The house was small, made up from wood with a clay foundation. It said a lot about Archos himself. He had a lot of land and a lot of space, all given to him through a stroke of luck. And yet, he had nothing more to show for it. No extended family to live in it, no workers to rent the space. It was only the three of them. Gaiana, her master, and her master's son.

At that moment, Nikki the bat hopped from Gaiana's shoulder and landed on Mimoza's shoulder. Neither of them knew where the bat came from, and neither of them questioned it. It simply began following them one day, and rotated between them as though it was taking turns with which master it wanted. Nikki was the name they agreed to give it, because Gaiana's name suggestions were too ridiculous for Mimoza to accept.

Gaiana waved goodbye to Mimoza before entering her home. Mimoza was an admirable woman, both as a warrior and as a woman. Gaiana had no mother so to speak, but she liked to think of Mimoza as a distant mother. Despite only knowing each other for a year, Mimoza treated Gaiana with a sort of tutorship that she'd never experienced before. It was a bit odd, having a warrior slave a role model.

Looking inside, she already found her master and his son laid against the fireplace with copper cups of wine in their hands. They were passed out. A drunken father and son who didn't know how to control their own appetites for drinking.

She looked around the household, there were several other men passed out there, which meant it was her job to clean up after all of them. Gaiana walked towards her master's son first. "Get up Sophus."

Gaiana kicked him on the head. "Ouch," he said in surprise, "do you mind? I was napping quite well."

"Good for you," Gaiana said with her hands clasped, "mind telling your extended family to go away so that I can start cleaning?"

Sophus looked around the room. There were almost a dozen men who had all drank themselves unconscious. "Yes, we all do look like family now, don't we?"

"Yes. Now be a good family man, and tell them to get the fuck out of our home."

"That's impolite language, my darling."

Gaiana placed a foot on his stomach, "call me darling again, and I'll crush your balls again."

"You know that's my fetish."

Gaiana stomped at his crotch. Sophus screamed in pain as he stood up from the ground cupping beneath the waist, "alright, alright! I'll get them to leave!" He walked off in pain as he breathed heavily.

Gaiana looked around at the folks in the cottage. It was a nice home, weathered by constant partying from an irresponsible father and son. She missed having Sophus' sisters around, because at the very least they could escape together from these parties, and talk the days away to forget about Archo's drinking problems.

Sophus caught his breathe again as he jogged in place, "okay, um. I'll get rid of them now. Do you... Mind?"

Gaiana nodded, she left the main room and went to hide into her own room. Sophus didn't like it when she was around the other men, they always looked at her strangely like she was a prostitute they could pay for.

After Sophus managed to get the other men out of the house, Sophus and Gaiana carried Archos to his room and laid him on the bed, opting not to wake him up for the night. They both went to cleanup the mess left together, and then cooked a vegetable stew supper after finishing.

"So what was the occasion?" Gaiana said, chewing with her mouth open as she leaned on a cheek to speak with him.

Sophus was eighteen. Tall, healthy, with none of the negative traits his father had. Sure, he drank too much occasionally, but that was strictly in the presence of others and never for the sake of self-indulgence.

He was handsome too. With an athlete's body, Sophius' was taller than his father, with lustrous black hair and wide dark colored eyes. Before his mom died, Sophus' mom referred to him as 'your father before he became wicked', but Gaiana often wondered if they were really related in the first place.

Sophus' smile was always constant. Moderate and humble, he was like a tiny light in the presence of other people.

"He said he could pay off a chunk of his debt tomorrow." Sophus waved his hand at her, "probably another get rich quick scheme, you know how father is."

"You know you're the only one that can stop him, right? You're his only son, he has to listen to you."

"Ironically enough, I know he listens to you more than he does to me."

"What? Why?"

"Because you're a slave. Whenever I scold him, he thinks I'm just an ignorant son who doesn't know what he's talking about. But when you scold him, he feels stupid. Especially when you have a point. And since you only ever scold him in private, it gives him the chance to backtrack without fear of being ashamed."

