 Ka-la-naHere are relevant references from the Books where Ka-la-na is mentioned. I make no pronouncements on these matters, but report them as I find them. Arrive at your own conclusions. I wish you well, Fogaban Bright Cheap Chilled Choice Delicate Diluted Dry Expensive Very Expensive Falarian General Golden Hard Heady Heated Incandescent Light Market of Semris Mild Poor Grade Precious Rare Red Rich Ruby Ruby-Red Sparkling Sweet Tawny White
After the meal I tasted the drink, which might not inappropriately be described as an almost incandescent wine, bright, dry, and powerful. I learned later it was called Ka-la-na. Tarnsman of Gor Book 1 Page 26
Can this wine, which seems like a cheap ka-la-na, be the rare Falarian? Mercenaries of Gor Book 21 Page 159 Paga may not be served in the eating houses, but a variety of cheap ka-la-nas is usually available. Conspirators of Gor Book 31 Page 152 I had never tasted ka-la-na but I had gathered there were a great many varieties, differing much in quality. Some Ubars might barter a city or a hundred slaves for a given flask of the beverage. Others were so cheap and common that, as the joke goes, they might be mixed with the swill of tarsk. The word itself, which is generic for several wines, derives from the ka-la-na trees, or wine trees, of Gor. But wines, as is well known, may be derived not only from the clustered fruits weighting the branches of the ka-la-na tree in the autumn, but, as on my former world, from vine fruit, tree fruit, bush fruit, even from some types of leaves. Smugglers of Gor Book 32 Page 295 And there would be, too, behind the counter, in baskets, grapes, tospits, larmas, nuts, and olives, and, in blocks, cheeses, and, in its amphorae to be lifted from its racks, cheap ka-la-na. Plunder of Gor Book 34 Page 251 "This will warm you," he said. He then, slowly, a bit at a time, gave me to drink. Gratefully I imbibed the fluid, a wine, a ruby wine, how it purred in one's mouth and throat, like a soft, stirring, liquid flame. Only once before, in the storage facility on Earth, shortly before my shipment to Gor, had I tasted such a beverage. Again, it far exceeded, in bouquet and flavor any wine with which I had been familiar on Earth. " Ka-la- na," I whispered. He drew away the goblet. "Cheap, of course," he said. "What was that disgusting wine you put in the flagons?" he asked, grimacing, apparently reacting to an unpleasant memory. "It was not the fabled Ta wine of Telnus," I admitted. "Nor Falarian," he said. "I do not really know what it was," I said. "But it had much to commend it. It was recently fermented and cheap." "It was terrible," he said. "It reminded me of the wine used in cheap kal-da." "That is it," I said. "I remember now. It was called the Star of the Sky of Ka-la-na. Supposedly it forms a fine base for kal-da." "It was terrible," said Seremides. "It was cheap," I said, somewhat defensively.
"Free women," she said, "are entitled to such considerations. You accorded me no more than was my due. I am not a slave!" She then clapped her hands together, sharply, and Iris, from the next room, hurried into the chamber and knelt before her. "Wine, a golden ka-la-na, slave!" commanded Talena. Iris cast me a frightened look, and then whispered, "Yes, Mistress." "Chilled," said Talena. "Yes, Mistress," said Iris. In Ar there were certain emporiums, and cylinders, of which the Tower of Philebus was one, to which snow from the peaks of the Voltai were flown in by tarn.
One of the men, glancing about the hut, said, "Ka-la-na!" He pointed to a side of the hut. There, tied together by the necks, were some six bottles of Ka-la-na. He went to them and looked at them, lifting them. They were in dark bottles. He turned them about. "From the vineyards of Ar," he whistled. It was choice Ka-la-na.
