Silenti Estate || Schendi || Amanita's Home

[Amanita Vernia]

I was afraid to go back... Schendi had been the home of so many nightmares and even with my father dead, I could not return. Guilt, perhaps, plagued me. Unable to face my own mother though her voice constantly echoed, following me, leading me back. I had survived for thirty years, fourteen away and now was the time to return.

EVENTUALLY... WE ALL FIND OUR WAY HOME



Arrival into Schendi's port was chaotic after such a long and drab journey. Arculeius was detained by port officials which left Naga and myself to secure the baggage and find a carrier to deliver us to the house on the far edge of the city near the jungle's fringe. I could smell the difference as we grew closer, the change for ocean air to the humid climate of botanicals, even the earth under the wagon wheels became smoother until we came to a stop outside. I felt something pulling me from the inside and while Naga could not see my expression, he somehow sensed my change, like the climate around us. "Thank you Sir, you can leave 'em there... " she said, handing the man his pay for the ride. Amanita was dressed in soft brown, her gloves to match, though she did not typically wear such things, she had decided to adapt in order to draw as little attention to herself as possible. Dark eyes would be less than memorable and she paid extra to assure her privacy. "Be well, Lady," exchanged the man, his think brow lifted as he bows his head and moved back to his cart. The trunks were left at the gate and Amanita just stood there looking towards the house, not yet able to move forward. "This is it.... this is mine now."

As the merchant round approached Schendi, the kajirus of the snake charmer had fallen under a sullen silence and it was an affliction that stayed with him during the entire ordeal that at last led them to her ancesteral home. In silence, he had undergone the inspection of the pier's phsycians, lifting his arms so the man could inspect him for any open postules. There had been some hubhub when Amanita was required to explain the milky cataracts of her property's eyes, because Bazi plague, although not a disease to blind it's host, would yellow up the irises. He knelt there, black whips of his hair sliding into his face and sensed the healers disgust for the male slave. A terse arguement above him, a threat to quarantine the whole ship finally subsided when yet another healer was brought to look him over. This one had gave him a clean bill of health. He endured this all in silence, and Amanita, if not so distracted by her own homecoming might wonder how that could be. Naga was not a study in obediance nor was he placid in any way. Kneeling behind her in the wagon that brought them to her doorstep, shifting slightly as the cart wheel slammed into one of the muddy ruts in the road, he would chuff a deep breath in, tossing his head back angrily. This would be his homecoming too, and the place where he was bred and trained had a distinctive and hateful stench to the slave.

I was home... The welcoming at the harbor had not gone smoothy, but Amanita knew there were harder steps to climb and like Naga, she endured the questions. Cities didn't welcome outsiders and at times they didn't even welcome their own. Arculeius was the only one that had dark skin and he'd been detained for futher questioning. Like the Ost Chamer, he had his reasons for leaving the city, but he was a quiet man and they had nothing solid to keep him on. He would find his own way and meet up with them soon. Amanita has once loved traveling by waters, but it was not the case this time, her body was still recovering and her strength was not back. She observed Naga's behavior, but she also seemed distant, never quite arriving at the same place with the slave as she'd done prior to the Tahari. This was one more step away from the woman she was, her slippered foot taking that first nudge closer to the decaying Estate, but she didn't walk it alone. The shift in her robes would be the first sound Naga would notice, then the creeking of a gate as she opened it wider. No lock, which meant it could of housed any number of things after being empty for almost a decade. "Come.... we'll come back for the trunks." Her fingers snapped, not just once, but a repeated rhythm for him to find her with and heel closely behind.


