Nu-reeh gave me a thin piece of sharpened bone and many long strands of nt like material. They would act as needle and thread.


    “You sleep there,” she said pointing to a spot on the floor near the fire. “You will stay warm there at night. If you move from that spot I may identally attack you. There is a pot there,” she pointed, “that you may use to relieve yourself.”


    She left me with that information.


    I stared between the te in front of me and the dirty rags on the floor. It had finally happened. I was living as a ve lived.


    The food was dull, but it made me full very quickly. I finished my dinner and started to pick through the pile on the floor. Most of it was small animal skins, virtually none of it was fabric. I thought once it was sewn together I’d probably look like a cave woman.


    Sewing was a good distraction. Otherwise I’d focus on my current situation or the fact that I didn’t know where Damien and his Brothers were. Even worse I’d think about Hannah and worry about her. I focused on piecing the scraps together to make a dress.


    Eventually, I got tired. I used the skins as a pillow andy down in front of the fire. It was like sleeping in the vige had been. I woke ufortable and barely rested.


    Nu-reeh looked at my progress on the dress and snorted. I ate the strange gooey food again, along with the contraceptive drink. Once I was done, she grabbed me and took me outside.


    “Carry these rocks up that hill,” she pointed. “Pile them at the top. Work quickly, I will punish you if you arezy.”


    I looked up the long slope and then at the pile of rough, heavy looking rocks. It wasn’t clear to me why this grouping of rocks needed to be moved, but I didn’t argue. I just set myself to work as Nu-reeh flew away.


    The rocks were nominally heavy, the real issue was the incline. It was steep and long. I walked as quickly as I could and piled the rocks at the top.


    The work was hot and dirty. Some of the stones were covered in ayer of thick dried muck. It stuck to me, stuck to my clothes, and got in my hair.


    At noon that strange filling food and a jug of water were given to me. The woman delivering the food demanded I work faster. I wasn’t nearly as far along as I should be.


    When the sun set I was delivered back to Nu-reeh’s quarters. She fed me my dinner and demanded I work on the outfit. I worked until I nearly fell asleep sitting over it and then crawled toy down by the fire.


    My days took on a terrible monotony. I moved stones all day. It was very boring and repetitive.


    The stones were a game I assumed. It hadn’t taken me long to realized I moved the same pile of rocks up the hill every day. Part of me was tempted to just throw them off the cliff thaty several yards away. However, I realized how tenuous my current situation was.


    I was sore and tired most of the time. Although I was fed at regr intervals weight dropped from me almost daily. There was never hunger, which I was grateful for, but I started to look starved.


    For some reason bathing was also prohibited by my new Mistress. The streaks of dirty sweat caking my features seemed to please her. I truly looked the part of the downtrodden ve now.


    The only time Nu-reeh seemed at all concerned about me was the day I fell and cut my hand. She had me wash and wrap it. The healing cream was applied to it generously. I failed to understand why that cut was healed and the rest of me was left to look so bedraggled.


    As I walked up the now familiar path with my burden, I often thought of Hannah. I hoped her life would be filled with wonderful adventures. I wondered where she was and what she was doing. Looking ruefully down at my heavy load, I knew it was better than how I was living.


    The current situation did not change my mindset. Even now, I made up my mind to be happy. I sang songs to myself. Sometimes it was songs I had made up, other times it was songs I had heard. Anything to keep my spirits up in this dreary existence.


    Nu-reeh appeared one day when I was smiling and humming nonsense to myself as I worked. She looked at me as though there was a question she wanted to ask. Instead she handed me the outfit I had pieced together.


    “Change,” she told me, “foot covers, too.”


    We were outside and I ced the stone I had been carrying on the ground.


    I took off the warm blue outfit, which was now mostly brown anyway, and put the rags on. Pulling off my foot covers, I put on the scraps I had sewn together for my feet. It was a fitting outfit for my current position.


    Wind whipped around the mountain and I was pleasantly surprised. The stitching was done well, I barely felt a draft. A smile crept onto my face when I realized what a good job I had done. Since I only had small victories in this life, I opted to celebrate them.


    “You are a strange creature,” Nu-reeh said watching me carefully. “I think you will still be good for them.”


    “Thank you, Mistress,” I said automatically.


    “I have heard you when youfort them,” she said suddenly. “I heard you convincing them they were not ves. That is a lie and I think you know it.”


    “Yes, Mistress,” I answered softly.Belonging ? N?velDram/a.Org.


    I heard feet approaching behind me, but I didn’t dare turn my face from Nu-reeh.


    “It made them happier, though,” she mused. “Continue to be theirfort and I will continue to let you live.”


    Before I could answer a hand was across my face, nearly smothering me. I was pulled back against my attacker. I had no idea what was going on.


    The hands parted and I saw men using two small jars to cover me with cream. It was the calming cream, I recognized the small jars. The way the men were using them, I’d sleep for a week.


    “Mistress,” I called frantically, “this is too much cream!”


    She ignored me and I suddenly didn’t care anymore. The men released me and I slid to my knees. I would have smashed my face into the rock in front of me when I fell, but a hand caught my hair. Thest thing I remembered was staring down the long, winding trail I’d walked for so many days.


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