Chapter 19
After lunch, Kaylee took Dae back out to the vegetable garden where she met her other two new roommates, Cass and Tricia. Before settling in to their chores, they took a moment to make introductions.
Though older than the others by several years, Cass’s appearance didn’t show it. She was a petite woman with dark, unevenly short-cropped hair that gave her the look of an overgrown pixie. Her impish smile and delicate features only added to the impression. When Dae clasped her hand in greeting, she was intrigued to note a rebellious sparkle in Cass's dark eyes, and the hint of flirtation behind her toothy smile.
Didn't Kaylee mention some of the others were only playing along…?
Although most of the residents in the reformatory had been sent here for much the same reason as Dae, a few had committed very different sins. Dae learned that Tricia was among them. The offense which had led to her being sent here seemed equally ludicrous, however.
“I used to make a little extra coin working in the local tavern, practicing to become a minstrel and bard,” she explained to Dae as they knelt between rows of carrots, carefully pulling out weeds. “Apparently a few of my stories and songs were too steamy for some of the patrons to stomach. I had this one ballad about a prominent member of the community, this fat old boar who eyed up every skirt who crossed his path, and even though it was pretty darn funny and everyone had a good laugh, he wasn't too amused when he heard about it.”
“What happened?”
“Well, he complained to the local magistrate, who deemed my work obscene, and I was arrested and sent here. They told me I'd be ‘receiving treatment and counseling to overcome my unnatural fixation on prurient subject matter.'” She recited this description in a bland monotone, then gave an indignant snort.
“Just for singing a raunchy ballad? That’s ridiculous!”
“Could be worse.” Tricia gestured to the south. “See that girl over there? The tall one?”
Dae looked where she indicated and had no trouble spotting her. Not far from the field was a pile of logs and branches, where another group of young women were busying themselves chopping firewood. One among them looked to be impressively suited to the hard labor; as tall as Zafirah (and possibly taller), she had broad shoulders and a powerful physique. Every swing of the ax was delivered with sufficient might to split the thickest logs asunder, and she didn’t look to be tiring.
“That’s Dani. Her father’s the blacksmith in her town, and since he had no sons, she ended up helping him at the forge a lot. Guess she picked up an interest in swords and what have you, cos by the time she was fifteen all she wanted to do was train as a fighter. Eventually she was challenging any boy she met to a wrestling match, or a duel with dummy swords…and any who wouldn’t take her up on it would get an earful.”
Dae knew just how that must have gone; in the Heartland, women did not train as warriors. “So they sent her here for that?”
“Not exactly. When she got a bit older, Dani started having the urge to do a little more than just ‘wrestle’…you know? So, she decided any man who could respect her enough not to go easy on her just because she’s a girl…well, let’s just say she found it an attractive quality. She might have kept it all quiet, too…but it turned out there were more than a few young men who met her standards. Word got out eventually; her family had to practically disown her to hold onto their reputation, and the whole town thinks she’s just a harlot. At least when I leave here, I’ll be able to go home.”
“And how long will that be?” Dae asked. “Until you can go home?”
Tricia shrugged. “Who knows. Depends how well the priests feel you’re taking to counseling, I guess. Honestly though, I don't mind it too much.” She leaned closer and dropped her tone. “I'm not really into the same stuff as most of the people here, but if you get them talking some of their stories make for great inspiration.”
“You should visit El'Kasari someday. They appreciate good storytellers there, and the more depraved the tale the better.” Dae glanced back over to Dany, still swinging her ax with tireless force. “They also have more respect for women who want to learn the warrior arts.”
Tricia paused to consider her, her expression turning momentarily hesitant. Dae guessed she was deciding whether or not it would be rude to pose further questions to someone of her noble station. She looked down at Dae's hands, picking through the muddy rows right beside her own, and seemed to relax. “So…you're married to the queen of the desert, huh?”
“Her name's Zafirah, and she's Scion, not queen,” Dae corrected, “but yes.”
“And you were in her harem before that, right?”
“Right.”
“So…what was it like?”
“Well, it wasn't really what I expected, given the rumors you hear about such places. It was kind of relaxed and liberating, actually.” Dae noticed Kaylee and Cass had both moved closer so they could hear her better. Their interest was hardly surprising; they’d probably grown up listening to much the same tales of the debauched, brutal desert savages as Dae had. Such tales were thrilling but misleading, for they were shaped by deeply held prejudices. Dae was more than happy to provide her new friends with a more accurate accounting, thinking how nice it was to finally have such a receptive audience.
