She’d said “thank you.”

 

She’d actually said “thank you,” as Venisin had beaten her.

 

The rightness of it left a deep thrill inside Venisin. It was so absolutely adorable. And it gave Venisin some of the confidence to do what she knew needed to be done next. 

 

Finally finding a reason to let loose had been a thrill. Venisin kept such a strict control over herself. She was responsible for Kira, and couldn’t just torture her for fun. It would cross the line from being unusual to being a poor caretaker, and she’d never let herself take that step.

 

But Kira had given her a reason, and so she’d indulged, and now she was left with the adorable task of cuddling her little pet after a difficult experience and of figuring out what the “thank you” had meant.

 

The Kvėnzrkrom sophonts had been comparatively simple, but this puzzle was so satisfying.

 

Venisin reviewed what she knew. Kira had been captured on a single person Terran military scout. Relatively advanced technology for Terrans. She’d fallen under an agreement made with a different Terran commander about Terran rebels caught in this sector of space. The advanced technology and sabotaged computer system had confirmed that Kira fell under that designation.

 

At this point the Arboratis was mostly conducting cleanup operations, so the queue of sophonts in holding was small, and a match was immediately found. As an automatic domestication, Kira was sent straight from intake to her first owner. That Affini noted high levels of anxiety, sullenness, and an unusually high practical resistance to xenodrugs. That was a distinct quality from chemical resistance, which was what Venisin had extensive experience with on Kvėnzrkrom.  Practical meant that Kira would get drugged up, but had a higher than usual ability to, for example, pull herself together and ask a question, or perform a task.

 

None of those things were that unusual, particularly coming from a Terran rebel that was involuntarily domesticated. What was unusual was Kira’s response to the standard escalation path. When Flaron Inska, Third Bloom, increased Kira’s dosage and moved her up to higher class xenodrugs to eliminate the resistance, Kira became more volatile. She started acting out. There was some low level hab destruction, seemingly done in a moment of distress. But then there was the deliberate sabotage of the hab’s electrical systems, and that definitely took planning.

 

No one had thought to ask what Kira had done for the Terran rebellion, but it was quickly obvious that it had been something technical, and likely also something involving subterfuge. None of the damage was critical, of course, but Flaron quickly felt that she wasn’t the ideal caretaker. Kira’s continued outbursts represented a clear sign of emotional distress and disharmony, and it was early enough that moving Kira to someone else seemed less disruptive than dramatically increasing the xenodrug usage.

 

Kira was subjected to an additional battery of psychological tests, this time while conscious, and placed with someone else. Kanson Riley, Seventh Bloom, had taken early ferrals before, in previous domestications, and had a strict and steady hand. Kira’s psychological profile suggested she would thrive under the tighter control, and for a short while she seemed to do fine, just taking light class A xenodrugs that seemed to make her obedient.

 

Even after a couple of days, Venisin figured that obedience might just have been Kira’s natural state, and some of the sullenness of getting captured just put off other triggers.

 

But, just like last time, something had brought Kira to anxiety and conflict with her owner, the drug dosage had gone up, the behavior got worse, and this time Kira cashed in her first suicide attempt.

 

That earned her a trip to the psychologist and an Affini specialized in emotional disturbed and problem pets. Venisin had seen some of Janeis Navin, Sixth Bloom’s paperwork, and he was truly excellent at what he did. Nevertheless within three weeks Kira broke out of the hab twice, tried to kill herself once, then got put on class J’s and tried to kill herself again.

 

Venisin wished she’d asked more about those experiences and what drove them. It might have sidestepped some of Kira’s hesitancy about the past and told Venisin more about the motives. But what she did have to go off of wasn’t insignificant. There was a common root here, and that was that things always went most sideways when her owners were trying to control her mind.

 

Venisin reflected that she seemed like an object stuck between two vines. The higher the tension, the more she seemed to snap and bounce.

 

That branch of thought also bore weight in relation to Kira’s strong preference not to have xenodrugs used on her. 

 

And now Kira didn’t know her own name. 

 

Venisin reflected on the irony. It was likely her own preference away from xenodrugs and towards what Terrans would call “psychology” that let her stumble on this hidden spring. 

 

Kira had obvious blind spots that she herself didn’t know about. Something was going on under the earth inside the roots of Kira’s brain, and it seemed incredibly hostile. Certainly to the Affini, potentially even to little Kira. 

 

Venisin smiled. She didn’t just know which way the sun was, she knew how it moved.

 

Now it was just time to wait for her little leaf to wake up. 

 

——

 

Venisin was in the process of stroking every bit of Kira’s skin the 6th time when she finally stirred. 

