Corruption of Fate

While it took the pair of deer hours to complete the task, Nezzar was able to finish his assigned work much earlier with Alice’s assistance. As promised, the Antlertean stag accompanied his new reindeer acquaintance to the main building of the farm, assuming that by this time his master should be there, and he could introduce the two.

“We got done really quickly,” Nezzar said, enjoying this unusually easy day of work, “Even with two deer. That flight of yours really shaved off some time.”

“I just hope all the ones I picked were good,” Alice replied, not really that concerned about if she did a good job, but that Nezzar would not be punished in the event that she had done poorly.

“From my checks, everything looked right,” Nezzar assured, “And it’s not hard to tell which passion fruit are the best. The darker the shade of purple, the better. Honestly, with your speed, you should consider getting a work contract with my master.”

“I’ll have to pass on that,” Alice said, assuming the stag was suggesting she allow herself to be enslaved, “I have my own job back home already.”

“Well if you ever feel like you want to try something new, I’d certainly vouch for your skills.” Nezzar said, holding a small smile on his face as the two headed for the farm house.

As they walked down the path the minotaur used to pull his wagon on, the pair walked by several other deer in the middle of harvesting the odd peaches this place produced. Though Alice had put her hood back up by this point, the mere presence of a new creature walking through the farm caught the eyes of those she passed by, getting the reindeer many looks in her direction, and a few friendly ways as the workers greeted the new face. None, however, tried to approach, sticking to their tasks like dutiful servants to their minotaur master.

“I’ll admit, the atmosphere around here is much more cheerful than I expected.” Alice commented, “You Antlerteans really do like being enslaved?”

“Does it have to be a matter of ‘like’ or ‘dislike’?” Nezzar asked, “While I enjoy my position on this farm, and think I have a good master, most of the time the fact that I’m a slave isn’t even a thought in my head. I’m sure others here are like that too. Do you go around constantly thinking about how happy you are to be free?”

“I guess not,” Alice said, the awareness of her own freedom, and how it could be at risk, only becoming something she thought about a lot recently, “I guess freedom, when one has it given from birth, is something a creature takes for granted.”

Before the doe knew that enslavement was where her future was heading, she was content in the ignorance that came with not knowing the path of her own fate. Even now, as she appreciated the threat to her future the minotaur represented, could Alice say that she appreciated the liberties her freedom gave to the same degree?

“I don’t really understand what a ‘free culture’ like yours is like,” Nezzar said, “But I guess everyone adapts to the world around them in their own ways.”

“Maybe…” Alice said, still skeptical that there wasn’t some mental influence involved with the Antlerteans’ contentment, or if this particular location on the island was just better than most.

“Here we are,” Nezzar said abruptly, as the two deer made it to the edge of the orchard, to center where their destination lied.

There were several large buildings standing over fields, a barn used for storing the picked fruits, a farmhouse a few dozen feet away from that, and another structure off to the side of both of them. The farmhouse itself was huge, and all features on it reflected that size, as windows and doors on it looked to be crafted with the size of a minotaur in mind. The other structures, a small, rectangle of a building with a tower atop it, seemed of a normal size to Alice, and she assumed that was because they were where the slaves were housed, both deer and bat ponies.

As Nezzar led the reindeer up to the farmstead, the minotaur from before also arrived, pulling his wagon up from another path in the surrounding trees, the vehicle filled to the brim with buckets full of purple fruit. It felt too convenient to Alice, but if Fate itself was guiding this meeting, she was not going to refuse it.

The minotaur made his way to the barn, and seeing his master, Nezzar quickened his pace to meet him there. Alice stayed where she was, at the edge of the trees, watching to see if the bovine showed any signs of hostility. The yellow deer only wished that she could hear what they were saying, to get a better evaluation of the minotaur’s reaction. As Nezzar made his way up to the minotaur though, a thought came to her that she had never had before.

