Neverwinter Forest night of the hunter

There was a small moment of silence that passed between them, in which Five was left with little but with obedient silence. The Amazon woman had beat into him that he should not speak unless spoken too, exceptional circumstances excluded; besides, it was not as if he knew what to say to her. And it was rude and punishable to leave without being clearly dismissed, which he had not happened yet. Five understood that, in all technicalities he did not belong to the Amazon women any longer, but even if he were not in utter denial over his unwanted and unwelcome freedom old habits died hard. He could not shut off the years of beatings and training the Amazon women had made him endure to make him into their ideal Gladiator, a strong fighter, an obedient and resolutely loyal slave, an impressive trophy. He may have known something else but he had been a small child when he'd been taken and sold and most of that life, most of being a Roman, was lost to him; and if it wasn't lost it had been so deeply buried that trying to excavate it was an impossible mission.

Sometimes, things were better off left dead.

Yet, when the woman broke her silence to inquire his name, Five's eyes of moss green lifted to study her face respectfully for a few moments before they dutifully lowered, he was struck with a decision. Cinq, or Five was what the Amazon women had called him, but it had never been his name. It was just a way of singling him out among the other men, something to call him. He had hoped, at one time, to be able to win their favor enough to be called by his given name, a true testament to him as a Gladiator. Five had been a slave's name, and despite it's relevance to him the desire to hear is given name spoken from lips after so many years was a strong one, and surely did not go against Quetzalcoatl's last orders to him. “I was born with the name Nero, m'lady,” Five admitted. “But I was given Five to be called a few months later. You may call me whichever you prefer.” Despite his own selfish desire his obedience was a scar that ran too deeply and thus the Gladiator gave her the choice.