I pulled off your wings and I laughed

Siv Helsi · 09-25-2012, 09:54 AM

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There was, beyond learning her place, little the girl could actually hope to do in her role. A sense of freedom would be hers until that time—though it was one carefully constructed, like Gale’s gilded cage. Siv went to great lengths to enforce herself in more than simply harsh words or blows. She used rewards and punishments as if training a beast. It worked well. Except for the crippled simpleton, the other slaves had come to accept her ways and bow to them. Even Esmeralda, who often assisted her, had picked up on the technique and thus reinforced it. She was quicker to strike, but Siv supposed this was all right as well. One of them had to be seen in a bad light.

Siv turned to Gale and motioned for him to watch. “You will take her and tend to her. It will be easier if you leave her head bound,” she explained, and looped the leather reins over the fencepost in a loose slipknot. “You will remove her saddle; it is to be brought inside. The blanket will dry over the fence; if it is dirty, you will wash it.” Both hands moved as she worked; the strap around the mare’s belly was loosened and undone so the saddle could slip free, and Siv hoisted this over the fence precariously in order to tend to the blanket. She turned it over so Gale could see the damp area under it.

“I keep her brushes in the bag within her stall,” the witch went on, and motioned to the lean-to that Miqui had helped her construct. “Fetch them.”

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