The carriage came to a jerking halt in front of Double Moon Castle and Arianda waited as the door was opened by a henchman. After he lifted her to the ground, the two went together to the back of the coach and she waited for the henchman to unlatch her new purchase and re-attach his leash.

"See to it that this beast is checked thoroughly for fleas and lice. Oh and get that rat-eaten collar and those battered shackles off him." She stepped toward the door then turned and added. "Wash the stench of the pit from his skin. Shave that..." She waved her hand in the air, not wanting to dignify the long matted fur on his chin by calling it a beard. "Just shave his face but do not cut his hair. I've a bit of market dust I'd like to be rid of myself then I shall join you in the Relic Room." Without another glance she walked away and slipped into the Great Hall. Bernardo was led through a service entrance into the Dungeon to be prepped for meeting the Lady again.

The whirl of activity for making the new purchase acceptable was entirely different from Arianda's soothing attended bath. She was in a much better mood, having washed off the market. She let her anger with the Handler and the Merchant silt away into hot soapy water.

Bernardo stood for a long time in the darkened Relic Room, waiting with yet another handler, though this one was more refined. He had put up no resistance during all the cleansing, shaving, cuffing, etc. It felt good to be clean again and to be anywhere but the pit and the market.

Maxwell and the new purchase stood side by side for endless minutes, facing the doors, awaiting the Lady. Bernardo stood at attention, feet apart, hands clasped together at the small of his back. Maxwell looked more comfortable with his hands folded together in front of him and his stance relaxed. He grinned, wondering what the new purchase thought of the implements in this room but they did not speak as they waited. Bernardo hadn't had time to really look before he was turned to face the door again, but the large wrought iron construction, now behind him, had certainly piqued his curiosity.

At last the doors opened and Arianda stepped through them. She was clad in a long white robe, satin brocade, secured at the waist with a wide black sash. She had her choker and amethyst teardrop cleaned so she could put it on again after her bath. Her hair was left down, wrapping around her shoulders and lying in waves down her back. She smiled warmly to Maxwell.

He smiled back and bowed "Good evening, M'Lady Arianda. I trust your bath was enjoyable?"

"Yes, very." She continued into the room and passed between the two men, tossing words to her new acquisition as she passed. "No word of greeting for your mistress?"

Calmly, Bernardo responded. "Beg pardon, Mistress. Good evening." He had not been certain he was expected to greet her but was happy to do so. Always so many things to learn about new masters. They all had their own preferences and quirks. Now he would anxiously learn hers. He moved only his mouth. Otherwise he remained in his formal stance with head up and eyes lowered, but he could smell the sweet fragrance of her as she passed. He could see the swell of her breasts and curve of her legs peeping from the white satin as she moved.

Maxwell turned and followed Arianda. Bernardo stayed put, not having been told anything to do nor given permission to move. Behind him he heard the creaking of something heavy and echoed clanks of metal upon metal.

When Arianda appeared at his side, she bid him turn around. The previously darkened room was now lit with many candles on tall stands placed around the wrought iron construction. She gestured, "This is the Iron Pentacle. Look well upon it. It is a versatile device and perhaps someday you shall enjoy the many uses of it. For now, step up and be bound."

These words sunk through him and tapped into dark fears while at the same time thrilling him. He had never seen such a contraption as the Iron Pentacle and yet he knew the symbol. He could see how he would be bound as each point of the five-pointed star was a circle of iron with a chain clasped to it. His feet were reluctant for the first step then he strode to the iron circle and turned before stepping back against it. He resisted the impulse to gasp as his skin met the cold rough frame but he could not stifle the deep breath that rose and fell in his chest.

Maxwell knelt at Bernardo's feet and tapped the inside of his ankle with his hand. He stretched his leg out and pressed his foot onto the plate extended there so that Maxwell could chain through the ring in the ankle cuff. The new purchase had been properly fitted with collar, ankle and wrist cuffs, as well as a soft leather thong to cover only his genitals. This he was particularly grateful for, since he was becoming aroused by being secured to the frame. While Maxwell chained his other ankle, Arianda completed attaching the second wrist. Bernardo was striving to keep his breathing even and hoping the growing bulge beneath the leather pouch at his crotch would go unnoticed.