The street that fronted the house hadn't been emptied by the humble caravan of the woman and her slave. Childish squabbles could be heard from a group of youngsters as the wagon cart rumbled away. "Slave! Slave!" It was as if the appearance of a possible victim had suddenly united the two small tribes and his head slowly moved to track their small feet in the mud. Sightless eyes tracking them, his expression darkening. "Throw it...throwwww it." A small boy's voice commanding and Naga rumbled a warning growl, suddenly snapping his teeth in the direction of the children. Crouched down as he was, the only thing that kept them safe was their distance. Still the sound of the stone dropping and running, one of them ribbing the other for being a coward brought the faintest smile to his lips. He imagined they would be back when they got freedom bolstering their courage. Having pinpointed where the carter had lugged off his Mistress' baggage, he lifted up to full height as he hoisted it over his shoulder. Naked to the waist, the ripple of muscled arms gave testement that the woman had not packed for a brief visit. He paused there, his acute hearing focused on the softly receding footsteps of the female and then the whine of the gate. A jerk of his chin as his eyes narrowed, listening to the change of sound when her slippers went from the dark muddy soil of Schendi and onto the stone walkway. And then he followed, arm reaching out to further push the gate open as if he could see it, his timing perfect. He knew where it was. Coming up behind her with the snap of her fingers, his head lowered to inhale her. Her command meant he lowered the weight from his shoulder with a heavy thump.

[Amanita Vernia]

Remembering...that was the hardest part... and getting past. I could remember being a child standing outside this house, but I couldn't remember playing with others, not even my siblings. A slow turning of her head and she watched children running away from Naga's growl, she did nothing to scold him or act as a protector to either party. The way most felt towards the milky eyed kajirus was how Amanita felt towards children. There was an abundance of them needed in every city, but she'd just rather not acknowledge them. Perhaps she should of worried more about the trucks, they had certain things of value inside them, but the locks had something to assure whoever tried opening them, if not their proper owner, would not live to see what was inside them. The gate was opened wider by the slave and they both stepped through taking the path towards the house. What had once been white on the outside had turned into a greenish gray, the smell of rotting wood and mildrew would hit the nose as they drew closer and when Amanita went to open the door, she gave it a push and just looked into the mouth. For once she was glad not to have Arculeius or Thaddaus with her, having either of them know she was scared of such a harmless thing as a house would of been dreadful... the sightless kajirus on the other hand, she didn't fear him seeing her like this.


The children would not be the only welcome home committee that greeted the woman and her slave that day. While the Lady paused upon the threshold of her childhood home, a sound came from the belly of the residence. The sound of something glass exploding against a wall, or perhaps, the floor. Poised as they were, just beyond the open doorway, the sound brought a surprised snort from Naga. Thoughless to all but the impending danger, a thick arm wrapped Amanita's waist and she was drug behind the half naked kajirus. Silence then loomed thick after the sudden smashing, and muslces knotted at the base of Naga's spine. He would have scooped out more sounds with clawing dirty nails if he could have, but the House remained quiet. The woman would know that he heard nothing further, as he tapped fingers to his ear impatiently. Then a fluid crouch down, palm planting to steady himself, he drug in a few breaths. Wet mulchy rot and the lingering scent of... "A man was here. A man with clean boots." Meaning he did not walk, but rode something. He growled, low, the sound of his frusteration. "We startled him most likely and heard his escape."

A man.... I felt my heart stop, not at the sound of broken glass or the pull of Naga taking my body behind his own in a protective capture, but the thought of a man inside this house. There had only been two men that my mind immediately thought of and my father was dead. Could Naga have known that was my first instinct to guess, or did he just know from the sudden intake of air that I swallowed. "Vagabonds, perhaps? This place has been without residence for a decade.... but they would of come on foot." she realized halfway through the thought as he'd observed. The slave might of been without vision, but his uses in other areas equaled, if not bettered, a seeing slave. Her hands were shaking now, the thought that it could of been Venor was no better than the idea that it could of been a killer or someone who'd tracked her down from the Tahari... She went from being thankful that the two other men were not with them, to wishing they were. Naga was more protective of her than any man, but one wouldn't think twice about killing a slave, whereas, two men posing as guards would make a person think twice. Her hand lifted to Naga's shoulder, still behind him she nodded, "But whoever it was.... it did sound like we scared them first."

