Several weeks after they'd arrived, Grace was watering plants in the master's office when he walked in, having just returned from touring the outer settlements. He seemed startled to see her, making Grace feel as if she were intruding. "I'm almost done," she offered shyly, not sure how to behave around him.

He smiled. "Take your time and do a thorough job. You're not bothering me."

Seating himself at his desk, the master powered up his computer monitor and opened a ledger program. He began to frown almost immediately, working with a calculator, writing pad and pen as he settled into his business. When she had finished her task, Grace remembered the extra necklace he'd given her, so she pulled it from her pocket and held it out to him wordlessly.

He accepted it, frown growing deeper. "What's this for? You really should be wearing it, Grace. If you're kidnapped, I . . ."

Grace interrupted quickly in order to explain. "You gave me four on our first day. I've been meaning to give you the extra one back." He thanked her with a look of surprise.

Her eyes strayed to the monitor with its long rows of figures. "Line fifteen's a household expense, not a personal one," she blurted, then blushed and looked away.

"What?" The master dropped the necklace on the desktop as he turned his attention to the screen. "What do you mean?"

Grace dared to lean forward and pointed to the entry in question. "There, the new pot for the kitchen. Personal expenses are what you spend on yourself or for yourself. Since cookware is used by all of us and for all of us, it's a household expense."

"And what about this one?" asked the master, pointing to another entry. His voice held a note of curiosity, as if he were testing her.

"Durable goods depreciate over time. You deduct the wear and tear from the worth of the hovercraft over a period of several years so that the books don't show you replacing perfectly good equipment once every few years." Grace studied the ledger happily. "It's a credit, not a debit."

The master nodded thoughtfully and corrected his error before sliding his chair sideways. "Bring a seat, Grace. You might be in here longer than you expected, depending on what else you find." With a silent prayer of thanksgiving, Grace complied. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed her accounting class!

School wasn't the only thing she missed from her former life, either. Not one person she'd asked even knew what a Bible might be, let alone where she could read one. Slaves were not encouraged toward literacy beyond what was necessary toward serving their masters. Therefore, reading for pleasure was not something any slave could ever expect to enjoy.

Further, Grastian learned to her horror that not only was Styxe a physical desert of a planet, it was a spiritual desert as well. Very few slaves knew anything about religion at all, let alone the God that Grastian and her brothers prayed to every night! She realized that she would be responsible for their spiritual education, without anything save the verses they'd memorized and prayer to assist.

****

Life for Grace and the boys settled into a comfortable rhythm quickly. Every room in the barracks had a window facing the morning sun in order to prevent the slaves from sleeping late in the mornings. Never a late sleeper to begin with, Grace soon grew accustomed to the early morning hours, when she would send the boys to help with the livestock before heading to the kitchen to help prepare breakfasts.

After a hasty morning meal, some of the women headed to tend vegetable gardens before it grew too hot to work, while others tended the master's house. By mid-morning, all of the women met together with their work-baskets to mend or sew. Once the worst of the mid-day heat was over, the women put away their sewing baskets and returned to the gardens or joined their husbands in the fields for a few hours before it was time to begin dinner preparations.

After dinner, the slaves were free to do whatever their hands found to do. Most of the time, the elders used the evening hours to teach their youngsters the finer points of combat or to socialize. More often than not, the master joined the slaves to oversee their drills.

Grastian used those evening opportunities to tell the everyone stories from the Bible, assisted by her brothers. Together, on story-telling nights, they told favorite Bible stories; creation, the patriarchs, kings and prophets interspersed with stories of Jesus' birth, death and resurrection, along with tales of the saints who carried the Gospel forward through time.

Though the master never joined the story-telling sessions, Grace noticed that he did listen from afar. She thought it was as if he wished to join them but didn't dare. She also noticed that no one dared invite him to join, either.

After hearing Grace's origin story, most of the slaves were eager to help raise the boys. Since each of the men had an area of expertise that he had excelled at and perforce was expected to oversee the others at, rarely did a day go by that one of the men hadn't taken one or both of the twins for the day in order to teach them some new skill or to help hone an existing one. Grace breathed a prayer of thanksgiving every time the twins returned.

