The taxi pulled up to a driveway on a gravel road. The steel gates framed a driveway which disappeared into the trees. Harriet paid the sweating overweight driver, and with her duffel bag in hand, stepped out onto the dusty roadside. The dust made her already dry mouth feel thicker. The taxi pulled away, leaving Harriet alone. She checked her watch, and was relieved when it only said 2:53pm. She was instructed to report at 3pm and could not be late.

Taking a deep breath, she crossed the road to the wrought iron gates. She had been instructed to enter the numbers seven-eight-three-eight into the keypad, which she carefully did, and the gates swung open. She wiped her sweaty hands on her cotton pants before starting to walk down the driveway. The walk wasn’t a long one, and soon a corner revealed a large, three story house, surrounded by carefully tended gardens. The driveway widened into a parking space, where a van and several cars were parked. The grounds were stunning, and she took a moment to admire them before walking up to the main door, which was solid wood, and lifting the brass door knocker. She stepped back as the door opened, and a girl stepped forward, smiling. She was wearing a simple cotton dress, with her dark hair tightly braided, which lay over one shoulder.

“Harriet, is it?” She offered her hand to shake. Harriet took it and replied, “Yes, that’s right”

“Headmistress Van is expecting you. Come on in” Harriet stepped inside. The entrance was simple, with dark wood walls and a stone floor. Coat racks lined the side of the wall, most of them empty.

“Just leave your bag here Harriet, we’ll bring it up to your room”

“Oh ok, thanks” Harriet replied, setting her duffle bad down in a corner.

“Take your shoes of too”

“Oh yes, of course” and she took off her Vans, putting them on-top of her bag.

The girl opened the door, into a carpeted hallway which she led Harriet down. They stopped at the door with the plaque reading “Headmistress”. The girl knocked and said, “Mistress, Harriet has arrived”.

There was a pause and a voice called “come in”. They opened the door and stepped into a brightly lit room, with ceiling to floor windows looking out onto a beautifully kept lawn and garden. The oak panelled walls were lined with bookshelves. Behind the desk in the centre of the room sat a caramel skinned woman, with closely cropped black hair.

“That will be all, Savannah” the woman said. Savannah stepped out and shut the door, leaving Harriet alone with the woman. As she stood up Harriet saw she was wearing a tight leather dress, with knee high black lace up boots. She absolutely eluded power, but smiled warmly at Harriet and offered her hand to shake.

“Welcome, Harriet, it is nice to finally meet you. I’m who you spoke to on the phone, Headmistress Van”.

Harriet shook her hand and said “Thank you, you too.” The headmistress motioned to a seat by Harriet and sat down behind her desk. Harriet followed her lead

“I trust you traveled well?” Van asked.

“Yes I did, thank you”

“Good. Now as we discussed on the phone, we practice a 24/7 power exchange here. That means that apart from any issues that you have, this will be the last conversation we will have not in a D/s dynamic. Are you still okay with that?”

“Yes” Harriet nodded.

“Good. For our safewords we generally just use the red, orange, green system, are you familiar with that?”

“Yes, green is for go, orange is slow down and red is stop”

“Good, and it suits you to use this system?”

“Yes, that’s fine”

“Perfect. If at any time you call red, whatever is happening will immediately stop. Afterwards we will of course have a discussion about what happened and what we can do in the future about it. Now, you’ve already sent us through the paperwork, so unless you have any questions..?”

“Nope, I think that covers everything”

“Ok” and she smiled at Harriet. “We’ll get started now then. I’ll give you the rules, which you should familiarise yourself with, and then Savannah will take you to your room to unpack and get settled”

“Sounds good. Thank you for having me here” Harriet replied.

“Our pleasure. I’ll see you at dinner” and she stood and opened the door for Harriet, handing her two stapled pages as Harriet walked out.

Savannah was standing outside. She waited until Headmistress Van had closed the door before smiling at Harriet.

“Your stuff is already upstairs. We’ll go up there now and get you unpacked” she said, walking to the end of the hallway, where there were two flights of stairs.

Savannah explained to Harriet, “Bedrooms and bathrooms are on the top floor, the training rooms are the first floor and the ground floor has the offices and dining rooms” Harriet nodded, as they reached the first floor where there was a small landing with a singular door. “Only the masters and mistresses have keys to it” Savannah explained as they went up more stairs.

