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I showed them how I ate it and they fed me the pieces I had prepared. It was wonderful. I savored each sweet bite. I never expected to taste something from Earth again.
He did have a little taste of the orange. Some of the juice dribbled down my chin and Master Evan licked it off. While he didn’t find it bad, he didn’t understand why I enjoyed it.
After dinner the men played cards and I sat and watched them. The game was much more entertaining now that I understood it. Master Christof even put me on his lap and let me play his hand for him.
“Well, we should go help with the punishment,” Master Damien said stretching.
I blanched and gagged. “What did I do, Masters?” I panicked.
“Not you, Ciara, we already told you we were pleased with you. The slave that ate the worms. It is being punished in the courtyard,” Master Evan said rising.
The men dressed me in my panels and after glancing at my chest they put the covers over my breasts. I glanced down and saw what they did. Despite the healing cream my nipples were red and puffy. They looked like they had suffered too much attention very recently.
It was near dusk and the yard was lit with torches. A warm breeze was blowing intermittently and lots of men were outside. Everyone seemed happy and relaxed after the last couple of days.
We walked down the steps to the courtyard and I hoped it wouldn’t be too bad. I wondered if I would have to look. I did remember the one horrible time I’d been at the posts, I had seen slaves looking up at me then. My owners would probably make me witness whatever they had done to Fuji.
The men stopped suddenly and I watched the backs of Master Damien’s boots.
“Ciara, look up and tell us if you would wish this to happen to you,” Master Bane ordered.
I steeled myself for the worst sight imaginable. My fists clenched in anticipation at my sides. Taking a big breath I looked up at what they had done to my friend.
Fuji looked miserable, but otherwise fine. She was up on the platform dressed in an ill fitting white dress that fell past her knees. One ankle bound her to a post. She stood silently shaking with her eyes closed.
My owners looked at me and I looked at them. If the question was, did I wish to wear clothes again, the answer was yes. Somehow I doubted that was the point of this exercise. I opted for being honest, because this didn’t look like punishment to me.
“I don’t understand,” I told them.
Master Evan snickered and Master Damien raised an eyebrow.
“Earth slaves aren’t very observant are they?” Master Kein asked.
“Perhaps the slave doesn’t like our decoration,” Master Bane commented touching the cuff on my wrist.
“Ciara has demonstrated it likes our symbol. We all remember the village,” Master Christof said as though reminding them.
I looked back up at Fuji and kind of understood. She wasn’t wearing a collar or cuffs to show ownership. Her leg was bound to the post by a simple leather strap. Upon closer inspection the ill fitting dress was just a man’s shirt.
My hand stroked the line of my collar and I remembered the horror that happened to me when it wasn’t present.
“I like your symbol, Masters, and I appreciate the protection the collar gives me,” I said solemnly.
Fuji’s outfit just didn’t make any sense. What was the purpose of dressing her? I would love to be dressed.
“It loses something when you have to tell them,” Master Evan said sounding grumpy.
Apparently, I should be horrified by the sight in front of me. No one was touching her or hurting her. Maybe that came later, that would have horrified me.
“No one is hurting her and she’s dressed, Masters,” I finally said confused. “She’s not even bound in a way that would be painful. I don’t understand.”
They all stood looking at me for a moment before Master Christof leaned in and spoke in my ear.
“That slave would not find being stretched out between the posts uncomfortable at all. Being covered in that smock means its skin is too hideous to be seen. You’ve seen how the flesh glitters in the light, correct?”
I nodded and he understood me.
“Its owners put that on it to accent its natural glow. On its planet the only creatures to cover up are ill and embarrassed by their skin. Its owners are saying it is too hideous to look at. They are putting it out here for us to mock.”
“Will you touch her and hurt her?” I whispered.
“No, that kind does not feel pain the way you do. It would take the blade of a knife to make the skin suffer and that would leave a permanent scar,” Master Christof told me.
I watched, with my peripherals as a group walked by and commented how ugly the slave was. The men wondered who would claim such a horrid thing. They continued to talk until Fuji screamed her master’s names, begging them to claim her.
I heard one of Fuji’s owners say to the other men to move on and then he left. Letting my hair fall forward I looked through it and saw her owners sitting in a small tent behind her. They were sipping on drinks and talking.
“Ciara,” Master Damien warned pushing back my hair, “you know you aren’t supposed to do that.”
“I’m sorry, Master Damien, I just didn’t understand where their voices came from,” I admitted to him. “Will you say things to make Fuji upset?” I asked to change the subject.
“No, we keep this slave, we will not be part of punishing it,” Master Evan said and grabbed my chin so I looked at him. “Do not look at other men, Ciara, only us.”
“I only want to look at you, Master, I just was curious where the men watched from,” I said beginning to fear they would put me up there also.
“Ciara, when you are curious, ask us and we will tell you,” Master Christof sighed. “Do not do things that you know will get you in trouble.”
“I apologize, Masters,” I said in a pleading voice hoping they would let this go.Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g
“Follow me, Ciara,” Master Damien said, “and keep your eyes where they belong.”
Master Damien and his Brothers went to talk to Fuji’s owners. I knelt on a pad in the little tent and waited while they talked. They were discussing the hunt for the men that had been taken. I had never been in the mountains, but it sounded really intense.
As we sat there one of those stupid silver bugs landed on my thigh. I hated those bugs and swatted at it viciously. I struck my thigh with an open palm and left a hand print, but the bug got away. I felt a tickle on my arm and thought it was another bug. I swung, but several sets of hands stopped me.
“Ciara!” Master Damien said pulling me up, “Do not punish yourself! You are forgiven!”
“We will bind your hands if you continue to strike yourself,” Master Evan threatened. “You cannot be injured.”
“I wasn’t,” I started to say and stopped; they looked upset. “I won’t hit myself anymore, but honestly, that kind of a hit won’t cause permanent damage,” I told them. “I was slapping at a bug.”
They stared angrily at the red handprint on my thigh, so I rubbed at it.
“It will fade, Masters, I promise that kind of hit won’t leave a mark,” I pleaded.
The men sat back down to talk, but Master Christof pulled me on his lap. He held both my hands in one of his, presumably so I couldn’t whack myself again. I lay may head on his shoulder and relaxed.
I sat quietly for a while, but soon wiggled free and was tracing the lines on Master Christof’s palms. As I played with his long fingers I heard a sigh from Fuji’s owners.
“This is going to drive us mad watching you all. We wish to enjoy our slave. This punishment is over,” one of them said and I heard them rise and leave the tent.
The last man to leave told Master Damien they would see him tomorrow, but they were going to be occupied for the rest of the night. My men laughed outright at that.