“Pleasure-servants hold a place of high respect among the Jaharri, so just about anything we desired was provided for our comfort. We’d play games and listen to stories…and sometimes travelling illusionists and philosophers would come to entertain us. In the evenings musicians would come and play for us, and there’d be dancing and singing. Of course, when you're surrounded all day by gorgeous young women who enjoy nothing more than basking in sensuality and unrestrained passion, it can sometimes be a bit distracting.”
“I've heard Jaharri slaves are forbidden from wearing clothes, even when they're out in public,” Tricia said with an air of authority.
Dae laughed. “Well, it's considered natural for a palace pleasure-servant to dress provocatively, but they definitely wear clothes,” she explained. “The Jaharri don't see it as shameful or lewd; it's more like a sign of honor or privilege held by the women who serve the Scion so intimately. It took a while for me to get used to having so much bare skin around me, and to wearing clothes which seemed designed to enhance and expose rather than cover and conceal. At first it felt awkward, but after a while it became normal.”
“And what about the Scion?” Cass asked eagerly. “My friend told me she defiles and sacrifices a virgin every full moon to honor the Sun Goddess, and in return she's blessed with everlasting beauty and the strength of a lion!”
Dae laughed so hard at this she nearly lost her balance and fell backwards into the mud.
The four of them continued pulling up weeds and tending to the plants while Dae entertained them with depictions of the vibrant, exotic city and lavish palace. She took care not to delve into anything too blatantly sexual, though Cass attempted several times to subtly steer the conversation that direction.
Patience, she told herself. There'll be time for such stories soon enough.
Later that evening she had another opportunity to further her campaign of temptation when they were preparing for bed. Adopting a casual air of indifference, Dae stripped off her clothing and donned a soft pair of sleeping trousers, but she remained deliberately topless…and the other three girls all stared at her in mesmerized shock. Stretching her arms over her head as she combed her fingers through her hair, she made certain they all got a good long look at her charms, taking particular care to ensure her movements showed off the sparkling ring at her nipple. They were so stunned by the sight that none could tear their eyes away from her breasts, even when she caught them staring.
“It’s a sapphire,” she said, watching them standing there with jaws dropped.
“Wh…why would you…?” Kaylee seemed unable to form words.
“It’s a marriage token, rather like a wedding ring. Zafirah wears one too, only hers is set with an emerald…to remind her of the color of my eyes.” She fingered the intricately faceted stone in the silver ring. “Her eyes are blue.”
“Doesn’t it hurt?” asked Cass, her eyes huge with excitement.
“It stung for a long while after I had it done, but now…” Dae tugged lightly at the ring and shook her head. “…now it just feels very nice.” All three girls had unconsciously stepped closer to get a better look, and she raised an eyebrow in a mild dare. “Would you like to touch it?”
Tricia recoiled slightly. Kaylee bit her lower lip…but a look of eager fire flashed across Cass’s face which Dae had no trouble at all reading as desire. One of her hands rose seemingly of its own accord, reaching up for a moment before she regained control of herself and shook her head.
“I…I shouldn’t,” she murmured quietly.
Dae turned the full force of her smoky emerald eyes on the short-haired girl, giving her a silky smile. “Should you not? I assure you, I don’t mind.”
Cass seemed hypnotized, the tip of her tongue darting out to moisten her lips. “I-it’s not permitted,” she whispered, looking more than a little disappointed.
Dae held her gaze a long moment, then shrugged lightly and turned away. “As you wish.”
She could have sworn she heard a collective sigh of disappointment from her roommates the moment her back was turned. Their response to the sight of her bare upper body struck her as a positive sign of things to come. Dae's experiences in the harem had taught her the benefits of patience; nothing was quite so tempting as forbidden fruit offered freely and without force.
She had time…and the game was just beginning.
* * *
The next few days were the happiest Dae had experienced since returning to the Heartland. Prior to Jarod’s “rescue” she’d been spending so much of her time outside the seraglio—first because she and Zafirah were so caught up in exploring their intimate relationship, then with their joining ceremony and the trip out to the Herak—that she missed the social company of other young women a great deal. This might not have been quite the same as the palace harem, but it was similar in many ways and Dae was enjoying herself.
Word of her intimate jewelry spread like wildfire among the other girls, just as Dae had hoped it would. Such a barbaric piercing was so outlandish in the eastern kingdom, such a titillating curiosity, she supposed it was only natural for them to be curious. Every time she took a shower Dae would find herself joined by several other young women, all surreptitiously eager to catch a glimpse of the rumored ring. It struck her as rather amusing that the symbol of her love and commitment to Zafirah should prove such an effective means of attracting the attention of other young women now.