Every night, in the privacy of their 'family room', Grace schooled her brothers at things that were being neglected by their absence from school. She taught them as much as she could remember of her own schooling. As best she could, Grace taught the twins economics, diplomacy, etiquette and other things.

She told them stories of their home world, made them memorize the coordinates of each planet and star in their father's kingdom, taught them the history of each planet and the various dialects spoken throughout the kingdom. She reminisced about their childhoods, remembering and missing their parents and household. Each evening, they recited portions of Scripture and prayed before finally taking to their respective beds.

On clear summer nights, Grace and the boys laid outside on blankets and looked at the stars. Grace named them for her brothers, as many as she knew. She never failed to point out Regulus, Axterya, Dianthe and Liethii, the four stars of their father's kingdom, to her growing audience of slaves on stargazing nights. The light from those stars, so far away, made Grace feel both closer and farther than ever, from her parents.

Despite all of her lessons with her brothers, Grace made sure to keep the burgeoning education mostly a secret. None of the other slaves knew of her and the twins' royal blood. Though kept a secret from all of Styxe, Grace would not let her brothers forget that the twins had been born to lead a kingdom of their own!

Ryan's computer savvy was in great demand and he turned out to have a talent for building blueprints and waterworks as well. Ben was an ace at driving, repairs and planning the wall defenses. He had a head for strategy and rarely lost the games of 'capture the flag' that taught defensive skills needed to defend the master's holdings from marauding neighbors.

Both boys learned to fight with swords, knives, guns and fists. Ben, of course, excelled at all of it. Ryan could hold his own at fists, swords and knives without his brother's aid but Ben was a far better shot.

Ryan was a serious boy who preferred quiet things, taking pleasure in solitary tasks where his brother was more outgoing. Ben tended to be gregarious, hotheaded at times but quick to make peace afterward. Despite their differences, the twins presented a united front.

The master laughingly referred to them as two halves of a whole army. When the boys were together, few dared to challenge them at all. The other children had quickly learned not to harass the 'off-worlders'; picking a fight with one never failed to mean facing both, and the twins had nothing to lose.

***

The boys passed their eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth birthdays without remarkable incident. All of the slave men and even the master took a hand in their raising. Ben and Ryan thrived and grew quickly out under the hot, wasteland sun.

When the twins were fourteen, Grace realized with a shock that she had to look up to address them and she was one of the taller women in the compound. At fifteen, the boys' shoulders spread and Grace began to fear that slave traders might not care that they had yet to reach their seventeenth birthdays!

Grace watched her brother's mature with almost a maternal air. She was proud of the young men they were becoming; tall, athletic, hard-working and considerate of others. Privately, she thought the two of them were the most handsome teens in the holdings, a view apparently shared by most of the girls their age.

Watching Ben flirt one day, Grace knew that she needed to get her brothers back to their parents but was at a loss to figure out how. The other women often saw Grace finger the leather laces around her neck when she was deep in thought or prayer over her conundrum,  but none of them ever thought to ask what she was thinking about. Grace hoped they assumed her to be thinking about or mourning the life she'd lost.

While raising her brothers, Grace herself matured into a strong-minded young woman whose faith, despite a lack of any proper Bible, continued to grow. She had learned the basics of first aid at school and often had to put her skills to use after skirmishes with the neighbors or various accidents resulted in injuries. Grace also used her skills as an excuse to silently pray over each wounded person she assisted.

Trained by her father to be a leader, Grace's attitude and knowledge soon had most of the women deferring to her nursing skills when the occasion warranted. As her reputation in the holdings spread, slaves began to seek her out for illness as well. In the course of her 'medical practice', Grace grew to love flying the hovercrafts and could ride the draft-beasts as if born astride one, both necessary skills to have when her nursing skills were needed in outlaying settlements.

In the evenings, Grace learned to fight alongside her brothers. As with most of the women in the compound, she became a decent shot with pistol and long gun. Though she didn't much care for wrestling, Grace could handle a sword with proficiency and could throw a knife better than either of her brothers.

During the day, Grace loved working alongside the women, enjoyed sewing a neat hem, then embroidering an impossibly fine pattern on the garment she'd made, loved working in the gardens and cooking fine dishes . . . but she excelled at the master's books.

