Count On Me (Don't Tear Me Down)

d hog-tied her. She had spent yearsgathering those old bones from various hunts as well as the dried leaves and petals. She wanted to divine what could be wrong with Yang and a possible solution, but she didn’t have any of her divination tools. She wasn’t sure if there were even divination tools in this civilisation… Sienna was uncannily accurate in her tellings a lot of the time. People from other bands would seek her out in order to get their futures divined or even potential marriages… Now she had none of that. Just another lost connection with her culture. And it wasn’t like she could exactly go out and ask about divination… She was a slaveand something like that might be seen as a threat to the duke or his power. She was already going stir crazy being in this room for so long. She doubted it’d be acceptable for her to just wander around the castle. She sat her sewing down with a hefty sigh and dropped her head into her hands. “What bothers you?” Sienna startled a bit and looked over at Johnathan. “Oh… It’s you.” She hadn’t expected him to speak. He was so quiet. “Something’s clearly bothering you. What is it? Even though you are meant to serve my lady, I can still help youout. I think Her Highness would want that.” He spoke softly, obviously trying not to disturb Yang too much. “So what’s the matter?” Sienna motioned for him to come over and sit next to her which he did. She looked down at the place where her belt should’ve been and dragged her hands where the various pouches should’ve been. “I’m a bit of a diviner and I always carried my divination tools on me… But they were stripped when I was captured. Probably discarded as useless.” Or something along those lines. She had been so caught up in everything she hadn’t thought to read the souls of the men who were doing things to see whythey were doing them. Johnathan tapped his chin. “There’s a popular set of cards that are often used for divining. Crystals can be used as well. With this being a port city, I may be able to find things for you. Or would you rather come along?” Sienna frowned. “I’m not sure how well the duke would handle you going out with me…” “You’re meant to be a slave, correct? How can you serve your lady if you don’t know where to buy things?” He raised an eyebrow. “She willneed things bought for her.” “You raise a good point. We’re mostly just playing the part, so me needing to go out to buy her things only makes sense…” She knew Yang didn’t actually want to treat her poorly, so she was surprised Johnthan was being so kind and understanding. She hoped that he wouldn’t attempt to harm her though… He was Yang’s manservant. Sienna couldn’t sense his aura being activated, so she could overpower him, but he would still have probably gone through some sort of combat training, possibly even trained to make poisons. She couldn’t be sure; she wasn’t sure how he’d been trained. But she didneed to play the part, and going out into the city and buying things for Yang would be important. “I do actually need to pick some things up for her, so you can accompany me.” “Shouldn’t we probably stay with her though…? She seems really upset.” “I can tell she just needs time. No amount of comfort would help.” Sienna nodded sadly. “All right. Let’s go then.” She hoped she’d be able to pick up some new divination tools. She really hated not having any. She could hopefully help Yang by divining what her relationship to Sun and Weiss would look like. For now, she couldn’t—and wouldn’t—divine what her relationship with Yang would look like. It was best to just leave that unexplored for the time being. Sun didn’t have any power to release her from her bondage… And she was pretty sure the duke would do his best to ensure that Sienna stayedwith them, if just to prove his power. Johnathan stood up and Sienna sat her sewing to the side. “How long will this take? I need to finish my sewing…” “Not longer than an hour, I should hope.” Sienna nodded. “All right then.” They headed out of the castle, nobody paying any iota of attention to them. It was strange to not have people staring at her or attempting to stop her. She was so used to being a figurehead for her tribe and being a sub-chieftain… It was strange to not have anybody try to stop her for one reason or another. She was also a skilled healer with herbs and knew all sorts of treatments… A lot of the peasants that weren’t hostile asked her for help with sick children or elders… She would often stay for a few days to make sure they improved. Now… She wouldn’t be able to do any of that. She was a slave and expected to serve without question. No freedom, no nothing… Not unless something happened to the duke and Sun took over… “Is it normal for nobody to pay attention to you?” she asked. Johnathan nodded. “You’re dressed in high clothing, but it’s obvious it doesn’t fit. And I’m dressed as a servant pretty clearly. Nobody will pay attention to us or help us unless we request it. Why do you ask?” “This…is just odd for me. I was a healer among my people and even those outside of my people would often ask for my help. I was a