The guards had liked us, muchly, and had apparently expected that they would for, to our delight, they had purchased a small bottle of Ka-la-na wine, in a wicker basket, which they had permitted us, swallow by swallow, to share. I had never tasted so rich and delicate a wine on Earth, and yet here, on this world, it cost only a copper tarn disk and was so cheap, and plentiful, that it might be given even to a female slave. I remembered each of the four swallows which I had had. I tasted them even still, with the meat and bread which I had eaten. It was the first Gorean fermented beverage which I had tasted. It is said that Ka-la-na has an unusual effect on a female. I think it is true. Captive of Gor Book 7 Page 114 "Fruits, dried and fresh, candies, nuts, four sorts of meats, choice, all of them, fresh-baked bread, selected pastries," responded he, his arms full, "and some superb paga and delicate ka-la-na." Mercenaries of Gor Book 21 Page 80
The food at the table of Cernus was good, but it was plain, rather severe, like the master of the House. I had tarsk meat and yellow bread with honey, Gorean peas and a tankard of diluted Ka-la-na, warm water mixed with wine. Assassin of Gor Book 5 Page 87 One of them carried a large pitcher of the diluted Ka-la-na wine and stepped behind us, climbing the two steps to the broad wooden dais on which our tables were set. She bent over my left shoulder woodenly, her body stiff. "Wine, Master?" she asked. "She-sleen," hissed Ho-Tu. "How is it that you first serve wine to a strange man at the table of your master. "Forgive Lana," said she, tears springing to her eyes. "You belong in the iron pens," said Ho-Tu. "He frightens me," she wept. "He is of the black caste." "Serve him wine," said he, "or you will be stripped and thrown into a pen of male slaves." The girl turned and withdrew, then approached again, climbing the stairs, delicately, as though timidly, head down. Then she leaned forward, bending her knees slightly, her body graceful, and spoke, her voice a whisper in my ear, an invitation, "Wine, Master?" as though offering not wine, but herself. In a large house, with various slave girls, it is thought only an act of courtesy on the part of a host to permit a guest the use of one of the girls for the evening. Each of the girls considered eligible for this service, at one time or another during the evening, will approach the guest and offer him wine. His choice is indicated by the one from whom he accepts wine. I looked at the girl. Her eyes met mine, softly. Her lips were slightly parted. "Wine, Master?" she asked. "Yes," I said, "I will have wine." She poured the diluted wine into my cup, bowed her head and with a shy smile, backed gracefully down the stairs behind me, then turned and hurried away. "Of course," said Ho-Tu, "you may not have her tonight, for she is White Silk." "I understand," I said.
After the meal I tasted the drink, which might not inappropriately be described as an almost incandescent wine, bright, dry, and powerful. I learned later it was called Ka-la-na. Tarnsman of Gor Book 1 Page 26 One girl held back our head, and others, from goblets, gave us of wines, Turian wine, sweet and thick, Ta wine, from the famed Ta grapes, from the terraces of Cos, wines even, Ka-la-nas, sweets and drys, from distant Ar. Tribesmen of Gor Book 10 Page 213
"Oh, it is marvelous ka-la-na," she purred. I gathered that she had never before had such ka-la-na. True, it might run the buyer as much as three copper tarsks, a price for which some women can be purchased. Mercenaries of Gor Book 21 Page 346 I turned the bottle so that she might read the label. It was a small bottle of Boleto's Nectar of the Public Slave Gardens. Boleto is a well-known winegrower from the vicinity of Ar. He is famous for the production of a large number of reasonably good, medium-grade ka-la-nas. This was one of the major wines, and perhaps the best, served in Ar's public slave gardens; indeed, it had originally been commissioned for that market; hence the name. Mercenaries of Gor Book 21 Page 360
"Perhaps a tiny glass of ka-la-na," she said, "among friends." I looked to the left. Louise, as she had been bidden, was watching. I lifted my finger. The Earth girl then leapt up and hurried to the table. At the table she knelt. "A small bottle," I said, "of the Slave Gardens of Anesidemus." "I have heard that is a marvelous ka-la-na," said the free woman, her eyes alight. "So, too, have I," I said. "It is very expensive," said the woman. "Dally, handsome Tenrik, noble citizen of Siba," said the Lady Alexina, gracefully placing her dropped veil over her left shoulder, "an exquisite ka-la-na, from the terraces of Cos, waits to be served." Kurik inclined his head, politely. "From the terraces of Naxos, on Cos," she said. "Ah!" said Kurik, lifting his head. I gathered this beverage might be of some special interest. They looked into one another's eyes. Free persons may do this with impunity. She dared to place her small hand on his. I hated her. I hated her! How could I compete with her, half-naked, in a tunic, collared, on my knees? "A single bottle," said Decius Albus, "may cost as much as a golden tarsk." Paula then, in the same order in which she had placed the glasses, filled each, something like a third full. How precious then, I thought, must be the beverage! "I shall not propose a toast," said Decius Albus, "as I am unsure we share a common sentiment, but let us drink, as might friends." My master swirled the tiny ruby lake enclosed within its crystal shores, observed it, and then took its scent, as though it might have been a tiny bouquet of dinas. He then barely touched it to his lips. "How is it?" inquired Decius Albus. "I have heard of the ka-la-na of Naxos," said Kurik. "This is the first time I have tasted it." "I trust you find it satisfactory" said Decius Albus. "It is exquisite," said Kurik. "I once, in Venna," said Decius Albus, "exchanged five girls for a bottle." "A bargain," said Kurik. I rather doubted that. Still, who is to say what slave girls are worth? Men, of course. "Drink again," said Decius Albus. "One would not ruin a ka-la-na of this rarity by mixing it with poison. Too, we need you to convey our offer to Lord Grendel." "My thinking, exactly," said Kurik. "Join with us," said Decius Albus, "and you may swill the ka-la-na of Naxos with the same abandon as vat paga." "That," said Kurik, "would be desecration, like uprooting flowers." "True," smiled Decius Albus, "but it would be a desecration well within your means."
