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To Disappear (kikora and Z.G.)

It was not easy for the Elf to pretend that this was a normal conversation, not when she was kneeling on the floor completely bare, holding her hair up and aside so the vampire brute could fasten the collar 'round her throat. But she managed, and gave a brief nod to his descriptions of dreams. "Elves sometimes enter Tal'ra veer, the dream world. It is not dissimilar to what you describe, but without the same restriction of distance. I myself enjoy brief ventures, and have spoken with a few more rebellious Elves there, before my capture." She smiled slightly, slightly more relaxed by the casual conversation. She only tensed briefly as Abel placed the soft collar onto her, and whistling to seal it in place. She did not need to reach up and touch the buckle to know it could not be removed without the consent of the vampire.

"Perhaps another time I could explain that world to you." She finished as though nothing had happened, and leaned forward, pressing her hands to the floor as she ducked her head. It was a purely submissive move, but one that she chose because leaned over as she was, she was covered and hidden from his eyes once more.
 
Abel reached into his trademark gray tunic and pulled out a braided spool of leather, six feet long, with a catch on the end. He reached down and attached to the loop on the collar that he had just placed about Kaura's neck. Then, as if it were absolutely normal, "Come, slave. Let us go for a walk. You may keep crawling," which was clearly a command, though couched in less demanding terms. "Tell me about your dream world. And I thought you were the only rebellious elf--there are more?"

With that he head off out of her room, his strides slow and measured, as if they had all the time in the world.
 
Humiliation washed over Kaura when the leash was attached to her collar, and just as if she were a pet, he ordered her to follow him on her hands and knees. She hesitated again, finding herself wishing she could let herself growl at the Vampire. 'Indulge his desires, else you will be turned on the table, exposed and shamed again.' She reminded herself, and the idea of him seeing all of her once more helped her move slowly forward.

She crawled slowly and awkwardly, as if the concept was unusual for her, grateful that the vampire moved at a similar pace. "There are always others." She replied softly. "The only time there is one revolutionary is when they are mad. I am the only exiled because I lacked the patience others did... I lacked the time others did. When I returned they wished to use me as a figurehead leader, a powerless figure they could rally behind, but it was not a fate I desired, and my actions... Were shameful. It only hurt their cause to have my name be called." She paused for a moment, and shook her head to dismiss the thoughts. "The dream world is similar to this one, built upon old dreams and places. It's chaotic... And dangerous." She shot him a side-way glance, "Unlike in normal dreams, damage done in the dream world transfers to your sleeping body, if you are cut, you remain cut. It's also a place where many nightmares reside, so Elves rarely stay for long, lest we risk our own well being."
 
Instead of going down stairs to the horrible pit they took a different route, passing through more well populated parts of his complex. Liveried servants marched to and fro, quickly, forever looking forward and women in burlap shifts--slaves, from what Kaura had likely already gathered--moved as well, heads down. There was a clear social pecking order, one that looked old, with people standing back to the wall, looking upwards as the vampire and his new pet asked. From behind Abel there were several glances and outright stares at the elf he had crawling next to him, leashed, even a few giggles suddenly suppressed. Occasionally there would be a faint comments about the mostly faded red stripes that decorated her body, following a trail from her back down to a nest of them about her thighs.

The vampire slowly chewed over what Kaura divulged about the dream world and her people's interaction with it. "When I awaken, having explored that world, I do not wake cut if I were cut. There is the feeling, raw and true to its core, but otherwise I am left whole. Time and space are concepts that do not seem to quite apply--there are those who can seem to communicate across any gap in their dreams. I am not one of them, Oneiros has never been my friend," he admitted, intoning the vampiric dream deity.
 
Kaura felt humiliated as she passed through the narrow halls, gawked at openly by slaves and servants alike. Her sharp ears picked up their giggled and taunts, and she knew that it must be an odd sight indeed to see a proud Elven woman crawling like an animal on all fours. She almost stood then, refusing to be humiliated in such a way, but stubbornly forced herself to remain as she was, ignoring how the slaves stared at the welts across her body. It was not as though she had willingly been beaten!

She shook her head slightly. "If you die in Tal'ra Veer, your body dies here." She said after a moment of thought, unsure if he wished to know that fact or not, before she tilted her chin up to look at him once more. "Where are we heading to, lord?"
 
