'Yes,' I said.
'Do you think I would bring a good price?' she asked.
'Yes,' I said. 'I think so.'
She shuddered with pleasure.
'I think I will take you home now,' I said.
'I thought you would not take me home,' she said.
'No,' I said. 'I will do so.'
'Why this sudden change of heart?' she smiled.
'I am not sure,' I said. 'Perhaps it is because I now know you better. Perhaps it is because it is now later in the day.'
'Or perhaps there is another reason?' she said. 'Perhaps,' I said. 'I am not sure.
'Bind me, and take me instead to a slaver's' she said.
'No,' I said.
'I would not have the courage to turn myself over to a slaver,' she said. 'I would be afraid.'
'I understand,' I said.
'I could be killed,' she said.
'If you are obedient and pleasing,' I said, 'there is usually little to fear, other than the normal rigors and exactions of bondage.'
'Surely they are fierce enough,' she said.
'Sometimes,' I admitted. Not all masters were pleasant with their properties. 'But I could be killed.' She said.
'You are in far greater danger of being killed as a free woman,' I said. 'Just as it would not occur to most men to kill a pet sleen or a kaiila, it would not occur to them to kill a slave. She is, like other such domestic animals, not a person, but a property. She, like them, has certain sorts of work to which she may be put, and very pleasurable work often, and, like them, has her many values and uses. If a city is taken, while free folks may be fleeing about, and be subject to indiscriminate slaughter, she is likely, instead, to be secured and protected. She is, you see, like the sleen and kaiila, part of the clearly understood spoils of victory. Surely you can understand that you yourself, for example, might make delicious booty.'
'I?' she said, softly. 'Booty?'
'Yes, 'I said, 'if you were slave.'
'I understand,' she said, trembling. I saw from the way she said this, so softly trembling, so thrilled, that she belonged, truly, in a collar.
'To be sure,' I said, 'the slaves in such a situation would be well advised to be as obedient and pleasing as possible.'
'Of course,' she said.
'Particularly as the killing lust might still be upon the men.'
'I understand,' she said. 'But slaves are generally well trained in placatory behaviors,' I said.
'Of course,' she said.
'And they serve well, naked, in the victory orgies,' I said.
'Yes,' she said.
'But then even free women may be used in such orgies,' I said.
'I do not think they would long remain free,' she said.
'No,' I said. 'That would presumably be their last night of freedom.' 'Do they serve naked at the orgy, as do the slaves?' she asked.
'Of course,' I said.
'Are such women sometimes enslaved before the orgy?' she asked.
'Yes,' I said, 'presumably that they will then understand the totality of what will be expected of them at the feast. Too, some commanders think this is an excellent introduction to her new condition for a former free woman.'
'They are probably right,' she said.
'We must get you home soon,' I said.
'Why?' she asked.
'You are tempting,' I said.
'But if I were a slave,' she said, 'I would be subject to penalties.' 'Yes,' I said. 'The master would own you.'
'I could even be killed,' she said.
'It is one thing, of course,' I said, 'to be subject to penalties, and it is quite another for them to be inflicted.'
'That is true,' she said.
'For example,' it is one thing to be subject to the whip, and to know that subjection is quite real, that the master can, and will, whip you, and well, if you are not pleasing, and something else to be actually whipped.'
'I understand,' she said.
'But in general it is similar with all the penalties,' I said, 'even those which are seldom, if ever, inflicted. She must know that they exist, and that, for her, they are real possibilities. She must know, whether they are inflicted upon her or not, that she is truly subject to them.
'I understand,' she said.
'This is the sense in which she knows that anything can be done with her, that she might even be killed.'
'I understand,' she said.
'Without this,' I said, 'her slavery would be incomplete. She would not be a total slave.'
'That is true,' she whispered.
'Most simply put,' I said, 'she belongs to the master, fully, totally.' 'I understand,' she said.
'So let us now return to your residence,' I said.
'I could accept that risk,' she said. 'It would be part of my fulfillment. Indeed, without it, I could not truly, fully, belong to him.'
'You are so confident of your ability to please?' I asked.
'I am confident of my ability to try desperately to please,' she said. 'We must be on our way,' I said, sitting up.
'Take me to a slaver's,' she said.
'No,' I said.
'Are you a true man?' she said, petulantly, rising up on her knees.
I regarded her.
'Are you?' she challenged.
'You belong in a collar,' I said.
'Take me to a slaver's!' she said. 'See that I am put in one!'
I did not speak.
'Let it be such that I cannot remove it!' she said.
'It would be such, I assure you.' I said.
'Take me to a slaver's!' she said.
'No,' I said.
'Are you afraid?' she asked.
'No,' I said. 'Look upon me,' she said. 'Am I not the sort of woman who might suitably be taken to a slaver's?'
'Yes,' I admitted.
'Do so,' she said.
'No,' I said.
'Look,' she said, but inches from me, as I sat there, observing her. She suddenly rose up a bit on her knees and thrust her belly forward, toward me. 'There!' she said. 'Would any but a slave do that?' she asked.
'No,' I said. Perhaps it would have been better for her, I thought, if she had not done that. She was
