of his rant, and lingered a little longer when his calm persona resumed. "Ms. Ezel, is fine." Beyond emotions she never understood name substitutes either. Any term used to imply one particular identity besides using their proper name and of course, the common pronouns. 'Darling' and a myriad of other titles fit along with this. 'Sister' was a bit different, but that was only because she had a twin, and only Anolean could use it.

Opening the narrow book upon a now cleared desk her finger drifted down the sizable list on names, dates, places and codes for reference, a low murmuring coming from her lips that echoed the information Shaehern was telling her. She paused at his laugh, and outright stopped when she repeated the last bit. "Collective.. Order..?" For once in her life, Naelona looked truly befuddled, and it showed.

"If it helps she lives... I seem to have forgot," Chiki.. Chiki.. There were a numbered of places, and fetching another book Naelona folded down several lists from it's thick pages. "Forget? I'm beginning to doubt your word." It was one thing she wasn't aware of Shae to do, rather he tended to remember all the things she didn't want him to.

Around the time the Rebellion had been gaining the most attention, and not too far off from the fire that gutted most of the North Wing, Naelona had been keeping diligent records of what slaves resided in what room, and any other worthwhile details. For several minutes Naelona said nothing, but searched through pages and scanned handwritten lists at a dizzying pace. "A 'Chiki' did exist, she reached about 34 years or age, and died during a cold snap the other winter." A dotted line drifted from the information to a date. "About seven years ago. She tended familiars, and the Trap." Certainly didn't sound like the one Shae was thinking of.

Rethinking the information, she scoffed, taking down a wide book, digging part way through the pages covered in notes, and folding out several lists from it's pages. " 'Collective order'? So she's a rogue slave?" Nae was getting a sneaking feeling of lying, and at that thought retrieved her pipe and tapped it to her lips. "No-one's served for a 'collective order' for the past 130 years, at least. Even then it required a number of boogies to vouch for the slave, along with some 50 years of servitude without incident. And who in their right mind would let go such a well trained slave? I'd think the break, such a change from all they know would mentally shatter such a frail being. It was a brief fad, a fantasized concept that lasted for only a few decades before being forgotten. But being no slave lives that long.."

Naelona beckoned him over, with a brief motion to the lists. "I believe you have found yourself a fanciful liar. Probably the slave of some boogie who's stuck in their age, and convinces their slaves of erronious tales. But here, here is a current list of slaves and their respective quarters, as they should be in nightly by 11 o'clock unless otherwise requested. If your memory if faulty, the name may be as well. You may scan the lists, they're marked by name, apparent age, and gender only. Ignore the marks at the end. If you find your 'Chiki', inform me and I shall find the rest."

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

Shaehern crossed his arms as Naelona looked through her books. His memories had never, ever been faulty before; it had been one of the features that had convinced his parents that he might actually do something with his life--not that they ever really showed much hope or interest in him as a child. Still, books had always been unnecessary and Shaehern had a tendency to not trust everything that was written down. Records could be changed to fit the whims of those who kept them, memory was faultless. At least, up until now his had been faultless.

"A Chiki dead the other winter," he muttered to himself, as though he were trying to puzzle something out. "And familiars." There was something nagging at the back of his mind, something that he should have remembered that fit together with all the other pieces.

Then Naelona's speech brought him out of his train of thought into the realm of the moving once more. " 'Collective order'? So she's a rogue slave?" "You sound like you don't believe me," he responded with a sigh. It was easy to understand why she would think he was making it up. "I wouldn't forget a detail about a lie I made up, I'm too good to do that."

"No-one's served for a 'collective order' for the past 130 years, at least." That detail seemed particularly interesting. He had remembered hearing the term before, which was why it was so amusing to hear it muttered by a slave. But had it really been that long? It seemed far too long to still be lodged in any slave's memory. As Naelona had said: slaves did not live that long. Enough time had passed that it probably would not even be a storied shared amongst slaves, which would mean a human would have to hear it from a Boogie.