"We are going to the Night Market, Kaura, where you can see the fruits I provide to the local herd," he answered the elf. They passed through continually broader halls until they were in a courtyard of rocks carefully sculpted and on display. Abel paused for a moment to regard them--bestial creature that he was, a love for art was one of the few holdovers of the days in which he had a soul. The stones of the courtyard would likely feel good on the elf's palms and knees, though they were unlikely to do more than small cuts.

Once they exited the small courtyard they were in the large open space that was the complex's court yard. Except now it was filled with stalls, carts, teeming humans everywhere yelling out their wares. It extended even farther, spilling outside of his huge gate. The ground was churned and muddy, not to mention cold, perfectly miserable conditions to be crawling naked in. "I have died in dreams before, felt it even, but here I am; ever eternal."
 
"The night market?" Kaura repeated as they finally left the castle grounds, and were out int he courtyard air. The crisp cold didn't bother her any, but being outside in the courtyard, seen by all the humans there... It was humiliating. She ducked her head as he paused, admiring the statues before healing her again, away from the smooth stones and right into unpleasant muck. She carefully picked where to place her hands and knees to avoid and sharp smelling mounds she could only assume where horse droppings, before looking up at Abel, her eyes slightly pleading. "May I please stand now, lord? I have done nothing to offend you today, may I please have this one bit of kindness, to keep me out of the mud?"
 
Abel arched an eyebrow at Kaura's pathetic request. Was it better to be cruel and leave her to wallow in the filth, or show kindness and teach her her place? She had been good, which did deserve reward. "Yes, you may stand." He paused to let her do so then went on, faded eyes skipping over the wares for sale. Fish, meats, crafted goods, leather work, metal work, fortunes told, services rendered. This was something that Abel had been working on for a while now--these were the products of over twelve communities, bartering and squabbling with each other. Everyone walked away happy, and he took a cut of everything. It was great, de facto leader of his own small land.

"What are you initial impressions?"
 
At least her submission had gained some bit of respect, at least enough that she was allowed to stand. She spent a moment ridding her hands and knees of mud, leaving darker smears that she frowned at, before turning her attention to the market. It had a wide variety of different merchandise, ranging from foods, to clothing, and even some basic magics. She even found herself smiling when she caught sight of a simple white gown, not dissimilar to the one that she wore in. "An impressive market." She concluded after a moment. "Not as organized as I had known in my village, but noteworthy all the same." She strolled forward some, ignoring the open, slack-jawed staring from human men who had never seen one of her kind before. "I notice though, many of these materials would not be found in the same region... How far do these merchants ship their goods from the reach this market? Do you have open trade routes?"
 
"Some come from a hundred leagues away," Abel divulged as he wound his way around the market. He watched a woman in her stall animatedly haggle about sticks of incense, waving them beneath her potential customer's nose. At another stall children were excitedly looking at a leg of roasted mutton. "Of course we have open trade routes, stretching back to the new lands in some places. Mostly the problem with banditry is taken care of--their heads are put on spikes on the side of the road. Sends a clear, consistent message."

The vampire glanced at the pale elven woman at his side, secretly gleeful at the mud that stained her body, making her dirty, almost feral looking. Still, there were taunts and jokes as before, especially concerning what she must have been doing for the Lord Abel to be seen out with him in that manner. What she must have done to earn a collar and leash. "Have your people considered trade with the outside world?"
 
Kaura shrugged slightly at his question, her cheeks heating slightly at the human taunts. "I do not know. Elves cut off ties to the outside world to hide our weakening race. The power I brought back will reverse that until an actual team can be gathered to move to the Source. The elders might open trade now."

One particular man gave a loud whistle, calling out a string of profanities at Kaura that made her stumble and shoot a wary backward glance. Several times she heard them call her 'his slut' or 'The new whore' for walking next to the vampire, and they shot obscene gestures that the naive girl didn't quite understand.

"Lord?" She questioned after a moment of bewildered surprise. "What do they mean?"
 
For the first time in a long time Abel let out an amused smile, "I believe they are insinuating that you are a prostitute of some kind or a woman of poor moral character. The particular man in question was just doing it with a liberal use of verbal flourishing. It has been interesting to watch the slight changes as times go by among the humans, in their languages and cants. A little like an unending play." Abel had always had a fondness for languages, dating back to his first night of travel. Years of roaming, establishing himself, finding out who he really was at his core. The first post descent period of time in which he experienced a true renaissance. "I remember when people motions at each other as though they were pleasuring a penis with their mouth to note derision."
 
