Loki's Daughter

Chapter 14: Ynatu's Auction House

Kuna watched as Loki paced back and forth in front of her, taking bites out of their last piece of bread. He had one arm bent behind his back, the other holding the bread in front of his face. He stared at the floor as he walked, his eyes occasionally darting from side to side as if reading an invisible page. He muttered to himself and shook his head, turning on his heel and going back the other way.

"So, if the Masters needed to trace back slaves to their families, should they show potential with magic, how would they do that?" Loki asked, his mouth full of another bite of bread.

Kuna stared at him. He had been pacing back and forth all morning, asking her periodic questions about her home-system. She answered what she could, but it did not feel like they were getting anywhere. "Um, well, they could look at the little chip in my back," she said.

She contorted around, stretching her arms behind her back until she was just touching the area around her shoulder blades. She reached under her shirt. "Here it is!" Her fingers rubbed a small patch of skin behind her left shoulder blade.

Loki dropped his bread in horror. "You have a microchip in you?" He dropped to his knees and felt her back, being careful around the bandaged areas until he found the spot Kuna showed him. He could feel a small, hard, lump just under her shoulder blade, deep below the skin.

"Mmm-hmm," Kuna nodded. "The auctioneers scan it when we're being sold to get all our information, like how many masters we've had and how old we are and what jobs we can do. I think it says who all of our old masters were and probably our families too."

"I cannot believe they microchipped you," Loki said, rubbing it with his finger. "Why didn't you tell me? Does it hurt?"

"No! And you didn't ask!" Kuna cried.

"All right but as soon as we're done, this thing is coming out."

Kuna pouted, regretting her decision to tell Loki about the chip.

"How do they scan this thing?" Loki asked, replacing Kuna's shirt.

"With this little scanner gun thingy," Kuna said. She pantomimed a small, handheld device, measuring it with her hands in the air. "I don't know what it is. The auctioneers carried it with them... with their whips." She shuddered at the thought. "I don't wanna go back there."

"It will be fine. We just have to steal one of these 'thingies,'" - Loki copied her gesture - "from one of these auctioneers, scan your chip, and then we can figure out who, or at least where, your parents are. I'm sure they kept that information. Your people sound as paranoid as SHIELD."

"Who?"

"They're... never mind. Once we know where to find your parents, we can go to them and force—I mean figure out who cursed you."

Kuna looked at him flatly. "Are you going to kill them?"

"What?! No! I won't! I'm not!"

Kuna looked down at the floor in thought.

"If I did that, we wouldn't get the information we need," Loki continued.

Kuna did not respond. She folded her hands in her lap, occasionally picking at her palms.

"Listen, darling. You don't have to see them if you don't want to. I will handle everything. And I won't kill them, I promise."

Kuna nodded, slowly.

"And I will be with you the whole time we're there."

"Do you think they ever loved me?" she asked.