Since she was waiting, standing still until Nezzar returned, Alice could use her powers without any problem, and thinking of Bori’s use of her powers in the future, maybe it was possible for her to listen in on the Antlertean slave and his bovine master. The reindeer had never attempted this before, as this seemed like a useless way of utilizing her powers, but the question arose if she could project a vision that was only a second ahead of her current time. There was technically nothing preventing her, so she closed her eyes, and focused on Nezzar’s immediate future.

Alice caught the stag right before he made it to the minotaur, the vision her powers granted centering on him right before the minotaur entered the bubble.

“Nezzar?” the minotaur said as the deer came into his line of sight, unbuckling himself from the pull rods of the wagon, “What are you doing away from your lot? Did something happen?”

The antlertean had to catch his breath, having jogged his way up to the bull, but in between huff he said, “We have a visitor.”

“A visitor?” naked the bull, looking around in search of this unannounced guest. He scanned the land around him several times, overlooking Alice as he expected the creature in question to be another minotaur. “Where is he?”

“Not a he, master.” Nezzar said, “A female. Another deer.”

“A slave from another master wandered into the orchard?” the minotaur asked, this being the only way he could think that a doe would end up on his land. Looking again, his eyes landed on something in the distance, and Alice could only assume that she had been spotted. “You know that doesn’t warrant you leaving your post. You should have told her to stay put until my next rotation, and kept to your work.”

“Everything is done though, master.” Nezzar replied, “The doe wanted to speak with you as soon as possible, so she helped me collect all the ripe passion fruit. We finished up about fifteen minutes ago.”

The minotaur, hearing Nezzar’s excuse for leaving his post, gave a snort of disapproval, “Uncontracted work, huh. That’s not good, Nezzar. Once her master finds out, I’m gonna have to deal with them demanding payment. More trouble than it’s worth.”

Nezzar waits for the minotaur to stop speaking and try to walk off towards Alice to say, “That’s just it though, this doe doesn’t have a master.”

The minotaur stopped on the spot, and looked back to stag, “Did she tell you her master died? If that’s the case, she has probably been inherited by some other minotaur, even if she isn’t aware who.”

Nezzar shook his head, “She’s not a slave deer. From what she said, she’s not even from the island.”

The minotaur had to stop and think about what was being told to him, as if trying to piece together any scenario wherein the stag could be mistaken. His eyes moved about, looking at anything other than his slave buck, as if his train of thought of some physical entity that only he could see. After a good minute of trying to piece the puzzle together, the minotaur came to the understanding that there should be no way his stag could not know the difference between a free and enslaved creature, which turned the bull’s confusion into a dense curiosity as to how what the stag awas saying could be true.

“You realize that if you speak the truth, this would be the first time a free deer has set foot on this island in decades.” said the bull, “Do you think that your ancestors sent out expeditions to new lands before we took over?”

“Unlikely, for several reasons,” the stag said, outright dismissing his master’s theory, “But even had that have happened, I don’t believe that’s the case with this doe. She doesn’t look anything like us, and is absolutely from another deer tribe.”

“Other tribes?” the minotaur scratched his chin, “I wasn’t even aware that was a thing. I honestly don’t know how to approach this.”

“My suggestion,” Nezzar said with confidence, “Treat her like any other free creature. Who knows what kind of opportunity this could grant you if you establish some form of agreement with her.”

“Minopolis law does state that all free creatures have the same rights and obligations as any other free creature,” the minotaur replied, agreeing with his slave’s advice, “I think that’s only supposed to apply to citizens, but I’ll abide by the letter of the law in this case.”

“Then shall we go greet her?” Nezzar asked.

“I’ll go see what she wants,” the minotaur answered, “You go get Amy, and start moving the passion fruit into the barn. There should be some empty buckets for you to load inside.”

“Ah,right. Can’t slow down production for an unexpected guest.” Nezzar said, “And what of Shade?”

“Let her sleep. If she wakes up tell her to go the belfry, but otherwise work around her.”

“Yes sir.” Nezzar said, retreating into the farm house, assumedly to retrieve the other person the minotaur spoke of.

