"Lavinia," said he.
"Master!" breathed Lavinia, radiant.
"That slave!" cried Talena.
"That other slave," he said.
"Preposterous!" cried Talena.
"It is she who is the most beautiful woman on all Gor," he said.
"Master jests," laughed Lavinia.
"To be sure," he granted her, "I have not seen all the women on Gor."
Lavinia laughed, delightedly.
"But of those I have seen," he said, "it is she who is the most beautiful!"
"Really, Master," said Lavinia, shyly, chidingly.
"It is true!" he said.
"But at least I will do?" she asked.
"Yes," said he, softly, "you will do, beautiful slave."
"I love you, Master!" she cried.
"Am I not beautiful?" demanded Talena.
"You are not unattractive," said Milo.
"Not 'unattractive'!" she said.
"No," he said.
"I am beautiful!" she said.
"You would probably bring your master a satisfactory selling price," he said. "Thousands of gold pieces!" she said.
"For your femaleness alone, in chains?" I asked, skeptically.
"Of course!" she said.
"Are you trained?" I asked.
"Of course not!" she said.
"Probably you would go for something in the neighborhood of two or three silver tarsks," I said. That seemed about right, given the condition of the current markets.
"Absurd!" she said.
"Remember," I said, "they are only buying a female, and what you are good for."
"Sleen!" she said.
"Milo had best be on his way," said Marcus.
"Yes," I agreed.
"You would truly prefer this chit of a slave to me?" asked Talena of Milo, unbelievingly.
"Yes," said Milo.
"To the other chit of a slave," I said.
"Yes," said Milo.
"Sleen!" said Talena.
"Another has been chosen over you," I said.
She looked at me, in rage.
"Do not be distressed," said Lavinia to her. "We are only slaves, and men may look upon us, and pick us, and sort amongst us, as they please. In another time, in another place, their choices might be different."
"She-sleen!" hissed Talena.
"We must go," said Milo.
"I am unclothed, Master," said Lavinia.
"Dress," I said. "Take the garments you wore here, and those, too, of the former Ubara of Ar."
Talena looked at me in anger.
"Consider them paid for with moneys from the gold piece returned to me," I said. "Excellent," said Milo.
Lavinia scurried to gather up garments.
"Do not neglect the tunic with the disrobing loop!" Milo called to her.
"Yes, Master!" she laughed, snatching it up.
"It would probably be good for her to disguise herself as a free woman," I said. "Yes," agreed Milo. He pointed to the garments near his feet, which had been removed earlier by the former Ubara. Lavinia, from the side of the couch, hurried to them, and fell to her knees, to sort through them. This put her, again, of course, on her knees, at Milo's feet. She looked up at him, happily, in her place. Then she bent again to her work.
"There is a purse here!" she said.
"It is mine!" cried Talena.
"It is heavy," said Lavinia.
"Give it to your master," I said.
He regarded me.
"Keep it," I said.
"It is mine!" said Talena.
"Slaves own nothing," I said. "It is they who are owned."
Milo dropped the purse inside his tunic. Some numerous coins, of smaller denomination than gold pieces, I thought, might be useful to him. "And do not forget this," I said, lifting up the small, capped leather capsule on its thong which the former Ubara had worn about her neck, which contained the compromising note, which had given her such power over him when he was a slave. "My thanks!" said he.
Talena struggled a little, helplessly, futilely.
The capsule disappeared in his tunic.
"And what of the note you received?" I asked. "I trust that it was destroyed."
"It was too beautiful to destroy," he said. "I tied a thread about it and inserted it between two stones at the theater. I can retrieve it by the thread."
"Do so," I said.
"I will not leave it in Ar," he said.
"Lavinia composed the note, and wrote it out," I said.
"I had gathered during the events of the morning," he said, "that it had not been written by Talena of Ar."
"By that slave over there?" I asked.
"When she was Talena of Ar," he said.
Talena looked away, angrily.
"I am pleased to learn," said Milo to Lavinia, "that you did the note."
"I am pleased, if master is pleased," she said, shyly.
"It is beautiful," he said.
"I meant every word of it," she said, looking up at him.
"It was exquisite," he said.
"In it," she said, "I poured out my heard to you. I bared my thoughts, my dreams, my hopes, my feelings, my emotions, my heart, to you. I made myself naked before you. I put myself at your feet, at your mercy."
"It was like the letter of a slave girl to her master," he said.
"That is what it was," she said, softly.
"Dress, slave," he said.
"Yes, Master, she said.
In a bit Lavinia was bedecked in the robes which had been worn by Talena. "That is my clothing!" said Talena. "Tell that slave to take off my clothing!"
"I think she will attract little attention in the streets," I said. "indeed, I do not think that the great Milo in the company of a free woman in the streets will come as any great surprise to passers-by. To be sure, the woman would presumably take great pains to make certain that she was discretely veiled."
"I shall, Master!" said Lavinia.
"She-sleen!" said Talena.
"And if any know the tricks of Appanius," I said, "they will presumably smile to themselves, thinking that this mysterious free woman may find herself, perhaps even in a short while, clad somewhat more revealingly, indeed, perhaps in little more than a slave collar."
Lavinia laughed. Already, of course, within the robes, she was in a slave collar.
"And if anyone saw the new slave enter here earlier, when she was a free woman, they will presumable believe it to be her exiting, as well."
Talena sobbed with fury.
Lavinia stood before us. She was clothed now, save for her veiling, and the adjustment of the hood.
"How do you like your free woman, Master?" she asked Milo.
"You are not my free woman," he said. "You are my slave."
"But I am in the robes of a free woman," she said.
"I shall enjoy removing them from you later," he said.
"I shall look forward to it," she said.
"You must leave," said Marcus to Milo.
He nodded.
Lavinia then knelt before me. It seemed paradoxical to see a woman in the robes of concealment kneeling. "Thank you for giving me to Milo, Master," she said to me. She then, softly, in gratitude, kissed my feet. She then kissed those of Milo, her master. "I love you, Master," she said to him.
"Veil yourself," he said.
Then, kneeling at our feet, she veiled herself, and then adjusted the hood. "I wish you well," I said to Milo.
"I wish you well," said Marcus to him.
"My thanks for everything," said Milo.
"It is nothing," I assured him.
We looked down at Lavinia. She, over the veil, from within the hood, looked up at us.
"Do not forget to buy a whip," I said.
"I will not," he said.
"If I do not please you," she said to Milo, "punish me so terribly that I know I must please you."
"I will," said Milo.
She lowered her head, in submission.
"You are both wished well," said Milo to us. We then, in turn, Milo and I, and Milo and Marcus, clasped hands.
"Do not leave me here with these men, alone!" called Talena.
But Milo, followed by his slave, was gone.
We then turned to face Talena.