In Port Kar

"Port Kar does NOT recognise Free Companionship, but there are free women in the city who are known simply simply as the women of their men." Book 6, Raiders of Gor, page 295

In Torvaldsland

"The free woman was a tall woman, large. She wore a great cape of fur, of white sea-sleen, thrown back to reveal the whiteness of her arms. Her kirtle was of the finest wool of Ar, dyed scarlet, with black trimmings. She wore two brooches, both carved of the horn of kailiauk, mounted in gold. At her waist she wore a jewelled scabbard, protruding from which I saw the ornamented, twisted blade of a Turian dagger; free women in Torvaldsland commonly carry a knife; at her belt, too, hung her scissors, and a ring of many keys, indicating that her hall contained many chests or doors; her hair was worn high, wrapped about a comb, matching the brooches, of the horn of kailiauk; the fact that her hair was worn dressed indicated that she stood in companionship; the number of keys, together with the scissors, indicated that she was mistress of a great house. She had gray eyes; her hair was dark; her face was cold, and harsh." Book 9, Marauders of Gor, page 156

Tahari Women

"...clad in a black haik,...my free companion... free woman who shared my poverty. The haik, black, covers the woman from head to toe. At the eyes, there is a tiny bit of black lace, through which she may see. On her feet were soft, black, nonheeled slippers, with curled toes; they were decorated with a line of silver thread" Book 10, Tribesmen of Gor, page 44 ~¤~

and Slavery

" 'In Port Cos,' said he, 'long ago, I wooed you with all the honors and dignities to be accorded to the free woman. Well did we grow acquainted, and many were the long and intimate conversations in which we shared.' His eyes then grew hard. 'And in one of these,' he said, 'you uttered an unspeakable confession, acknowledging your slave needs.' 'I was so ashamed,' she said, turning her face away. 'How could I take to my bed in honor one who had dared to confess her slave needs? Such girls I could buy at the market. We parted, naturally. But our families, desiring the companionship, pressed us for explanations. That our honors might be protected, of course, yours that you had dared to confess your slave needs, and mine, that I had been the scandalized auditor of so shameful an admission, we remained silent.' 'But,' said she, moist-eyed, 'that our courtship not appear to have failed, and that our families not be disgraced, you agreed to proceed with the companionship, this in accordance with your conception of your duty as an officer and a gentleman.' He looked down at her, not speaking. 'I did not wish to languish, scorned and neglected, in a cold bed, while you contented yourself with market girls. I fled the city.' 'You are mistaken in at least one thing,' he said. 'I had not determined to proceed with the companionship because of family pressures. I am not so weak. Similarly, my duties as an officer and a gentleman were not implicated in the matter.' 'But, why then?' she asked. 'I wanted you,' he said. 'But I had slave needs,' she said. 'I thought long after our conversation,' he said. 'You had dared to confess your slave needs, and this had shamed you, and it had scandalized me. But, why, I asked myself. Should not, rather, one be more ashamed by deceit than the truth? Can there truly be a greater honor in hypocrisy than in honesty? It does not seem so. I then realized how bravely you had trusted me and revealed this to me. My outrage gave way to gratitude and admiration. Similarly, I asked myself, why was I scandalized. Was this not connected with hidden fears of my own, that I might discover complementary needs within myself, the needs to own and be a master? Your confession, so expressive and poignant, tended to undermine a deceit of free persons. You had dared, it seemed, to break the code of hypocrisy. Had the gate to barbarism been left ajar? I regretted, for a time, the loss of a lie. We grow fond of our myths. Yet our myths are like walls of straw. Ultimately they cannot protect us. Ultimately they must perish in the flames of truth.' 'You would have taken me,' she asked, 'knowing that I had slave needs?' 'Your slave needs,' he said, 'Made you a thousand times more desirable. What man does not want a slave?' She looked at him, startled. 'It was thus my intention to take you into honorable companionship,' he said, 'but, in the privacy of our quarters, away from the sight of the world, to put you in a collar, and keep you as a slave, even to the whip.' She looked up at him, disbelievingly. 'But,' he said, 'such a farce will not now be necessary.' 'I do not understand,' she said. 'Strip,' he said. 'But there are others present,' she protested. His right hand, in a backhand blow, lashed forth, fierce and powerful, striking her from her knees to her side on the tiles. She rose to her hands and knees and, blood at her mouth, regarded him, disbelievingly. 'Must a command be repeated?' he inquired. Swiftly she tore away the slave tunic, stripping herself. He snapped his fingers and pointed at his feet. She crawled to his feet on her belly. She looked up at him." Book 16, Guarsman of Gor, pages 255 - 258 "Some Goreans think of the Free Companionship as being a form of contract slavery." Book 18, Blood Brothers of Gor, page 246

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