"Remind me, why am I doing this again?" Desa asked as beads of sweat ran down her forehead and into her eyes. She huffed out a breath in hopes to swat away the hair falling in her field of vision. The reason she couldn't use her hands to tuck the annoying piece of hair was that they were currently busy carrying crates filled with fae knows what.

Heavy crates she might add.

"We have to load this ship, it's set to sail tomorrow and we don't trust you to leave you alone." Mihram said as he carried a crate down the dock next to her. Aksel was probably inside the warehouse counting the inventory but she couldn't complain. The farther away he was, less likely she was to randomly attack him.

Desa put the crate she had carried on top of the stack next to the ship. She stood up straighter cracking her back as the wooden deck beneath her feet creaked. Finally swiping that stray hair behind her ear, she strengthened her ponytail. No one was idly standing around to look closely at her in the hot midday. Everyone was rushing around, getting ships ready, yelling back and forth. It was actually nice to be normal for a change and work with decent people. No one threw a second glance her way like she was out of place or judged the scars showing on her forearms from her sleeved up shirt.

"Are you going to actually be of use or stand around all day?" Mihram said over his shoulder and carried the crate over a narrow looking plank aboard the ship. "Start grabbing those and loading up the ship." He said as he turned around.

Desa swiped the sweat coating her face with the neck of the shirt she was wearing and then bent down to pick up a crate. Thank the fae this one was a bit lighter. Her back ached a bit as she straightened up walking down the dock to get through the plank and onto the ship.

Just as she was taking a step onto the narrow plank, she hit an invisible wall. More like smacked into the wall as she got sent back a couple of steps, losing her balance and falling down with the crate she was holding on top of her.

"Oh come on! That is not me trying to leave Avilfell! I'm just trying to load the ship up." She yelled into the open sky in frustration. Sliding the crate off of her torso, she angrily got up, swiped off her oversized pants of dust and placed her hands on her hips. She was looking at the plank like she was willing it to burst into fire. Mihram walked down back from the ship, giving her a confused look.

"You know you're not telepathic right? The crates won't float onto the ship if you stare really hard at them." He said pointing back at the ship with his thumb.

Desa couldn't stop herself before she rolled her eyes. "Oh no thank you for telling me that, my next attempt was going to be picking you up and dropping you into the ocean. Sad to learn it's not going to work."

Mihram threw her a glance at her that said, 'really?' And then moved to pick up another crate. "Then come on, help me carry these."

"I can't."

"Sure you can. See you pick one up." He grunted as he picked one up and moved across the plank aboard the ship and dropped it off on the deck. He then opened his hands at his sides, "See how easy that was?"

Desa scratched her right eyebrow with her index finger, "As great and explanatory that demonstration was, I'm afraid it doesn't change the fact that I can't get on the ship."

"What do you mean you can't get on the ship?" Mihram asked as he came to stand beside her.

Desa just sighed and decided it was better to just show him than try to explain. She stepped closer to the plank and just as she was about to step on it, an invisible force blasted her back a couple feet, making her land on her back. Desa groaned as her whole back sent jolts of pain at being landed on hard rocks of the harbour a second time.

Mihram came running towards her, helping her up. "What the heck was that?! You just exploded backwards."

"Uh-huh." Desa was not going to argue on his very helpful explanation of the hit she just took. She got up and shook her head, willing the headache away. "I can't leave. It thinks I'm trying to leave."

Mihram looked at the ship and then at her. Desa could see as he understood what she was saying and his mouth formed an 'o' shape. "So this is because of whatever you're under?"

Desa nodded in reply.

"You can't physically be on a ship?"

"Seems not."

Mihram scratched the back of his head, his short brown hair ruffling between his fingers as he squinted his violet eyes. "Well either that or you're a better actress than I first thought. And in that case let me commend you on a very convincing act." He said chuckling.

A single disbelieving snort was Desa's only reply. Her morning had been great, wonderful in fact, working like a normal person, blending into the crowd... she could almost forget the invisible bonds that tethered her. Up until she tried to get on a damn wooden boat. She stifled the frustrated scream that was rising at the back of her throat. She couldn't take two freaking steps without being reminded her limitations.

She kicked the crate sitting next to her feet halfheartedly.

