"Are you alright?" Eli asked Lucy, still holding eye contact with her.
"Yes," she whispered to him softly.
Without breaking eye contact, Eli asked everyone, "Can you all give me some time alone with her please." Beau and Audrey left without a word or hesitation, Tara, again deciding to trust him and knowing that they had a lot to discuss about his family, grabbed Bethany by the hair and pulled her out of the room too.
Eli sat up and sat cross legged on the bed and motioned for Lucy to do the same. Before she could speak he held up his hand to stop her.
"Before we get started, do you want to change your pants?" Eli said in as soft of language as he could so she wouldn't get even more embarrassed.
"Oh, um, yes, yes I would," Lucy stuttered. She stood on the bed and took off her pants, placing them in inventory. She hesitated a moment, then looked at Eli in nothing but his ape underwear and decided to match his level of dress and sat down in her underwear and what could best be described as a pajama shirt, thin and loose fitting.
Eli didn't turn away or change his expression the whole time, he could feel how reverently she felt about him and playing at modesty would only further embarrass this girl.
"What is your name?"
"Lucy."
"I have a feeling you already know my name but I am Elias Konzak and this is my home. You are welcome here any time. Now tell me who I am to you."
She hesitated at first, not really sure how to put it, but when he nodded, she knew she couldn't lie to him so she spoke from the heart. "You are my purpose"
Eli's eyebrows rose, "that's an interesting choice of words." Lucy just shrugged. She was having trouble with words right now because she was filled with so much emotion and hadn't had time to sort it all out yet, something she suspected he knew.
Still not breaking eye contact, Eli asked, "I want you to elaborate on that, but first, why do I want to be your purpose?"
Lucy's mind exploded, if she had more fire magic ability she was sure smoke would be coming out of her ears. That had never occurred to her, in her mind, he was saying that he took that as being her purpose would be a responsibility and not a benefit. She quickly tried to put it together in her mind, what could she offer him to take on that responsibility.
Not seeing her respond right away, Eli continued, "Everyone in my group here, is someone I would protect with my life. They understand that that becomes as much of a responsibility for them as it is for me. And because of this understanding, they work hard for the benefit of the group. We don't want to be your purpose, we want to be your family." Eli paused when he felt a tremble go through her body and her magic so he stopped and waited for her to speak.
After gathering her thoughts, she decided to lay it all out. "My family has served you for hundreds of years, I was specifically born and trained to serve you in whatever way you need me to. My family's honor demands that I serve you, your word is law, and I live by your will alone, as my family has done since your mother took the throne." Inwardly she felt a wave of relief come over her as she finally got to say that to him, something her father and grandmother had told her since she was born.
Eli paused, rubbed his chin in thought for a moment, then decided to test her, he got a serious look on his face, still keeping eye contact and said, "Take off your shirt." he needed to know how far the brainwashing would take her before he knew how to handle this. Otherwise he could make an offhand remark that she takes seriously and it gets her killed.
Lucy was surprised at the command and how authoritative he had said it, but after the surprise, she didn't hesitate and took her shirt off in one smooth motion. She sat there, breasts uncovered and she didn't make a move to cover herself at all, she kept her hands in her lap and arched her back a little to make them look a little bigger, which Eli knew was something she was taught, since the posture didn't look natural. Now he knew for sure that she was all the way gone and he would have to handle her carefully or he could do her some real damage. He also decided that, even knowing that Tara and Bethany wouldn't like it, he would have to be very careful not to reject her in any way if he could help it, she just wasn't mature enough to handle it until he could undo some of this brainwashing. If he rejects her too harshly, she could take that as a failure and kill herself or something.
"Ok, so tell me more about what you can do for us and what role you see yourself playing."
They still hadn't broken eye contact and she was having trouble keeping her mind sharp, but she answered as best she could. "I will serve you, first and foremost, doing whatever it is that you need me to do, fight enemies, find information, kill spies," She paused and couldn't stop herself from blushing a little. "Share your bed, I am whatever you need me to be. It is my purpose, why I was born, and what I have trained for my entire life."
