"Continue to perform," I said. "You may leave your knees, but do not rise to your feet."
She regarded me, in wild protest.
"Yes?" I said.
"Do not make me do these things," she begged. "Do not make me dance and writhe so. I am a free woman!"
"Your freedom will soon be a matter of the past," I told her. "How well you do now could influence the quality of your life in the future."
"Do not fear," I said, "I know you are truly a slave. I learned it in your kiss, when you were shackled at the wall at the Crooked Tarn. I think that perhaps, in the same kiss, you learned it." The men laughed. She sneaked a glance at the tall fellow, and then, hastily, put down her head.
He smiled.
"Lady Elene, of Tyros, your friend, whom you remember from the Crooked Tarn, and the coffle," I said, "is even now in a slave collar." It had been put on her within moments of her sale. Klio looked back at me.
"In her performace," I said, "the slave, unrestrained, emerged quickly and in moments the woman discovered that it was she. It pleased the men abundantly. It brought a good price. It is now collared."
Klio sobbed.
"Frankly," I said, "I had not expected you to be inferior to her."
She looked at me, angrily.
"But perhaps the women of Tyros," I said, "are superior to those of Cos?"
"I think not," said a man, rather angrily.
There was laughter from the others. I supposed he must be Cosian, natively.
"But then," I said, "it is said, I have heard, that those of Port Kar prize Cosians as slaves."
"Show us what a Cosian can do," said a man.
"Thus," I said, "it seems that it is not, really, that the women of Tyros are superior to the women of Cos, but merely that, in your particular case, you are inferior to the Lady Elene."
She looked at me, again angrily.
"But that is only to be expected, upon occasion, I suppose," I said, "that some woman of Tyros would be superior to some woman of Cos. Too, it is no disgrace to be inferior to the Lady Elene, who is quite attractive and, in time, might even make a dancer."
"I am inferior to Elene," she said, angrily.
The men laughed at her venhemence.
