Adrian woke up. Eliana was beside him, awake and smiling.
“Good morning, Adrian!”
Adrian smiled. “Sorry I was so emotional yesterday-”
“Don’t apologize. Your father… of course you would be so emotional. If you weren’t, I would worry you had lost your humanity.”
Adrian just looked at Eliana. She blushed a bit and smiled. All of the sudden Adrian got up. “Eliana, I have to be honest, I love you.” He looked back at her. “But I have been doing so much wrong. How did I fall this far from what my father was? Could you imagine how disappointed he would be in me?”
Eliana only looked down, unsure of what to say.
“I have to free the people I’ve kidnapped. I don’t even care if they make a fuss about it. I can’t have this guilt on me anymore.”
Eliana was in shock.
“I will ask Izara if she wants me to buy her her freedom, or if she would prefer to be a servant. Donnelly is an enemy, so I suppose I will sell her. I will free every last slave. If that means exchanging them to a servant or just releasing them.”
Eliana ran up to Adrian and hugged him. “I knew you had a good heart. Just like your father.”
Adrian hugged her back, but then released. “What about you then? What do you want?”
Eliana frowned. “I just want to stay here with you.”
“So a servant?”
“…I want to be your wife…”
Adrian sighed. “I can’t, you know I’m already married. I would divorce her, but if I did, her father would be very angry and it would ruin the politics.”
Eliana smiled. “I understand, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for that to slip out.” She looked down. “I just want to stay here. If that means being a servant, so be it.”
Adrian hugged her tightly. “I love you.”
~
“WHAT?” Aviana cried. Tears began spilling out rapidly. “…I want to be released… please…”
“Yerrr a swine -” Donnelly began spewing insults at Adrian for selling her.
Callidora was stunned. But then she smiled. “Well, then again I suppose you always had a heart of gold… surrounded by muck. I think I will be released. Honestly, I was never much of a slave, but maybe working here just isn’t for me anymore. Thank you for all you’ve done Adrian.”
Kaila stood there, hands on her face in shock. “Adrian…” She ran to hug him.
“Kaila, I’m so sorry for everything I’ve done…”
“I… forgive you. That’s part of what being a Christian is about -” She closed her mouth. “I mean…”
“It’s fine. I never really cared about Christians anyways. Just let them pray to their God and we’ll pray to our gods.”
She smiled gratefully.
~
What am I even going to do? I’ve been cleaning, sometimes cooking, giving company, and just living in this place. My life wasn’t bad at all. But am I a Christian? Am I? Kaila thought about everything. She had a bag with the comb and her clothes. She asked Adrian if he had wanted the comb back, but he said that she could keep it if she wanted. She nodded.
Kaila laughed to herself. Adrian really must be new to this “nice” stuff if he forgot to pay the slaves for the work they had gotten done so far, but she didn’t mind. It showed that he was trying, and she imagined he would be far poorer since he would have to pay all his workers.
“Kaila!” Aviana called out.
“Hi Aviana!” Kaila responded. “What are you going to do now?”
“I’m not too sure… I don’t even know where my parents are. What about you?”
Kaila looked down. “I know where my family is… except my sister, who ran away a long time ago. But my mother is crazy, and my father is barely home. I don’t want to go back there. I might go to my friend’s house.”
Aviana looked down. “Could I come too?”
Kaila smiled widely. “If you don’t mind coming to a Christian home.”
“Oh… are you a Christian?”
“I think we’ve discussed this but…” Kaila looked down. “Yes, I am.”
~ ~ ~
Sethe woke up. “WHERE AM I?”
Octavia groaned. “Sethe… we’re on a ship.”
Sethe then remembered. “Oh, sorry, I’ve been so used to the tent.”
“Mhmm…” Octavia fell back to sleep.
In all honestly, the ground they had been sleeping on felt better then this piece of wood. The ship had come by the day before. They yelled loudly and tried to catch the attention of the crew, which they did successfully. Sethe looked around her. There were all the crew members of the ship that had been sunk, and Bardo. Since Bardo wasn’t the captain of this boat, he was now a passenger. Sethe laughed to herself. Now he can’t boss me around. Immediate guilt filled Sethe after she said that. Sethe got up from the “bed” and began climbing up the ladder.
“Hello.”
Sethe spun around to see a rather round man with a large smile on his face.
“H-hi!” She smiled. “Where are you from?”
“I would consider myself more of a nomad.” He wheezed a broken laugh, which turned into a slight cough.
Sethe smiled. “What’s your name?”
“Fabiano! What about you?” He smiled a wide smile, showing his missing teeth.
“Sethe!”
“Oh, where are you from?”
“Well, technically, I’m half Hebrew and half Egyptian, but I lived in Sham Hadar. Now I’m going to see Rome… and then after that I want to see the world!”
“Ahh the land of luxury! So you’re a nomad like me?”
“I suppose!”
“You just got that feeling that you can’t just settle down in one land, never seeing the world, missing out on a thousand things goin’ on?” He asked, hands wildly flailing about with every word.
Sethe nodded widely. She looked out at the ocean. “Do you think that’s improper for a girl like me?”
He looked out. “I’ve met plenty of an improper girl,” He wheezed a bit. “But no, while I’m sure it’s a bit different, that’s not improper.”
Sethe smiled widely. “I want to travel the world, and being a girl won’t stop me!”