Of everyone in the audience, Beth wasn't sure why it had to be the steward who would take such an interest in her friend, but she couldn't help but feel that this was going to be the last she'd see of Charlie for a long time as a result. Why she felt that way, she couldn't understand.
Even as she felt a tear sliding down her cheek, she did her best to push that thought out of her mind. Even as she quickly wiped the tear away. She was confident that she knew she'd see Charlie again someday, just that it was going to be a while.
As the auction for Charlie closed, with the winning bid at one hundred eighty ziks, Beth stood up and silently started to make her way to where she would be able to make payment for Hesha's brother and collect him.
Although, her mind was working at figuring out how if there was a way she'd be able to save others. Even if she didn't know them or have any connection to them, she didn't want the desperate looks in the eyes of those she saw that didn't get auctioned to haunt her dreams. As long as she did everything she could, short of raiding this place and essentially stealing them, she knew she'd be able to at least use that to help soothe any part of her conscience that wasn't happy with how things turned out.
"Beth? Why're you walking so fast?" Hesha called out from behind her.
Beth stopped and turned to look, surprised to see that she'd somehow gotten about thirty feet ahead of Hesha. Which told her she'd really been lost in her thoughts. Though, she was pretty sure it was having to see Charlie get auctioned off to another person that had her in such a state.
"Sorry," Beth said, trying to make a smile, but feeling like she wasn't doing a very good job of it.
"Was that your friend down there?" Hesha asked.
Beth took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, not wanting to come down on Hesha for just asking a simple question, before nodding. "Yeah, I'm sure that was her."
"Would you like to see if we could get the steward to let you have her?" Hesha asked, her words making Beth want to laugh. "You did get her that message and didn't ask for anything in return."
"Maybe if I hadn't said that I was doing it without expecting anything from it, that would work," Beth said, wondering if she should have asked for a favor in return to begin with. "But I didn't. So, if I go asking for something now, it'll just make me look like two faced." She couldn't help but take another deep breath to keep from letting her emotions overwhelm her as she shook her head. "No. I'm sure I'll see her again someday, but right now I need to see if there's others that I can save right now."
Beth felt Hesha put her hand in Beth's, drawing Beth's gaze. Hesha gave her a friendly smile while also squeezing Beth's hand in a reassuring manner. As a result, Beth felt the smile on her face strengthen and become more genuine as they continued on to finish the business they had with this place.
If nothing else, to make the payment to get Hesha's brother out of here. Though, Beth hoped to have more of the slaves here accompany them out if she could get them to agree to sell her some of the slaves that didn't get sold at the auction booths.
_
Jenn wasn't sure how she thought she'd feel when she'd been officially sold. Maybe she'd been thinking that this was a dream and that she'd wake up at that point or that someone would swoop down and save her, but now that it was over, she felt rather hollow. Like something had been pulled out of her that was now letting everything inside of her out.
Even as she felt Cithis and Haln cling to her, she felt like she was merely going through he motions. That nothing mattered and she shouldn't even try.
Of course, she wondered if maybe it was just that she was tired and this whole ordeal was taking more out of her than she had realized. Making her wonder if she just needed to get some sleep and that she'd be fine afterwards.
Though, when she was put back where she had been before getting taken up to be auctioned, she doubted she'd be able to get much rest before she was moved again. As she was pretty sure they didn't leave anyone here overnight.
Aside from how uncomfortable it would be, she doubted that these people running this place would like to care for anyone they considered property in this location. Especially if the said 'property' decided to do their 'business' like a puppy who wasn't housebroken. Whether they wanted to do that or not.
Yet, at the same time, after she had been sold, Jenn found that time seemed to pick up for her. Either that or she was just too tired to really notice everything that was going on. Which she wouldn't be surprised about if she later learned that was the case.
Before she knew it, she'd been put into another caged wagon with several others who had been purchased by the same person. Who that was, Jenn didn't really care. All she cared about was that Cithis and Haln were still with her and that she still had the ability to look for a chance to escape.
However, what she hadn't expected was that before she had been put into the wagon, a cuff or manacle had been put on her right wrist. It wasn't attached to a chain and she could only look at it in confusion. She couldn't see what the purpose of it was or even why they'd put it on her.