"Hey don't hurt the merchandise." Mihram said half jokingly and Desa was sure she saw just the tiniest bits of understanding cross his eyes. But it was gone in the next second. "You can still carry the rest of the supplies that need to go on the ship from the warehouse. Just ask Rupert, he's the captain of this ship, he'll tell you which ones need to go where." Then he continued his trot up to the ship with the crates.

Desa turned back on her heel and walked towards the warehouse. As she crossed the threshold for the giant open sliding doors, her eyes took a second to adjust to the dimmed light of the shadowed interior as she came in from the blinding sunlight. Blinking away the sun haze away, she looked over the inside. There were three males who looked like sailors off to the left that were grouping supplies onto a wheelbarrow and into crates. An older looking forest sprite with skin that looked like bark and short cropped hair that resembled blades of grass was ordering them around with a checklist on his hand.

Guessing that was Rupert, Desa strode her way to him, wiping her palms on her trousers. Meeting new people was always a hoot.

"Mihram sent me to help gather the supplies." Desa said as she came to stop beside the man.

Rupert turned his brown inquisitive eyes on her and looked her over. His light brown skin crinkled as he looked closer at her face, probably at her eyes and tiny scars. Desa refused to break eye contact as she stood up straighter and looked right back at him. Rupert just grunted and then turned his attention back on the males working before him. "Do' n't have that many elves' will'n' to work on the docks." His throaty accent made his words more of a statement than a conversation starter.

It was true, most who worked on the harbour were either water sprites or goblins as sailors and fishers. The three males working to the left were all proof of that, all of them were water sprites with different shades of coloured skins and gills.

"Can't say I've seen many forest sprites captaining a ship either." Desa said as she looked over Rupert. He looked mid fifties and still in good shape, his bark like skin looked to be cracked more in his forearms and forehead, probably from being on a ship and exposed to the sun for too much with damp sea spray. It was just unnatural for a forest sprite to be under direct sunlight and in salty air rather than in the cool shady breeze of the land.

Rupert cast a sideway glance at her but refrained from saying anything back. He then looked down at his list and said. "You can start loadin' those can'd foods into the crates." As he pointed with his pen and then walked off to the water sprites to oversee their job.

Rupert, not much for a conversation, got it.

Desa walked over to where he had pointed and started gathering up the canned goods and stacking them into rows in empty crates. She didn't mind the manual labour, actually craved it. It kept her hands busy and more importantly her mind. This was so much better than staying at Aksel's home upstairs and boring herself to death.

At the thought of him, Desa raised her head to look around the warehouse. Aksel was nowhere to be seen. She turned her gaze to the door that sat at the back of the building. He was probably in his office running his business. She cast her eyes down to continue the work at hand. It had been four days since Sontarro had given her the order. Soon, he would start wondering what was taking her so long. And he would seek her out. For the first time, the idea of that did not bring forth the usual fear for self preservation but a fear for someone else's safety.

What would happen to Aksel when Sontarro found out she hadn't killed him? He might send someone else to finish the job. Desa was always the first choice because she was the only one that had to obey his command blindly. But that did not mean he didn't have other people who were willing to do his dirty bidding with the right incentive.

She frowned slightly as she continued grabbing cans. Why was she so worried about Aksel? He had taken her on without much trouble on his part. Sure she hadn't actually tried to kill him, did the bare minimum while the enchantment drove her body to jerky killing blows, but still, he was a good fighter. And he was a water bender too. With a rare elemental power like that only a handful of elves got blessed with, he was a tough opponent to take on.

Still, Desa couldn't shake off that nagging worry gnawing at the back of her head. He was the first person to actually stop and look at her. Question her motives and the look that asked to be helped behind her actions. He was trying to help. She still couldn't understand why he would do that when it was so much better and easier for him to just kill her and be done with it.

All this back and forth in her mind was driving her crazy but at least she was doing something with her hands. Before she knew it all the provisions were packed and carried down to the ship to set sail. It had taken them all day but it was now all aboard the 'Maple Majesty'. Combined with its brown exterior and forest sprite captain, the maple majesty was her favourite ship so far. Granted, she hadn't seen any of the other seven ships of Aksel up close, except when she had done a quick reconnaissance on the night she had attempted to kill him but this seemed big enough to cross the treacherous sea and look magnificent while doing it. So Maple Majesty was currently sitting at the top of her favourite ships list albeit it was a very short list.

