Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 ï>¿The Courier by EC

   Chapter 25 - The Equinox

   Two days after her release from the Royal Residence, Maria Elena
returned to her job at the university.  There was plenty of work for her
because the leaves of all the trees on campus had started to turn and
already the grass needed constant raking.  Criminal # 101025 knelt in front
of the university gardeners and was promptly issued a rake.  With no
further ceremony she stood up, walked to a section of lawn near the campus
administration building, and began gathering fallen leaves.  Her supervisor
had told her that would be her primary concern for the next month, raking
as much as possible during her working hours.  Once the leaves from their
sections were gathered, Maria Elena and her co-workers had to dump them
into specially-built wagons and later move them to an enormous compost pile
located next to the university's agriculture department.

   In Danubia it was illegal to burn leaves or any other organic matter. 
Leaves had to be buried back into the soil or transported to collection
sites.  At the height of autumn, many criminals, especially ones who had
spent the summer working outside, were ordered to help collect and
transport leaves and garden debris from public parks and also from the
yards and gardens of pensioners and other people who were able to gather up
the leaves, but not strong enough to transport them.

   To add to the effort, the Danubian Church handed over many of the people
performing Public Penance, which that year included Cecilia and Jason.  For
several weeks the couple joined a group of 20 other university students who
were performing Public Penance.  They wandered around the neighborhood
outside the university with their shovels and wagons, taking away the
garden debris of older residents and hauling it to the compost pile.  The
work was dirty and hard, but because they were collared servants they had
to do what they were told.

   *****

   Cecilia's transition to performing Public Penance turned out to be
psychologically difficult.  She knew that she had to be extremely careful
to adhere to correct protocol at all times, because everyone was watching
her.  One important detail that set her apart from hundreds of other people
performing Public Penance was her dark skin.  It was obvious she was not
Danubian, but she was performing a deeply Danubian ritual.  She became the
focus of much curiosity and people paid much closer attention to her than
they would have paid to any Danubian under the same circumstances.

   Cecilia was much accustomed to being in charge, but her collar took away
that perceived authority.  In class, for example, she had to get out of her
seat and kneel whenever she was called upon to answer a question.  She had
to assume the correct posture, which meant getting on her knees, extending
her hands out in front of her, spreading her legs, and arching her back to
completely expose her vulva to anyone standing or sitting behind her.  By
Wednesday afternoon, all of her classmates had seen her in the posture of
Penance, which meant that everyone she knew had seen her vagina and anus
fully exposed.  She had one professor in particular who seemed to delight
in her predicament.  He called on her continuously and instructed her to
come to the front of the class before kneeling and answering so that
everyone could see her.  He was strict and picky about how she positioned
herself and did not let her return to her seat until she had assumed the
"proper" pose for several minutes.

   Cecilia knew that she did not have the right to complain, because the
entire purpose of Public Penance was to experience humility.  Being forced
to expose herself changed her personality.  Much of her self-confidence had
vanished with her clothing.  She dropped her bossy abrasive manner of
treating people and became more reserved and shy.  Jason had told her that
eventually her self-confidence would return, but once it did return it
would be a different type of confidence and much more profound.  During the
first few days of wandering around the campus in the nude and exposing
herself to everyone she knew; she didn't see how that would be possible.

   As Cecilia had foreseen, Jason took a leading role in her life.  She
quietly followed him around Danubikt Moskt, watching him and copying
whatever he was doing at the moment.  She wouldn't have wanted to admit it,
but whenever she was not in his presence she felt uneasy, to the point of
feeling unprotected and afraid.  She needed to be with him as much as
possible.  She had always felt that need, ever since she met him, but she
had managed to keep that need in her subconscious thoughts.  With the
collar on her neck she no longer could hide behind her authoritative
position or her abrasive personality to conceal her underlying fear of
being without her fiance.  She would not be able to live without Jason, and
for the first time in her life could openly admit that, both to him and to
herself.

   Up until she began performing Penance, Cecilia only had a vague idea
about what her fiance did with the Church, since he was not one to push his
beliefs on her or anyone else.  Now that she wore a collar, the Clergy
expected her to understand why what she was doing was spiritually
significant.  It turned out that Jason knew all about Church teachings and
was able to explain them.  He was well advanced in his theological
training, whereas she knew absolutely nothing.  He had memorized a large
portion of the Texts of the Ancients, knew the parts of the Judeo-Christian
Bible that were relevant to the Danubian Church, and could sing Danubian
hymns in their original language.  She would have to rely on him to catch
up and not look like a total fool in front of the Priestess.  One of the
first things he had to teach her was correct prayer protocol, since she
didn't even know that.

   Even though Cecilia was wearing a Penance collar, officially she was
classified as a criminal.  Because she was collared, she had a custodian
and an owner.  Many places in Danubikt Moskt that previously had been open
to her now were off-limits.  There were clubs and restaurants that she had
been able to go to with her students or with professors that would no
longer welcome her.  She reluctantly acknowledged that her place in society
had changed; that there was no point in thinking she could possibly be the
same person or lead the same life she had led before she visited the
Temple.

   Cecilia's feelings about the Socrates Club changed along with how she
felt about herself.  She had been going to the criminals' hangout
throughout the entire time she had been in Danubia, but always as a guest
of Jason or Kim.  She could not be a member because she was not collared,
thus whenever she was there she felt like an intruder.  The reason she
really went was because the club was the only place in Danubikt Moskt where
it was possible for her to make love with Jason.

   On Friday afternoon Cecilia Sanchez filled out a membership card to
formally join the Socrates Club.  An assistant manager interviewed her to
make sure she understood the club's rules and her own role within Danubikt
Moskt's criminal society.  The Socrates Club, which previously had been a
place where she felt like an intruder, had become a place of refuge, a
place where she was accepted and where she belonged.

