☀️ Arselia and Akonia

"I'm definitely going to tie that idiot to my bed when we get back," Beata thought angrily, watching the ground rush by beneath her. "Gods, please... He deserves a good life. I'm willing to give him happiness and security at any cost." In every person, in a critical situation, one of three primal instincts kicks in: "Fight," "Flee," or "Freeze." As far as Beata can remember, for her, it has always been "Fight." In any unclear situation, her first impulse was to attack, strike, and destroy the threat at any cost. It took her a lot of time and effort to control her temper, but some things just made her lose it. One of those things was named Guion. To be honest, Beata didn't expect anything special from her slave. A lackey, a porter, preferably attractive enough to also be a lover when she was in the mood – that was the extent of her demands. In short, a henchman, like all self-respecting bandits have. And Guion fit those requirements perfectly. Strong enough to carry the loot, smart enough not to try to escape, and attractive enough to warm her bed with some regularity – the more time passed, the more often. Beata didn't plan to get attached to him. She knew that this attachment wouldn't end well. Her parents had long forgotten that they had a daughter, sometime in the second or third year of Beata's life. The circus performers took care of her only superficially; she was needed mainly because of her acrobatic talents. By the time she reached adolescence, when all normal people started to pine for someone special, Beata already knew that it wouldn't happen for her. She wouldn't have anyone special. No one needed her; everyone would use her and abandon her sooner or later. The best antidote was to use and abandon people first. But, as it turned out, she was needed by Guion. They had to walk for long periods, and they needed to pass the time somehow. They talked. At first, it was an exchange of meaningless barbs, but then their conversations became longer. They shared stories from their lives. And after some time, they began to share revelations that they had never told anyone before. Probably, Beata started it. That idiotic phrase after a drunken brawl in a bar. "I don't like it when people touch my things without asking." *My*. Formally, Guion was already her property (in the places where the Imperial law didn't reach), but it was something else. Something on a primal level. Something on the level of how animal leaders protect their females and offspring. Beata didn't immediately realize this thought. But soon, she told Guion about her childhood in the swamps and how her parents didn't care about her. He didn't tell her about his childhood, limiting himself to an ambiguous "It would have been better if my parents had abandoned me too." Beata didn't push. Instead, Guion told her how he ended up in slavery. For the rest of the day, they walked in silence. Only in the evening did Beata break the silence with just three words. "I'm so sorry." Beata didn't realize when she started to trust Guion as much as she trusted herself. But she saw that he trusted her implicitly. She didn't notice how she learned to respect him and not push his boundaries. How she distinguished his indignation and fears from a firm unwillingness to do something, and didn't push when it wasn't necessary. She didn't catch the moment when she stopped being alone. But now, she felt her loneliness especially acutely. Truly, you get used to good things quickly... They had never been apart for so long. For the first time in her life, she felt incredibly lonely. Enio... She knew she couldn't trust him. But who could have thought that Guion would become a victim... Her poor, long-suffering Guion, who didn't deserve all the suffering that had befallen him. Mentally addressing the higher powers, she didn't notice how tears began to roll down her cheeks.