'No,' said Bran Loort.
Thurnus regarded the young man. 'It is certainly a great surprise to me,' he said, 'to find you here. But, as it turned out, it was fortunate.'
'I am pleased,' said Bran Loort, 'if I could be of service.'
'An amazing coincidence,' marveled Thurnus. Clitus Vitellius smiled.
'Yes,' admitted Bran Loort, puzzled.
'More paga!' called Thurnus. A girl filled his cup. Swiftly again the contents vanished.
'But what are you doing here?' asked Bran Loort, suddenly, shrewdly. 'It is time to harvest the Sa- Tarna.'
'I am looking for men,' he said, 'to aid in the harvest.'
'I am strong,' said Bran Loort. There were tears in his eyes.
'Good,' said Thurnus. Bran Loort embraced him, weeping. 'Drink a cup of paga,' said Thurnus. 'Then we must go. The Sa-Tarna grows impatient.'
Bran Loort cried out with joy and whirled about, arms uplifted, like a child running and turning in the sun. He seized a cup and tore a vessel of paga from a startled girl and filled it himself. He threw his head back and drained the cup and flung it away.
'He has much to learn,' said Thurnus, 'but someday he will be a caste leader. He will have, too, his own Home Stone.'
'I am pleased,' said Clitus Vitellius, 'to have been of service.'
Thurnus grasped his hand. 'My thanks, Warrior!' said he.
Bran Loort looked at me. 'I am so happy!' he cried. 'You are so beautiful, Dina! So beautiful!'
'I am pleased if Master is pleased,' I said. I was very happy for Bran Loort.
Bran Loort looked to Clitus Vitellius and the warrior smiled, and lifted his hand.
'Oh,' I cried. Bran Loort seized me by the hair, which was now long enough to permit a master to grasp it.
'Come, Slave Beauty!' he cried and, bending me over, my hands trying to grasp his wrist, ran me, stumbling, to the nearest alcove. He did not even draw the curtain. I turned. I shrank back, my back against the rear wall of the alcove. I drew up my legs.
'How beautiful you are, Dina!' he cried. 'How beautiful you are! I nm so happy, and you are so beautiful! You are so beautiful!'
'Remove quickly your garment,' he said, happily, 'or I will tear it from your body!'
I undid the five buttons, red, which ran from the throat of the garment to the waist. Buttons, interestingly, were a relatively recent innovation in some Gorean slavewear. They are not used on the garments of free persons. Most Gorean garments do not have buttons, but are slipped on, or held with brooches or pins. Hooks, however, are used with some frequency. Buttons, interestingly, are regarded as rather sensuous on Gor. Buttons, obviously, may be unbuttoned, or cut away with a knife, thus revealing the slave. Many masters do not permit a girl to button her tunic in the privacy of their compartments. When a slave opens the door of the master's compartment and kneels, head down, say, to admit a visitor, her garment may have been closed only an instant before. This is also true of a hooked slave garment. Slaves, too, may be kept nude in the compartments. These, before answering the door, will usually don a light tunic, slipping it over their heads or wrapping it about their shoulders. When one sees the slave one does not know if, a moment before, she has been beautifully naked in her slavery or if, when the door closes, she has again, behind the door, stripped herself for her master's pleasure. I undid, too, the red, rep- cloth sash of the tunic. The buttons and sash on the tunic were red. The tunic itself, sleeveless, was white. I slipped the tunic over my head and, hastily, cast it aside. I now faced Bran Loort clad only in the collar of my master and my brand.
'You are beautiful, Dma!' he cried.
'Please do not hurt me,' I begged.
Joyfully he seized my ankles and dragged me to him, and then, with a peasant's roughness, thrust them widely apart.
'Please, Master,' I begged.
'I am so happy,' he cried. 'And you, Dina, pretty little slave, are so beautiful!'
'Oh!' I cried. 'Oh!' And I seized him. I threw my head back. I think that Bran Loort, overcome in his joy, had little time or patience for either his own pleasure or mine.
'Oh!' I cried.
Then he was finished with me and I was shaking. He covered me with kisses.
'I am so happy!' he cried. He then crouched beside me, and kissed me again. 'The Sa-Tarna must be harvested,' he said.
'Yes, Master,' I said.
'I wish you well, Dina,' he said.
'I wish you well, Master,' I said.
He then leapt from the alcove to find Thurnus. They left the tavern together. I was left lying on the furs. After a few minutes, I pulled my garment over my head, buttoned it and retied the sash. I went to kneel behind Clitus Vitellius. He was drinking with Thandar of Ti, and his four men. They were being served by Slave Beads.
'The Salerian Confederation,' Clitus Vitellius was saying, 'is a threat to the security of Ar.'
'Correct,' said Thandar of Ti.
'You seem distracted,' said Clitus Vitellius, who apparently wished to discuss politics.
Thandar of Ti was watching Slave Beads who, head down, was pouring him drink.
'A pretty little slave,' said Clitus Vitellius.
'Yes,' said Thandar of Ti. He reached forth and, gently, touched Slave Beads about the throat, as she poured the drink. She blushed, and trembled, head down. 'Kneel before the table, Slave,' he said to her. She did so, putting the paga vessel to one side. She knelt in the position of the pleasure slave. She was briefly silked, perfumed, collared and belled. I had learned earlier, in speaking with the girls, that Thandar of Ti, when in Ar, came often to the Belled Collar. I had little doubt that the small beauty, Slave Beads, was the reason. 'Do you think I should buy her?' asked Thandar of Ti of Clitus Vitellius, as he regarded the lineaments and beauty of the girl. Slave Beads shook with emotion. She almost broke the position of the pleasure slave. 'She is a beauty,' said Clitus Vitellius. 'If she pleases you, make an offer to Busebius.'
'Busebius!' called Thandar of Ti.
I thought Slave Beads might faint.
'I have taken a fancy,' said Thandar of Ti to Busebius, who had hurried to the table, 'to this little slut of a slave,' indicating Slave Beads. 'I will give you a silver tarsk for her.'
'Master is generous,' said Busebius, 'to offer so much for so miserable a girl.'
'Then it is done?' asked Thandar of Ti.
'Five tarsks,' said Busebius.
''Scoundrel!' said Thandar of Ti. 'I will give you two.'
'Now done!' laughed Busebius. He was pleased. He had made a profit on Slave Beads whom he had had, I understood, for less than one silver tarsk in the market, and had yet retained the good will of Thandar of Ti, a valued customer.
Slave Beads slipped to the floor in a faint. She Was still unconscious when Busebius removed his bells, and collar and silk from her, leaving her naked, save for her brand, lying on the tiles beside the table. She had not yet regained consciousness when Thandar of Ti placed his slave bracelets on her, braceleting her small wrists before her body.
In a few moments she regained consciousness, opening her eyes, discovering herself nude beside the table, in his bracelets. 'Am I yours, Master?' she asked, lifting her braceleted wrists to him. 'Yes, Slave,' he said. She knelt before him, reaching out to him, weeping with joy. She looked to me once, that I might not reveal what had once been her identity. She had once been the Lady Sabina of Fortress of Saphronicus, the daughter of Kleomenes, of Fortress of Saphronicus, promised in Companion Contract, in a proposed political alliance intended to further the fortunes of Fortress of Saphronicus and the Salerian Confederation, to the fifth son of the warrior, Ebullius Gaius Cassius, the Administrator of Ti, Thandar of Ti, also of the warriors.
