MA sounds very much like many of my relatives, who are/were also genteel, thoughtful, well-educated, and charming. I love/loved them and yet strongly disagree with them.

And yes, I believe (and have evidence) that kindness sometimes passed between enslaved people and their enslavers. Consent, however, is impossible when one person owns another and has complete power over them. So how can you become friends with someone you own or who owns you? How can there be mutual respect? How can any sexual relationship not constitute rape under those circumstances. The story I am working on now grapples with those questions. Thanks again for reading and for your thoughtful comment!