Kaura raised her chin slightly, pressing her lips together. "I am neither a streetwalker nor of low morality." She responded, leveling one man with a cold gaze that hushed his taunts immediately. "What I am forced to do, or what I do to avoid a harsher fate, it is not my choosing." She shuddered and made a disgusted sound when Abel mentioned the pleasuring gesture of the past. "With their mouths?" She asked, sounding thoroughly disturbed by the thought. "A vile idea."

She shook her head slightly, and focused her attentions on another stand, giving a low mutter half to herself. "I am too young to take a mate, and sometimes I am quite glad for it."
 
"I have rarely heard someone say something like that. Usually people--humans, vampires--in your stage of physical development go cross eyed over another young one." Abel commented, completely nonchalant about the taunts directed still at Kaura. In his own way he found it rather amusing, enjoyable to watch. He wondered if all elves were as completely and utterly prudish as the elf on the leash and if that perhaps had contributed to a certain diminished birth rate. "Do you represent the standard of elven moral fiber?"
 
Kaura shook her head slightly, pausing once to view another piece of clothing, before she realized she was simply drawn to anything that might cover her naked body. "I am young for my species, I aged rather quickly." She told him, quickening her pace only slightly to keep up. "I look older than I should, and other of my kind realized this. I might appear nearly seventy for my species, but I only top twenty by a few years." She shrugged ever so slightly, and frowned. "Elves are allowed to choose a mate when they we reach sixty or seventy years of age, and normally remain with one throughout our lives. When I reached human civilization I found it not too terribly different. But, I did not want to mate with a human who would only live a fraction of my lifespan, and be left alone when he passes."
 
She was but a child! Suddenly, so much was explained about Kaura. This would provide more interesting than he had formerly thought. "I can see where that may be disadvantageous to long term survival," Abel noted, they were passing through the gates further into the market. Here there was more entertainment; performers, musicians, even sport. There was a group of fire dancers spinning flame, a clown making what appeared to be physically impossible faces, the trill of pipes and violins. It was all very much alive, vibrant, a stark contrast to what lay within the mountainous compound run by Abel.
 
"Don't be mistaken." Kaura told him absently as they went. "My mind aged same as my body. It was as if I was human, in many ways. I aged as one of their kind would, but was treated as though I were a child by my people. When I gained the power I did not wish to court a human for the same reason I was not courted, no one wishes to give their heart to one who age and die so very rapidly." They broke out of the confines of the gates, and Kaura's eyes widen slightly, taking in the spectacle around them. She was especially interested in those who danced with spinning poles topped with fire, and wondered if she would be able to do similar with some practice. "This is... Spectacular."
 
"Yes. Quite," Abel acquiesced, letting her pause to watch the fire dancers. They had come from somewhere far afield and were traveling the continent, performing their admittedly enticing art. They moved in great designs even among themselves, creating a larger effect from their coordinated movement. This was one of the things he enjoyed--the Night Market occasionally drew interesting performance groups.

They moved again, passing open gambling clustered around men with wrapped hands wrestling on the ground. "The penetration of martial arts is pretty prevalent for the humans around here. What other race would you find that in--an art made of killing?"
 
Kaura was grateful that Abel chance her the chance to watch the firedancers, and she stared in wonder, entranced by their movements and routine. He finally led her away, and she was grinning, for a moment completely forgetting about the fact that she was naked, and men were still trying to attract her attention. She watched the men grapple next, her cheeks heating slightly as the fit pair wrestled and fought. Both were only clothed in breeches, their bodies glistening in the moonlight.

She felt unusually disturbed by the unusual display, and looked away, trying to hide her blush behind her hand. "No... I would not expect such behavior from any other race." She murmured, trying to turn her attention from the odd display that caused her heart to pound wildly.
 
Abel caught Kaura's blushing at the young men grasping at each other, rolling on atop the other in a quest for dominance. "It is clear now how young you are, Kaura, that you would blush at two young men wrestling." It was not quite a taunt or derision, though the comment did have a jesting tone. He could just so faintly hear her heart pounding in her chest, feel the increased heat on her skin.
 
