"It is our understanding that your hair was shorn only yesterday, and against your will, in a cell in the citadel, by an escaping prisoner."
"Surely you do not believe that, Commander," she said.
"Lady Claudia, the traitress, and an undisputed free woman," he said, "is in our power. Shall she be brought forward to testify as tot he circumstances in which, and the time at which, your hair was shorn?"
"No, Commander," said the girl.
"You do not dispute what I have said then?" he asked.
"No, Commander," she said, defeated.
"It is also believed that you carried much gold with you, in your purse, presumably, again, to improve your chances of persuading victorious Cosians to spare you, resources incidentally much beyond the reach of most women of Ar's Station, thus, again, supplying you with an advantage over them. Is this disputed?"
"No, Commander," she said. She knew, of course, that Lady Claudia could testify as to the presence of the gold in her purse. Indeed, interestingly, although this was not known to the girl, that very gold had been used after the fall of the gate to assist in the escape of Aemilianus and his colleagues to the piers. I had scattered it behind mercenaries, to clear a passage.
"You have not charged me," she said, "with not wearing robes of concealment." "In Ar's Station," he said, "as in Ar, robes of concealment, precisely, are not legally obligatory for free women, no more than the veil. Such things are more a matter of custom. On the other hand, as you know, there are statutes prescribing certain standards of decorum for free women. For example, they may not appear naked in the streets, as may slaves. Indeed, a free woman who appears in public in violation of these standards of decorum, for example, with her arms or legs too much bared, may be made a slave.
"There was no crime then," she said, "in my appearing in public as I did, even though, say, I wore but a single layer and my calves, ankles and feet were bared."
"Whether the degree of your exposure was sufficient to violate the codes of decorum is a subtle point," said Aemilianus, "but I will not press it." "Surely may low-caste girls go about with only as much, or even less, she said. "But you are of the Merchants," said Aemilianus, smiling.
"A low caste!" she said.
I smiled. The Merchants often maintain that they are a high caste, and should, accordingly, be included in the councils of high caste. Now, however, it seemed she was eager to accept that, and stress that, the Merchants was not a high caste. The traditional high castes of Gor are the Initiates, Scribes, Builders, Physicians and Warriors.
"I do not press the point," said Aemilianus.
"And if I dressed in such a manner that my caste would not be clear," she said, "it is no more than many women do upon occasion. Surely such women even reserve the caste robes and colors for such things as formal occasions, and some even for ceremonial functions."
"True," said Aemilianus.
"I do not think then I should be held accountable under the charge of attempting to deceive with respect to caste," she said. "For example, I engaged in no business under false pretenses, and I never claimed explicitly to be of a caste other than my own." It seemed to me that she did have a point here. The legal problems connected with intent to deceive with respect to caste, of course, problems of the sort which presumably constitute the rationale of the law, usually come up in cases of fraud or impersonation, for example, with someone pretending to be of the Physicians. "And, too," she continued, "if conquering Cosians should have seen fit to take me for a simple, low-caste maid, I see no reason why the laws of Ar's Station should now be exercised against me. What would be the point of that, to protect Cosians from a mistake which they never had the opportunity to make?"
"You hoped by your mode of dress, and such," said Aemilianus, "to conceal that you were of a caste on which vengeances might be visited, and thus to improve your chances of survival."
She tossed her head, and the chain dangling from her collar moved in its staple. "I am not a man," she said. "Indeed, I can barely lift, let alone wield, the weapons of men. I have nothing of their strength. I have nothing of their power. I am other than they. I am a woman. I am something quite different from a man. I think that I am entitled, then, to attempt to secure my survival as best I can, and in my own way."
"In the way of a female?" asked Aemilianus.
"Yes!" she said.
"In doing what you did," he said, "in going barefoot, in baring your calves, in not having your hair shortened, in carrying gold and such, you arrogated to yourself considerable advantages over other women in Ar's Station." "It is every woman for herself," she said. "It is not my fault if other women were not as clever as I. It is not my fault if they did not judiciously bare their bodies, and design themselves clothing such as might appeal to a conquering invader. Too, it is not my fault if they lacked the gold wherewith to sweeten a petition to foes for the collar. Am I to be blamed, too, for being more beautiful than many women of Ar's Station, for I am certain that I am, and for thus having some additional unfair advantage over them?"
"Why did you not donate your hair to the defense of the city?" asked Aemilianus. "I did not want to," she said.
"Why not?"
"It was pretty," she said, angrily.
"And?" he asked.
"I thought I would be more attractive with it," she said, angrily. "I thought if I were captured by Cosians, I would be more likely to be spared, if it was not cut."
"While the women of Ar's Station had theirs cut?"
"If they wished," she said.
"And thus might be less likely to be spared?" he asked.
"That is their business, not mine," she said.
"What of the desperate need of cordage for catapults? he asked. "Let the hair of slaves be shorn," she said.
"And what if there was not enough? he asked.
"Then get hair from the women who are willing to give it," she said. "What if there was not enough?" he asked.
"My hair would make no difference," she said.
"What if all the free women took that position? he asked.
"They did not," she said.
"For one in chains you speak rather arrogantly," he observed.
"Surely they will be removed in a moment," she said.
"What did you do to contribute to the defense of the city?" he asked. "I accepted a duty," she said.
"Bit it is true, is it not," he asked, "that you did this only late in the siege?"
"Yes," she said.
"And only after it had been made clear that women who did not participate in the efforts of defense were to be lowered over the wall at noon, naked, to Cosians." "Yes," she said, angrily.
"What duty did you choose?" he asked.
"I served as a warder in the citadel," she said.
"Why did you choose that duty?" he asked.
"I thought it would be easy," she said.
"And in such a place," he said, perhaps it would have seemed less inappropriate to wear garments such as you did, and go barefoot, and such?"
"Perhaps," she said.
"You did not choose to work on the wall? he asked.
"No," she said.
"Why not?" he asked.
"I am not strong," she said.
Straighten your back," he said.
She did so.
"There seems nothing wrong with your body," he said.
One or two of the men smiled.
"Slight as it is," he said, "it seems such that it could be appropriately subjected to lengthy servile labors."
She looked at him, frightened.
"Or perhaps more appropriately yet," he said, "to numerous, various labors of a more delightful sort, labors particularly suitable for females." "Commander!" she protested.