With the situation relayed to him, the minotaur turned, took a moment to look at the strange deer on his lands, and started making his way towards her. It didn’t slip past Alice that soon she would have the large bovine in front of her, so she opened her eyes to end the vision, seeing the bull already a few steps closer than she would have preferred.

“Hello there,” said the minotaur, still a good five feet away from the doe, his normal speaking voice loud enough to be heard clearly from that distance, “My stag told me you’re not from around here.”

“Yes!” Alice yelled back, needing to raise her voice to have the bull hear her from that range, “I come from a land beyond this island, and I wanted to speak with a representative of this island!”

“Well I don’t know how good I am as a representative,” the bull replied, not stopping his approach, “But if you’re trying to reach a minotaur in charge, I might be able to point you in the right direction.”

“No, I don’t need to talk with one of the minotaur in charge!” the reindeer said back, “Right now I’m just trying to learn more about this place, talk to some of the more down to earth inhabitants, and get their opinions of things! Oh, and could you please stop where you are?!”

The minotaur obliged, and stopped walking a few feet away, but was confused, “You don’t want to talk to me face to face?”

“I’m sorry,” Alice said, able to speak without yelling at this distance, “I know that deer are treated as slaves in this land, and I would prefer that I keep my own freedom. While you seem reasonable, I don’t want to put all my trust into a creature I just met.”

“So you are a free deer.” the minotaur said, still believing there might have been a mistake up until that point, “Well for as strange as it is, I’ll abide by your request if you accept one of my own. I would like to see who I’m talking to under that hood.”

Alice would have liked to keep her appearance hidden, just in case things went sour, but if it negotiated a means of her being out of arms’ reach of the bull, this was one thing she was willing to relinquish.

The doe pulled down her hood, and the bull’s gruff expression softened slightly as he bore witness to the features of a species he had never seen prior. “So you are from some other deer tribe,” he exclaimed in his shock.

“I’m far different from any deer you have on this island,” Alice said, “And come from a far away land. Before you ask, I can’t tell you where this land is, or how I got here from there.”

“Very well,” the minotaur said, after a short moment to calm his emotions, “Can I at least have the name of the creature I’m speaking with?”

It was at this point that Alice realized it might have benefited her to have an alias, but that she had told Nezzar her name already. “Alice.” she said, aware this was past the point of correcting.

“My name is Babi,” the minotaur gave back his name with no hesitation, going on to say, “My stag explained to me that you helped him with his work today. Is that why you’re here? Have you fled your home and are seeking work? If that’s the case, I fear my farm already has enough hands, and I have little to pay you for the unauthorized labor you already did.”

“All I need is information and your opinions as payment,” said Alice, “I don’t intend to stay here for long.”

“Information…” the bovine pondered aloud, “I suppose I can agree to those terms, so long as what you seek isn’t too personal.”

“It shouldn’t be,” said Alice, “I just want to know about your culture, and how you feel about how things are ran. Particularly, I want to know about the system of slavery the minotaur have built here.”

“Hmmm…” Babi hummed aloud, “I’ve lived in Minopolis all my life, so I can’t really compare it to other ways of living. I’ve heard that other species don’t tend to do the same practices we do when it comes to slavery, but I also know that this is out of a necessity for us.”

“You mean in order for breeding?” Alice asked, believing she knew the answer already.

“Breeding is how it started, and is a big part of things to this day,” Babi answered, “But I feel that when it comes to how our cities work, we allowed our slaves to have too much involvement in our daily lives.”

That’s a weird thing to say, Alice thought, wondering how those enslaved could be too involved in a situation they are forced into, “Mind elaborating on that?”

“Well, it might not look it on this farm,” Babi continued, “But in other places, especially in the capital, the skills of our slaves have become things minotaur depend on. In the city, all the buildings are filled with Antlertean devices, and which have to be powered by their magic one way or another. Instead of using simpler devices like lamps and torches to light a room, they have crystal lights that glow like the markings on those deer.”

