Rose crumpled to the floor sobbing. Reed just tugged gently at her extremities until all of her metal cuffs were off. Gunth helped her. They even removed Rose’s boots to take off her metal ankle cuffs. He slid the leather back over her slender feet after the bands were removed.


    I watched the big woman and knew I could not fight her. She reached to remove my metal and I stood stoically. Gunth knelt and slipped the boots off to remove my ankle cuffs and I cooperated, raising my feet, one by one.


    “You don’t fight, Rachel,” Gunthmented. “You are learning.”


    “Yes,” I answered looking at him as he stood, “I know my position. I will do as you say when you say. I will go by whatever name you tell me I have to. I will associate with only those you permit me to.”


    My answer was offensive to everyone present.


    “Rachel,” Gunth said, “your name is important. Your outlook is important…”


    My eyes zed as I fixed them on Gunth. “Do you know why my female breeder called me Rachel?” I asked hotly. “She was out of her mind on medicine for pain after my birth. The woman tending her, who she had never met before, was named Rachel. My female breeder had them put that name on the ledger recording my birth, because she couldn’t remember any other names.”


    I was panting I was so angry and I couldn’t stop. “Damien and his Brothers chose a series of sounds that were pleasing. They chose a beautiful name for me and I LIKE IT. I could choose to be Rachel, but it is not a name I have enjoyed. I enjoy the name Ciara. As Ciara, I am a female breeder with wonderful offspring and a loved member of my family. It is my name.”


    “I chose my own name,” Rose said softly. “Basin and his Brothers asked for the most beautiful thing on my home and used that as my name. I adore roses, I always have. They are lovely flowers. Kennedy is even named after me. Her female breeder named her after the Kennedy tea rose. It reminds Ciara and me of Earth.”Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    The Administrators around us were all silent for a long moment.


    “You are free now,” Hassar said. “If these are the names you want, you may keep them. They have meaning to you. However, we will not allow you to be kept as ves to the families you have served. You will not have contact with them and you will learn to be free humans.”


    The rest of the conversation was pleasant, at least between the Administrators. They had lodgings set up for Rose and me already. We would live free in the camp and learn freedom that way.


    Reed and Hassar would handle Fuji personally. They had long studied this issue and thought they could fix what had been done. It would take intensive retraining, though, and it had to start gently.


    Armant’s wish was fulfilled. Rose liked to sew and so did I. It was a skill we had, so when they asked what we wanted to do, I said that. The Administrators were pleased we’d made this decision. To me, it just seemed a safe ce to go.


    “Come,” Gunth instructed, “we will go see your new lodgings and then have a midday meal. We will do more this afternoon.”


    We turned to leave and the males of our families stood silently in the hall. I started to take a step toward Damien and Gunth got in my way. Rose ran for Basin and Reed stopped her.


    “The women you have previously enved are free now,” I heard Hassar’s voice boom behind me. “If you wish to stay in our camp, you must renounce your love of very and stay away from these women.”


    “I have no love of very and find it abhorrent,” Damien said clearly.


    Gunth turned to watch Damien speak, so I was able to look around him.


    “My Brothers and I feel great remorse,” Damien continued. “We have done horrible things in the name of training. None of us wish to see this female bound in any way.”


    I couldn’t stop the cry that rose from my very depths, “Damien, I love you and your Brothers! Please, tell them we are family now. Don’t let them separate us!”


    Damien’s face remained impassive, but I saw the flicker of feeling fly across Christof’s face and I knew what they were doing.


    “We do consider this female family. It has been exined to us that this arrangement is not epted here. My Brothers and I mourn for our loss, but understand why you do not trust our words or motives. We love this female deeply. We hope that if you allow us to stay, you will see we are changed men.”


    I heard the promise whispered through Damien’s words. Hearing him talk calmed me, they weren’t giving up. If they stayed and I stayed, we might be together again.


    Basin spoke next. He agreed with Damien. very was wrong and his actions in the past had been reprehensible. Much like Damien, Basin professed a deep love for Rose. She added sweetness and light to the family. Her loss cut them deeply. Both families agreed to take punishment for their prior misdeeds.


    Basin and his Brothers offered to take as many beatings as the Administrators thought fit. Damien seconded the idea and said he would receive his punishment dly. He asked where the family could go to receive the well earned whippings or beatings.


    In a surprising act, Evan spoke up and offered to cut his own hair as punishment. He’d never suffered like that before, but he had never done anything this bad either. The Brothers would do whatever they could to atone.


    The Administrators all sought to silence the men. They weren’t pleased with the solutions Damien’s or Basin’s families wereing up with. Several male Administrators in the hall harshly rebuked Gunth for not educating our men sooner.


    “Just because they were vers doesn’t mean you do not have to retrain them!” a man working at one of the tables called out. “It is even more important with them!”


    Several men agreed loudly and Gunth raised his hand as though epting the rebuke.


    “This is a free society,” Hassar said, acknowledging Damien and Basin’s families and speaking more kindly. “We will not beat you or hurt you to teach you. Those ways of thinking must be left now that you are here. You will learn, but not through physical violence. We respect one another in this ce. You and your Brothers must learn to trust your campmates and depend on them. We do not want you to fear us.”


    I saw the confusion on the men’s faces and felt for them. This was different for all of us.


    Reed continued the strange lesson and asked our families not to be violent to theirrades here. The way they’d been trained in thepound was not eptable here. We didn’t inflict violence on one another. Physical strength was appreciated, but so were other forms of strength. If someone had a weakness, we did not exploit it. The camp protected its own.


    “We discuss our problems,” Gunth said in a calm voice. “When members of the camp cannote to an agreement on their own, theye to us. We assist the camp members ining to reasonable solutions. That is how decisions are made.”


    Our men all looked at Gunth quizzically and he continued to educate them.


    “If I wished to punish you for something, I would sanction your family. Perhaps I would assign you work you do not like or forbid you some activity you enjoy. In this camp you will rarely find physical punishment eptable. That is not in keeping with the Great Harmonious Spirit.”


    Damien and Basin looked very confused but, they agreed to the rule and thanked the Administrators for the information.


    “We will teach you The Great Harmonious Spirit,” Gunth said. “You will learn it from me as all men we rescue from the camps do. I know you do not understand this yet. It will be important to you, though.”