The person who attached it to her must have noticed her confusion as she said, "We were told to put it on because of your wild magic. The duchess' steward didn't want to take any chances, so we were told to put it on you."
Jenn half expected a 'sorry' to have been included, but when it didn't come, she at least consoled herself that the explanation was probably more than she should have expected anyway. Especially with how things in this world seemed to work.
Still, she felt that it merely dampened her magic, but she could still use a little of it. Though, she wished that she didn't have to deal with that much of it either. Especially with how it made her plans for seeking out a way to escape that much more difficult.
Yet, she knew she couldn't do anything about it or what had already been done, so she instead she just climbed into the caged wagon with the others. She didn't know what to expect from the cuff on her, but was at least satisfied that it was seen as more of a precautionary measure rather than a necessary one. Which meant there was a chance that they might remove it themselves.
Still, as they rolled through the city in the late afternoon light, Jenn heard something that she hadn't expected to hear at all. Music. Not just any music either, but music that she recognized from her world.
Which meant that one of her friends was in this city right then. Or at least one of them. She couldn't see where the music was coming from, but she could still make out enough to know that the song being played was Natural by Imagine Dragons.
As she listened, she stood up in the wagon, not only drawing the attention of the others in the wagon, but also those outside of it guarding it. Jenn paid them no mind, took the bars of the cage in her hands as she held them, hoping to at least be able to see one of her friends, even though she really didn't expect it to occur.
Knowing that they hadn't left this world was a little annoying to her, but right then, she wanted to see them, if only to know for sure that they were doing alright. Even if it didn't help her out any or solve her current dilemma.
"Shouldn't we push her back?" she heard one of the guards ask.
Another shook her head. "Don't bother. She's just trying to see where that strange music is coming from. If we didn't have to stay with them, I'd go take a look myself. I certainly can't blame her for wanting to see it herself."
"You know the boss doesn't like them standing at the edge like that," the first replied.
"I know, but she's not here right now, so who cares? Let her look if she wants. It's not like she's trying anything anyway."
Jenn wasn't sure how to really react to that, but she did her best to ignore them. Even if she couldn't see her friends, she wanted to at least do what she could to try. Especially since she hadn't even considered the possibility that they might have been in this city at the same time she was.
However, they still moved out of the city quickly enough that she wasn't able to even catch a glimpse of any of her friends, though she kept looking, well after the music had faded into the distance and beneath the other noises she could hear in the city. When she finally sat back down, she was surprised at how heavy her eyelids were. She knew she should stay awake for a while, if only on the chance that these people would give them something for dinner.
Jenn felt like it was a lifetime ago she was in the auction house, and she was fairly sure they weren't given anything for lunch. Which left her stomach empty and unhappy about being empty. Though, she was at least able to ignore it for now.
Although, she suspected that if they were given something, that Cithis and Haln would make sure that she woke up for it. She was confident that they wouldn't let her sleep through a meal if they could help it.
Giving the two children with her a quick kiss on their heads, she closed her eyes. Whether it was the exhaustion she'd built up over the month of training or if it was from having been on edge all day with the auction, Jenn knew that she was likely at her limit right then. Before anything else happened, she was out like a light.
_
When Beth approached the pens where the slaves were kept, she approached someone who seemed like they were taking care of people who were collecting what they'd bought through the auction. She did her best to keep her disgust with what was going on around her from showing, given she knew she couldn't do anything about this place right then.
She could feel Hesha beside her shifting her weight, seeming more impatient than she had been up to this point. Which Beth could understand, given they were almost to the point where they were going to get her brother. Beth could imagine how Hesha might be feeling, though, she doubted she'd be as calm if it was one of her siblings in any of these pens that she was saving. Even if she'd already essentially won them in the auction portion of this exchange.
There were three people who were also waiting for that same person, and Beth had a feeling it was going to take a while, since she could see that they had several tokens with them, indicating they'd 'won' a number of the slaves that had been auctioned.
Beth could feel the coins she'd brought with them in the pouch tied to her leggings. She'd never cared much for leggings on Earth and these certainly weren't any better. Especially since this world didn't seem to have developed underwear yet. Not that she was surprised, but every anime or book series she'd read always seemed to have some form of underwear, though on some of them, it might have just been her imagination.