Primed to launch himself foreward if he needed to, Naga, slave or not, was fully prepared to beat the threat bloody. Dropped low in the stance that had him balanced on the balls of his widely spaced feet, he could change direction in ihn. It was true that Schendi had a network of street people, mostly theives and beggars. Perhaps they had gone bold enough to sleep here as the house remained vacant over the en'var, but the coincedence that the house was only now being ransacked nagged at him. It didn't make sense. "Permit me, Mistress to have a weapon." He asked lowly, slowly rocking upwards to once more dwarf her smaller frame. The two men that she needlessly had hired were neither present, and he would need to explore this entire house, battening any possible entrances before he was satisfied. Standing before her, he was still thinking about the feel of her in his arms. It had been brief, barely ihns worth of touch and he was thickening under the reb cloth wrap that hung from lean hips. A clutch of fists willed his arousal back from where she enticed it. He had work to do.

[Amanita Vernia]

Upon the threshold of my past we stood... I could feel my father inside the house and smell my mother's cooking, though I knew both were gone, I could still remember a few happy moments I felt inside this home. "Take this..." unsheathing the dagger at her waist, a small blade, though one could predict it was dipped in something more potent, a surprise for any who underestimated the woman's weapon. She handed it to him, the blade pointed down, never touching more than the hilt, intricately carved with two winding osts. She remained behind, but wouldn't stand outside while he explored the innards of this cobweb infested domain. Even if it had been years since she was home, no one left alive knew this place better than Amanita. Their first steps would take them under an arching door frame and into the front hall. Directly to the right a wide mouthed frame opened into the main hall with valuated ceilings and an unlit fireplace. Dust covered everything from the draperies to the furniture of a house unlived in for more than a decade. A cold chill of memories would strike the spine of the merchant, but she only brought her hand against the back of Naga's arm, latching her fingers as she remained behind the blind man. Even with him in front, she used her fingers to softly lead him through the house.

Her voice came to him, granting his request. The whisper of a dagger slipping free of it's sheath sounded. The slave lifted his hand, opening his fingers to accept it. He knew her blades were slathered in poisons that hurried along one's voyage to the City of Dusts. In writhing hot-fire agony, that is. His fingers arched against the back of her hand, then slowly drug over the tops of her knuckles before he found the cold metal of the hilt and took it from her. Point was kept down as he began the slow trek through the dingy main hall. The dust had become so thick on the tiles and furs that he could feel it's grit against the soles of his bare feet, and smell it coating each breath of air he took. The pressures of the Woman's fingers were his eyes, telling him where to step. However, he did feel a draft blow a cool breath across his shin and slowly he crouched once more, playing his fingers of his free hand in that eddy. "There is a door open ahead." he said lowly, warning her before he stood tall again, waiting for her hand laying to his skin again. He could go foreward without it, but he would wait.

My only antidote... When everything else in this miserable world has curese me, it is a simple touch of this man that cures me. I knew I could not of come home without him, my body still weak from the operation, but it was my sanity that needed him more. I could lead him, acting as his eyes, but it was his other senses that kept me from danger. Such close contact, he would not only feel the breeze when he lifted back to her hand, but the tremble she gave knowing where that door lead. "That's the cellar.. through the kitchen, it's the only door that leads out." hushed tones pressed against the back of his ear while fingers locked even tighter to the back of his arm. "He used to keep snakes under the house, a pit.... I remember watching him throw animals in, to feed them." Though her tone was soft, it was steady, she wasn't near fainting and her tight grip reminded him of her enduring strength. The merchant could feign her weakness to a man when she wanted something, but there was no need of facades with Naga... he didn't need to be fed these illusions, he knew his Mistress feared what was inside this house, but he also knew that she had killed the one that haunted her dreams.

He was potently aware of her. Down to the chord of trembles that came to him through the death grip she had on him. Not panicked, no. But she was afraid. Their advancement on the kitchen door was a silent one, steps heel-toed. He spoke low again. "Look about. Has the dust been disturbed by the swayback movements of serpents?" Just when he said it, he took two sudden steps foreward, motion exploding him up to the threshold between main hall and kitchen. Shooting his hand around the corner and the next ihn he was hurling a young boy out into the front room by his tunic. A rabid snarl left the lips of the slave as he spun about, advancing on the backpeddling lad. He didn't need to see him. He could hear him. Blubbering out inland jungle dialect as he scooted backwards. No fancy flipping of the blade in his hand since he rarely was allowed to use one. Quick as an ost, he grabbed the intruder by the throat and hoisted him up and to the wall. Slamming him a few times to it until he stilled.

