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She didn’t want to explain the bands, but lying would be worse. “They only hurt if I don’t obey him, they’re tied to his commands.”
    “Do they hurt right now?”
    “No.” Fae started tucking the sheet in on her side, tempted to ask Ebere to drop it but too grateful for her help to snap at her.
    “Then why would you disobey him at all?” Ebere pulled the new sheets across the bed, and when Fae looked up at her she realized it was an innocent question. She wasn’t judging her. It was just that she couldn’t imagine consciously choosing pain over obedience.
    Then again, Ebere hadn’t served for two thousand fucking years .
    “Because it’s my choice. My choice to obey or not. I’d have gone crazy years ago if I just said ‘yes sir’ or ‘no sir’ all the time, my life wouldn’t be mine anymore. At least this way I’m making the choice, not them, and the consequences are mine.” Fae surprised herself with the stream of words that had just left her. She never talked this much and usually shut this kind of conversation down. The Oblivion was really starting to affect her – great .
    “But you could have a much easier life, without so many consequences, if you just did what he asked.”
    “He never asks , Ebere. He commands. There’s a big difference.” Fae turned to check the bathroom as they continued the routine. Bed linens, bathroom, towels – rinse and repeat.
    “Okay, I get that, but don’t you always end up doing what he tells you anyway? Because of those things?” Ebere pointed at her wrists and Fae was grateful the bands had faded away. She hated the attention they brought from the others, and the constant reminder they were of her own failures. Reminders of the ways they had all failed Eltera.
    “Ebere, how long have you been a slave?” The question came out harsher than Fae had meant it to and Ebere straightened up for a moment before returning to wiping down the shower.
    “Almost four years,” she mumbled.
    “How did it happen?” Fae almost bit down on her own tongue. It wasn’t a good question to ask. It wasn’t tactful to make Ebere talk about it. It was sort of an unspoken rule not to ask about any of the before , but Ebere had opened the door asking about the bands and the drug was making Fae talkative for once. They were silent for so long that Fae was about to apologize and tell her to forget it, but then Ebere started speaking quietly.
    “I was sixteen and… and my family needed money. I heard about this job in the city, and so I went. When I arrived they said it was housework for a family. I would stay with them and clean their house, only once I went… they never let me leave.” Ebere stepped out of the shower and wiped down the mirror. “They did not pay me, and they said if I tried to run they would kill me and my family. I had four younger sisters, and I didn’t want anything to happen to them, so I stayed, and I did not try to run away.” Fae shook her head as she listened. Her story wasn’t unique, it was similar to others she had heard from girls all over the world in recent years, one of the traffickers’ best traps. “I was there only a year before they sold me to a market in Cairo, that is where Master bought me. I have been here since then.”
    “I’m sorry, Ebere.” Fae said it on reflex, but Ebere just shrugged and walked towards the next room. Just as they started working again she spoke up.
    “What about you? How long have you been serving?”
    Fae tried to stifle the giggle that bubbled up, but it only came out in a loud laugh, and once she started she couldn’t stop. Ebere was just staring at her as she lost it, and she ended up clutching her sides as she sat down on the floor. It had been so long since she’d laughed like this, years, decades since her cheeks had hurt from laughing.
    Oh yeah, the drug was definitely in full swing.
    Ebere stepped in front of her and touched her forehead, looking into her eyes. “Are you serious? Your