Mistress gives a girl recovery time, so she went to the Hutch to share skin with rachel. Rachel's jewel was shining in her door and she was stretched out watching a vid when the door admitted a girl.
This girl flopped next to her honey-colored body and rachel turned to this girl, our arms twined, our legs locked, and we curled around each other like puppies. "Slave-sister, a girl is pleased to share your warmth. " the customary greeting slipped out almost without thought.
"Your life is this life, sister." rachel replies. "Mistress is elsewhere; I am free for a moment." She whispers in this ear.
"Look at this back; are there marks?" a girl breathes. Mistress gives a girl recovery time. She does not like a girl marked overmuch.
Rachel's warm palm drifts down this back, making this girl shiver. "Smooth, white and lovely dearest." She says, "You are white jade, milk glass, perfect. "
"Amani is gone! There is no trace of her!" When I say these words, the hole in my life expands. "You might as well say the sun does not radiate, that it does not pull us all sunward every minute! I love amani!"
Rachel's mouth finds mine and stops it with kisses. "Share your life with mine dear one." She whispers against this chest. Her hands creep to each side of this head and pull a girl into a long deep kiss. The feel of amani rises out of touching rachel. Amani is standing in her room, weight on one hip, hands holding the ends of her braids -- grinning, brown and bare.
Rachel releases my head and snuggles her head against my shoulder. Her hands seek these hips and pull me against her hip to hip. This girl rests her head on a shoulder and the room is silent, there is nothing to say.
For a nameless time we soak up each other's warmth, the simple pleasure of skin on skin, the physical presence of another like body. While this girl is lost in memories of amani, rachel stiffens and turns to me, "My Mistress calls me."
A moment later there is only the travel vid of some barren moon for company.
Meg's jewel is unlit. Around the corner, red's jewel has turned black and dull; there is no way to touch her. She is gone unless her master allows her to connect. A girl goes back to the room to lie down and await Mistress.
--------------
This girl is wrist-leashed and walking with Mistress in the market. "Where are we going Mistress?" The sun is high, it must be near noon, and small shadows puddle at everyone's feet.
"Good, you are back; I want to get something for you before we lift." She says, "Carla got her girl some wonderful local jewelry." The street is crowded with tourists and peasants, but they make a path for Mistress in her uniform with me in tow. It is the same mix of chrome and glass, squalor and hovels, sellers and sold, in markets everywhere.
Mistress took me with her while this girl was still in the Hutch! How can that be; how can this one be present and have no knowledge of it? She has heard of girls being punished for errors made while they were away. But she still goes, when Mistress gives her time.
"I was thinking of pendants, or a waist chain; I'm tired of those things you wear, something new, something different." Mistress says, mostly to herself. My appearance is her pleasure; She is pleased to have me wear rings, and chains on my ankles. Like many girls, my head is shaved and she is smooth and hairless elsewhere.
"I would like to see you in those new micro-graphics; I think you would look lovely in Fuji watercolors, but they are so fragile. I would have to use pain induction, and I do love the feel of a good cane or crop. "
A thing learned from amani, when she got into a grumpy mood, when the world felt like iron shackles around her ankles, when it was hard to even find her submission, amani would ask to be beaten. While she was strapped to the frame, as she was being flogged, she would open her mouth and scream and scream as hard as she could. Afterwards, it was like she had released a toxic load of something, and she felt light and free. After she was released, she felt reborn, new and loving -- child-like.
At first this girl was horrified that amani would be beaten for no reason, but when she explained, this girl understood. This girl has been beaten, for punishment, for entertainment, whatever Mistress is pleased to do, but she'd never thought of asking to be beaten.
This girl felt as amani described, when we left Haven. She was indifferent to her owner, always grumpy. Mistress sat me down to ask why this one was so unhappy. This girl couldn't really tell her, when she tried, she just ended up crying. Amani was out of touch; she couldn't share with her either.
When a girl was feeling sorry for herself, when she was thinking of amani and missing her, she could almost hear amani describe her feelings! This girl could hear amani asking to be beaten. So she went to Mistress, knelt, hugged her knees, and begged to be beaten. She started to say why, but couldn't talk for crying.
Mistress took me to the brig; they strapped me to the frame and Mistress flogged me. After the third or fourth stroke, a girl just screamed and screamed and screamed until she brought up this huge hunk of fear, frustration, anger, rage, and things she has no name for. After that, the flogging seemed more like a massage; this girl relaxed against the frame and took pleasure in the care She gave me. My back felt warm and the strokes were like hands on me.
At some point She stopped and the orderly began unbuckling me. As strange as it sounds, this girl wanted her to continue! All the grumpiness, all the unhappiness, all had disappeared! When Mistress carried me to a table, this girl felt reborn, like a child, as if she were so light she might float away.
----------------
Mistress is leading me into a small, busy shop. Some people look at her uniform enviously; some look away, but most just glance and go on with their shopping.
"Are you looking for something for yourself, or something for her?" A salesclerk smiles brightly at Mistress.
"Just looking really, mostly for her. If I found something for her lips, or nipples, -- or pendants maybe." she says as she browses the display cases.
"She's very beautiful! Have you had her long? If you'll step over here to the counter I can show you some things." The salesclerk motions deeper into the busy store.
Mistress leads me to the back of the store, to a counter with a couple of high stools. There are cases for all kinds of jewelry, necklaces, bracelets, chains, and others hanging on display. People are looking at rings, jewels, and pendants, in cases. The salesclerk wears jewelry everywhere, a walking display of the jeweler's art.
"Just sit on one of these stools. Put your feet on the rungs. Lean back on your elbows; the counter is sturdy. It can take it!" The salesclerk says, gesturing to a stool.