Page 18 of Own to Obey

“No!” Shaya yelled. “You can't do this kind of punishment. This is exactly what I'm talking about!”

The shinno turned to her, his eyes fierce. “Eslleth atta dez rallhen lezen oara!”

Even though she couldn't understand him, she knew that he was basically telling her that he didn't give a damn. As he began to walk away, she closed her mouth and tried to think about what Kyus would do. Clearly pleading with him did not work, it wasn’t something he responded to, even though it was her default way of communicating with him. She had to try something else.

“Wait,” she said as she hurried after him. He didn't even turn, or slow down, so when she reached him she grabbed his arm. “If you take her out of there,” she said, “I'll do anything you want, I will learn everything, I will practice on my own time, I will make an effort to learn as much as I can before we reach your lands. I promise I will be able to speak some Mayaros by the time we arrive, but please let her out.”

The shinno slowed, turning to look at her as she spoke. She looked up at him, hoping that he would recognize the benefit of her eagerness to learn if Treska was let out. Studying a culture and a language was not easy, especially under duress, but if she made an active effort, she could be well on her way to becoming knowledgeable and fluent by the time they reached his lands.

“I already know two other languages,” she added. “I used to learn them in my spare time at home. I’m not very good,” she admitted. “But I did learn the basics. Please let her out. I will learn the language and everything I can about the Southern Isles. I promise it.”

The shinno's eyes narrowed on her, but he did not say anything, and that anger in his expression did not harden any further. Turning, he headed back to the black box-room room and opened the door. Reaching in, he dragged out Treska, who was already sitting on the floor with her arms around her knees, then threw her toward Shaya.

Shaya put her arm around Treska, comforting her as she realized she was out of the box, and then followed the shinno, watching his back as they climbed back up to her cabin.

Once they were back inside, he stilled at the door, gazing at Shaya as she hugged Treska, his eyes locked on hers as an understanding passed between them about what they had agreed.

***

After that, things changed again. As her shoulder healed, she wasn't taken back to work on the decks, but she spent her afternoons making a concerted effort to learn everything she could about the Southern Lands.

She learned that there were eight main tribes who dominated the Lands and an indeterminate number of smaller clans that were much less important, but were made up of families who banded together for support. However, it was the eight main tribes that mattered. Apparently, the most dominant Alphas in each tribe, who were the sons of the tribe leaders and able to prove their worth of being potential leaders, were given the title shinno. The shinnos weren’t always the tribe leader, in fact, it was rare, and Kardos was one of the few who led his tribe and was also shinno. The title shinno was awarded through impressive feats the Alpha’s achieved during their entry into manhood and as they continue their journey as tribe member. However, it seemed to be extremely important that each shinno be capable. She couldn't figure out why. There was much she couldn't understand, much that left gaps in her understanding about the land, mostly because Treska did not have sufficient understanding of the Common Tongue to explain some of the concepts to her. Shaya had an understanding, but some of it she couldn't make sense of.

The language was much harder to learn than she thought, made complicated by the use of the sh sounds among harsher sounds, and yet when Treska spoke, it didn't sound quite as harsh as when any other did. So Shaya tried her best to emulate her exactly. She learned how to greet,hallyzan, how to ask if someone was well,lesh vi garyn, how to say please,neshra, and thank you,yettsyrm, and she learned all the names of the tribes in order of importance. Of course, Tribe Nyek came first.

Her learning would have developed quicker if she had practiced with shinno Kardos, but she refused to speak to him. He still came every afternoon to take her to the empty deck and she did not fight him for two reasons. Firstly, she needed to see, hear, and smell the ocean; it had become a vital part of her being able to cope with being on the ship. It was the only time that she left her cabin, which had become necessary otherwise the walls closed in and an uncomfortable feeling would rise. The black box-room was the extreme, but she realized she did not like being in any enclosed space for too long—not after a lifetime of running in open gardens among nature. The ocean was the closest thing to that for her. Even her sickness and nausea had lessened since she had been able to see it on a regular basis. Secondly, there was no point in trying to annoy the shinno when he could simply punish Treska. He made it very clear that he had no remorse about punishing others for her actions. And she couldn’t bear the idea of that. Even if she hated what happened to her, even if he tore her apart and made her suffer, the brunt of the pain should be for her, not anyone else. More than ever she felt she was truly saving her sister. The thought she had protected Kyus from having to go through any of this, renewed her strength and kept her from outwardly rebelling.

But she did rebel in her own way.

She refused to speak to him and she refused to look at him, no matter how much he wanted it or tried to engage her the way he had before. He touched her, he brought her to orgasm with his mouth, his fingers, he caressed her and murmured soft words to her, but she did not speak to him.

There was once where he yanked her face in his direction, growling in annoyance that she kept her face away from him, so she kept her face toward his, but purposely stared at his beard, his ears, the groomed hair on his head, anything but the eyes that were the perfect ocean to her.

She could feel his frustration turning to anger, but what could he do? He couldn't exactly rotate her eyeballs to fall on him.

He pulled on her tunic harshly, and handled her roughly, bringing her to an even more delicious peak in his roughness, and Shaya rejoiced in the win.

One afternoon, closer to the second week of her learning, she sat with Treska in her cabin, reciting the names of each island when the cabin door opened and a tribeswoman stepped through.

She wasn't someone that Shaya had seen before, and she smiled, looking upon her with interest—maybe she was someone new to train her who could be another friend. But Treska shot to her feet, immediately on edge.

Shaya observed the woman. She was dressed in the clothing that she had seen most tribeswomen wearing when she was working on the deck. Glittering ornaments adorned her hair, her hands and wrists, and some strapped to her calves; she appeared to be more richly dressed than most of the tribe in general. Maybe she was important. She was certainly very pretty. She was a similar coloring to Kyus' future husband, a light sand tan with black hair and deep brown eyes. However, it did not bode well that her face was set in a scowl as she looked upon Shaya.

Treska and the woman exchanged words, and they became more heated as the conversation went on. The woman continuously turned her attention to Shaya, but Treska kept drawing her attention back to her.

Shaya suddenly felt uncomfortable, it was clear that they were discussing her. She rose slowly from the bed and walked to stand behind Treska, who shot her a warning look as though to tell her to stay back, but her movement alone seemed to anger the new woman. She rose her voice, gesturing to Shaya, her face contorted, her eyes running down her body as though she disgusted her, and the way in which she spat out her words indicated the level of venom she had toward her.

Shaya was shocked. She had no idea what she had done to infuriate this woman, but she didn't know how to try to reassure her. She suddenly realized she hadn’t learned any word in Mayaros that meant sorry.

As the woman became more enraged by her own words, she stepped toward Shaya, and Shaya shuffled back a little, uncomfortable with the woman's behavior. She had never been in any kind of confrontation like this before and she was unsure how to act or behave. She certainly had never been in any fights before and she didn’t even know who this woman was. She could be someone important and then what would Shaya do?

Treska suddenly jutted her arm out, and hit the woman on her shoulder, pushing her back a few steps. Her voice rose, engaging a threatening tone making the woman freeze and draw her attention back to her. Treska spoke again, and Shaya recognized the shinno's name, but she couldn’t piece together what she said.

The woman calmed, but remained a few moments longer until Treska told her to leave.Hallan.

The woman turned, throwing one last disgusted look at Shaya and then left.

Treska took a deep breath, and turn toward Shaya. “Are you well?”

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