She sat like that for a time, simply observing him in silence, before finally speaking.
“I know you can understand me.” She declared in a quieter voice than she used with elves.
Richard froze, how could she know he understood Elven? He had been careful to not say a single word in Elven this entire time… no, she had to be bluffing, but why would she bluff?
He felt the wind blow around him as she sighed. His silence must have bored her.
“You know, the other wild caught humans I’ve encountered that knew Elvish tried to play dumb too. Would you like to know how I always find them out?” Richard shuffled on his feet and looked away, she laughed.
“They react! It seems humans just can’t help it, especially when they’re wild caught. I knew as soon as you listened in on my conversation with Maya that you knew more than your barbaric, savage language.”
Her arms found their way to the table, she placed her chin upon them, directly next to the cage.
“So?” She whispered, so close to the cage he could nearly touch her. “Can you understand me?”
Her eyes looked down at him, expectedly, and he sighed.
“Yes.”
“Perfect.” She nearly purred out. “I have a few questions for you, you’re rather unique.”
“Oh yeah?” Richard spat out, no longer needing to keep up the ruse of ignorance as before. “I’ve got a few questions for you too! What the fuck is this place? How could you stand by while everyone I was captured with was-”
Suddenly his cage rocked, Galea had taken her hand and knocked the cage back the tiniest bit, but it was enough to cause Richard to fall right on his ass.
“Do not take that sort of tone with me.” Galea said firmly, yet calmly.
“Oh yeah! Why-”
As fast as he stood back up to shout, he was knocked down again as she hit the cage a second time.
Richard glared up at her from his place on the floor of the cage, she seemed to be enjoying herself.
He stood up, again, and glared daggers at her.
“Done?” She asked, nearly giggling as she watched his furor.
He held his tongue.
“Good.” She said, smugly. “Now, how about you ask every single thing bouncing around in that little head of yours, politely, and after that you answer my questions, how's that sound? ”
Having been knocked on his ass twice already, Richard didn’t want to anger her again.
“Fine.”
“Good.” She smiled at his much more restrained tone. “Ask away.”
He asked the first question that came to his mind. His anger only barely masked.
“What is this place? Are we in Elsira?”
“Yes we are, a mid-sized city, though that’s not really a concern of yours anymore…”
“Why the hell is it not my concern anymore?”
“Tone, little man,” she frowned down at him. “Your world is within these walls now. I’m not letting you out, and you wouldn’t want to be out anyway.”
“I wouldn’t want to be out?” Richard replied indignantly. “As if! I want out right now!”
Galea knocked his cage again while snorting, “You sure about that, Blue? You’re about an inch tall right now, no colony of wild humans to run back to either, you’ve got no chance of surviving out on your own.”
Richard stayed where he fell. She spoke the truth, and he knew it, there was no way he would be able to survive at this size. Finally, his undertone of anger switched to resignation as he spoke again.
“Why are you doing this? Why are you making people…” his gaze turned to the other cages.
“Making them what? Breed?” She laughed, “I’d be a lousy human breeder if I didn’t.”
“What’s the point? I thought elves wanted to exterminate humanity.”
She shrugged.
“Some, sure, but most recognize humanity’s more practical uses.”
“Practical uses?” He was afraid of the answer.
“Oh, you know, food, jewelry, pets. Just the standard stuff.”
Richard would have been sickened if he hadn’t seen it first hand, but he couldn’t hide the sadness from his voice.
“How could you do this to human beings? We’re intelligent, civilized beings! We’re not animals!”
“Oh goodness!” She laughed, as she responded. “I sometimes forget how delusional you wild caughts can be.” She had to take a breath to compose herself.
“You most certainly are animals. You breathe, eat, sleep, and breed like every other animal there is.” She continued on, “human ‘civilization’ is an aberration at odds with mankind’s natural place at elven feet, along with the rest of the natural world.”
“Along with the rest of the natural world?” He mimicked her words back at her. “What’s natural about shrinking humans down to an inch tall?”
“Are pigs natural?” She asked simply.
“What?” Richard immediately asked back, flabbergasted. “Of course they are!”
“Really?” She started, “because pigs came from wild boars, humans changed them using their limited intelligence to better suit your needs. We change humans to better suit our needs, it’s the same thing really, perfectly natural.”
Richard sat in shocked silence. The way she could rationalize away mass murder, slavery, and genocide with a single sentence and truly believe she was correct… he had no words.
“Finished? Good, so now it’s my turn. Why is your hair blue?”
“My hair? I was born with my hair this way, why does it matter?”
“You know Elven, that means you were some kind of smart human out in the wild. I just told you elves change humans to better suit our needs, I run a human breeding farm and I bought you for a far higher than market price than one measly human would almost ever be worth. Why do you think it matters?” She snorted. “And you were saying humans are ‘intelligent’…”
It felt dehumanizing to say, but he already knew the answer.
“You’re going to… breed me off, or that’s what you want to do. Like some stud bull. Like some animal.”
“Bingo, Blue, maybe you’re not as dumb as you look.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Refuse? Why would you do that? I can offer you everything your little animal instincts have ever desired. Food, shelter, mates.” She giggled for a moment. “You know, every time I’ve brought a wild caught human in, they go on and on about the exact same things. “You can’t make me!” or, “It’s dehumanizing!” or nonsense like that. I usually just drop them in with a few attractive mates and wait. Within a few months, they’re all doing what their instincts demand.” She smiled smugly down at him before giving a brief sigh and continuing. “However, I did pay a decent chunk for you, and time is money… so I’m not waiting.”
She stood, the air from her movement washed over him as she walked over to the cage Maya brought in, the one filled with what had sounded like almost exclusively women. She trudged back over to his comparatively tiny cage, and placed it directly next to him. His guess earlier was accurate, the other cage appeared to contain exclusively young women.
“I outsource the rearing of offspring to a friend of mine, who sells the product to either pet shops or upscale restaurants.” Galea stated simply. “I pick the most genetically fit ones to breed the next generations. These just aged into their breeding years, physically attractive, fertile, everything a male could want." She said with a smile. "Pick a couple dozen or so.”
“Pick? A couple dozen or so?” He replied, incredulously, while standing up quickly. “As if! I’m not going to be some animal for you to stud out!”
She raised an eyebrow at him before she started looking around the cage full of women. “You’ll do,” she muttered before opening the cage’s top, deftly grasping a woman hip's with her fingers, and carefully transferring her to his cage.
She was blonde, a few inches shorter than him, strikingly attractive by every measure, she looked at him nervously as Galea placed her mere feet from where he stood.
“Well, get to it.” Galea commanded him. “I paid a lot for you, and I’m not going to wait around for you to decide you’re ready to mate. Go on.” She gently pushed the female toward him.
“No!” Richard pushed the girl away. “I refuse!”
Galea frowned down at him.
“What are you gonna do?” He spat up at her.
“I could start crushing fingers, arms perhaps? Last time I checked, humans don’t need those to reproduce.”
“You… you wouldn’t hurt me! You just admitted you’re trying to get a return on your investment, you need me alive and healthy!”
Galea snorted.
“You think I meant you?” Her smug smile was back. “Girl, hold out your arm.”
“Mistress, I…” The young women spoke for the first time, fear and trepidation laced her voice.
“Quiet child. If Blue here is reasonable, you have nothing to fear.”
The young woman lowered her head and held out her right arm, Galea’s thumb came to rest under the girl's forearm, and her index finger hovered a foot above it. The poor girl was so terrified she was shaking.
“Well, Blue?” Galea gazed down at him. “Are you going to do what I asked, or are you going to hurt this girl?”
Richard looked up at Galea, unsure what to do.