"That was not wrong," Teja says. "It would have been deemed odd, in the world I came from; but had he been a free man, of course you would have been free to marry; and had he not been free, he could have been freed. And in this place -- how could any even consider that, in this place? All are free here."

He sighs, and shrugs.

"Many that had known me all my life, would have thought my love of Charles, or that of the others I have briefly dared to love here, an abomination, also. Here, I learned that they have no innate right to such a thing. But still, the way that Charles Monroe hurt Carlotta was not well, and truly undignified: she was but a young girl then, and he should not have reacted to her in kind. It has made her suspicious towards all that I would love. Admittedly, many of those are odd or strange, in some way. I am one of darkness and shadows, and would lean towards the same."

Kate was, in fact, the most 'normal' person he had fallen for, ever since Myrtia. And even Myrtia, being Greek, was very unusual among the women Teja's peers would love, even more so that she could see beyond the prejudice of 'enslaved barbarian artisan' and see Teja himself, his soul and mind, his love for her...