"So if I told you to stay here and guard this place forever, would you be ok with that?"
"Yes," she said without hesitation.
"And if I told you to share my bed and never tell anyone, would you be ok with that?"
Again she answered without hesitation, "Yes" and scooted herself closer to him on the bed.
"What if I told you I wanted you to have your own mind and make your own decisions, live for yourself and your own dreams?"
"I would say that my dream is to serve you, and my decision is to do your will," Lucy said a little too quickly.
Eli winced inwardly, if the people who brainwashed this poor girl had prepared for him to say that, this would be near impossible to correct. He told her to put her clothes back on, which sounded ironic coming from the guy in fuzzy underpants, but he pretended to wear it with dignity and pride. He was going to need everyone else's help to talk her out of all this nonsense, also, he was going to have to remain eccentric. The more odd he acted, the easier it would be to get her to think for herself, hence he hadn't even looked at her body after having her take off her shirt. Why would he ask that if he wasn't going to look, part of him was asking himself that question since she was very much his type physically, but he was acting erratic with a purpose. It did seem to feel good to give in to chaotic behavior, something he would have to look out for.
"Ok, I understand the depth of your purpose to serve me and I will agree to it on one condition."
Lucy nodded in hesitation, fear striking her heart that everything she lived for might come apart at some cruel request from her prince.
"You must ask me for something that you want, once a week, and it has to be something personal to you and for you." Eli said in a tone that did not allow her to argue.
"Those terms are acceptable. I am happy to finally get to serve you," Lucy said with enthusiasm.
"Ok, so for this next week, what is your request?"
"Right now?" Lusy asked confused
"Yes, if you don't request something to my satisfaction you don't get to serve me that week until you do."
Lucy's mind raced, trying to find something she could request that fit the criteria, but her mind just wouldn't stop spinning. Panic started to set in as the seconds ticked by and she didn't have a response. Finally she just went with her gut instinct and asked for something she desperately wanted.
"I want you to hold me like when you carried me in here so I can put my head on your chest and listen to your heart beat. I have never felt such a sense of the entire universe collapsing into one perfect moment."
Eli smiled, opened his arms and closed his eyes, "How long do you want me to do this?"
"As long as it is ok with…." She stopped under a glare from him, "I mean, 5 minutes?"
"Is that a question or a statement?"
"Five minutes," she said with confidence.
Lucy crawled over to him and curled herself up as he held her in a princess carry and she lay her head on his chest. Eli slowed his breathing and heart rate for her, he probably would have been able to slow them more but he was practically naked and her skin was so soft, Eli told himself he was going to have his way with Tara after this to work off some of this tension, if she wasn't still distant. Then he thought what this would look like if they walked in and he stretched his awareness to the vines that served as a door and he grew more and had them effectively lock the others out. They stayed like that for a time, neither of them had a way to time it so they just guessed and she went back to sit across from him again.
Lucy had a nice smile on her face, but quickly remembered herself and went back to being composed in her awkward chest-out posture. They stared into each other's eyes for a minute.
"Ok, now that you are a provisional part of MY group," Eli emphasized the word 'my', "I have a few rules, one, no one sees you naked, including me. Two, always consider what is best for the group when making your own decisions. Three, when others are around, speak to me formally and address me as Lord Ash, I'm hiding my real identity for now. And lastly, I want you to get to know the others here, even be friends with some of them if you get along, understand?"
"I understand, my prince."
"When it's just us, call me Eli."
"Yes, Eli," She responded awkwardly, as if addressing him casually caused her physical pain.
"Now, finish getting dressed and ask everyone to join me at the table," he said, and got up and moved over to sit at the table. Lucy got fully dressed, in clean pants, and tried to leave but the vines wouldn't let her out.
