Contest - Of defiant trees and defiant gifts

Of defiant trees and defiant gifts


"This tree does not fits, even if I punched it with me fists," a boy of gray skin, elvish indeed, complained to his master of darker tone of skin. His goblin accent was heavy and thick, but he did not seem to care in this time and place. Green glowing eyes flared in annoyance while a defiant pose spoke of avoidance. The tree from the surface held some type of meaning in this season, one that he could reason. It would not fit inside the wagon. It would not fit inside the stand. It would not fit anywhere else, but perhaps inside his dark elf master's as-

"Carry on, and try. And please, no more cries."

Two children they were: him a slave by trade without any pay; she a full blooded drow, daughter to the union of two merchant half drow, with dexterous fingers and a talent for the shiny stone. The small gray elf was a lowly servant with no choice but to obey. His drow master, strange she was, with orange eyes and a small smile. He did not understand her, why she stayed in this place, so close to the horrible dark elves. It was not his place to ask, so he let it pass; even if deep inside curiosity was eating him alive.

They were both young, of a decade and a half old. Defiance in the gray half drow boy was great. Her obedience to a certain red-headed drowess was the same. She was smiling at the noble of amber eyes, as she walked around the shops with an interested smile. She wore no regal robes – obviously under some plot – but the half drow boy had seen her before, walking around these certain parts of the infested merchant stands.

The boy frowned, rolled his eyes, his tiny drowess master only smiled. The best jewelry she searched for from her father's most treasured box, showing it just in time when the red head walked along. The eyes she knew how to please, her belly moving sensually as the wind.

Not unlike Alya to put a show, the half drow thought with a growl. It was all an act, for he silently enjoyed her dance.

The red head drowess stopped at the shop and surprised, the half drow shrugged.

Alya smirked, and it was more than a trick. "Best jewels of Sshamath for my lady."

The red head smirked, eyes traveling between the merchant drow of orange eyes and the grayish boy slave by her side. "I'm guessing they're not for free."

"We could certainly arrange it", Alya was interrupted in mid-sentence by the boy beside her of the goblin accent.

"They're of a high prices, me lady drowesses, from the hands of the master", the gray boy said. Alya stared at him, yet a smile took hold instead of a grudge. Certainly she was more amused by the slave boy's attitude. He had accepted to work in exchange of a stone, although, why did he want it, it was for the gods to know.

"I see what you have here..." The red head asked for a name, which made Alya smile with blooming confidence.

"Alya, my lady."

"I see what you have here, Alya, but I like them on you, as much as I like them on him."

The gray half drow's shoulders slumped as a wicked smile on Alya's lips came to rest: he was about to meet with a terrible fate.

"I'm not a jewelry types of half breeds-"

"But none-sense, he is", Alya quickly interrupted him. "Give me a few hours to turn him into your gift, and perhaps we could arrange your payment then, my lady Zauviir?"

"Xull'rae, please, and yes, I agree."

A white eyebrow rose from under the dark folds that cupped the half drow's face and the dirt it held. He'd need to get clean, indeed, and smell of roses and things. Alya took him by the arm, and the half drow in alarm, tried to sneak by. Great was her hold, and his payment not whole. Thus he was still bound to her wills, whatever those could be. He truly hated all of this.

When they were behind the wagon, the half drow boy turned to her, a surprised expression on his face.

"This is not part of yer paymentses", he said. "To work for yerself and yerself alone, my ladysess, that is what I came heress for, in exchange of a green stoness."

"That is true, but your word still holds. You work for me by selling my stones."

"What yerself wantss from her tiss not coin to trade, but better yet what liess between her leg-"

"I'll not deny it, as you do, when I walk around you, or when she sets her eyes on yours. Truly they seem to tug you away, from this world you hate, little Grey."

Silence was his response, for he could not deny her words. Alya had been the kindest of his employers – to a certain extent when she was not desperate. He had not suffered any blows – those she preferred herself. Xull'rae Zauviir, terrified him, though. She was a noble of a Spider House, and their webs were built on torture and lies... the devious drow. He did not know what waited for him, and he had long ago run away from all of those ills. A slave he was by choice nowadays, to work for food and coin where he could remain.

Yet it was cleaning himself and smelling of fruit and oils what really bothered him the most, for he could sneak away as a slave, from the webs of those dark elves. Amidst his shock, Alya took his cloak, and he yelped in surprised when he tried for it to hold.

