CW: child bride, grooming, childhood SA.

A shove in her back sent Mary sprawling to the floor, her white dress catching under her knees and ripping slightly at the seam. "She's all yours, Lord Padasophilanors." The words were spoken with no emotion.

Mary stared at Padasophilanors' feet, shaking with fear, as her parents walked out the door, closing and locking it behind them. She knew the car was already packed - she'd helped to pack it. Her parents said they were going on a business trip, and she knew what that meant - she was to be left with someone who would hurt her, and if she ever told, her parents would kill her.

This time, though, things felt different. For one, she'd never been put in a white dress before. For another, this man, this Pada-something, looked - just a little wrong. He had two arms, two legs, pants, a shirt, all that kind of thing, but the shirt pulled weirdly across his chest, like there was something on his back, and one of the legs of his pants twitched occasionally, as though something like a snake moved along the back.

For a time, neither of them moved or spoke. Mary listened as two car doors slammed, and then the familiar sound of her parents' car driving away. She tried not to cry. Crying made some of them mad.

"Your parents sold you to be my bride." The man finally spoke, and his voice sounded wrong too, hollow and echoing in a way Mary had never heard anyone sound before. It was actually quite pretty, and for a moment she was distracted from the actual words. Then the meaning came to her, and she stiffened. "I accepted, knowing that if I didn't they would offer you to another of the Old Ones, but I will not force you. Here, have this, and live as you wish."

Mary looked up as his hand moved towards her and shrank back instinctively. It took her some time to realize that he wasn't reaching for her, and that he held what looked like a credit card in his hand.

"Um, Lord Pada- Padis,"

"Just call me Paddy."

"Lord Paddy, um, I'm 13. I'm not allowed to live on my own."

"Wait, what?" He sounded genuinely confused. "I mean, yes, usually women live with their parents until they get married, but plenty of women live on their own these days."

"Y-you have t-to b-be eight-teen t-to live on your own." Mary hated how much her voice shook with fear. "I st-till have t-to go t-to school and have a guardian."

"Huh." Lord Paddy sat back in the chair and looked like he was about to get lost in thought. Mary took the chance to really look him over, then flinched when his eyes suddenly flashed to her. "Right, you still have clothes here?"

Mary nodded uncertainly.

"Go get changed into something you're actually comfortable in. I need to think for a minute."

Mary nodded and tried to move, but her dress ripped more, threatening to fall off of her.

"Here." Suddenly, large, strong hands picked her up, and she froze in terror, but Lord Paddy just put her on her feet and let her go, retreating back to the chair and dropping his chin into his hand, one finger tapping his lips. "Oh, I may call someone, maybe several someones over. They will not harm you."

Something about his voice wormed its way into Mary's body, relaxing her just slightly. She didn't know why, but she was starting to trust that he truly wouldn't hurt her.

As Mary went through her wardrobe, looking for something that felt comfortable to wear, she heard the front door open and close twice, and the sound of soft voices in intense conversation. Eventually, she heard Lord Paddy's voice at the bottom of the stairs.

"Mary, Sally is going to come up and make sure you're okay."

Mary backed away from the door, ending up pressed against the wall next to her bed as she heard someone coming up the stairs. As soon as she saw the shadow in the doorway, she started to apologize. "I'm s-sorry, I'm sorry, imsorryimsorryimsorry."

"Oh, shhhhhhh." The woman in the doorway, Sally, crouched down, and her voice was so full of kindness and sadness, that it shocked Mary out of her apologies. "It's okay, child, come here." Sally's arms were open, hands beckoning, and Mary didn't understand why, but she moved forwards , almost in a trance, until she was just within reach of Sally. There, she stopped, and Sally waited, patient, making shushing sounds, until Mary closed the gap and leaned into her. Only then did Sally's arms close around her, comforting rather than smothering.

"I think," Sally said after Mary had cried herself out, "that we should just pick something quickly, and then go get you new clothes."

Mary pulled back a bit, wiping her eyes, noticing absently that Sally released her as soon as she started to move. "Can we really?" She asked, not yet ready to believe fully in these new people.

"We really can." Sally smiled, and reached over to dig through Mary's drawer, quickly finding and pulling out a pair of jeans that Mary's father hated, a t-shirt with a unicorn on it that Mary kind of liked and thus tried to not wear, and a sweatshirt to go over it all.

Sally left the room while Mary changed, and didn't seem to mind when Mary held onto her shirt as they walked downstairs.

"We're going shopping." Sally called into the living room, where Lord Paddy and another man were still talking. "We'll bring everything back here, wash it, then ceremonially burn all of her old stuff."

"In that case, come here for a second, child." Lord Paddy knelt on the floor, and Sally gave Mary a very gentle nudge towards him.

Still hesitant, Mary approached, flinching as Lord Paddy reached for her.

"Look into my eyes." He said gently.

Heart beating so hard it felt like it was going to burst out of her chest, Mary looked into his eyes, flinching when his hands touched her temples, but his touch was gentle, and in an instant she found her body and mind calming down, almost relaxing. It was as though he was sucking her fears out of her.

When Lord Paddy let her go, Mary walked back to Sally, not worried about turning her back on the two men in the room.

"We'll be back." Sally called, and led Mary to a car parked in front of the house.

They drove to the nearest department store, and Sally led Mary straight to the children's section, then paused.

"We can get girl's clothes if you'd like, or we can get boy's clothes, or a mix. Whatever will make you most comfortable." Sally smiled encouragingly. "We can also come back for more things later."

Mary looked at Sally for a moment, then headed for the boy's section. She hesitated at first, but whenever she showed interest in something, Sally grabbed a few different sizes of it for her to try on, and soon they had a rather large stack of clothes to take to the changing room.

Through the entire shopping expedition, Sally let Mary take the lead. She didn't try to go into the changing room with Mary, or tell her what things to try on, or hurry her, or in any way pressure her. Instead, she sat back and watched, noticing little cues that Mary didn't even realize she was sending.

It was Sally who noticed that Mary was getting overstimulated, and she suggested they get what they'd picked so far, and come back another day.

They ended up getting two packs each of socks and underwear, five pairs of pants, eight shirts, two jackets, two pairs of shoes, and some detergent that Mary didn't recognize, and when Mary heard the total price her eyes widened in fear. Seeming to sense it, Sally rested her hand on Mary's shoulder and knelt next to her.

"It's okay, Mary. Paddy's paying for all this, and he can certainly afford it."

Mary took a deep breath, nodded, and tried to relax.

Back at her house, Mary was surprised to see it almost empty. Sally tossed all her new clothes in the washer with some of the new detergent while the man who had been there when they'd left gave Mary a plate of hot mini pizza bagels and a glass of juice, and settled her in the window seat.