"Well, you should enjoy doing things like that while it lasts. You realize all of you will need to cut out calling me 'my lady' and everything that makes me look important to you once we start on our way back, right?" Jenn asked, suddenly realizing that even if she got Shirley to cooperate with her, she couldn't say how much Shirley knew of the local language and was confident that she would quickly recognize that Jenn was being treated as important to the others. Which was something that she really would rather avoid having happen.
"But that's only if any of those you helped accompany us back to the settlement," the guard replied, sounding a little confused.
Jenn couldn't help but give the guard a knowing smile. After all, technically one person was accompanying them, whether she liked it or not, from simply of them having bought her as a slave. After all, if they left her here, it would only be a matter of time that she'd be in the auction again. Jenn was quite confident about that and for no other reason than the fact that Shirley didn't have any of the local currency, which would make it hard to buy anything to eat, even if her having been a slave up until the day before didn't create other problems for her.
"You're forgetting someone."
The guard blinked, clearly not picking up on what Jenn was getting at.
However, it didn't matter because at that moment, Jenn realized that the sounds coming from Maelias' smithy had stopped. She wasn't sure exactly when, but she knew it hadn't been long.
Jenn turned to look and saw Maelias putting things away, clearly done for the day. She didn't look like she'd overheard anything Jenn and her guard had said, but Jenn couldn't say how good Maelias' hearing was as she hadn't had any reason to try and test it out, nor was it something that she'd thought was important to figure out. Which meant she just had to hope that she hadn't heard anything that would compromise what she wanted kept secret.
"Let's continue this discussion later, okay?" Jenn suggested, even as she had a feeling that 'later' wasn't going to come up before it was time to head back.
"Yes, my lady," the guard replied, sounding like it was out of habit rather than her trying to make a point to Jenn.
A fact that made Jenn sigh in resignation. As she knew that she wouldn't be able to do anything about that if it had become a habit. All she could do was hope that it wouldn't either happen where it would be noticed or that it would be written off as her having a higher rank than the others in the squad.
It was a slim hope, but one that she had a feeling she was going to have to rely on if she was to keep what she wanted to keep secret from anyone else who accompanied her squad back to the settlement.
Which brought to mind, again, that she really needed to come up with a name for the settlement. As it felt almost like the name was 'the settlement' with how often she had to think of it by that since it didn't have a name quite yet. Nor had she heard any of her people calling it anything other than 'the settlement.' Which certainly didn't help her think of a name for it.
"Let's meet up with the others and see if they've had any changes in anything," Jenn said, yawning so suddenly that she felt surprised to find out just how tired she still was. Especially since she hadn't felt tired at all until that moment.
Her guard nodded, giving Maelias a single glance before she opened the door fully for Jenn to leave. Jenn wasn't sure how long she'd be able to keep her being the Blue Rose a secret, given how her 'guards' acted around her, but she hoped that it'd last long enough until she was ready for it to be revealed. Although, she couldn't help but wonder how many would figure it out before then and just keep quiet about it. After all, just because someone realized who she is, doesn't mean that they'll say anything about it. It just would mean that they were more adept at noticing things or Jenn wasn't being as careful as she thought she was in regards to keeping it a secret.
Jenn followed her guard back to Maelias' home, which was pretty much right above the smithy, though it had a separate entrance. Which Jenn couldn't say that she found objectionable, it just made it a little more annoying to reach, considering that they were already inside Maelias' smithy before this.
When they entered, Jenn's eyes first went to look for Shirley, and she felt immensely relieved when she found that Shirley was still there. While she still looked rather malnourished and hurt, Jenn was happy to see that she hadn't tried leaving. Although, she still acknowledged that it didn't mean that Shirley hadn't decided to accompany them. All it meant was that she hadn't yet tried to leave or was at least unsuccessful if she had.
Jenn hoped that Shirley hadn't tried to leave, but she knew she could only work with what facts were real rather than what she wished would be the case. After all, if that was how things worked, then she'd have already gotten the crystal back before even leaving Earth as well as the fact that she wouldn't have been made a slave to begin with, making a lot of what she'd had to go through meaningless.
Not to mention the fact that she probably wouldn't have had the crystal fall out of her pocket to begin with. Making this whole trip unnecessary. Which would have saved her the embarrassment of when she'd been on the fungaloid world, experiencing that high from the spores Velithy had given off.
Not that thinking about that helped any.
Jenn was about to check on Shirley, to see if she would respond this time to Jenn talking to her, but at that moment, Yaelish motioned with her head for Jenn to speak with her.
Jenn wasn't sure what it was about, but she had a feeling it was probably important, otherwise she was certain that Yaelish wouldn't have gotten her attention like that. As she couldn't say that she recalled Yaelish doing that up to this point.
