Cithrel still had a few minutes before she needed to walk into the processing room. Just as well, the rooms were depressingly drab, she knew it was to help bring the humans to heel faster, but she found it hard to imagine that it had a greater effective on wild humans from the frontier than it had on her. It was probably the worst part of the job, all things told. It was otherwise pretty simple, each batch of humans was the same as the rest, she could keep reusing the same lines, it was all routine by now. Lately she’d only been getting one day off, but she knew why the long hours.
Elsira kicking off the campaign into the human controlled continents had sparked a fresh flood of wild human captives. Some of the older elves remembered having wild humans fondly, and began paying top coin for them. After councilor Naecaryn was seen wearing a conquered human noble as a necklace it quickly became in vogue, and now companies like Priscille could barely keep up with demand. Even better, when strangers found out her line of work she actually got compliments on her part in taming their former oppressors.
She’d decided to take Reia’s advice and bring a book with her this week. She enjoyed having a the humans caring for her feet but it got old without something more mentally stimulating going on. She began mixing the food solution that the little ones were going to be eating for the next few days. Almost completely tasteless, but with all the nutrients they’d need to survive. She added a few drops of Gertid’s Wort, a flavorless drug that would help make them more docile and open to suggestion. She’d been told that humans could stubbornly hold on to their pride for months without the stuff, not at all efficient for the business. She placed the finished tub of solution on the ground and put her bare feet in it, wincing slightly at how cold it was. It felt strange applying something to hear feet without washing them first, but it was important for the humans to be used to the trace amounts of sweat and dirt that their future masters were likely to have. Soon a coat had settled and she took her feet back out of the tub.
Strapping her sandals back on, she took one last look at the warm, richly decorated room before heading into processing room 32.
“Good morning, humans.” She said in common as she swung open the door and stepped over the little barrier that kept the humans from getting out. She looked over at the cage of squirming little beings. In spite of looking forward to training them, the oppressive atmosphere of the room was already starting to bring down her mood. “Alright then, let’s get you out of there, come on, present yourselves!” She snapped her fingers and the heavy cage doors swung open. As always, some of the humans began trying to run. She let them reach the barrier, it was good for them to realize that even without someone there to stop them, it wasn’t realistic that they could get out. She then walked over to the barrier and lifted her right foot, carefully jabbing her toe at one of the little thing’s legs, smiling as she saw it shatter in a tiny burst of dark crimson. High pitched screams around her grew louder as she began walking about and crushing a leg of each of the would-be escapees, reminding herself to be fast so that none of them bled out. She’d made that mistake her first day alone on the job, she was just glad her boss was so understanding about it!
“Alright, that’s the last of you runaways.” She looked over at the cage with the humans who had not run. “Do you not understand common? I told you to present yourselves! Now hurry up, or you’ll get the same!” As always, the remaining humans began to run over to her, and soon a gaggle of them were about a foot away, all eyes looking up. She snapped her fingers and muttered the healing spell to fix the broken legs of the would be escapees. “Now you lot, join the rest of the class.” The little things scrambled over to her, and soon the mewling crowd was all together. She began her spiel.
“Welcome to Elsira. I am Cithrel. I will be seeing to your education here at the Priscille Trading Company. You see, you humans have been criminally out of contact with elven kind, and do not understand your place in the world. You’re all very lucky! Despite attacking your masters, the empress and her loyal subjects have asked that you be given the chance to serve, to prove that you can be educated, to better yourselves! We’ll start off easy, your first task is to show proper respect to your betters!” She’d given this speech countless times, and felt a little self conscious reusing it again, but she reminded herself that humans were simple creatures and it was best not to deviate too sharply from the proven methods of communicating with them. She sat down on a stool and began unlacing her sandals, slipping them off and propping her feet up on her heels. She wiggled her toes, actually looking forward having them lick the food solution off. “Come on then, start licking!”
She felt the soothing licks cover her feet as the humans began their task. It was still a little rough, they didn’t know the best spots, and they weren’t spreading out for even coverage, but she did enjoy how aggressive the wild humans were, she’d found herself getting a little bored when her friends domesticated pets licked at her toes, it was too slow and robotic, the frenzied pace her charges gave her was much more stimulating, especially as they got close to graduation. She might have to buy some for her days off once they got more affordable.
Of course, she needed to stay focused. The usual set of stragglers hung back, and she snapped her fingers again while chanting a low level nerve spell. All the humans predictably fell to the ground in pain, their tiny yips sounding like a chorus of surprised rodents. “I told ALL of you to lick my feet. But there’s so many of you hanging out in the back! Stop being so difficult! And for those of you who were licking, shame on you for not helping the others understand what they’re supposed to do!” She pouted a bit, not only to convey to the little ones that she was disappointed in them, but also because there was still entirely too much of the solution on her feet, and she really wanted them to get the trick of this fast enough that it would be gone.
“Now let’s try this again. Start. Licking.”
Cithrel was mildly pleased to see two of the humans who had been licking her feet run to the stragglers and begin pushing them towards her, their angry little squeaks hurrying the others along. She wondered if the line about helping out their teammates had made a difference, and decided to add that phrase to her repertoire.
“There, that’s much better, now make sure to get everywhere, you’ll need to master this skill if you want to make a good impression for your future masters.” Her words were rewarded by the sensation of tiny humans climbing up in between her toes, and she decided to let them work for a bit, taking out her book. Escaping into the pages of her story she was able to forget about the drab room for a bit, pretending she was in a fine hotel, getting a complimentary cleaning while relaxing. She couldn’t get completely lost in the fantasy however, she still needed to occasionally look out from behind the pages to make sure that all the humans were hard at work. She also began to study their tiny faces, looking for signs of defiance. It was an easy enough thing to snag one of them between her toes when she went off for a “break” and interrogate them in private. The last batch she’d gotten one of them to inform her about a human that claimed to understand elven, and was spreading ridiculous rumors about Elsira’s armies losing ground. It had turned out to be all boasts, but it was important to nip rumors in the bud. The same effects of Gertid’s Wort that made the humans accept her explanations of their place in the world could also make them believe such errant nonsense.
She was interrupted as Reia came in with her drink.
“Decided to take my advice about the book eh?” She laughed as she handed the saucer and cup to Cithrel.
“Don’t act so smug about it, I’m just catching up on some reading, these six day weeks are fun and all, but the only time off I get is when the little things are sleeping.”
“Sure sure, well, if you need any other tips just let me know. Are you going to want the same drink tomorrow? We’ve got some new teas.”
“I prefer something savory to help warm me up, it gets so drafty in these rooms.” Cithrel picked up the tiny silken pouch, happily noting the surprised wriggles from the little woman inside. Healthy humans always had a better flavor.
“Alright dear, more of the same tomorrow then, have fun, and let me know if that books any good, I’ve been needing something to get into lately!” Reia left her friend to her charges.
Cithrel dunked the pouch into the hot water, eagerly watching the tiny ripples and bubbles coming to the surface, waiting for them to slowly dissipate, until the surface was smooth again. She smelled the warm broth and took a sip, savoring the warm feeling that spread throughout her.
She hoped these days never ended.