 

“Hello little petal,” Venisin whispered.

 

“Augghh,” Kira let out.

 

Kira, even or especially half conscious, was adorable.

 

“Shhh,” Venisin calmed, “it’s ok.” 

 

Kira came to awareness, a moment Venisin recognized because Kira immediately became tense as a root on broken stone. Venisin didn’t say anything for a moment, just kept holding. She wasn’t sure where to start… The mystery of the “thank you” could probably wait, it was abundantly clear Kira was no longer in whatever mood had prompted it.

 

So that left what had originally led to the discipline. The name.

 

By the end of the whipping Venisin had been certain that Kira fully believed that she didn’t have a name, and she’d replayed the entire exchange over and over again while Kira slept. Kira had been disrespectful, defiant, but also confused herself. So this was a mystery to both of them. But Venisin couldn’t ignore the possibility that the answer was something Kira did not want her to know. It was time for some gentle prompting.

 

“Shhh can you tell me what happened?” Venisin started, “at this point I don’t think you were being willful, and I don’t like the idea of beating you until information comes pouring out.”

 

Kira seemed to search for something.

 

“I– I don’t know either,” she started “It’s distressing me too. I try to remember my name and I just come up… blank.”

 

There was a thoughtful pause.

 

“Even Kira is a nickname, I think…” 

 

A flash of understanding passed over Kira’s face, and Venisin sensed it the same way she felt prey brush past her vines. This was the moment of truth.

 

“Would you care to share what you just understood?” Venisin asked.

 

“There wasn’t anything, Master.”

 

Venisin was, at her core, a predator of the most patient kind. She felt the lie in her core, a discordance. Her sophont had a secret. Whatever was going on in Kira’s head, Kira was on its side, not Venisin’s.

 

Venisin spent a moment letting herself feel pride–Kira had spent nearly a week hiding this about herself WITHOUT breaking the honesty rule. Venisin adored that grace.

 

But to let this pass now would be a dereliction of her duty. Venisin’s expression darkened. To get this out would require… a lot of force. This was the resistance, the thing that sat under the surface while Kira played at being desperate for orgasms and obeying simple instructions. 

 

There was no way around it. Venisin would have to break her.

 

——

 

Kira was experienced enough to sense it. Venisin’s whole expression felt like it had a physical aura of menace and determination. Kira reflected that there was a hint of irony to noticing it. Her body and soul were acknowledging Venisin, she wouldn't sense her moods so bone deep otherwise, but that very fact was the source of so much of Kira’s angst.

 

Venisin tapped the table three times.

 

“I really don’t want to get difficult here, but I can’t really brook this sort of defiance. If you’re going to keep lying to me, I’m going to have to keep punishing you,” Venisin spoke.

 

Kira felt her emotional landscape adjusting, like an ancient carrier fighter drawing in a pair of swept wings.

 

“I understand, Master.”

 

“And since this is deliberate, and I don’t want to punish you for the rest of your life, this is going to be particularly brutal,” Venisin warned.

 

The tarp going over the airplane, securing it down and shielding it against the oncoming storm. Face blanking, as feelings hid deeper.

 

“I understand, Master.”

 

The mask that made up Venisin’s simulacrum of a face hardened. The emotional side taken care of, Kira distanced herself from her body, letting the half trance, half disassociation carry her away.

 

“When you’re ready to talk, just say so,” Venisin tried one last time.

 

The fighter went down, into the ship’s belly, where the outside world could no longer touch it. She was herself, her body was just a vessel, one whose sacrifice was determined by her service and her fate, and not something she would concern herself with.

 

“I understand, Master.”

 

Venisin had nothing further to say. The closest thing Kira had had to comfort since getting captured draped a vine around her wrist and pulled her to her feet. This time she wasn’t sudden, aggressive. This had an almost ritual quality to it. She marched Kira to one of the spare rooms. To face what was supposed to be an unimaginable amount of suffering. Until Kira broke. 

 

She was, perhaps oddly, not at all angry at Venisin. This was fate, the unavoidable collision course, an immovable object meeting an unstoppable force, and in the middle, Kira. Until Kira broke.

 

She’d craved something like this, once. It felt fitting, the absolute show of dedication and devotion. Self sacrifice. Until Kira broke.

 

So then this would finally be the end. Because she wouldn’t break, not until she took her last breath.

 

Kira let herself fall into her mantras. 

 

She recalled one of the parts of her hypnotic programming still accessible to her, and wrapped her already distant sense of self in the warmth of a hug and the comfort of a memory.

 

It would take a lot more than suffering or impending destruction for Kira to betray her Mistress.