Once he'd learned that Grace was good at keeping household books, the master regularly asked for her assistance in his office until she knew as much about his financial matters as he did. It was extremely rare for a slave to be privy to such information, so Grace did her best not to divulge the information to anyone. The slaves occasionally expressed jealousy over her position, but Grace's air of leadership, combined with their master's trust in her, brooked no argument.

***

Though she didn't view 'the master' in the same light as did the other slaves in the compound, Grace grew to love and respect him as she worked alongside him or watched him with the others. She found him to be a kind master to man and beast, who took great pains to see that the people under him were safe and provided for. The master was a skilled warrior, who diligently trained his people to fight as well.

He provided adequate weaponry for his people to use and paid heed to the opinions of those who exhibited solid tactical skills regarding the defense of his holdings. In business matters, he was honest, diligent with his assets and savvy in his dealings with other masters.

Being a king's daughter, Grace felt that 'the master' might make a suitable royal advisor or general to her father or brothers one day, though she said nothing of her opinion to anyone, not even her brothers. Daily, she prayed for his health and salvation. About once per month, she found ways to express her regard.

She left him an opening each time, testing to see if he returned her regard. He never appeared to notice. The master's affection for her seemed to be the same, distant indulgence he gave all of his slaves.

****

Finally, as the twins neared their sixteenth birthday, Grace was led to made a decision during one of her evening prayer times. Since the boys had grown into responsible young men that could handle any fight to come their way, it was time Princess Grastian Leone returned the princes to their rightful home. Together, the three of them discussed it in low tones late that night.

It was agreed by the siblings that, after nearly six years with no word, whoever had plotted to remove the three of them from their father's court must doubtlessly assume the princess and princes long dead or incapacitated. Done right, the three royal siblings could take their unknown enemies by surprise.

After many nights of arguing it out and then sheepishly praying for wisdom, Grace and the twins reached an agreement over reasonable course of action. To get home, they'd have to steal a hover craft in order to reach the city. In the city, they would in turn, steal a ship. After that, it would be merely a matter of reaching the coordinates that Grace had made her brothers memorize so long before, that marked the planet Axteryx, where their parents would be waiting.

Since the three of them owned very little as slaves, there wouldn't be much to take with them, though Oberon felt it would be wise to take weapons with them. Grace reminded the boys that they were three galaxies away from home, which had taken several days in the fastest of their father's ships. Orion pointed out morosely that anything they could steal from Styxe would likely take at least twice that amount of time, which meant they would need food for the trip.

Laughing, Grace reminded the boys that they'd been weeding one of the vegetable gardens just that morning and that food was there 'for the picking'. The three of them decided to start picking a few vegetables each night to dry down in their family room against the trip. Since each of them carried a canteen anyway, none of them thought water would be a problem.

Not discussed and unknown to the boys went Grace's regard for their 'host'. She continued to pray over her regard for him and decided to give him one final test before they left. If he passed, she would reveal herself as a princess and ask his aid, rather than stealing- and stealing away- from him.

The time for this last test came just after the boys' birthday by Grace's reckoning, on a day when a fence had been breached by a rival holding and a settlement village invaded. Grace was needed to tend the wounded. Since the master wanted to hear reports and see the damage for himself, Grace had driven him out to the village, almost to the farthest reaches of his holdings.

The ride to the village was a quiet one. Grace mentally prepared herself to treat the wounded as she prayed for wisdom about her 'test', while her host kept to his own thoughts. Once they reached the small group of buildings, the master went with a group of villagers to the damaged wall while Grace went to treat her patients. Several hours later, Grace and the master joined back up in the hovercraft for the return trip.

Watching Grace leap into the passenger's seat after it had been started up, the master laughed. At Grace's inquiring look, he reminded her of her first ride, when he'd had to throw her into the vehicle. Grace laughed as well because she'd been leaping that way into the hovercrafts for several years by then.

Driving home, the two of them discussed the trip. Grace told him of the wounded and their wounds. In return, her host spoke of the breached wall. Discussing the damage inevitably led to an accounting discussion about the repairs.

To Grace's disappointment, there wasn't any opening for her to bring up the subject she most wanted to discuss. Upon returning to the house, Grace parked the hovercraft in its spot and sprinted to catch up with the master. Being so near dinnertime, the settlement yard was nearly deserted.

