Changing The World View

Danielle looks at the home she has known her entire life. It looks different without her father present. His smell lingers and it comforts Dani. Her mother, however, is on edge.

"You have mooney to change the decor, mija! Don't you want more brighter colors in here?" Elena Lazara Espinosa decided to keep herself busy running the house for her daughter. This is better than the outcome she expected of her life. Danielle becoming a Member of the Council of Magical Beings East of the Mississippi was beyond her dreams.

Elena, herself, had a seventh grade education before she had to work to earn money for her family. Cleaning houses, basic cooking, sewing, crocheting, knitting and gardening was the extent of her education for five years after school. She thought that she was being groomed for breeding with a decent werewolf. From the time she was seven, Elena was told that she would be sold as a Breeder. It was a fact of life in the poor outlying lands of Ecuador. Werewolves could not always be part of a pack. With no pack, Elena's family was subject to the whims of whomever found them out.

One Rogue became the leader of the village and made decisions of the village as if he were an Alpha. Elena is happy to be away from the village, but her heart aches for her parents and her brother. She was sold to Mark Wurtz as a Breeder at 18. It took only a year to give birth to her beloved Danielle. She has been mostly ignored ever since, as long as Danielle was obedient to her father.

Danielle herself breaks into her mother's reverie, "No cream sofa, Mama, please!" Dani notices the browns and grays of the room fit her father's moodiness. Perhaps her mother is right. This room could use some yellow. Dani picks up the book with swatches. "I like the lemonade yellow paint with the khaki brown sofa and chairs."

"Bueno. Dis will make dis place so mooch brighter." No matter how much time has passed, Elena will always have her accent from Ecuador. Dani wouldn't change it for the world. Her mama has taught her to speak Spanish as well as to cook, clean, knit and sew. Dani may now be a Councillor, but she will always need her mama.

Dani's mate, Jenny, walks into the living room pushing a rolling tray filled with a plate of blueberry scones and everything needed for tea. "How about a print for the curtains? Or an area rug? Maybe you can find something to tie the room together?" 'Anything to help your Mom. She's running around like a scared rabbit in here. The chairs, the sofa, and especially the artwork.' Jenny pointed out the deer heads and the antler lamps and the various leather harnesses and farm equipment lining the walls. Bear skin rugs complete the look of a man in control of his surroundings.

"You watch too many design chows. You no need to talk like dat. Still, I go chopping!" Elena opens the laptop on the coffee table to start a search. "We will find someting you like, yes?"

"Sure, Mom, but first you eat. Have some tea." Danielle put a napkin down with a muffin and fixed a tea, putting the cup on a saucer for her mother.

"You are Councilor, I work for you! You no need to serve me tea." Elena is indignant.

"You are my mother and I adore you. You are already working for me redecorating this place. You run the house so I can learn what I do as a Councilor and do it. Right now, tea is a small thing." Danielle smiles at her mother.

'My father was not very kind to my mother. She was held as a Breeder and a servant. I understand that her family was paid very handsomely for her.' Danielle mind links Jenny while smiling at her mother.

'So she was a slave.' Jenny made a statement, not a question. Her disapproval touched Dani.

Dani had never understood her parents' relationship. She thought of it more as a business transaction. It was something that had been done for generations of werewolves, especially in poorer communities and countries like Ecuador and Honduras. Her father purchased his mother to have companionship and gave her mother a better life than she had. He was a powerful man who needed heirs and help with the household. Elena serves as both.

"Fine. I take dis wit me to the study. I know you want to talk about stuff. I bring you good choices." Elena closes the laptop, put the tea and muffin on it and walks away in a huff. "Que malas maneras tiene la chica cuando quiere hablando con mi nena en privada..." Elena leaves the room complaining.

Dani can't help but chuckle as she hugs Jenny. "My mother thinks you have bad manners."

"I'd rather have bad manners than to hurt her with what we were talking about." Jenny tried to emphasize the She was a slave to your father. It's very possible she was raped when he used her as Breeder. She is not the only one in that situation. It's happening all over the world, the USA, too. We don't need to remind her of that." Jenny needed time to think. "Sit. Eat." She directs Dani to the worn out, outdated leather sofa.

"I need you to think about this. If your father purchased a Breeder, then what connections does he have to sellers, and other buyers? Will they be calling? Will they be looking for you?" Jenny had heard the horror stories and knew that one purchase was only after a sampling of other "merchandise." She knew that underhanded deals were made every day for Breeders to make, not necessarily stronger, but more werewolves. The people who made these deals did not care who they hurt. Females were property, to be bought, sold and traded.

"To tell you the truth, I had never thought of it as slavery. Everyone had a part to play in the family. School work was not emphasized. My mother was well-educated for her town with a fifth grade education. Everyone else in her family had to work, especially since their parents had been killed.

"Her father was a Beta in a very small pack that got overrun by Rogues. Her mother went crazy, having lost her mate and took out three Rogues before she was killed as well. The Rogues took my mother, her brother and two small sisters as servants. After she had been bought, her brother found a strong and wealthy mate in Texas, who paid for him and the two sisters to come into her pack." Dani took a sip of tea, with both hands on the cup.

"My mother and her siblings would make crafts for sale as well as school work to attend to every day. Trade was king. Some packs would kidnap members of other packs for a small ransom. Sometimes all that was needed was food or clothing. Kidnapping had become a form of trade. Of course, the ransom had to be paid within five days, since any longer could become a strain on the 'host' pack. I was told most of this information from my Uncle Santiago." She paused, "He said that it was hard to feed another when you have little to feed yourself."

"So people became a commodity?" Jenny tried to understand.

"Humans, too." Danielle had accepted it as part of life. She was beginning to see that there is another way to live, without unpaid work. She will have to take another look at the pay schedule. She was sure her mother would help her make sure the staff actually got paid. This was going to be a new era, thanks to her family.