Gaiana scrunched her lips, "you're eighteen now. You'll end up inheriting his debt if you don't set him on the right track."

"I know," Sophus waved his hand. "Truth is, I've made quite a lot of money through loans to merchants at the market. I don't have a lot now, but it'll seriously grow in a few more years. Now I'm just debating whether I should do what's right and pay off dad's debts, or leave him to squirm to face the consequences of his shitty mistakes."

Gaiana sipped her soup more slowly, "I'd leave him, if I were you."

Sophus frowned at her. But then he smiled, "no way am I leaving you with that bastard. Once I raise enough, I'll take you with me."

Sophus leaned close to pat her on the head. She smiled, not approving, but not objecting either.

They said goodnight to each other before going back to their own rooms. Gaiana stretched her arms before dropping to her bed. Most slaves didn't get their own room. She used to sleep with Archos' other daughters, but now the nights were becoming lonely as more nights passed by. At the very least, Gaiana could find sanctuary through the countless dreams she'd been having lately.

Her eyes closed, and she quickly drifted to sleep.

A warrior woman sprinted across the race line. Men and women cheered at the competitors running. As she dashed passed the man in an easy stride, she winked and smiled at the losing racer.

Gaiana watched down at the two racers as a ghost, like a spectator god watching to be entertained.

The man quickly threw an apple to his side. Atalanta saw a shiny golden tint from the object, and stopped in her place to reach for the object.

"Don't get distracted," Gaiana shouted. "He's cheating."

Atalanta turned back at her opponent. He was now much further along the race than her and she dashed back towards him with the apple in her hand. Upon reaching him, Hippomenes threw another apple in her direction. Atalanta almost ignored it, but then paused, and went back to reach for the second apple.

"You're being an idiot," Gaiana said, "he's doing it to distract you."

With a smile, Atalanta picked the golden apple up, and returned to her race again. This time she slowed down upon running next to him. They smiled at each other, and Hippomenes dropped the last apple right before reaching the finish line. Atalanta smiled as she ran backwards to catch a golden apple again.

Hippomenes finished the race line as Atalanta slowly picked the apple up, and then smiled forward at the finish line to the man who had beaten her.

Gaiana raised an eyebrow, "why... Would you let him win?"

The image clouded into another dream sequence, it was a wedding between Hippomenes and Atalanta.

"Oh," Gaiana said as her dream was ending, "you let him win, so that he could marry you."

Gaiana woke up in the middle of the night. A commotion had startled her. Sophus and Archos had returned later than usual, and they were both whispering loudly at each other.

"You can't do that," Sophus said with a shaky voice. "I grew up with her, we've done everything for her, how can... how can you get rid of her after all of that?"

"I'm sorry son," Archos said to his son, "The debt has grown. If I don't bring it down now, I'll lose everything. My house, my land, my freedom.... I have to remove the burden somehow, and Gaiana can be sold for a high price."

"She doesn't deserve that!" Sophus yelled, "you and your gambling ruined everything! Your goddamn lies screwed us over. You sold your own daughters into slavery, I'm not letting you do the same with Gaiana! She's not a fucking object, she's-"

Archos backhanded Sophus across the face. "Never speak to me like that," Archos said heavy. "Now listen, my mistakes are my own but Gaiana is the solution. She was born a slave and will always be a slave. Tomorrow she will be auctioned off to whoever pays most. Do you understand?"

Sophus' eyes widened, with a lump in his throat he said, "let me buy her... She could be freed, I want to marry her."

Gaiana's eyes watered at the sound of that. They'd grown up together, despite not sharing blood they were each other's only sanctuary through all the hardships Archos had put them through.

Archos said, "We both know you can't afford to buy her, or to provide for her. I'll auction her tomorrow, you can throw your own price if you'd like, but we both know they'll pay more than you can afford."

Gaiana and Sophus had tears filling their eyes. Each knew that Archos was right.

Gaiana covered her mouth and she quivered as she sat silently in her room. Mimoza was right. At the end of the day, Gaiana was nothing more than a slave to the world.