For just a moment Ivan was wondering how he could possibly make these girls feel safe. What would Abby do he thinks to himself. Ivan opens the door and calls out in a normal voice

“It’s ok it is just us”

The eyes peeking through the shelves soon turn into people as the seven of them come out from behind storage shelves still looking a little nervous.

“With all the rushing around we haven’t had a chance for proper introductions. My name is Ivan and this is my good friend Radella “says ivan

“I can tell you now that it is safe now that both Gangasum and Kamuy-Paro have been taken care of, they will never be able to hurt you again.  Radella and I thought that we would show you around so that you can see this for yourself “says Ivan

“Oh wait we haven’t finished introductions. I don’t know any of your names. So let’s start over with introductions “says Ivan

Ivan faces the first girl “Hello I am Ivan”

Tamae diverts her eyes toward the ground and tentatively says “I’m Tamae”

Ivan looks at Tamae and says in a calm voice “None of you should feel like you have to divert your gaze for my sake. I prefer to have my friends look me in the eye. I grew up on a farm a long ways from here but to be honest I was a really bad farmer.  I have a twin sister that is not only a lot smarter than me but she is good at farming.”

Ivan looks at Tame again and says “Hello I am Ivan”

Tamae nervously looks at Ivan with her brown eyes and says “I’m Tamae”

“It is very nice to meet you Tamae” says Ivan

Ivan turns to the next girl and says “Hello my name is Ivan”

The girl looks straight at Ivan and quickly says “I’m Maiko”

“It is very nice to meet you Maiko” says Ivan

Ivan turns to the next girl and says “Hi I am Ivan”

With a slight cracking in her voice the girl says “my name is Yoire”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Yorie” says Ivan in a gentle voice in an attempt to calm her fears.

Ivan turns to the next girl and says “Hello I am Ivan”

In a low quite voice she says “I am Akiko”

“It’s nice to meet you Akiko”

Turning to the next girl Ivan says “Hello my name is Ivan”

“I am Honamiyo, so they won’t hurt us anymore” asks Honamiyo

“They will never touch you ever again” says Radella

“I couldn’t have said it better and it is a pleasure to meet you Honamiyo” says Ivan

Turning to the next girl Ivan says “Hi I’m Ivan”

“I I I AH AH”

Ivan calmly says “Don’t worry. You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to”

In a very loud but nervous voice Naomi says “My NAME IS NAOMI, THANK YOU FOR SAVING US”

In a calm voice Ivan responds with “It is very nice to meet too Naomi”

Ivan turns to the girl who is already holding her head high and looking straight at him. Keeping his voice calm he says “Hello there I am Ivan”

“My name is Remi and I just hope this is not a dream.”

“It is nice to meet you too Remi with the green eyes” says Ivan

Ivan closes his eyes and begins to speak “So Tamae you have brown eyes, Maiko you have dark brown, Yoire you also have brown eyes, Akiko your eyes are black as night, Honamiyo you have brown eyes, naomi you have brown eyes, and of course Remi has green eyes. So what is the color of my eyes?”

There was a moment of quiet before the voices of the 7 of them meshed together “green, blue, black, brown, not green, I think they are blue, no maybe they are green”

Ivan opens his eyes and suddenly feels the determined gaze of 7 women. He resists the urge to step away from the 7 women. “Oh His eyes are Hazel”

“Ivan I really really have to pee” announces Akiko

“Me too” proclaim Remi and Maiko

“Ok then we know where we need to go” says Ivan

As they rush through the hallways toward the outhouse Ivan can’t help but think that there could be something to this women going to the outhouse as a group. Somehow outhouse doesn’t seem to be the right word.

Ivan notices that they seem a little bit less nervous but he is not sure if it is from the relief of being able to pee or if they feel more comfortable with him and Redella.

Once the last woman has had her turn in the outhouse Ivan again senses 7 pairs of eyes trained on him.

“So all of you do know that you are not slaves anymore right? I am thinking about heading inside and finding some food to snack on. Anyone want to join me?”

“yes please” says Akiko, Honamiyo, and  Miiko

“me too” says Tamae and Yoire

“I want to come too” says Naomi

“You’re not going without me. Are you coming with us  Radella” says Remi

The group headed back inside the fort on their quest to find food. Before long they entered the room with all of the food. All 7 of them paused just inside the door.

