Rune continued to baffle Talen. He talked as if he had no idea where Talen was coming from, or what his rules were. His food had been warm and flavorful so far, a strange new nicety. Rune had disregarded his bathing schedule and let him clean himself two weeks early. Talen couldn't figure out why Rune was allowing all this, but he was going to take advantage of it for as long as he could.

His new clothes were too big on him, but he kind of liked it that way. He felt like he could slip out of them if he needed to. He had a sneaking suspicion that Rune might not know about his rule to not shapeshift, and the loose clothes would allow him to take his chance to do so if the need arose. 

Talen tied his blanket around his waist and took a peek out into the hallway. Rune was nowhere to be seen. Talen crept down the hall to the left and peered inside Rune’s bedroom. Also not there. He backtracked towards the stairs and crouched on the top step, listening. He didn't hear any of the usual noise he had grown up with, no sounds of machinery, shouting, whimpering, or scuffling. Rune’s house was unsettlingly quiet, as was the man himself.

After a moment of no hints to tell him what to expect, Talen crept down the stairs. He didn't see Rune in the kitchen, so he snuck over and began exploring the area. He opened cabinets and drawers, studying the odd contents inside and wondering why so many of them looked the same but also different. He opened one door to find an assortment of food lined on shelves. Their smells wafted around him, filling his nose, and he salivated. His eyes raked over each bit of packaged food, recognizing some, and curious about others. He reached for a small bright blue packet with a fish on it.

“Still hungry?” Rune's voice asked behind him. Talen flinched and whirled around, tensing all over to prepare himself for a beating. But Rune stayed where he was at the edge of the kitchen, hands behind his back, his face calm. “One of my rules is that I want you to ask for food, and not take it without my permission.”

Talen searched Rune, looking for signs that he would march forward and grab Talen to drag him somewhere, or raise a fist and hit him, but Rune gave no such signs. This was strange, and Talen stepped away from the food. “Why do I have to ask?” 

“So you don't eat too much in one sitting, or in one day. It also helps me keep track of your diet,” Rune answered. Talen tilted his head. He expected a snarky response, something rude and belittling, but Rune's tone remained technical and calm. 

“So you can make sure I get cold scraps?” Talen grumbled, brows furrowing in a glare. Rune’s face became oddly soft.

“No. I told you before that the food I feed you will always be safe to eat,” Rune replied. “I’ve been told that you’re used to having your diet restricted and your meals taken away as a punishment. Have you always eaten only scraps?”

“Yes?” Talen answered, confused again. Of course he had always been fed scraps.

“And how often were you forced to skip a meal?” Rune continued.

Talen exhaled in mild annoyance. “All the time.”

“I see,” Rune said. His dark gold eyes looked over the shelves of food. “I want you to understand that your diet at this… camp… is not going to be the same here. Even if you’re bad, I will make sure you stay healthy.”

Talen’s brows furrowed again, baffled anew. “Huh?”

Rune’s shoulders moved as if he had just held back a sigh. “This might be something you will understand over time. And you never answered me, by the way. Are you still hungry?”

Talen eyed the packaged food. He’d eaten the eggs only a couple hours ago, but he discovered that his stomach did have room for more. He turned a skeptical gaze back to Rune. “Yes.”

Rune gestured toward Talen. “I’d like you to ask.”

Talen gritted his teeth. He couldn’t tell if this was Rune’s strange way of entertaining himself, making his new slave beg for food. Talen glanced at the food again and tilted his head, weighing his options. Rune raised a brow. Talen took a step towards the food.

“If you take it without asking, I will restrain you until you ask. Or until lunch time,” Rune warned. “This is one of my boundaries, Talen. If you cross mine, I will cross yours.”

Talen didn’t like the way that sounded. He didn’t know what Rune meant by restrain; it could be a number of things. It could mean he’d get time in a cell. It could mean he’d get tied up to a post somewhere and whipped. It could mean he’d pin him down with his frightening strength and keep him on the floor for an uncomfortably long time. 

Talen remained hesitant for too long. “You just have to ask, Talen. It’s not to humiliate you, it’s just basic manners,” Rune said. His tone was oddly gentle. He didn’t yell, threaten, or spit insults. A word he said made Talen curious.

“Manners?” he repeated. 

