“No?” asked Tajima.
“I insist on being brought immediately to Lord Nishida,” said Miss Wentworth.
“You do not wish to bathe?” asked Tajima, surprised.
“No,” she said. “Bring us to Lord Nishida immediately.”
“We shall proceed immediately then,” said Tajima.
“No, no,” said Miss Wentworth, suddenly. “I must dress!”
“Perhaps we might have the honor of greeting Lord Nishida,” I said, “and Miss Wentworth might then follow, shortly.”
“A most suitable suggestion,” said Tajima. “The yellow-haired one may then, if she wishes, dress in privacy.”
“I certainly so wish,” she said.
He handed the rep-cloth sheet to Miss Wentworth, who seized it from him.
“I will send two men to conduct you to the audience,” said Tajima to Miss Wentworth.
“I will wait outside, and accompany her,” said Pertinax.
“As you wish,” said Tajima. “Also, as I recall, it is you who are to present Miss Wentworth to Lord Nishida.”
“I can present myself, I assure you,” said Miss Wentworth.
“It is not customary,” said Tajima.
I then accompanied Tajima from the hut, as did Pertinax, save that he waited discreetly outside, until Miss Wentworth would be ready to attend the audience.
Cecily, now tunicked, heeled me, as was proper.
As I left the hut, I paused, to glance at the three tubs. I would have been pleased to have had the bath. To be sure, I would keep my weapons at the side of the tub. If any approached too closely, I would arm myself. More than one warrior has been slain in the bath.
Outside, at the three aforementioned tubs, Pertinax and I found, waiting, two lovely young women. They might have been of Ar, or Venna, or Telnus, from almost anywhere.
“These would have bathed you,” said Tajima.
“I see,” I said.
Both women looked down, frightened.
Perhaps they were new to their collars.
Both were naked.
“You may look upon them as you wish,” said Tajima. “These are not contract women, trained, refined entertainers, or such. They are simple, coarse slaves, no different from those with which you are familiar. You may note that their necks are encircled with collars, and may be confident that the collars are closed, and locked. Too, if you care to examine their left thighs, you will note, just under the hip, a brand.”
I examined the brands. Both wore the cursive kef, the most common Gorean slave brand.
“They were both free women of Ar, even of high station,” said Tajima. “Several such have come recently into our hands.”
“Ar is troubled, of late,” I said.
“I have heard that,” said Tajima.
“I am surprised,” I said. “I thought such women might not be cultural for you.”
I had some sense of the milieu from which the “strange men” might have sprung. I did not doubt but what ancestors of theirs, from hundreds of years ago, or perhaps thousands, might have been brought to Gor by Priest- Kings on the Voyages of Acquisition, as had representatives, or, perhaps better, specimens, of a number of other backgrounds and cultures. The Garden of Gor, so to speak, both botanically and zoologically, had seemingly been stocked with care, at least at one time, apparently for interests both scientific and aesthetic.
Most Goreans, on the other hand, were, I was sure, completely unfamiliar with the “strange men.”
To be sure, much of Gor is
But what did it bode, or signify, I wondered, that some such men might now be here, in the northern forests, engaged in some project, which appeared to be both mysterious and secret?
And I had been debouched on the northern coast, at specific coordinates, supposedly by the order of Priest- Kings, though Kurii, too, obviously, had been apprised of those coordinates.
What might be, I wondered, the interest of Priest-Kings, or Kurii, in this area, at this time?
“We are a formal, traditional people,” said Tajima. “The old ways are important to us. But we are also an intelligent, adaptive people, and are always ready and eager to adopt useful devices, pleasant customs, and such.”
“I understand,” I said.
“Also, of course, it is not unusual for women to come into our keeping as a result of sale, of raiding, of war, and such.”
“Still, I am surprised,” I said. “I thought such identificatory and custodial details, brands and collars, and such, might not be cultural for you.”
“We have had them for centuries,” said Tajima. “It may be, I do not know, that they were not original with us, but one does, does one not, mark animals?”
“Certainly,” I said.
“Thus, we may very well have come up with them independently, but, if not, we are happy to learn from others. Those of the high cities are so elegant and efficient in these matters that it would do us great honor to recognize, if we did, the perfections which they have developed in their handling of women.”
“Of slaves,” I said.
“Of course,” he said.
It was true. Over centuries the Goreans had developed the handling of female slaves into a fine art.
That is something an Earth woman might remember, if she is brought to Gor as a slave.
“There were three tubs,” I said, “two slaves.”
“One slave to bathe you,” said Tajima, one to bathe Pertinax.”
“We could bathe ourselves,” I said.
“Assuredly,” said Tajima, “but is it not pleasant to be bathed by a naked slave?”
“Yes,” I said.
“The small pleasures of life,” said Tajima, “are not to be scorned.”
“True,” I said.
“Besides,” said Tajima, “the act is beneficial for the women, as well. It helps them to understand that they are women, and that, as women, although they are women, they may prove to be of some value, however humble.”
“What of Miss Wentworth?” I asked.
“Miss Wentworth, as she is a female, may bathe herself.”
“There were only three tubs,” I said.
“Your slave,” said Tajima, “would use your tub, after you had finished.”
“I think you speak English,” I said.
I remembered this from the reserve.
“I learned it far away,” he said.
“On Earth?” I said.
“Yes,” he said.
“Have you come recently from Earth?”
“Yes,” he said.
At that moment I heard the roar of a larl.
“Do not be dismayed,” said Tajima, “it is from the pavilion of Lord Nishida.”
“It sounds close,” I said.
“It is,” said Tajima. “There is the pavilion.”