sub-chieftain. It’s odd to not have anybody looking at me or asking for my help.” She had no way of gaining her freedom now. She just… She wanted to go home, but that wouldn’t be possible. They were gone. They were all gone. And striking out on her own wouldn’t be fun either. That and she was pretty sure the duke would put out whatever resources possible to reclaim her. Yang also clearly needed some form of friend and she didn’t want to leave her alone… Poor girl was absolutely brokenand it hurt to see. However, as they walked, she thought. “I don’t want to ask Yang too much because I figured it would hurt her a lot, but would you be willing to answer my questions?” “Depends on what it is.” “I just want to know about the nation she came from. I can read her soul as easily as I can read the clouds or the old bones I used to prophesy with. I can read yours as well.” Johnathan frowned at that. “That’s…unnerving. How is that even possible?” “Are you aware that souls can be activated to serve as physical shields?” It seemed like most people didn’t know that. Magic was able to be learned by most people as long as they could find a teacher, so it was more widespread than her little soul ability. As far as she was aware, only her people used it. It was a beyond useful skill, but it did have a massive trade off: needing to eat a lot more than the average person. She could and wouldstarve within 10 days if not given enough sustenance. Johnahtan frowned and shook his head. “I only know of magic, but I was never taught any. I am only a servant, of course.” “Well, as long as you have a soul, it can be unlocked and be used as a physical shield against attackers. You still feel pain and it can hurt like hell, but it can prevent you from being damaged. Though, if you lose it entirely, you die. You just straight-up die.So I guess that’s another trade-off compared to magic.” It wasn’t like she got into a lot of fights, though… “That and you need to eat a lot more.” She hoped the duke wouldn’t try to cut her off from getting all of the food she needed. He had been the one to put her as Yang’s slave, so she hoped that he wouldn’t notice Johnathan taking more food than was likely deemed necessary for a slave and a servant. “That…seems unnecessarily dangerous.” She shrugged. “I don’t really care. It’s useful to have. Plus, I can read the energy flows on a person’s body in order to tell what they’re feeling. And I know how to translate that into words. Once you learn how, it’s not that hard unless they’re feeling a lot of things at once.” Which…could and did happen. She could get so overwhelmed by someone’s strong, conflicting emotions that she often just gave up trying to figure out what they were reallyfeeling. It just wasn’t worth the time or effort sometimes. He nodded a bit. “So I do suppose that explains why you needed more food… But regardless, we’re diverting. You wanted to know about Efrana?” Sienna nodded. “Why’s she so utterly destroyed? She has no fight in her, no backbone. She just rolls over and accepts what happens to her without question.” To see someone like that was beyond upsetting. She didn’t know how to handle it. She could heal Yang’s soul, but that would only be with her permission. She hoped that she’d be able to help Yang like Yang was helping her… She was really, reallytrying, but they were strangers. It was hard to help a stranger when they had just met. “That has to do with Efrana’s culture. There, a woman’s purity is the only thing that matters. Women are just objects. If a woman is impure, then she has no value. They are used as collateral for political arrangements. Yang was often kept locked up in her room, never to interact with anybody that wasn’t direct family. She went to some large events, but they were rare. I am her protector and was trained to be her guard from a young age. I’m the middleman for when she needs to speak to a man that isn’t her husband or father because she is not allowedto speak to men directly.” “Disgusting.” She didn’t know how people dealt with that or accepted it. Her ears went down and she shook her head. “So she doesn’t even have a voiceof her own.” He shook his head. “She’s not allowed to. Teaching women to read and write is punishable by death because it allows them to think independently. Yang has never so much as held a book before. Sun is definitely doing a lot to help her, though, I worry if this marriage doesn’t go through.” Sienna frowned. “What’s at stake?” “Noci and Efrana aren’t allies and tensions between them have always been high. Efrana is going through a drought and has been for the past several years. Noci has a lot more resources due to being on the coast compared to inland Efrana. Yang hasn’t noticed any changes because of her standing and how isolated she is. She doesn’t even know why she was sent away to be married. All she knew was that it was a possibility and that the only reason she exists isto be married off. If Sun denies the marriage, then war might break out.” “That’s…not good. Do you think Sun understands the reasoning behind the marriage?” Sun didn’t seem like a bad guy… He probably thought this