|
 Slave Training DurationHere are relevant references from the Books where the Duration of Slave Training is mentioned. I make no pronouncements on these matters, but report them as I find them. Arrive at your own conclusions. I wish you well, Fogaban Hours Days Weeks Months Years Fully Trained Training Never Complete
Cernus turned to Caprus, who stood near him. "Is she trained?" he asked. "No," said Caprus. "She is Red Silk but she knows almost nothing." "Slave," said Cernus. "Yes, Master," said Elizabeth. "Stand straight and place your hands behind your head, head back." She did so. "Turn slowly," ordered Cernus. When Elizabeth had done so once, she remained standing before him, as he had commanded. Cernus turned to Caprus. "Was she touched by the leather?" he inquired. "The Physician Flaminius conducted the test," reported Caprus. "She was superb." "Excellent," said Cernus. "You may lower your arms," he said to the girl. She did so, and stood there, standing before him, her head down. "Let her be fully trained," said Cernus to Caprus. "Fully?" asked Caprus. "Yes," said Cernus, "fully." Elizabeth looked at him, startled. I had not counted on this, nor had Elizabeth. On the other hand, there seemed to be little that could be done about it. The training, exhaustive and detailed, I knew would take months. On the other hand it would be done presumably in the House of Cernus. Further, such training, though spread over a period of months, normally consumes only about five of the Gorean hours daily, that the girls have time to rest, to absorb their lessons, to recreate themselves in the pools and gardens of the house. During this time, since Elizabeth was nominally of the staff of Caprus, we could surely find time to be about our work, for which purpose we had arranged to enter the House of Cernus. "Are you not grateful?" inquired Cernus, puzzled. Elizabeth dropped to her knees, head down. "I am unworthy of so great an honor, Master," said she.
"Shortly," he had said, "I will hood you and take you to your house of training. It is not far. This training will take only a few days, and, at the end you will be poorly trained, as we have little time, but well enough trained, I shall hope, to survive the block and your first weeks of bondage, in which time, applying yourself, you must strive earnestly to become a better and better, and a more and more pleasing, slave.
Later, in the eighteenth week of their training, they were given brief silken slave livery, sleeveless, fastened by the loop on the left shoulder. Virginia and Phyllis were given white livery, Elizabeth red. It was at this time also that Virginia and Phyllis had been given their lock collars, white-enameled, and that the slave anklets, the identification bands, had been removed from their left ankles. Elizabeth, at the beginning of her training, had simply exchanged her yellow collar for a red one. She had already been a lock-collar girl.
"She is only a barbarian," I said. I did not wish Kamchak to sell her. "Perhaps I could have her trained -" mused Kamchak. "It would considerably improve her price," I admitted. I also knew a good training would take months, though much can be done with an intelligent girl in only a few weeks. "Would you like to learn," asked Kamchak of the girl, "to wear silk and bells, to speak, to stand, to walk, to dance to drive men mad with the desire to own and master you?" Cernus turned to Caprus, who stood near him. "Is she trained?" he asked. "No," said Caprus. "She is Red Silk but she knows almost nothing." "Slave," said Cernus. "Yes, Master," said Elizabeth. "Stand straight and place your hands behind your head, head back." She did so. "Turn slowly," ordered Cernus. When Elizabeth had done so once, she remained standing before him, as he had commanded. Cernus turned to Caprus. "Was she touched by the leather?" he inquired. "The Physician Flaminius conducted the test," reported Caprus. "She was superb." "Excellent," said Cernus. "You may lower your arms," he said to the girl. She did so, and stood there, standing before him, her head down. "Let her be fully trained," said Cernus to Caprus. "Fully?" asked Caprus. "Yes," said Cernus, "fully." Elizabeth looked at him, startled. I had not counted on this, nor had Elizabeth. On the other hand, there seemed to be little that could be done about it. The training, exhaustive and detailed, I knew would take months. On the other hand it would be done presumably in the House of Cernus. Further, such training, though spread over a period of months, normally consumes only about five of the Gorean hours daily, that the girls have time to rest, to absorb their lessons, to recreate themselves in the pools and gardens of the house. During this time, since Elizabeth was nominally of the staff of Caprus, we could surely find time to be about our work, for which purpose we had arranged to enter the House of Cernus. "Are you not grateful?" inquired Cernus, puzzled. Elizabeth dropped to her knees, head down. "I am unworthy of so great an honor, Master," said she. The Musicians began to play, and the girls in Pleasure Silk, hands over their heads, lifted themselves slowly to the melody, their bodies responding to it as though to the touch of a man. "These girls are not much good yet," said Ho-Tu. "They are only in the fourth month of their training. It is good for them to get the practice, hearing and seeing men respond to them. That is the way to learn what truly pleases men. In the end, I say, it is men who teach women to dance."
"Almost from the beginning, after my seventeenth birthday," said Telima, "I was trained as a pleasure slave. One year after my enslavement I was certified to the house by the slave mistress as having become accomplished in such duties.
I heard myself characterized as being "semi-trained." Was that all my training in the house counted for, I wondered, rising so early, retiring so late, the busy days, the long lessons, their frequency, variety and intensiveness, administered to us morning, noon and night? I then wondered if this, like the claims made with respect to my Gorean, were intended to be precautionary, or conservative, perhaps to avoid possible subsequent difficulties with disappointed buyers. But this time I did not think so. I had some inkling, by now, given my training in the house, of the sorts of things which could be involved in "training," many of which we had not even had time to touch upon. I was sure that given the possibilities of slave service I was still very naive and backward, still muchly uninformed. Indeed, I suspected that there would always be more to learn about service and love, that such things were fathomless and limitless, and, thus, in a sense, the notion of being "fully trained," or knowing all there was to know, was in actuality less of a practical goal than a lovely ideal, one which might perhaps be approached ever more closely, but would never be, and perhaps should never be, fully attained.
There were women here who would doubtless know more than I, not merely about this world and its ways, but about the pleasing of men. I was only just out of the pens. And one's learning, one's training, I had been given to understand, is never to be regarded as finished, as complete. |       | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
