With Wren rubbing up against me and telling me to do anything to her, I hesitated-- I was a little tempted, mostly because I wanted to comfort her and make her feel better, but I also felt this really wasn't the best foot to start off on.

"Look, Wren-- I know you went through a lot, but I don't think I'm, well, emotionally ready to do lewd stuff with you. If you wanna just cuddle or talk about anything, I'm here for you, but today has been a little bit of an emotional rollercoaster for me too."

Wren pouted a little, but nodded, and snuggled up close against me rather than rubbing her body against me. "I understand. I suppose... being accepted by Mistress Eve again got me really aroused... usually she reassures me that I'm doing well, but I guess there wasn't time."

The current position was a bit uncomfortable with her half-sprawled on top of me in an awkward way, but I didn't want to upset her further. I stroked her head softly. "That's understandable. You can like... I can leave you alone for a bit, if you need well, alone time to, do things...?"

She tensed up and rubbed against me, tears rising in her eyes. "No! No no no no no! Please! Please don't leave me alone, Sasha-- I need an anchor attached to Mistress, or I start doubting everything, okay? Please don't leave me alone for even a second... I need you...."

Wow, and I thought I was clingy. But... she had been through a lot, and it was probably partially my fault. "...Okay. We'll have to work on that, but for now I'll stay by your side." I scratched behind her ear softly and she nuzzled against my hand. "We'll get you fucked soon, by... someone or other, okay? Well, assuming you're into girls."

"But you'll be there in the same room at the very least?"

I looked away from her eyes shining up at me. "...sure, yeah, I can do that at least."

"Can we hold hands while people fuck us?"

I could imagine this all too vividly, lying on the bed with my fingers entwined in hers as Mistress fucked my pussy. "...maybe."

"Make out?"

My gaze fluttered to her lips, and I was a little tempted to make out right now. "...look, this isn't really the thing I wanna discuss right now."

Wren sighed softly and relaxed against me. "Yes, Mistress."

"Sasha."

"Sorry, Sasha. I'll do better." Her inflection still made "Sasha" sound like some sort of term like Mistress or whatever, though, like I owned her and she was aware of and okay with it... maybe I was projecting too much, though.

I stared up at the ceiling for a moment, and suddenly realized I was hungry. "Hey, you hungry, Wren?"

"Sure."

I bit my lip. "And um... I dunno how to say this, but maybe don't tell anyone about Eve torturing you and junk. I don't think it's okay that she did it, just... if the situation becomes that Princess Asperia has to choose between you and Eve, she's totally going to choose Eve. You want to use her as a shield against others, rather than stand against her... unfortunately." I closed my eyes, feeling like a pretty shitty person. "It's basically what I'm doing?"

"I thought you liked Mistress." Wren's tone was accusatory.

"I do, it's just... complicated, okay? I think the way she treated you was really bad."

Wren snuggled up a bit closer, lips almost pressing against my ear, and whispered, "She probably needed to do it so she didn't need to kill me like the rest of my... adoptive family. I don't think I would've bent if she hadn't tortured me. Besides, it wasn't so bad. She didn't make me kill them, at least... she'd comfort me sometimes, if I was obedient... I needed to be tamed, and Mistress was kind enough to tame me. Besides, I only exist to serve her desires... if she wants to torture me more, that's fine too, just... I hope she doesn't torture me through abandonment... I hope this isn't another time she's torturing me through abandonment...."

She was trembling against me, and I stroked her back. "Yeah... sorry, maybe I shouldn't have brought that up."

"No, it's good to remember how kind Mistress is to me, that I only exist to serve her... if I forget, I could slip up and do something wrong again...." Her trembling had gotten worse.

"...Mmm, yeah... it's okay... shhhh... just relax, you're a good girl... Mistress Eve told me to take good care of you, and I would even if she hadn't...." I stroked her back and head a bit more firmly, hoping that it'd comfort her. Maybe I didn't want to listen to this stuff in the first place, maybe it made loving Eve harder, and I knew not loving her wasn't really an option... I had to be a good girl with Mistress first in my heart... now Wren had me doing it. Fuck. I shuddered, momentarily very very glad that Eve had decided to be her version of "gentle" with me, and a little disgusted with this gratitude, particularly when this kindness hadn't been extended to Wren.

We lay there for a little while in silence, and then I suddenly realized I was very very hungry. "Hey, you hungry, Wren?"

"...I could eat."

"Let's go to the kitchen... um... so, this harem is mostly a pretty nice place. Princess Asperia is relatively nice to her slaves, and gives them a lot of freedom... well, at least to her harem slaves, but I kind of imagine it extends to most people who are 'hers'... and I guess they're putting her first... look at me, justifying slavery, heh."

"But," replied Wren evenly, "there's nothing wrong with slavery. Society couldn't function without it."

"...it's inherently abusive. There's a disconnect of power."

"The same is true with teacher and student, ruler and ruled, parent and child. There's always going to be disparities in power. The question is who wields it." Wren shifted so her head was a little ways in front of mine, and looked into my eyes. "You're afraid you're an abusive person at heart."

