I woke, it wasn't much later. I hadn't meant to fall asleep. I was a little disappointed I was alone in the room. It didn't take me long to find that they were both in the sitting room. They seemed to be talking to each other while they worked on something. I stood and re-tied my pants. I hadn't taken them all the way off. My shirt was still in the sitting room but there were more in the dresser. So I grabbed one and put it on, before opening the door to my bedroom. It was still bright outside, but the sun was on its way to the ground. There had probably been a pretty rainbow out the window earlier.
Both women looked up when the door opened. They smiled when I entered, clearly they had already talked about me as I was sleeping. I found they had been working on a shirt one of my brothers had been wearing. Man, I can be deince sometimes. They had come from the farm with nothing but what they were wearing and I didn't know if there were any dresses in the house for them. Our lord had been very generous in the materials he had given us, but he hadn't had any way of knowing what size the women might be. "You letting my brothers pick on you already?"
The two women were sitting across from each other with a table between them that held what they were working on. I could still feel the messenger watching, but he wasn't in the room. I took the chair at the end of the table. Bella smiled at me, "You are diplomatic. No it took more negotiating to just get them to find us something, than I would have liked. I would say they fall somewhere, between wonder and fear when it comes to you."
I smiled at her, I was doing that more. "For good reason, but I am guessing you found out more then just the state of my brother's clothes."
Isa tilted her head at me, and seemed to make up her mind, "Yes, while my sister was busy, I worked on finding out more about the state of the house. There is almost an unlimited supply of water, Most of the space is unused, and there is more furniture then I can keep track of, even the rooms not in use have furniture. The rest isn't as good. We only have enough food for a month, if used sparingly. Your brothers don't seem to know what that means and the slaves seem to think that they don't have to worry about it either." I had come to the same conclusion. No one had owned slaves in generations, I didn't expect them to know what limitations they had. I did expect them to know that they were considered dead. They had entered the arena and not won. Unless you win you are dead. There was no blood price for their existence now. "Beyond food, you have no one around with the skills needed to make repairs, or even keep the place clean."
"Once I get the slaves under control I should be able to teach them the skills needed. One brother should easily be able to keep a group of slaves working, once the collars finish their warm up. The food is what I am worried about. We are past the middle of summer, some harvest should be coming in soon, correct?"
"Yes, but the main house will make you share what is brought in and I am sure the main house thinks it is more entitled to the best." Isa hadn't slowed her work on the shirt as she talked. She was almost done, she must have fixed many of her brother's clothes over the years for them.
"I am sure they do, and they outnumber us. The brothers coming here to train will need their support if they want to get any sort of acceptable terms for their fights."
Isa and Bella both nodded, "Yes, but that does mean that you will have to buy some food."
"Right, you mean you two will have to buy food for me. I cannot really go up the open market. I wouldn't be able to get any work done." The market was run by women, mostly women that had to work to meet the law. Men didn't go to the market unless it was to have some of their time traded for the work the women were doing. As a result there were often lots of men there that had to work down a debt any they were afraid of the arena. The men never did the trading though, the women who owned their debt did that.
"Unless you have other women around who can make the trade for you? After we have what we need, if you show us what we have to know about the slave, we can work on teaching them how to cook things that might not be all bad. I would like to get started on that tomorrow."
Bella spoke up, "We would like to."
"If that is what you want to spend your time doing. You can spend up to six, for now. You may leave after breakfast and be back before sunset."
"Six, wow. Hopefully we won't have to go over three."
"What about for you? Is there anything you are missing, or want?"
Bella smiled and Isa frowned. Isa was still looking for the danger in what I asked or did. Bella seems to have come to the conclusion that what I say can be taken at face value. I was smart but I didn't seem devious. Bella answered my question, "There are quite a few dresses left around the rooms. Some need patching and all are small just like the men's clothes but with a little work they will be serviceable. You seem to be the only one the clothes fit."
"Yeah, I am short. If you two don't need me I am going to go find the work I had meant to do before I ended up taking a nap."
I leaned forward to stand but Isa spoke up. "Please don't get too tired, husband. I am assuming your rules apply to me as well, but I would like a turn before finding my own bed." I got the impression that that was pretty bold for the slightly smaller of the two women. She was almost on a height with me.
"If you are still here when I get back, I could be convinced to show you." I stood and left while the women giggled together behind me. The messenger was waiting for me when the door closed.
"I worry I will never understand you." The messenger said as we started down the stairs.
"Really? What are they doing while we leave them alone?"
"Working on the wardrobe of your brothers." He said with confusion.
"I guess a better question is what are they not doing?"
"Almost anything else."
"Right, they aren't plotting, or scheming, they are focused on building a life here, not escaping it. Death is a bitch sometimes and she can call you to her any time she wants. Live in the moment, but don't let the moment damage the life that can be made next. Our lord needs at least a few of us to live, someone will be here."
The messenger followed in silence as I found where I had left the book. I picked back up where I had left off. One of my brothers found me and left food. The book wasn't any easier then the last time I had started reading it. I was sure hours passed as I read. The light faded completely from the sky but the messenger showed me how to create a light good enough to read by. I still only got about 20 pages read before I gave up for the night. The messenger had gotten food without leaving and I hadn���t seen anyone bring it to him. I had been watching whenever I knew the messenger was using magic but I couldn't pinpoint what he was doing.
I went to bed and the messenger followed me like a shadow. He entered his room before I entered mine this time. I still knew the man was watching, I wondered if he ever slept while I closed my door behind me. Isa looked up as I entered but her sister was back in their room. She had still been working on clothes for the men. She put it down and looked at me.
Isa was a bit more timid than her sister. She did just enough to let me know that she was interested in me, but the rest I had to do or she would blush and shut down some.
Even with that, the night didn't end badly.