When Joseph and Railyn both woke up, they realized that they were bound tightly with firm ropes. They were tied to the trunk of a pine tree, and sat back-to-back. The ground was grassy and devoid of snow, but the air around them brought considerable chill. In front of them stood three figures. Evan, Millie, and Gavin. Evan looked stern and disinterested, but both Gavin and Millie wore looks of curiosity that shone through their bright, blue eyes.

Evan seemed to take a deep breath before speaking to the two who were tied to the tree. "Sorry to put you in such poor positions, but we had to make sure you were secure. As you might have figured out, we're bounty hunters assigned to capture the girl and bring her back. But this was an unusual job. We're all pretty curious about both of you. Dragon first. What's your story?"

"You sure get straight to the point," Millie said quietly. "Couldn't have at least made a little small talk?" Her brother lightly smacked her on the arm, and she stopped talking.

"My story is none of your business," Railyn hissed through her teeth, "and I'm certainly not going to tell it to some nobodies like you."

"Actually," Evan corrected, "your story is my business. See, I'm working for your owner, and depending on your story, I might opt to not take you back."

"What are you talking about?" Railyn demanded, struggling against the ropes. "I don't care if you're working for my former owner! He is a no-good, disgusting, degenerate, horrible-"

Her voice was rising to a scream when Evan cut her off. "You're not listening. I know all that, okay? I know the guy is horrible. I only met him once, but I know it. What I'm telling you is: depending on your story, I might let you go. So start talking."

Railyn looked conflicted. "How do I know I can trust you?"

"Give me a hard time, and I'll take you back anyway."

Railyn sighed. "Fine. I was a slave for Keith, then I ran away and met Joseph and we agreed to travel together. Happy?"

Evan sighed. "Nope. Look, I know you probably don't want to talk about whatever happened, but I need you to help me help you."

"After you cornered me and knocked me out?" she screeched, indignant. "That's a fine way to try and help someone! I really felt your kind spirit!"

The green-eyed boy ran a hand through his hair. "No matter which way we approached things, you would have just freaked out as soon as you realized we were bounty hunters. So we decided to skip the crap and just knock you out and interrogate you. Now seriously, we need you to be specific when you tell us what happened. Now start from the beginning, and tell us what happened."

Railyn looked from person to person, growling softly. "I guess I don't have a choice, then," she hissed softly. "I entered the mansion as a slave when I was about eight. At that time, it was run by a man named Greyen Owen. He was good to the employees and to the slaves. But he passed away when I was twelve. That was when his son, Keith, took over."

"Did you consent to slavery under Greyen, or was it forced on you?" Evan asked when she paused.

"I consented. I needed work and nowhere else would take me. But he was looking for staff, so I asked if I could be a slave." Though she talked about slavery, there was a longing in the girls eyes, as though being a slave was something to be desired. Joseph saw this and frowned.

"You wanted to be a slave?" he asked quizzically. "Why?"

Millie moved over and patted Joseph on the head in a slightly condescending manner. "Not from these parts, right? I'll tell you later, there's a whole system."

Both Railyn and Evan shot the two annoyed glances. Joseph and Millie took the hint and fell silent.

"So you fully consented to your position?" Evan repeated.

Railyn nodded. "I did. But then the new owner took over. None of us really knew what he would be like at the time. When Greyen died, I was asked if I wished to terminate my contract or stay under the new owner, and I decided to stay. I didn't have anywhere else to go, and like I said before, no other places would take me in." This was where her face began to darken.

"You could have gone to Endralia City," Evan offered. "The rich there are always looking for slaves."

"Look at me. I'm half-dragon. They'd just treat me like a plaything. Either that or they'd label me a demon and curse me. The smaller towns are usually more welcoming, which is why I came here. In the end though, Keith ended up being no different from people in the capital."

She took a deep breath before continuing. "The first clue that something was wrong was when he fired all of the male staff, as well as all of the older workers. Male and older slaves were also liberated. It wasn't all at once, but was more gradual. Every time someone was replaced, it was with a young woman. A lot of them were foreign too. He seemed to like diversity.