"This would not do, little Grey; a bath you must take." Indeed, her words were gentle, but in Grey's pointy ears they were terrible. A small tub she found, from the wagon and quickly had water inside it by the gallons.

The half drow yelped and ran away, but tricked he was and in he fell. Clothes flew away, goblin curses were heard while he clung to the edges of the small tub as a cat, surprised and betrayed by his master's own hands. His hair was wet, his back was scratched. "Ow!", he yelped, when the dirt was detached. Few hours did Alya have, and her special client could continue on her path. She let Grey alone for a second or two, and went to inspect that her Xull was there. And there she was, although some jewelry that was by the stand could not be accounted among the present ones. She smiled, though, in recognition that the drowess liked her jewels. Grey would be Alya's jewel for her to give to her beautiful Xull'rae Zauviir.

And her jewel was escaping!

Alya, fast on her feet, managed to tackle the naked youth to the ground with what little balance he had as he fell flat. The air escaped from his lungs and a moan from his mouth when certain extensions of his body connected heavily against the ground.

"Yer damaging the merchandise", Grey moaned after a low groan.

"If the merchandise would not run, I can assure this would be not", Alya replied, saving some of the half drow's pride as she stood up and helped him stand. "Oils must be spread, so your body smells nice to her desires."

Again Grey moaned in discomfort as he was led away from the tub and into the wagon to put on some clothes. The first set of clothes shown to him, covered little indeed.

"Am I supposed to wear that? Is that even clotheses at all? I'd be better with me pair of pantss, even if I had no more clotheses at all!"

"The bow would cover you quite whole"

"The bow?"

Alya's eyes seemed to glow. "What would be a gift without a proper red bow to tie you up?"

"This is going too far", the gray half drow said, now clearly annoyed as he stared at the set of green clothes that were supposed to be strapped around him in a way he could not be sure.

"…and yet, not enough", she thought, if rather aloud as she stared at the young half drow. He looked different indeed, with clean skin and clean hair – certainly a great gift to a drowess of noble heir. Quick hands helped him inside his new set of clothes, belly and chest exposed where the green silk did not cover him at all. His hair she did, jewels she placed on him while the half drow frowned and growled.

"How much wasss it fer that old green stonesss?"

"Not much", she said.

"Then I will take another of t'em stoness to keep with me as payment fer thiss yer deed."

"Fair enough, but I don't understand why. You'd like to be her price. I can assure you of that."

Grey gave her a dubious look with a raised eyebrow – his face was an opened book.

"One hour I will give you with her, and then you tell me how you fare." The challenge was spoken as the bow was tied around the half drow.

"I can tell ye how I 'fair', now. This isss not fair!"

"We'd need to work on your words for any other occasion, one never knows. Out we go." And out they were, Alya leading a young half drow who could barely move by himself, green glowing eyes showing a look of despair. A chuckle, a smile and a smirk cupped on the lips of Xull'rae Zauviir.

"I assure you, my lady, that he is yours to unwrap."

Grey opened his eyes wide. "Hers to wha-"

"For a price."

"Fer a wha-" He frowned. "Ye said fer one hour."

"Three hours he'll be yours. He's very strong, good with his hands and can be silent if you wish him to be. Always obedient, the perfect mate for hire."

There was a combination on his face between the blushing of his cheeks and the twitching of his upper lip. Not even Xull'rae Zauviir seemed to agree with the merchant drowess, but she seemed amused at the interaction between merchant and her captive. Then Grey bursts into chuckles that went up into laughter. Whether he was laughing at his own demise or at the ridiculousness of it all; it was difficult to know, but the childish laugh convinced Xull'rae as she joined in his laughter without truly knowing what was happening. The three of them found themselves laughing and in the end, the noble drowess said:

"I will bring you both with me; there is no need for this, although I appreciate the gift that I would like to keep." It was difficult to say if she meant it in jest, or if there was truth to her words behind the devious smirk that showed.

Three hours they spent and more, though with more comfortable clothes and no need for bows, tempting Grey under a strange flower that supposedly had a "toe". At least, the defiant surface tree found a home in the corners of the plenty Zauviir hallways, and the gray elf found a place under that tree that he did not seem to mind in the next few years. A defiant gift under a likewise impossible tree…