It was the last day and Sam should have been coming back soon, I had asked Master about why he ate so much canned meat if he was a part time fisherman. He told me he got sick of cheap salted fish and so he switched to cheap canned meat. Finally Sam and Sarah came back and we were leaving, I noticed that Sarah’s neck had stitching on it and not the kind I got. As Master drove the boat we all sat on the second floor so I asked what happened with Sarah.

“She was a bad slave and also made you feel bad so I had her vocal cords deactivated, I don’t need her to speak anyways. Don’t worry, your good so this will never happen to you.” I was told.

“Did she go for a horsey ride too?” Master asked.

“Of course, bad slaves need punishment. Plus this time she couldn’t scream so I enjoyed it more than the first time.” was her response.

Master was silent for a few seconds then spoke, “you always love torture”.

“So did you have fun being shunned by the elites of the empire?” Sam then asked.

“Yes and no.”, Master responded and then told Sam everything.

“I wish I could have seen you guys eat, watching them get pissed sounds like so much fun. Funny the same lady who confronted you tried to kill you later. Lin, you did a good job stopping her.” She told us.

Sam then walked over to me and patted my head, “I wish you were my slave, your so much better than her over there.” I was told as she pointed to Sarah sitting on the floor. I smiled instantly from this, Sam treated me so nice.

“So did you find out who leaked your travel plans?” I asked.

“Yes and they are regretting that for the rest of there life, I wont tell you what I did because I care about you.” I was told. I didn’t push her further on this, I didn’t want to know.

We kept talking for the whole trip witch took basically the same amount of time, Master would have Sam take over for him so he could rest. Luckily there was no one shooting at us this time, when we got to the docks outside her house they left. Sam then came back and handed Master a small metal box, and we left to head home.

“Is that your payment?” I asked.

“Yes it is, its a check so at the bank its proof that money from her account will move to mine. She even added in extra to cover your doctors visit, she took a liking to you. I’m happy because I thought she would hate you.” I was told.

I then coughed for a minute before I could speak again, “You all right?” he asked.

“Yeah I’m fine.” I told him and we headed home.

“Also Lin, Sam got you something as a thanks for protecting her. Open this bag up and see what you got.” I was told as he got a small bag from in front of his feet.

I opened it up and it was a skirt that went to above my knees, it was yellow and not to frilly. It was basic but I liked it, there was a note in the bag “Thank you Lin, you deserve this but don’t wear it outside the house. This is not cheap so it will draw attention, Sam”. I smiled as I held it up, yellow was not my favorite color but still.

When we got home I was told to get some rest even though it was light out, I didn’t argue since I wanted to rest. Master said he had some work left to do but I didn’t have to help, I had missed my room since we had been gone a while. I instantly fell asleep but now noticed the boat bed had a better mattress then either bed in the house.

I woke up the next morning feeling terrible and unable to move without it hurting, I felt hot and was coughing a little. Master did come eventually after a while but I couldn’t speak up load enough to call him. He instantly felt my forehead and then took off my pants and socks to help me cool off then told me the spot on my leg that was filled in was all purple now.

“So did I get mortem syndrome?” I asked.

“Yeah I think so, don’t worry I just got paid so I can stay and take care of you. You are a tough person so I think you will make it, ill go to the bank and deposit the check now so I can stay with you till its over.” he told me.

I just thought about it, I’m not from this planet and have never encountered anything from the crater so I should have seen this coming. At first I was scared then as I learned to trust Master I saw this world as my new home. It was a slow process but it made me overlook that, funny how even when some early sighs were showing up I still had no idea.

Master returned and I had a cold towel put on my head, he then told me “wait a few days then hopefully you recover but its no guarantee, you could get worse before you get better but don’t panic whatever you do.”.

The rest of the day was spent in bed with him checking in on me, I felt scared since I wanted to live and see more of this world with him. Still I knew feeling bad right now would only make me feel worse mentally so I distracted myself.