"Around that time, conditions got worse. He was harsher with his slaves. He never took paid employees, either. He only kept slaves. I think he wanted to have a bit more dominion. The only paid staff were the guards, which were strong men like you'd expect. They were the only exceptions though."

Evan grimaced. "Can you tell me what sort of things he did to the staff?"

Railyn shook her head, her eyes visibly darkening. "I don't want to talk about it. Nor do any of the other maids. All you need to know is that it was bad. Some of the women have physical scars, and others carry emotional ones."

Evan's expression darkened as well. "I see. I take it none of the women consented?"

"Some of the masochistic ones did, but they were far between a few. The rest of us also technically consented, but he basically twisted our arms. He'd make threats against other maids, always knowing who we were closest with. Some picked up on that and distanced themselves, but he still found ways. To top it off, I was his personal favorite. Due to my unusual form, I became something of a trophy to him. Something no one else had."

"Was there a point where it suddenly worsened?" Evan asked, his face surprisingly empathetic.

"It's not like it ever got especially horrible, mind you. It was very consistent. Consistently hellish, sure, but consistent nonetheless. I ended up leaving because a friend suggested it, not because it suddenly got worse. She told me about spirits and all that, and made me think that if I could escape, I could find them and turn back to normal. Then I could find normal work and, well, you get the idea."

"What were the details of your contract?" Evan asked.

"Simple," Railyn replied, her expression lightening, but only slightly. "I was a servant until the master was done with me or dead. It was rash of me, but again: I had nowhere else. No one else. Well, I had someone else, but for all I know, she's dead."

Evan nodded. "Rash indeed. So you broke your contract. Technically, he has the right to come after you. Who's the person you're referring to, a friend from the mansion?"

"Actually, no. Well, that too. Cassy was a girl at the mansion who was always good to me. Always saw the bright side. She helped me through a lot of what happened. But I'm actually talking about someone else. My sister."

Evan raised an eyebrow, and Gavin, Millie and Joseph all seemed to suddenly become curious.

"My sister was like me. Same half-dragon form, but slightly darker in shade. Same eyes, too. She was five years older than me. She took care of me in the wild, and never talked about our mother or father. To be honest, I don't know if she knew them much better than I did, and I never even met them. When she was twelve though, she decided that she had to try and find work to make money for us. She left and never came back. So once I'm back to normal, I want to find her, or at least find out what happened."

Suddenly, Railyn did something that caught Joseph and the other off-guard. The girl started to sniffle. Then she started to cry. "She was always really good to me," she managed to say between sniffles. "She would hunt, and taught me to hunt too. When she left, she gave me instructions. She said: 'Wait for me for two months. If I don't come back, then you're on your own.' So I waited. Not just two months, but a whole year. That was when I realized she wasn't coming back, so I had to find a place to work. I already told you the rest."

Everyone was silent. The only noise that filled the area were Railyn's restrained sobs. Evan in particular looked like he got more out of the questioning than the bargained for.

I just wanted information about the client, he internally screamed to himself as he slowly died inside. I didn't need the whole sob-story, now I'm gonna be depressed for the rest of the day!

Millie knelt down beside the unusual girl and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey," she said. "I'm sorry about what happened. I'm sure that everything will be okay now."

She's surprisingly soft for someone who threatened to slit my throat, Joseph noted.

"Like I said, everything will be fine," Millie reassured as Railyn brought herself under control. "Evan, what's your verdict?"

The boy pursed his lips for a moment. "Well, she's the one who broke her contract. We have every right to return her, and Keith has every right to be upset. However, after hearing all of this, I can't really ignore it. So, here's what I can do: I can head back to the mansion now and tell Keith that we failed. We leave without payment, and you come with us. We take you to another town, out of the man's reaches. From there, you and blond boy hide away and until it blows over then continue your search for the spirits and whatnot. Sound fair?"

Both Railyn and Joseph's mouths hung open in amazement. They stared at the trio before them, unable to believe what they were hearing.

"Yeah," the two breathed at the same time.

