"Welcome to Xintong outpost Admiral Qui Lin." Judith heard the woman-skinner's voice from the front, his voice sounded calm and authoritative.
Judith couldn't see him speak as she had scurried to Qui Lin's back once she had taken his features in from the distance.
There was no doubt about it, this man looked exactly as he was described.
Feeling her nerves rack, she began to search for a way to avoid the woman-skinner.
The first thing to pop into her head was to make her way into the foray of slaves, conceal her presence amongst them.
But she knew that Qui Lin would notice her absence, thanks to Judith's acts of valor that had placed her at the forefront of Qui Lin's radar.
Judith had tried to think of multiple ways to avoid this man, but knowing that was wishful thinking and that he would see her one way or the other, she decided to face him head on.
All the while cooking up a plan to escape this his clutches.
After taking a deep breath and steeling her nerves, she took several steps forward, emerging from Qui Lin's side so she was now in full view of the woman-skinner, who became stunned and begun to stare her down from head to toe.
"Please captain Qiao, address me by my name alone."
Qui Lin had said in response to the captain's earlier remark, but her words fell on deaf ears, as he was too fixated on Judith.
Noticing this, Qui Lin had traced his gaze and found Judith right at the end of it.
In no less than a second after Qui Lin had reacted on the captain's silent, he too had noticed himself arousing some — if any — kind of suspicion, so he chuckled.
"Ah, forgive me Lady Qui Lin. I always forget how much you despise such titles." The captain had said with a smile.
Judith watched him carefully, whilst trying to keep herself strong. She had a plan in mind and all that was left was to execute it.
Best case scenario, she would come out of this unscathed.
Worst case scenario...a shiver had rattled up Judith's spine upon thinking of the worst. No, there couldn't be any worst case, failure was not an option.
"There is nothing to forgive captain. Now if you please, provide us with sanctuary for the day, we've traveled very far and we are tired."
Judith had kept close to Qui Lin as she spoke, whilst keeping her gaze intent on the captain.
The captain had intended to ask certain questions, one of such questions being why Qui Lin and her guests — be they noble or slaves — had to travel a great distance on foot, instead of using a teleportation pad called Way-points.
But all these questions faded into obscurity, as his entire being had been fixated on Judith.
The moment he saw her, he was instantly captivated.
He wanted more than anything for them to settle in, so he could have his way. If anyone would ask any questions, he could just say that she must've ran away.
After coming to this conclusion, the captain had smiled and then turned so he backed them.
"Right this way Lady Qui Lin."
The fear that had settled within Judith which she tried to control, began to grow by the second. Mostly due to the fact that she will be encased by four walls, which would limit her capabilites for escape.
No matter, she would survive this somehow.
Luckily for her, a certain disaster would befall this outpost, which she would take advantage of.
"Your Tethereds will stay at the inn," he pointed toward a building to the left of the outpost, near the walls that was built to protect them from Parabeasts of the outside. "The male slaves will stay in the barracks and the female slaves will stay in my humble manor along with the rest of us." He had pointed toward a relatively large building that seemed out of place in this desert.
Qui Lin wanted to comment that there was just one female slave, but upon seeing this Manor, she thought of something else.
"Manor, for an outpost?" Qui Lin had expressed her disapproval out loud, and the captain had laughed a hearty laugh.
"She's quite a beauty isn't she? Spent my life's savings to ensure I'm comfortable here."
"Why? Your service here will be over a year from now."
"I extended it." Qui Lin had raised a brow upon hearing this, but Judith couldn't help but smile cynically.
'Of course he loves it out here, makes it easier to hide his heinous deeds.' Judith had thought to herself, as she watched the captain closely.
"What can I say?" He turned to Qui Lin, but narrowed his eyes to Judith for a heartbeat. "I love it out here." He said with a smile.
***
The sun rose high into the sky before the clock had even struck eight, bringing with it an unusual heatwave that everyone could feel burn into their skin.
Sparing no one, not even Judith, who was safely inside the manor — albeit in the maid's quarters — but a manor nonetheless.
The heat had gotten to Judith so much so, that she began to sweat profusely. Which in turn caused her clothing to cling to her skin, revealing a bit too much for anyone to see.
Just as Judith was about to lose her mind, the door had creaked open, which startled her for a moment. But she had calmed down when she discovered it was a maid approaching.
Judith had walked toward the maid, so they both met halfway through.
"This is your new clothing," the maid had said, handing over several under garments and traditional Chinese robe to Judith, along with a bucket of water. "You can get dressed once you're done showering."
Judith took the clothes into her hands and grabbed onto the bucket of water, feeling incredibly grateful for them as of now.
"Thank you very much." Judith bowed unknowingly, only to realize it a second later.
The maid had smiled upon witnessing a Westerner following along on customary show of gratitude in Qugan.
She wanted to ask Judith how she was informed on Qugan traditions. But then remembered Judith was sweating more profusely than she, so she held her tongue.
"You do know where the bathroom is right?" Is the only thing she allowed herself to say.
"Yes I do." Judith said, a bit too eager to end the conversation and be out of these clothes — if one could call them that — as soon as possible.
"Good. Once you're done showering, you will be given food before seeing to your daily duties."
Normally, if Judith hadn't already known this would happen, should would've wondered how she would be given chores to do despite the fact that she was not going to stay here for more than a day.
Not to mention she was not his property, but the property of the royal house and its court.
This was done by captain Qiao, to create the perfect circumstances for her disappearance. But despite knowing this, Judith couldn't exactly say she wasn't going to do it, so left with no choice, she nodded and said nothing else.
Just as she was about to leave, the maid had remembered something and called out.
"Oh, I forgot to give you this." She pulled out a key from the pocket in her sleeves and rushed over to Judith. "This was given to me by prince Lee after he was done settling the slaves into the barracks. He said that I should tell you to uh...behave."
Judith couldn't help but analyze the key far longer than she was supposed to. When she had realized herself, she took the key at once and said another thank you with a bow.
Accepting the fact that she was in an eastern fantasy world now and she was going to stay.
With nothing left to say, Judith had walked to the end of the long and empty room, where a door was waiting.
By the time Judith had made it into the bathroom and began to undress, the maid had exited the room, so Judith was left alone.
At least, this was what Judith had thought, but outside the bathroom door, a strange ethereal light had appeared in the middle of the room.
And with that ethereal light, formed a child.