The porridge had been removed by a hood from the rack and placed on another rack, to the side. The blond girl ahd brough out wooden bowls and spoons.
'Each here serves themselves, in turn,' said Radish.
'Your porridge, Master,' said Mira.
'Thank you,' I said, taking the porridge.
She then returned to the line, to fetch porridge for Cuwignaka and Hci.
'She is pretty, isn't she?' asked the dark-haired girl, she who had shared the stirring of the porridge, to Carrot. He was watching Mira.
'Yes,' he said.
'Am I pretty?' she asked.
'You are not pretty, and you are not ugly,' he said. 'You are a Same. Sames are not pretty and they are not ugly. They are all the same.'
'Oh,' she said.
Mira then returned from the porridge kettle and knelt near Cuwignaka. Head down, her arms extended, she porffered him porridge as she had me.
'Thank you,' said Cuwignaka.
She then rose up and returned, again, to the line near the kettle.
'She serves well,' said Pumpkin.
'Women learn quickly,' I told him.
The dark-haired girl and the blond girl, who had shared in the stirring, who were sitting, cross-legged, near Carrot and Cabbage, rose to their feet, going again to the porridge line.
'I have thought about the things we discussed,' said Pumpkin. 'I have thought about them, many times.'
'I had thought you might,' I said. Indeed, that was why I had come to the lodge of the Waniyanpi.
Mira returned to our vicinity now and knelt near Hci, proffering him a bowl of porridge as she had to Cuwignaka and me. He took it with one hand. He spoke to her in Kaiila and snapped his fingers. She put her head down to the dirt before him. He spoke again. She kissed the dust before him, humbly. He spoke again and she straightened up and then again lowered her head to the dust before him. He spoke again and she withdrew to her former position where she knelt as before. Again he spoke, and she lowered her head, humbly.
'She obeys with perfection,' said Pumpkin.
'How thrilling it would be to be so under the command of a man and obey him with such perfection,' said a Waniyanpi woman, softly, almost to herself.
'Thank you, Hci,' said I, in Kaiila.
'Thank you, Hci,' said Cuwignaka.
'It is nothing,' said Hci.
Hci's lesson had not been lost upon us. Cuwignaka and I, perhaps inadvertently, had been too soft with Mira. The slave who is treated too leniently may begin to forget that she is a slave. It may be necessary, then, to remind her. Beatings can be useful for this purpose.
The two girls who had gone to the porridge line, the dark-haired girl and the blond girl, had returned a bit before, each with their bowl refilled with porridge. They had been in time, standing, watching, to see Mira put though her paces by Hci. There were almost trembling.
The dark-haired girl knelt down near Carrot. 'I have brought you some more porridge,' she said.
He looked at her, startled.
'Would you like some more?' she asked, timidly.
'Yes,' he said, taking her bowl.
'here,' said the blond girl, kneeling down near Cabbage, pressing her bowl of porridge towards him.
'Thank you,' he said, startled.
'Each here,' snapped Radish, 'fetches his own porridge.'
'No,' said the dark-haired girl.
'No,' said the blond girl.
'I think maybe, even though you are a Same that maybe you are pretty,' said Carrot to the dark-haired girl.
'Could you command me,' she asked, 'as that other girl is commanded.'
'No,' he said, 'of course not! You are a Same!'
'Oh,' she said.
'Do you not have pressing business elsewhere?' Radish asked me.
'No,' I said.
'I think it is time you left our domicile,' she said.
'I have not yet finished my porridge,' I said.
'Do not be rude, Radish,' said Pumpkin. 'These are our guests.'
Radish tossed her head, which seemed in uncharacteristic, almost feminine gesture for her, and looked away.
I handed the residue of my porridge, in its wooden bowl, back to Mira. I left the spoon beside me. She would not be so stupid as to ask for it. Slaves commonly eat without utensils. The porridge, by now, of course, had cooled.
'If necessay,' said Radish, 'you can be put out by force.'
'I do not think so.' I said.
'What do you want here?' she asked. 'Why have you come here?'
'Surely the pleasure of sharing a kettle with friends is reason enough,' I said.
She glared at me in fury.
Mira had fallen upon the porridge with gusto. She now, with her fingers and tongue, was wiping the bowl clean. She did not eat now as might a rich, free woman, from a golden service with Turian prongs, suptiously, in some fine house. She ate now as a slave, and was grateful for her feeding.
'I think it is time, now, for you to leave,' said Radish, acidly.
I then rose from beside the fire and walked about it, taking a position among several of the Waniyanpi. They drew back, rather in a circle about me.
'To me, Mira,' I snapped.
Swiftly she leapt to her feet and hurried about the fire, to stand before me.
She was very beautiful, in her strings and rags.
'Remove your clothing,' I told her.
She reached behind her neck, to undo the halter, this action lifing the line of her breasts, beautifully.
A gasp of awe escaped the Waniyanpi.
She reached to the knot at her left hip. A cry of pleasure escaped from Waniyanpi.
The former Lady Mira of Venna now stood before me, a naked slave.
'To my lips, Slave,' I said.
She melted into my arms, embracing and kissing me, as a slave into the arms of her master.
'Aiii!' cried several of the men, softly.
'Ohhh,' breathed several of the women.
Deeply then did I kiss the slave.
She seemed lost in my touch. She whimpered. She abandoned herself in my arms, surrendering fully, as a slave must, or be beaten, to the master.
'Put them out!' I heard, a screaming as though from faraway. 'Put them out!'
I became vaguely aware of the pounding of small fists on my back. Then whoever was doing this was pulled away.
I looked about. Pumpkin, forcibly, was restraining Radish.
'Put them out!' Radish was screaming hysterically. 'Put them out!'
The dark-haired girl, then, she who had helped with the stirring of the porridge, slipped suddenly, defiantly, from her garment. The blond girl did so, too. These two, then, were as bared as Mira.
'No!' screamed Radish, looking at them. 'No!'
'Yes!' cried the dark-haired girl.