Ssserpents.... I didn't fear them like most, raised at the edge of the jungles, they were my playmates. I could almost see them all gathered in the pit, waiting for their meal when I hear the voice. "Whaaa?" before she had a chance to answer him the body in front of her was vaulting upwards and her hand released him. While Naga would be denied the sight of his captive, Amanita saw that it was only a young boy who was speaking in the tongue she heard only a few times in her life from those who lived deep in the swamp lands. With the slave's quick reflex in restraining the boy, it allowed the merchant to remain calm once her heart got over the initial shock. She was able to make out a few words from the boy who had apparently been hiding in the kitchen after finding the occupants of the pit were no longer in their hole. "Don't hurt him, Naga... he's just a boy. Not the intruder who left the footprint out front." She moved to the side of the room where the curtains were pulled, taking the rope that held them back and bringing it back for him to tie the boy with. "We'll keep him until Arculeius comes, incase he can tell us anything about our guest."

Slamming the youth in his clutches a few more times to ensure complete submission and hopefully make him drop any weapons in his hands. Dead man's eyes, all milked over and sightless stared unblinkingly into the eyes of the boy as the dagger was painstakingly laid alongside the misfit's nose. A flinch meant a nick and that wasn't something anyone would want from a poisoner's blade. He heard her command, sure, but he didn't like it much. "He smells like paga. And tavern owners do not use children to wag tongue about their wares." He let go of him, dropped him really, although the boy was lanky enough to find his feet instead of his ass hitting the floor. Another glut of jarbled speech, sounded like cursing. What Naga could not see was the smooth dark face, the City clothes that didn't fit with his lingo and the small hith-skin pouch that the boy was clutching for dear life. The kajirus, although bred and born in Schendi, could not understand the urchin either. Most in Schendi would not be able to. When the transfer of the rope was going on, the boy pushed to his feet in an attempt to get away.

The curtains closed... half light coming into the room while the dust danced in the air. For a moment I flashed back to the room during it's prime, I saw the floors polished and my reflection, though I was still a girl inside it. It lasted and Ihn.... and like any memory it was gone in the next. Reading the expression of the blind man's face it would be seen by both Amanita and the boy that he did not agree, though he obeyed, stepping down. Another puff of dust rose from the floor as two feet trying to fit into sandals that were also not his size, found the floor. When the boy attempted another escape thinking he had an edge on a blind slave, he would be quickly taught a lesson, but the merchant was also sure to keep her right hand forward with a ring just as deadly as the blade Naga had been yielding, ready incase the lanky boy made any ground towards her. "He is dressed in someone else's clothing, perhaps a man old enough to go into a tavern and drink himself into a stupor so some boy could thieve his clothing. I would be willing to bet his life on it." She looked around the room again until she came up with another piece of material, this one was used to quite the boy down. "Be quiet and it might be removed." she said, though it wasn't in his language the tone and gesture itself would enlighten a smart boy to her meaning.

[Amanita Vernia]

The height and brawn difference between the male slave and the boy proved to make things sticky. An instinctual swing from Naga at the thief's first flight sent the boy tumbling when the fist clubbed him at the back of the head. Then as Naga stooped to grab what he thought to be the back of the over-sized tunic, the boy army-manned forward a few feet and launched himself to his feet and made a mad dash for the door. The slave stilled, listening, then took off after him in silence. The only reason this nuisance was going to live was because he wasn't running in Her direction. The door breached first by the young one, just before Naga ran beyond it the sound of the blade being sent to embed into the wood flooring was heard. It quivered there, tip snug. He would not carry a weapon outside in public without Her beside him. Could mean a quick impalement by sword. All he could hear was the running, the frightened panting of his quarry and the map of the front grounds playing out in his head. He heard the gate's iron whine just moments before he lept upwards, palm smacking the top of the fencing and vaulting on over it. He fell silently into the mud of the street. Listened..and ran where the sound of fleeing footsteps took him. Suddenly, the Sardar broke loose as the gaggle of children from before..circled him. Yelling and catcalling. His head snapped to one side..then other..he could hear nothing. And his eyes slitted down to black and he ROAREDDD....and they ran from him laughing. Set up from the get go.

