We made the trip back to thepound with me wrapped like a mummy. The men had used nkets from the bed to wrap me tightly head to toe. The fabric kept me warm and hidden from prying eyes. While we were still in the wildnd between the mountains and thepound, my face was left uncovered.


    I looked longingly back at the mountains and imagined Hannah looking at me. She was out there somewhere, I knew she was. Tears slipped down my face as I realized how long it would be before I saw her again, if ever.


    The transport slowed to a stop and Christof pulled me to face him.


    “Why do you make tears?” he asked.


    “Hannah,” I told him simply, “I will miss her terribly. She is out there and I will never again be as close to her as I am right now.”


    My voice broke and I sobbed gazing at the mighty, towering peaks that contained us on thisnd. Beyond them is where my daughter would stay. Beyond them was where she belonged. I was where I would always stay, in the ve pen concocted by the women.


    “You will see her again,” Damien said with confidence. “We are Nu-reeh’s favorites. We will barter with her. She will allow you to see our offspring. I can do this for you.”


    The other men agreed. It was something they could manage. Maybe a few extra couplings or a lunar cycle in the mountains would buy me what I wanted. There was really no need for me to worry, they would take care of it.


    I knew the truth of it. I watched the grey slopes as the transport cruised steadily away. Damien and his Brothers would do whatever Nu-reeh wanted, when she wanted. If she found it eptable, I would see Hannah. If she did not, I would never see my daughter again.


    Silently, I said good bye to Hannah. I prayed for her and released her to the wild world. Make her strong and happy was the silent appeal I made to any deity that might listen. It was all I could do for her.


    As the transport got closer to thepound the sun got lower in the sky. Just before it set, the men pulled a sheet over my head. Now I couldn’t see anything. I was surrounded in white with the sense of movement under my feet. It was quite disconcerting.


    The transport lowered and then stopped suddenly. I heard voices, so I thought maybe we were home. I yelped when someone suddenly picked me up.


    “Ciara,” Damien sighed, “rx, you can’t walk bundled like this.”


    I was carried and set down on my feet, but I still didn’t know where.


    “Ah, Damien,” I heard Fredrick the shopkeeper say, “that pesky lost ve has been found. How wonderful.”


    My head covering was removed and I was standing in the opulent dressing room of Fredrick’s shop. I nced up and he looked just as perky as always. He jokingly asked Damien if it had been difficult to “find” me. He found the entire thing quite humorous. Damien warned him not to let the secret out.


    “Boys,” Fredrick saidying a hand on Damien’s shoulder, “this world is full of secrets. I know many and choose to keep them, because my Brothers and I are kept happy. What we know will not be spread around. It never is.”


    My family seemed to rx and Fredrick called Mia out. She unwrapped the nkets from around me as the men talked.


    “You are well, cousin?” she murmured quietly.


    “Yes, thank you,” I answered trying to help her untangle me.


    “I helped my owners make warm outfits,” she said quietly, “they parted to expose your breasts so you could feed a child. It was amon design for women feeding their young in the coldest part of my world.”


    “It was effective, thank you. I would have been ufortable without it,” I told her.


    “The child,” she whispered hesitantly, “on my world it is rude not to ask a mother of the fate of their child. From my human friends, I believe this is your custom also.”


    I saw her eyes dart to the men, who were still talking about secrets and mountains.


    “Female, strong, and free,” I said trying desperately not to tear up.


    Mia offered what sounded like a prayer andid her hand on mine. “Not a ve then? You have been blessed,” she whispered and then walked me to the small stage.


    The fitting was quick. The only real issue was my new size. I was smaller. Damien told Fredrick I would be gaining weight, so the ornamentation should be adjustable. During a break I whispered in Damien’s ear.


    “I don’t mind being smaller. Being fat isn’t really a good thing for a human.”


    He sighed and whispered back to me, “You look ill. This is not healthy for you. Our family is strong; we will feed you so you be strong again.”


    I was draped, once again, in the light fabric over my breasts and the juncture of my thighs. It covered virtually nothing, but it was in the right colors. My men looked appraisingly at my form ented with their colors.


    Fredrick had a brown outfit I could be wrapped in and sold them it and a kneeling ce. All the other new ornamentation they had bought would be delivered to our roomster. We went to the cafe and had a meal as we had several times before. The men were visibly annoyed as I knelt to take my food.


    “Family should sit together for a meal,” Bane muttered under his breath.


    I stroked his thigh and kissed it lovingly.


    After dinner we went back to Fredrick’s, which I found odd. Silly me, we went back to pick up my cor and cuffs. The smooth metal was wrapped around me and I was once more emzoned with the family emblem.


    Mia fluffed my hair and looked at her Master.


    “The hair is…” she said ying with the roughly cut locks.


    “Let us fix this, so you can ornament it,” Fredrick said watching Evan. “Mia will not harm your ve. It does not hurt a human to cut the hair. It is not like you my friend, it is like your Brothers in that regard.”


    Evan stiffened at thement and Damien let out a surprised sound.


    “Yes, yes another secret we keep,” Fredrick said in response. “My Brothers and I have been around a long time. We will not tell anyone that does not need to know, but back to the topic. Let Mia trim this hair. It looks too rough now.”


    Evan watched carefully as Mia trimmed my hair with small gold scissors. She kept the same general shape the men had given it, butyered the waves of brown and cut it neatly.


    “It doesn’t hurt you?” Evan questioned quietly while she worked.


    “No… Master Evan,” I answered remembering his title. “Pulling it out would hurt, but cutting it does not.”


    The men seemed pleased with the work Mia had done. Before they dressed me in the dull brown outfit, the men ran their fingers through the hair. It looked better this way, they were agreed.


    “I would let the girl cut Ciara’s hair again,” Evan said as we flew over the wall into the Warriorpound. “She was cautious and did a good job.”


    I poked him in the thigh with my mittened hand and he looked down at me.


    “Why did you do that?” he asked as the transportnded in the courtyard of the Warrior’spound.Belonging ? N?velDram/a.Org.


    “That is not a girl or a she, Master Evan,” I whispered quietly as they pulled off my brown outfit. “You’ll start all manner of trouble if the other men learn what you know.”


    “The way the other men think is ridiculous,” Damien said pulling off my foot covers, “but don’t worry. We are cautious in public.”


    The sounds of thepound came into my ears and I smiled. This ce was home when Damien and his Brothers were here. I was d to be back.