Evan chuckled. "Good. My name's Evan Chlora. These are my partners, Millie and Gavin. Now that we've come to an agreement, I feel we can give you our names without having to worry now." He turned to Joseph next. "You seem pretty harmless yourself, Joseph. What's your story?"

"Does that relate to your mission or whatever?" Joseph asked uneasily.

"Nah," Evan said with a wave of his hand, "I'm just curious. You look Shiman, but your clothes are weird. Really makes me wonder. Though, it would be good to make sure that you really weren't involved with the girl's escape, just to make sure that you're free from this mess."

"Well, I have nothing to hide," Joseph said with a shrug. He explained his predicament once again, and to his surprise, Evan didn't seem fazed.

"That's interesting," he murmured once the boy was through. "Never met someone like you before. And I've seen a lot of weirdos while doing this job."

"So what about you, what's your life story?" Joseph asked the boy. "Since we're all sharing our deepest secrets and all."

Evan laughed. "Sorry, but I'll be keeping that to myself."

"Wait," Joseph started, "that's hardly fair! We told you all about ourselves!"

The burnet simply shook his head. "I'm afraid this isn't a give-and-take. All you need to know is that we're young bounty hunters, and are some of the best at our job. We don't tell our stories except to those we trust. That way, we can be sure nobody can use them against us. We may seem pretty casual to you, but we're a lot more serious and we take a lot more precautions than you think. We have a right to know your stories because you're our target and someone who knows them. We need every bit of info we can get. But our stories don't matter."

Railyn opened her mouth to protest, but Gavin cut her off. "Maybe someday we'll tell you, but today isn't that day. It all depends on how much of our trust you earn. We've told you our names, which is a start, but you've got a ways to go. All that make sense?"

"I guess so," Joseph begrudgingly admitted.

"Since that's settled," Evan stated, "we'll head out this evening. Railyn, we're going to go back to the mansion. We'd like you to come, but stay distanced and out of sight. Millie and Gavin will stay with you. Joseph, same goes for you."

"Why do we have to come?" Railyn asked.

"Because I need Gavin and Millie nearby, and I still want to keep tabs on you two for a little while to make sure you don't cause trouble of any sort. Now, Millie, untie the two of them. Gavin, pack the things we brought. Joseph and Railyn, don't try anything stupid. We've been awfully lax with you, but trust me. You don't want to provoke us."

Once untied, Railyn and Joseph both took a moment to stretch while Gavin packed a few random items into a large, leather backpack that had been tucked behind a tree. Once he was done, the group began to make their way through the woodland. When the trees thinned out and became bare, rolling hills covered in grass, Railyn recognized where she was. They were along the outskirts of the mountains, and the mansion wasn't far away.

"Gavin and Millie, take the other two along the edge of the woods, and don't be seen. Be ready to jump in if things get messy. I'm going to head straight in."

The two nodded, giving their leader a wave as he stepped into the open and began to venture close to the mansion. As he walked away, Joseph and Railyn followed their babysitters through the woods. While they did, Joseph brought up a question that had been sitting in his mind.

"What is slavery like here?" he asked suddenly. "I heard you talking about it, but it seemed a lot different than it was where I came from."

Gavin rolled his eyes. "Man," he sighed, "I didn't sign up to be the school teacher here."

Millie shook her head. "I'll explain then," she said happily. "It's pretty simple, though there are a lot of bylaws. Basically, slavery is a contract signed between two parties. One person will work under a master for a set period of time. It could be months, years, or your entire life even. The bare minimum is three months. Slaves are obligated to obey their masters, however, they must give consent in order for their masters to carry out any dirty or brutal conduct. Abuse without consent is cause for the slave to leave, or to be forcibly removed from their master."

"So what's the point of being a slave?" Joseph pressed, still a little confused.

Millie put a finger to her chin. "Well, it's like a last-resort. If you can't find work, you become a slave. Masters are obligated to feed their slaves at least twice a day, but they are not obligated to pay their slaves. Most don't, though there are some exceptions. It's a lot more dignified than it sounds, since there are so many restricting laws. If any form of abuse is reported for any reason, it can have some serious kickback on the master."