   That night Cecilia took her place at the microphone on the stage of the
club.  In accented Danubian she recited her own life, from her experiences
growing up, to her studies in Chicago, to her flight to Danubia, and
finally her current transformation.  She concluded with:

   "I don't know if I will be performing Penance for the rest of my life or
not.  Maybe I have a future, or maybe I have nothing ahead of me except the
endless present, the reality of the collar on my neck, until my soul
separates from my body.  I guess that is something the Creator doesn't want
me to think about, so I'll try not to think about it."

   She looked at her fiance, took a breath, and continued:

   "Now that I am performing Penance, I know that the only thing people
will see about me is my collar.  The collar and my nakedness have become my
identity to the world.  The Creator has forced me to understand that I
can't think of myself as a university program director any more.  I have to
accept that my job is not who I am; it's only what I do.  I guess...  I
suppose...  after four years of living in Danubia, I still have to figure
out who I really am."

   Cecilia left the stage, returned to her table, and cuddled in Jason's
arms.

   *****

   While Jason and Cecilia were sitting at the table, she couldn't resist
doing what she always liked to do, massage his penis and work him into an
erection.  Slowly she rubbed his thighs and gently touched his testicles
before circling her fingertip around the end of his penis.  It did not take
much to make him hard.  As usual, they left the table and slipped out of
the main dining area of the club through a small door on the back wall.  As
usual, she led him upstairs with her hand fimly gripping his shaft.

   As soon as they were in the room, their normal sex routine changed. 
Cecilia was in a relatively quiet mood, so instead of straddling Jason, she
got on her elbows and knees on the bed and presented her backside to him.
He held off on the temptation to enter her right away to concentrate on
touching and massaging her widely spread bottom.  He gently touched her
vulva and teased her clitoris, making her desperate.  She arched her back
even more, frantic for him to enter her.  He continued rubbing her bottom
and teasing her, but made no move to actually push inside.  He was
desperate himself, but he held back because Cecilia needed to be taught a
lesson.  She was collared, and thus not in a position to give him orders.

   "Oh Jason...  Oh please...  Ohhhhh."

   He surprised her by saying: "You need to wait.  Don't be so impatient
about everything."

   Finally he did decide to push inside her, not because she was desperate,
but because he could not hold off any longer.  As he thrust and she moaned
with pleasure, he silently berated himself for not having more control over
his own body.  He pushed into her as hard and as deeply as he could,
climaxing, but staying inside as long as he could to make sure she had the
orgasm she wanted.  After they were finished he would have a big surprise
for her.

   Exhausted, they cuddled for a bit.  Cecilia dried off her lover's penis
and began to play with it.  She normally would have started telling him
what a naughty boy he was and that he needed a good spanking, but that
night he did not give her the chance to start up with that.  He sat up and
moved to the edge of the bed.  He grabbed her wrist.

   "You need to get over my lap."

   "What?"

   "You're collared, Cecilia.  That means some things in our lives are
gonna have to change, and that includes what we do in here.  Now, I'm
telling you again, you need to get over my lap."

   Reluctantly Cecilia obeyed, moving across Jason's lap.  With his
fingertips he pushed her legs apart and made her position herself so that
her bottom was tilted upwards and properly presented.  He began massaging
her bottom-cheeks.  When she started to respond, he reached between her
legs and gently touched her vulva.  She was becoming aroused again. 
Abruptly he stopped.

   "We need to get something straight.  As long as you have that collar on,
I am the one who'll decide when you cum.  I will decide when I think you
deserve to have an orgasm.  You need to turn that part of your life over to
me.  If you really need it, it's OK to ask, but don't expect me to always
say 'yes'.  Do you understand?"

   Shocked by her fiance's sudden transformation, Cecilia silently nodded.
Jason landed a sharp slap on her bottom.  She squealed.

   "Look, how many times have you told me that nodding is rude?  You've
always told me to say 'yes, Cecilia' and 'no, Cecilia'.  Now it's my turn.
I expect the same standard of behavior out of you that you expect out of
me."

   He landed a second hard slap on her bottom.

   "Do you understand?"

   "I...  yes...  yes, Jason."

   "There's another thing.  I've given this some thought, and I've had to
make another decision about things between us.  As long as you wear that
collar, you can't spank me.  I'm the one who will have to spank.  You have
to agree to that, because you need to understand that humility is not just
for when you're out on the street.  Your collar requires that you exercise
humility with me too."

   Cecilia thought for a second, still terrified at what was happening.

   "Jason, please...  can I sit up so we can talk about this?"

   "No, not right now.  I'll tell you when you can sit up."

   "But...  you're collared too.  You don't have no right to tell me...  "

   "Yes, I'm collared, and I've been collared for four years.  That means I
have four years of training over you.  Do you really think you know more
than me?"

   "I guess not...  "

   "I guess not also.  This is something you'll have to do.  I know that
for a fact.  You have to do it."

   Still shocked by Jason's authoritative voice and his certainty that he
knew what he was doing, Cecilia said nothing more.  She lay quietly,
waiting for whatever it was that he was going to do to her.

   He could feel her trembling slightly.  She was scared, not only of the
painful experience she knew she was about to endure, but also because the
last remnant of her authoritative fa�ade had been surrendered along with
her clothing.  They had changed places, because only a week before it had
been Jason lying across Cecilia's lap.  She was vulnerable, realizing that
her only choice was to obey Jason.  Obeying him had never been her
intention, and yet, that was what she would have to do.

   He massaged her bottom, relishing the feel of her soft, warm, dark skin.
Finally he rested his hand on her right bottom-cheek.

   "I love you.  You're the only woman I'll ever love."

