[quote=@Odin]
[i]“Weaponry, courage?”[/i] he mused to himself at her answer, curious as to why a regular woman would find need of a weapon purely to escape. Had the story not been that she was a merchant? What would a merchant need from a weapon, or courage? Surely some coin would suit her better.. He was called back to attention when she inquired about anything he needed from her. Though none of her fears were true - he did not fear dirtying himself, as he had touched many Sawarim men in his time on the battlefield, in struggles between death and life. He also did not have any intention of touching her in other ways, though surely it was within his power to do so. [i]“I require many things,”[/i] he said slowly, still staring up at the covers of the tent. 

[i]“.. but no, none of them I require from you. Do as you wish - stray from my tent, if you want. If you wish to find yourself on the end of a dagger tonight, stray far, far from my tent. Many of the men here do not like your kind.”[/i] [i]Himself included.[/i] He wondered if lord Jachsen had known this, and had given her to him as an insult. He could not fathom why that would be the case but lord Jachsen knew that Ketill was a simple man with little need of assistance. A servant was beyond that. And if the Monarch favored the strong, then surely the Monarch favored those that worked for themselves and did not need other people to do that.

Even in Coedwin they had had slaves, purchased from the Sawarim slavedrivers that sought passage through Coedwin lands to the north. Mostly they had been women - like Saina - purchased to do mundane tasks like cleaning, or serving the more noble Servants that sought refuge in Coedwin, or had found themselves stationed there. Sometimes they had purchased a man, for the harder labor like moving crates, but those were expensive, and the coinpurses of the Servants were not as endless as it seemed.

It seemed also that Ketill had a rather uncaring attitude towards Saina. While he had stopped some of the stares they got earlier, and while he had helped her on and off his horse, and while he had 'defended' her in the commanders' tent, he did not seem to care whether she stayed or not. Despite a lack of formal acknowledgement that he was setting her free - which he was not, she was still by all means a slave - he did tell her that he did not care to go look for her if she escaped. 

And to add to that, he also knew of the deceitful nature of Sawarim people, at least when it came to their attitude to the foreigners. On more than one occasion they had captured Sawarim warriors, and more often than not they'd either slit their own throats, or lie and deceive until they found a room for escape. He knew better than to trust her, and as far as he was concerned, she was lying about everything she told him. For him, to whom honesty was a very important value, this already marked the beginning of a long and straining relationship - lest she escaped, of course.

For that matter she might have wondered why he had not gotten rid of her already - sent her away, given her to another man, or even denied her when the lord offered her to him. The reason was simple, though Ketill himself was unaware if the Sawarim woman would've understood even if he explained. It was hard to deny a gift from a lord, even if it put you in a bad position. Telling the lord he did not want her would be equal to slapping the lord in the face and as such, a bad idea. Sending her away or giving her away, similarly, seemed to be a bad idea. 

Without saying as much as a word more, he turned to the outside of the tent and looked at the canvas, before falling into his slumber. He left the woman to her own devices then, a sign of what was to come. Though she belonged to him now, he had no intention of spelling out her life for her. 

[hr]

The next morning, Ketill had awoken early. He left the tent without making much noise, dressing himself in the [url=http://i.imgur.com/bHguOzd.png]gambeson[/url] he usually wore quickly. He shot a quick glance at the other stack of furs to see if Saina was still there, but it'd not change his course of action. He walked to the edge of the camp, to a nearby ditch, and lowered the hem of his pants, relieving himself. Peasant or noble, everyone needed to go at some point. 

Once that was done, he returned to the commanders' tent, where he found lord Oliver standing over the map. [i]“Lord Oliver,”[/i] he said, approaching swiftly and bowing lightly. The lord nodded at him, and greeted him in kind. 

[indent][i]“Ketill, I trust you slept well?”[/i] lord Oliver inquired.

[i]“The beds in Coedwin are softer, but I slept as well as you'd expect from sleeping in a camp. We leave shortly, yes?”[/i]

[i]“Yes, shortly, I was just looking over the map once more. If you wish, signal the quartermaster that he should prepare the camp for our departure.”[/i]

[i]“Of course, milord,”[/i] Ketill answered dutifully, and bowed slightly again. He stepped backwards and then out of the tent.[/indent]

When he left, he made quick way to find the quartermaster - the one that took care of day-to-day things, not the two individuals that were sent as advisors and investors. With a quick order he instructed the man to begin preparing to leave camp, and within a few minutes the quartermaster had send out messengers that would alarm everyone to begin packing up camp. 

With haste, he made his way back to their own tent. Inside, he would most likely find Saina, if she had not run off on her own. [i]“We are leaving,”[/i] he merely noted, beginning to retrieve some of his items. Though there weren't many, as they hadn't unpacked last night, and as such it'd be an easy job. With a few quick motions he grabbed his belt and zipped it around his waist, tightening it rather tightly, before grabbing his sword in it's sheath and attaching the sheath to his side. 

[i]“What can you do, anyway? You were a merchant, so you cannot cook, cannot lift. Maybe you can write, but I have no need of a writer. What can you do besides eat food and drink wine?”[/i] he asked her, though his voice was stern and commanding and not at all friendly. What you'd expect of a master talking to his slave, perhaps. He did not look at her, merely looking at his sword as he worked with it, before it was finally attached. He took the shield that was placed nearby in the tent - courtesy of lord Jachsen - and held it with his left hand, before turning to Saina finally. She might've been talking to him, and he would've been listening. When she was finished explaining what she could do, he didn't acknowledge what she said. 

[i]“Fetch my horse,”[/i] he merely said. An order, not a question, clearly.
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