[happyturtle]

Hermitage Torture Room

((One of Waterstrider's paws is missing, so wrist binding won't work. But I imagine Elizabethele has arm manacles that will do as well for putting his arms above his head.))

Brand is here, breathing heavily. He'd seen slaves whipped - had been whipped himself once. He'd seen his children's feet caned, which was still the worst thing he had ever seen in his life. But he'd been in a slave caravan. They'd had nothing like this torture room.

Involuntarily, he has an image of Tito, Lily, and Pansy in this room, before his brain slams shut on that thought and refuses to let him picture it in any more detail.

To avoid watching Waterstrider being whipped, he looks at Elizabethele's slave instead, and tries to gauge how he is responding to this scene.