'Kaissia?' he asked.
'Of a sort,' I said.
'Guardsmen will turn Ar upside down for you!' she said.
'There is one place I do not think it is likely that they will look,' I said. 'What place?' she said.
'Curiosity is not becoming in a kajira,' I said.
She jerked at the bracelets, angrily.
That place, of course, would be within their own ranks.
'Cos can never be cast out of Ar!' she said. 'Cos is too strong! Cos is invincible!' she said.
'Ar was thought to be invincible,' I said, 'once.'
'Ar will wear continue to wear the yoke of Cos!' she said.
'Do not be too sure of that,' I said, 'and, too, as you are a slave, it is you who may find herself in a yoke.'
'I am not a slave!' she said.
'Amusing!' I said.
'Recall the papers!' she said. 'I shall buy my freedom.'
'You have nothing,' I said.
'Seremides can arrange for their recall,' she said.
'You would let him know that you are a slave?' I asked.
She blanched. Then she said, 'Yes, if necessary!'
'But it does not matter,' I said.
'I do not understand,' she said.
'You are not for sale,' I said.
'Sleen!' she wept.
'She is going to be here until sometime tomorrow,' I said to Marcus.
'Accordingly, I will now feed and water her.'
'Feed and water me?' she said, angrily.
'Yes,' I said. 'By tomorrow, at noon, I am sure you will be grateful to me for having done so.'
'You are kind,' she said, acidly.
'On the whole,' I said, 'if a slave is pleasing, and is striving to serve with perfection, I believe in treating her with kindness.'
'I hate you!' she cried.
I went to the table and picked up the tray of dainties. 'The wine is gone,' I said to Marcus. I had poured it out on her, to rouse her. 'Would you fill the decanter with water, from the back?'
'Yes,' he said.
I, then, in a moment, crouched beside Talena.
'Do not touch me!' she said.
'You are not interested in offering me your favors, to buy your freedom?' I asked.
She looked at me, suddenly, sharply.
I regarded her.
'Perhaps,' she said, coyly.
I put the tray of dainties on the floor to my left. The makings of the gag I had prepared for her were a bit behind her, to her left.
She inched forward, toward me, on her knees. She put her head forward, toward me, her lips pursed, her eyes closed.
I did not touch my lips to hers.
She opened her eyes.
'I had once thought,' I said, 'that Marlenus had acted precipitately in disowning you, but I see now that he, though your father, understood you far better than I. He recognized that his daughter was a slave.'
She drew back in her bonds, in fury.
'You look well as a slave,' I said. 'It is what you are.'
'I hate you!' she cried.
'And as for your favors,' I said, 'do not concern yourselves with them. They are mine to command, as I please.'
She shook with rage.
'She belongs in a collar,' said Marcus.
'You have been watching?' I said.'
'Yes,' he said. He had the wine decanter with him, now filled with water. 'And eventually I will have her in one,' I said. 'And then it will be clear to all the world, and not just to us, that she is a slave.'
'You are both sleen!' she wept.
'Open your mouth,' I said. 'Eat.'
She looked at me.
'Yes,' I said, 'you will be fed as what you are, a slave.'
I then out one of the tidbits into her mouth, and, in a moment, angrily, she had finished it. It is not unusual for a slave's first food from a new master to be received in a hand feeding. It may also be done, from time to time, of course, with all, or a portion, of a given snack, or meal. This sort of thing expresses symbolically, and teaches her also, on a very deep level, that she is dependent upon him for her food, that it is from his hand, so to speak, that she receives it.
'Although this doubtless does not compare with the provender of the Central Cylinder,' I said, 'which is reputed the best this side of the palace at Telnus, it is such that you should not come to expect it as a slave.'
She finished another tidbit.
'We do not have any slave gruel on hand,' I said.
She shuddered.
'That is enough,' I said. 'We must be concerned with your figure. You are a little overweight, I think. In a paga tavern or brothel, you would have to be trimmed down a little.'
'Do not speak so of me,' she said.
'Surely you would wish to look well, curled on the furs, at a man's feet in a lamplit alcove.'
'I', she said, 'in an alcove?'
'Certainly,' I said.
'Never!' she said.
'I wonder how you would perform,' I said.
'I would not 'perform,' she said.
'Oh, yes, you would,' I assured her.
She looked at me.
'There are whips, and chains, there,' I said.
She turned white.
'Yes,' I said.
'And for whom would I be expected to perform?' she asked.
'For any man,' I said.
'I see,' she said.
'And to the best of your abilities,' I said.
'I see,' she said.
'Perhaps, someday, Tolnar, or Venlisius, might be interested in trying you out, to see if you were satisfactory.'
She looked at me.
'If you were not,' I said, 'they would doubtless have you severely punished, or slain.'
'I do not understand then,' she said. 'To uphold the law they have jeopardized their careers, they have entered into exile?'
'There are such men,' I said.
'I do not understand them,' she said.