Shaking her head to get her thoughts off that subject, she focused on her surroundings. She could see Hesha's brother in one of the pens, looking less apprehensive as others were, though she couldn't say if that was a good thing or not. She wasn't sure how common, or even accepted, it was for someone thrown into slavery here to be saved. By a family member or another person. She worried that it might create more problems, even though she didn't have any exact evidence to support that theory.
Time felt like it was dragging on, though another person showed up to help the first person, which made Beth wonder if the auctions in the stadium had concluded. She wasn't worried about seeing any of the slaves from there, aside from Charlie. However, she had a feeling she wouldn't be able to get close to even talk to her if she tried to even get permission from the steward who had 'won' her friend. Though, despite that, she had hoped that she'd have been able to conduct this business and attempt just that, but now she had a feeling that she wasn't going to even have a chance anymore at that.
"How may I help you?" a voice asked, breaking into Beth's thoughts.
"Sorry," Beth said, returning to reality again. "I have this."
Beth handed the token over to the woman, not sure what else to do or even say about it. She felt like she was standing out more than she should and worried that it might merely make her and Hesha a target.
"Your first purchase, huh?" the woman remarked as she took the token from Beth. "Any plans for this one?"
Beth blinked. "Huh?"
The woman chuckled as she motioned for Beth and Hesha to follow her. "It's always easy to spot those who are first timers here. Though, usually they're not so nervous as you. I was just curious as what you were wanting this slave for." The woman looked Beth up and down. "Maybe you were looking for someone to start having children with so you can have a boost to a military career?"
Beth felt her face heat with embarrassment at such a bold assertion. "No, I'm getting him for her," Beth answered, indicating Hesha.
The woman nodded, as if it didn't matter to her. "So, you're getting someone for her to have children with," the woman said, clearly coming to the wrong conclusion. Not that Beth had any plans of correcting the misunderstanding.
"By the way, I was wondering something," Beth said as the woman stopped at the door to the cage where Hesha's brother was. "I noticed several of the slaves that didn't sell in that cage over there. I was wondering if it might not be too late to try and purchase some of them."
The ones that Beth had her eye on were the ones who didn't have a resigned look in their eyes. The ones who looked desperate to not be there. She was certain that those would be more helpful to her and her friends than any of the others. Especially if she could convince them to help them out. Even though she hadn't a clue as to what that would look like in the first place.
"Those?" the woman asked as the door opened and she entered the pen, closing the door behind her. "Most don't even bother to ask about them. Why didn't you bid on them when they first were on the block?"
"I wasn't sure how much this one would cost," Beth answered. She hoped that having been recognized as a 'first time buyer' might give her a little leeway to this point. "Besides, I'm sure you'd understand that I can't be in every booth at the same time."
The woman chuckled as she grabbed Frolla's arm and began escorting him back to the door of the pen. "You make a good point, but you realize that I can't just agree to anything you'd offer. They were up for auction and no one wanted them." The woman paused as she unlocked the door again. "I'll have to ask the boss about it. She might agree, but she also might just tell you to leave." The woman looked at Beth, a glint in her eyes that Beth was confident wasn't a good thing. "It all depends on how much you have to offer for them."
Beth nodded like it didn't matter. She doubted that it would cost her that much. After all, it cost them money to take care of them, and if she bought some of the ones that didn't get sold through the auction, they'd at least make something for them through this method. In addition to not still having the expenses to take care of them to deal with. At least that's what she hoped they'd see her offer as rather than take it another way.
"I'll wait," Beth said, unsure how hopeful she should be about the whole situation.
The woman nodded and walked away. While she waited, she turned to Hesha. "Why not take him to our inn? I'll catch up with you, okay?" Beth asked.
Hesha looked at Beth like she wanted to say something else, maybe even question what Beth was doing inquiring about the other slaves, but she merely nodded, then she put her hand in her brother's and started walking with him away. Beth couldn't help but smile at how more alive Frolla seemed now that he knew he'd been saved from being a slave. Though, how they were walking together made Beth wonder if it wasn't that uncommon for someone to save a friend or relative who had ended up a slave, but she still had her doubts about the whole situation in the first place.