Rose was right.

"I'm glad you survived,” I told her seriously. "I don't know that I would have been that strong.”

She shrugged and watched the waves.

“Your husband," I suddenly said, “what did the slavers do with him? Where do they sell males?"

Rose looked wicked for a moment and a strange look Lit her eyes.

“He damaged Basin's property, even though I wasn't his at the time. My owners went back to the slave house and demanded reparations. Basin was angry the slavers had hid my injuries. My husband was given to Basin as a gift, at no cost. It sealed his fate. You must understand; if he had no price, he had no value."

"I didn't want to see at the time, but they took me once. It took a full moon for him to die, they tortured him so slowly..."

My skin prickled as I watched Rose's face. Knowing what the women could do, I shuddered at what the men would do, especially if they had incentive. The man must have looked at death as a gift.

"The slaves here at the time all saw him. It was a Lesson in why not to anger the Warriors. We were all very good for a long time after that.

None of the slaves wanted to be treated that way," she finished.

I stared off into space as I contemplated Rose's story.

When Rose spoke again it startled me, “I‘ll be punished for the story, but I wanted to tell you.”

I shook my head and looked quizzically at her.

“I'm not going to tell your owners," I said.

Rose looked back at Fuji and I followed her gaze. Fuji made a sound and rolled onto her stomach on the cool sand. She made patterns that Looked like her owner's symbol.

“Master Stayne and his Brothers know your story," she said. "There is no new information to tell them. I only tell them about new things that happen."

Rose and I both rolled our eyes. Fuji was so well trained it was really ridiculous.

“When do we leave?" Fuji asked pulling a foot back into the shade.

I tried to explain I didn't know and she seemed to find that silly. Fuji had control of when she could bear young. I tried to explain I didn't know and she snorted. Probably the most unladylike thing I'd seen her do, only second to her reaction to the worms,

"The Healers will know," she said sounding bored. "You should ask your owners. The Healers are supposed to be watching you to know when. We will leave as soon as they know."

Well, that made sense. Those annoying exams the Healers kept doing were more logical now. They were checking fertility.

I shuddered thinking how later it would be checking for conception.