"No, Talena!" called a fellow from the crowd, a few feet away.
Talena regally turned her head in his direction.
"Be silent!" said a man to he who had called out.
"Hail, Talena!" called a man from the vicinity of the fellow who had called out before.
"Glory to Talena!" called another.
"Glory to Talena!" cried others.
She then returned her attention to her duties on the platform.
"How merciful is Talena," said a fellow.
"Yes," said another.
At a gesture from one of the guardsmen on the platform, another woman in a white robe came forward, leaving the long line behind her, one extending across the platform to the small ramp on the other side, down the ramp, across the far side of the Plaza of Tarns, and thence down Gate Street, where I could not see its end.
"Lady Tuta Thassolonia," read a scribe.
Lady Tuta then, unaided, removed her robe and stood before her Ubara. Then she knelt before her.
Men gasped.
She knelt back on her heels, her knees spread, her back straight, her head up, the palms of her hands on her thighs.
"It seems you are a slave," said Talena.
"I have always been a slave, Mistress," said Lady Tuta.
Talena turned to one of her counselors, and they conferred.
"Are you a legal slave, my child?" asked one of the counselors, a scribe of the law.
"No, Master," said the woman.
"You are then a legally free female?" asked the scribe.
"Yes, Master," she said.
"It is then sufficient," said the scribe to Talena.
"You are chosen," said Talena, graciously.
"Thank you, Mistress!" said the woman.
Cheers commended the decision of the Ubara.
Another of Talena's aides, or counselors, one in the garb of Cos, then spoke to Talena, shielding his mouth with his hand.
Talena nodded, and he then addressed himself to the kneeling woman.
"Rise up," said he, in a kindly fashion, "and do not address us as Master and Mistress."
She rose up.
"Do you wish, as a free female, before you join your sisters to our right, to say anything?"
"Hail, Talena!" she cried. "Glory to Talena!"
This cry was taken up by hundreds about. Then she was conducted to the side, to be manacled.
"It will be a lucky fellow who will get her," said a man.
"She is already a slave," said another.
"She will train speedily and well," said another.
"I would like to get my hands on her," said a fellow.
"She will go to some Cosian," said another.
The woman was then drawn to her feet by an auxiliary guardsmen and conducted down the ramp.
The auxiliary guardsman on the other side of the ramp, then, who was working with me, said to her, "Kneel, slut."
She knelt.
"You were rich, were you not?" he asked her.
"Yes," she said.
"Yesa€”what?" he said, angrily.
"Yes, I was rich!" she said, frightened.
"Do not strike her," I said to the fellow. "She is not yet a slave."
"She is a slut of Ar," he said.
"Yes," I said.
He lowered his hand.
"Wrists," I said to her.
She lifted her chained wrists, and I attached her to the coffle with a joining ring.
"Why is he angry with me?" she asked.
"It might be wise to accustom yourself, even though you are legally free now," I said, "to addressing free men as «Master» and free women as "Mistress."
"He is only an auxiliary guardsman," she said.
"He is a man," I said, "and you are female."
"Yes!" she said.
"You see the fittingness of it?" I asked.
"Yes," she said.
"You used such expressions on the platform," I said.
"But to my Ubara," she said, "and to men of high station."
"Accord such titles of respect to all free persons, even the lowliest of free persons," I said, "for you will be more beneath them than the dirt beneath their sandals."
"Forgive me, Master," she said to the other fellow. "Forgive me, Master!" He regarded her, his arms folded, somewhat mollified.
"It seems the slut of Ar learns rapidly," I said.
"Get up," he said to her. "move!"
"Yes, Master," she said. Then she looked back. "Thank you, Master," she said. The line moved to its next position.
I them put the next woman on the chain, and she, too, was ordered to her feet, and moved to the next position.
"Nor she," said Talena of another, who had been announced. "Nor she," said she of another.
As I have mentioned, there were scribes on, or near, the dais with Talena. Lists were being kept, and referred to. One list, for example, had the names of the women upon it, in the order in which they ascended the platform. It was from this list that one of the scribes announced the names. Another list, presumably a duplicate list, was kept as a record of the results of Talena's decisions. The most interesting lists, however, seemed to be lists referred to as the various names were called. There were at least five such lists. Three of them, I think, are worth mentioning. One of these was held by a member of the High Council. Another was held by a Cosian counselor. Another was held by one of Talena's aides, at her side.
There was suddenly a scuffle near the far ramp and a guardsman seized a woman who had suddenly turned about and attempted to run.
"Bring her forward," said Talena.
The guardsman, who now had her well in hand, holding her from behind, by the upper arms, literally lifting her off the surface of the platform, carried her forward, before Talena. The woman's small bared feet were five inches off the wood. She was held as helplessly as a doll. The guardsmen then put her down. "Strip her," said Talena.
This was done, and the woman was flung to her knees before the Ubara of Ar. "Mercy, my Ubara!" cried the woman, lifting her hands, clasped, to Talena.
"What is your name, child?" asked Talena.
"Fulvia!" she wept. "Fulvia, Lady of Ar!"
"We are all ladies of Ar," said Talena.
"Mercy, Ubara!" she wept, lifting her clasped hands. "Spare us! Spare your sisters of Ar!"
"Alas, my child," cried Talena, "we are all guilty. All of us are implicated in the iniquities of the infamous Gnieus Lelius. Why had we not adequately opposed him? Why did we follow his heinous policies?"
"You opposed him, beloved Ubara!" cried a man. "You tried to warn us! You did what you could! We would not listen to you! It is we, the others, who are guilty, not you!"
This sort of cry was taken up elsewhere in the crowd, as well. There were numerous protests concerning Talena's apparent willingness to accept, and share, the guilt of Ar.
"No," cried Talena. "I should have acted. Rather than witness the shame of Ar. I should have plunged a dagger into my own breast!"
"No! No!" cried men.
"It would have been a tiny, if futile, symbolic gesture," she cried, "but I did not do it. Thus I, too, an guilty!"
Roars of protest greeted this remark on the part of the Ubara. I saw several men weeping.
"You chose to live, to work for the salvation of Ar!" cried a man.
"We own everything to you, beloved Ubara!" cried another.
"And now," said Talena, "in spite of all, and the most outrageous provocation, our brother, Lurius of jad, Ubar of Cos, has spared our city. The Home Stone is safe! The Central Cylinder stands! How shall we make amends to our Cosian brother? What gift would be great enough to thank him for our Home Stone, our lives and honor? What sacrifice would be too much to express our gratitude?"
"No gift would be too great!" cried men.
"No sacrifice would be too great!" cried others.
"And now, my child," said Talena to Lady Fulvia, "do you begin to understand why you have been requested to come here this day?"