“And that’s not something you like?” Alice said, not seeing how such devices would be an issue.

“It’s far too connected to some minotaur’s day to day behavior,” Babi answered, “What a minotaur can achieve under their own strength is more important than the comfort that comes from such devices, and those who take advantage of these ‘conveniences’ are allowing themselves to be guided by the nose into a life of dependency. Give it a thousand years, and the descendants of their sons’ sons won’t know how to split a log in half.”

“Oh, be honest, master.” said a feminine voice from behind the minotaur, “You didn’t have a problem with any of that stuff before the other farms considered how magitech could improve their productivity.”

Before Alice could even question who was speaking, a brown doe poked her head out from behind the bull’s bulky body. She looked like an adult, older than Nezzar by what looked to be by half a decade, who talked with a tone that could be called ‘motherly’.

“So this is the doe Nezzar was talking about,” said the antlertean doe, “Why haven’t you invited her into the house yet? She has to be cold, seeing all those clothes she’s wearing.” The doe stepped out from behind the large figure that was her master, revealing that she had nothing on save for the collar around her neck, unlike all other deer on this farm who wore ponchos to ineffectively conceal their bodies. Her body was what some might call ‘womanly’, having bigger breasts that most others Alice had seen of her kind, and curvy body that sported a set of thick hips and plump thighs. Seeing a body like this, without a shred of coverings, presented before her made the reindeer blush lightly, but she refused to look away from the minotaur.

“Amy, why aren’t you helping Nezzar with the harvest?” Babi asked the doe, crossing his arms at her disregard for his orders.

“Sorry master,” she said turning back at him with a cheerful look on her face, “Nezzar told me what was going on, and I just had to see this ‘free doe’ for myself. Don’t be too mad at me for my curiosity.”

Before the minotaur could further scold her, the antlertean doe made her way to the reindeer with a hop in each step, her pink markings giving off a dim glow.

“Well aren’t you pretty?” Amy said, halting herself just before making contact with Alice, looking this new doe over from head to hoof. She made a circle around the yellow doe as she proceeded with her inspection, Alice having to hold still through this intrusive process to keep her eye on the minotaur, who she deemed more of a threat than this curious older deer,“Yes, you look exactly as my nursery mother described you, reindeer.”

“So you know what kind of deer she is?” Babi asked, “I suppose you’ve heard of her kind from your deer stories.”

“Oh yes, master.” Alice replied, “When told our history, the three other tribes are often spoken of, and this lovely young doe must be one of the ones who claimed the deer’s ancestral home as their territory after the separation.”

Alice was surprised that this doe knew so much about her based just on her appearance, but Babi didn’t seem at all intrigued about his deer’s knowledge of the reindeer, “That’s all well and good, but you’re interfering with our conversation, and avoiding your duties. This is already setting my schedule back without you being nosey.”

“Then let’s all move over to the barn, so we can talk and work at the same time,” Amy said, placing her hands on Alice’s shoulders, and pushing her forward to make the younger doe walk forward.

“Hey, wait a second,” Alice said, trying to dig her feet in the dirt to stop herself from being pushed closer to the minotaur.

While providing a bit of resistance, it wasn’t enough to prevent the older doe from guiding her forward, Alice’s hooves slipping behind her body as they tried to stay in place, forcing her to pick them up and take a few steps to keep from falling face first in the dirt. She ended up being pushed right past the bull she had been trying to keep distance from, who simply stood there and watched to two female deer go by, the thought of taking advantage of this moment where he could have easily grabbed Alice not crossing his mind, before following behind the two in with a huff from his snout.

Shortly after, Alice found herself standing near the door frame for the barn’s entrance, watching Amy, Nezzar, and Babi work together to empty the harvest wagon. She had been told to stand in her current location by Amy, so she could ask her questions while being out of the way. While Alice didn’t like that she was now very close to the bovine slave owner, she accepted that a desire to capture her at this time was not present, as there were several times he could have made an attempt if he wanted.

