"I cannot believe how I yielded in your arms," she whispered.

"You are merely a slave who yielded," I said. "You have not yet begun to learn,as a slave, what is the nature of true slave yieldings."

"Doubtless I will be taught," she said.

"You are beautiful," I said. "It is not unlikely."

"I had never dreamed that sensations such as you induced in me could exist," shewhispered.

"They were largely the result of your own initial responsiveness," I said, "plusthe fact that you realized you were I a slave. They cannot even form a soundbasis, I would suppose, on which you could begin to even remotely conjecture thenature of the feelings and sensations which lie before you. Beyond thesensations which you have hitherto experienced lie infinite horizons."

"I am afraid," she said.

"To your feelings of humiliation and helplessness, then, I said, "we may alsoadd the emotion of fear."

"But I have other emotions, other feelings, too, Master," she said.

"Oh?" I asked.

"Yes, Master," she said.

"What?" I asked.

"Eagerness," she said, "pleasure, curiosity, excitement, sensual arousal, adesire to please, a desire to serve, a desire to be owned and mastered, a desireto be true to my basic and radical femaleness."

"I see," I said.

"Never before tonight," she said, "have I, now only a nameless slave, felt somuch in contact with my femininity. I have learned tonight that being a woman isa real thing to be. It is not a biological triviality. It is not aninsignificant, regrettable concomitant of a genetic lottery. It is somethingreal and important in itself, something precious and wonderful" I agree," I said.

"And it is not to be a man," she said.

"No," I said. "I do not think so."

"Strange," she said, "that I should have learned this only stripped, and in thearms of a master, and on a world far from my own."

Oft is not strange that you should learn this on a world far from your own," Isaid, "for your world is like a distorting lens, perverting even the mostconspicuous lineaments of biological reality, nor is it strange that you shouldlearn it as a stripped slave. Your stripping, particularly as it was done by aman, or at the command of a man, should put you in touch with certain femalerealities, such as your beauty, and its softness, and its subject ability tomale domination; it should also, through exposure, and through various, subtleskin stimulations, heighten your vulnerability and sensitivity; this will enableyou to feel more keenly and enable you to understand, more clearly, certainbasic truths, such as the differences between men and women, and that you,whatever you are, are not a man."

"Yes, Master," she said.

"Lastly, and most importantly," I said, "you find yourself a slave. Femaleslavery is the institutionalized expression, in a civilization congenial tonature, of the fundamental biological relationship between the sexes. In theinstitution of female slavery we find this basic relationship recognized,accepted, clarified, fixed and celebrated. A civilization, you see, need notinevitably be a conflict with nature. A rational, informed civilization caneven, in a sense, refine and improve upon nature; it can, so to speak, bringnature to fruition. Indeed, a natural civilization might be the naturalflowering of nature itself, not an antithesis to nature, not a contradiction tonature, not a poison nor a trammel to it, but a stage or aspect of it, a formwhich nature itself can take.

"I fear even to understand such thoughts," she said, "let alone consider whetheror not they might be true."

"Consider the case of the female slave," I said. "She was once a primitive,brutish female, innocent of legalities but, in effect, owned. She is now,commonly, a collared, imbonded beauty, properly marked as merchandise,effectively displayed and marketed, and owned in the full right of law."

"Yes, Master," said the girl.

"Who can doubt but what here civilization, as nature's refinement or expression,has wrought an improvement?"

"Surely, no one, Master, ' whispered the girl.

"Too, you will note that civilization has increased the control of the girls andthe effectiveness of bondage, the marking, the identification of masters, thepapers of sale, and so on. Escape, then, for all practical purposes, becomesimpossible."

"Yes, Master," she said.

"And you are such a girl," I said.

"Yes, Master," she said.

"I am now going to put you with the others," I said. I stood up, thrusting theblankets to one side. She drew her legs up, feeling the coldness of the air. Ilooked down at her, she looking up at me. She was very beautiful.

"I am at your feet," she said.

"How do you feel?" I asked.

"Very feminine, very female," she said.

"How do you explain these feelings?" I asked.

"That I am a woman, at the feet of a strong man," she said, "one who dominatesme, one who masters me, one whom I must obey."

"You do not speak like a woman of Earth," I said.

"I have learned much on Gor," she said, "and I have learned much this night."

I looked down at her, arms folded.

She put out her fingers, touching the dark blankets. Then, spinning, she lookedup at me. "It is where we belong, isn't it, Master?" she asked.

"Yes," I said.

"I have always known it in my heart," she said, "but I never thought it wouldcome true."

I went to pick up her tunic. I felt the blades of wet, cool grass cut at myankles. I tossed her the tunic. She knelt, holding it. It was tiny, in herhands. On it, dark and wet, moist in its fibers, were the marks of dew.

She clutched the tunic, looking at me. She did not draw it on.

"I am no longer a virgin, Master," she said.

"That is known to me, I assure you," I said.

"I am now only a full and opened slave," she said, "no different from othergirls, one, like them, readily available at the master's least desire."

"Yes," I said.

"I am not sore, Master," she said.

I nodded.

"But that does not make any difference, does it?" she asked.

"No," I said.

"Master," she whispered.

"Perhaps now you should garb yourself," I said.

"This is garb?" she asked, smiling, holding out the tunic. "It is scarcely ascanty rag."

"It leaves little doubt as to your charms," I admitted.

"It does not even have a nether closure," she said.

"It is not supposed to," I said. "Do you know why?"

"That I may be reminded that I am a slave," she smiled, "that my vulnerabilitymay be heightened, that I may be invaluable to masters."

"Ginger and Evelyn have taught you that," I said.

"They have taught us many things," she said.

"What about intimate secrets of slave love-making?" I asked.

"No, Master," she said.

"The little she-sleen are doubtless guarding such secrets from you," I said. "Ishall speak to Grunt in the morning. It will not prove to be in their interestto persist in this particular reticence."

"Yes, Master," she said, frightened.

"They will teach you, and the other jewels on the coffle, all they can, andquickly," I said. "Failure will be cause for severe discipline."

"Yes, Master," she whispered.

"An ignorant free woman is a commonplace," I said. "An ignorant slave is anabsurdity."

"You mean I am actually to be taught how to please man, trained?" she asked.

"Yes," I said, "trained, as the lovely animal you are."

She looked at me, frightened.

"And I advise you to learn your lessons well," I said.

"Yes, Master," she said.

"You are doubtless familiar, from your former world, with arts such as sewingand cooking, commonly thought appropriate for women," I said.

"Of course, Master," she said.

"Can you cook and sew?" I asked.

"No, Master," she said. "Such arts, I thought, were for lower women."