Jenn glanced at those around her as she made her way over to Yaelish. Maelias' children were playing among themselves, not paying Jenn any attention, which Jenn was just fine with, Hiliash was cleaning, and Jenn's other guards were relaxing, though she hoped they were keeping at least one eye on Shirley. Even if it didn't show.
When Jenn reached Yaelish, she felt ready to go back to sleep. Even feeling her eyes trying to close on their own.
"Is there something you need to talk to me about right now?" Jenn asked, hoping this wouldn't take long.
"It's that a number of those people whose debts we helped clear last night asked if they'd be able to accompany us where we're going," Yaelish answered promptly. "I'm not sure if it was their idea or if word got around how we made that offer to Maelias and her husband and they'd like to start over somewhere new, just that they asked us if we'd let them."
Jenn couldn't help but feel immense relief. She wasn't sure if this would help her completely get off the hook for spending the money in a different manner than how she was supposed to have spent it, but she was at least happy that they wouldn't be going back alone. Though, the only problem left was to see if any of those who were now accompanying them back would have the skills they were looking for.
While she hoped they did, she couldn't say that was the case for a fact. Especially since she had no idea what any of them did for a living. As while it was clear that each of them had jobs of their own, as they wouldn't be able to pay off their debts in the first place without a job, she didn't know what any of those jobs entailed. Which meant she couldn't say what their skills were in the first place.
"Accept all offers of joining us," Jenn said calmly, doing her best to keep her enthusiasm from showing. She felt awake again, but she was pretty confident that once the spurt of energy at receiving this news wore off, that she'd be back to where she was a moment ago. "Regardless of what they can do or if they were helped by us."
Yaelish blinked, looking a little surprised as well as a little confused. "We haven't had any offers from anyone we haven't helped."
Jenn patted Yaelish's shoulder. "Trust me, once word spreads of what we did, and that we're letting others join us, there'll be people who will be asking to join us."
Jenn wasn't as confident of that last statement as she made herself sound, but she was at least confident it was a likely possibility.
Especially since they were already getting offers for them to accept. Jenn just hoped that at least two of them were from a mason and carpenter. That way they'd at least have gotten what they'd come for. Even if her advisors didn't like the way she essentially went about it.
"I trust you, my lady," Yaelish answered, her tone as respectful towards her as Jenn had heard from the other guards in the squad. "You should know that."
Jenn sighed. That wasn't quite what she meant, but she had a feeling trying to explain it would either be overcomplicated or would give her a headache, if not both.
Jenn was about to say something more when the front door opened and Maelias came in. Jenn wasn't sure why, but she made a beeline straight for Jenn and Yaelish.
"I'd like to talk with you if you have a moment," she said, looking straight at Jenn as she motioned for Jenn to follow her.
Jenn nodded slowly, hoping that it wasn't something that she or one of her guards had done that had gotten on Maelias' bad side.
Jenn then followed Maelias to where she shared a room with her husband, making Jenn feel like she was intruding, even though she'd been essentially invited into this private room. Though Jenn didn't let her hesitation keep her from following, she just kept herself ready to leave at a moment's notice. That way she'd be ready to leave this space that felt like only Maelias and Hiliash should be in it.
It also didn't help that Hiliash was waiting inside. Looking like she might have been waiting for Maelias but not quite Jenn.
"I was wondering-" Maelias began, but stopped when Hiliash elbowed her in the side. "We were wondering when you and your unit were heading back to wherever it was that you came from."
Jenn blinked. She hadn't expected this question, nor had she really thought much about it. Although, as she thought about it now, she realized that there wasn't much there for her to do. Aside from see about how long it'd take those who had asked about joining them on their way back to the settlement to gather their things.
"Um, I'm not sure," she admitted, hoping she wasn't going to unknowingly create a problem for herself here. "We've had requests from others to join us and I'm not sure how long it'd take them to get ready to leave."
Maelias nodded, as if she hadn't expected anything else, though Hiliash showed visible signs of relief, making Jenn feel even more confused. What was going on, Jenn could only wonder at right then with nothing entering her mind that made any sense.
"We'd like to join you, but I first need to finish up the job I'd accepted before we can travel with you, so we were hoping that you'd be at least still be around when I finished so we could join you," Maelias said, making Jenn feel like she hadn't quite heard Maelias correctly. Especially given how long it'd been since they'd made the offer and Maelias had been reluctant to accept.
Although, Jenn had to acknowledge that it had been a full day since then, at least, and Maelias could have done a lot of reflecting and thinking about the whole situation since then. Plus, with Jenn having been asleep pretty much all day, it wasn't like they'd have been able to talk with Jenn until now.
