[Whitehaven] A Lesson in Humility 10 Annika’s back was a throbbing, burning mess. She was grateful that the other girls propped her up. This made it easier to recover. Through tear-clouded eyes she saw Sir Whitehaven’s face swimming in front of her.
I didn’t know that six strokes could hurt so much. When I gave Meghan twelve, she just took them without complaining.
Annika remembered, now with growing shame, how angry she had been at the mishap with the spilled wine. She realized that, in her eagerness to be the perfect head girl, she had fallen into the trap of looking at the other girls as mere tools, and to use brute force to get her will without consideration for others. The stinging pain across her back was a stark reminder to be more considerate in the future.
Sir Whitehaven lifted Annika’s chin and, without saying anything, kept staring into her eyes for a while. Eventually, a satisfied grunt and a curt nod indicated that he liked what he was seeing.
[Whitehaven] A Lesson in Humility 11 “I’ll take her to the basement and put some lotion of her back,” announced Sir Whitehaven, cradling Annika in his arms.
Lizzie almost felt a pang of envy watching Annika being carried, but then she vividly remembered Annika’s ordeal leading to this.
Sir Whitehaven added: “You two get the rest done. Meghan, you’re in charge.”
“Yes, sir,” shouted Meghan in response, not even looking up from scrubbing the floor.
[Whitehaven] A Lesson in Humility 12 When Sir Whitehaven applied lotion to Annika’s lacerated back, the pain subsided and became a dull background nuisance. When he kept massaging her naked body, Annika relaxed gradually and dissolved into a puddle of contentment.
When his probing fingers touched more intimate parts, Annika’s body responded, and soon she found herself moaning and writhing on the table. Then he entered her from behind and took her—not brutally, but lowly and firmly.
Annika’s world splintered into a kaleidoscope of extasy. The residual pain in her back added some spice to the enjoyment.
[Whitehaven] A Lesson in Humility 13 In the late afternoon and after a day’s work, Lizzie and Meghan returned to the slave quarters.
Meghan raised her eyebrow in surprise when she saw Annika perched on the one-bar prison.
“He left me here to ‘make sure my back heals without touching’,” explained Annika, imitating Sir Whitehaven’s authoritative voice. Their master had the nasty habit of making life harder for his girls whenever he could come up with a good reason to do so.
Meghan chuckled in commiseration, well aware of the predicament. Still curious, she asked: “And why shackles and no clothes? Are you demoted or something?”
As head girl, Annika was the only one in the Whitehaven household allowed to wear clothes instead of shackles, and she had used that privilege to show off her status.
“No,” Annika shook her head, “I asked him. After all, I’m still one of the team and from now on I don’t want any special treatment.” She grinned sourly: “And I can’t wear a shirt anytime soon, anyway.”
Meghan felt a pang of warmness toward Annika. The head girl really tried hard to make amends for her past superciliousness.
“Cool! We’re here to fetch you for R&R*.” Meghan turned to Lizzie. “Get her off the poker, then we head up to—”
“Er, how do I—” asked Lizzie hesitantly, obviously at a loss about what to do.
Meghan and Annika looked at each other and sighed, almost in unison.
“I’ll do it myself,” muttered Meghan, with slight exasperation in her voice. "Watch me!"
While Meghan was busy freeing her, Annika eyes Lizzie like a cat might do with a marginally tasty mouse: “Seems like someone needs to get better acquainted with this thing, eh?”
___
*) R&R hour is a tradition in the Whitehaven household: All slave girls not otherwise occupied spend the time between 5 and 6 PM in the garden with rest, relaxation, or other activities.
[Whitehaven] A Lesson in Humility 14 It was R&R hour, and everything was pretty much back to normal, except Annika’s back that still hurt unpleasantly. Annika did not mind being naked and shackled. All the others were like that, after all.
Inga, Rachel, and Jennifer competed in an amicable ball game. Lizzie, keen to make amends for her faux pas earlier during the day, tried hard to please Sir Whitehaven.
Annika spent most of the hour spending quality time with Meghan. The two girls made the most of the opportunity to give pleasure to each other.
Annika had learnt her lesson: While still in charge as head girl, she would be more careful in leading the others in the future.
[Whitehaven] Castaway 1 AD 1924, somewhere in the Indian Ocean —
Miss Cassandra Stanhope eagerly looked towards the horizon. En route from Bristol, she was looking forward to visiting her uncle in Australia. Given Cassandra’s limited funds, all she could afford for the leg from Durban to Darwin was this rusty tramp steamer.
The accommodation was less than pleasant, but Cassandra was not worried. This was a solid ship. Even though they were currently passing through a part of the ocean that almost nobody has sailed through before, what could possibly go wrong?
[Whitehaven] Castaway 2 What could possibly go wrong? Well, a typhoon, for example.
The steamship found itself battered by one of the nasty typhoons sometimes ravaging the Indian Ocean. In the middle of the night, the ship took on too much water, broke apart, and sank.
While the ship was capsizing, somehow, Cassandra made it onto a lifeboat, bruised but alive. She had not been able to dress or pack any kind of food or water. Casandra held on for dear life, praying for a miracle, as the storm tossed her small boat around like a toy.
[Whitehaven] Castaway 3 Sunrise found the lifeboat, and a bruised, battered Cassandra, bobbing quietly on the endless sea. The storm had moved on. For hours, Cassandra had been bailing out water from the lifeboat, and, by a miracle, she survived.
Yet, the calm sea did not bring Cassandra any relief. There was nothing around her except water and more water. Cassandra glanced toward the rising sun with trepidation. The heat of the day would be sweltering and would dry her out fast. There was no shade, and not a drop of water to drink.
[Whitehaven] Castaway 4 A miracle—or the caprice of the Sea Spirit—brought the boat to the shore of a remote island. Half mad from ravaging thirst and weak from exhaustion, Cassandra collapsed on the sandy shore.
[Whitehaven] Castaway 5 “Still alive, and not a fish-man¹,” cried Ray-of-Light with relief, “seems to be a normal girl, but with that pink skin and the straw on its head, it’s clearly some kind of pansasak².”
“Come on,” admonished Deer Hunter his second wife. “It looks in distress, and we don’t leave people or animals in distress. We’ll have a closer look.”
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¹) Among the People, the fearsome fish-men were presumed to live under the sea. At night, anyone walking on the shore or swimming alone was at risk of being dragged down into the sea, never to be seen again. Nobody alive had ever seen a fish-man, but everybody was keenly aware of the danger lurking out there.
²) Untranslatable noun, denoting a creature half-man, half-animal. According to the legends among the People, an animal spirit can incarnate in a human-shaped body that then exhibits aspects of both natures: a pansasak. Much like their wild animal brethren, pansasaks are to be approached and treated with caution, especially because they are rumored to possess magical capabilities.