Chapter 12: Blending IN

"True! But do you think any human can enter our village? What you think she came from the slave tower?" Krella's voice could be heard, coupled with the disbelieving tone with which she spoke.

"If she did, then the lieutenants should be here searching by now. It's not like it hasn't happened before,"

"If you won't, I don't mind taking her in," Krella announced. "Moreover, if she's pregnant then the baby can be born and also put to work," Krella continued with a small smile at the edge of her lips.

A smile that worried Rye who had looked up just in time to see it.

"Get up and follow me! You need a deep wash! I refuse to let you bring any kind of germs to my home," Krella commanded and Rye immediately got on her feet with a stunned expression on her face as she saw the woman beckon her over with her hands.

"You-you understand the language right?" The woman gently asked and Rye instead of nodding in agreement instantly shook her head.

"Some! I- I understand a little," Rye replied with hopes that apart from the Red-eyed ones called Vamps, there weren't a lot of Sanford and Hornels in the village.

The woman didn't speak again and Rye chose to quietly follow.

"Misha will teach you! I don't think it's bad enough for you not to understand most of what I'm saying right?"

"No, I-I understand."

"Hmmm, so you just can't speak well," Krella commented as Rye did her best to follow closely behind her to a house in the middle of the small village where they stopped.

"Misha! Misha," Krella yelled the moment they got to the front door, as a woman came running out a few seconds later, with a huge smile on her face.

"Mistress you're back! I've prepared your bath and food has been—"

"I know- I know. Take this one and clean her from top to bottom! I think she's your kind or at least half your kind!" Krella ordered.

Rye didn't need to look at the servant to feel an intense look of dislike directed straight at her.

"Yes mistress," Misha responded, her pointed ears twitching ever so slightly as she lowered her head to hide the contempt in her green eyes.

'It's obvious that she wants nothing to do with me,' Rye thought, though she remembered to keep her awareness up around Misha.

Krella went inside and Misha instantly walked closer to Rye.

"Follow me!" Misha ordered in a relaxed tone and a small smile that made Rye even more uncomfortable than before.

Misha led her to the back of the house, where there was a well with a tap attached to it, something Rye wasn't expecting to see.

"Strip!" Misha ordered and Rye remembering my follow the plot she was going with, pretended not to understand what she meant at first.

She stared cluelessly at Misha first waiting for Misha to show her what she meant.

"Clothes off!" Misha repeated with a stony expression while Rye hurriedly began to fumble with her clothes with an apologetic look on her face.

Misha slowly fetched the water, with Rye surprised to see Misha try to converse with her.

"What's your name?" Misha asked as she slowly lathered the soap until it produced soapy bubbles in another bucket.

"Shiya," Rue instantly responded, choosing to go with the name of the Santor she had met in her cell.

"The Naosti Kumani Shiya?" Misha slowly said but Rye was already shaking her head even before Misha was done.

"I-I don't understand the language. I was never thought," Rye responded, knowing that something like that wasn't too strange.

Rye was immensely relieved to see Misha drop the topic of discussion after that without pursuing it.

She was even more surprised to see Misha go ahead to scrub her clean from head to toe, strongly enough to bruise her and make her bleed in her hands.

Rye desperately wanted to complain but the more she scrubbed the more she chose to hold her complaints.

'She's probably trying to get me to relax. I'm sure she's not happy that I'll also be serving her mistress,' Rye concluded having seen how devoted Misha was to her Mistress.

The bath took a while but Rye was relieved the moment it was over, and Misha passed her a dabbing cloth before giving her something else to wear.

"Is that all?" Rye respectfully asked the moment she was dressed and Misha began to toss away the dirty water she had used.

"Yes Shiya, that would be all if that was your name?" Misha responded in a low tone, one only Rye could hear.

"Wha-what do you mean?" Rye asked doing her best to keep her heartbeat in check as she felt her fear slowly rise.

"You know exactly what I mean— HUMAN!" Misha said, straightening her back as she turned around to look deeply at Rye who did her best to show a blank look of confusion.