06-73 Dance of the Qahramanat VIII

PREVIOUSLY:  Queen Channah has decided to take an opportunity to teach Hanim Qahramanah about how to train her girls, and combines the occasion with an early start to her honeymoon.  They are discussing trust.  NOW:

“Here, let’s try something,” Channah decided.  “Chas, will you be still and patient for me?”

“Yes, Domina.”

“Good girl.”  She squeezed Chas’s hand reassuringly and stepped around, removing Chas’s blindfold and then turning her to face sideways.  “Stay,” she smirked at Chas, then removed Penny’s blindfold to find her staring curiously but acceptingly at Channah.  Spinning her back to face Esmeray, Channah announced:  “Penny, I want you to give Esmeray every bit of your attention.  Chas, you can listen, but when I’m ready for you, I want you to give me your full attention as well.”

“Of course, Domina.”

“Penny, I’ve taken off your blindfold for a moment so you can watch Esmeray, and listen to her, and give her every one of your senses.”

“Yes, Domina,” she agreed, seriously, looking up into Esmeray’s eyes.

“Esmeray, I want you to take Penny’s hands.”  Esmeray stiffened, and Channah repeated soothingly:  “It’s okay, Esmeray.  Here—even better…”  She reached down into the box and removed two pairs of something that looked like purple mittens with short belts attached, handing one pair to Esmeray and commanding the girls:  “Penny and Chas, hold up your hands in front of you and make them into fists.”

“Domina?” Penny asked, surprised and even recoiling a bit, while Chas did as she was told.

“Did you see that reaction, Esmeray?”

She nodded slowly.

“What did you see?  How did she react when she wondered if I was going to have her be aggressive?”

“She—didn’t like the idea,” Esmeray nodded uncertainly.

“Correct!  No, she did not.  She’s very sweet and trusting.  Even more than the others.  That’s why she’s perfect for you to practice on.”  Then, turning back to Penny, Channah clarified:  “Obviously you girls will leave the mucho toro macho posing to the mamluks.  I meant, curl your fingers and thumbs as if you were trying to make weak little fists.  Imagine your lover is carrying you away against your will and you’re going to beat ineffectively on his chest in a futile gesture of protest.”

“Domina!”  Penny protested weakly, turning pink and breathing faster, while the women laughed.  But she held her hands up in loose little fists. 

“See how her thumbs are outside like they’re supposed to be?  Actually, she’s been trained to fight like the rest of them.  She just doesn’t have the… let’s be honest, the cojones to be a toro.”

“I see that.  More of a vaca marica.”

“Qahramanah…” Penny whined softly.

“Is that resistance?”  Esmeray snapped, and when Penny swallowed and shook her head, she concluded:  “I didn’t think so.”

“Slide the glove over her fist.  Pull it as hard as you can, and then fasten the belt around her wrist,” Channah instructed, demonstrating on Chas.

“I’m not sure it’s big enough…”

“Fortunately, the two of them are almost identical in size.  One of the many reasons they make such a perfect pair.  And they’ve been carefully measured in the past few weeks.  Do you remember, Penny?”

“Yes, Domina.  For… grown-up clothes,” Penny blushed charmingly again.

“Physically grown-up, at least.  As much as you’re going to.  As a boy anyway.” When they were both done binding their girls’ hands, the straps around the wrists locking their hands into fists inside the thickly-padded gloves, Channah stood back and repeated:  “Now you can touch the leather instead of the girl.”

“And she’s—she’s really quite helpless already,” Esmeray marveled, facing Penny and holding her by her leather-cuffed wrists and leather-bound fistettes. 

“Now, this is a very important and intimate moment,” Channah cautioned her.  “Imagine she is your daughter.”

“She’s not going to like that,” Esmeray shook her head, something ugly and fierce stealing across her face and eyes, as Penny quickly looked down, gasping.

Channah considered a moment.  “Have you ever had a pet?”

“I had a puppy once.  On the streets of Constantinople.  We protected each other.”

“Imagine she’s your puppy.  That puppy.”

Esmeray suddenly beamed.  “I like that idea.  He’s—she’s—my little savior.  I’d love to make her my pet.  She’d be perfect!”

Channah smothered a smile.  “Then the stars have aligned for you, Esmeray dear.  As Penny’s quaramanah, she is yours to do anything you see fit to when she’s under your authority.  Anything your heart desires.  Your puppy, your plaything, your piglet, your placemat.”  Channah shrugged.  “Anything you want to fashion her into.”

“Good.  You’re my puppy now!” she informed the girl gaily.

“Yes, Qahramanah,” Penny answered, uncertain but unresisting.

“What I want is for both of you to learn to trust one another and be close to one another.  Partly that’s about force, Esmeray—showing her you’re always in charge, correcting her immediately for any infraction, and occasionally reminding her how utterly she is yours, even when she’s been a good little doggie for you.”

“Yesss,” Esmeray nodded, looking down at Penny with an odd light in her eyes. 

“But you don’t want a Spartacus who’s only obedient as long as he has to be.  You want a pleaser who genuinely wants to submit to you.  Penny’s naturally submissive so she wants to obey and follow.  But you want her to feel that submission for you, especially for you.  More for you than anyone except for me.”

“But trusting is stupid,” Esmeray frowned and shook her head, disagreeing, looking troubled.  “Penny’s not stupid.  Discipline is better.”

“Actually,” Channah agreed, “none of your slave girls are slouches in the intellect department.  We don’t recruit many idiots.  There’s no reason to, unless they have some extraordinary compensating talent.  Everyone on this platform, almost all the mamluks and jawari, are smart.”

“Then—” Esmeray made a frustrated gesture.  “What are we trying to achieve here?”

 “Trust, Esmeray.  I thought that was clear.  As it turns out, you are wrong about trust.  Discipline is useful, but discipline and trust go together.  They’re not substitutes.  Not when molding a servant.  Every one of my vassals and slaves on this platform proves it:  trust is smart.  Yes, trust can always be betrayed.  And yet it’s necessary—humans couldn’t survive without it.”

“I survived.”

Channah cackled.  “Ah, Esmeray, the memory plays tricks.  Do you remember where I found you?”

She reddened.

“Locked underground like a half-drowned rat, likely bound for the inquisitor’s stake?  Do you remember the first time I took you back to Constantinople, a few years later, and you ran back to your old street?  Alley, really?”

“You—you knew about that?!” Esmeray gasped, surprised and worried.

Literature Section “06-73 Dance of the Qahramanat VIII”—Part 73 of Chapter Six, “Le Saccage de la Sale Bête Rouge” (“Rampage of the Dirty Red Beast”)—1076 words—Accompanying Images:  1641-1644—Published 2025-04-25—©2025 The Remainderman.  This is a work of fiction, not a book of suggestions.  It’s filled with fantasies, idiots, and criminals. Don’t believe them or imitate them.