Thanks for the comments and encouragement!
If you are new to this story, please be sure to read the previous chapters. As a reminder, there is absolutely NO SEX in this story. There are, however, what I perceive to be powerful d/s scenes. If at any point anyone thinks that this no longer belongs in the bdsm section, feel free to let me know.
As always, comments/feedback appreciated.
***
Tali had been dozing off slightly, but at the sound of movement beyond the door, she became alert again. She listened as Kien went through his morning routine. He made his way over to the bathroom and turned on the faucet. It drowned out everything else so she relaxed her attention again.
Kien started washing his face to wake himself up when he suddenly realized that Tali was going to be coming over today. He began thinking of what he could teach her today, steeling himself for the persistent mindset of that girl.
After he turned off the faucet and dried his face, he made his way towards the door to the hallway. Barely paying attention, he opened it swiftly and kicked his foot out without looking, catching Tali hard in the side and tripping over her. He swore loudly before he caught himself.
"Girl!" he mentally kicked himself over his habit, "I mean, Tali, what are you doing here so early? How long have you been here?"
Tali hadn't counted on him being upset so early... She came here early because her master told her to! That wasn't what she was going to say though... She grimaced in pain from the accidental blow, but got back to a steady form on her knees before answering, "sir, I wanted to thank you for teaching me and helping me learn to think for myself. Master said that you expected me this morning, so I made sure to be here and available for you in case you wanted anything. I've been waiting for you to wake up for about half an hour now, sir."
Kien frowned, "I told him whenever was convenient, not some ungodly hour in the morning... uch, nevermind." He knew everything was going to take time, and go through a process. For both of Miro and Tali.
"Come on, Tali, stand up, why do you insist on kneeling?" He decided he'd try to pick at her way of thinking.
"Sir, I am not your equal, nor would I pretend to be. As my superior, you belong in a higher place... kneeling before you achieves that effect, and shows my willingness to submit."
Kien faced her directly and lowered himself to her level. She gave an expression of shock at this act and quickly lowered her eyes so that she wouldn't make eye contact with him.
"Since -I- think that we're equals, it only makes sense that we be at the same level. We will have a mutually beneficial relationship from now on. What you have with Miro is one-sided."
"But sir! He takes care of me... In return, I try my best to be good for him, and he teaches me the best way to do so. He rewards me for good behavior! I feel fulfilled as long as Master is happy." Tali lowered her head as she continued, "I... I wouldn't know what to do with my life if I didn't have someone to please..."
Just the thought of that made her shudder. Her master gave her purpose, gave her life. How could she live without that? She would be an empty shell. She wished Kien could see that.
Kien reached out and gently tilted her head upwards from her chin. "In a balanced relationship, where you are not master and slave, you would not be rewarded for good behavior... Instead, you would both strive to please and compliment each other. You would give each other everything you have to offer."
Tali shook her head, "I have nothing to give... I don't deserve to have anything," she said, almost like a chant. These new ideas... they were foreign, but if she really had nothing.. what about the pillow her master gave her? Thoughts clashed in her mind as she tried to make sense of all the contradictions.
Kien noticed her eyes glaze over as she became lost in thought. "Tali, look at me."
She hoped this wasn't going where she thought it might go. She looked at him... at his mouth, to avoid having to really see his eyes.
"No, LOOK at me, at my eyes."
Tali whimpered, "p-please sir, I... I can't..." When he didn't move or say anything, she took as deep a breath as she could without her ribs exploding in pain, which wasn't that much breath, and gathered her will. She darted her eyes up to look at his.
Power. Determination. Strength. Her fear. Her eyes slipped away. It was just an instant, but the feelings were overwhelming.
"Look at me, and don't look away."
"I..." Tali was speechless. Her heart-rate quickened and she steeled herself again, but nothing could have prepared her for what she felt. Making eye contact with Kien was many things, and terrifying was one of them. She began shaking with effort. Her eyes kept slipping away to break the spell, but still he sought her gaze. She was glad she wasn't standing, for if she were, she was sure that her knees would have buckled by now.
Finally, she told herself she was doing this for her master, and managed to lock her eyes on his. The power that connection held was unimaginable. She felt like she couldn't move. She started shaking with the tremendous amount of effort it took for her to keep from glancing away. It felt like every muscle in her body was becoming weaker. Eventually, it started becoming too much.
"Please..." she begged.
"Please what?" He wanted her to be able to complete her thoughts out loud.
Tali realized now that she had been holding her breath in effort. She expelled the air to gasp in a new breath.
