Jenn had to agree with that. She knew the Lost would eventually tire, but she also knew that the Lost were just getting started. Although, she didn't know what it was that they had in mind. Just that they were working towards something.
While it had been her idea initially, Jenn felt like it had gone so far off the rails that she was like Cithis and Haln. Merely observing what was happening around her. Like she was watching a movie or game.
One of the people came by and closed something around her ankle and Jenn felt her connection with her magic cut out. For a moment she felt cold all over, like she'd lost something important. However, a moment later whatever had closed around her ankle had burst apart, like it had exploded, allowing her to reconnect with her magic again. Jenn couldn't see the person who had put it on her, but she did hear them drop with several other people around her after the item had blown apart.
"How…?" the leader started to say a moment before an arch of electricity shot out from around Jenn in multiple directions, each striking a different person.
Jenn felt like she was being thrown into a tub of ice cold water, without getting wet, as she witnessed the slaughter around her. While the electricity only arched out from around her once, she could see it coming from several other locations at once. Though, after the electricity came fire, then ice, and even a pink energy of some sort. At each of those places she was sure that the Lost were moving.
She couldn't see them, but it was clear that they were there. Jenn wasn't sure what exactly they were, but was certain that she didn't want to get on their bad side. She wasn't sure if that was possible, but wasn't willing to take the chance that it was. Even though she really had no idea how she would do that in the first place.
Jenn wasn't sure how long that went on for, but eventually the commotion died down. As Jenn looked around her, she could see that none of the people in the caravan were moving. At least the people outside the cages were.
Jenn counted about four cages, though one looked especially lavish, despite the cage around it. Jenn wasn't sure if that meant anything or if there was something different about the slaves in there, but she wasn't worried about that at the moment. Instead, she was more worried about finding a place for her kids to rest.
{We have done as you asked, Charlie. Would you now accompany us? We'd like to begin as soon as we can.}
Jenn felt herself being lowered to the ground. She wanted to tell the Lost to take her, so they wouldn't go after the other slaves, or especially her kids, but she knew she needed to take a moment first. She wanted to make sure that they'd be alright while she was gone, especially since she wasn't sure how long she'd be gone for in the first place. Then there was also the fact that she wanted at least Cithis and Haln to know that she was going to be back. That she'd be only gone for a little while and that they should wait for her.
–Would you give me a day to prepare?– she asked. –I'd at least like to let my kids know that I'll be back and not to worry.–
{Your children? These aren't your children. They were born to other mothers. Why do you call them your children?}
Jenn felt like they might not understand how she'd explain it to them, but she wanted to make sure that she wasn't just making this up at the drop of a hat.
–They adopted me as their mother.– Jenn explained. –I wasn't happy about it at first, but then they grew on me. I'm not sure why, but I want to make sure that they'll be okay before I come back after helping you again.–
Jenn expected them to respond right away, but time dragged on and they remained quiet. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not, but she didn't want to rush them either. Especially when she saw what they could do if they felt like it.
{Very well. We'll allow you one of your days. It's not that long, so we won't require anything else for it, either.}
Jenn felt relieved to hear a response from the Lost, but was especially happy that there wasn't going to be an added cost for that request. However, she knew she'd need to make the most of her time. Such as first things first, unseal her voice so she could talk again. She was confident that it was going to feel a little weird for a little bit.
Jenn felt herself gently set on the ground and was a little surprised to learn how good it felt to have the ground under her feet, even if they were still bare. As she felt her balance stabilize under her, she left go of Cithis and Haln so they could move around if they chose.
Then as she pulled on her magic, she gently removed the seal over her vocal chords. What she didn't expect was a sharp pain in her throat, as if a blade was slicing through her neck slowly. Not only that, but as the metaphorical blade moved, it set each of her nerves on fire. Jenn closed her eyes tightly to push through the pain.
Just about when she felt like she wasn't going to be able to handle any more, it was gone and she felt herself gasping in relief.
"Mother? What happened?" Cithis asked and Jenn sank to her knees. "Was this from how you got us out of the cage?"
Jenn wanted to say something right away, but while she could feel the seal completely gone, her throat wasn't feeling very cooperative at that particular moment. She wasn't sure if it was from the pain or if it was from not having used her voice for around two and a half months. She wasn't sure of the exact time frame, but it felt about right. Although, she couldn't rule out the possibility that it was longer or not as long as she was thinking.
"Mother, are you okay?" Haln asked.
Jenn glanced over at him and felt her heart melting at the worried expression he had on him. While both Cithis and Haln had been starting to lose the skin and bones look, they still had the appearance of close to dying from starvation.
