"And you stink,” added the Lady Bina.
"Yes, Mistress,” whispered Lita.
"At least she does not have a bell on her neck,” said Cabot.
The Lady Bina regarded him, with fury.
"We will remove it as soon as possible,” Lord Grendel reassured the Lady Bina.
"Is the slave crying?” asked the Lady Bina, amused.
"I trust not,” said Cabot. Lita's head was down, far down, almost to the floor.
The slave, who as an animal is not entitled to clothing, and may be denied clothing altogether, if it be the wish of her master, is likely to find even a tunic, even a camisk, precious. Now she had been deprived of her single garment, slight as it was, in the presence of a free woman. In this way another aspect of her slavery was brought home to her. “It is a good lesson for her,” thought Cabot. “Such small things help her to better understand what she is, slave."
The Gorean slave girl is much at the mercy of free women, by whom she is likely to be resented and hated, and free women are not above petty exercises of power, ordering the slave to kneel, to serve her, to bare herself, to kiss her embroidered slippers, and such. Too, not unoften a tearful slave returns to her master with her tunic wadded in her mouth and the welts of a switch upon the backs of her thighs. The protection of the slave, of course, is the male. The better the slave pleases her master the more likely he is to intervene between her and free women. Many a blow, thus, has been prevented by the interposition of a free male between his slave and a free woman, to the fury of the frustrated free woman. This is as it should be, for a slave's whippings, should she be whipped, are most appropriately at the discretion of the master. Needless to say, most slaves endeavor to so please the master that they are seldom, if ever, whipped. Occasionally, interestingly, a slave may beg to be whipped, that she be reminded that she is a slave. Too, sometimes, a master will bind and whip his girl, with the same object in mind, to remind her that she is a slave.
Clearly Lita, shaken, now stripped, whether she should of or not, felt miserable, reduced, shamed, humiliated, and worthless, before a free woman, and before Grendel and her master.
A tear had fallen to the boards.
"It will have to do,” said the Lady Bina, holding the garment out. “It stinks of the body of a slave, but it is better than nothing."
"Perhaps not,” said Lord Grendel. “Consider its lines, its lightness, what it does for its occupant's lineaments. Consider, too, its meaning!"
The Lady Bina swiftly drew on the tunic.
"Ai!” said Cabot, appreciatively.
She pulled it down, more closely, about her hips.
"Do you like it?” she asked Cabot.
"You lack only the collar,” said Cabot.
"Is it attractive?"
"Yes,” said Cabot. “Indeed, a master might be reluctant to allow you on the streets so clad, but then, if you were a slave, he would have no choice. It would be a matter of law."
"Poor slaves!” she laughed.
"You might be stalked, and stolen,” said Cabot. “Bids would doubtless be forthcoming on you."
"I am so beautiful?” she asked.
"Certainly,” said Cabot, “and such a garment much enhances a woman's beauty, which is its purpose."
"Oh?” she said.
"And such a garment,” he said, “has its role, too, to play in the protection of free women."
"How so?” she asked, puzzled.
"Suppose you were a slaver or raider,” said Cabot, “and you had to choose between a woman so clad, an indisputable beauty, one with an obvious sales value, one who might go for several coins, and an unknown quantity, a woman heavily robed and veiled, who, stripped, might be of little interest even to a myopic tarsk. On which would your capture rope be more likely to fall and tighten?"
"I see,” she said.
"But the major reason for so clothing slaves,” he said, “is doubtless for the pleasure of men."
"The beasts!” she said.
"Have no fear, my lady,” said Grendel. “We will shortly obtain something more suitable."
"Too,” said Cabot, “they help the slave keep clearly in mind that she is a slave, and such garments, too, have their effect on her."
"And what is that?” she asked.
"In them,” he said, “she cannot help but feel female, helpless, and vulnerable."
"I see,” she said.
"Accordingly,” he said, “in such a garment, the slave is very much sexually aware, acutely so, and this has a common consequence."
"And what is that?” she asked.
"That she cannot help but be sexually ready, and even, frequently, whether she wishes it or not, in a state of sexual arousal."
"I see,” she said.
"Shortly, shortly!” insisted Lord Grendel.
"Be quiet,” chided the Lady Bina.
Cabot noted that his friend, Lord Grendel, was uneasy, and moist about the jaws.
Ah, thought Cabot, he is not unaware of the effect of that tiny garment on the body of the Lady Bina.
Surely then he will hasten to have her the sooner more appropriately clothed.
It is difficult to see a woman with dignity and respect in such a garment. Indeed, is that not another purpose of such a garmenture, that in it a woman cannot be viewed with dignity or respect, that in it she can be viewed as only a slave.
"Free women,” said the Lady Bina, “are a thousand times more beautiful than slaves."
Cabot turned to regard his slave, Lita. Her head was down, and her knees were together. “Position!” he snapped. “Get your head up!"
"Yes, Master!” gasped the slave. There were tears in her eyes. She then knelt well, in first position.
Lita was apparently an extremely attractive girl, for a human. But this is common, as we understand it, for human female slaves.
"She obeys nicely,” said the Lady Bina. “What a degrading position,” she laughed.
"It is a lovely position,” said Cabot. “Quite beautiful."
"For a female slave,” said the Lady Bina.
"Certainly,” said Cabot.
The Lady Bina, regarding the obedient, commanded slave, laughed derisively.
The eyes of the slave were bright with tears.
She trembled, and sobbed.
She did not, however, break position. A slave might be lashed for that.
"Lita,” said Cabot.
"Master?” she said.
"You are in a collar,” he said, “a slave collar."
"Master?” she said.
"Be pleased,” he said.
"Master?” she said.
"The collar,” he said, “is a badge of beauty, a token of excellence, a certification of superiority. It testifies that you are amongst the most desirable, the most beautiful, the most coveted of women. Do you think it is bestowed thoughtlessly, or lightly? Women such as you have been selected out from amongst others, many others. Your limbs have been found worthy of chains, your throat found fit for the clasping circlet of bondage. Do you not understand that merchants choose such as you with a profit in mind, that you are that valuable, and that you are such, and carefully selected to be such, that you might drive a man mad with desire? You have been collared, girl. You are a collared female. Understand the meaning of that. And on your part have you not dreamed of being the vulnerable, helpless object of unmitigated lust? Have you not dreamed of being so desirable that nothing short of owning you, literally owning you, will satisfy a man? And have you not dreamed of being owned, of being uncompromisingly possessed, as no more than an animal or thing, of finding yourself at the feet of a man by whom you know, to your relief and joy, your dream fulfilled, your search over, you are going to be mastered, fully mastered, whether you wish it or not, categorically and wholly?"