They were alone when they rounded the house, so Grace put her hand in the crook of his arm. He looked down at her hand in surprise then met her gaze."Do you mind terribly?" Grace asked him quietly, almost hesitantly.

"Actually, I do," he replied in a voice that was neither cold nor warm. Grace hastily released him and dropped back a step or two in order to hide her face. He turned to study her expression, making her gesture futile.

"Grace, tell me why you did that?" asked the master. Grace shook her head, saying nothing. "You may not say 'no'," he reminded her kindly.

"Tell me you have not noticed the things I do especially for you," countered Grace quietly.

He shook his head, discouraging her. "I am your master; of course, you do things especially for me. Why else would any of my slaves do anything for me?" The comment was almost an excuse, offering her a graceful way to retreat from what he guessed she might say. There was a mere hint of bitterness in the question though, that Grace almost missed and then wondered if she'd heard it at all.

Grace wanted to correct him regarding their relationship, wanted to explain everything, but she bit off her words. What good would it do her for him to know if he only prevented them from leaving? And since he appeared to hold no special regard for her, Grace felt that he would be unlikely to help her or her brothers return home.

"Of course," the princess said quietly instead. "You're right; my apologies."

She was disappointed but told herself she wasn't heartbroken. A princess did not worry over such things and they married for the crown instead of the heart. Grace slowed her pace to allow him to walk on ahead.

"I guess this must be 'goodbye' then," she murmured to his retreating back. All the same, she had to swallow bitter disappointment and wondered about the ache in her heart.

That night in the privacy of their room, Grace and the boys discussed their anticipated leave-taking again. Having been drying vegetables for weeks, their plan was a simple one that could be enacted at the earliest opportunity. Since the boys had managed to both be on watch at midnight, something they'd been trying to finagle for weeks, suddenly their escape was planned for that night.

Excitedly, the three of them fine-tuned the plan. They prayed for success and for protection as they attempted the dangerous task of escape, then the more dangerous task of returning home!

Under the cover of darkness, Oberon took all three canteens to the water faucet and filled them. Grace emptied her 'medical bag' in order to make room for the dried produce. Also taking advantage of the dark night, Orion left their 'family room', made his stealthy way to the garage and temporarily disabled all but the fastest craft in order to prevent anyone from following.

Grastian prayed fervently during Orion's entire absence. Orion's task was the most dangerous since Oberon was only fetching water, a thing that was acceptable after curfew. The virus that Orion planted in the systems of the other crafts had an expiration of twelve hours, enough time for the three of them to leave the planet. If Orion had been caught, they most assuredly would have been prevented from leaving!

As soon as the midnight hour came, the siblings enacted their plan. Oberon and Orion relieved the watch while Grastian stayed in the slaves' quarters, listening for the snores of those who'd been relieved. When the front gate was manned only by her brothers and the earlier guards were safely asleep, Grace would bring the fastest hovercraft.

After an hour, Grastian made her silent way to the garage and retrieved the hovercraft. It would make very little noise until speed was required, so she eased the little craft toward the gate. Orion opened the gate and jumped into his sister's stolen craft.

Oberon closed the gate behind them. Before jumping into the hovercraft, however, he offered a mischievous grin at his sister. With a stout length of electrical cord, Oberon tied the gate with strong knots. He was careful to keep the knots away from where anyone could reach to untie them. Anyone who wanted to open the gate would be hampered until wire cutters could be brought. Soon, the trio was speeding toward the city.

When they arrived, the sun was beginning to rise over the city. Grace took off the three necklaces and unfastened the wire from them, leaving three pendants tied to the steering panel in order to mark who owned the craft. In the port city, doing so was a common thing, which gave Grace a reasonable expectation that the vehicle would be waiting for the master when he came to retrieve it.

Before night fell on the city again, they had managed to steal a small spacecraft. The three siblings agreed that the star taxi would be returned to the original owner as soon as humanly possible, along with renumeration for the lost income incurred by the little ship's absence. "After all," Orion reminded his sister sternly, "Does not Paul command the thief to 'steal no more', in the fourth chapter of Ephesians?"