'Interesting,' said the Lady Melpomene.
The Lady Florence shrugged.
'Is he any good on the couch?' asked the Lady Melpomene.
'I use him when it pleases me,' said the Lady Florence.
'Of course,' said the Lady Melpomene.
'It is unfortunate that your resources, in the recent markets, have become so limited, or you might have outbidden me,' said the Lady Florence.
'My resources are quite ample,' said the Lady Melpomene.
'Rumor has it,' said the Lady Florence, 'that your fortunes lie near ruin.'
'Such rumors,' snapped the Lady Melpomene, 'are malicious and false.'
'I thought so,' said the Lady Florence, pleasantly. 'It is unfortunate that they are so rampant.'
'I was insufficiently interested in the slave to bid sixteen tarsks,' said the Lady Melpomene.
'Of course,' said the Lady Florence.
'Have you been long shopping in Ar?' asked the Lady Melpomene.
'Some four days,' said the Lady Florence. 'We left our house in Vonda a month ago, for my villa.' The villa of the Lady Florence of Vonda lay some forty pasangs south and west of Vonda. Vonda was one of the four cities of the Salerian Confederation. The other cities of this confederation were Ti, Port Olni and Lara. All four of these cities lie on the Olni River, which is a tributary to the Vosk. Ti is farthest from the confluence of the Olni and Vosk; downriver from Ti is Port Olni; these were the first two cities to form a league, originally intended for the control of river pirates and the protection of inland shipping; later, downriver from Port Olni, Vonda, and Lara, lying at the junction of the Olni and Vosk, joined the league. The Olni, for practical purposes, has been freed of river pirates. The oaths of the league, and the primitive articles pertaining to its first governance, were sworn, and signed, in the meadow of Salerius, which lies on the northern bank of the Olni between Port Olni and Vonda. It is from that fact that the confederation is known as the Salerian Confederation. The principal city, because the largest and most populous, of the confederation is Ti. The governance of the confederation is centralized in Ti. The high administrator of the confederation is a man called Ebullius Gaius Cassius, of the Warriors. Ebullius Gaius Cassius was also, as might be expected, the administrator of the city, or state, of Ti itself. The Salerian Confederation, incidentally, is also sometimes known as the Four Cities of Saleria. The expression `Saleria', doubtless owing its origin to the meadow of Salerius, is used broadly, incidentally, to refer to the fertile basin territories both north and south of the Olni, the lands over which the confederation professes to maintain a hegemony. The meadow of Salerius, thus, lies on the northern bank of the Olni, between Port Olni and Vonda; the area called Saleria, on the other hand, is, in effect, the lands controlled by the confederation. Ti, Port Olni and Vonda lie on the northern bank of the Olni; Lara lies between the Olni and the Vosk, at their confluence. It is regarded as being of great strategic importance. It could, if it wished, prevent Olni shipping from reaching the markets of the Vosk towns, and, similarly, if it wished, prevent shipping from these same towns from reaching the Olni markets. Overland shipping in this area, as is generally the case on Gor, is time consuming and costly; also, it is often dangerous. It is interesting to note that the control of piracy on the Olni was largely a function of the incorporation of Lara in the confederation. This made it difficult for the pirate fleets, following their raids, to descend the Olni and escape into the Vosk. It may also be of interest to note that what began as a defensive league instituted primarily to protect shipping on a river gradually, but expectedly, began to evolve into a considerable political force in eastern known Gor. Jealousies and strifes, rivalries, even armed conflicts, tend often to separate Gorean cities. Seldom do they band together. In this milieu, then, of suspicion, pride, autonomy and honor, the four cities of Saleria represented a startling and momentous anomaly in the politics of Gor. The league to protect shipping on the Olni, inadvertently but naturally founded in the common interest of four cities, had formed the basis for what later became the formidable Salerian Confederation. Many cities of Gor, it was rumored, looked now with uneasiness on the four giants of the Olni. The Salerian Confederation, it was rumored, had now come to the attention even of the city of Ar.
'We proceeded from my villa to my house in Venna,' continued the Lady Florence, speaking lightly with the Lady Melpomene.
'I, too, have a house in Venna,' she said.
'I did not know, with the state of your finances, that you had managed to retain it,' said the Lady Florence. Venna is a small, exclusive resort city, some two hundred pasangs north of Ar. It is noted for its baths and its tharlarion races.
'Do you come often to shop in Ar?' asked the Lady Melpomene.
'Twice yearly,' said the Lady Florence.
'I come four times yearly,' said the Lady Melpomene.
'I see,' said the Lady Florence, sweetly.
'I can afford to,' said the Lady Melpomene.
'Do not permit me to detain you from your shopping,' said the Lady Florence.
'I would not stay too long in Ar,' said the Lady Melpomene.
'I do not think there will be trouble,' said the Lady Florence.
'There was talk in the baths at Vonda,' said the Lady Melpomene. 'It is feared there will be an attack by Ar. Already troops have skirmished south of the Olni.'
'Men are barbarians,' said the Lady Florence. 'They are always fighting.'
'If hostilities should break out,' said the Lady Melpomene, 'it might not be well to be a woman of Vonda caught in this city'
'I do not think there will be trouble,' said the Lady Florence.
'You may risk a steel collar if you wish,' said the Lady Melpomene. 'I am leaving Ar tonight.'
'We are leaving in the morning,' said the Lady Florence.
'Excellent,' said the Lady Melpomene. 'Perhaps I shall see you in Venna'
'Perhaps,' said the Lady Florence.
'And perhaps you will let me enjoy your slave,' said the Lady Melpomene.
'Perhaps - for a fee,' said the Lady Florence, coldly.
'A fee?' asked the Lady Melpomene.
'Sixteen tarsks,' said the Lady Florence. 'The pitiful price which you could not afford to pay for him.'
Sixteen tarsks was actually a high price to pay for a male silk slave. Most would go from four to six tarsks.
'I wish you well,' said the Lady Melpomene.
'I wish you well,' said the Lady Florence.
The Lady Melpomene then clapped her hands. 'Proceed!' she called to the draft slaves, those bearing upon their shoulders the poles of her palanquin.
In a moment or two they had proceeded down the street.
'What a hateful woman,' said the Lady Florence. 'What a pretender she is! How I despise her! Her fortunes are mined. She is almost penniless. If she does retain a house in Venna she is sure to lose it soon. How bold she is, even to dare to speak with me. She is probably in Ar trying to negotiate a loan, or sell the house in Venna, if indeed she still owns it. Even the palanquin and slaves are rented! She does not fool me! How I hate her! I hate her! Did you see how sweetly she spoke to me? But she hates me, too. Our families have been enemies for generations.'
'Yes, Mistress,' I said.
'She even bid against me for you,' said the Lady Florence. 'Would a friend have done that?'
'I do not know, Mistress,' I said.
'No,' said the Lady Florence.
'Yes, Mistress,' I said.
'And she had the nerve to ask for your use,' said the Lady Florence. 'I will share you only with those women who please me.'
'Yes, Mistress,' I said. It is a common Gorean hospitality to offer the use of one's slaves to guests, if they should find them attractive. The Lady Florence of Vonda, she to whom I belonged, could give or assign me, as any slave she owned, to whomsoever she pleased. She had, however, at least thus far, kept me for herself. Sometimes when there were guests at her villa southwest of Vonda I was kept locked in my kennel.
