Kaleeth looked over and grabbed Janius' hand in hers. She stopped herself from sobbing enough that she could speak more clearly. "Father...he loves me, I know he does. I do not think he would be caring so much about this if he did not. It is just...he hates Imperials. He does not trust them, and he wants to protect me. Even if he is wrong. Like I said, I wish it was Saxhleel that hurt him, not Imperials. Father, he was not from this village. He was hatched in another village, a smaller one that lived in the outer marshes. They...they were all killed, or taken. The Treeminder has always told me that slavery is rare now, that it is...illegal everywhere, but Father disagrees. He told me the stories of how his village took in visitors one day. There were a few races, but the leader was an Imperial man. They stayed for a while, traded, shared stories, then left, but...a few days later he came back with more people and attacked when they were weak, while many hunters were away. They killed everyone who fought back and tied up the others, then they waited for the other hunters to come back and killed them. Father was young, I think only nine or ten, he couldn't fight back, so they tied him up. He said he had to watch his mother die, and...that it was not fast. He does not like to talk about that." 

Kaleeth let out a depressed sigh, then put her arm around Janius and rested her head on his shoulder. Now, more than any time, she needed comfort. "After everyone was dead, they took the ones they tied up and put them in a cart to take them out of Black Marsh. Father did not want to leave, so he did not, what is the word...cooperate. The wife of the leader, she was the one who punished him He talked back to one, so she whipped him for almost an hour. He kicked one of them, so she cut off some of his toes. He would have tried to escape, but it was the will of the Hist that he and the others were saved. A group of hunters from this village had to go farther than normal to find prey, and they found the slavers. They killed them and rescued all of the slaves. Most stayed here, in the village. Father is very loyal to the village now."