Maxwell and Arianda had locked the frame into an upright position, so she stepped in behind Bernardo and the frame. She whispered at his back "Almost done." Her fingers reached around to gather his long hair back. He shivered at her touch and closed his eyes. He had to think of something else, perhaps earlier in the day, at the market, though now that seemed eons ago. Arianda draped his hair up over the circular rim of the frame so she could run the chain through his collar loop and latch it back on the other side. He was relieved to open his eyes and see her standing in front of him again and talking to Maxwell.

"Thank you, Maxwell. I believe I can manage from here."

Maxwell looked aside to the frame and the rather large muscular fellow now cinched to it. He arched a brow and looked back to Ari. "M'Lady, if I may point out---" She waved him off toward the door. "Don't be silly. Yes he is a big one but I dare say the frame and chains will hold him." She grinned. "And as you know... I am not without my defenses."

He mirrored her grin. "Yes, well, if M'Lady is certain."

"Indeed, now be off and let me get to it, hm? I'm sure Terin has better things for you to do." She laughed lightly. For Bernardo it was a sweet sound and the whole exchange served to calm him, at least until Maxwell closed the doors and she turned to look at her new purchase on display. No matter what was happening to him though, he kept his eyes lowered and to Arianda it seemed that his solemn expression never varied.

She stood before him, arms folded across herself, one hand up beneath her chin. He was beautiful, now that he was clean and smoothly shaven. Nearly perfect except for that rip across his cheek and some rather nasty bruises. Blasted Handler. This was a good buy though. He was deeply tanned and likely of some ethnic origin though this had been difficult to discern in the sweat and dust of the market.

"What was your given name?" She phrased the question pointedly.

He did not raise his eyes to meet hers although staring at the long black sash against her white robe was likely not a smart thing to do either. He remembered her leg peeping through the black velvet earlier in the day. "Bernardo, Mistress." he answered quietly, in his smooth low voice. There was only the slightest hint of an accent as he said his name.

She stepped to him, very close. He could smell her again. His groin began to ache again, worse as her pale hands smoothed across his shoulders then her fingers spread out over the sparse black hair on his chest. "Hmmm..." She mused aloud. "Bear, I think."

"Pardon, Mistress?" He couldn't understand why she was stating the obvious. Of course he was bare, except for the leather pouch.

Arianda looked at his face then slipped her fingers beneath his chin to raise his head. "You may look at me, Bear. That is what I shall call you. Large as a beast you are and with the eyes of...." His gaze lifted to her and again, his eyes were so stark within such richness of color to his skin. Again she saw the bright depths in those eyes and something haunted perhaps. "The eyes of a predator."

His eyes had caught hers but now they narrowed as though her words confused or pained him but he said nothing. Arianda searched his face a moment then turned away from him. She could almost hear his relieved exhale. She went to a small side table and poured herself a drink from the decanter there. "Tis but a name and now it is yours, until I change it."

"Yes, Mistress."

She came back to him and took a sip of the warm brandy in her mouth. She held it as she leaned in and tasted his nipple and the brandy together with her tongue and lips. Her free hand smoothed over his tight stomach. She felt his whole body stiffen against the frame and his chest pressed against her face in a quick intake of breath.

When she leaned back, the brandy snifter floated in her one hand while the other drifted down across his navel til her fingers flexed on the leather pouch which was growing rather tight. Her eyes locked his. He slowly exhaled his held breath and swallowed deeply.

Arianda grinned, "Who told you it was bad to have an erection, hm?" She flexed her fingers around the leather and his stiffness again.

One corner of the Bear's mouth curled up in a half grin. "Beg pardon, Mistress. I have much to learn."

She released him abruptly and sipped again then wandered around behind him and the frame. "Yes. Don't we all." His half grin had touched her. She had to stop such thoughts. It may have been a mistake to give him permission to look at her as well... those eyes.

Arianda opened the Initiation Box that Maxwell had brought in with the new purchase. The cuffs and collar were missing of course, since Bear was wearing them. She took out the piercing tool and loaded the linked silver rings into it. She left her brandy sitting as she walked back around to face the Bear again. He silently looked at the strange object in her hand then up to her face, his brow arched in curiosity.