"I believe you have found yourself a fanciful liar. Probably the slave of some boogie who's stuck in their age, and convinces their slaves of erroneous tales." Shae raised a finger as he advanced towards Naelona's books. Apparently she wanted him to look, but there was clearly something that was not fitting together neatly here. "I would have thought so too, but I kept an eye on her for a little while." Every time a Boogie had come close to the girl an alarm had been raised by one of his wisps--none of them claimed to be her master and a few of them seemed blissfully unaware of her existence.

"She's not receiving orders from anyone. Could you check to see if any slaves have private quarters that are 'off the grid'?" Shaehern lifted up the lists and cautiously flipped through pages looking to see if any of the entries would jog his memory. There was something dreadfully important, he just needed to recall what it was.

"Is there anything else to say about collective orders? A boogie who was particularly sore about them not working or the like?" The very idea seemed ridiculous to Shaehern, but perhaps it could have worked without so much bureaucracy attached to it. Even if it had worked it still seemed terribly inefficient. The only benefit he could imagine was happier slaves, and who would have wanted that?

[Naelona Ezel]

Sounded like she didn't believe him? For a measure she didn't have a reason to, Shae had been acting suspiciously from the start. She was used to him being annoying and a general pain, not civil and actually - apparently - seeking her assistance. It was new and strange considering who it was coming from, but in this case Naelona wasn't too apt to look into the 'why' of things. Here the why was sort of irrelivant, just the fact that he was.

And he was a bit too good to mix up his lies. "That's what concerns me." she flatlined, not that it evoked any emotive response. The colorless boogie stepped aside for Shae, watching him attentively when he looked at the book and its lists as a child around fragile vases. But a slave without orders? That was troublesome and concerning. Worse was perhaps she was linked to the rebellion in some way. If there were unnaccounted for slaves residing in Wonderland, living 'off the grid' and masterless.. it was like hearing news of a potential rat infestation.

"The Collective Order? It was a brief concept that there existed a type of slave that, after a time and a measure of proper training, indoctrination, and servitude with proven survivability, would continue to serve Wonderland unaided to their last breath. A self-sufficient, self minding slave that exists soley to tend to all matters most dictated slaves do not tend to, and most boogies overlook. The 'Collective Order' being the rest of Wonderland and boogie society as a whole." While she spoke Naelona took the time to prepare and light her pipe, letting the faint blue smoke drift into the air before tasting the metal to her lips.

"It was a small belief that came from more softer-minded individuals. Though after a few years, several Elders and boogies of power with any sensibility put a swift end to the practice and belief. That is, to assume one existed." She finished with a look, and a vague wave of her hand. "In my experience, it's not a very welcome subject for discussion, and generally frowned upon in most - aged - circles." The aged ones that hadn't gone nuts with said age, that was at least. "Any particular boogie with an issue against it.. I do not know, but I would not ask. It is not a very welcome conversation piece."

"Though it might interest you to know, the bets for slave longevity arose during that time." A variety of bet still alive and well, a bit of an irony, all things considered. Naelona motioned to the book. "What have you found?" If anything?

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

Concerns seemed to be spreading all around. There was a secret that someone was keeping from him, and he didn't much like it. The consideration that anyone was able to hide something from him was something that put his mind into overdrive trying to figure it out. This was more complicated than a simple riddle, and more was riding on this than a few paltry lost bets in the past. This could be something major and if anyone else figured it out before him he'd lose this rare opportunity to cash in on it. "The responsible thing to do would be to lay claim to her. If any Boogie comes out of the woodwork to claim her after that move I'd like to keep an eye on him or her." It was the obvious next step forward. The other one would be to watch her from a distance and see if he could figure out anything more about her.

The records did not seem to match the slave he was looking for. "Maybe it's possible that she's older than she looks," he mumbled. It seemed a good assessment. It was a rare occurrence when the reverse was true of a long-term slave.

"Some Boogies are a bit touched in the head," Shaehern admitted quietly. No doubt she considered him to be one of those Boogies at most times, but right now the mask was off and the real him was showing through. It was a good thing that she would never consider that this was how he really behaved when no one was around. He set the lists down and shook his head in a serious look of defeat. He was not going to find the answer in there. Subconsciously he started to pace as he tried to remember every detail about the girl and her behaviors.