“If you’re polite to people, they will like you, and they’ll do things for you because you behave well. If you use good manners with me, I’ll reward you. In this case, if you ask for food, I will give it to you,” Rune explained. He still didn’t mock Talen, not a hint of anything sadistic in his lips or his eyes. Maybe he was really telling the truth. 

Talen looked at the food again. Either ask and get something to eat, or take it and get restrained for hours. Talen squeezed his hands into fists, nails digging into his palms. “Can I have some food?” he asked through gritted teeth. 

Rune smiled. The complete lack of cruel delight left Talen dizzy with surprise. He backed away as Rune approached the pantry and reached inside. He pulled out a stick of meat wrapped in plastic, peeled the plastic off, and held the stick of meat out to Talen. Talen glanced between Rune and the snack for a second, before quickly snatching the meat away. He backed away even more as he clutched the snack close. His eyes stayed on Rune, untrusting, as he tore into the meat stick. It was dry but still flavorful, and it was gone in a matter of seconds. 

“Good boy,” Rune praised. Talen’s face twisted into confusion once more, because he hadn’t heard that phrase before, especially not after he had done something he’d been told to do.

Rune studied him for a moment. “Lunch time will be in a few hours. You can explore until then.”

Talen frowned once more. “I don’t have to work?” Every day of his life had been spent working in some way or another, or if he wasn’t working, he was locked away in his cell.

“No. Unless you want to,” Rune replied. Talen had never been given an option before, to work or not to work. It didn’t sit right with him, not having to work, but the idea of exploring sounded more interesting. Unless, after all, this was a test.

Talen narrowed his eyes at Rune. “Is this a trick? If I pick wrong you’re gonna punish me?”

Rune shook his head. “I think you need a day to acclimate. You won’t be following the same schedule here as you did at Devian’s place.”

“What does acclimate mean?” Talen asked in a grumble, preparing to bristle in offense. He didn’t like that Rune used so many words he didn’t know.

“It means time to adjust to your new environment,” Rune explained. “Time for you to get used to a new area with different rules.”

Talen looked around with uncertainty. This place was vastly different from the encampment he’d lived at for nearly all his life. For once he wasn’t sweating his skin off from the heat, nor being shoved around by rough hands and hit upside the head with batons. Rune had yet to hit him at all, actually. He had only pinned him down once, and that was to remove his chains. 

This place proved to be more and more strange by the hour. Rune noticed Talen’s hesitation and held an open palm out towards the rest of the house. “You can explore wherever you like. But do let me know if you plan to go outside.”

Talen didn’t want to keep Rune privy to his plans in any way. It seemed like Rune was giving him a chance to move around unsupervised, and that left an oddly giddy feeling in his gut. He didn’t want Rune to hover, so he continued to stand there, staring at him. After a few long moments, Rune finally got the hint. 

“I’ll leave you to it, then,” he said, and turned to head into a room around the corner. 

Talen waited for a minute, just to make sure Rune had truly left. When he didn’t reappear, Talen went back to exploring the rest of the kitchen. He opened more cabinets, the stove, and a tall structure with doors that opened up to even more food. Talen was surprised by the sudden cold temperature that hit him when he opened the doors, and sat down in front of it for a few long minutes, just to feel the cool air. 

He flinched when the structure beeped. Talen shot a look over his shoulder and shut the doors. There was nothing left of the kitchen to discover, so he crept over to the other side of the house he hadn’t been to yet. 

Talen passed by a room with its door shut that smelled heavily of Rune, and made sure to skirt by it quickly. Past this closed-off room was another larger room. There was furniture that looked like chairs but were much thicker than what Talen was used to. The floor in here was not hardwood, but covered in the same fuzzy material as the bedroom upstairs. And at the far end was a large black rectangle that completely perplexed Talen. He tilted his head this way and that as he stared at it. It looked to be like some kind of mirror, but it didn’t reflect everything very well. Talen cautiously stepped up to it and peered around its edges. There were a couple wires coming out of the back of it. Talen touched the edge and observed its smooth texture, but still could not understand its purpose. 

This place was so strange. 

He turned towards one of the chairs and tested its texture. It was also smooth, a leathery fabric that Talen recognized. He was glad to find some semblance of normalcy here. He noticed the chair dipped a little when he pressed on it, and pressed his hand down as far as it would go. The chair had a surprising amount of give, baffling Talen anew. He’d never touched a chair with such cushion before. 