"That's pretty different than I'm used to," Joseph said softly. "Where I come from, slavery is no longer legal. But when it was, it was terrible. It was forced on some people, and quite often abusive. I'm just really surprised at how it works here."

Millie cracked a smile. "Understandable. That's how it was in Shima, too. This place is a bit different though. Actually, I quite like the system. You got nowhere else to go? Then you ask to be a slave for a rich family. You get food and lodging, and they'll at least treat you like a human being. As long as you're out of the capital. That place is pretty nasty."

Joseph nodded as he absorbed this information. The country of Endralia was indeed a strange and unusual one. He was slowly learning more about it though, bit-by-bit. It didn't take long to realize that the things Naya had told him only roughly covered the vast and detailed expanse of the world. One person could only know so much, especially one who had lost their memory.

"Note to self," Joseph muttered, "don't go to the capital."

Millie chuckled. "Don't you forget it."

As Evan made his way toward the mansion, the guards opened the large gates for him. The first thing that greeted him from the courtyard was a figure dashing toward him aggressively. He didn't have time to register who the figure was, or even to physically react before a bony fist collided powerfully with his right cheek. He staggered back, rubbing the side of his face. His eyes moved to the face of his assailant, and he stepped back a few more times as a nervous chill ran down his spine.

"H-hey, Maya," he said with a gulp.

The dark-haired girl was giving him a look so cold and dirty that even a demon would cower at it. "Hello, brother dearest," she said in a low, smooth, icy tone. "Would you like to know how things went here?"

"Uh... not well, I take it?" Evan's eyes nervously shifted from side to side, and his face had visibly paled.

"Oh, no, it was lovely," she continued in the same cold tone. "He acted like I was a doll without feelings of my own, and tried to make moves on me several times, but that's okay. All in a day's work, right?"

"Uh, sorry about that, I'll be sure to give the guy a thrashing when I get in," Evan croaked, knowing full-well that the girl had already dealt with the man as she deemed fit.

"Not if I break every bone in your body first," Maya hissed, her eyes twitching dangerously. "Of course, I could consider an alternate punishment for your ludicrous judgement in leaving me with that creep, but it still wouldn't be pretty."

Evan let a squeak escape his throat, knowing full-well that Maya meant every work of what she said. "Yes, an alternative would be nice, what would you like?"

"You," she growled, "are going to be my personal slave for the next week, and mark my words, I will make you suffer."

"Yes. Yes! I'll do that! Please don't get violent!"

The girl took a breath and composed herself. "You know," she sighed, "it's interesting just how much of a pushover you are, despite your tough act for targets and clients. Now come on, let's head in. I've got some interesting news. Did you capture the target?"

Evan shook his head, a solemn expression on his face. "No. She was tougher than we expected. She managed to get away."

"Ah," Maya said understandingly. "So you felt sorry for her and let her go."

"Can't get anything past you, huh?"

"Of course not. I am your sister after all."

The two siblings stepped down the brick lane and into the mansion, ready to face their client. When they entered, no maids greeted them nor did Keith himself. Instead, all was quiet.

"Where are the women?" Evan asked, glancing in all directions.

Maya gave a smile. "Down below. They're enjoying a little time off, you see."

"Time off? It sounds odd for a guy like Keith to just-" he cut off as he saw the sly smirk on the girl's face. "Maya? What did you do?"

Her smirk spread as she gestured to the stairs leading up. "Why don't you head to his room and find out for yourself?"

Evan shuddered and began to climb. Without the workers moving to and fro, the house felt oddly empty. It was too large and too quiet. It triggered alarm bells in Evan's head, as "too quiet" usually meant that an ambush was in the works. The surprise attack that his instinctual mind expected, however, never came. Instead, he made it to the client's door without any incident whatsoever.

"Don't bother knocking, just head in," Maya said, giggling slightly. "Not like you ever knock anyway."

