I had once told her, teasing, "You are the first African woman I have ever known who has not had a cock in her bum." It was true enough, but I remembe... thinking that I was taking my life in my hands by saying such a thing. Fortunately, she hadn't killed me. But I think she had wanted to. So there we were, my head on her lap, me thinking how much I wanted to fuck her. In her bum, deep. And she was still saying, "No, not my bum." I rolled over and looked into her face, as I put my hand under her. The only thing I could say was, “Sorry," I must have looked so stupid right then. “Maybe I better sleep in your bed tonight…”, she teasingly said again, “I guess all this excitement might harm you at your age…”. With that she slipped into bed, pulled the t-shirt off her and threw it on the floor, asking, “aren’t you tired enough to sleep?” I quietly stepped into bed, and she turned on her side giving me her back. I tried to avoid contact as much as I could but she kept moving backwards and. "Well," she paused, "Well, Master, we walked along the corridor from here and went into his bedroom and he ordered me to strip my clothes off. Then he sent me off with two bath girls who bathed me, shaved me, gave me an enema, oiled my vagina and rectum, and warned me how to behave in his bedroom." And how did they say you were to behave, my little slut of a wife?" They said I was to go into the room and kneel at the foot of the bed with my forehead on the floor until the Emir called me into. "We are adjourned. Kay and Chemung – remain here."Benni leaned back in his chair, looking to the world as if he was in pensive contemplation. His eyes were closed and his hands rested limply in his lap. Qi was close enough to hear the quiet rattling in the man's lungs.Benni did not open his eyes until the room was empty."Chemung," Benni said, "You are too quick to strike. You reject out of hand the nine steps of negotiation as if they are too passive. You need to redirect the anger that muddles.