What could
she have done anyway?
Si'Wren had been given special warning by old L'acoci, and now also
began to understand, dimly, that to a slave girl, any degree of beauty
could be a terrible curse, if it brought the wrong kind of attention
from the wrong kind of person. To a slave, especially a young girl such
as Si'Wren, were not all others superior to herself? She was virtually
at the mercy of whoever chose to molest her, for she did not even know
how to run away or where to go.
Now, fearful in the presence of Sorpiala's ominous silence, Si'Wren
kept her eyes downcast on her little jars, pretending with an agonized
trembling and the barest amount of fumbling over everything she
touched, to be utterly oblivious of anything out of the ordinary.
Unexpectedly, Sorpiala stepped forward to face Si'Wren and smiled
tenderly from one side.
"Si'Wren, what is this? Did I not just have the good fortune to hear
you talking about the Invisible God?" Sorpiala asked in the sweetest
tone of voice. "How curious," Sorpiala went on, "that I have never
before noticed your belief in him, dear. Is He not wonderful?"
Si'Wren lifted up her eyes to Sorpiala in a shy smile. Of course she
could trust Sorpiala! Who could dare to think otherwise?
"Aye, Sorpiala," said Si'Wren, looking up and nodding readily and
continuing to smile beamingly.
Pages:
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48