Cir prepared the bath quickly and efficiently, his mind still swirling with the effects of his first meeting with Alec. What did the strange Master want? Will he be pleased with Cir, or will he leave and never return?

Once they both were in the bath, Cir relaxed more. After all, bathing with Masters was familiar territory. He could try to pretend that Alec was like his usual masters, even though his mind both hurt and tingled from Alec's touch. It was the closest touch his real self ever experienced, and Cir could not decide if it wouldn't be better to forget it quickly. Maybe then Alec would forget things too. Maybe if Cir gave him a really good bath he wouldn't demand more answers...

That, of course, was not to be. His Master seemed to appreciate Cir's efforts in washin him, but once he was done, Alec reclined, leaning his head on the edge of the bath, and said "Well?"

Cir could guess what he wanted, but he needed as much time as he could get. "Well what, Ma... Alec?"

Alec stared at him, amusement showing clearly in his eyes. "You do remember I can take all the information I need from your mind, don't you? Or is this what you want?"

Cir shivered. Did he want it, this feeling of slow but certain intrusion in the one place he knew he was alone with himself? He still could not decide what he thought about the first time Alec did that — did it hurt, or did it bring him pleasure? Or were those one and the same?

"N-no," Cir said cautiously, "I'll tell you what you want to know."

"Good," Alec answered with a faint smile. "First I'd like more information about yourself. I know that you aren't dangerous for me — you're too untrained. But why weren't you trained? And how did you survive if you're blind?"

"Trained for what? I don't understand, Master. I always lived in the Palace, at least, as long as I remember. I was trained to be a Key — I am able to do that with the access to the Palace systems..."

"When you say Key, you mean sex slave, don't you?" the Master inquired. Cir could feel his determination, his unstoppable desire to get all the information he needed. Did people Cir himself Scryed feel like this? He hoped they didn't. It was almost as personal as the Master's intrusion in his brain, both scary and exciting.

"Yes, Master." At the man's impatient glare he corrected himself. "Yes, Alec. That's the purpose of the Palace — each guest gets a room with his own Key."

"I see..."

Cir couldn't guess what was his Master thinking, and he didn't dare to Scry. "Are you unhappy with me as a Key?" he asked tentatively. "Perhaps an exchange might be arranged — the Palace doesn't like the guests to leave unsatisfied..."

"I don't think so," the Master — no, better to call him Alec even mentally — answered with a curt gesture. Then he said, staring at Cir, "Did you ever want some other kind of life? Not in the Palace?"

"I don't think it would be possible," Cir said quietly. Here it was, the necessity to explain who and what he was and to lose another Master as soon as it would be possible. Somehow he knew it ouwld be worse now. And yet Alec showed no negative reaction when Cir confirmed the fact his blindness. Maybe... No. No use in dreaming. It would be better to tell the facts now and prepare himself for Alec's reaction, whatever it would be.

"Why?" Alec asked coolly. "Does the Palace really own you?"

"No," Cir shook his head. "Not that. I... I'm not just blind. I need the Palace to survive, because... I don't look like this really," he made a vague gesture directed at his holographic body.

"I gathered that already," Alec was watching him with attentive eyes. "How do you look, then?"

Cir gulped. He did not really need it, but with time he came to express his internal reactions with patterns and habits he saw in other people. Somehow it helped, though he would be hard pressed to explain why.

"Here," he whispered, and the part of the bathroom opposite the bath changed. Instead a body of a boy appeared, emaciated and pale, with long white hair. Wires connected him to various machines, but Cir did not show all of them. He figured it did not make that much of a difference to a Master.

"Hm-m..." Alec was looking at his real self, but Cir could not gauge his reaction.

"I'm also deaf, not only blind, and the machines allow me to communicate with the outside world," he said quietly. "Should I take this," he gestured at the image of his real self, "away? If you find that annoying..."

But Alec was looking at *him* now — at least, at what served as *him* for the Masters, — and there were traces of mirth in his eyes.

"No, I find that intriguing," Alec said slowly. "Very intriguing."