Adam returned to his seat and tried to finish his meal. Helga sat next to him with her hand on his thigh and seemed to dare anyone else to approach. Adam knew he should have been grateful for her watchfulness, but he also realized he had just been elevated to "teacher's pet."
Afterwards Adam and the rest of the students were herded into the dormitory. Helga explained that since he was the only male in an otherwise all-female dorm, he would not be assigned a roommate, nor would he be able to leave his room after hours. Instead he would be locked inside his room each night so that his classmates could feel safe from his "male perversity."
Before locking him in, Helga confiscated his brief—just as she confiscated the costumes of all the other students. Sleeping in the nude was mandatory at the Academy.
That night, as he tried to ignore the chatter of the girls in the next room, he couldn't help thinking that the unexpected incident at dinner had been somehow arranged by Helga.
In the morning, a house mistress unlocked his door. She threw a bikini brief at him and ordered him to put it on, then quickly moved on to deliver other uniforms to his classmates. The girls got breezy short nighties of different colors and matching thong panties.
The first morning's lesson was about grooming. Apparently it was very important for slaves to be completely clean-shaven. All the subs were ordered to shave (this is the part that Adam thought was particularly odd) each other. They were herded into a kind of shower room with steel restraints anchored into the floor and ceiling. The group was ordered to strip, and half the group was chained spread eagled while the other half were given shaving cream and razors to shave their partners. When each was finished, she changed places with her partner, and the process was repeated.
Adam had the most unwanted hair, so his partner had the toughest job. She was told to start with his genitals since that would take the longest.
Adam was the first one chained, but also the last one finished. When the other pairs had finished shaving each other, they were ordered to relieve his partner and to help their classmates to finish shaving him. By the end of the session, every girl in the room was shaving some part of his anatomy to get him completely bare.
This was followed by a group shower which was closely monitored by all of the house mistresses. When they were dry, he was ordered back into his bikini brief, and the other girls got their nighties back—but not their matching thongs. The mistresses explained that the thongs were no longer needed now that they were properly groomed.
They were escorted into a classroom with no desks. At the front of the room were a lectern and a small wastebasket. The back wall was a giant mirror. The other walls were covered with various chains and bondage devices. The comfortable chairs along the sides of the room were not for them to use, they were told.
They were ordered to assume kneeling positions and were given specific instructions regarding proper kneeling posture. When Mistress Helga was satisfied that they were all kneeling correctly, she began her lecture while the other mistresses sat in chairs and observed. None of the subs were allowed to take notes—emphasizing the need to pay attention.
"In my class, I have a tendency to describe the one who dominates you as a mistress," Helga explained, "although I realize some of you have made the unfathomable choice of being dominated by a man. There are gender-neutral terms, of course, such as 'top,' 'dom,' or even 'mastress,' but we believe such political correctness is unbecoming of our lifestyle. You will address your superior as either mistress or master, as is appropriate, but since all the instructors here at the Academy are female, I will continue to use the term 'mistress' to imply both."
The first lesson concerned the correct way to submit to discipline, and Helga chose Adam for her demonstration. He was ordered to approach the lectern and to turn around. She quickly but thoroughly suspended his hands from the back of his collar, then reached for the knee straps. "Legs together," she ordered. "You should put your legs together without being told. Girls, your mistresses may require you to
spread
your legs. In any case, you should do everything you can to anticipate your mistress's needs." She tied his knees together as she had the day before, but this time she refrained from using the gag.
"Now," she ordered, gesturing with her riding crop, "turn completely around so the class can see how handsome you are." He complied. "You will find that I sometimes use the term
handsome
as a euphemism for
erect
." She slapped his package painfully with the crop, prompting titters from the class.
He momentarily lost his balance and tipped over the wastebasket, spilling wadded paper onto the floor.
"I'm sorry, mistress," he said.
"Class, take note," she said. "By apologizing immediately, he hopes to spare himself the humiliation of further punishment. Forgiveness is rarely given, but not unheard of. Mistresses enjoy hearing you beg, so it doesn't hurt to ask." To Adam, she said, "Your penance for this infraction will be light."
She made no effort to release him, preferring to let him stand in front of the class while she continued her lecture. "Slavehood is a vocation to which you are now committed," she told the subs. "Your wants and needs will now be subordinate to the wants and needs of your mistresses. And a slave must be willing to perform menial but useful tasks around the house in addition to fulfilling your mistress's more intimate needs."
Her lecture on the philosophy of submission went on for more almost an hour. As he stood there in front of the class, one of the mistresses sitting in the back stared at him and touched herself, not seeming to care if he noticed.
As Helga concluded, she turned her attention back to Adam. "Would you like me to untie you now?"
"Yes, mistress," said Adam.
"Why?"
"What do you mean?" He was genuinely confused.
"I mean why should I untie you?"
He floundered. "Because my arms are getting cramped, mistress."
Helga turned to the class. "This is a common mistake. When I asked him a question, he told me about
his
needs--what
he
wants. He should be more concerned about what his mistress wants."
She approached Adam and stood inches away from his face. She placed one arm around him and rested her head against his so he could feel her breath on his face. "If I released you," she asked softly, "what could you do for me that you couldn't do right now while restrained? In other words, what's in it for
me
to
let you go
?"
Adam could not ignore the feel of her vinyl gown pressed against his skin. What did she want from him? Something obvious? Adam sensed danger.
"I could pick up the wastebasket and the paper, mistress," he said.
Helga skipped a beat, as if Adam had escaped a trap she had laid for him. "Well," she said. "That is an appropriate response—if a bit disappointing." She turned toward the class. "You'd be surprised how many slaves in his position would panic and offer to perform a sexual favor. Most do. But had he done so, he would have been assuming that the use of his arms would be required to satisfy my urges—an assumption which, in my case, would be wrong. Had he made such an offer, I would have accepted, and after he satisfied me, I might have decided
not
to release him. After all, I'd have no obligation to do so." She stepped behind Adam and removed his restraints. "You may pick up the wastebasket, slave."
After lunch they met in a different but identical room where they listened to a long lecture from Mistress Ling about proper etiquette at social gatherings—specifically bondage parties. Apparently such gatherings were frequent on the island, and subs were required to know how to behave--either as guests or as servants--at such events.
Adam relaxed a little bit when he noticed that Mistress Helga was not there. He did not expect anyone to explain her absence, so he didn't ask.
At the conclusion of her lecture, Mistress Ling changed the subject with a kind of pop quiz about self-bondage. Some mistresses, she warned, demanded a high degree of self-reliance in a sub. Some may test their subs' devotion by demanding them to restrain
themselves
.
