Rites of Passage

originally posted January 10, 2006

The month of Se'Var has come to a close. Today is the first day of the Tenth Passage Hand. It is two full months until the Waiting Hand is upon us, but the pace of this trip, largely for the conducting of business, affords me the time to pause and reflect.
Just over eight months ago, I companioned a woman. A barbarian woman. There was a time in my life I could not imagine entering into such a contract, let alone with a woman fit for nothing more than slavery. It is a paradox, of course, as nearly all women, regardless of origin, are fit for nothing more than slavery. Those of Earth, however, by nature of origin, are particularly suited to this status. I freed a woman from bondage, once, but it was not the woman I am contracted into companionship with. I cannot fathom giving this woman, or any barbarian for that matter, her freedom but, ironically, exploiting her status as a Free Woman, I had little difficulty rationalizing Companionship with this barbarian. Like most women who go unchecked, she was conniving, manipulative and self-serving. Unlike those women, however, The Lady Jenny had a talent for turning these traits into inexplicable wealth. My disillusionment with the status quo was her undoing and, doubtless, her salvation. I have illustrated in previous entries how her wealth, all of it, became mine. There is little need to recount those events, humorous as they are. Moreso, what is on my mind is the wealth itself.
In the past, trips such as this were taken on a whim. I would simply instruct my Sandal, the slave Joy, to pack my things. In most instances, this was done the evening before with the notion to take the trip the afternoon of that same day. This is the lifestyle of a Poet, a Singer. We prefer the unencumbered life. That is no longer the life I lead. I have forsaken that, at least for a time, in the pursuit of another sort of happiness.
The Dogma of Caste aside, I am firstly a man. Conquest, on some level, is within the domain of all men. I have no ambition to amass a fleet of ships to engage in the politics of warfare, nor do I find anything particularly intriguing about engaging in matters of Statecraft. My Empire is a small one. I have property. I have women. From the bodies of those women, their exertion, I intend to obtain more property. I often joked about my 'Villa in Venna' in years past. Many an eager slave was left in a quandry at my response when asked what she could fetch for me, what she could do to please me. 'Fetch me a Villa in Venna,' I would invariably reply. Somewhere along the way, it became less of a joke and more an ambition. One who spends time in Cosian shackles, sleeps in a Cosian jail, is not likely to understand the willingness of his city to bow to such wretches. My city, for a time, did precisely that. I still cannot fathom it.
There is nothing new here, I know. It has all been said before. In a few days, I intend to purchase property, secure a plot of fertile land in Beautiful Venna. I cannot help but recollect.