Instead, he seemed solely focused on his work, lifting the heavy buckets of fruit inside, and letting nothing impede him from keeping a steady rhythm of grabbing a bucket, going into the barn, storing the produce away, and returning for the next load. Amy and Nezzar were less proficient in the task, since they could not lift the same kind of weight, even together, that the minotaur could, so they had to take an arm full of fruits in at a time. Throughout this forced labor though, they both looked fairly content in their task. If either held any dislike in their roles as slaves, or towards their master, they did not let a hint of it slip through their smiles.

“So, reindeer,” Amy said after what must have been her fifth time filling up her arms at the wagon, “What brings you here to Babi-Lon Gardens?”

“Babi-Lon Gardens?” Alice asked, figuring that this was the name of the farm, but not being able to finger where the ‘Lon’ part of the name was coming from. She figured it might have been a surname, as some cultures like ponies sometimes used first and last names, but she was soon to be corrected as Babi came back out after depositing his load.

“Lon is the minotaur I apprenticed under while growing up,” he stated, as he moved to the back half of the wagon, “He had invested his time and effort into teaching me how to manage and operate a farm like this, and gave me the loan I used to make a down payment for the land. If it wasn’t for him, I would not have everything I do this day.”

“He also bought me for my master as a gift for completing his apprenticeship.” Amy said, having to yell that bit of information from inside the barn, “So for all the help his master gave him, master honors him by putting him in the farm’s name.”

“It’s more than that,” Babi said, aiming his words more towards his doe than to Alice in this instance, as he picked up two more containers of purple peaches, “I offered him a percentage of the profits of the farm to make up for the cost I caused him. He’s in many ways co-owner.”

“And yet he never comes around to check on his investment,” Amy replied, “Always focused on that ranch of his.”

“A ranch?” Alice asked, “He’s not a farmer like you?”

“Dairy farmer,” Nezzar said, as he exited the barn to grab more produce, “But he knows a bit about agriculture of all sorts. He just prefers dealing with women more than plants.”

It took Alice a moment to put things together, since in Equestria and the surrounding lands cows were often the sole producers of dairy products, and it seemed almost normal to hear a bovine being in charge of a dairy farm. When it clicked in her head that minotaur were all male though, it dawned on her that the women in question were more likely deer, or other species, that had been enslaved, impregnated, and were now spending their lives lactating for hours a day for the profit of their master.

She had to stifle a groan, and with that imagery in mind, she felt now might have been a good time to speak on the real reason she was here. “So Babi, I see you’re a very productive member of the minotaur kingdom here. I’m sure that the maze city at the center of this island can’t do without these fruits you grow.”

“There are plenty who buy them from us, yes.” Babi said, his arms once more full as he went back into the barn, “If you’re hoping to purchase some for yourself, you’d be welcome to place a bid on this shipment.”

“No, no, that’s not what I’m getting at,” Alice said, turning her head into the building to follow bull, wondering how he even thought that she would have the kind of money she’d need to compete with his other buyers, and curious if Minopolis would even accept gold coins minted outside their borders, “I was just wondering about your thoughts on how you have to run your farm in order to supply the cities. Don’t you wish that you didn’t have to rely so much on… well, all the slaves you have here?”

Babi set what he was carrying on a stack of similarly filled buckets, then looked back at the reindeer, “Unless you explain what you’re getting at, I don’t follow what you mean.”

“I think our guest has an ethical issue with your ownership of us,” Nezzar said, “She was talking to me about it while we worked together, and she seems adamant that we deer shouldn’t be slaves.”

Alice partially expected Babi to not take the suggestion lightly, and was ready to run if needed, but as she looked at the minotaur’s body language, nothing seemed to change from his currently calm demeanor.

“Ah… So that’s what you’ve been beating around the bush about.” Babi said, “I think I’ve heard a few times that places in the world outside of Minopolis were against the enslavement of other beings. Not all of them, but some places that are supposed to be important. I take it that you’re not fond of how we minotaur have brought order to our territory.”

