The Servant

Chapter 18

Trigger warning: This chapter contains sensitive subjects such as sexual assault, abuse, self-harm.

"Hera," Maader's warm and nurturing voice calls out from the shaded entrance that leads out to her garden. It was his first time in a long time since he's been able to walk around. After finally getting a tour around the building, his final stop was the garden. A place where the slaves would harvest the vegetables and cargo for some of her other customers. It was a large acre of land with each crop, vegetable, and fruit organized and separated to make harvesting easier. Sinbad looks to the right and carefully takes in the details around him. That was until he had found a girl in plain white skirts that were dirty around her knees. Her hands looked horrible, likely from working with the crops farther back. Her brown hair was braided to the side and passing her breasts.  her red eyes looked just as absent as he felt. She held a basket filled with sweet potatoes when she had walked towards them. She's cute...and familiar. As if Sinbad had seen her before in another life. Was she happy? Sad? Was she a girl he had hit on before? He wasn't quite sure, all he knew was that she was from a place he can't seem to remember quite well.

"I'm sorry if I kept you waiting, Maader." Her soft voice drawls. She carefully sets the basket down  in front of them. "I ws preparing the last bit of cargo."

"Very good!~" Maader praised. "You are always Maader's favorite."

Hera's cheeks began to blush. "Thank you,Maader."

"I do have help for you this time, " Maader motions her hand towards Sinbad, who stares at Hera in curiosity. "This is my new boy, Sinbad. " She looks over to Sinbad and back at Hera. "He will be your extra arms. Such a lovely girl like yourself can only do so much here."

"I -- I do what I must to help, Maader." She says shyly. Her eyes meet Sinbad's golden gaze, and her heartfelt heavy. She has seen someone with those same beautiful eyes. The same beautiful hair that must take hours to comb through. Sinbad turns his head to the tomatoes and studies them instead, Hera frowns. 

"I will leave you to your work," Maader says. "Someone will come to get the basket from you."

Hera dips her upper body and watches her leave. Once the door closes, Sinbad finally meets her face again -- and he sees her true face for only a moment before she turns to him and gives him her best smile. "I'll try my best to make sure I teach you everything you need to know," She explains. "We'll start with a tour."

Sinbad follows her as she shows him all over the place and tells him the rules. He would nod his head, but his eyes would linger to her when she wasn't looking. The rest of the shift was easier on Hera now that Sinbad was here, he was a lot stronger than she is, so he was tasked with carrying the bigger boxes. He would also help her water the other half of the garden while she was pulling weeds from a separate section. It was refreshing to hear him speak again, and just by hearing him talk, Hera had felt nostalgic. 

Days were passing, and their friendship grows into something wholesome. Sinbad would find himself looking forward to seeing Hera again. He was so eager to go to the Garden that he practically ran as fast as he possibly can just to meet her there. 

"Hera!" He calls out while turning away from the tomatoes and steering to the red onions. "Hey! Hera! Where are you?"

He looks down and sees a pair of feet and someone's backside sticking out from the eggplants aisle. An idea creeps into his head, but he ditches it quickly as he stands close to her. She was fixing the water hose, so she can start watering the flowers in the center section. Sinbad remembered doing something like this before: Sneaking up on her. Teasing her. Poking fun with her.  He stands close to her now, his hands on his knees as he watches her twist the knob until water shoots from the black tube.  "Do you need hel--