   "I'm yours, Jason...  I'll prove it...  "

   There was nothing more either needed to say.  Cecilia would have to feel
what it was to be spanked...  not spanked erotically, but to be spanked
severely, to the point of tears and beyond.

   Jason started with moderate slaps, hitting her on alternate bottom
cheeks.  He was in no hurry, so he let several seconds go by between each
slap.  He sensuously massaged her bottom between slaps and occasionally
touched between her legs to tease her vulva.  He was strict about her
staying still and quiet.  If she moved or tried to put her legs together he
gave her a warning pinch on her labia.

   Nothing more was said, but Jason paused after he had spanked Cecilia for
about 15 minutes.  Her bottom stung, but not too badly.  In fact it felt
hot, and had Jason wanted to, he could have easily aroused his fiance. 
However, arousal was not the reason he had Cecilia over his lap.  In the
interim while he allowed her to rest, she knew that what she had just
endured was only a warm-up.  Within a few minutes Jason would be slapping
her hard.  She was desperate to have the waiting come to an end, but also
desperately scared of what was about to happen.

   Jason positioned her with his fingertips and massaged her bottom one
final time.  Then he slapped her with real force.  She squealed, but dared
not move.

   SLAP-SLAP!...  SLAP-SLAP!...  SLAP-SLAP!...

   Jason was spanking Cecilia with quick double-slaps, one on each side of
her bottom.  She knew that he worked out and continued to be an excellent
runner, but she did not realize how strong he was until she felt his hand
on her bottom: over and over, with no hint that the punishment would end
any time soon.

   Finally she was able to surrender herself and cry.  Through the haze of
her pain, she vaguely hoped that her fiance would stop as soon as tears
started falling, but the spanking continued uninterrupted.  Once her body
was heaving with sobs, Jason slowed down, but struck her with a hard slap
about every 15 seconds.

   Cecilia was crying uncontrollably when Jason finally stopped.  He placed
a reassuring hand on her back and gently rubbed her sore bottom.  Finally
he told her to stand up and to lie on the bed.  He gently stroked her back
while she cried herself to sleep.  In a quiet voice he said something to
her, although because she was asleep she couldn't hear him.  He really was
saying to himself:

   "You're mine, Cecilia.  You'll prove yourself to me, just like I had to
do for you.  That is our Path in Life, for both of us."

   He kissed her swollen bottom and lay beside her to go to sleep.

   *****

   By the third week of September, signs of the impending change of seasons
dominated the Danubian landscape.  Already the trees were turning color,
the nights were becoming longer and colder, school children were settling
into their routines, and the countryside was busy with the first part of
the harvest.  The Fall Equinox was rapidly approaching, which meant the
nation was beginning its descent into the darkness and cold of winter. 
Along with the Fall Equinox would be the most important religious holiday
of the Danubian calendar, the Day of the Dead.

   Cecilia spent several days teaching Maria Elena about preparing for the
ceremonies.  The most important part of the preparation was special food.
Blood-red fruit punch and blood-red sauce had to be prepared, along with
black noodles and potato pastries shaped like skulls.  The food was unique
for the Equinox, because protocol prohibited any recipes eaten during the
Day of the Dead from being eaten at any other time of the year.  Also, any
prepared dishes eaten during the Day of the Dead could not be purchased for
money; therefore each household was responsible for preparing its own food.

   Four years before, Victor's wife and Tiffany had taught Cecilia how to
prepare the Day of the Dead dishes; now it was Cecilia's turn to teach
Maria Elena.  She invited Carmen and several other students from the
exchange program who were performing Penance, so for several days Victor's
kitchen was full of naked women learning first hand about the most Danubian
tradition of all.

   When Carmen noted that the pots of blood-red juice and sauce looked like
something from a horror movie, Cecilia commented:

   "This is only the beginning.  We're all gonna be marching this year, and
when we do, you'll really get to have the death experience."

   *****

   On the morning before the Equinox, the women packaged up the food they
had prepared to take it to the Church that was located on the university
campus.  They had not prepared the food for themselves, but for the Church
to distribute to marchers and worshipers over the next two nights.  Because
Cecilia, Maria Elena, and Victor all were collared, no adults in the
household would remain to have dinner.  Pedro would have to spend the
holiday with Spokeswoman Kimberly Lee-Dolkivna, who also had to take care
of the sons of Vladik Dukov and his wife Tiffany.

   The women were joined by the other students from the group of 13 who had
taken collars to protest Maria Elena's trial, along with Victor, Jason,
Kim's sister Cynthia and her husband, and a couple of Jason's friends from
his Church group.  The group carried the food over to the university and
dropped it off at the Church.  There were over 20 people present, so one of
the Priests came outside to give them a short service and blessing.  From
there they boarded a trolley and traveled downtown to the Plaza of the
Ancients, where thousands of naked criminals and Church penitents already
had gathered.

   Maria Elena was surprised that the square was quiet, because she would
have expected that such a large crowd would be making more noise.  However,
the collared subjects understood that they were about to perform a
important service for the Church and the Danubian nation, something that
all of them took seriously.  The tradition went back 3,000 years, to the
beginning of Danubia.  The weight of those three millennia fell heavily
upon both the marchers and the Clergy members as they prepared for the
ceremony.

   Clergy members and Temple attendants spread out around the plaza with
buckets of white and back body-paint.  Other Clergy members pulled tarps
off huge piles of wooden torches that had been deposited at foot of the
steps of the Temple.  Behind the torches were piles of arm-slings and
basins full of oil were lined up at the top of the stairs.

   There was a religious service on the plaza and an explanation of the
significance of the Day of the Dead for those who were marching for the
first time.  Maria Elena was pleased that her comprehension of Danubian was
good enough that she actually understood a lot of what Grand Prophet # 4
was saying.  Following the ceremony and several hymns, the Grand Prophet
picked up an unlit torch and a sling.  He called a naked young woman to
step forward and stand next to him.  Maria Elena's heart skipped a beat,
because the young woman was Grand Duchess Anyia.

