Beasts and Bottoms
We left Vonda several days ago. The walking has not been difficult and the
countryside is truly beautiful. The rolling hills are talendar covered and the
sweet perfume fills the air on the slightest breeze.
We made camp last night in a field bordered on one side by forest and thickets.
The food was simple but wonderful to taste after the long day. He is generous
and allows me to eat the same food I prepare for them.
I served them wine from Vonda and the discussion somehow drifted to my ass. I
laughed to myself at first and then was startled to hear my Master offer Master
Salen the opportunity to strike me there. They debated the merits (or lack of
them) for some time and although there was a good deal of banter, I knew that it
could happen and that there would be nothing I could do about it ... no matter
what my thoughts were on the matter. I could be struck, not because I had done
anything wrong, but simply because my Master chose to allow it to happen.
"It is good for the slave to know that she may be offered up by me to be struck
by another ... simply to prove a point," he said.
They ultimately determined that Master Salen could possibly injure his hand on
what was described as my rock hard bottom. In the end, the teasing and laughter
mattered very little to me. I was offered to another to strike or not, as he
wished. It was a difficult lesson for my barbarian mind to accept.
I thought it would be the only lesson that night, but I was proven wrong. A loud
huffing noise and stench came from the thicket. Master gripped my shoulder,
pushing downward until I lay flat in the talendar and grass. The beast ran off,
but afterwards my trembling hands could hardly hold the wineskin and as I
refilled their cups, wine splashed out onto my legs.
I could not shake the terror of that beast or my imagination that I could feel
its jaws grip my leg with the intention of dragging me off into the darkness. I
completely forgot the lesson of previous days. He ordered me to still and face
him.
"What are you to fear?" I answered honestly ... "At this moment, that beast and
my Master." By the look on his face, I knew this was an important lesson and it
was vital to him that I learn it. He suggested I reevaluate my response and
answer correctly. "I only fear being displeasing."
I am not to fear beasts in the fields or rivers. I am to fear being displeasing
and that alone. I thought about this for a moment and thought at first it was
something to be feared because of punishment. His words then penetrated my
confusion ... "I take care of the things I own."
If I continue to fear the beasts, then I do not believe he can take care of that
which he owns. That disrespect makes a mockery of him as a freeman and as my
Master. I will not fear the beasts.