Can this wine, which seems like a cheap ka-la-na, be the rare Falarian? Mercenaries of Gor Book 21 Page 159
"Over there," I said, "are some Ka-la-na trees. Wait here and I'll gather some fruit." Tarnsman of Gor Book 1 Page 96 Now she, like all other members of the household of Marlenus, slave or free, would be subjected to the vengeance of the outraged citizens, citizens who had marched in the processions of the Ubar in the days of his glory, carrying flasks of Ka-la-na wine and sheaves of Sa-Tarna grain, singing his praises in the melodious litanies of Gor. Tarnsman of Gor Book 1 Page 102 I picked some Ka-la-na fruit and opened one of the packages of rations. Talena returned and sat beside me on the grass. I shared the food with her. Tarnsman of Gor Book 1 Page 106 The wind shook her hair and tore at her gown, and she would throw back her head, exposing her throat and shoulders to its rough caress, drinking it in as though it were Ka-la-na wine. Tarnsman of Gor Book 1 Page 111 Kazrak, as he had promised, turned over the balance of his hiring price to me a very respectable eighty tarn disks. I argued with him to accept forty, on the ground that he was a sword brother, and at last convinced him to accept half of his own wages back. I felt better about this arrangement. Also, I didn't want Kazrak, when his wound was healed, to be reduced to challenging some luckless warrior for a bottle of Ka-la-na wine. Tarnsman of Gor Book 1 Page s 125 - 126 We purchased a bottle of Ka-la-na wine and shared it as we walked through the streets. Tarnsman of Gor Book 1 Page 133 Gripped in the talons of the tarn was the dead body of an antelope, one of the one-horned, yellow antelopes called tabuks that frequent the bright Ka-la-na thickets of Gor. Tarnsman of Gor Book 1 Page 145 And then, in his joy, he turned to Talena and in gracious salute lifted the symbolic cup of Ka-la-na wine to her beauty. Talena and I swore to honor that day as long as either of us lived. I have tried to keep that promise, and I know that she has done so as well. That night, that glorious night, was a night of flowers, torches, and Ka-la-na wine, and late, after sweet hours of love, we fell asleep in each other's arms. Tarnsman of Gor Book 1 Page 217 In the distance I could see some patches of yellow, the Ka-la-na groves that dot the fields of Gor. Outlaw of Gor Book 2 Page 19 I could see the shadows of tall Ka-la-na trees bending against the darkness of the night, their leaves lifting and rustling on the long branches. Outlaw of Gor Book 2 Page 35 Once I brought the carcass of a tabuk, one of Gor's single-horned, yellow antelopes, which I had felled in a Ka-la-na thicket, to the hut of a peasant and his wife. Outlaw of Gor Book 2 Page 48 Kal-da is a hot drink, almost scalding, made of diluted Ka-la-na wine, mixed with citrus juices and stinging spices. I did not care much for this mouth-burning concoction, but it was popular with some of the lower castes, particularly those who performed strenuous manual labor. I expected its popularity was due more to its capacity to warm a man and stick to his ribs, and to its cheapness (a poor grade of Ka-la-na wine being used in its brewing) than to any gustatory excellence. But I reasoned on this night of all nights, this cold, depressing wet night, a cup of Kal-da might go well indeed. Moreover, where there was Kal-da there should be bread and meat. I thought of the yellow Gorean bread, baked in the shape of round, flat loaves, fresh and hot; my mouth watered for a tabuk steak or, perhaps, if I were lucky, a slice of roast tarsk, the formidable six-tusked wild boar of Gor's temperate forests. I smiled to myself, felt the sack of coins in my tunic, bent down and pushed