Capitulus III (Chapter 03)
"Come here, Sylvi. I won't hurt you," coaxes Cherl.
The girl moves slowly toward the bed. She is desperately trying to remember what the Academy girls did to please women. At nineteen, she has had little experience with sex, even with boys. She has kissed a boy and allowed him to feel her breasts, but she has always been terrified of becoming pregnant and suffering the consequences of bearing a child out of wedlock. In Rome, that can become a criminal offense if the mother is incapable of supporting and raising the child - without a father.
Cherl pats the edge of the bed and tells Sylvi to sit down. When Sylvi sits, Cherl caresses her hair; the girl is so scared that tears well up in her eyes and her breath comes in short little gasps. She is about to cry. Cherl puts her arms around her, holds her for a few minutes and pulls the girl down beside her in bed. The girl's body is slim, her waist narrow, her small breasts are firm and, although not erect, her nipples are large and point slightly upward. Her ample bottom is round and firm. Cherl has to stifle the urge to squeeze Sylvi's nether cheeks hard and even bite them. She tells herself that she must wait until the girl is ready for sexual activity. Cherl can tell that Sylvi is thoroughly frightened of her situation, and she doesn't want to make Sylvi's first experience with her a disaster. Sylvi clings to her like a child to its mother and Cherl is moved. Waiting will make having sex with Sylvi even more enjoyable. They lie entwined until they fall asleep. It has been an exhausting day for both of them.
A light rapping on the door brings Cherl to a groggy awakening. She is spooning Sylvi and gently pushes her loins against the girl's plush bottom. Sylvi wakes and pushes her rear against Cherl. In her sleepy state, she has forgotten that it is a female behind her. For a moment, it doesn't seem to matter and she pushes and wiggles her buttocks enjoying the fleshy contact. Cherl kisses the nape of Sylvi's neck and breathes in the sweet scent of the woman/child. The rapping becomes more insistent and Cherl mutters, "C'min."
The door opens slightly and Milla's face wearing a mischievous grin appears. "Are you having sex? Is it okay if we all come in?"
"All? Who 'all' is out there?" The door opens all the way and six giggling young ladies come pouring through the door and pounce on the bed. Cherl and Sylvi are overwhelmed by the incursion, but manage to sit up in bed, and with sleep filled eyes, look over this assaulting menagerie. It is the four musicians and Steev's consorts. Delia kisses Cherl's bare breasts and asks Sylvi if she enjoyed last night. She doesn't touch Sylvi as she is Cherl's possession and Delia would need the woman's permission to do so, but she doesn't carry that need in her questions. She is excited to know how Sylvi performed.
"Miss, did Sylvi use her tongue well? Did she bring you to many orgasms? Was her mouth as good as it looks? Has she drunk from you yet this morning? Was she able to empty you completely? Please tell us. We are dying to know how she performed her duties. Last evening, after bathing her, we told her how to enter your room, drop her chiton, and kneel awaiting your requests, but we didn't have time to instruct her how to behave in bed. Was she good? Oh please tell us."
Cherl is almost overcome at the naiveté of these young women. "Yes, she was very good and pleased me very much. However, do not ask such personal questions. We have right to some privacy."
Dani says, "Oh Miss, it's just that we know Sylvi from the Academy and love her. We were all in Music Time with her. Milla and Fresci were with her in Work Time, too. We were saddened when she wasn't permitted to take part in Pleasure Time. She is so gorgeous that we would like to have had sexual activity with her. She would come to watch us practice, and we would do our best to get her to notice us. We would pretend that we were licking her when we licked each other. Fresci had such a strong crush on Sylvi that she would dream of her and call her name in her sleep."
Fresci pipes up, "I did not. You're making that up." The girls laugh at Fresci's embarrassment. Fresci blushes down to her breasts, but asks, "Will we be permitted to have sex with Sylvi?"
"I'll think about it, but until I've had my fill, it will be confined to you girls licking her. Don't ask her to lick you until I tell you she can. In any case, wait until she feels more at home here. I'll tell you when." The girls are thrilled. This is more than they had expected. "Now, why did you all come piling into my room so early? Was it just to hear the latest sexual gossip?"
There is a wail of consternation. "Oh Miss, we forgot. We were sent to tell you that Claude, Zhanet, and Steev are waiting for you to have the morning meal. Oh, we should be beaten for such bad behavior." The girls have never been punished for such minor infractions and don't think their request for punishment will be taken seriously. As a group, they jump off the bed, pull on their chitons, and race out the door. Cherl watches their chiton-clothed bottoms wiggle and squirm as they dress and then leave the room. She is wet again.
She bends and kisses Sylvie's bare belly and tells her to get dressed. She pulls on her own chiton and takes Sylvie's hand. She takes the girl to the dining area where they are greeted by their host and hostess. Steev grumbles something about having to wait to eat.
As Cherl's slave girl, Sylvie is expected to kneel beside her and wait until Cherl is finished eating before she eats. In some households, the slave girl gets to eat only what her mistress or master leaves on her or his plate. In this household, that is not a practice; however, Cherl feeds the young woman by hand as she eats. She thinks she is doing this surreptitiously, but the others smile at this minor deception. Sylvi is more relaxed. Cherl hadn't expected sex from her last night and sleeping against the naked woman was actually very enjoyable. The food Sylvi is given is more delicious than any she has ever tasted before, even at the Academy. The food there was nutritious but plain.
She is concerned about her mother and wonders if she is being fed well. They had had very little food since her father had been killed in battle and his stipend to them had discontinued. They had been constantly hungry since then. Although anxious to know about her mother, she will be patient and ask only at the proper time.
She has given herself to Cherl, and, in good faith, intends to honor that commitment to the best of her ability. She knows that she is not her own person any longer. She grieves that she will never have sex with a man and will never be a wife and mother. She will have to live in the present, at Cherl's behest, and try not to think of what might have been. It will be a difficult task.
Cherl sends Sylvi off to spend time with the other girls. She warns her not to let them get her into bed. She knows that they will try in spite of Cherl's admonition. She tells Sylvi that she will look out for her mother and let Sylvi know her mother's whereabouts and her condition. Cherl is concerned that Cordele's trauma of yesterday, standing for hours with a stake in her vagina, may have unhinged the woman. She goes looking for Claude's personal physician who may be aware by now of Cordele's mental state.
Once she finds him, she asks, "Doctor, what is Cordele's prognosis? Will there be any lasting effects from her ordeal?"