"I think we can work something out," Jenn replied when she was able to collect herself from the surprise. "As far as I expect, we'll have others wanting to join as well."
"You mean other than the ones who have already asked to join?" Maelias asked, looking a little confused.
Jenn nodded. "Yes. I'm confident when word spreads that there'll be others who will want to join us as well."
"That might be true, but it's unlikely to be talked about much," Maelias replied, looking a little concerned.
Jenn wasn't sure how to react to this news, as she'd been fully expecting that word would spread. Although, she accepted Maelias would likely know more about this than Jenn would, given Maelias lived here and so knew more about what was likely to be talked about or not.
"It's just that the debt collectors work for someone and those people tend to not favor those who would want to leave, even if they no longer owe them any money. Meaning that it'll be better for us to leave as quietly as possible when we're all ready to go."
Jenn opened her mouth to respond but stopped. She wasn't sure what she had been going to say, just that she had a feeling that it wouldn't be something that she'd have wanted to say. She wasn't sure what to make of what she'd just been told, but she was pretty sure that it would be helpful to her.
"Why would the debt collectors be opposed to people leaving?" Jenn finally asked as the thought came to her, which showed the possibility of problems coming up when they did leave. "I mean as long as those leaving don't owe them money."
"Because then we won't be able to come to them when we're likely to have financial troubles again," Maelias replied, sharing a look with Hiliash that made Jenn wonder if this might have been what made Maelias relent her opposition to joining them.
Jenn nodded absently, not sure she really understood the logic behind what had been said. She knew there were a lot of things that didn't make any sense to her in this world, but this hardly seemed like it was a cultural issue alone. As part of Jenn's brain started working through what she'd been told and suddenly realized that at least part of this was a mathematical problem.
That if people left, the people loaning money wouldn't be able to have as many people to loan money to in the future, which would dry up their revenue down the line.
Yet, at the same time, Jenn recalled at how many wouldn't have been able to repay what they owed given the initial terms and conditions she'd recalled hearing from those who had come over to receive help getting their debts cleared have. As many wouldn't be likely to repay what they owed, meaning that they'd get sold as slaves, which in turn would have the same effect as them moving out. Only it would add more money in the pocket of the creditor.
However, this process would eventually lead the creditor without anyone to loan money to, which would mean they'd be out of business themselves.
Something just didn't quite add up for Jenn. There had to be another motive behind all this. Some other purpose that she wasn't seeing.
She glanced at Maelias and Hliiash as she thought about it, unsure what the motive might be, but she couldn't say that anything was coming to mind. The only thing that made any sense to her was that there was an effort to depopulate the city, but that hardly seemed like it was an intelligent move as if there weren't any people in the city, other than slaves, there wouldn't be an economy to provide even the wealthy with goods and services. Which meant that there had to be something that Jenn was missing from the picture. Something that would tie things together in a way that Jenn couldn't quite explain right then.
"Is something wrong?" Maelias asked, concern etched on her face.
Jenn looked at Maelias, startled out of her thoughts. "Sorry. I was just thinking about what you said and just started wondering why there seemed to be such a concerted effort to depopulate this city."
"'Depopulate'? What're you talking about?" Maelias asked, sounding as confused as Jenn felt right then.
While she supposed that Maelias might be able to share some insights into the problem, she had a feeling it would take too long to walk the woman through the whole issue and decided to let things go for the moment. "Don't worry about it. It was just something that I started thinking about from what you'd said as well as other things I'd overheard."
Maelias nodded slowly, not looking very convinced, but as long as she didn't continue the conversation in that direction, Jenn was fine with it.
"I'll get things ready for us to move while you finish your work," Hiliash said to Maelias. "Though, if you want, maybe you should sleep by your forge so you can get more work done on it so you can finish sooner."
"But there's no bonus for early completion," Maelias argued.
"There is if you consider we'd be ready to leave this city that much sooner. Plus, we'd be able to maybe have a little time to buy some supplies for the road."
Maelias nodded, looking more pensive than Jenn had seen her up to this point.
"Um, I think I'll leave you two alone now," Jenn said, suddenly remembering where she was and how uncomfortable she was being in here. Especially with how they were starting to look at each other right then.
Jenn didn't wait for Maelias or Hiliash to respond. Instead, she quickly left as quietly as she could. She had a feeling things were on the road to getting intimate between the two and she certainly didn't want a front row seat to that.
Besides, she really didn't have anything to talk with them about at this point anyway. If they wanted to talk with her more, they'd be able to when they finished… whatever it was that they were about to do in their room. Instead, she let them continue to talk with each other, tuning out what they were saying because Jenn didn't want to know if her what imagination was saying was about to happen was going to be confirmed or not.