Mihram swiped his forehead with his sleeve and then turned to her as she was sitting on one of the ropes by the harbour. "We are all done for the day, you can go up if you want." He said and then turned around to continue talking to one of the sea sprite sailors. Or was it a siren? She could never tell them apart.

She hopped off the giant rope and then started walking back towards the warehouse. Her steps were light for having worked under the hot sun all day. A tiny smile was on her lips as she trotted in the night and entered the warehouse, she could get used to working on the docks. Just the sun, heavy workload and mind numbing work. It was relaxing. And the slight ache in her back and leg muscles told her that her body would be too exhausted to fight her in her sleep. Maybe she could get some blessed sound sleep. Fae knows she really needed it.

Aksel was still nowhere to be seen, she decided against knocking on his office door, she didn't know how big the room was and as soon as she got close, she could trigger the enchantment. Desa turned around to walk up the stairs at the back of the building and walk in to Aksel's house. It was weird walking into it out of her own volition but where else would she go? Her house? Sontarro was most likely already searching for her and had one of his lackeys stake out her building.

Besides, Aksel seemed rather adamant about finding out how she was bound into servitude. Maybe it could work out in the end. So staying was her best option so far.

Desa took a quick shower, getting rid of the sweat from working all day and she saw that her skin had a slight tint of pink covering all the places the sun had touched. Her alabaster skin was no where near being called a tan but maybe if she continued going out in the day like this instead of her usual night crawling, she could get a healthy glow going. She used a massive dollop of Aksel's mint scented shampoo and relished at the feeling of being clean.

Scrubbing over her countless scars, she noticed they weren't even enough to bring her small smile off of her lips. Today had been the most free she felt in a decade. And all it took was someone else to order her to work on the docks for the day. It was actually pathetic when she thought about it. She shut off the faucet and wrung out her waist length black hair. Was she that desperate for a change that working in the docks like a normal person for a day had made her smile? She looked in the mirror and realised said smile had dropped. Averting her gaze she continued drying herself off.

This was temporary. She had to remember that. Sontarro was going to find her, make her kill Aksel and then she was going to go back being a slave. No amount of play time in the docks was going to change that.

Her clothes from yesterday were dry now so she put on her black tank top and pants. The long thick scar running down her left bicep was more visible in this shirt and she ran a finger down it. There were a lot of scars on her body but this cut was one of the longest and the ugliest, she didn't really remember how she got it, it was old but she didn't remember most of the cause of her scars. It was better to forget the pain that came with it. The scars were ugly enough to deal with.

Leaving the bathroom, she exited to the living room and listened to any sounds. It seemed that Aksel hadn't come back yet. She scavenged the kitchen for some grub and was happy to find some cheese, meat and fruit. She didn't bother with a plate as she grabbed some of all of them and stuffed them in her mouth.

Food did taste better when it was after a long day of work. After she finished eating and was content, she moved to one of the armchairs in the living room and opened up Aksel's survival guide book. She was enjoying herself, reading a non fiction instructional book. And the fact that it was mostly a guide filled with information dump did nothing to stifle her imagination as her mind ran wild to picture the places Aksel had been to write down little snippets of clues along the lines of the book.

One of her favourites was; 'Never let a forest sprite tell you which fish is edible.'

She had laughed way too hard at this short sentence written in perfect handwriting along the cook subtitle of the book. She had an inkling that this was about Rupert since he was the only forest sprite she'd seen on Aksel's crew but it might not have been. There was a lot more people working on the other ships she did not know about.

Desa pictured Aksel being sick to his stomach at eating an inedible fish and then spending rest of the week sick to his guts. It was funny imagining him doubled over the railing of the ship and puking. She couldn't bring herself to quite make out the visual of that strong unit of a man green with food poisoning. He was even attractive in her imagination as he puked. Sighing she closed the book and looked at the time. It was late and Aksel still hadn't come.

She sent away the worry creeping into her bones and settled down on the couch, he was probably busy. Desa could feel her eyelids growing heavier as the exhaustion of the day caught up to her and she fell into a blessedly calm state of sleep.

An update on the weekend?

Yes I did choose to write instead of sleep.

Hope you like it ❤️