A Collection of Court Documents
Hi! My name is Kairi. I don’t have a last name! I’m starting this journal to practice my handwriting. My new mistress says I can read very well and speak e l o q u e n t l y, eloquently, but my handwriting is u n t e n n a b l e, untennable. She is my brand new master! I was just sold to her today and she has already given me this journal. I don’t know what to write about but she told me to practice and said to fill at least ten pages per day.
My old mistress had a bunch of information about me listed when I was being sold at the market. Most of it was things I didn’t know, so it was very interesting! I am seven years old. I am healthy and weigh one and one quarter stones. Several mistresses who looked at me commented on my eye color. It was compared to several things, such as emeralds, moss, and algae. From this, I have s u r m i s e d, surmised, that they are green. My mother’s eyes were not green, so I think my father’s must have been. I have not met him; my mother told me he belonged to another mistress, and that this is very normal because there are not very many humans underground. We do not do well underground and are difficult to keep (this is what my old mistress told me). I was bred to be sold, which is a very steep investment, because we g e s t a t e, gestate, for a long time, and then grow very slowly (this is what my old mistress told me). I was being trained as a house slave, like my mother, because if you are going to go to all the trouble of keeping a human, why would you not show it off (this is what my old mistress told me)? She was planning on my training going on longer, until I was ten, but something bad happened and a lot of her slaves went missing all at once, so she decided to sell me to r e c o u p, recoup, her losses. And now here I am!
My new mistress is an a t t o r n e y, attorney. This means she practices law! She wanted a slave who could read and write, who also knew how to cook and clean. She wanted a slave that was intelligent. She bought me, and that means I must be all those things, which is very exciting. She says I will be her house slave and also her s e k s e c r i s e c r e t a r i a l, secretarial slave. This was a new word for me and I have had to look it up! Secretarial means “noting, of, or pertaining to a secretary or a secretary’s skills and work.” A secretary is “a person employed by a public body, by a company or by an individual, to write orders, letters, dispatches, public or private papers, and the like.”
My new mistress saw me using the dictionary and seemed pleased. She asked me what I was looking up, and I told her. She said “maybe I’ll get your cost out of you yet” and laughed a little. I think this is good. I think this means I am going to be valuable. My mother told me it was very good to be valuable, and that I should always try to have as many values as possible, because then I would “go to a good home.” I didn’t realize it then, but I think she meant this. I am sure my new mistress will be a very good home, especially if I keep up my value! I’m going to
still in school. This is why it’s okay that I am so young and still learning also! This makes me happy, because it’s sort of like we’re learning together. It’s hard for me to tell how old mistresses are–their skin they are always so flawless and mother says we don’t live nearly as long as them–but I think my mistress might be younger than my mother’s. I might think that because of her mother, though. People with mothers who are still learning feel much more like me. I can say this because mistress never reads these journals. I think she would not like me to say it out loud, because mistresses don’t like it when you compare, even if it is in a good way. My mother said it’s because it’s an insult to have anything in common with slaves, but that seems a little stupid silly to me. If we didn’t have anything in common, we would make terrible slaves. The slaves who can’t read are much less valuable, and I am going to need to learn about law too so that I can be useful as a secretarial slave, I’m sure!
Mistress’s mother is scary the way older mistresses are sometimes, but once I a d j u s t e d, adjusted, I thought she was actually nice. My mother says you have to “read between the lines” with older mistresses, especially the upper class ones. My last mistress was older, but not upper class, but now I think I see what my mother meant. They are nice in a way that seems mean at first. At first I thought she was very strict, but I think actually she is very proud of her daughter. The money that my mistress bought me with was a present for getting into the school where my mistress is learning to be an attorney. I think she is very pleased that her daughter used that money to buy me. She said I was a Smart Investment. An investment is “the action or process of investing money for profit or material result.”
I love being a Smart Investment.