"The vines won't let me leave." She said Eli closed his eyes for a second and the vines returned to normal. She bowed and went outside. A few moments later, everyone came inside and sat down at the table. Audrey went around and gave everyone tea and bread while everyone introduced Beau to Eli and said a little about him. They explained his fighting and why they had recruited him. Eli explained what he expected from him and then asked if he had any questions.
"Yes, I have one question. How much autonomy do I have if I become a full member?"
"Everyone is free to make their own choices, as long as your choices don't go against the group you can do as you wish," Tara explained, getting a nod from Eli and Bethany.
"Well then I'm good to join whenever you'll have me, I'm going to go train inside the walls in case those attackers come." Beau said. Eli wasn't sure of what to make of the guy, he seemed pleasant enough, but his magic sense told him that Beau was too calm. It might be his affinity for stone that makes his magic more calm and stable, but he would keep an eye on it.
Everyone got up to walk out, but Tara stayed behind. "What is your plan for Lucy?"
"The plan for now is to indulge her, let her make some friends, but more importantly she needs to trust me if I'm going to get anywhere undoing her brainwashing. I also think I need to act odd around her. When I did something unexpected, her magic twitched in an odd way. It was like her magic was a record playing and when I acted odd, it skipped and restarted a bit." Eli said, plopping himself into his bed, motioning for Tara to join him and locking the door with the roots again.
"I've had a few talks with her, how far are you going to take this indulgence?" she asked while taking off her clothes and joining him in bed.
"Why do you ask? You know I know my psych, why so much concern?" Eli said.
Tara cuddled up closer to him, intertwining their bodies together, "I could feel what you were feeling during your talk with her. You hold so much anger toward your mother for erasing your memories and blocking your emotions. I just don't want that anger to affect how you treat her. She was raised her whole life to think her only purpose is to do what you want, and from what I've seen, she would do anything you ask, and I mean anything. You did a good job of not letting her notice or feel your rage but I could still feel it and if she becomes a servant she will be able to feel it too."
"I have it handled, with as deep as her brainwashing goes, the only way to get her out is to get in there with her. It's going to take time and maybe some things you won't like as well as some things that might embarrass you, but I know I can do it." Eli said as he kissed the top of her head.
Tara picked up her head and glared at him, "What things I won't like. You aren't going to sleep with the poor thing, she would never recover from something like that."
"First, never recover? you seem to have recovered just fine each time. Secondly, I'm not saying that I'm going to sleep with her, but I won't say that I won't either. It depends on what she needs to keep her mind from collapsing while I unravel all the brainwashing. While talking to her, I had her sit in front of me almost naked. She didn't flinch, she even tried to sit in such a way that she would seem more attractive. But it was a performance, I could feel her unease deep in the magic in her soul. And when I didn't even look at her body, she didn't understand and her magic skipped like I said earlier. It was so deep in her magic that I couldn't sense it at all until she felt vulnerable when she wasn't wearing clothes."
"That's your plan!" Tara yelled in indignation sitting up so she could point her finger at him. "You plan to make her uneasy so you can force out her real feelings with magic? You realize she may never forgive you for what you have to do to get her there, she may not survive the shock of coming back to herself."
"I'm not going to go that far, like I said, I have no plans on sleeping with her. I think I can be gentle and if you and the others offer her friendship we can do this over a year or so and then she could decide for herself if she wants to stay with us or go her own way. If we upset her or ask her to leave the way she is, I don't think her mind would survive that. She thinks she was born to serve me, so she doesn't have a will of her own. She's likely to off herself, or end up attaching herself to someone who is willing to take advantage."
"I bet it would be the latter," Tara said, "She seems too strong willed for the first thing."
"Enough talk, I've missed you," Eli said to her and pulled her on top of him for a kiss.
"Don't think you can sex your way out of this discussion," Tara said while giggling.
They didn't finish the discussion, their souls were too hungry for each other.