the door open. Outlaw of Gor Book 2 Page 76 Beyond Tharna and its gloomy soil, continually broken by its stony outcroppings, I could see the green fields of Gor, glades of yellow Ka-la-na trees, the shimmering surface of a placid lake and the bright blue sky, open and beckoning. Outlaw of Gor Book 2 Page 126 I wondered why there was only water to drink, and none of the fermented beverages of Gor, such as Paga, Ka-la-na wine or Kal-da. I was sure that if these were available Vika would have set them before me. Priest-Kings of Gor Book 3 Page 45 When one of the does moved I saw that moving beside her with dainty steps were two young tabuk, the first I had ever seen, for the young of the tabuk seldom venture far from the shaded, leafy bowers of their birth in the tangled Ka-la-na thickets of Gor. Priest-Kings of Gor Book 3 Page 191 These barges, constructed of layered timbers of Ka-la-na wood, are towed by teams of river tharlarion, domesticated, vast, herbivorous, web-footed lizards raised and driven by the Cartius bargemen, fathers and sons, interrelated clans, claiming the status of a caste for themselves. Nomads of Gor Book 4 (footnote) Pages 3 - 4 "Give him Ka-la-na wine," prompted Elizabeth. Aphris got up and fetched not a skin, but a bottle, of wine, Ka-la-na wine, from the Ka-la-na orchards of great Ar itself. She also brought a black, red-trimmed wine crater from the isle of Cos. "May I serve you?" she asked. Kamchak's eyes glinted. "Yes," he said. She poured wine into the crater and replaced the bottle. Kamchak had watched her hands very carefully. She had had to break the seal on the bottle to open it. The crater had been upside down when she had picked it up. If she had poisoned the wine she had certainly done so deftly. Then she knelt before him in the position of the Pleasure Slave and, head down, arms extended, offered him the crater. He took it and sniffed it and then took a wary sip. Then he threw back his head and drained the crater. "Hah!" said he when finished. "Are you not going to your wagon tonight?" he asked. "I think not," I said. "As you wish," said he, "but I have had it well stocked with Paga and Ka-la-na wines from Ar and such." In Turia, even though we had much of the riches of the city at our disposal, there had not been much Paga or Ka-la-na wine. As I may have mentioned the Turians, on the whole, favor thick, sweet wines. I had taken, as a share of battle loot, a hundred and ten bottles of Paga and forty bottles of Ka-la-na wine from Tyros, Cos and Ar, but these I had distributed to my crossbowmen, with the exception of one bottle of Paga which Harold and I had split some two nights ago. I decided I might spend the night in my wagon. Two nights ago it had been a night for Paga. Tonight, I felt, was a night for Ka-la-na. I was pleased to learn there would be some in the wagon. I went to the chest by the side of the wagon and pulled out a small bottle, one of several, of Ka-la-na wine which reposed there. "Let us celebrate your freedom," I said, pouring her a small bowl of wine. She took the bowl of wine and smiled, waiting for me to fill one for myself. When I had done so, I faced her and said, "To a free woman, one who has been strong, one who has been brave, to Elizabeth Cardwell, to a woman who is both beautiful and free." We touched the bowls and drank. "Thank you, Tarl Cabot," she said. I drained my bowl. "We shall, of course," Elizabeth was saying, "have to make some different arrangements about the wagon." She was glancing about, her lips pursed. "We shall have to divide it somehow. I do not know if it would be proper to share a wagon with a man who is not my master." I was puzzled. "I am sure," I muttered, "we can figure out