'I thought it might be interesting to renew my acquaintances among them,' I said. 'Too, I would be interested to learn of the whereabouts and condition of one who was once the Lady Mira, of Venna, who, enslaved, was sentenced by her red masters to reside with the Waniyanpi.'
'I remember her,' said Cuwignaka, bitterly. 'LOng days I spent, chained to her cart.'
'Surely you are sorry for her,' I said, 'given, in particular, the almost unspeakable cruelty, for a woman, of her sentence, of her punishment?'
'She was a proud and arrogant woman,' said Cuwignaka. 'I do not pity her.'
'But she has known other forms of life,' I said. 'It is not like she was bonr and raised in such a compound.'
'I do not pity her,' said Cuwignaka.
'Surely she, now, honored and denied, celebrated and deprived, would be ready to beg for her own stripping, for the stoke of a man's lash, for the feel of her ankles being tied apart, widely and securely, in a leg stretcher.'
'I do not pity her,' said Cuwignaka. 'She was harsh and cruel. Let her languish, and unfulfilled slave, in the compounds of the Waniyanpi.'
'You are cruel,' I said.
'I am Kaiila,' shrugged Cuwignaka.
'Perhaps if she protrated herself, naked, before you, begging for mercy, you might be disposed to show her some lenience,' I speculated.
'Perhaps, if I thought she was now ready to be a woman, and had learned her lessons,' said Cuwignaka.
'Ah,' I said, 'I see that you might be swayed to generosity.'
'Of course,' grinned Cuwingaka. 'I am Kaiila.' He then gestured to Canka and winyela. She was now in his arms, her head back. She was sobbing with pleasure. She was oblivious of our presence. 'Too,' he said, 'there is something to be said for female slaves.'
'That is try,' I said. How beautiful was Winyela, lost in her helplessness, her pleasure and love. How marvelous and beautiful are women! How glorious it is to own them, to be able to do what one wishes with them and to love them! But then I thought soberly of she who had once, as the agent of Kurii, been my enemy. No such fulfillments and joys, it seemed, were for her. She had been condemned instead to the compounds of the Waniyanpi. She had been sentenced to honor and dignity, and equality with the pathetic males of the compound. She would not know, it seemed, the joys of being run, naked, a rope on her neck, a slave, at the flanks of a master's kaiila, the pleasures of, trembling, loving and serving, knowing that he whom one loves and serves owns one, fully, the fulfillments of finding oneself, uncompromisingly and irrevocably, in one's place in the order of nature, lovingly, at one's master's feet.
'We shall come back later,' said Cuwignaka to Canka, getting up. But, Canka, too, I fear, lost in teh sweetness and beauties, in the love and pleausre, of his woman, did not hear us.
Cuwignaka and I, smiling, left the lodge.
'Where are the Waniyanpi?' I asked.
'In the lower end of the camp, at the edge of the camp,' said Cuwignaka, 'where the drinage is worst.'
'I should have known,' I said.
'We put them there,' said Cuwignaka.
'Of course,' I said.
'Are you going to see them?' asked Cuwignaka.
'Yes,' I said.
'I do not think I will come,' said Cuwignaka. 'I do not much care for the company of Waniyanpi.'
'Very well,' I said.
'Meet me back at the lodge of Canka, later,' said Cuwignaka.
'Why?' I asked. I thought perhaps Canka and Winyela might prefer to be left alone.
'I heard from Akihoka, who is friends with one of the Sleen Soldiers, that Hci is going to be up to something tonight,' grinned Cuwignaka.
'What?' I asked.
'I am not sure,' said Cuwignaka, 'but I think I know. And I think I know how we can foil him.'
'What is this all about?' I asked.
'It has to do with giveaways,' said Cuwignaka.
'I do not understand,' I said.
'Meet me back here, later,' said Cuwignaka.
'Very well,' I said.
'I am so much yours,' we heard Winyela say, from within the lodge. 'I am so much yours, my master!'
Cuwignaka and I smiled, and then we took our seperate ways.
Chapter 14
WANIYANPI
'Pumpkin!' I said, pleased.
'Peace, and light, and tranquility, and contentment and goodness be unto you,' he asid.
'I had heard that there were Waniyanpi in camp,' I said. 'I had hoped that it might be you, and others from your group.'
'We have delivered vegetables to our masters,' said Pumpkin. 'You remember Carrot and Cabbage?'
'Yes,' I said. 'Greetings, Fellows.'
'Sweetness be unto you,' said Carrot.
'Sweetness be unto you,' said Cabbage.
'Who is this?' asked a dark-haired woman, bellingerently. She, too, wore the garb of the Waniyanpi. That is a long, gray dress which falls between the knees and ankles. Her feet, too, were wrapped in rags. This garb is unattractive on women, doubtless intendedly so. On men, similarly, it appears ungainly and foolish.
'I do not think you met Radish,' said Pumpkin.
'No,' I said.
'Who are you?' asked Radish.
'Radish is the leader of our small expedition to the camp,' said Pumpkin, 'and is, for most practical purposes, first in the compound, in our home, Garden Eleven, although we all are, of course, the same.'
'Of course,' I said.
'Who are you?' asked Radish.
I looked at her. She was surly, and, obviously, badly in need of a whipping.
'I am Tatankasa, Red Bull,' I said, 'the slave of Canka, Fire-Steel, of the Isbu Kaiila, of the Little-Stones band of the Kaiila, in a mixtrue of both Kaiila and Gorean.
I continued to look at her. I did not think that she was, objectively, a bad-looking woman. Beneath the ugly garment she wore there were the suggestions of an attractive figure. I wondered what she would look like naked and bound, kneeling at a man's feet, under his quirt.
'You are a slave,' she said.
'So are you,' I said.
'We do not wear collars,' she said.
'You do not need collars to be recognized as slaves,' I said.
She glared at me, angrily. I considered stripping her, and putting her to my feet.
'Many who are slaves do not wear collars,' I said. 'Many who are slaves do not even know that they are slaves.'
'That is true,' said Pumpkin, agreeably.
'Do not speak further to this person,' said Radish, turning away.
'How long are you going to be in camp?' I asked.