I think it was a complement for her daughter, for being smart with her money, but secretly I feel like it is a complement for me too, because it means she thinks my value will go up over time! This makes sense, as that is what my previous mistress said about me too. She said that raising me was worth the expense because of how much more I would sell later. She had to take less than she wanted for me because she had to sell me early. Perhaps this made me a good deal for my current mistress. All of this makes me very happy, because mother always said my value was the most important thing. I am going to work very hard and always make my value go up so that my mistress will be praised for her Smart Investment, and that way I will be a good and helpful thing that is always valuable! I have been reading
Mistress finally graduated today! There was a very large ceremony; mistress said her mother and sisters all came. She seems extremely happy. I made all her favorites for dinner, to celebrate. This is very exciting for me as well, as it means I’ll start helping her with work! I am not sure how much, however. After her years in law school, she now has to be an apprentice for a while. Being an attorney is very serious work in Elven society! I am not sure how much she will use me for as an apprentice, because I am sure her law mistress will have her own slave(s) that is/are much more talented than me. I am only twelve, which is younger than secretarial slaves are meant to be. But I have been training very hard! I read all my mistress’s old textbooks and everything. There are a lot of books in her library, but I am reading all of the relevant ones to increase my value. I have been doing this for a long time, and I will admit, journal, that I am a little anxious to show off my value. I have been doing the same kind of work around the house forever. I don’t think I am valuable enough as a house slave. As a human, a large part of my value comes in the form of social clout, and mistress almost never has anyone over to the house, so no one sees me. I am also too young to go to the markets alone; mistress says “some princess will snatch me up in a second.” So that’s a lot of value my mistress is not getting out of me right now! But it is common for secretarial slaves to work in offices with their mistresses and sometimes they are even used in court. I will be much more valuable in such public places.
But first, I need to be competent, so I keep reading the law books. I suppose journaling like this is a bit of a waste of time, now, as my penmanship is good, and I scribe so much every day for my mistress that sometimes my hand hurts and the thought of writing in my journal makes me tired. But my mistress never told me to stop, so even though she never reads these, it feels like I should definitely keep doing it until she tells me not to anymore. After all, it
–hate to be right. On one hand, they do enjoy me at my mistress’s firm, and it’s wonderful that she’s made junior associate so quickly. Everyone keeps saying it’s the fastest anyone’s ever made it at the firm. Of course, I can’t take any credit for that, but ever since mistress made junior associate, she’s been placed on so many more cases, and I’ve been working around the clock. I think mistress spends twenty hours at the office for every ten she spends at home, and she’s even started leaving me at the office. I don’t like wish she wouldn’t am scared appreciate the amount of trust this implies she has in me. However, I wasn’t quite aware of what “social clout” looked like, I think, when I imagined my value. They enjoy me very much at my mistress’s firm, but not the right way not for my handwriting or legal knowledge not as a clerk
I hate this I hate this I hate this I hate this I hate
I don’t particularly enjoy the company of the partners, especially when my mistress is not there. I have told her that I can focus better at home, but she doesn’t care she won’t listen it doesn’t matter I can’t always go home when I want to. We do very important work, and mistress might be on track to become partner at an excelerated rate. Maybe then she can tell them to stop. I’m told the work load really slows down at that point, although I suspect maybe less so for a clerk. I’d love for my mistress to get more rest, though. Her temper
A brand new journal! I always love new journal day. This actually isn’t the journal I had set aside, you know! That’s right, mistress took me shopping today, if you can believe it! Well, I suppose it’s more accurate to say she took me WITH her while she was shopping, it’s not as though she took me like one would take a pet. Could you imagine the absurdity? I’ve heard there are some people who baby their pets like that, and some people who have slaves for pets, but it seems patently absurd to me. If I hadn’t witnessed court cases with those sorts of people, I’d honestly never believe it myself… but I’m getting side-tracked! While we were out, mistress bought me this incredibly nice notebook! I suppose she saw me lingering on it while I was picking out her writing supplies. She’s in a frightfully good mood, obviously, and now I’ll finally let you know why…
Mistress finally made partner! I can hardly believe it myself. It’s been years, and after all our her hard work, and a sizable investment in the partnership, she’s finally, officially, one of the partnered lawyers. I hardly need to tell you that this is going to change everything. I’ve been practically living in the office these past ten years, and at this point they might as well just give me a bedroll. Although that might be a little on-the-nose, in some ways, so maybe not. The last thing I need is to give anyone a comfortable location, although I suppose in the end it would at least save my knees some grief.