   At first fear and hatred rose up in the Colombian, but then she took a
closer look at Anyia's face.  She could tell that Anyia had changed,
because all of the arrogance, greed, and cruelty that had been part of the
Grand Duchess's expression had vanished.  She was a totally different
person, quietly and shyly doing what she was told to do.  Grand Prophet # 4
told Anyia to kneel in front of him, which she quickly did.  She assumed
the proper position, with her arms extended in front of her, her forehead
touching the ground, her knees spread, and her back arched to properly
display her vulva and sphincter.  She had knelt facing the Grand Prophet,
so her body was lewdly displayed to everyone standing in the Plaza.

   The Grand Prophet told Anyia to stand up and face the crowd.  He handed
her the sling, which she placed over her shoulder.  He then handed her the
torch, which she put into the sling.  The Prophet explained how best to
carry the torch to avoid muscle fatigue in the arms or back cramps while
Anyia demonstrated.  When the Prophet explained how not to carry the torch,
Anyia demonstrated the incorrect holds as well.  The Prophet explained how
to light the torch and how to quickly put it out if necessary, with Anyia
continuing her demonstration.  Once Anyia's task was over, she set the
torch down and resumed her kneeling position in front of the Grand Prophet.

   As she watched Anyia's performance on the steps of the Temple of the
Ancients, Criminal # 101025 realized that she had something to be grateful
for.  She was ordinary: an ordinary criminal leading an ordinary life.  No
one would pay any special attention to her apart from Victor and her
university friends.  No television cameras would follow her; no
commentators would have anything to say about her; no fans would worry
about what she was doing and try to imitate her.  Her anonymity was
something for which she could give thanks to the Saints, or in this
country, to the Ancients, as they were called.  She would not have
exchanged places with Anyia for anything.

   Maria Elena understood that there was no point in hating the Grand
Duchess, because there was nothing left to hate.  Anyia now was nothing
more than a possession of the Church, just as Maria Elena was an asset
belonging to the Ministry of Justice.  Anyia's life was no longer her own:
she had to rise, or kneel, or pose for a demonstration on the orders of the
Clergy.  In fact, in a way Maria Elena now felt sorry for Anyia, because of
her notoriety.  She felt that the Church, in its triumph over the Grand
Duchess, was parading her in front of the public, making sure the world
understood she lost her authority and now was nothing more than living
property.  Maria Elena realized that, for herself, the fall in her life was
not nearly as significant...  really, how much worse was it to be a
collared criminal than a drug courier?  But...  for the Duchess...

   The Grand Prophet was not finished using the Grand Duchess as a
demonstration prop.  He ordered her to rise and again to face the crowd. 
He explained the significance of the body paint that everyone in the march
would have to wear.  Meanwhile two Priests quickly covered Anyia's body and
face with white paint.  One of the Priests highlighted her with black
details, which totally transformed her appearance and made her look
ghoulish.  Over the next hour everyone in the Plaza would undergo the same
transformation.  Anyia knelt upright facing the Plaza while she waited for
her fellow marchers to be painted and to get ready for a night of walking.

   While Anyia knelt in silence, the Clergy members organized the Plaza
crowd into several lines.  The body paint came first, then the torches and
the slings, and finally fire for the torches.  While the marchers were
being painted, Church bells rang across the city to announce the beginning
of the first evening of mourning and repentance.  After Maria Elena's
friends and Victor were painted, she was frightened by how different they
looked.  It seemed that there was something more to their transformation
than just a crude paint job.  She took a deep breath as she felt the cold
wet paint cover her body, because she was beginning to feel apprehensive.
The low, sad pitch of the church bells certainly did not help her mood:
unlike the higher-pitched ringing of church bells in Latin America, there
was nothing cheerful about the sound of Danubian bells.

   The sun set; and the bells suddenly stopped.  The city fell into
complete silence; it was so quiet that Maria Elena could hear the breathing
of everyone around her and the hiss of the blood flowing though her own
ears.  The silence overwhelmed her.

   The Grand Prophet handed a torch to Anyia.  The Grand Duchess walked
along the row of basins to light the oil.  She let out an ear-piercing
whistle to let everyone know that the march was beginning.  The marchers
closest to the Temple approached the steps, picked up torches and slings,
lit their torches in the oil, and passed through the main Temple.  On the
other side of the building they separated into two lines, one going north
and the other going south.

   Maria Elena followed Carmen and the other norteamericanos up the steps,
her thoughts still on Anyia.  She dipped her torch into the burning oil and
then glanced over to see that Anyia was still standing next to the Grand
Prophet.  Anyia would march, but because she was by herself she would have
to trail along behind the Clergy members.  Maria Elena felt ever-increasing
sympathy for her former nemesis; not only was the Duchess a public
spectacle, but she had come to the Temple alone and her only companionship
over the next two days would be the Clergy.

   Maria Elena's line of marchers plunged into the darkness of the forest
behind the Temple.  The night was overcast and pitch-black, so all she
could see was the line of torches stretching out ahead of her and the light
from her own torch reflected off Carmen's painted back.  At first the
foliage from the forest obscured the dots of fire stretching off into the
distance and the Columbian could see only a few torches ahead of her. 
However, eventually the marchers emerged onto the river beach and climbed
up onto the main street heading north.  The line of lighted dots extended
as far as she could see...  seemingly into infinity.

   Maria Elena became aware that the marchers were not alone.  Huddled on
either side of the road were crowds of silent Danubia civilians, all
wearing black prayer robes.  The worshipers had covered their heads and
were barely visible in the dim light.  More than anything they looked like
a sea of lost souls, shrouded ghosts in the Realm of the Dead.

