Jade

Chapter 2

\"Oy, Ris! Who is this beautiful specimen?\"
\"Hello, Mila. This is Jajan. I bought him a couple of weeks ago.\"
\"Why\'ve you been hiding him?\" He asked jokingly.
\"He\'s been sick. The day after I bought him too. Fever.\"
\"Poor guy. Fever\'s a pain in the ass. San, Ris, you haven\'t owned a slave in years.\"
\"I know. I haven\'t had a reason too. But I was looking around the shops and I saw Jajan. I couldn\'t resist him. He\'s just too pretty.\" Jajan turned his face away to hide his reddened face.
\"I agree. Quite a looker. How much did he cost?\"
\"About two hundred thousand.\"
\"Damn Ris!\"
\"I know.\"
\"He would\'ve broken me! No. I just wouldn\'t have been able to have bought him. Maybe I would\'ve stolen him.\"
\"That\'s not likely Mila. You wouldn\'t have made it too the door before they caught you.\" Both of them burst out laughing, as Mila was a little on the large side. (Mila wasn\'t one to worry about it, and took his weight as a joke.)
\"I missed you Ris.\"
\"Of course. On to business though. They of course supplied him with little. I want silks, cashmere, and anything else of the like.\"
\"Nothing but for such a pretty thing. Jajan, what colors are you usually dressed in?\"
\"Gray and brown.\"
\"Oh dear. Was that all?\"
\"They were the standard colors.\"
\"We must upgrade. I think that with your hair...gold, jade, silver, azul, violet, and ah...a small measure of black.\"
\"And perhaps something for the night as well, Mila?\"
\"Night robes! Ah, neutral or no, Ris?\"
\"Ask Jajan.\"
\"Well, Jajan?\"
\"Ah...\"
\"What colors would you like to sleep in?\"
\"Burgundy and white.\"
\"And a wonderful pair they are.\" Jajan\'s hair would look good against the colors, Ris thought to himself. \"Burgundy is the color of wine, the color of lust, angry skies, and sin. Sin is tempting, such a tempting color. White is a much lighter color. A contrast, if you will. Clarity, purity and will. Wonderful, Jajan.\"
\"Would you like to shop by color and their meanings then, Jajan? It would be fun. Mila could tell you many things about his fabrics.\"
\"I am in no argument with my Master.\"
\"Great! Suggestions, Jajan!\"
\"Mm, Gold.\"
\"The color for wealth.\"
\"And Master has not lacking of. Blue-loneliness and sadness. Silver-technology, patterned by the severity of its darkness or lightness.\"
\"You are quite intelligent.\"
\"Get him everything he wishes! Any fabric he likes for the feel. After the clothes, I want those oils I used a long time back.\" Mila raised an eyebrow. Perhaps in Poljeen this time.\"
\"Poljeen is it? It is a very...\"
\"Mila!\"
\"Okay! Yes, I know.\"
\"Master?\"
\"It\'s nothing Jajan. Just bath oils. Speaking of which, Jajan, which do you prefer?\"
\"For you or for me?\" Ris\' eyes grew wide. Surely one so shy...
Mila took over.
\"Ris\' last slave was young, and did not ever assist in baths. He knows nothing of it.\" Jajan nodded. \"Ris, Jajan wants to help you bathe, I\'m sure. It is a task of the slave. That\'s why he wanted to know your preference.\"
\"Ah. Well, I can bathe myself quite well, thank you,\" He stated, sticking his nose up in the air. \"Now, Jajan. What was your preference again? I didn\'t quite catch it.\"
\"Master Ris?\" He glanced questioningly at Mila who chuckled, but shrugged his shoulders and looked away. \"I like Canoir.\"
\"Mila, get them both, and...Sillo.\"
\"Will that be all from my shop besides clothing today?\"
\"Yes. We\'ll go ahead and get a few showed robes and put some on back order, and the oils.\"

*Some moments later*

\"That\'ll be two thousand forty six.\"
\"Oh, my...\"
\"That\'s enough Jajan.\"
\"Yes, Master Ris.\"
\"You\'ve no need to worry, young slave. Ris could buy the world and still have enough left over to buy two more. He can fawn on you as much as he dare to.\" Jajan blushed again.
\"Mila.\"
\"Howdy do?\"
\"None of your gossip.\"
\"Of course not. Ris, who do you think I am?\"
\"Would you really have me to answer you that?\" Mila only laughed, bagging things and shooing them out of the door.




* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


\"You were writing in something when I first saw you.\"
\"You hide syntax beyond my own and I am in wonderment of it.\"
\"And you change subjects so quickly. What was it?\" Jajan glanced at an ink merchant across the street.
\"It was nothing.\"
\"Why must you hide everything?\"
\"And you? I am water and deep within the recesses of me, I feel that you have starved for water before. I feel that you have thirsted for it in a way that is sin and not a normal thirst. It makes me fearful of my Ris. And you worry tirelessly over my silly journal. A sum of written words. You ask me, look. Look into my eyes! I see the solstice in them. The moon is there, a frozen purple I have never seen before is writhing in your eyes. I am fearful of this winter solstice.\" His breath caught.
\"Indeed. You are certainly the intelligent creature Mila foretold. Possibly as powerful as the element you control.\"
\"I am afeared Master Ris. What are you?\"
\"What I have been...how well did you know Escii?\" Jajan\'s fingertips grazed a lilac ink stick.
\"Escii...I was taken into his family when he was a boy and I was a boy. He had not yet started school and I had never been a slave. I knew my years then. I had six years. Only six.\"
\"Do you remember at all the countenance of your parents?\"
\"I do.\"
\"I have led you to a bench, Jajan. Tell me about them. I wish to know about you.\" In his fingertips, wavering with some nervous tick, was the same ink stick Jajan had been pondering earlier.
\"Ris...why?\"
\"I believe,\" He cut him off, handing it to him, \"that I asked you about something?\"
\"My apologies.\" Jajan tucked a bothersome strand of hair out of his face. \"Perhaps, I should start from the beginning. I would tell you everything, that way. Then, perhaps later, the solstice would persuade you to enchant me with your stories.\"
\"They are far from enchanting.\"
\"And again, we get nowhere and somewhere at precisely the same time.\" Ris shifted uncomfortably.
\"I implore you to continue.\"
\"Only if you wish to later, tell me why you hide your syntax from every merchant on the street and in the shops, but you speak like San in my presence.\"
\"You have gained a confidence I am beginning to tire of. I wish you to tell me the warring of your life, and I wish it now.\" Jajan glanced at Ris, and then carefully diverted his gaze to a shoe merchant. \"I apologize, Jajan. Please, tell me your tales.\"
\"My parents...the first thing I remember is the white hair. My father\'s hair was as white as any ancients. He was very young and very hard. Almost terrifying. Tane was his name. He was quiet; sweet to my mother, Lah. She was beautiful. That is as much as I remember of them. A slave\'s life is hard in that aspect. I was taken when I was five and sold to Yalad, Escii\'s father.\" Ris\' eyes blazed.
\"Yalad?\"
\"Yes.\" Ris said each letter of the name slowly. Jajan nodded.
\"Continue.\"
\"But...\"
\"Please.\"
\"There is nothing much left to tell you that would interest you. I was schooled. I worked. I was given to Escii and he was killed. Afterwards, there was Virdan. You have heard the rest.\"
\"Most. I would like to hear more of Escii and Virdan. You do not feel like telling the rest of your story now. I understand.\" Jajan was silent. \"It was a journal, then. Do you need ink to go with this stick? Perhaps more paper?\" Jajan bowed his head.
\"I do.\"
\"Then, let\'s on with it.\"
\"Yes, Master Ris.\"
\"I would ask you something...\"
\"Yes?\"
\"But I will not.\"
\"Master?\"
\"It would not do for you to continue to call me such.\"
\"I wish to,\" Jajan whispered, blushing.
\"Even if you want these things,\" He stopped him, before they got too far, and too surrounded by people again, to talk openly, \"then tell me. I did not mean for you to continue to call me Master in intimate presence.\"
\"Ah. Ris, then, how am I to tell you these things? They are a trifle embarrassing.\"
\"If it were only a trifle, you would not be such a deep shade of red. But then, I remember, you are coy. You hide behind your intricate words. So, we\'ll create something for you to say. Of course, this is your decision, Jajan.\" He nodded. \"What should it be then?\"
\"Um...do you have another name?\"
\"Like my last name?\" Jajan nodded again. \"Of course I do! Who wouldn\'t?\" His slave looked at him incredulously. \"Oh...oh...\" A slave. \"My other name is Rai.\"
\"Rai Ris.\"
\"Yes.\"
\"And if I am ever to call you Rai at a time other than this, you will know the intention\'s of the name?\"
\"Yes. Then, we have agreed?\"
\"Yes, Ris.\"
\"And, Master until home, for we have many merchants to see and many shops to visit still.\"
\"Yes, Master Ris.\" Ris\' expression grew snide.
\"I think, without being full of ego, that I am better than all the world in the ways that I would have it treat itself. To keep from loosing myself to death or exile in this twisted place, I must accept the order.\"
\"Ris...\" The slave\'s eyes grew full to tears, but they did not fall.