The third floor also had a landing but this one had two doorways, one with a black door and one without any door on it. Savannah indicated to the black door and said “The masters’ and mistress’ bedrooms are through there, it’s locked too. There’s some other stuff through there too but you’ll learn about that soon enough” she walked through the open doorway “Most of the submissives are in here usually” Harriet followed her through to reveal a hallway with doors lining it. “There’s five of us here now”.

Each door was plain wood and had a small window set into them. They stopped at the third door down on the left side and Savannah opened it. “This one is yours”. Harriet followed her in to a small room. There was a bed pushed against the far wall, underneath the window, with a pillow and a blanket neatly made up. There was also a tall wardrobe and a basket. Harriet’s duffel bag was on the bed. “Your shoes are downstairs with the rest. I’ll leave you to it, dinner is at 5:30, downstairs”

“Thank you” Harriet said, and Savannah nodded and smiled before exciting the room.

Harriet sat down on the bed, which seemed to be comfortable enough, and let out a breath. It had been a big day, she had gotten up at six to catch her bus to be here on time. She checked her watch, it was just past 4:30. Harriet remembered the pages the headmistress had given her and decided before she was introduced to the rest of the house it would be wise to familiarise herself with the rules. She quickly skimmed over the first half of the first page which dealt with information she was already familiar with, such as hard and soft limits, but began to read more in depth when it moved onto rules specific to the Oakwood Institute. The first rules listed were to do with attire.

“Submissives are to be barefoot unless completing an outdoor chore or directed by a master/mistress. Submissives will, unless directed otherwise by a master/mistress, only wear the cotton dress or cotton shirt and pants which are provided. At all times submissives must wear a collar (white patent for house/uncollared submissive and the master’s/mistress’s personal collar for collared submissives), with the exception of showering and sleeping, when they must be removed. House/uncollared submissives will sleep naked, and hair which reaches below the shoulder is to be braided in a single braid at the back of the head except when sleeping.”

Harriet noted that she needed to find out where to get her dress and collar, preferably before dinner so she didn’t stand out. She moved onto the next paragraph.

“Breakfast is served at 7am, lunch at 1pm and dinner at 5:30. All meals are to be attended. Submissives will be in bed with lights out before 9:30pm, wake up is at 6:00 am. Clothes from that day are to be placed in the laundry basket to be collected that morning.

Mistresses and masters will be addressed as Mistress/Master: name given, by default, unless specified otherwise. When in a high protocol setting, such as during a training session or formal dinner, submissives will not speak unless spoken to. Submissives will not confer with other submissives in the presence of a mistress/master. When a mistress/master enters a room submissives will stop what they are doing until the mistress/master indicates they should continue. These rules are a guideline only and may be added to or removed by a mistress or master to suit the dynamic. Individual contracts are developed with Headmistress Van for each submissive.”

Harriet checked her watch again, almost time for her to begin getting ready for dinner. She decided to explore her room further. The wardrobe revealed several cotton dresses like Savannah was wearing, as well as some white t-shirts and a pair of white cotton pants. There were also spare coat hangers. Drawers were set below the main section, and Harriet went to work unpacking her underwear and hygiene products into them. She also undressed from her normal clothes, and donned one of the cotton dresses. Without her cardigan the room was cool. Undoing the simple high ponytail that her hair was in, she used the mirror to braid a tidy plait down her back, securing it with a black tie. She checked her watch again, it was almost quarter past five, and time to head downstairs. She didn’t want to be late.

There was no one in sight as she made her way downstairs. She reached the ground floor and found it also deserted. Harriet realised she had no idea where the dining room was. She looked down the hallway, suddenly overwhelmed and unsure of what to do. Savannah had said it was on the ground floor but she couldn’t see anything that looked like a dining hall. Just then, a door down from Harriet opened and Headmistress Van stepped out. The headmistress called: “Harriet! Just who I wanted to see. Come here”.

She closed the door to her office as Harriet came to her side. “Come with me, I’ll show you where the dining room is and we can get some dinner.” She led Harriet down a hallway she hadn’t noticed before, behind the stairs, which opened up into a large hall.

“How would you feel about being knelt beside me for dinner? It would mean I’d feed you” Van asked.

Harriet thought for a second and then said “I’d like to do that Mistress Van, but I haven’t done it before”

“I’ll guide you, and we can stop at anytime. How does that sound?”