something." I refilled my wine bowl Elizabeth did not wish more. I noted she had scarcely sipped what she had been given. I tossed down a swallow of Ka-la-na, thinking perhaps that it was a night for Paga after all. "A wall of some sort," she was saying. "Drink your wine," I said, pushing the bowl in her hands toward her. She took a sip, absently. "It is not really bad wine," she said. "It is superb!" I said. "I don't suppose an exalted free woman like yourself," said Elizabeth, "drinks Ka-la-na?" "Of course I do," said Relia. "Well," said Elizabeth, turning to me, who had been standing there, as flabbergasted as any on the bridge, "we shall have some." She looked at me. "You there," she said, "a coin for Ka-la-na." Dumbfounded I reached in my pouch and handed her a coin, a silver Tarsk. Elizabeth then took Relia by one arm and Rena by the other. "We are off," she announced, "to buy a bottle of wine." "Let paga and Ka-la-na be served," said Cernus, to a cheer, and turned and left the table, disappearing through a side door, the same through which the shackled slave had been led. Caprus, soon after, carrying the game pieces and board, left also, but he made his exit through a door other than that which had been used by the slave and his guards, and Cernus. Now the girls in white tunics began to serve the strong beverages of Gor, and the festivities of the evening began. "Ka-la-na!" I called. A cup was brought. And I took her by the hair and held back her head, pouting the wine down her throat, some of it running down her face and body, under the slave collar and its bells. She looked up at me, her mouth stained with wine. "It is lovely, Master," she said, breathing in the wine's bouquet. "It is a nice ka-la-na," he said. He then held it before her, the rim of the glass to her lips, and tipped it, slightly, that she might sip it. "It is wonderful, Master," she breathed. "The smoothness, the flavor, the fragrance, the body." "I thought you would like it," he said. It occurred to me that no slaves or servants had been present at our meeting, even to serve a glass of ka-la-na, an expected civility. Presumably it contained tassa powder, or some similar substance, which would be tasteless. Tassa powder is sometimes used in the abduction of women for the markets. Depending on the strength, its effects can last from one to several Ahn. In the case of women, it is commonly mixed with a ka-la-na wine. Too, could I really suppose that the Admiral of the Fleet of the Farther Islands, the First Captain of Sybaris, High Officer of Cos, could not tell the difference between a decent wine and a ka-la-na worthy at best to fortify common kal-da? Accordingly I disposed of the original contents, had the bottle thrice cleansed, and filled it with an innocent, modest ka-la-na. Paga, ka-la-na, and such can soften the edges of reality.
"Ka-la-na?" she asked. "Yes," he said. "A wine." There are many ka-la-nas, but the one in the colored glass, if it had been in a clear glass, would have been golden in color. The reddish color of the glass infused its contents with something of its own hue. "From the wine trees of Gor," he said. "Free women," she said, "are entitled to such considerations. You accorded me no more than was my due. I am not a slave!" She then clapped her hands together, sharply, and Iris, from the next room, hurried into the chamber and knelt before her. "Wine, a golden ka-la-na, slave!" commanded Talena. Iris cast me a frightened look, and then whispered, "Yes, Mistress." "Chilled," said Talena. "Yes, Mistress," said Iris. In Ar there were certain emporiums, and cylinders, of which the Tower of Philebus was one, to which snow from the peaks of the Voltai were flown in by tarn.