Curious, Talen climbed onto it. Delight filled his chest at the feeling of his hands and feet sinking into the chair. It was so pliant and squishy under his weight. Talen couldn’t help but grin as he played with it, stepping all around the seat and arms, and climbing up onto the back of the chair to test its squishiness there, too. He bounced on top of the chair a couple times, but his fun soon turned into fright when he felt the chair tilt. He gasped and leapt off of it as he teetered backwards. He landed on the floor, and a moment later, the chair followed, falling onto its back with a loud thud. 

Talen froze. Not a second later, just outside the room, the closed door opened and Rune came rushing out. Talen tensed, waiting for Rune to start yelling at him or to come over and grab him by his hair and drag him away to be punished, but Rune only paused in the doorway and looked around at the scene before him, an unknown expression on his face. 

“Are you alright?” Rune asked. Talen only stared at him, hunched and anticipating. Rune’s eyes scanned the fallen chair and Talen’s body again. He inhaled deeply, like he was smelling the air, and sighed with the exhale, his shoulders loosening slightly. 

“What were you doing?” he asked as he entered the room. Talen watched as Rune lifted the chair back upright, and didn’t make a move to reach for him. 

“Ex… exploring,” Talen said. 

“You should be more careful,” Rune warned him. He looked over Talen once more. “You’re sure you’re not hurt?”

Talen’s mind short-circuited for a moment as he tried to comprehend what Rune had just asked him. He was worried if he was hurt? Since when did anyone care if he was hurt?

“Yes…?” Talen responded, uncertain and confused. 

“Good,” Rune replied, and Talen’s mind swam with bewilderment once more. Good that he wasn’t hurt?

He stared at Rune as the man straightened and studied him. For a long moment, they simply watched each other, both attempting to figure each other out. Eventually, Rune glanced at the black rectangle. “Would you like to watch tv?” he asked. 

“What?” Talen grunted. Rune picked up a slender rectangular object. Talen recognized it as the object that Nash had used to electrocute him, and Talen growled and backed away. Rune held a hand up in a gesture of coaxing. 

“It’s alright, Talen, this won’t hurt you. It’s called a remote. See? It has buttons, but it won’t hurt you,” Rune said. He demonstrated pushing random buttons on its surface, but with each press, nothing happened. No buzzing, no zapping, nothing. Talen remained tense. 

“Here,” Rune said, when he saw that Talen was not convinced. “Try it.” He set the remote down on the floor and backed away, closer to the doorway. 

Talen peered at Rune, suspicious, but he crept forward and sniffed at the remote. He touched it and flinched, but it hadn’t shocked him. He copied Rune and pressed random buttons, but nothing happened to him. It was harmless. Rune was telling the truth. 

“See?” Rune said. Talen peered at him again and backed away to his previous spot. Rune came back to the remote and picked it up. He pressed one larger button on it, pointing it at the black rectangle, and Talen flinched when he saw the rectangle light up.

Now it didn’t look like a bad mirror at all. It looked like a picture or a painting. Talen stared at it, mystified, as Rune pressed buttons on the remote, and certain objects on the picture moved. He looked back and forth between the picture and the remote, trying to wrap his brain around how this worked. 

“I’ll put on a movie for you,” Rune said. Talen continued to stare, mindblown, as the picture moved and changed. Something like music began to play from behind the rectangle. Talen tilted his head and looked behind the rectangle. He found the source of the sound coming from a series of small holes. He returned back to the front and stared at the moving pictures again. 

Rune set the remote down, and quietly left the room. Talen found himself completely enamored by the moving pictures. He couldn’t take his eyes off of them. It took some time for him to understand that the moving pictures were telling him a story. It was so strange and beautiful at the same time. No wonder he had never seen anything like it before; the Cruels would never give something so amazing to the Brokens. 

Rune came back at some point, when the story ended and a bunch of words began to scroll along the pictures. “It’s lunchtime,” he said. Talen blinked and scrubbed at his eyes, which felt dry after staring for so long. It was lunchtime already? He felt like he had just eaten that meat stick only a little while ago. He looked over his shoulder at Rune, who tilted his chin toward the kitchen. “Come eat.”