“Very good Mistress Van” Harriet smiled, and Van nodded and smiled before entering the hall.

There were two tables, one at ground level and one set slightly above it on a platform. The submissives were sat on the lower table. There were three at the table, with room for a lot more. The higher table was a lot longer and only had seats on one side, looking out and down to the other table. The dominants were sat there, six leather clad men and woman, some with submissives kneeling beside them. There was an empty chair in the middle, which presumably was Van’s. The room smelt wonderful and Harriet realised that she was rather hungry. There was a large servery down one side, full with what looked like some kind of stir-fry.

As Harriet and Van entered the room the submissives stood, their chatter stopping suddenly. Headmistress Van placed a hand around the back of Harriet’s neck, gently pushing her forward and up onto the platform. She lead her to the empty chair, which had a small cushion to the left of it, and pushed Harriet’s shoulder down so she knelt on the cushion. She sat down and the submissives chatter resumed. Harriet’s mouth watered as she smelt the food. Savannah appeared behind her with two steaming plates of stir-fry, placing them both on the table in front of Van. The rest of the submissives went and got their food, and a comfortable hum filled the room.

The pale haired man beside Van chatted comfortably to her, ignoring Harriet knelt between them. Harriet looked up hopefully at the food, watching as Headmistress Van ate from one of the plates. She started to feed Harriet, spooning the rice, vegetables and chicken to her in between bites. Harriet wasn’t enjoying the experience, she couldn’t pick what she ate and when, and it was humiliating. She didn’t want to stop though, she was still enjoying being submissive towards Van. Harriet started to get frustrated when Van was engaged in an animated discussion with the pale haired man on her left about books, and not giving Harriet any food. Her stomach rumbled and she sighed, hungrier than ever with the scent of food wafting over her. The pale haired man put a firm hand on her head and leant down and whispered “Careful, little one. Don’t be impatient”. He had a soft British accent, and winked as Harriet looked up at him.

She was quiet as Headmistress Van fed her the rest of the dish slowly. The empty plates were collected and Van leant down and said “I’m going to introduce you to everyone and then present your collar, okay?”

“Yes Mistress Van” Harriet smiled again.

Van stood, making the room go silent. “Good evening everyone. As you would have noticed we have had a new submissive join us today, Harriet. Stand up Harriet” Harriet stood, blushing slightly at the eyes on her. She followed Van as she walked to the front of the table.Van ordered her to kneel, and Harriet sunk to her knees quickly. Van produced a white collar and carefully put it around Harriet’s neck, tightening it so it was flush against her throat. She stepped back and everyone clapped, welcoming Harriet to the Oakwood Institute.

After dinner, Harriet followed the rest of the submissives up into the bedrooms. Savannah showed her the bathroom and then the common room, where there were couches and a TV. Savannah introduced her to the others in the room, Reece, who was a short girl who chatted incessantly and Benny, who was a good looking guy with bright red hair.

“Harriet, how long have you been in the lifestyle?” Reece asked curiously, as they settled into the comfortable couches.

“About a year, just casually at dungeons though. How about you?” Harriet asked

“Almost seven years, but I’ve only been here for about a week” Reece replied. Harriet noticed Reece was wearing a different collar, it was tan with brass studs.

“Reece why do you have a different collar? If you don’t mind me asking” Harriet said

“Oh, it just means I have a Sir. The white ones you and Savannah are wearing mean you’re house submissives” Reece replied

“Benny has a different one too, because he’s Van’s little toy” laughed Savannah

Harriet looked across at Benny and noticed that he did indeed, a black and red collar that matched his hair. He wasn’t looking perturbed in the slightest about being referred to as a toy, but rather quite pleased.

“Which one is your Sir, Reece?” Harriet asked, keen to put some names to faces.

“Oh, Leon isn’t here. He sent me here for some training while he’s on a work trip. He’s good friends with Master Floyd.” Reece said, and seeing Harriet’s look of confusion clarified “The one who you knelt next to at dinner”.

“Oh, right” said Harriet. “How many dominants are here?”

“There’s seven, Headmistress Van, Master Floyd, Mistress Helly and Master Jones who are all here full time, and then Mistress Grey who’s training. Plus two others but I don’t know their names” said Reece.

“Mistress York and Master Xavier” Benny supplied.