“Not at all,” Alice said bluntly, “And I don’t understand how each of you can be ok with it. Even you, Babi, seem far too kind to be a slaver.”

“You think being a master of slaves must come with degrees of cruelty?” Babi asked, actually halting his work to address this matter, “I might not be able to speak for every minotaur in this kingdom, but most of my associates are very kind to those they own. Even my mentor taught me that while the enslaved are our property, to be bought, sold, and used as we see fit, one still has to maintain them as they would any tool. Each doe, stag, and bat pony on this farm is cared for so that they are fit and healthy, trained to bring out their very best aspects, and are never disciplined without ample reason.”

Alice could see that like with the stag before, her ideas on enslavement was being shut down. There had to be another approach to this she could take that would appeal to these creatures, who she deemed only lived this way cause they knew nothing else.

“But Babi, even if you do as you say, and your slaves have no objections to being your property, can you say that about all minotaur in this kingdom?

“No,” he said, not even dwelling on the question, “There are some minotaur in here that would, and do, mistreat their own property.”

Yes! Alice yelled in celebration in her mind, believing she found a path to address the issues with the minotaur’s enslavement of other creatures.

“But it’s not my place to judge what others do with their property.” Babi followed up immediately after.

No! Alice yelled again in her mind, feeling as if the way she saw creak open had just shut off to her once more.

“It’s not like they can do anything truly harmful to their slaves,” Babi continued, as he, and his two deer, emptied out the remainder of the harvest from the wagon.

“Why do you assume that?” Alice said, not knowing what Babi even meant by that. The enslavement itself was harmful enough, so what did ‘truly harmful’ even mean? “What’s to stop any slave master from doing something terrible to any slave they have?”

“Well for starters, it’s illegal.” Nezzar said, grabbing his last bunch of peaches, before following after his master into the barn.

Realizing that Alice would require more than that to explain what the two males meant, Amy added, “In minotaur society, there are many laws that provide a level of protection for us slaves. This covers a lot of stuff, like limits to the amount of time we can work in a week, how frequently females can be impregnated, types of medicines and medical procedures we must be given access to in order to insure our health. It would be difficult to go over all Minopian slave rights in a single day, but to narrow it down no minotaur is allowed to willfully do anything that would maim, murder, or cause lasting physical or psychological damage to us, nor cause these things to happen due to negligence on their part.”

“And what would happen if a minotaur did do this?” Alice asked, curious that the bovine barbarians had such rules in place.

“You get your slaves taken away,” Babi said, “And that’s a big deal since a good portion of the functions of our kingdom involve the trade and use of slaves in one form or another.”

“It does happen in degrees though.” Amy continued, “A first time offender might just lose the rights to the slave they mistreated, while a multiple time offender will have their rights to own slaves revoked for a duration of time.”

“Years, if I’m remembering what they said in school,” Babi said, “And if you don’t learn your lesson after that, you can have your rights removed completely. Both your right to own slaves, and your rights to freedom as they imprison you.”

Alice listened intently about this news about how the minotaur kept the worst of their kind in check. While the minotaur had created this civilization of theres, and that implied there had to be some form of order maintained, the idea that some minotaur were making sure those they enslaved weren’t treated like dirt beneath their hooves was unexpected.

“And who comes up with these laws?” the reindeer asked, wanting to know who she might be able to influence directly to bring an end to this terrible system the minotaur themselves seemed to be unwillingly bound to, if there were ones controlling things that showed even this much empathy towards their captives.

“Oh, that would be the senate,” Nezzar replied, as if he was answering a trivia question, “A group of influential minotaur that were formed to run the day to day functions of Minopolis after the minotaur established dominance, because Master, that is to say our minotaur king, didn’t want to be bothered with it.”