He had spunk... I had to give the thief credit for that, though watching Naga trying to pounce on him the way a sleen chases an urt, it was startling to see the slave struggling. There were times when I forgot that he was blind, even looking into the milky pupils, I felt him staring back at me so often I had convicned myself he had better sight than any man I had ever known. Once Naga bursts after the boy she dropped the cloth she intended to shove into the boy's mouth watching them both bolt to the door. While the slave threw the blade down before exiting the house, Amanita would grab as she followed the pursuit, only her eyes keeping up with the two who vanished outside before she made it halfway to the door. The burst of light, going from the dim rooms to the full brightness of sunlight, took a moment to adjust to... once she had, Naga would be spotted on the other side of the gate with the group of children that taunted him on their arrival there again, only to be scarred off with the erupted growl. Her eyes scoured ahead looking for the boy only to hear a laugh to the right of her and the boy standing there making a mockery of them. He used the sound of the gate opening to draw the slave to the other side of the iron fence, but softly crept back towards the house, not about to be kicked out of the place he declared his. The merchant however moved her hand away from the replaced dagger to the purse she carried and withdrew something of the universal language. "For you... if you come inside?"

The trail having gone ice cold, Naga turned back to the House. He never made it the full 180 before a voice boomed from down the street. "YOU there..slave! Don't move!" Thickly accented and obviously male, Naga's chin jerked up, to raist his chin, exposing the engraved name on his collar. "Show me your arms and legs, slave." It was good that slaves usually did not meet the gaze of the Free, or else the deformity of his eyes could once again be mistaken for the Plague. Naga wasn't good on saying the respectful Yes Master, he merely twisted lithe forearms to show the sentry the underside. He was impatient to get back to her...and it showed. The gilt off that shiny coin was enough to make the boy look, come foreward slowly. He made a motion to give him the money, small fingers stroking the air. A coin like that would set him up. Taking a few steps into the yard, he made to snatch it out of her hand.

While I had the commonality of reptiles with my father, it was my mother and her father that I inherited my truer nature from, that of a merchant. Coin spoke louder than even the most forceful voice and it was stronger than any man when put on the table. She could see the light reflected on that coin was enough to draw the boy's attention, did he eve know it's worth? She wagered from the stolen clothing he had seen enough inside the wooden staked walls of Schendi that he knew. She clutched it tightly in her palm before he could snatch it up, shaking her head. "Trade?" It would be a familiar word to the boy even if he didn't understand her, a thin winged brow arched as she looked back back at him, only to be distracted by the sound of a man coming towards Naga. She gestured for the boy to go inside as she started away from the house towards the gates where both Naga and this stranger examining him were.

The boy had made his decision on the trade. The bulge in his satchel wasn't worth what she was offering and he was thinking if she knew that this musty book was all he had, she wouldn't want to trade. Shrugging the strap from his small shoulder to dump the bag onto the ground at her feet, his hand wisked out, took hold of the coin in his sweaty palm and ran off down the street. He had the coin! He had the coin! "and now stand slave..and turn. Where is your owner?" The examination still taking place, he lifted upwards in one powerful motion, eyes still averted as he turned. Not like the man could see his legs through all the mud splatters. His back rigid, his face set in stone. He turned. "I am not ill.....Master" Naga said staunchly, having been held back on the ship from this very thing had him irritible. All strangers in Schendi must be getting combed for the plague at this time of year. Or he just had the foulest of luck. His hands itched to get a peice of that urchin. Throttle him and shake his reason for prowling the Woman's childhood house. Could be nothing more than the abandoned house had become a source for dares. Dares to touch the gate, stand on the stoop and then pilfer the inside. Could be more as well.