She was, incidentally, drinking what you know as a "soft ka-la-na." In most Gorean houses, I had learned, to my interest, there is a mixing bowl, in which the stronger, or "hard," ka-la-nas are mixed with water, the proportions determined according to the household, the occasion, the wishes of guests, and such. Conspirators of Gor Book 31 Page 409
I drained the last sip of the heady wine in the metal goblet. Tarnsman of Gor Book 1 Page 34
I turned and, among the furnishings of the tent, found a bottle of Ka-la-na, of good vintage, from the vineyards of Ar, the loot of a caravan raid. I then took the wine, with a small copper bowl, and a black, red-trimmed wine crater, to the side of the fire. I poured some of the wine into the small copper bowl, and set it on the tripod over the tiny fire in the fire bowl. He sat cross-legged, facing me, and I knelt by the fire, facing him. After a time I took the copper bowl from the fire and held it against my cheek. I returned it again to the tripod, and again we waited. I began to tremble. "Do not be afraid, Slave," he said to me. "Master!" I pleaded. "I did not give you permission to speak," he said. I was silent. Again I took the bowl from the fire. It was now not comfortable to hold the bowl, but it was not painful to do so. I poured the wine from the small copper bowl into the black, red-trimmed wine crater, placing the small bowl in a rack to one side of the fire. I swirled, slowly, the wine in the wine crater. I saw my reflection in the redness, the blondness of my hair, dark in the wine, and the collar, with its bells, about my throat. I now, in the fashion of the slave girl of Treve, held the wine crater against my right cheek. I could feel the warmth of the wine through the side of the crater. "Is it ready?" he asked. A master of Treve does not care to be told that his girl thinks it is. He wishes to be told Yes, or No. "Yes," I whispered. When he had almost finished, he beckoned me to him, and I went to kneel at his side. He put his hand in my hair and held my head back. "Open your mouth," he said. I did so, and he, spilling some from the broad rim of the crater, I feeling it on my chin, and throat, as it trickled under the collar, and body, poured the remainder of the wine down my throat. It was bitter from the dregs in the bottom of the cup, and, to my taste, scalding. I, my eyes closed, my head held painfully back, throat burning, swallowed it. When I had finished the wine he thrust the wine crater into my hands. "Run, El-in-or," he said, "put it back, and return to me." I ran to the side of the tent and put back the wine crater, and fled back to his side. "Stand," he said. I did so, unsteadily. My head swirled. Suddenly, in my body, like a drum, I felt the hot wine. He had made me run that I might feel it even the sooner.
After the meal I tasted the drink, which might not inappropriately be described as an almost incandescent wine, bright, dry, and powerful. I learned later it was called Ka-la-na. Tarnsman of Gor Book 1 Page 26
I then withdrew a yard or two and knelt in the grass, holding the vessel of light Ka-la-na. Players of Gor Book 20 Page 95
Yesterday, when I was bringing Florian's list of, and inventory of, ka-la-nas of Market of Semris upstairs from one of the wine cellars to the office of Luma, a free woman, the only free woman in the holding as far as I knew, who was seemingly the accountant and business manager of the holding, I had encountered Adraste. Quarry of Gor Book 35 Page 328
The ka-la-nas were sparkling and mild, not the sort of coarse ka-la-nas commonly diluted in the wine crater, to a proportion agreed upon by guests, which only wild young men would be likely to drink unmixed, hailing one another with frightful jokes and bawdy songs, awaiting the arrival of the dancers and musicians, the drummers, the flute and kalika girls. Plunder of Gor Book 34 Page 160
Kal-da is a hot drink, almost scalding, made of diluted Ka-la-na wine, mixed with citrus juices and stinging spices. I did not care much for this mouth-burning concoction, but it was popular with some of the lower castes, particularly those who performed strenuous manual labor. I expected its popularity was due more to its capacity to warm a man and stick to his ribs, and to its cheapness (a poor grade of Ka-la-na wine being used in its brewing) than to any gustatory excellence. But I reasoned on this night of all nights, this cold, depressing wet night, a cup of Kal-da might go well indeed. Moreover, where there was Kal-da there should be bread and meat. I thought of the yellow Gorean bread, baked in the shape of round, flat loaves, fresh and hot; my mouth watered for a tabuk steak or, perhaps, if I were lucky, a slice of roast tarsk, the formidable six-tusked wild boar of Gor's temperate forests. I smiled to myself, felt the sack of coins in my tunic, bent down and pushed the door open. Outlaw of Gor Book 2 Page 76
The bung was drawn from the barrel and the precious ka-la-na, the barrel still on the cart, was released over the vat. Prize of Gor Book 27 Page 426
perhaps for the first time, taste rare ka-la-na, Swordsmen of Gor Book 29 Page 349
