Chapter 6

Once we are out of the room, Amina drops her act and she starts weeping. After her stubbornness yesterday, I could be harsh and march Amina through the city streets in her naked condition. But I decide that there would be little to gain in doing so. I take pity on her and escort her into the Wadi Halaf harem to give her time to recover her composure. I also borrow a loin cloth for Amina to wear. Only prostitutes habitually walk the streets entirely nude. Unless being punished, other slaves invariably wear at least a loin cloth, and occasionally a tunic similar to the one I regularly wear in public.

My mother and sisters are busy working, so I only get a chance for a quick greeting before leaving Wadi Halaf. Amina and I arrive back at the Halls of Valhalla just before midday. I’m amazed at the hive of activity. Zoe and Esme have all eight of our new arrivals busy scrubbing the floors. The youngest three girls are trying to help but are probably making more mess for their sisters to clean up. In any event, nobody seems to mind. There is even the occasional sound of laughter, which is a rarity inside a slave training house. Hanna and Seda are busy in the kitchen preparing a meal for us all, while Isa, Damla, Beyza and Nazli are helping the floor cleaning work by moving furniture.

I briefly stop to give Zoe the dress that Amina took off. Zoe says that she’ll begin work on repairing all of the dresses this afternoon. They should fetch a decent sum once they are repaired and cleaned. The money raised will come in handy to cover the cost of the extra food our new arrivals will be consuming.

I escort Amina to the secure area so that I can release her from her shackles. I then instruct her to clean herself up. I wait while she attends to her ablutions. She still has her air of superiority, but she’s less defiant than she was yesterday. Nevertheless, I’m not taking any chances with her. I’m faced with the same dilemma I had with her sisters. I can’t keep her confined to the secure area indefinitely, and she’s too unpredictable for me to allow her unrestrained freedom of movement. The best solution I can think of is to shackle her with Beyza and Nazli. That will have the added benefit of ensuring that she isn’t left alone. Recently enslaved women can sometimes sink into despondency and do harm to themselves. It means Amina will need to sleep in the same cell as Beyza and Nazli, but that can easily be achieved by letting Hanna move back into her own room. I promised my father that I would wait a couple of weeks before having the girls’ tattooed with a slave-mark, but I see no harm in beginning Amina’s training today.

“You need to understand and accept your situation,” I say to Amina once she has finished her ablutions. “You are an adult so I will be putting you through the full training programme that slaves at the Halls of Valhalla undergo. If I’m satisfied with your response to the training, then I will arrange a private sale for you. That way there is every possibility you will be purchased by a good master or mistress. If you fail in your training, then I’ll sell you at a public auction.”