Tommy thinks of all the people who work in service, whose families have worked in service--but that is very different than an indenture. Slavery has been illegal in the Isles for nearly sixty years before he was born, but just because a thing is illegal doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. It just gets another name.

"Was he your blood?" he asks. "This boy you had to get out of jail? This boy you loved, and tried to kill you?"