"No," I said.
"Nonetheless," he said, "surely some gratuity is in order, for abetting her return." "None is necessary," I said.
We looked at her.
She was still maintaining a position of slave beauty.
"What do you think she will bring?" I asked.
"The market is depressed," he said. "Much of it has to do with the rumored affairs at Torcadino, the purported advances of Cosians, the crowding in Ar, the influx of refugees. But I would think, even so, she might bring two silver tarsks."
"A fine price for a girl," I said.
"I think she will bring that, even in the current markets," he said.
"I had not realized Boabissia was so valuable," said Hurtha.
Boabissia glanced at Hurtha, startled.
It is not unusual, of course, for a fellow to take a woman lightly, or for granted, until he learns of her interest to others, for example, what they are willing to pay for her.
Boabissia looked away from Hurtha then, swiftly, not daring to meet his eyes. She reddened in a wave of heat and helplessness from the roots of her hair to the tips of her toes.
Similarly, it is not unusual for a fellow not to think of a given woman in a sexual manner, or as an object of extreme desire, but when he sees her stripped, and as a slave, that changes instantly and dramatically.
"Please," she begged.
"Be silent," I said.
She was beautiful, and her life had changed. She must learn to endure slave scrutiny. Later she would perhaps learn to revel in it, brazenly.
"I had thought," said the fellow, viewing her, "that the caravan had been a total loss. I see now that I was mistaken.
She stood before us, viewed.
"I lost a mere infant," he said. "I am returned a beautiful slave." She choked back a sob.
"Some gratuity, or reward, is surely in order," he said.
"None is necessary." I said.
"But consider the savings I have effected on feed alone," he said. "Come now," I said. "Table scraps and slave gruel are not that expensive."
"I insist," he said.
"As you will," I said.
Boabissia regarded me with horror.
"You are more than generous," I said.
"Indeed," said Hurtha, approvingly. In my palm lay a silver tarsk. I put it in my pouch. Boabissia moaned.
He then reached to the small bell on his desk, and shook it, twice.
"I assume," I said, "in the light of the special circumstances of her case, she is not to be treated as a runaway slave."
"No," he said. "Or, certainly not at present, at least." Then he looked at the girl. "You do understand, however, do you not, my dear, the typical penalties for a runaway slave?"
She nodded, numbly.
"Excellent," he said.
"If I may be so bold," I said, "I would advocate a certain modest latitude, at least for a day or two, in her initial training. You must understand that she has, for many years, regarded herself as a free woman."
"Interesting," he said.
"Too," I said, "not only has she regarded herself as a free woman, but she has behaved as one, and has affected the airs of one."
"That is very serious, my dear," said the man.
At that moment a lithe, sinewy fellow entered, doubtless in response to the sound of the bell a few moments earlier. He whose office it was gestured toward Boabissia. Her hands were drawn behind her, and braceleted behind her back. "But she did not understand she was not free, really," I said.
Boabissia pulled against the bracelets, weakly.
"She came here unveiled," said the man.
"True," I said. "But the Alar women do not veil themselves."
"She thought she was an Alar?" asked the man. "She was accustomed to thinking of herself in that way," I said. "But she should have known from her body she was not of the Alars," he said. "She is not a tall, strapping woman. Look at her. She is short, and luscious, and cuddly, and exquisitely feminine. That is the body of a woman of the cities or towns, and, if I may note the fact, it is a typical slave's body."
"True," I said.
"And what was her attitude toward female slaves?" he asked.
"She held herself immeasurably superior to them," I said. "She despised them. She hated them, and held them in great contempt."
"Quite appropriately," he said. "And how did she behave toward them." "With arrogance," I said, "and she enjoyed treating them with great cruelty." "I see," he said. "You may kneel, my dear."
Boabissia knelt.
"Did you never suspect, my dear," he asked, "that you were a slave?" "I did not dream I was imbonded," she whispered.
"But you were," he said.
"Yes," she said.
"It is an interesting case," he said, "a female who has been a legal slave unwittingly since infancy, and has only now, in the past Ehn, discovered her true condition."
"Yes," I said.
"But I fear, my dear," he said, "that you have somewhat misinterpreted my question."
She raised her head, regarding him, puzzled.
"I asked if you had never suspected that you were a slave."
She put down her head, reddening.
"Answer," he said.
"Are you speaking of legalities?" she asked, angrily.
"I am speaking of something far deeper and more profound than legalities," he said. "I do not wish to answer that question," she said.
"Speak," he said.
"Yes," she said, "I have suspected it."
"You have been a slave from the moment of conception," he said.
She put down her head.
"Split your knees," he said. "More widely."
She complied. But then she looked up, half in defiance, half in tears.
"Yes," he said, "from the moment of conception."
She put down her head again, and sobbed.
"Leash her," he said.
The fellow who had come in, responding to the summons of the small bell, snapped one end of a long slave leash on Boabissia's throat. The leash is long to permit it being used in a variety of ways, for example, for binding the female or, looped, or loose, for giving her the encouragement of the whistling leather, or, if desired, the administration of more serious lash discipline. She looked up, frightened, knowing herself leashed, and on such a leash. Her eyes met those of the owner of the office.
"You came here," he said, "seeking to find out who you were. I trust you now know. Similarly, you came here to find riches, to seek your fortune. I trust you are now satisfied with the riches you have found, slave bracelets and a leash, though, to be sure, they are not yours, and with your fortune, that which so avidly sought, which proves to be total bondage."
"Please," she wept, suddenly. "I did not know!"
"How demanding, how preemptory, and arrogant, and suspicious, you were," he mused.
"I am sorry," she said. "Forgive me, I beg you!"
"How insistent you were," he said.
"Forgive me," she said.
"How fearful you were," he said, "that you might not receive your dues, your just deserts."
"Forgive me!" she begged.
"Lift your head," he said. "Higher. Higher!" She looked up at him, her head far back, the leash on her throat. "I think I promised you that you would receive exactly what you deserved, exactly what you had coming."
"Please," she said, trembling naked before a master.
"You will receive exactly what you deserve," he said, "and then even more. And you will get, my dear, not only exactly what you have coming, but that, I assure you, and then a thousand times more."
"Mercy, please," she begged, in her helplessness.
"And then," he said, "you will be sold."
"Please, no," she wept.
"It is amusing," he said, "that you held slaves in such great contempt, and treated them with such cruelty, for such is what you were all the time, and as such, revealed, in your full truth, you will now live."