Those who have actually fought in the arena have the freedom of the City, I discover; I ask permission, readily given, to visit my patron.

She welcomes me with an embrace and a kiss; I am more aware of the meaning  of this now.  She offers me refreshment; iced fruits and a cool drink.  I still have not learned to enjoy the overpowering taste of the wine, but I nibble at the fruits with real enjoyment.

"When are you to fight again?" she asks me, and I remind her of the special games only ten dals from now.  "After today I will be training very hard," I tell her, not without guile, "and I will not see you again till after the games."

"I shall miss you," she says unprompted, and I realize that she has given me the opening Beizun told me how to recognize.

"Mistress -"

She interrupts.  "Will you not call me Ifania?"

"Ifania, then.  I was told you were seeking to build a tammarim of your own fighters -" and here I hesitate, but immediately she understands.

"Then we could be together as much as we wished," she says at once.  "Would that please you, my beautiful one?"

Beizun has told me how to meet this, too.

"If we were always together, Ifania, you would grow tired of me.  It is better as it is."  And I pick up a peach and bite into its juicy, icy coldness, looking away from her.

"Never," she says.  "But have you no friend or lover in the House of Fate, among the Akharet's fighters?"

"I have no lover," I say with conviction.

"And yet many of the men there are handsome and perfect -"

"I swear, lady, no man has touched me, or shall while I am whole and able to defend myself."

"Is this true?" she asks again, and again I reassure her.

"And it is possible for a woman to remain chaste while living among men?"

"For an ordinary woman, perhaps not; but I am a fighter and they know how well I can defend myself."

"I believe you," she says.  "And what would you say if I told you I had chosen you for the first of my tammarim of fighters?  The Akharet is a kinsman of mine; I am sure he would agree to your sale.  Shall I entreat him for permission to purchase you from the House of Fate?"