"I'm okay," Jenn said, her voice coming out very soft and gravelly. Not to mention painfully.
"Mother you can talk!" Cithis exclaimed, throwing her arms around Jenn, followed a moment later by Haln.
Jenn couldn't help but smile to herself as their enthusiasm rubbed off on her a little. She wished she could explain to them why she hadn't been able to talk, or even why she hadn't let them know before, but she wasn't sure how much she should use her voice at the moment. She was confident that she'd get the chance soon enough.
While Jenn hadn't expected to get much time with her kids before the other slaves came out of the cages, she hadn't expected that they would want her to explain to them what happened and what she wanted of them.
The only caged wagon that the Lost had opened was the one Jenn was in, but she could see that people who were leaving that cage were also
She first tried to open her mouth to speak, but had to give up on that front when her throat refused to work with her on that. She wasn't sure exactly what the others wanted from her, but she wouldn't be surprised if they expected something from her. She was confident her luck wouldn't be that good to just be left alone.
"How did you do that?" the first person to reach Jenn asked. The person was a young man who looked like he was torn at being happy to being out of the cage and wanting to go back in it.
Jenn had to take a moment to even process the question. She wasn't ready to find that, at least some of them, weren't ready to lynch her for having taken out those who wouldn't let her leave.
Sighing, Jenn pulled on her magic, hoping that getting assistance from the Lost wasn't going to have drained her magic stamina, much like how getting emotionally worked up can be physically draining. Yet, since her voice wasn't ready to cooperate with her, she didn't have much choice.
–I had help from the Lost.– Jen said, letting her magic carry her words to everyone present. –They're the ones who I asked to help free me. So from here, you're all your own people. Go live your lives as best you can.–
Jenn wasn't sure how the others would respond, but at the same time, she hoped that they wouldn't be upset with her, as she understood that many people had a hard time leaving captivity. At least if they'd been in it long enough.
Though, when no one moved to go away, Jenn wasn't sure she liked where it was going and reached out with her magic to take a look at the minds of everyone present. What she found was a shock to her.
No one questioned that she was using her magic to talk. No one ad any negative feelings towards her. While most were new to being slaves, mostly having been captured in their home village during a bandit raid, the few who weren't didn't have any special attachments to being slaves and everything that came with that. In addition to that, all of them were looking at Jenn with more reverence than hostility.
Jenn couldn't say for sure if that wasn't a bad thing, but at the very least, she was confident that she probably wasn't going to like where it led. If anything, she was starting to feel like now was the time for her to split so she wouldn't end up finding herself in a position that would be worse than having all these newly freed slaves trying to 'make her pay' for what she'd done.
"What can we do for you?" a young woman asked. She had light blue hair that seemed to naturally fall over the from of her face, obscuring her amber eyes and skin that was deeply tanned and said she'd spent a good amount of time in the sun.
Jenn felt like everything was happening so fast. Even though she could remember seeing things happen around her, with people walking towards her, she felt like her thinking was moving as slow as molasses. Like she was still barely starting to process the second question as she'd been asked as others started asking other questions.
What happened to cause that, she couldn't say. Only that the world started to spin around her before everything went dark. She wasn't sure if there was some other reason for why that happened, only that as darkness overtook her, she couldn't help but feel nothing but relief.
When Jenn became aware again, she couldn't help but feel warm and comfortable. She wasn't sure when the last time she felt like that was. Not only did she want to just stay like that, but she also wanted to curl up in that feeling like it was a blanket.
"Mother, are you awake?" a voice asked, pulling Jenn out of the fantasy.
Jenn opened her eyes to see firelight surrounding her. She saw that she'd been put under blankets and had something put over her, though she couldn't be sure if it what it was exactly. It looked like someone had tried to make a canopy to give her some kind of shelter out of various pieces of cloth that didn't quite match. Then above that, was a small cliff that rose maybe ten to twenty feet above her, some of the 'canopy' above her using the cliff to hold it in place.
To the side of her was Haln. He was wearing a hooded dress that looked like it was maybe a size or two too small for him. That is unless it's supposed to stop mid-thigh. Though, Jenn suspected that it was probably the best that they could find.
"It looks that way," Jenn croaked, feeling like her voice was much better, but still wasn't happy with her for having sealed it for so long, or even at all.
"How come you didn't talk when we first met?" Haln asked, sounding like he was hurt by that fact.