   At that point Maria Elena experienced a feeling that nearly everyone in
the march experienced; a sensation of leaving the Realm of the Living.  The
line of burning dots extending into the darkness, the pitch black of the
night, and the shrouded figures that did not seem human all gave her the
sensation she no longer was alive.

   *****

   Whether or not she was still alive, Maria Elena realized one thing; she
no longer was in Danubia.  She was in Pereira, back in Colombia.  She had
never left Colombia, because she had never broken up with Jose Pablo.  They
were both at the university, and when they were not in class they were
hanging out with their friends.  It was a good life they had, one full of
promise.  Each got along just fine with the other's family.  Drug
trafficking was something that she heard about on the news, but not
something she had any experience with first hand.  And Jose Pablo...  not
dead, not dead at all.  He had never joined the Colombian Army, and was
nowhere close to that platoon when it was ambushed.  She saw, in vivid
detail, what her life would have been like had she done just two things
differently the year before.

   Maria Elena was still on campus when a young woman came up to her and
slapped her hard across the face, knocking her down.  She looked up to see
herself, the self of the alternate reality, the self who was well-dressed
and leading a happy productive life.

   "Why did you do this to us?  Why?  You killed me, you killed the man we
both loved, and you killed yourself!  Why?"

   "I don't know...  "

   With that, Pereira faded into darkness.

   Maria Elena spent the rest of the night badly shaken by that... 
dream... or vision...  or whatever the hell that experience was.  Anyhow,
she no longer had to guess how her life would have been had she not wasted
it; she now knew for certain.



   Chapter 26 - Maria Elena's Path in Life

   The march continued into the countryside as the route left Danubikt
Moskt and circled around to the east.  There were rest breaks to exchange
used torches for new ones, to use the latrine, and to drink fruit punch. 
The punch stained the marchers' lips blood red, and many of the men
dribbled punch down their chests to give the appearance of having blood
running down their bodies.

   Finally daylight came.  As the sky lightened in the east, Maria Elena
could see the distant torches from the other group of marchers approaching
from the opposite direction.  The collared servants gathered at a large
camp where they would spend the day resting and getting ready for the
second night's journey back into the city.

   Jason Schmidt called the students together to explain what would happen
throughout the rest of the day; that the group needed to eat and then sleep
on cots that had been brought in by the Danubian Army.  Towards sunset
there would be a Church service and touching up of the body paint before
the marchers resumed their trek, which would return them to the Temple of
the Ancients by sunrise the next morning.  He gave the students a quick
lesson and some trivia about the Danubian Church and the Day of the Dead,
ending by teaching the group a simple hymn.  Everyone noted that he talked
naturally, with no arrogance whatsoever, but in a manner that compelled his
listeners to pay attention to what he had to say.

   A few minutes later the others went into one of the tents to find cots,
while Cecilia and Maria Elena stayed outside.  They walked to the edge of
the camp, appreciating the total silence of the countryside.  Finally they
broke the quiet by talking about the march.  Cecilia abruptly changed the
topic:

   "I think this is the last time we're gonna be doing this.  The march, I
mean.  It's gonna be our last Day of the Dead in Danubia."

   Maria Elena glanced over at Cecilia's painted face.  Noting the surprise
in her companion's eyes, Cecilia continued:

   "Jason was kinda depressed this morning when we finished walking.  I
asked him what's wrong, and he told me that he knew where we were gonna be
next year.  We're gonna be back in Chicago.  By the next Fall Equinox we're
gonna be home."

   "And he's upset about that?"

   "Yeah, real upset, 'cause he doesn't wanna leave Danubia.  He was kinda
hoping that we'd stay here, but...  I guess he got this dream telling him
it wasn't gonna be that way...  that we're gonna have to go back to the
US."

   "Did he tell you why?"

   "Yeah.  He said we've got a lot we have to accomplish in our lives, but
in Danubia we've done what we need to do, so there isn't any point in us
staying past next summer.  He told me that's when we're gonna have to go
back, next summer."

   "What about your collar?"

   "It stays on until we leave.  He told me that whenever the Priestess
tells me it's time to take it off, he'll buy airplane tickets.  I asked
him, 'but what about Mega-Town?', and he said a year from now they won't
give a shit about us no more.  There's only a couple of guys on the Board
of Directors who still want to get us, and they're gonna be laid-off the
next time the company restructures.  When those two go, they'll toss our
records and forget about us.  He saw all of that: it's in the future, but
he already knows what's gonna happen."

   "What's your thought about all this?"

   "I've never told this to Jason, but I wanna go back.  He's not happy
about it, but I am.  There's people in Chicago that I miss, who I wanna see
again.  I mean, there's things here that I'll miss a lot, but this isn't
where I wanna spend the rest of my life, and I don't really think Pedro
ought to grow up here either."

   "But, Jason's OK with it?"

   "No, but he's the one who told me that it's our Path in Life to go back.
He's not happy about it at all, but he says it's the will of the Creator...
" Cecilia flashed a sarcastic smile under her face paint: "...  and I'm not
gonna argue with the Creator."

   Maria Elena pondered the pending change in the lives of Cecilia, her
fiance, and her nephew.  She realized that the departure of Cecilia and
Pedro would leave her alone in the house with Victor.

   "I'm wondering something.  Do you think...  maybe part of the reason I
came here was so you could leave?  I mean...  you were taking care of
Victor, and now I'm going to replace you.  I'm the one who'll be running
the house...  "

   "You'll be taking care of Victor, and his household, and you're also
gonna have some kids with him.  Jason told me he saw that too; you with
Victor's kids...  and you runnin' Victor's business.  Someday that'll be
yours also."