The first mannerism was that he never seemed to recall seeing her from behind. This slave always insisted on facing him. Why she chose to behave that way was an entirely different question, and Shaehern was unsure of the answer. Best he could figure was that she didn't trust him. Also, he seemed to recall that on their first meeting she had been talking to herself. No, that wasn't right. She had been talking to Chi, a nickname to be certain (short for Chiki from further investigations), but this girl was not Chiki. So then, who was Chiki?

"Are you certain that the Chiki is dead?" he asked gesturing to the lists he set down. He never trusted such things to be perfectly accurate, but Naelona's lists were the best chance to get at the truth. They could have been modified, but for someone to do it without her knowing seemed preposterous. Any potential misstep could provide a key clue, though.

Had she not also called out Chi's name before she noticed him in her room that night? It was all very fuzzy as he could not remember where the room was. A missing gap in his memory threw the entire order of events of that evening off kilter. He was certain there had been no one else in the room nor anyone else who tried to enter. So who was she talking to? He and Zalamel had been waiting alone with a tiny little mouse in his clutches. Shaehern would have missed it if Zalamel had not caught the rodent on his way in.

Could it have been the name of the mouse? A peculiar pet for a child, but certainly easy enough to take care of. A little mouse would feed itself and scurry away from most types of danger. But had the same mouse been present out there in the woods?

"Pets," he finally murmured. "Do we keep track of pets?" Then a darker thought dawned on him. "Or perhaps Boogie familiars?" The mouse might have been her master's familiar. It would be a clever way to keep correspondence with a slave who was off the grid without drawing attention to ones self. He clasped his hands together, determined that he was very close to figuring it out. He looked at Naelona with a grin, though it must have been nearly three or four minutes since he had last said anything meaningful.

[Naelona Ezel]

Some boogies were very much 'touched in the head'. Of Naelona's opinion, that included the majority of Wonderland, herself exempt of course. For the moment it was peculiar to see Shae act in the way he was. It wasn't like him. He actually seemed.. serious about a matter for once. Had her body cooperated there would've been a chuckle at that moment, but there wasn't. Perhaps there was hope for him yet.

"Chiki certainly is dead. Kristopher found her and I saw her remains myself." Remains they were indeed, too. Nor did they last long either. Nothing of food value that couldn't fight back did, at least not in Wonderland. Her lists weren't so much a hobby but more as a way of life. There were a number of things one could not determine of the future if they did not have a record of the past, and how could there be a record if no-one kept it? They seemed scarce and difficult to come by during Naelona's early youth..

"Pets?" Naelona echoed questioningly. As in slave pets? That would prove difficult if not pointless to keep track of, keeping tabs on the existing slave population was difficult enough. A shadow crossed her face and Naelona neared the old bookcase once again. "Familiar are often irrelevant factors and thus far there has been little reason nor purpose to keep notes of them. However.." Briefly standing tip-toe she took a reddish book off the shelf. Loose leaf paper poking out oddly from the sides which she tucked back in with a frown. It had certainly taken a beating during it's time, and held several stains upon it's cloth cover.

"There was a brief project - and effort to moderate and supervise the slaves that tended to other's familiars. They were required to write date, time, what familiar's were present and indicate all services done for them. Names do little but hearken to common knownledge, so they had to also list the type of creature as well." Setting down the book by the others she opened up the pages, pointing to some of the more complete lists. Different types of handwriting indicating the varying degrees of penmanship the slaves possessed. A few styles repeated every few lines, others were hardly legible, but it was a list. The dates on the far right indicated it was about three years old.

"This practice was held for nearly 18 months before being discontinued. Too many inept slaves and too few incidents to warrant it's continuation. What sort of creature are you seeking for?" The grin was.. well.. she knew old Shae had been hiding in that serious facade somewhere. "Why so adamant about one slave, Shaehern?" If there were more troubling matters at hand, she needed to be informed of them.

