"Do not count on it," I said.
"Do you think the free woman you tied at the slave ring has been freed by now?" she asked.
"Probably," I said. "I do not know."
"Do you remember the second time I kissed you," she asked, "the time when you told me that if a slave had not kissed better than that she would have been whipped?"
"Yes," I said. That was the time she had tried to strike me, and I had not permitted it, but instead had punished her. I had shortly thereafter carried her to the slave mat.
"Is that true?" she asked.
"It depends on many things," I said, "such as the master, the familiarity of the girl with her collar, for example, has she yet learned how to kiss, and the mood, the situation, and so on." "But some slaves," she said, "might have been whipped for not kissing better than that?" she said.
"Certainly," I said.
"How do I kiss now?" She asked, kissing me.
"Much better," I said.
"As good as a slave?" she asked.
"No," I said.
"Oh?" she asked.
"No," I said. "You will not kiss as well as a slave, until you have become a slave, and then, probably, only after you have learned your collar for a few months, and perhaps even have had some training. Also, there is a whole indefinable modality to the kisses of slaves, that has to do with bondage and that they are literally the properties of the master. It is an entirely different sort of kissing from that of a free woman."
"I understand," she said. "Perhaps one day I will be a slave. And then I will kiss like a slave."
"Perhaps," I said.
"I know that I am a slave," she said. "I have learned it here, on this mat, in this place."
I said nothing.
"So what should I do?" she asked.
"What do you man?" I asked.
"What does a free woman do," she asked, "when she learns she is a slave?" "You are free," I said. "The decision is yours. But beware of certain decisions, for if you make them, you would then no longer be free. Your decisions then might rather be concerned with such things as how to best please your master, within certain latitudes which he might permit you."
She was quiet, her head on my chest.
"The self-enslavement decision is an interesting one," I said, "for it is a decision which is freely made, being made by a free individual, but, once made, it is irrevocable, for the individual is then no longer free, but only a property."
She lifted her head. She was then on her elbows beside me. Her breasts were lovely. "You could take me to a slaver's and sell me," she said.
"True," I said. "Do so!" she said.
"No," I said.
"Why not?" she asked.
"Because it amuses me to treat you like a slave," I said.
"Beast," she said, and put her head down again on my chest.
"You could turn yourself in, to a slaver," I said.
"True," she said.
"You call upon him, dressed in your finest veils and robes of concealment," I said, "probably first having made an appointment. That would be common courtesy. He may, after all, be a busy man. Then, in the privacy of his office, as he observes, you strip yourself. You do this as gracefully and as well as you can, without training. You reveal yourself to him completely. You are absolutely naked. He will presumably put you through some simple slave paces, forming some conception of your capacity to move well before men. In the process of this, you are, of course, being assessed. You then, when permitted, kneel. You then humbly beg his permission to bind yourself into slavery before him, thereby making yourself a slave, and, in the context, submitting yourself to him as your first master. You keep your head down, and await his decision. In your case, I am sure the decision would be affirmative.
"Various things might then happen. He might have you sign a slave document, in the presence of witnesses. As soon as your signature is on the document, of course, you are a slave. On the other hand, he might proceed even more simply. He might merely have you utter a formula of enslavement, though, again, doubtless in the presence of witnesses, who might sign a paper certifying their witnessing of your declaration. Let us suppose you utter such a formula. The simplest is perhaps, "I am a slave. You are then a slave. He will perhaps then say, "You are my slave. This claims you. You are then his slave. This is sufficient in the context for in that context you have been momentarily an unclaimed slave, who may be claimed by the first free person who chooses to do so. Too, in this case, there are, of course, no counterclaims to be adjudicated. He is there first, so to speak. His claim is fully warranted, unchallengable and legally indisputable. This is again done presumably in the presence of witnesses, who may be asked to certify their witnessing of the action. You might then say, though it is not necessary in the context, for you are, anyway, by this time, clearly his slave, "Yes Master, I am your slave. By this utterance you officially acknowledge him as your master. It is sometimes thought this sort of thing is good from the slave's point of view, that she hears herself say this. It is legally unnecessary, but it is sometimes thought to be a psychologically useful act on the part of the slave. She, in this pronouncement, at any rate, clearly acknowledges that she knows who owns her. This, too, of course, may be attested to in writing by the witnesses."
"There is then little left to be done with you, except perhaps to take you below, to the pens. There you will presumably be branded and fitted with your first collar. You might also then be given your first whipping in order that you learn almost immediately to fear, and terribly fear, the slave whip. You might then, afterwards, when you can eat, be given a handful, or two, of moist slave gruel. You might also be permitted to lap some water on all fours from a pan, or from a puddle, where it has been poured onto the floor. You might then be chained in a training kennel. In the morning I suppose your training might begin. On the other hand, perhaps you would be simply shipped out of the city to a distant market, there to be put on the block for your first sale."
"My sale," she whispered, excitedly.
"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."