Jenn smiled kindly at him, not sure if he'd still want her as his 'mother' with any explanation she'd give. Although, she was surprised at how much that thought hurt. She couldn't say how or when she'd really started to care about Haln, or even Cithis, but she could honestly say that if something happened to them, she'd be as worked up about it as if it was her parents or even Cherie who were in trouble.
"I didn't talk because I'd locked my voice away," Jenn said, taking her arm out from under the blessedly warm blankets to extend her hand to Haln.
He looked at it for a moment, like he wasn't sure how to react to her gesture, before taking it in both of his. "But why?" he asked, as he held her hand to his cheek.
"Because I didn't want them to know about my magic," Jenn replied. "That I could use it. If they did something to prevent me from using it, then I knew it would make escaping more difficult."
"You were planning on escaping?" he asked, sounding like he wasn't sure he heard her correctly. Jenn merely nodded and he looked at her like he was scared what she might say next. "Were you going to take me with you?"
Jenn pulled him towards her before pulling him into an embrace, not caring for what she could feel she wasn't wearing as she hugged him. "When I first became a slave, I only planned on escaping by myself, but then after I met you and your sister, then I started to change my plans to include both of you."
"Cithis isn't my sister," Haln replied, like he was making sure Jenn was aware of that fact.
Jen couldn't help but chuckle. "Both of you consider me your mother, right?" Jenn asked, still holding Haln close to her.
"Of course, mother," Haln replied, his tone sound a little worried that she might not think so.
"Then she's your sister," Jenn replied. "Just as you're her brother. So, you need to treat each other like that, alright?"
Haln sighed like he was relieved. "Of course, mother."
"Is she awake yet?" an unfamiliar voice asked from behind Jenn.
Jenn turned her head to look, not sure if she should sit up just yet, but not sure she should remain laying down, either.
"She is," Haln answered calmly.
"What do you need?" Jenn asked, not sure how she should handle this situation right then. After all, it wasn't like she was a leader of these people or anything.
"My lady," a woman with light green hair, pink eyes, and wearing a faded blue tunic and leggings said respectfully, as she came around in front of Jenn. "All of us have agreed to do whatever you want of us. You freed us, so we are yours to do with as you want."
Jenn closed her eyes and let her head rest against whatever had been given her as a pillow. She wasn't sure she cared for how that woman's statement sounded. It pretty much sounded like they were considering themselves Jenn's slaves or something.
"Look, I don't know what you're wanting from me," Jenn said after a minute of wondering how to respond, "but you should know that you're all free to go where you want. You're not slaves at all."
"Of course, my lady," the woman replied. "We won't call ourselves that. We'll let you decide what we're called."
Jenn wasn't sure she like the way that had been phrased. It brought to mind a piece of a poem she remembered her English teacher at the start of her freshman year at high school having read to the class. She couldn't remember even who wrote the poem, just the part that said: A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.
Though, she also wasn't sure if she should entertain this idea of theirs, since she was going to leave to help the Lost in a little bit.
As that thought came to her mind, she sat up in the bed, startled. "How long was I asleep for?" she asked, feeling like she didn't have enough time to get things settled here with her adopted children, let alone with everyone else.
"Just a few hours, my lady," the woman replied, as if merely giving a report.
As Jenn felt her breathing slow and her heart calm down, she suddenly remembered she wasn't wearing anything and here she was sitting with her chest exposed to all who wanted to look at it.
Feeling her face burn with embarrassment, she quickly lay back down and covered herself with the blankets. She wasn't sure if this would affect how the others looked at her, but she was confident that it would affect how she was around the others.
"Oh, my apologies, my lady," the woman said, looking away. "I'll let your son help you get dressed and talk with you after that."
Jenn wasn't sure how to respond, but it didn't seem like she needed to as the woman walked away without saying anything else. As she left, Jenn wasn't sure what exactly to do, but turned to Haln as he spoke.
"Mother, we found some clothing for you, but we didn't want to pick for you, so when you're ready, I can show it to you," Haln said.
Jenn couldn't help but sigh. She wasn't sure how else to respond. It almost felt like she'd somehow been promoted to being the leader of these people, just by having gotten the Lost to help her escape successfully from the people who had been holding all of them captive in those cages.
When Jenn looked at the clothing she could see Haln holding up, she noticed there were a few different colors. One was blue, another a lilac, and the other a vivid pink. As she gazed at them, she felt like cold water had been poured over her. She wasn't completely sure, but was getting suspicious that they were indeed looking at her as a leader.
"I'll take the pink," Jenn said, wishing there was an option to have the color as green. However, she wasn't going to complain, since she couldn't say what the options would have been if she had gotten first pick to begin with.