“York and Xavier are here with their submissives though so we don’t see much of them. There’s one other house submissive, Becks, but she disappeared into Headmistress Van’s office before dinner and we haven’t seen her since” Savannah laughed.

“Oh my gosh, I think I know what happened” Reece smiled “We were weeding the garden this morning and it was super muddy, she forgot to take her shoes off and tracked mud all up the hallway until she realised and ran back to take them off. I didn’t see what happened after that because I had a class to go to”

“They couldn’t figure out who did it so they had to get me and Eric, who is Xavier’s submissive Harriet, to clean it up before it stained the carpet. Then Mistress Helly found Becks in the toilet hiding” Benny chimed in.

“Oh, wow, we won’t be seeing her for a while then” Savannah chuckled. “That is so Becks though”.

They were all chatting comfortably when the door opened, and a woman with her hair loosely done up in a low ponytail, wearing black jeans and a t-shirt entered. Everyone went silent, and Harriet recognised her as one of the dominants at dinner.

“Benjamin, you’re to report to Van in her office” she said. Benny left, and the woman looked at her watch pointedly “Girls, it’s almost quarter past” she said disapprovingly.

Savannah whined, “But, Miss-“

“You know the rules Savannah. I don’t want to hear it tonight” the woman cut Savannah off, before leaving the room after Benny.

The submissive were all silent until she had closed the door, and then Reece laughed.

“Ooh Savannah, she’s not in the mood for your shit tonight”.

“Was that Mistress Grey?” Harriet asked.

“Yep, and Savannah fancies her like mad” Reece giggled.

“Shut up Reece” Savannah grumbled. “We’d better go to bed before they come up again”

“That’s not like you, being all goody good around Mistress Grey” Reece said.

“Yeah but I think Mistress Helly is doing the check tonight. Not wise to be bratty when she’s around”

“That is very true. We should definitely go to bed then”

They left the room, Harriet stifling a yawn. Savannah’s bedroom was beside Harriet’s and Reece’s was opposite. They both said goodnight to Harriet before disappearing into their rooms, and Harriet followed. The room wasn’t warm, so she was thankful for the thick blankets on her bed as she undressed and got under the covers. She quickly fell asleep, exhausted by the long day.

What felt like seconds later, a loud knocking on her door jolted her out of sleep. Looking at her watch saw it was six in the morning. She groaned, and the door opened to reveal another woman, this one with back hair tightly pulled back in a bun and pale skin. She must be Mistress Helly, Harriet thought.

“Covers off, Harriet” she said briskly and Harriet reluctantly peeled the sheet and blankets off her, thinking she knew where this was going.

“Oh, did you not bother to read the rule book?” said Helly sharply.

“Mistress Helly I did” said Harriet, squirming.

“Why are you clothed then? Did you decide you were better than the rules?”

“No Mistress Helly”

“Get up. Take those off” she ordered, indicating to Harriet’s shorts. “Why were you clothed Harriet?”

“Mistress Helly, I forgot about the rule that I wasn’t too be clothed”

“So, you knew about it?”

“Yes, Mistress Helly”

“Right. Come with me”

Helly walked out of her room and Harriet followed her down the hallway and then the stairs, completely naked. They stopped outside of Van’s office. “Stand there, facing the wall. Hands behind your head. Do not move or there will be more trouble for you” Helly walked back up the stairs, leaving Harriet standing facing the wood, with her fingers laced together behind her head. Time seemed to pass extraordinarily slowly for Harriet, and after what felt like an hour Van and Grey came down the stairs. Van unlocked her office and opened the door, ignoring Harriet as she walked inside. Mistress Grey grabbed Harriet’s collar and yanked it, sending her stumbling into the office. The door slammed shut behind her. Van was seated behind her desk and did not look happy. Mistress Grey pushed her down to a kneeling position. Harriet kept her gaze focused on the floor.

“Harriet. It is a Saturday morning. This is not what I want to be doing. Explain why you are here.” Van said, irritation evident in her voice.

“Mistress Van, I slept in clothes. I had read the rules but I forgot” Harriet said meekly.

Van paused for a few seconds as Harriet studied the individual strands of the carpet.

“Very well. Floyd noticed last night you were less than pleased about me feeding you. So, your punishment will be accompanying Mistress Grey to breakfast and lunch today, and Master Floyd for dinner.”