'You are a slave,' I said. 'Do you think you would like to be a woman's slave?'
'No,' she said, shuddering. She kissed me. 'I am a man's slave,' she said.
'It is true,' I said.
'Are panther girls truly so strong?' she asked.
'Not really,' I said. 'Once captured and conquered, collared and silked, their thigh burned by the iron, thrown to a man's feet. they are as quick to kiss and lick as any woman. Indeed, they make superb slaves. They bring high prices in the markets. They are only girls desperate to fight their femininity. When they are no longer permitted to do this they have no choice but to become marvelous women and slaves. A conquered panther girl is one of the most abject and delicious, and joyful, of slaves.'
'I see, Master' she said.
'How would I be taken south?' she asked.
'Afoot, your neck tied to a sled,' I said.
'I do not want to remain a slave of red hunters indefinitely,' she said. 'I think I would like to be taken south.'
'What you like is of no interest.' I said.
'I know,' she said.
'If I were to be taken south,' she said, 'would I be sold there?'
'Doubtless,' I said.
'Publicly?' she asked.
'Presumably,' I said.
'Naked?' she asked.
'You might wear chains,' I said. 'I do not know.'
'Only a fool buys a woman clothed,' she said.
'That is a Gorean saying,' I said.
'Imnak taught it to me,' she laughed.
'Surely you see the sense of it?' I asked.
'Of course,' she said, 'if I were a man I would buy a woman only if she were naked. I would want to see what I was getting, completely.'
'Precisely,' I said.
'I would even want to try her out,' she said, boldly.
'That is done in certain sorts of sales,' I said, 'such as purple booth sales in the courtyard of a slaver's house.'
'If there were a handsome buyer, I would try hard to please him,' she said.
'You would try hard to please any potential buyer,' I said, 'or your owner, the slaver, would express his dissatisfaction to you.'
'I see,' she said.
A slaver normally expresses his dissatisfaction to his girls with a whip.
'But what of large sales, public sales?' she asked.
'Even in most private sales,' I said, 'the prospective buyer is not permitted to use the girl, fully.'
'Fully?'
'He might be permitted to feel her a bit.' I said. 'A great deal can be told by simply getting your hands on a girl,' I said. 'What does her arm feel like above the elbow? How does she turn when you take her by the shoulders and face her away from you? What of the delights of her thigh, the sweetness behind her knees, the turn of her calves? You lift a foot. Does she have a high instep. A girl with a high instep is often a fine dancer. You turn her again to face you. The eyes are very important. Much can be learned there of her intelligence. You kiss her breasts softly, you brush her lips with yours. You study her eyes, her expressions. Then, unexpectedly perhaps, or perhaps first warning her, you touch her. Again attend to the eyes. You continue to touch her. You watch the eyes. Then she screams for mercy, writhing in her chains or in the grasp of the slaver, his hand in her hair. You then know about all you can, without putting her through slave paces or forcing her to perform on the furs.'
'Then slavers seldom permit their girls to be fully used?' she asked.
'Not for free,' I said. 'A common arrangement, however, is to charge a prospective buyer, if he wishes it. a rent fee, which fee may then be, should he want the girl, applied to her purchase price.'
'That seems sound business' she said.
'I think so,' I said. 'Why should a slaver give away the use of his properties?' I asked. 'After all that is how he makes his living, buying and selling, and leasing and renting women.'
'Of course,' she said. 'But there are the purple booth sales,' she said.
'Those are usually for a well-fixed clientele, known to the slaver,' I said. 'They are known to him as serious, bonafide buyers. If they do not buy one girl, they will probably buy another.'
'Oh,' she said.
'But what of large, public sales?' she pressed.
'In which, say, an auction block would be used?' I asked.
She shuddered. 'Yes,' she said.
'Such sales are common on Gor,' I said.
'Common?' she gasped.
'Certainly,' I said. 'Many women are auctioned from the block in a given year in a given city,' I said. 'Do you remember the large blue and yellow pavilion near the platforms where Imnak bought you?'
'Yes' she said.
'Women were being auctioned there,' I said.
'Oh,' she said. 'I was not,' she said.
'You were not regarded as being sufficiently interesting at that time to be put on the block,' I said. 'The platforms were good enough for your sort.'
'But I am beautiful,' she said.
'On Gor,' I said, 'beautiful women are plentiful, and cheap.'
'Am I more interesting now, Master?' she wheedled.
'Yes,' I said, 'You are perhaps worthy now to grace the block-'
'Thank you, Master,' she said.
'— in a minor sale in a small city,' I added.
'Oh, Master!' she laughed.
'I jest,' I said, 'but, too, I am serious. You will grow inslavery and beauty. Who knows what a woman's potential is for love?'
She looked at me.
'You have far to go, my lovely little tart.' I said. 'But in the end I think you might be worthy of the central block, at the Curulean in Ar.'
She kissed me, frightened. 'What a fearful thing it is to be a slave girl, and what a wonderful thing,' she said.
I said nothing.
'How does one know, on the block,' she asked, suddenly, 'if a girl is any good?'
'A certification of a girl's heat, in certain cities,' I said, 'is sometimes furnished, with the slaver's guarantee, among the documents of sale. Her degree of heat, in such a situation would also be listed of course, among her other properties, on her sales sheet, posted in the vicinity of the exhibition cages, available twenty Ahn before her sale. It would also be proclaimed, of course, in such a situation, along with her weight and collar size, and such things, from the block, during her sale.'
'Is that sort of thing done in many cities?' she asked.
'In very few,' I said, 'and for a very good reason.'
'Out of respect for the girls?' she asked.
'Of course not.' I said. 'It is rather done in few cities because of the possibility of fraud on the part of the buyer. He might use the girl for a month and then claim a refund in virtue of the guarantee. Slavers prefer for their sales to be final. Too, other problems exist For example, a free woman who, before her sale, is cold may become, after her sale, knowing herself then as a vended slave, helpless and torrid in the arms of a master. Similarly a girl
