The next morning found Alanna back in the cage in the library. Ungagged. There was enough room for her to stretch out, but it was boring being there. She heaved a lot of sighs, which she thought no one heard but which made David glance at the monitor every time she did it, and occasionally hummed again. Mostly she worked on her determination to be good. Which is exactly what David was trying to teach her; some self-discipline. Alanna was sitting in the cage of her own volition, not trying to talk, not playing with herself, and not getting into trouble by her own choices.
She scowled at the bars, looking through them to the books.
And she wasn't getting out to get a book to tide her over. Alanna had hoped that Master would allow her classes to start up again today. He'd said he would. The day wasn't over yet. Instead of demanding that he let her out, she was trusting that he would be true to his word. She missed having something to do. Being an animal was boring.
After lunchtime in the kitchen, Alanna was allowed to trot on Master's heels to the room where she always met with Ms. Bliss. Master put her up at her desk as Ms. Bliss smiled genially. Alanna felt a wave of gratefulness to the woman, who never looked down on Alanna or embarrassed her; Ms. Bliss' level of comfort with the situation helped make Alanna more comfortable too. She would have endured feeling humiliated or patronized, but she appreciated that she didn't have to. In fact, Alanna was learning to appreciate all sorts of things that she'd been taking for granted.
Like classes. And sitting in a chair.
"You will only speak to Ms. Bliss and you will only do so in the context of the classroom," Master told her. A shiver of joy went through her. She had a voice again! "You will have a lot of work to do to catch up from the past day and a half, so no distracting yourself or her with anything other than your studies. You may ask questions if you need to. After class you may not speak anymore."
Alanna scowled when he said that she had a lot of work to catch up on. Apparently, even though it hadn't been her decision that she miss classes, she was going to have to cram in the lessons anyway. In some ways that seemed only fair, because if she hadn't needed to be punished, she wouldn't be missing class.... but it wasn't like she'd missed classes on purpose! Then Alanna remembered that she should be grateful she was having class at all and that Master was giving her this chance. The scowl smoothed from her brow and she smiled up at her Master.
The expression on his face told her that he was waiting for a protest or an excuse to take the privilege of learning away from her again, and Alanna just smiled more broadly. She wasn't going to ruin this for herself. David thought she was absolutely adorable, with her scowling and then her determination. It was obvious that she didn't like being held accountable for the classes that she missed, but that she was finally thinking about the whys behind things. Her bright smile of gratitude warmed him more than he liked to admit.
"You may thank you."
"Thank you Master," Alanna chirped. Her voice was bouncy and bright, despite feeling rather rough from disuse. Indeed, now that she could feel how strange it was to talk again, she was even more grateful to her Master. Imagine if she had gone for even longer without the ability to talk, how much odder it would feel to be allowed to communicate again. The thought was frightening, that she might become a mute, unthinking thing if her Master wasn't so generous.
The smile on her face was soon gone though, as Ms. Bliss began the grueling lesson for the afternoon. Alanna hated mathematics.
Alanna's scheduled for the afternoon was the same as before. After a couple of hours with Ms. Bliss she went to the gym and worked out her muscles, enjoying the stretch in her legs and arms, and especially enjoying moving on two feet instead of four. It was also a relief to only have a short class today. Her head felt stuffed with information.
By the time she was done working out, Master had arrived home to give her a bath before putting her back into her pads and mitts. That evening she sat on the floor next to his feet as he watched TV, resting her head against his knee. Although he didn't touch her while she was there, Alanna was content just to have him there with her. And she was quite aware that a week ago she would have been fuming that he was with her but not touching her, that she hadn't gotten time with him all day and now he was ignoring her. Now she was feeling satisfied with whatever he chose to give her, even if it was just his presence. Her attitude had gone through a major upheaval in the past 48 hours.
When David led Alanna up to bed, he was also feeling much more relaxed. He hadn't even realized how much of a demand on him Alanna had been beforehand. Now appreciation shown out of his little slave's eyes, rather than hurt that he wasn't doing more or the accusation that he wasn't doing enough. Although his current measures were harsher than he would have preferred to use, they were working quickly and efficiently. But he missed her at the dinner table, he missed hearing about her day and he missed her warm body in his bed, curling up to his in sleep.
Curtis had checked in with him today, wanting to know if Alanna had been aptly punished for her interruption of their meeting. He had been satisfied after David sent him the video of her caning and a few clips of her on all fours and in the cage with nothing to do. The acquisitive light in his eyes made David sick. There was no doubt that Curtis would want to test her himself, although David didn't intend to let the other man take too many liberties, some sacrifices would have to be made.
And to that end, he needed to continue testing and pushing Alanna.
Not wanting her to get too excited by letting her into his bed for any reason, David had Alanna stay on all fours on the floor as he circled around her and took her tail out. She moaned and looked up at him hopefully. There was no expectation in her eyes, only hope, which was good. If she'd been expecting him to do anything he would have had to stop immediately.