"Marking. We mark all of our stock in this way and you are Double Moon stock since my purchase this afternoon." Her tone was quite cold and business-like.

He dared a comment. "But, Mistress... I have been property to many and would not..." How could he tell her of his past? of his reasons? This seemed a good place, but so had others, at first. How could he accept this marking and take on this concept of belonging when he belonged... nowhere?

She furrowed her brows. "Would not what?" Now there was a bit of indignance in her voice.

He looked into her eyes, noting that they had lost some of the soft blue and gone colder, more gray like his own. He saw a flicker of what she had called "predator." His solemn look and eyes searching her own certainly unnerved her but she didn't flinch as she waited for his reply.

"I would not... object to belonging to one..." He was lost for what to say without telling more than he intended to tell so he just ended with an echo "...to one." then visibly relaxed.

"And so it is. I trust that the caretakers in the dungeon saw to other factors and I of course approve of my own purchase." She now had her head lowered, holding the piercing tool in one hand and with the fingers of the other, made slow circles around his navel. Part of her consternation with him was fading as she noticed him twitching within the leather pouch.

She paused a moment and looked up at his face again. He opened his eyes. He had closed them to enjoy the smell of her hair, the feel of her fingers on him.

"To whom did you belong last and what services did you perform for them?"

He was suddenly thrown off by her question. He blinked those piercing gray eyes and answered casually. "Dock work mostly, for an off-shore trader and... other duties as commanded, of course."

"Meaning?" She was rubbing his stomach slowly, making larger, soothing circles. She was barely aware of it herself. Her thoughts were mostly on him, working at the docks. It would explain his dark tan.

"There are goods and services to be traded in the world, Mistress." He grinned the half-grin at her again then rested his head back against the frame and closed his eyes.

"Ah, breeding stock." she said as she pinched up a small bit of flesh at the base of his navel then slipped the tool in place.

Bear opened his eyes again and looked down to see what she was doing, just in time for Lady Arianda to crimp the tool, piercing his skin and notching the ring into place. He hissed in through his teeth but it was soon followed by a shudder against the frame and a gasp that slipped out before he could control it. Arianda had curled over to kiss the droplets of blood from his skin. She used her tongue and lips to check that the rings were secure and to soothe the injury she'd made.

When she straightened again to look at him, his dove gray eyes were so soft, almost lavender. He did indeed have a look that was warmer than the predatory calm. This was something else. She had a notion she could spend long hours finding out what exactly.

She grinned, "Can't have you bleeding on my white satin."

"Yes, Mistress." he acknowledged with a hoarse voice. It was of course not the prick of the piercing tool, but the symbol of the gesture and her attentions that stirred him.

"Alas this is all I'd planned for you in the frame this time." Arianda put the tool back with the Initiation Box then from behind him, unchained his collar and his wrists. She walked around to the front of the frame and knelt before him to undo his ankles.

Now that Bear could lean forward, he adjusted his wrist cuffs and watched her. From his angle he saw the white satin robe gaping open. The smooth pale mounds of her breasts were less than concealed.

Arianda moved to get the other ankle. "Usually the marking is done in the Tea Room but..." She stood up again as he stepped from the frame. They were facing each other, very close. She looked up into his face and his predatory solemn gaze looked back. "But I was afraid a beast like you might destroy a piece of our favorite furniture."

He whispered past his quickened pulse. "I am harmless, Mistress."

Arianda swallowed and arched a brow then turned from him. She walked as casually as she could toward the doors, though it was more like fleeing. "So say you." She drew the doors open then looked over her shoulder. "Come. We shall find Maxwell and let him settle you into your quarters."

Later in her bedchambers, Lady Arianda was trying to sleep but it wasn't working. She got up from her bed and paced then stood in the window looking at the slivers of the moons awhile then paced again. She began to think that perhaps she should have skipped today's auction. What would that small bag of coins.... and those gray eyes... cost her in the long run?

Relic Room

Other Relics

Ice and Fire
To Madame
Controlled Release

Bear1: Auction
Bear2: Marking