I started to sweat. "Haha, what? No...." I bit my lip. It was hard to look her in the eyes.

After a long moment of silence, my shoulders slumped slightly. "...maybe it's a tendency of mine. I try not to be."

"Well, you're a slave, you don't need to worry about that." Wren smiled and petted my head, and it felt really good and comforting, making me relax a little.

"Wren, I literally just got handed control of you."

"...I suppose... is your fear of why you're so upset about what our Goddess did to me?"

"No, like... it's more that I think abuse is bad, so anyone being abusive is bad, so I worry when people do it or feel attraction towards it. Also, wait, I've heard all power relationships will have disparity before as a defense of slavery, is there like, a popular book which said that at some point?"

Wren shrugged. "...I don't know. If there is, I don't know it. The important thing is if it's true or not, isn't it? And if you want to hurt me, why don't you?"

"Because... you're not you. Not the you I knew. She's changed you, your body, your way of thinking, everything. Also I don't actually want to hurt you at all."

"...she's changed you, too. Wait, do you want me to punish you for what you've done? Is that it?"

"...No... probably... look, I don't know, really, I feel like I need to make restitution to you somehow, but I'm definitely not going to let anyone else besides Eve torture me right now."

"...oh, of course! Nothing that would make Mistress mad."

I considered what I had said for a moment, and how much power and control I seemed to have over the situation. "...well, if I can help it, at least. I'm not generally... the most in charge... although I guess you didn't get killed, so I kind of got what I wanted in this situation? I dunno, thinking is hard, let's go eat."

"Yes, Mistress!"

I sighed.

Wren tensed a little. "Pardon me, sorry, Mistress, I mean, sorry Sasha, I mean, 'Yes, Sasha!'"

I stood up, and she did too, sticking close to me. I took my hand in hers, in hopes that it'd relax her a little, although it just made my heart beat faster for some stupid reason, and took her out into the hall.

Velt was lazing around on a couch as usual, this time lying on her front and nude except her collar and some opulent jewelry, and blinked as she saw us exit. "Oh, hi Sasha! Who's that?"

Back to treating me casually, now that I was in my body. I mean this body... maybe it was really my body at this point? I gave Velt a smile, although I felt I probably didn't pull off looking composed with it. "This is Wren. She's new here, Mistress Eve kind of... picked her up somewhere. Can you keep a secret?"

Velt squirmed on her couch as if in agony. "Oh, that's cruel... I have to keep a secret... or suffer not knowing what it is...?" She smiled and sat up after a moment. I can keep a secret from anyone except Princess Asperia, if I have to, I guess." Okay I could see a lot more now that she was sitting up, and my hand inadvertently tightened on Wren's a little as I looked away.

"Princess Asperia already knows. So, Wren isn't quite part of the harem yet, because she has some.…" I looked over to Wren, unsure if I should say anything.

"I have a... let's call it a curse, where I need to stay near Mistress Eve or Sasha, or things start getting really bad for me."

Velt blinked a few times. "Hmmm, your accent is uncommonly cultured, Wren... you grew up around nobility, I take it?"

Wren's hand tightened on mine as she looked down. "Yes, I suppose you could say like they were family to me... well, the first ones were... guess the second ones too, before things got bad...." She was starting to tremble a little.

Velt smiled a bit awkwardly. "Sorry... hey, nobles are usually jerks, good your first set were good ones... well, some slaves around here used to be nobles, and they aren't really jerks, but you know... and of course, our Princess isn't a jerk... and your Mistress Eve is very considerate too, from what I've seen of her, I'm sure she'll take good care of you from now on."

Wren nodded. "My... trainer was really messing with my sense of reality. If Mistress Eve hadn't bought me... I'd probably be going crazy about right now. So she's become a bit of a... focus. Her presence reminds me I'm not in some sort of eternal illusionary punishment. I'm happy to be able to devote my life to her from now on." She stroked my arm gently... to comfort me? I was tensing up... or maybe she wanted to remind her frazzled mental state that she and I both did, in fact, exist.

"Oh... and Sasha's helping you too... yeah, I get it. That'd be rough to get through without help."

I realized that I had told Ava a slightly different cover story then the one we were making now. "Well, we're about to go get some lunch, you're welcome to join us if you want, Velt... Oh. This is reminding me... Wren, do you think you want to meet Ava later? She's an ex-noble, maybe she could help you a little bit with what you're going through... she can be very dominant at times, too." I lowered my voice as I talked further.... I was a little embarrassed exactly how I knew this, and that I was kind of going to try to, I don't know, pimp out Wren to Ava... no, that was the wrong word... it was more like matchmaking, but for casual sex?

Wren nodded enthusiastically. "Anything you wish, Sasha!"

Good. We could make another cover story with her and cover up Eve's crimes.... Fuck. I was absolutely protecting an abuser from her abused.

But... I was also protecting the abused person in the process, and the abuser was trying to get better... Eve really did seem to be trying, right...? I wasn't a bad person, I tried to tell myself, I'm just doing my best in a morally complex situation.