“Are you sure it is ok with the ronin?” says Remi

“This is not the Ronin’s food this is our food. You can eat as much as you like.” Says Ivan

Ivan just watched as these women descended upon the food like they hadn’t eaten in a week. To himself he hopes that is not the case.

“Oh Akiko you don’t have to try to hide food down the front of your clothes. Just wait a minute” says Ivan

Ivan gets out his bag of holding and starts rummaging through the bag. After a few moments he pulls out 7 pouches. He walks over to Akiko and hands her a pouch. “Here you go Akiko this will be a lot easier than shoving food in your clothes. I suspect it will be more comfortable as well”

“Here is one for you Tamae and here is one for you Yoire and one for you Maiko and one for you Remi and one for you Naomi and one for you Honamiyo”  Ivan says as he gives each one of them a bag

When Ivan hands the bag to Honamiyo he realizes how tattered her clothes are.

“Honamiyo I am going to use magic to fix up your clothes a little bit. Just stand there while I use the magic to repair your clothes.”

Ivan uses his magic to repair her clothes and then says “There you go Honamiyo”

“Thank you” replies Honamiyo

“ok you’re next Tamae” Says Ivan

“There you go Tamae” says Ivan as he finishes repairing Tamae’s clothes.

“Thank you Ivan” replies Tamae

“ok you’re next Yoire” Says Ivan

“There you go Yoire” says Ivan as he finishes repairing Yoire’s clothes.

Yoire’s mouth is full of food so Ivan could not really understand what she was saying.

“ok you’re next Maiko” Says Ivan

“There you go Maiko” says Ivan as he finishes repairing Maiko’s clothes.

“Thanks” replies Maiko just before putting another big piece of food into her mouth.

“Ok you’re next Akiko” says Ivan

“There you go Akiko” says Ivan as he finishes repairing Akiko’s clothes.

“Thank you so much, you fixed all those tears on the shoulders of my clothes. Look now I can hold my arms out and spin around without my clothes falling off.” replies Akiko

Ivan held his breath as Akiko spun around just hoping that the repairs were as good as Akiko suggested. How bad does it have to get when just having clothes that stay on is something to be happy about.

Ivan next turned to Naomi saying “ok you’re next Naomi”.

“There you go Naomi’s” says Ivan as he finishes repairing Naomi’s clothes.

“Thank you Ivan for fixing my clothes and for not beating Akiko when she was trying to hide food” replies Naomi

“I would never beat any of you or let someone else beat you” replies Ivan

“Ok you’re next Remi” says Ivan

“Ok there you go Remi” says Ivan as he finishes repairing Remi’s clothes.

“Thanks. Here this is for you” replies Remi as she pulls a piece of beef jerky from the pouch and hands it to Ivan.

Ivan scans the room and begins to speak “Well I see that everyone has some food and now your clothes have a few less holes so let’s head over to see Qatana, I think she would like to see that all of you are safe.”

The group makes its way through the fort until they get to the room containing the cages.

“Are you going to make us go back into the cages” asks Maiko

“There is no way that either Redella or I would ever allow anyone to force you to go back into those cages. I will burn those cages to the ground if I have too.” replies Ivan in a very determined voice.

There was a moment of silence as seven pairs of eyes just stared at Ivan. Ivan wasn’t sure if he upset the women or it they were surprised that someone would stand up for them.

Remi breaks the silence with “ok” as she walks past Ivan and into the room. The others follow Remi into the room,

As the group entered the room all of the women seemed a little surprised to see there once abusers now trapped within the same cages that once held them. Ivan just stood there as these women explained how they were miss-treated.

“Ok all of you must be getting tired so let’s find a place where you can sleep” says Ivan as the group leaves the room with the cages.

“Can we sleep near you and Radella” asks Tamae

“Of course. All of our companions will be camping together in one room and that’s were you can sleep as well” replies Ivan as the group makes its way through the halls.

The search for blankets turns into moving beds into the room the party will camp in for the night. Somehow it just seemed right for Tamae, Maiko, Yoire, Akiko, Honamiyo, Naomi, and Remi to sleep on a  soft beds.

Ivan watches as these seven women lay there in the beds watching Radella and Ivan as if they were making sure they were not alone. After a little while all 7 of the women were fast asleep.