was another move by his parents to make him miserable… The duke was definitely not a kind man but she wasn’t sure about his wife… However, if they were cut from the same cloth, she couldn’t blame Sun for attempting to buck this marriage off. He and Yang definitely weren’t engaged but… She wasn’t certain about Sun. He was definitely carefree and kind… She wasn’t sure how he’d stand if he knew what negating the marriage would do to his whole nation… “I haven’t spoken to him enough to understand him. And I don’t have soul-reading abilities that let me get at the heart of somebody almost immediately. What is yourthought on that?” “Touche.” She shook her head. Johnathan was a quiet man, but he was clearly observant. It wasn’t like he hadhad a lot of time with Sun. Not that Sienna had either, but from what little she had seen of him… He didn’t treat her like she was some sort of repugnant savage like his father did. He treated her as anybody else would be treated. They were clearly equals in his eyes, despite what his father said. “He seems like a good, kind man that cares for everyone around him, but I don’t think that he understands what this marriage means. He doesn’t seem like he wants to force Yang into anything, but with how things are…” She frowned. “We need to tell him as soon as possible.” Johnathan nodded. “I concur. I don’t think he realises what all of this means… Efrana willfall into war if he doesn’t marry Her Highness. I feel bad for them but war isn’t a reason to go after love.” Sienna nodded. “Agreed.” She felt bad for breaking him up with Weiss, but she doubted Sun would want to go to war either. Then again, with how their souls interacted, there wasn’t any actual love between them. It seemed like some sort of weird ruse between them. She had no idea what was going on between them because she hadn’t spent a lot of time around them yet. She would definitely have to spend more time around them because she wanted to get to know them… Weiss seemed like a kind girl. Yang was just so utterly destroyedthough… She hated how someone could be so docile. They entered a store and went in and out of a couple ones until Johnathan took her into a store with a ton of books. “Woah, this place is stacked.” She breathed deeply, smelling the odd scent of books. She had never really been around them before because, well, what use were books to someone that couldn’t read and write? “Why did you bring me here?” “For cards.” He led her to a section in the back of the store which had strange pieces of paper that were thicker than normal in a box. “These are popular divination tools. There are set meanings behind them.” He picked up a couple books and put them in Sienna’s hands. “…You expect me to understand how to use these and read these books when I’m illiterate?” She wasn’t angry or aggressive; she just asked him the question. “You’ll learn in due time. Are there any tools you used in specific?” “Well, herbal leaves but that was a case-by-case basis, bones I gathered through hunting, feathers from birds that I gathered through the years…” She frowned. How could these things be used for divination? The box was tightly sealed and was obviously only meant to be opened after purchase. “I can also use rocks in a pinch.” “I believe there might be a store with crystals not too far away.” Johnathan led her to the front of the store where they paid for the books and weird thick paper, though he opted to carry them for her. If anything, she should’ve been the one carrying things. She wasa slave, after all. But he was really embracing his role as servant… She hadn’t asked him to do any of this. They went to a store and entered. It was a store centered around interesting rocks and all sorts of other shiny baubles. “Welcome welcome! What can I do for you two fine people?” A man dressed in gaudy attire welcomed them into the store. Typical merchant that just came into wealth. His clothes were dyed finely in a way Sienna wasn’t used to because she didn’t really wear cloth; she wore leather. They didn’t have the time to weave their own clothing. They didn’t even have animals or plants to get the cloth from. Their clothes came from the animals they killed and the hides they tanned. “Um, I’m looking for some divination stones… Would you happen to have any?” She knew how to read her rocks because she had gathered all of them. The way they fell, the way the light shone off of them… It all meant something. “We have plenty of small crystals if you want!” The man smiled broadly and invited her over to a counter which had all sorts of shiny rocks of differing colors. “Feel free to take what you want—as long as you pay, of course.” The man winked. Sienna was not impressed. He was annoying. But she ignored him and started digging through the different rocks. They were labeled, of course, but she didn’t know what any of them said. She picked up a pouch and started digging through the various colors and shapes for the ones that felt right to her. Some were big, some were small, some were in-between. She had no idea what any of them meant, but that didn’t matter; it was all about intuition and