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

Shae clicked his silver rings together a couple times as he listened to Naelona's explanations. She really was a stiff, but at the very least she was tolerable when approached from the correct angle. The cooperation between the two of them seemed to be a rare phenomenon. At the very least, Shaehern doubted that he would ever get the chance to see this again in his long life. He pondered what sort of motivations could have pressed Naelona to offer him aid. No doubt that it would remain a mystery to him forever. No one truly understood how Ms. Ezel operated.

"Absolutely deceased," Shaehern nodded in understanding. Eyewitness account was precisely what he had wanted to hear to dispel his doubts, and he found it surprising that Naelona could provide him with that. Then again, he suspected that she might be able to considering it was cataloged in her notes. She didn't seem the type to leave such things to chance.

He looked over at her, a little surprised that she managed to pull out yet another experimental record. There were so many failed projects that Shaehern's skin began to crawl just thinking about all the wasted effort. "You're going to think I'm crazy," he said with his characteristic grin before he let it go. Only the hint of a smirk remained. "Look for a rodent. A mouse, if you'd please. See if the name Chi or Chiki shows up in association with that."

These were the moments of truth. It was a long shot and a gamble, but this was his second favorite part of the game. If he called it right, then he'd be walking away a winner and Naelona would only be left guessing at what he had just figured out. If he was wrong, then things would move from interesting to thrilling.

[Naelona Ezel]

"You're right." Naelona remarked, scanning the paper being Shae seemed disinclined - or unable - to do so. Namely reading the chicken-scratch that some had deemed 'entries'. "I do think you're crazy. Always have." But a rodent? What sort of self-respecting boogie kept a mouse for a familiar? Oftentimes a bit could be told from looking at one's familiar, but a rodent?! Must be some truly despicable sort of person, probably a klepto that had a bad habit of biting.

Now there were a myriad of creatures that'd been tended to, but none of them quite matched. There was a number of creatures - animals, birds, even a few more nameless things that startled most slaves to learn those could even be familiars. Of course there was also the denotation here and there where a slave became injured from a familiar, which one, and what injury. A couple slaves were even eaten (it was notable those familiars weren't often tended).

With a sigh of blue smoke Naelona shook her head after several minutes, turning to the last page that ended abruptly. "There's a few rodents, shrew, couple rabbits, squirrel.. none of them with that name, however. For names there was a 'Chiquori', ..but that was a horse," she murmured.

"You still haven't answered my question." Naelona reminded, closing the book and bringing it back to the bookshelf. Must be some peculiar slave to derive this much determined searching from him, let alone come to her - and be civil about it.

Meanwhile Mar had picked up a few pieces of scrap paper, tore off tearing a piece and making a small pea-sized ball out of it, and flinging it at Zalamel. Watching the while paper fly through the air and bounce of it's black feathers, Mar shuffled it's feet, tore off another piece, and did it again.

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

"You would not be too far off," Shaehern conceded to Naelona as she scanned through the lists. Bookkeeping never had been his skill, nor did he ever want to make it his skill. Though, it was no doubt that the penmanship of slaves was an ugly thing that would challenge his patience at this time. "I'm crazy, but not for the reasons that you'd think." His mind was able to contort and perform acrobatics that a more structured mind would have missed.

The clicking of rings resumed once more as he listened to Naelona rattle off about how the lists did not seem to have what he needed. He was not certain what that meant, but it seemed that he had reached yet another dead end. A quick turn was in order, for he was certain that he was on the right track now.

"Someone is playing a game with me, and I don't know who it is. I intend to find out, Ms. Ezel. The slave seems to be part of the game." She was also his only solid lead on anything. His next move seemed to already be decided for him, and Shaehern did not like that at all.

"What I was looking for was not in the records." What did that mean? Well, the most obvious conclusion was that what he was looking for did not exist, but he had hard evidence to the contrary. So it meant that the Boogie he was looking for did not have his or her familiar taken care of in that project. It made sense, since a mouse was easy to take care of without aid. Keeping track of it would have been another matter entirely.

A small piece of paper flew through the air and bounced harmlessly off of Zalamel, who had nested himself on Shaehern's shoulder. The bird's response was one that showed he was less than thrilled and he caught the next piece of paper in his beak before tossing it to the ground. He emitted a single caw as he stared at the monkey, but remained well enough behaved to do nothing more than give his warning cry. Shaehern looked from one familiar to another and let out a sigh before an idea struck him.

