The Usurper

14

“Elena,” said Iaachus, Arbiter of Protocol, “you may withdraw.”

“I have brought kana,” she said. “Am I not to serve it?”

“No,” he said.

“But who, then, will serve it?” she asked.

“Leave it on the table,” said Iaachus.

“Surely I have not offended you?” she said.

“Not at all,” Iaachus assured her.

“I do not understand,” she said.

“Do not concern yourself,” he said.

“You are to entertain a secret guest?” she said.

“Not at all,” he said.

“I hope I am not in disfavor,” said Elena.

“No,” said Iaachus.

“I fear I have offended you,” she said.

“No,” said Iaachus. “I fear you might offend another.”

“Ah!” she said. “Your guest is a free woman!”

“Perhaps,” he said.

“I am fully clothed,” she said, “and well, if simply, gowned.”

“You are barefoot,” he said, “and neck-ringed.”

“Of course,” she said.

“Nonetheless,” he said.

“I see,” she smiled.

“What free woman would not detest you?” asked Iaachus. “You are beautiful, quite so, your brown hair, your gray eyes, your exciting limbs and latitudes, the turns within your plain gown, that permitted you, your only garment, your body which, suitably exhibited, would fetch good coin off a girl block.”

“It is my hope,” she said, “that Master has no intention to sell me.”

“Not at present,” he said.

“I love Master,” she said. “I love his chains! I love the feel of his hands on my body. Long ago he made me his! I was banded and branded, and then, later, he caressed me into the understanding of what I truly was, one appropriately submitted to a Master, which I had only suspected when a free woman.”

“It was pleasant for me to do so,” he said.

“Doubtless there are many pleasantries attendant on the Mastery,” she said.

“Of course,” he said.

“But there are pleasures, too,” she said, “I wonder if you understand them, on the part of the owned, on the part of those who find themselves subjected helplessly and without recourse to a welcome, coveted, enforced servitude.”

“The feelings of a beast,” he said, “need not be considered. It exists for the service and pleasure of its Master.”

“Master made me what I most desired, in my deepest heart, to be,” she said, “a slave.”

“You had no choice,” he said. “It was done to you.”

“As it should have been!” she said. “How I longed to have it done to me! It prospered in my most secret dreams! How I longed to be one who is owned and must obey, one who must yield all and serve choicelessly, one who would find herself, kneeling, collared, head down, wholly subject to another.”

“I see,” he said.

“The conflicts, the wars, were done,” she said. “I was subdued, as I had desired, I was chained, made helpless, as I had hoped. In losing, reduced and tethered, I won, as I had dreamed, and wished. My victory was in my defeat.”

“Do not concern yourself,” said Iaachus. “These things are neither here nor there. You are a slave.”

“The unhappinesses, the uncertainties, the troublings, the ambivalences, the anxieties, the confusions were done,” she said. “I would belong! So let it be confirmed! Let the collar be locked on my neck!”

“It was done,” he said.

“A beast is grateful,” she said.

“What free woman would not see you as a reproach? What excitement and fear you might inspire in her! She need only look at you, gowned, and banded, to see herself similarly reduced and owned. What recognitions, and uneasinesses, what fears and desires, you would stir in her body!”

“I shall withdraw,” she whispered.

“Do so,” said Iaachus, “but the guest is not a free woman.”

“No?” said Elena.

“No,” said the Arbiter of Protocol, “but I fear the guest is one who might be as much, if not more, offended, at your presence.”

“I withdraw,” said Elena.

“Hasten,” said the Arbiter of Protocol.

“Yes, Master,” said Elena, and slipped from the chamber.

Shortly thereafter the guest was announced.