“Self appointed civic leaders who get together daily and argue over how high taxes should be, and what the city should invest in to keep things running smoothly within it.” Babi said, as he leaned into the wagon to remove the last thing it held, which was the bat mare he had collected earlier from the orchard. “Occasionally the matter of law comes up, if they feel some detail needs adjusting to suit the needs of the people, but that rarely happens these days, since the laws pretty much work as intended.”

Tossing the thestral’s sleeping body over his shoulder, Babi turned to the slave’s shelter, undoubtedly to deliver her to whatever bed she should have returned to once her work shift was over.

“If you’ll excuse me, I have to take this troublesome mare to the belfry,” said the bull, “But I’m sure you have more questions about the way things work around here. Since you did help Nezzar with his chores, you are welcome to stay for lunch.”

Babi was about to step away from Alice, but the reindeer didn’t want to just let him walk away just yet. He was right, she did have many questions on her mind, but at that moment, there was one in particular that needed answers.

“Wait,” the yellow doe said, running up to the bull, not feeling the fear she did earlier, “I have to know. Why haven’t you tried to enslave me? You’ve had plenty of time to capture me, and yet you haven’t made a single attempt.”

The minotaur turned his head back to the doe, giving her an odd look, as if she had said something strange. To be fair, it was like she had just suggested that he should have enslaved her, as he didn’t know what she did, that her future didn’t lie with him.

“Don’t give me that look,” Alice said in protest, “You are part of a whole race of slavers. The minotaur sto-... took this island from the Anterlteans, and you have species here from where I come from, and I’m certain you’ll do it again. So why do I have amnesty in this situation?”

“Because… you are not a slave.” the minotaur replied, receiving a confused look from the reindeer. Seeing that what he said did not answer anything for the foreign deer, Babi elaborate, “Just as there are laws of how to treat slaves, there are rules about how to treat those not enslaved. While the spirit of these laws might have meant for them to apply only to my kind, the letter of these laws state they apply to any ‘free creature’. So while your situation is unique, you have as many rights here as any minotaur. You could walk into the capital, and while you’d be stopped and questioned, no one would seek to enslave you.”

Alice did not have the same confidence Babi had about his theory, and felt that part of the reason she’d be able to be back in the grove in a few days was due to her not, for lack of a better word, tempting fate. Not when ‘Master’ resided in that damnedable city. With that question answered though, Babi went to put one of the creatures he owned to bed, leaving Alice with the other deer.

“There’s more to it than his simple explanation,” Amy said, placing herself at Alice’s side, “While any free citizen of Minopolis can buy and sell a slave, you need training and a special license to be a ‘slaver’. They are the ones who go on trips overseas and return with creatures from other lands, and even when they become qualified slavers, they have to fill out paperwork, have someone in the senate endorse their expedition, then get majority senate approval.”

“The minotaur higher ups bogged things down so much with bureaucracy that it’s a wonder anything ever gets done around here.” Nezzar added, while shutting the barn door, “But they seem to make it all work out.”

“What he means to say is that even if a minotaur wanted to keep you as their own, it would take months just to register you for capture, not to mention getting a deed printed.” said Amy, “Too much money, time, and effort for a single slave, which is why those in the trade tend to get a raid permit, so they can get a lot of them at once.”

“You both really know a lot about this stuff,” Alice said, wondering why a simple farm slave knew the inner workings of the minotaurs’ operations.

“Oh, they teach it to every deer growing up,” Amy said, shedding some light on things, “Not to a degree that we could run things ourselves, mind you, but every deer needs to know the basics in case one of those senate members comes to add us to their collections. Enough of that though,” taking Alice by the arm, the older doe lead her in the direction of the house, “Master said you could join us for lunch, and you just gotta try my fruit salad.”

Since it really seemed like Babi was no threat to her, Alice couldn’t find a reason to refuse the hospitality. Also, she recalled how easily the antlertean was able to direct her against her will, so this time the reindeer chose to accept her fate, and enjoy the food. With Nezzar not far behind them, all three entering the minotaur’s home, ready to take a moment to rest and relax.