The one, though...
She still didn't take her eyes off the animal. She smiled again at something the fowl did but didn't seem to pay any attention to him.
"You will be well taken care of," he said, his voice a little louder as he spoke to get her attention.
No, she still didn't care.
Other women sighed, like what he said appealed to them.
"Treated as precious commodities, for life-bearers are considered our most important citizens.”
More of the signing.
The woman still did not look away. It was like she didn't even care what he said. Like she didn't expect to be selected.
An idea to get her attention came to mind.
"You will be taken to see all the beauties of our world--"
She turned to look at him, her gaze hitting him like a stone, and he felt it through to his armor and his bones.
However, it only lasted for a moment, for another fowl came up, and her attention went back to the animals.
"We will be the beauties," one of the women said, very near him in the front.
He turned and glanced at the silvery-blonde-haired female. "If you are chosen.”
The woman opened her mouth to scoff at him, though he knew immediately he wanted no part of her. She stunk of arrogance and conceit. Something he had no time for.
The females were spaced far enough apart to allow him to slip between them. Some smelled nice. Others were nervous, he could tell, but none pulled him like the one on the back row. Some engaged him as he walked through, and while he was not rude, he did not linger over any of them.
The female on the back row still paid him no attention, which only made him want to get to her and find out why.
What it was about her that drew him so?
"You," he said. As soon as he reached her, he could smell her. Yet another overwhelming sensation--she smelled like pure pleasure and joy. Different from all the others, but in the best possible way.
She glanced at him and blinked. "Uh."
He stepped closer to her. "You were ignoring me."
"No, I wasn't. I heard everything you said. But it doesn't apply to me." She shifted, and the wind blew more of her smell toward him.
His body reacted to her immediately.
Parts grew even more.
Armor.
And other places.
He would wonder if this was intentional, how she was overwhelming him with her scent.
But he didn't think so. There was something about her. Not innocence, precisely, but a lacking, well, what was it? He glanced around. Her difference was obvious, but what to call it, he was not sure.
"Why does it not apply to you? You are welcome here, same as the others. You would be taken care of and treated as a precious commodity.”
She shook her head. "But I'm just filler.”