"It is simple not something I am used to seeing." Kaura protested softly,but couldn't help but to look back curiously at the men every few seconds, oddly drawn to watching the shameless display. "My kind do not roll on the ground naked from the waist up... I fail to understand the appeal." She half turned from the vampire to watch other spectacles, determined to ignore the wresting pair. Instead, her eyes fell on an amusing display of a human's skill with his hand, tossing and catching flaming torches. "That would be an easy stunt for my kind." She commented lightly, trying to draw the conversation away.
 
"Oh, really?" Abel asked Kaura, one of his eyebrows arched. He moved forward and made a motion to one of the performers' compatriots. They traded words, in which Abel made it clear that Kaura would attempt to juggle the flaming torches. Yes, the flaming torches. But only if they had some available after this man's set--he would, of course, tip handsomely. Not that anyone really said no to him. In about twenty minutes the juggler was done.

The vampire reached out and unhooked the leash from her collar, "Go and juggle then." A small part of him hoped that she ran, so that he could chase her down and punish her before the onlookers of the market.
 
Kaura blinked in surprise when Abel stepped forward, and told one of the showmen that she would be the next to perform. Her eyebrows shot up, and she watched the juggler carefully, memorizing the motions. After almost a half hour the man stepped down, and she was unhooked from the leash, and told to step forward. She tool the torches, and weighed one in her hand, trying to get a feel for the weight. She tossed it, and nearly dropped it ((Much to the amusement of the onlookers, one of whom shouted she should keep her skills reserved for the bed)) before she finally got a feel for the motions.

After a minute or two she was tossing the torches high, and catching them expertly. Unlike the human performer though, her hands landed on the fire, drawing energy from the heat and light as she moved, smiling. She felt slightly more healthy for the experience, and kept juggling, all the while thinking her actions carefully.

She was unhooked. She could easily try to run, but she was unsure about the speed and strength of her vampire captor. Dare she try to escape now? Could she escape? Would this be her best chance? She wasn't sure. The night was going to much more pleasant now that she was being passive, and she suspected the vampire suspected she would run either way... She blinked at the thought, her eyes narrowing on Abel slightly. She suspected he wanted her to run, and try to escape, and that he was ready for the opportunity. That thought alone kept her from moving.
 
It was certainly eerie to see the woman touch fire without being burned, and as she kept on going she seemed a little more alert, her movements subtly becoming more adept every time she touched the flame. It was interesting to watch to say the least, and good to note that she had at least one skill that she was adept with. Abel kept special note of it as a reward for later, perhaps, allowing her to practice with those on her own. Not to mention it was quite diverting to watch the naked elf standing their, juggling with ease, her lithe arms rippling with quiet strength and small hands quick and dexterous.

There were several hooting cat calls about Kaura's shorn snatch, many of them implying or outright yelling it was for easier access. However she did end up attracting a crowd, word of the elf whore juggling going up and down the Night Market like wildfire. While the size of the crowd increase, so did the frequency of insults and jibes, some of them even seemed to get in a contest about who could say the worst thing about her.
 
Kaura did not think she would draw such a spectacle, and the more she performed, the larger the crowd grew. Men shouted insult and profanities up at her, making reference to her hairless sex, and hooting and hollering about the shape of her curves. She gave an embarrassed whimper, but tried to keep herself focused on the task. Again and again she heard the term 'Whore elf' tossed about, and it seemed that was what her performance was named.

'Whore' 'slut' 'dirty pointed eared ceiling etcher' The insults kept coming, and when one man stepped forward, slightly closer than the rest, and laughed as he pretended to get behind her, making obscene gestures with his hips as the other hooted and hollered.

Kaura took a step away from the man, and caught the torches, holding them carefully as she tried to slide away, looking clearly distressed by the attention she was receiving. Another man seemed to take advantage of the situation as she inched too close, and grabbed a fistful of her hair, yanking her back. She let out a cry of pain, and drove an elbow back, stumbling forward when he released her, and heard several angry cries from the crowd. A few other men stepped forward, and Kaura wasn't sure if they were trying to act aggressively, or simply trying to calm her. She didn't wait to find out. In the blink of an eye she was off, running as quickly as she could away from the group of humans. Her race was not known for their strength, but their speed was virtually unmatched by human or animal alike.
 
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