   "But...  I don't want to run his business...  "

   "And if you've got kids, just how are you gonna feed 'em?  What's gonna
happen to the business if you don't take it over?  His sons don't want it,
'cause they've got other careers."

   Before Maria Elena could think of a response, Cecilia added:

   "You know, after talkin' to Jason, I realized something.  Kim's making a
mistake by havin' a problem with what you're doin' with Victor.  I'm gonna
tell her that she needs to lay off, 'cause now I really do think your Path
in Life is gonna be with him."

   The two women stood silent for a few more moments, listening to a cuckoo
calling from a nearby tree.

   "That's one thing about here I'll miss, hearin' those cuckoo birds.  We
don't have 'em in the States."

   Cecilia turned towards the tents to re-join the rest of the group:

   "Let's go.  We gotta get some sleep.  It's gonna be a long night, and
we'll be fucked if we're not rested."

   "OK...  I'll be there in a second.  I want to get a drink.  Could you
hold a cot for me?"

   "Sure."

   *****

   A few moments later, Maria Elena saw Carmen taking a second helping of
fruit punch.  As they sat under a tree and sipped their cups, the two women
chatted in Spanish.  Carmen seemed worried.

   "I had this dream...  I was going to the airport...  and I was just like
I am now, you know...  with nothing on...  and my family was getting off
the plane...  and they were real nervous and embarrassed...  because I was
totally nude...  and I told them I couldn't help it."

   Maria Elena thought about her own family, who still didn't know what had
happened to her.

   "I wish I could talk to my family...  apologize to my mom...  but I
couldn't face her like I am now.  There'd be no way.  She'd die from
humiliation if she knew what's gone on in my life."

   "My parents would die too...  if they saw me...  but the weird thing
about my dream was; it was several years from now.  My little brother
was... a lot older...  a teenager...  and he's just 11 now.  And my mom was
fatter and my dad's hair was sort of gray.  I mean, in my dream I knew they
had to come to Danubia because it'd been such a long time since they'd seen
me."

   Maria Elena thought about the significance of Carmen's vision.

   "I'm wondering if it means something's going to keep you here.  If... 
maybe you won't be going home next year."

   "I'm wondering the same thing.  I suppose I shouldn't have taken that
oath to stay collared as long as Cecilia stays collared.  I suppose that'll
be what keeps me here."

   "Was Cecilia in your dream at all?"

   "No."

   "That won't be the reason.  It won't be because of Cecilia.  It'll be
something else."

   Maria Elena was surprised at her own answer, because she was totally
confident about what she had just said.  There now was at least one detail
of her life that she knew with certainty.  Carmen would not be returning to
the US next summer.

   *****

   Late in the afternoon Maria Elena was woken by the forlorn-sounding bell
of a nearby Church.  The ringing was accompanied with a series of whistles
around the encampment, letting everyone know it was time to get up.  She
actually felt well-rested after having slept the entire day on a cot. 
Getting up was followed by a trip to the latrine, a meal, prayers, and
having her body paint re-applied.  The marchers assembled on the side of
the camp facing the main road linking Danubikt Moskt to the eastern
provinces.  They faced into the sunset, knowing that soon enough the road
would be pitch-black and the only light in the entire city would be the
fires coming from their own torches.

   Still shaken from her experience the night before, Maria Elena
reluctantly took a torch.  She took her place in line behind Carmen and
waited for everyone else to take their torches and get ready to move.  She
felt apprehensive as she watched the first marchers at the front of the two
lines light their torches and move forward.  The line became longer and
longer, until it stretched into the darkness and looked like a fragile
bridge of light stretching into the void.  Finally the members of Jason's
group moved forward.  One by one they lit their torches and started
walking, plunging forward into the darkness.

   *****

   Several hours went by and Maria Elena could tell that her group had been
walking through Danubikt Moskt for a while.  The buildings were totally
dark, but she could make out street signs and trolley stops reflecting the
dim light given off by the torches.  She also could feel the presence of
thousands of black-clad civilians, even though the worshipers were
absolutely silent as they knelt and prayed in the darkness.  She began to
wonder if she would be spared any further visions.  As curious as she might
have been to know what the Creator would want to reveal, she knew that
anything she would see that night would be unpleasant, to say the least.

   Eventually she realized that she was looking at white powder, a dry sea
of cocaine that extended in every direction as far as she could see.  It
fell like snow and blew in drifts like sand in the desert.  She saw nothing
but endless powder in the pitch black night; nothing but black above and
white below, stretching out to the horizon.

   She saw pellets, similar to the ones she had swallowed in Panama before
boarding the fight for Frankfurt.  The pellets where not clean at all: they
were soaked in blood and feces.  A knife was cutting away at skin and
intestines to expose more pellets, and a gloved hand was picking them out
of a horrific mess that had been a young woman just a few minutes before.
The most awful detail was that the woman was still somewhat alive.  Her
handlers had not even bothered to kill her before cutting her open.  They
counted the pellets to make sure they had them all, before leaving their
victim to die alone in a bathtub.  Others would come along in an hour or so
to dispose of the body.

   The dying woman was having convulsions as her soul separated from her
body.  She turned her head towards Maria Elena.  She was staring into her
own face.  She realized she was looking at herself, seeing a different
alternate reality from the one she had seen the night before: the death
that would have awaited her had she completed her trip to Germany.  She
wondered why they would have killed her instead of simply letting her expel
her pellets, but the fact remained that she now knew with certainty that
she would not have survived her trafficking effort.  The only reward
awaiting her in Germany had been her own death.

   Maria Elena came back to reality of the black night and the line of
torches, barely able to breathe from the fright of her vision.