what feltright to her. She dug through them for a time, and eventually came out with around twenty small to mid-sized stones. They fit neatly into a small pouch… She’d need to make some small pouches like she’d had before they’d been cut off her belt. She put them on the counter and the man tallied them up. He told her the price and Johnathan paid for her. He looked at the coins. “Hmm… These aren’t of Noci; they’re from Efrana…” “Will you take them or not?” Johnathan narrowed his eyes and folded his arms. The merchant let out a terrified laugh. “Oh they’re fine! I just wasn’t expecting to see Efrana coins in Noci was all.” “My lady is from Efrana.” That was all Johnathan would say on the matter. “Let’s go, Sienna. Unless you needed more here?” Sienna shook her head. “This should work for me.” She still wasn’t sure what he wanted her to do with the paper though… It wasn’t like she had any experience with that… She was used to bones and rocks and crystals and stuff. It was just how things were for her. They gathered their own divination materials if they weren’t doing an individual divination with something like tea leaves. She even used random twigs gathered off the ground! She could divine through anything, but her bones and feathers had been her preferred methods… She really didn’t like the fact that she couldn’t have her traditional divination tools… They left the store and Sienna sighed. “It’ll take me a long time to get used to these…” She jostled the small pouch of crystals. “I’m used to bones, feathers, sticks, and maybe rocks. These are crystals; not rocks.”She felt pretty sure they all had their own meanings, but she was just going with whatever made the most intuitive sense for her. That was how she read everything. No two divination sets were the same for anybody in her tribe. And plus, she had to replace feathers as old ones dried out and broke or whatever else. Feathers didn’t last very long unfortunately, but they were her favorite divination method after bones. “I want my bones back.” Johnathan frowned. “I’m not sure if we’d be able to find anything like that or not. Perhaps if we searched the city, we could find somebody…” “I don’t want to spend all day out today,” she said. That just didn’t sound appealing to her at all. Maybe there was somebody that sold divination bones, but it sounded like a major stretch for her to be able to accomplish to find. Plus, she’d gathered all of hers through hunting or scavenging dead carcasses of animals. She just hated that she didn’t have her old bones to deal with. Bones were a lot easier for her to read than anything else. “I’ll ask around and see if anything like that exists. Forgive me for not knowing.” He bowed a bit. “I did my best to study the city before we came here, but it’s not like I knew we would need divination bones.” Sienna shook her head. “It’s not your fault.” She couldn’t blame him when she was asking for something so utterly specific. And again, it was one of those things that wasn’t really set with her people. Plenty of people had had preferred animals to get bones from. She hadn’t really discriminated between different animals. If a bone felt right, she would add it to her stock and learn how to tell the future from how they landed and overlapped. “What all else do you need down here?” “I have just a few more stores left. It shouldn’t take too long. Thank you for being so patient.” He dipped his head to her. Yang and Johnathan were kind despite everything that was happening. She was glad… She didn’t know what she’d do if she had to serve the duke or somebody like that… Her heart ached for the young girls that would be sold off as essentially sex slaves, then cast aside. With those tasks accomplished, they went to the remaining stores until they passed a tent that seemed rather dark inside. For some reason, Sienna felt drawn to it. “Hey, can we go in there?” she asked. Johnathan came up next to her, and she could feel his skepticism. “Something about it feels foreboding.” “I dunno about that.” They couldn’t see the wares inside, but she didn’t really care. “If you want to, you can. But I’ll wait out here.” Sienna nodded. “All right then.” She went into the tent, finding a well-lit area with tons of different wares. Normally, a keeper would stay to one thing such as textiles, books, or such, but this had all sorts of wares. There were even outfits for sale which looked like they’d be up to the par of what she needed. It would be a few days until her clothes were done… She couldn’t be sure if there would be any that would fit her, though. She wandered through the clothes, looking at them. They were of fine fiber and it looked like a few would fit her. “Hello, hello!” A redhead with red eyes approached, a big bounce in her step. “Welcome, welcome! Are you interested in some clothes? Granted, those ones you’re wearing don’t fit too well, now do they?” The woman looked at her with a critical eye and Sienna’s ears went down. She knew they fit improperly especially around the bust area. She was so used to clothing fitting being perfect. The sleeves and skirt were longer than she would’ve liked