Her shaven sex—another custom unheard of in civilized society—gained her equal notoriety in the reformatory. Dae was thoroughly enjoying the attention, all the while giving no indication she’d noticed the lingering, intrigued looks that were constantly being thrown her way. It was a mark of their interest that word of the ring or her intimate grooming never reached the ears of the priests; apparently none of the girls wanted to pass that word along, lest the scandalous novelty be forcibly removed.
Dae tolerated the private counseling sessions she was required to have with the priests, though she viewed them as little more than an inconvenient trial. Following Kaylee’s advice, she offered little resistance to the priests and their efforts to guide her back to more moral thinking, although sometimes their pious ignorance and prejudices made her want to scream in frustration. They were just so condescending and self-righteous it was utterly infuriating…but she reminded herself that Zafirah would be here soon, and she wouldn’t have to suffer their stupidity much longer.
The group sessions offered another opportunity to further heighten the sexual tension she sought to instill among her fellow “deviants.” She was careful never to appear overly unrepentant when discussing her experiences among the Jaharri, but this was solely for the benefit of the listening priests. Dae kept her descriptions of her erotic encounters intentionally vague, using carefully chosen words to paint a veiled yet tantalizing picture of those forbidden pleasures she’d been coaxed into indulging in by the sybaritic pleasure-servants. At the end of every such session she was pleased to note most of the other girls looked rather flushed, and not from embarrassment or shame.
In private, however, it quickly became a different story. Dae grew more and more relaxed when she was outside the watchful eye of the priests and alone with the other girls, her behavior shifting to the same teasing, flirtatious playfulness she employed among the other pleasure-servants.
As Kaylee had told her during their first meeting, each room took rotating turns attending to various chores around the monastery—cooking, gardening, laundry duty, collecting wood from the forest behind the building and seeing it cut to smaller lengths and stacked neatly under cover. Although she wasn’t accustomed to such labor, Dae tackled every task with the same resilience as she had done during her time among the Herak. Indeed, these were the times she liked best, when she was alone with her roommates, Tricia, Cass, and the ever-energetic and chatty Kaylee.
Dae found herself liking the bubbly brunette more and more as she got to know her better, and it saddened her to think that their blossoming friendship would likely be cut short by the Scion’s arrival. Kaylee talked almost constantly, even while they were working, and it seemed there were few subjects she would not happily discuss at great and rambling length with anyone who cared to listen. She had a great love of animals, particularly the rabbits and foxes who could often be seen around the grounds in the early mornings, and any time she found one of the snares the other women would set to trap them, Dae had seen her quickly and surreptitiously dismantle it. She also possessed an abundance of knowledge regarding plants and their medicinal properties. In a corner of the field, she’d established an area where she cultivated several varieties of herbs and weeds. From them she was able to concoct simple remedies for common ailments the other women experienced—poultices for blisters and cuts, salves for rashes or burns, and a bitter-tasting tea which did wonders alleviating menstrual cramps and headaches.
But there were a few topics Kaylee remained guarded about. One was her own personal history, specifically the events that had led her to be brought to this place…and a second was her painfully obvious attraction to Lyric.
Every time the statuesque young woman made an appearance, Kaylee would become instantly tongue-tied and bashful. Dae teased her about it often, and continued to offer her assistance if Kaylee wanted to pursue a seduction of the high-born, arrogant blonde. Dae had only spoken with Lyric once, a somewhat playful overture intended to get a better sense of the young woman, and just as Kaylee predicted she’d received an extremely curt, frosty response. But Dae wasn’t too disheartened; for now, she was more interested in deepening her bond with the pretty brunette than trying to tempt the admittedly stunning but snobbish Lyric.
Her parents came to visit her early into her stay, asking again that she send a message to Zafirah telling her to return to the desert. Dae refused. It was clear they were getting more anxious, more desperate, and Dae took this as an indication her wife was drawing near. After their visit, the priests added their own arguments to try to get her to relent and write the letter, but again Dae calmly explained that even if she did as they wanted, it would not change the situation. Zafirah was coming…and nothing she could do would alter her course.
She hoped that when the Scion finally arrived, her father would be forced to see reason and let her return to the Jaharri. As much as she was enjoying this time with her new friends—and as much as she still hoped to improve her seductive skills by leading a few of the women in the reformatory to her bed—Dae yearned to be back in the desert, in the arms of her love.