   *****

   When Maria Elena's senses returned her to the Realm of the Living,
already she could tell that morning was approaching.  The sky was no longer
pitch black.  As the marchers continued their journey, more and more of
Danubikt Moskt was becoming visible in the increasing light.  Church bells
began ringing, breaking the dead silence that had shrouded the entire
country over the past 36 hours.  Minutes later the marchers were crossing
the Plaza of the Ancients and retracing their steps through the Temple and
the forest park that led to the East Danube River.  Following a 3,000-year
old tradition, the marchers tossed their torches onto a huge bonfire before
stepping into the river to wash off their body paint.  The bath was cold
and totally unpleasant, but the marchers were obligated to clean themselves
as best they could, to wash off Death and return to the Realm of the
Living. Before they could return to the Plaza, they had to have the paint
completely removed from their bodies and faces.

   When all of the marchers had disposed of their torches and cleaned-off
their paint, they assembled in the Plaza for a final hymn before being
released.  The Grand Duchess stood in front of a microphone at the top of
the steps to lead the singing and to close the ceremony.  Her attractive
figure contrasted with the black-clad Clergy members surrounding her. 
Unlike the naked crowd in front of her, the Grand Duchess was not
shivering, because she had been treated to a hot bath in the Temple instead
of a cold plunge in the river outside.  It was a tiny privilege the Clergy
had allowed her, but one that put her in a much better mood.

   The Grand Prophet handed Anyia an announcement to read: that all
criminals currently serving sentences had to report to the Central Police
Station and talk to their Spokespersons to pick up their winter capes and
boots.  People serving Public Penance would have to remain at the Temple
and write down their names and shoe sizes to be issued winter boots from
the Temple.  Once she finished the announcement, Anyia quietly stepped away
from the microphone to join her husband and her parents, all of whom were
wearing black prayer robes.

   With that the naked crowd began to disperse as the collared criminals
drifted towards the Central Police Station to pick up their winter
clothing. Jason's friends from his Church group departed, along with
Cynthia Lee and her husband.  Jason rounded up the students and led them
into the Temple, because that morning Penance would end for 12 of them, and
also for Victor Dukov.

   The students gathered in the area were most people began wearing their
Temple collars.  The fire-pit where people had to toss their clothing was
lit and the students were grateful for the heat it put out on that chilly
morning.  Jason organized the others into two rows and moved to the front
with Maria Elena and Victor.  Once everyone was properly kneeling, Jason
left to summon the Priestess under whom he was training, the one member of
the Temple staff who spoke fluent English and who was the most comfortable
working with foreigners.

   The Clergywoman showed up with two Temple attendants carrying prayer
robes and a set of keys to unlock the collars.  Jason knelt as she took his
hands and smiled warmly.  A twinge of jealousy rose up in Cecilia, because
she knew that the Priestess had been an important part of her fiance's life
over the past four years.  In a way she considered the Priestess a rival,
because she had assumed a central role in her fiance's life as his mentor,
a role that years before Cecilia had expected to fill.

   Jason explained that 12 of the students, along with Victor Dukov, were
satisfied that they had pleased the Creator and felt ready to resume their
normal lives.  The Priestess asked Criminal # 101025 to stand in front of
her friends and thank them for the personal sacrifice they had made on her
behalf.  She was genuinely grateful and made sure the others knew it.

   After a hymn and a brief prayer, the Priestess asked the students to
step forward one by one.  She unlocked each collar and handed it to one of
the attendants.  Once the students were de-collared, the other attendant
laid 12 prayer robes at their feet.  The students dressed together, with
Cecilia and Carmen casting sad, envious glances at those who were resuming
their normal lives.  Within a couple of hours the others would go home, get
properly cleaned up, and go back out dressed in their regular clothing.

   The Priestess de-collared Merchant Victor Dukov separately.  She grabbed
his hands and commented:

   "You see that the Creator answered your prayers and safely returned this
young woman to your household.  I expect you to spend the rest of your time
in the Realm of the Living appreciating what the Creator did for you.  I
also expect you always to treat Criminal # 101025 with respect and love. 
Your task is now to teach her what you have learned about life and to
assist in her redemption.  Take this robe and return to your house."

   With that Victor put the robe over his head and knelt.  The Priestess
ended the brief service and abruptly left to attend to other worshipers in
the Temple.

   *****

   As soon as the ceremony had ended, the norteamericanos asked their
Colombian classmate to accompany them in the Plaza to have some tea, and
from there the group would walk to the Central Police Station to watch
Maria Elena pick up her Ministry of Justice boots and cape.  The students
wanted to go with her partly out of curiosity, because the capes were
considered an abomination of fashion and were the source of numerous jokes.
The students were curious to see an infamous winter cape up close.

   Criminal # 101025 took her place in line, waiting for Spokeswoman
Lee-Dolkivna to hand her a garment bag.  Her reaction was the same as
nearly everyone else who had ever picked up winter clothing from the
Ministry of Justice.  The first thing she pulled out of the bag was a pair
of boots, which were the same shade of orange used for road construction
warnings.  Bright orange boots.  That definitely was not a good sign.  Sure
enough, when Maria Elena opened her garment bag she pulled out the most
hideous piece of clothing she had ever laid eyes on.  It was a bright
orange top that looked something half-way between an army poncho and a
cape. It had a hood and a sewn-in wool shirt underneath.  There was a
yellow stripe running up the middle of the cape and blue reflective strips
sewn around the edges.  There were several drawstrings to tighten the hood
and waist.  On the back was a large patch of Velcro.

   Kim handed Maria Elena a white Velcro patch with # 101025 embroidered in
thick black thread.  She commented:

   "You'll need to wear your criminal number attached at all times...  that
is, IF you want to wear the top.  The Ministry will let you wear the boots
without the cape during the winter...  which is what I always did when I
was serving my sentence.  If you keep your feet warm and stay moving when
you're outdoors it's not so bad.  Not bad enough to wear this."

