From: richk@tekeda.PEN.TEK.COM (Richard C Kurschner)
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [L&S] After the Party (part 2 of 2)
Message-ID: <8862@tekig7.PEN.TEK.COM>
Date: 21 Feb 93 00:48:04 GMT

In the kitchen, the Captain prepaired a small meal from leftovers.  He grabbed
the last piece of the "Broccoli and Feta Cheese" pizza.  It was good,
whatever `broccoli' was.  After eating the pizza, he took the small meal
down to Trina Fallcraft in the basement store room.  He had left her there
during the party until Luthor or Serene would have a chance to decide what
to do with her.  Stealing was not a good thing, but something stopped him
from actually calling Trina a thief.  She was so young, and so scared, and
so out of place that he needed to find out more about her.

Trina stopped pacing the empty floor when he unlocked the door.  "I brought
you some food," he said.

"How much longer are you going to keep me locked up?" she asked.

"Til Luthor or Serene decide what to do with you."

"When will that be?"

"I don't know, they're resting now."

"What will they do with me?"

"If I knew that, I'd take care of it myself.  Your food's getting cold."

"I'm not hungry.  My stomach is tied in knots not knowing what will
happen."  She started pacing again.  In the light from the hall, he could
see that she had not had a good night; her eyes were red and there were bags
underneath them.  "You could let me go," she whispered.  "I won't tell, and
I won't come back, I promise!"

"I can't do that."  The Captain sat down on the cot he brought in for her
yesterday.  "Why are you here?"

"Because you left me here.  Or do you mean at the party?  Luthor invited
everyone at the Inn to come."

"Neither.  Why are you in Generica?"

"Who are you, the inquisition?"

"No, just trying to understand why a girl as young as you would be 
alone in such a big city.  You said yourself that you had recently come
from a farm and never been in a big city before."

"I ran away, all right?  I had to go somewhere.  Is that a crime?"

"That depends on why you ran away."

"I couldn't take it any longer.  The family I had been sold to was poor,
and they wanted to make sure that they got the "full value of their 
`investment'" as they put it."

"You're an escaped slave?"

Trina stopped pacing.  "`'Dentured Servant' was the term they and my
father used."  She almost spat out the word `father'.  "Slavery is what
it was.  I had no say or control over my life."

"A lot of people have no control over their lives, and we all have to do
things we don't like."

"I was allowed five hours of sleep a night in a wood shed and one cold meal
a day.  If I didn't do a job perfectly, or fast enough, I was beaten.  If I
protested, I was given extra duties in `exchange' for less sleep and food.
If I did do a job right, I was cussed out for not giving them an excuse to
beat me."  Trina talked about her life with almost no feeling.  It was
almost as if these things happened to someone else.

"I'm sorry.  How long did you live with this family?"

"Two years."

Disgusting.  By her apparent age, she couldn't have been more than sixteen when
her father sold her.  "How old are you?"

"Fourteen."

She was a lot younger than Serene; she was still a child.  It was a shame that
anyone, especially a girl her age, should have to suffer such a childhood.
His first thought that she had never stolen anything before yesterday was
most likely correct.  She certainly was no career thief.  "How long have
you been in Generica?"

"Five weeks."

"You couldn't have spent that much time here with no money.  How have you
supported yourself?"  He was expecting to hear a story of begging.

"By stealing things."