Evan glanced at her. Whenever his sister was angry, her calm and nonchalant demeanor was replaced either by a terrifying and icy one, or by one of false sweetness. He fully expected to find a bloody massacre behind the door, and wouldn't have been surprised if she'd moved to try to kill him after he left her with the man.

The door opened with a soft click, and Evan strode in. Vases lay shattered on the floor, and pictures seemed to have been torn off the walls. Keith sat in his chair, knees pulled to his chest. He seemed to rock back and forth, like a terrified child. As soon as he noticed the girl, he fell back in his seat before scrambling backward and pressing his back against the far wall. His eyes were like those of a cornered animal about to be devoured. Evan looked with unease at both of them. What exactly happened while he was out?"

"You!" the owner screamed. "Why did you come back? I'm warning you! Any closer, and you'll-"
"I'll what, dear?" Maya crooned sweetly. "Make you wet yourself again, dear?"

Evan would have laughed, but he was busy backing away slowly. He did not want to be anywhere near Maya. This was a rare mood for her, and it always came before a storm. Keith made no response either. He continued to scuttle back until he'd pressed himself into the corner of the room.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you, dear," Maya sang out. "This is what you wanted, right, dear? You made moves on me, and I told you I could be intense, but you said you could handle it, right, dear? Could it be that you're even more of a pushover than my brother, dear?"

"Maya," Evan inquired hesitantly, "why are you calling him 'dear'?"

The girl giggled playfully as her eyes seemed to shift in a maddened manner. "Oh," she sighed, "It's a pet-name. He used it first, I'm simply returning the favor."

The once-proud owner of the land stared at the boy, his eyes begging Evan to do something--anything--to calm the girl.

"Please, you have to help me," Keith begged. "You don't know what she did! You don't understand, that woman is insane!'

"You don't understand either," Evan said, his tone suggesting that he'd had this conversation before. "That woman is my older sister, and if she's acting like this, you must have done something to flip the switch. Whatever you did--or rather, whatever you tried to do--it must have been deserving of this. On the other hand, Maya, you need to calm down. This isn't really getting us anywhere."

"On the contrary," the girl chirped, her eyes resting on her brother. "See, I found out some rather useful information. Not only has the man been breaking several codes of conduct regarding slavery, but he's also been using his wealth and influence in other ways, such as skipping out on taxes and using it to obtain slaves through illegal means. Furthermore, his conduct around me was quite interesting to say the least."

"That isn't true!" the man in the corner shrieked, desperation rising in his words. "She tricked me! She goaded me! I swear it!"

Evan was well aware that his sister had most-likely spurred on this course of actions. She was known for being devious, and when she set her sights on something, she nearly always got her way. She had decided that Keith should be punished for his behavior, and therefore made it her job to destroy everything he had. As far as Evan could tell, it was working.

"Skipping out on taxes, huh?" Evan asked, his shoulders relaxing as he stepped toward his sister. "Just how much dirt on his back do you have, exactly?"

Maya also seemed to be calming, her madness easing and giving way to the same cunning smirk she had sported before. "Lots. About two years' worth. If we were to send this all to the regional head, this man would be ruined."

Evan made no indication of joy at this statement. He simply walked up to the man's desk, grabbed a quill, and began to write. Once he had written a few sentences, he moved to the balcony where the owner's faithful sykorian perched. The message was tucked into the compartment fastened to the bird.

"Take this to the capital," Evan commanded. "The building you want is one of the three large ones directly in front of the palace. It's one farthest to the east. Do you understand?"

The bird seemed to nod before spreading its wings and taking to the sky. For the fastest, smartest and strongest bird in the land, a trip to the capital city would be easy. Evan watched it until it vanished from view, at which point he gave a relieved sigh. I really don't like those freakbirds.

He turned back to see his sister, still smiling slyly. The owner, on the other hand, was still in the corner. His head was tucked into his hands, and by the sounds he was making, it was apparent that he was torn up about this procession of events. His weeping almost made Evan feel sorry for him. Almost.

"Have fun explaining yourself to the regional head, you spoiled brat," Evan hissed, moving to his now-sane sister's side.