as well… Honestly, she didn’t even wantto wear a skirt, but it felt like she really had no choice. “I could definitely use a few pieces to tide me over until I get my wardrobe…” she admitted. “Well, what colors would you like? I have some pieces available in multiple styles and colors~” The woman winked and smiled, her voice chirpy and bouncy. Despiste that, for some reason, Sienna couldn’t get a read on her soul. It wasn’t as if looking into a void; it was like trying to scale the walls of the city… It just wasn’t going to happen, or at least not very easily, and she knew it. “What colors would you like?” “Um… I’m not sure. I’m not used to dyed clothes.” That wasn’t a lie in the slightest. She was notused to dyed clothes. She had no idea what would look good on her or not. She was currently in a bright orange dress with yellow and brown highlights. She wasn’t sure if it looked nice or not… She had no real conception of image in the same way that these nobles she was dealing with now did. It was frustrating, but she had to try to learn to play the part the duke wanted her to play. “What type of Faunus are you?” “Some form of cat.” Her ears had orangish and black on them. She felt overly covered up though. She had tattooed stripes on her arms because of the stripes on her ears. But she wasn’t sure what specific species… Some sort of orange-and-black striped cat. “Based on your ears, it looks like you’re probably a tiger Faunus, so that means oranges and dark reds will probably look best on you. Would you be more partial to short sleeves or long dresses?” Sienna looked down at the obscenely long dress she was wearing. “I’d prefer pants honestly…but I don’t think that’s going to fly with the duke unfortunately.” She shook her head. She hated that she had to deal with this. The women generally didn’t wear dresses in her tribe because they could and would get caught on prickers and briers. She was trying to avoid that, but still… They weren’t living in the forest, so she would probably have to wear dresses. “On the off chance of me needing to go out though, do you have pants?” The woman nodded. “Yep, yep! Would you mind letting me get your measurements?” Sienna shook her head and let the woman put her through the process of measuring various parts of her body. It did feel a little bit demeaning, but she knew it was necessary for getting properly-fitted clothes. Thankfully, it didn’t take too terribly wrong and she was let go. “Let me go see what I have in the back~” With that the woman slipped away, leaving Sienna alone in the odd store. Granted, she didn’t have any money, so she motioned Johnathan in. He frowned. “I still don’t like the looks of this place.” “She’s getting me some clothes.” That was what was most important to her. At least until she saw something near the front that caught her attention. It was just a large display of various types of bones. They were laid out similarly to how the crystals were. It was just a large array of bones in various sizes. Each were labeled with different prices. Some were broken, some were whole. Some were vertebrae, ribs, and all sorts of other bones. She was astounded. She couldn’t remember each individual piece of her divination set, but she could easily replace them here. She started digging through the bones and finding which ones felt right. Johnathan looked at her with a raised eyebrow but she paid him no mind as she picked out enough to replace her old set. By time she was finished with that, the woman had returned and placed about five or six different outfits along with privies on the counter. Sienna put the bones on the counter. “Would you happen to have a pouch I can put these in?” The woman smiled and nodded then placed a small pouch on the counter. She looked at Johnathan who sighed and paid for what they had gotten. They exited the store and he looked at Sienna. “All things considered…this was a pretty fair price.” “I wouldn’t really know.” She didn’t use money at all. When they had to get things, they bartered for them. Most merchants were willing to take various animal skins or rare stones or herbs in place of money. It was stuff they could sell later down the line for a profit. She didn’t mind… She just didn’t understand the value of the coins that he carried and that people used. Her ears twitched a bit. “Would you mind teaching me about money?” He blinked as he looked at her. “You don’t know about money?” She shook her head. “I know metals have value to you, but I don’t really understand how it works.I don’t understand prices or anything like that. I don’t know what’s expensive or cheap. I know everything has a monetary value to you guys, but I’ve just never used it. Most merchants are willing to trade for well-tanned leather or animal pelts since it’s something they can sell later down the line. We had no use for money.” “I see. Well, yes, in that case, I can definitely teach you. I can do that when we get back to the castle. For now, that’s our shopping done and we can head back.” Sienna nodded. “All right.” With that done, they started heading back up to the castle with their purchases in tow.