   The norteamericanos passed the cape around, impressed by what a
ghastly-looking item it truly was.  Maria Elena, like every other criminal,
would avoid wearing it as much as possible, but at least she did have
something to put on during cold snaps.

   *****

   That night, Cecilia invited Maria Elena, Victor, and Carmen to accompany
her and Jason to the Socrates Club.  The night promised to be special,
because Kim and her group would present several new songs.  As always, the
club would be the first to hear the newest music from Socrates' Mistresses;
the raw and unrefined versions of songs that later would be recorded and
sold throughout Europe.

   Jason cuddled Cecilia as they were sitting at the table.  Cecilia had a
nervous look on her face, because her fiance was gently stroking her
breasts and thighs.  Every so often he traced one of her nipples with a
fingertip or reached between her legs.  Everyone at the table pretended not
to notice.  It was strange to see Jason and Cecilia switch roles.  For the
past four years she had teased him, whispering to him what a naughty boy he
was and how much he deserved to be spanked.  Now it was his turn to do the
exact same thing.  He continued to tease her, warning her not to become
aroused until he gave her permission.  If she dared to disobey him, she
would pay for her disobedience with a long spanking.  She resisted as best
she could, but both of them knew that Cecilia had little control over her
own body and her impending punishment was inevitable.

   Sure enough, she became aroused.  He put his finger between her legs and
showed her the wetness.  He placed the wet finger against her lips, forcing
her to lick her own juices.  With that he took her upstairs.  He carried
her to one of the intimacy rooms and laid her on the bed.  As always,
before spanking her, Jason would make love to her, because there was no
point in wasting a good orgasm.

   For the next year Cecilia would be obedient to Jason, up until the
moment her collar came off.  Then their relationship would go back to
normal and she would return to spanking him every time they made love. 
After all, nothing aroused Jason Schmidt more than having his bottom warned
by Cecilia, especially after he had been a naughty boy.

   *****

   While Jason and Cecilia were gone, Maria Elena noticed one of her fellow
ex-Royal servants coming into the Club alone.  He was one of Kim's clients,
the young missionary from the US who had been sentenced to 10 years for
proselytizing a foreign religion.  He looked a bit disoriented because it
was obvious that he was visiting the Socrates Club for the first time.

   Maria Elena felt nervous seeing one of her fellow ex-Royal servants in
the Club, but she realized that she needed to get past the trauma she had
suffered under Anyia.  After all, she had only been in Anyia's place for
one week, and there were servants who had suffered under her for two years.
Maria Elena stood up and greeted the American, and in broken English
invited him to sit at her table.

   The missionary's name was Anthony.  He introduced himself and talked a
little about his background and his sentence, speaking a mixture of English
and Danubian.  It turned out that his home was only a few miles from where
Carmen's grandparents lived, and that Carmen knew exactly where his former
church was located.  From that point forward Anthony and Carmen chatted
with each other about their lives and places they both had visited.

   Carmen talked at length about her experience as an exchange student and
the reason she had decided to wear a Church collar.  Anthony talked about
his own experience, first as a convicted criminal and then as a Royal
Servant.  Prior to his internment in the Royal Residence, his religious
convictions had encouraged him to stay aloof from his fellow criminals and
therefore he had never visited the Socrates Club.  His traumatic experience
under the Grand Duchess, the dramatic way it ended, and finally his
participation in the Day of the Dead march, convinced him that he needed to
accept what he now was, a Danubian collared criminal.  He said sadly:

   "I'm not a missionary anymore.  That's something I don't think I'll ever
be able to do again...  because my faith...  it just isn't there...  it's
totally gone.  And, anyhow, everyone points at my collar and calls me by a
number...  and I've realized...  that whatever I was before I got arrested,
right now I'm just criminal in this country, no better than a drug user or
a burglar."

   Carmen invited Anthony to dance.  They continued to exchange details
about their lives as they became more intimate.  Then they danced more
closely and touched each other's bare bodies.  They were attracted to each
other; that was something Maria Elena could see clearly as she watched them
on the floor.  Interesting.  Carmen and Anthony had met only because Maria
Elena had invited him to sit at their table, and she had invited him simply
out of being polite to someone she vaguely knew.  And yet, from that simple
invitation the lives of Carmen and Anthony would be changed forever.

   She knew that Carmen would eventually become more serious with Anthony,
and he would be the reason she'd end up staying behind in Danubikt Moskt
after her classmates left.  Her decision to remain collared would be the
result of falling in love with someone serving a long sentence, someone who
could not leave Danubia, and who she would not be able to leave behind.

   *****

   Socrates' Mistresses completed the presentation of their new songs.  Kim
asked if there were any requests before the group left the stage.  A couple
of hands around the room went up, requesting "The wall that divides my
soul." It was an old song, but the clientele of the Socrates Club never
tired of hearing it.

   As she listened to her Spokeswoman and her partner Eloisa perform the
final song of the evening, Maria Elena cuddled in Victor's arms, knowing
that she was indeed where she belonged.  Her old life was gone, ruined
through her own stupidity, but there was no point in worrying about that.
Over time she would learn Danubian and forget Spanish, she would raise
Victor's kids and run his business.  Every day she would give thanks to the
Creator for having given her a second chance, one that she really did not
deserve.

   Maria Elena touched her collar.  Yes, the collar marked her as property
of the Danubian Ministry of Justice.  She knew that she would never again
experience freedom in the way that most people understood being free.  And
yet, at that moment she was happier than she had been at any other time in
her troubled existence, because for the first time the world seemed to make
sense to her.  Her destiny would be to serve her husband, her children, her
friends, and her new country.

   Criminal # 101025 had found her Path in Life, her proper place in the
Realm of the Living.