Lastly, as the culmination of Ar's Planting Feast, and of the greatest importance to the plan of the Council of Ko-ro-ba, a member of the Ubar's family goes to the roof at night, under the three full moons with which the feast is correlated, and casts grain upon the stone and drops of a red winelike drink made from the fruit of the Ka-la-na tree. Tarnsman of Gor Book 1 Page 68 I lunged for the center of the platform, breaking under my foot a small ceremonial basket filled with grain, kicking from my path a Ka-la-na container, splashing the fermented red liquid across the stone surface. I raced to the pile of stones at the center of the platform, the girl's screaming in my ears. From a short distance away I heard the shouts of men and the clank of arms as warriors raced up the stairs to the roof. Which was the Home Stone? I kicked apart the rocks. One of them must be the Home Stone of Ar, but which? How could I tell it from the others, the Home Stones of those cities which had fallen to Ar? Yes! It would be the one that would be red with Ka-la-na, that would be sprinkled with the seeds of grain! He signaled to a boy who carried a skin of Ka-la-na wine over his shoulder. He took the skin of wine from the boy and bit out the horn plug; he then, with the wineskin on his shoulder, held back the head of Elizabeth Cardwell with one hand and with the other shoved the bone nozzle of the skin between her teeth; he tipped the skin and the girl, half choking, swallowed wine; some of the red fluid ran from her mouth and over her body. When Kamchak thought she had drunk enough he pulled the nozzle from her mouth, pushed back the plug and returned the skin to the boy. "We shall open only this bottle," I said. "The others we may enjoy later." They would not become drunk. One bottle of Ka-la-na among ten men is nothing. Ka-la-na is not paga or the strong beer of the north. I did not, on the other hand, want the entire stock of Ka-la-na emptied. Our project must not be jeopardized. The two men, men of mine, who were going forth to relieve the guard, had their swallows from the bottle. They then left. Arn then took the bottle and drank from it, his head back, swiftly. "Enough," I said. The men, his and mine, passed the bottle about. In a short time the two men who had been relieved of guard duty in the forest re-entered the hut. They, too, had their Ka-la-na. There was little left. "Captain," said one of my men, handing me the bottle. I put back my head and finished it. It was bitter, the dregs, but it had in it the warmth and flash of the fine Ka-la-na of Ar. It was a red Ka-la-na. It was a choice Ka-la-na. The vineyards of Ar, as those of Cos, were among the finest on all Gor.
The guards had liked us, muchly, and had apparently expected that they would for, to our delight, they had purchased a small bottle of Ka-la-na wine, in a wicker basket, which they had permitted us, swallow by swallow, to share. I had never tasted so rich and delicate a wine on Earth, and yet here, on this world, it cost only a copper tarn disk and was so cheap, and plentiful, that it might be given even to a female slave. I remembered each of the four swallows which I had had. I tasted them even still, with the meat and bread which I had eaten. It was the first Gorean fermented beverage which I had tasted. It is said that Ka-la-na has an unusual effect on a female. I think it is true. Captive of Gor Book 7 Page 114
"This will warm you," he said. He then, slowly, a bit at a time, gave me to drink. Gratefully I imbibed the fluid, a wine, a ruby wine, how it purred in one's mouth and throat, like a soft, stirring, liquid flame. Only once before, in the storage facility on Earth, shortly before my shipment to Gor, had I tasted such a beverage. Again, it far exceeded, in bouquet and flavor any wine with which I had been familiar on Earth. " Ka-la- na," I whispered. He drew away the goblet. "Cheap, of course," he said.
"But that sort of thing is behind me now," she said to me, throwing back her head and quaffing deeply of the ruby-red Ka-la-na in her cup. Rogue of Gor Book 15 Page 158 Are those not decanters of ka-la-na, ruby red and tawny, like the wet pelt of a fresh-foaled kaiila? Quarry of Gor Book 35 Page 365
The ka-la-nas were sparkling and mild, not the sort of coarse ka-la-nas commonly diluted in the wine crater, to a proportion agreed upon by guests, which only wild young men would be likely to drink unmixed, hailing one another with frightful jokes and bawdy songs, awaiting the arrival of the dancers and musicians, the drummers, the flute and kalika girls. Plunder of Gor Book 34 Page 160
One girl held back our head, and others, from goblets, gave us of wines, Turian wine, sweet and thick, Ta wine, from the famed Ta grapes, from the terraces of Cos, wines even, Ka-la-nas, sweets and drys, from distant Ar. Tribesmen of Gor Book 10 Page 213 She reached to the wine, a sweet Ka-la-na of Ar, and filled the goblet to the third ring. Guardsman of Gor Book 16 Page 301
Are those not decanters of ka-la-na, ruby red and tawny, like the wet pelt of a fresh-foaled kaiila? Quarry of Gor Book 35 Page 365
The food was of the finest in the holding, from the tables of the masters themselves. There was even a white ka-la-na. Quarry of Gor Book 35 Page 349 |       
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