Emily and I looked at one another.
"The musicians are already playing," said Teela, " and the other girls are on the floor. I shall soon send you both out, too, on the floor."
"Yes, Mistress," said Emily.
"Yes, Mistress," I said.
"Remember that you are not lofty free women," she said.
"Remember that you are only female slaves. You exist for the service and pleasure of men. When you go out there drip with obedience and sensuousness. Let every glance, every look and movement, signify to men the promise of untold pleasures, and if any of them should so much as snap his fingers, see that you fulfill that promise and a thousand times more."
"Yes, Mistress!" we said.
"There will be no free women present," she said. "That will make things easier." That was a relief for us The frustrations and chilling hatred of free women for their imbonded sisters, and their power to inflict pain on them, tended naturally to preclude, or inhibit, the performances of slaves. Their presence, too, of course, tended to have an adverse effect on the satisfactions obtainable by the free men present. If a free woman is present, for example, one is scarcely likely to tear the silk from a laughing, squealing slave and rape her on the table.
Female slaves commonly wear relatively modest garments and serve unobtrusively and decorously when free women are present. Except for the perfection of their service, and their collars and the relative brevity, openness and looseness of-their garments, one might not even know they were slaves, unless perhaps, of course, one looked into their eyes, or touched them.
"Remember the many things I have told you," said Teela.
"Yes, Mistress," we said.
"Are we not too scantily clad, Mistress?" asked Emily.
"Not for pleasure slaves," said Teela.
"Yes, Mistress," said Emily. We addressed Teela as "Mistress" for she was, in the house of Aemilianus, first girl.
"You are distressed to appear before the master so exposed?" asked Teela. "Yes, Mistress," she said.
"Because you like him?" she asked.
"Yes," she said.
"And I think he likes you, too," said Teela.
"Do you, Mistressr" begged Emily, eagerly.
"Yes," said Teela, "but remember that you are to him only as a slave." "Yes, Mistress," she said.
"Surely he saw you naked when he bought you," said Teela.
"Yes, Mistress," said Emily, her head down. Men do not buy clothed women. "Then you have nothing to hide," said Teela. "Similarly, as a slave, your body is public."
"Yes, Mistress," said Emily.
"Put aside all concern with your own self-image," said Teela. "Your only concern now is the pleasing of your master."
"Yes, Mistress," said Emily.
"Please him well," smiled Teela.
"I shall try, Mistress," said Emily.
"Tiffany," said Teela.
"Yes, Mistress," I said.
"Do you enjoy the house?" she asked.
"Yes, Mistress!" I said. Though I had been here only two days, some forty Ahn, I reveled in its contrast with the mills.
It was clean, and spacious and quiet, and had lovely grounds, surrounded by a high, white wall, in which was an ornate, barred gate. Here I was well rested and well fed. My duties were light, usually those of a maid, dusting and cleaning, making beds, tidying rooms, and such. Sometimes, too, I helped in the kitchen. I did not have to wear the mill uniform, bearing the sign for the enterprises of Mintar, but wore, instead, usually, a light, white house tunic, similar to that often worn by tower slaves. I even had access to a bath. Similarly my kennel was comfortable and, for a kennel, spacious. I could not stand erect in it but there was more than enough room to stretch out and roll about. The gate in the kennel was a small one. It was barred, and set in the barred side of the kennel facing the corridor. It is common to have one side of a kennel open, except for the bars. The girl is always, you see, to be available to the eyes of the master.
He may look upon her whenever he chooses, day or night.
The small gate is also common in slave kennels. The girl, commonly, accordingly, enters and leaves the kennel on all fours. She is, after all, an animal. Too, it is useful in various leashing and chaining arrangements. In this house, as in most, the girl is kept naked in the kennel. I did not mind the tiny gate of the kennel, however, or my observability and nudity within it. I much preferred its semi-privacy to the locked dormitory at the mill. Too, its comforter, blankets and pillow were a welcome change from the flat, straw-filled mat and thin blanket on the cement floor of the dormitory.
"Do you want to go back to the mill?" asked Teela.
"No, Mistress!" I said.
"It would be well for both of you, you, too, Emily," said Teela, "to remember that you are both on trial here. You have not been brought here to weave cloth on a loom. And you have not been brought here simply to dust and make beds. Your slavery in this house involves more extended services."
"Yes, Mistress," we said. We had no doubt as to what these more extended services were. About our upper left arms were golden, snakelike armlets. About our left ankles were tied slave bells. Our bodies could scarcely feel the lightness of the slave silk on them.
"You must now decide," said Teela, "whether you wish to serve the pleasures of men, and fully, or you wish to return to the mill. In a sense, you must decide, really, what you are, and how you wish to live. I commend to your attention the noble alternative, to be chosen by all truly free women, of returning to the mill, of returning to the back-breaking, repetitious labor of the loom. The alternative, of course, is so dreadful I scarcely dare mention it. It is to serve men, to belong to them, to be at their beck and call, to be their willing, obedient, eager, shameless, helpless slave."
Emily and I regarded one another.
"Sluts choose the collar and the helpless service of men," she said. "Women who are truly noble and free choose the mill." She looked at me. "Tiffany?" she asked.
"I choose the service of men," I said.
"Then you are a slave and a slut," she said.
"Yes, Mistress," I said, This admission seemed to me very liberating. "Emily?" asked Teela.
"I, too, choose the service of men," she said, "especially that of Aemilianus I" "You, too, then, are a slave and a slut," said Teela.
"Yes, Mistress," said Emily.
"But that you would shamelessly choose to be pleasure slaves over noble mill girls does not mean that masters must see fit to accord you such a slavery. It is up to you to prove to them that you have the aptitude, the talent, the dispositions, the desires and reflexes to be even considered for such a slavery."
"Yes, Mistress," we said.
"I am going to send you forth now on the floor," said Teela. I heard the slave bells on my ankle jangle. The sound, sensuous and barbaric, startled me. "If you are not both found sufficiently pleasing," she said, "both of you, and certainly you, Tiffany, will be back in the mill by tomorrow night."
"Yes, Mistress," we said. I found myself wishing that Aemilianus had found me as fetching as he apparently had Emily. I thought my tulal was likely to be harder than hers.
"Mistress!" said Emily.
"Yes?" asked Teela.
"Tiffany and I are self-confessed sluts and slaves. You have forced us to face this truth about ourselves, and admit it."
"Yes?" said Teela.
"what of you?" asked Emily. "You are lovely, and beautiful, and in a collar. What are you?"
"A bold question," said Teela.
"Forgive me, Mistress," said Emily.
"I, too, of course, am only a slave and a slut," said Teela.
"And I love it!" Then she kissed us both. Then she drew back from us. "You will be slaves out there before free men," she said "Too, there will be no free women present. Revel in your womanhood and manifest it shamelessly!"