What was inside that house had more meaning to me than any... I didn't know what the boy was trying to escape with, but from the way he looked at the coin, I knew it was a trade he didn't mind giving up. The satchel the small boy hid at his back was picked up after she dropped the coin into his hand. Those white teeth contracted against his skin before he ran off. Amanita could smell the paga on the bag, it must of also been stolen, but she didn't reconize it as something belonging to her father. Then again.... he could of aquired it after she left. It was likely a book inside from the feel, but she didn't open it, she was busy seeing what the man examining her slave was looking hoping to find. The plague, or a new piece of flesh? "I would be the owner of this slave... has he offended in you some way, Sir?" That was bound to happen as often as the kajirus had been thought to carry some strain of disease, male slaves were not always accepted, at times even dressed to blend in as free men to fool others into forgetting they existed, maybe even to keep them from revolting if they truly knew their own numbers.

A soft step and a rustle of robing had his head cocking to the sound. She was here. The sword's tip had been withdrawn from his throat when he had complied with the elevation of his chin and now, he turned from the man and did what was expected. Kneeling at her feet. His head bumped her hip with the nudge he gave to her, knowing that unless the man craned his head around he wouldn't catch sight of that. He would have to reign the tharlarion around first. Which the circulating sentry did. The beast made odd reptilian grunts, unhappy with staying in one spot for so long. Clawed feet scratched at the wet dirt and the long teeth chittered together above the slave and the woman. The man that regarded them was black, his mouth set in a firm line. "Everyone will be checked for plague. What do you here, Lady? The house has been empty for ans." The gladius was slowly sank back into the scabbard, before he shifted atop the animal and waited for her answer. Naga stood, stepping around her. He wouldn't block her from speaking, but she was somewhere where he could pick her up and get her gone if need be. Not the first time he had to do that.

There was the truth... and then there was the story told. I gave the mounted man all he needed to know in order to get him gone. "The house is being sold, Sir... I am a merchant, and a friend of the family, sent to estimate it's worth." Her hand moved to rest at the side of Naga's cheek, just her forefinger brushed him, following his body as he shifted the same way the tharlarion did under the weight of his Master. When he came to a stop, where she guided him, in the position to heel as soon as she started to move, her hand left, allowing him to lean against the back of her leg, just enough for guidance, without seeming out of line. "We were both examined before allowed off the ships, I have documents showing so.... if you wish to see them?" Her head tilted as she veered up at the man, the way her brow launched, she was challenging his non-request to check everyone over, in her own subtle way.

[Amanita Vernia]

The sentry's nod was slow, his gaze unimpressed by the mouthy woman in robes. Not much he could do to dress her down, since everything seemed to be in order. He nodded curtly, wrapping the straps about his fist and urged the tharlarion onwards. "Take better care in knowing the whereabouts of your slave...black slavers might want to make some profit." Rogue grin flashed at her before the shumbling thump of the beast receded and they were alone again in the street. Some welcome. "The boy got away.. frome me." Disgust and frustration ripe in those words to her. No one got away from him like that and it was a fluke that this one did. He thought it over a ihn and then spoke again. "The House is a wreck, Woman..there is surely an inn to stay at." He had felt her fear and now that was compiled by the apparent loosening of Vital's vipers around the premises. "You don't want a strange snake on your couch, do you?" A grin. That sounded nice and obscene.

It would be the slaver trying to steal him that need worry, not me, but I did not tell the sentry what he did not need to know. "Certainly, Sir, I will mind to do so," said in departure to the man and his reptilian mount. Only when he was gone from earshot would a scoff be released from her lips. Amanita was far from mouthy, it wasn't her style to argue with authority, but that did not mean she obeyed it. A small nod was given to the slave's acknowledgement that the slippery thief had gotten out from under him, he would be tearing himself up about that mistake long after the merchant forgot about it. She had what he tried to steal resting on her shoulder that lifted with a slight shrug. "I would think after caring for my other pets... you would be used to things slipping from your grasp, my pet." She turned her slippered toes back towards the house when his words made her pause, one word, infact. "Since when do you address me so casually, when not in my chambers, slave?" Dark eye scolded the blind man, the path of her voice guided down would tell him she was looking at him as she spoke, subtle as it was, but easily picked up by the in tune slave. The warning was short, her tone changing in her next sentence as steps began to lead her back inside the house. "I have had worse things crawl onto my couch... but that is why I keep you at the foot, to keep me safe."

-fin-