Still, just as I always suspected, it’s like a weight is lifted off my mistress’s shoulders. She was shopping today for a celebratory dinner her mother is throwing. The whole family will be there. I’m not going, of course; outside the court room, she never really shows me off. Honestly, I think the other partners enjoy showing me off more than she does. I suspect, however, that “social clout” is a bundle deal, and I am QUITE happy that the mistress has never showed any interest in such a thing. She even said I could work from home that day, since she won’t be getting home until “quite late.” A fancy new journal and a day off from the office? I could not be any happier. I’m glad she never reads this garbage, because I can at least say that a day without the other partners is a day in
–believe they finally got me a room at the office. On one hand, it’s been excellent for my back, since I’m sleeping so much less at a desk. But I feel less and less like I’m my mistress’s and more like I belong to the firm. Not that I can say any of this, of course, and I know she won’t sell me to them I’ve heard them ask because of my “social clout,” and maybe also because she likes me? Mistress is more like her mother every day. I don’t know how, considering I’ve spent my whole life with her, but I swear she’s getting harder to read every year.
To be honest, I’m probably sleeping even less than when I was endlessly running back and forth from mistress’s home to the office. My room at her home was nicer, and while I appreciate them going to the trouble of fitting an actual bed into that closet, it’s quite claustrophobic, especially when there’s anyone else in there. I only ever sleep after everyone’s left for the day. We’re They’re overseeing so many important cases lately, that no one really even bothers me much during work hours, and ironically, the junior associates leave me alone unless one of the partners
something weird last night after everyone left. I was going over some of the documents for the Obsidian case, and I swear there’s some files in here I’ve never seen before. I thought they were new, but they’re dated from three months ago… We must have had them the whole time. I can’t imagine how in the hells I would have missed them, and I swear I’ve never heard mistress or the other partners discussing the evidence in them… which is absurd, because it’s damning evidence. I can’t understand how I missed them. I’ve been over this case a thousand times over the last few months–of course I have, it’s the mother-loving Obsidians–and I swear… I mean, at the end of the day, it’s good news, good evidence. I guess I’m just… disappointed in myself. Maybe the lack of sleep is finally getting to me. I might have to risk catnaps. If I wake up with someone inside me, well, that’s a lot better than making this kind of a mistake again.
getting weirder. I heard my mistress and two of the other partners discussing the embezzlement case. Real open and shut case, honestly, but the way they were talking about it… I don’t know, they sounded on edge. You know I’m not good at reading elven expressions, though. Mistress always tells me, no matter how many court cases I sit through, I am absolutely incapable of reading emotions or figuring out of someone’s lying. It’s a good thing I’m not actually a lawyer, honestly. I wouldn’t be any good at it. Not like the firm, that’s for sure. They win damn near every case they
doesn’t add up. I know this evidence wasn’t here before, I know it. I catalogued every single bit of it. But there it is, in my records… even though I never wrote it down. And the thing is, it looks like my handwriting, but the ink is wrong. This is vampire squid ink, the stuff the partners use. I never use their ink, I’m not a fucking idiot a bad slave. I use my own supply, bought with my work allowance, and it’s just plain soot ink. Someone else mimicked my handwriting and wrote it into my ledger. But what I can’t understand is why in the dark anyone would do that? If I made a mistake, no one would just… go in and fix it. It would be paraded around for everyone to see I’d be feeling it for weeks I would have been made aware of the situation, or at least my mistress would have. I suppose it’s possible she’s the one who did it, to save me some grief. I just don’t know. Things have been so peculiar lately. I think everyone is just tense because of the Obsidian case, but I don’t