The familiar was both the question and the answer.

"Mar seems restless," Shaehern observed quietly as he looked to Naelona. It seemed odd that such an ordered Boogie would keep such a wild familiar. Then again, some people would have considered Zalamel far too straight-laced to be Shaehern's familiar.

[Naelona Ezel]

"A slave in a boogie's game, how novel." Naelona stated dryly. Was this.. a sign of sarcasm from her? Surely not.. Regardless Naelona remained largely unimpressed. It was about high time someone messed with Shaehern back, he meddled in enough affairs as it was, it only seemed just someone was meddling now with his head.

"It doesn't seem it was, no. If any formal census of familiars exists, one hasn't been conducted in some time. Mind you that journal was for a very brief period, not to mention that pages have been ruined, marked, and stolen." The last word wasn't without a bit of bite, and a harsh glance to the window. "Beyond that, it only furthers the fact that slaves cannot be trusted for any duration of time, nor should they. But all do cave with proper incentives."

It seemed just to be the way they were created. Soft, helpless, and screaming since the day of their birth til their death. "Mar seems restless," the remark broke Naelona from her thoughts, and she looked over upon the trio. "He's always restless, been that way for over a year." Mar chattered idly, bared teeth at the bird, but refrained from ripping up a third piece. The monkey might have after once the bird looked away, but never had the chance as Nae pulled the sheet out from under him, tumbling the squirrel monkey over upon the desk and tossing it into the fireplace. Mar screeched a moment and perched at the edge of the desk but didn't leave it, watching the paper longingly as the low flames liked up and consumed it.

"Been that way ever since I had to take Kristopher to the Trap. I've half the mind to think he ate something there." The Trap was 'cleaned out' on occasion, but that wasn't to say something putrid couldn't be found with ease there. Who knew how many ills deceased slaves cultured.

"If you really want to find out who this slave is, and her Master - the next time you find this slave, disregard any order she's been given and bring her here straight to me. There's more faces I can recognize with my eyes than with any book." A slave couldn't hide everything, not with a proper observation. Even with the stubborn ones, there was always a means by which to achieve a goal.

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

Shaehern found himself chewing lightly on the tip of his finger as he pondered where he should go from here. He had involved Naelona in the investigation and all that had left him with were more questions and a suspicious Boogie with authority who was now aware of the scheme. It had been a risk that did not pay off.

Dealing with Naelona always seemed tricky. The idea of stolen articles had occurred to him. It had been another reason he distrusted written records, but it seemed there was no way to get around it now. Naelona's miniature rant seemed to be directed mostly at slaves. "They shouldn't be trusted, but they are the best way to get things done." It had been Shaehern's firm belief that slaves could not be trusted to do anything important, which is why you had to be creative with how you used them. Of course, Shae never seemed to be able to keep more than a few slaves at any given time.

Shaehern stopped nibbling on the tip of his finger, it looked like he might have drawn blood. That was never appreciated by the contemplative Boogie, but he'd ignore it for now. As for the monkey, such beasts weren't really his area of expertise. The whole lot of the primate family were peculiar and fascinating, but hardly seemed to be anything more than what might be acceptable and normal behavior. "Maybe he's just not getting out enough," Shaehern commented dryly. It really was beyond him.

Her suggestion would most likely go unheeded. Bringing Naelona into this situation more than she already was seemed like a bad idea if Shaehern wanted to keep the results to himself. On the other hand, when he went to fetch the girl it could work well as a threat. Naelona's reputation alone might be enough to convince a slave to come quietly. After that, the master would most certainly have to step forward. As for this Chiki rodent, the creature might not survive this next encounter. It all depended on Shaehern's mood.

"It would be effective. I'll consider it." There wasn't much more to say about it than that.

"How have investigations into our little malcontents been going?" Naelona mentioning Kristopher in the trap reminded him of the incident. If he had been more industrious he might have already figured out everyone in the rebellion. As it was, it had fallen to the back burner for his interests.