"Please sir... I... it's too much," her plea came out as a whisper.
"What is?" Kien was being a little harsh, but she needed to learn how to express herself.
She couldn't think. Her body was starting to quiver even more as she tried to concentrate.
"Sir.. the... the connection... your eyes... the feeling is overwhelming." The task of describing what she was feeling was impossible, "It... it's too intense.. I'm scared..." She was desperate to break eye contact, but she was also desperate to be good. Follow orders. What was left if she couldn't even follow one simple direction without buckling under pressure?
Kien was satisfied with the progress so far. He took a breath and looked away off to the side, being the one to break the connection. Looking into Tali's eyes had been a rush for himself as well. He didn't think he could see so many emotions flitter through someone's expression in such a short period of time. He'd have to find a way to look her in the eyes more often.
"You did well, Tali. I'm sorry I'm forcing you to do these things that make you uncomfortable, but hopefully you will become more used to them."
Even as relief from the broken eye contact washed over Tali, terror flooded through her. "Sir... please, don't be sorry." For someone to be sorry to her, it meant that they were somehow wronging her. By definition of her life, that just wasn't possible... couldn't be possible.
"And why shouldn't I be sorry for making you uncomfortable?" Kien inquired.
"I... I'm the one that should be sorry, for being difficult, for not learning better... for wasting your time on me," she started choking up a little as the realization of what she was started dawning on her. A waste of time.
"No. Tali, you are not a waste of time, and you are doing so well in learning. This is something I want to do, and know that I can be sorry for what I force upon you, but still feel that it is necessary."
She just stared blankly ahead, hearing what he said but not really believing it or knowing what to think. It was dangerous to take a praise like that to heart. Doing so could encourage slacking or more lax behavior, so she tried to brush his compliment aside in her mind.
"Now, come on Tali, let's go have some breakfast." Kien realized that he was starving.
Tali shifted and brought one leg up to try to stand, but her ribs protested. A wave of nausea and dizziness hit, and she groaned, dropping back to her knees.
Kien rushed forward to see what was wrong. In all the years he had known her, he never saw her waver in the basic discipline of changing physical positions without expressing any pains or difficulty.
"What's wrong, girl?" He reverted to something he knew she would be comfortable with.
"I'm sorry sir... I... I'm ok..." She clenched her jaw tight and braced herself for the pain. She got her feet under her and stood up, feeling victorious when she was standing for a split second, before another wave of pain from her torso stretching caused her to stagger a little. She wrapped an arm around her chest, trying to steady herself.
"Girl!" Kien took her arm and walked her into his bedroom. It dawned upon him that this was from him running into her earlier, the equivalent of what was a brutal kick to the ribs. As a girl with a tiny build, she might not have fared so well.
He sat her down on the bed and felt her ribs, gently applying pressure across several places. He stopped when she drew in a sharp breath, then coughed in pain from having inhaled too deeply.
Kien groaned, "It looks like you have a broken rib... you will need to be careful for a couple months... Miro's going to kill me."
"Sir... sir.. It's ok, nothing I haven't suffered before," Tali tried to say. She started to stand up to get off the bed. That was still making her uneasy.
"No, stay there." Kien mustered as much authority as he could into his voice. He needed to talk to Miro. "Don't you dare get up, girl. I'll be back soon." He hurried out the door to go fetch his friend.
As much as Tali hated the situation, it was too late to do anything once Kien had left. She knew how much pain she was in. Not unbearable, but requiring a non-trivial amount of effort to deal with. She started to zone out to distance herself from the feeling, slowly leaning back and slipping towards unconsciousness.
***
She gasped in horror as she saw the cup slip from her hand. She didn't know how it happened. Time slowed to a crawl as she saw the inevitable occur. The cup hit the ground and shattered, spilling its contents on the ground.
He came in a fury, his presence demanding that she drop to her knees immediately. She tried to be careful about the ground she knelt on to avoid the shards of glass.
"Do you think you deserve the luxury of dawdling, slave?" He fumed, "Kneel, now."
She dropped the rest of the distance to her knees. It wasn't very far, but she cried out in pain as a shard of glass dug into her flesh.
His cruel laughter that followed chilled her to the bones. "Was that painful to you, slave?" He asked rhetorically. He delivered a swift kick to her prone body. Another cry of pain.
"Please master, this slave is sorry!"
"Of course you're sorry, and you will be sorry." He continued the punishment on her weak body. She knew that something was broken.
