Kiyoka, Douaga and beyond

[Drusia]

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?" she asked with uncharacteristic shyness as the priestess of Anilis drew near. The sunlight was still at the reduced levels of dawn, but it more than sufficed to reveal a slight blush to her cheeks.

"Well enough," I reply. I give her - and Anfisa, who joins us - a tired smile. "I'm sorry we couldn't finish our lesson yesterday. I was having a good time."

I'd like to hear how she was enjoying things - or how they both enjoyed my story, even if I couldn't get all the way to the end of it - there was so much to tell! - but Tim chooses that moment to join us.

"Ah. Ladies. A moment. Please." He spoke softly. "Abooout...being here. This temple. The hearing. Veracia. Anywhere. Our customs, our ways, how we are -- "
"What I'm trying to say is - it's very, very bad manners here to talk forward. Forwardly. About...conjugal acts, things like that. In detail. Espeeeecially when it's - strange. Like women and women. Or beasts. Where you're from, it's maybe polite. Here it it's not polite. Especially in polite company. Like priests and all. And also in public." He spread his hands. "Don't. Modesty matters here - like in dress and also in talk - so we cover our speech the way we cover our bodies. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before."
"Anyway, I've been punished for it. Please don't. At the hearing. If it comes up. Just don't. Also after that. Better for everyone - and Rose included."

"Yes Tim," I reply, sighing. "I'm aware of Veracian and Luminosan ways. We get a lot of our immigrants from Veracia - enough that we keep a small shrine to Luminosa for those who aren't ready to convert. I was trying to annoy him. He was being a jerk - I didn't want story time, I wanted to show Therese and Anfisa how to dance. If he wanted to provide us with a space where we wouldn't distract people from their prayers, fine, but instead he tried to manipulate me. So I gave him exactly what he asked for - a story to pass the time. And trust me, that was the Veracian-friendly version - I cut out a lot of very graphic stuff. Details about the - how did you put it? - the 'strange conjugal acts.'" I hold up my hands and use my fingers to mime the quote marks.

"Trust me, I could have gone into far more detail if I chose - the stories I read as a child certainly did, and I have them pretty much memorized by this point." I cross my arms. "If he wanted me to stop, all he had to do was give us somewhere private to practice where we wouldn't bother anyone. Instead, he kept trying to play me. And - why in the world would he punish you? What control does he have over your-" I pause. And then I blanch.

"... that whipping earlier. He whipped you? For my story, that he asked for and... oh!" I turn, furious, towards the main building. "That passive-aggressive bastard! Punishing you because he wouldn't take a hint! I thought we were supposed to be guests here - that is not how you treat a guest." I turn back to Therese and Anfisa. "Come on. I'm sure we can find an inn in town where we're welcome. And Tim," I add, turning to him. "You did nothing wrong. You have nothing to atone for." I place me hand on his shouder, as if reassuring, and channel Anilis's healing.

"That was my fault," I say, reading his expression, "So it was my right to heal it. If that jerk wants to whip me, let him try." I turn and walk away - I hope Anfisa and Therese are following.

-- Desiree

[Alberich]

Tim flinched back from the healing, hissing with anger. His worst suspicions, confirmed!

"So you go into a foreign country, knowing its mores, and offend them on purpose? You know Veracia is administered by the priesthood, yet you offend a Father on purpose? Because of your 'I want this' and 'I want that'? You're not a princess here. We got rid of our kings a long time ago. There are no princesses, and even if there were, you wouldn't be one! 'I want something and I'm not getting it' - is no excuse, whatsoever, for you to flout our ways like that. Ever!"

He bit back a comparison with Eli, who had a way of letting his "feelings" get in the way of observing the basic decencies in a foreign country.

"Would you have offended those..." -- he struggled for a word, with a side glance at Anfisa -- "...Gorielians, when you were playing at their games, because you wanted something else? Or did you pay them respect because they'd beat you if you didn't?"

This fit too well with what he'd seen of Drusia - elves respecting force, and bullying, and nothing else above their own whims. Easy to believe they were related!

He pointed at her would-be healing hand. "And no interfering with our rites of penance either. That's our religion, and absolutely none of your business. That is not your call to make!" His finger jabbed down at the ground.

"We try to be good hosts. I don't think you know what it means to be a guest!" He wanted to whirl and walk. But he stayed and glared to see if Desiree had more peevishness to air.

[Drusia]

"So you go into a foreign country, knowing its mores, and offend them on purpose? You know Veracia is administered by the priesthood, yet you offend a Father on purpose? Because of your 'I want this' and 'I want that'? You're not a princess here. We got rid of our kings a long time ago. There are no princesses, and even if there were, you wouldn't be one! 'I want something and I'm not getting it' - is no excuse, whatsoever, for you to flout our ways like that. Ever!"
"Would you have offended those..." -- he struggled for a word, with a side glance at Anfisa -- "...Gorielians, when you were playing at their games, because you wanted something else? Or did you pay them respect because they'd beat you if you didn't?"
He pointed at her would-be healing hand. "And no interfering with our rites of penance either. That's our religion, and absolutely none of your business. That is not your call to make!" His finger jabbed down at the ground.
"We try to be good hosts. I don't think you know what it means to be a guest!"

"The Gorielians treated me with respect!" I snap back. "Which is apparently more than the good Father could manage. He tried to trick me, like I was a simpleton or a child. I went to him in humility and asked for a place and time where we wouldn't be offensive, and rather than giving me on or denying my request outright, he tried to play with me. He's the one who first opened that door. All I did was play his game. He got what he wanted - we didn't dance. But I made sure his victory cost him in embarassment."

I'm angry. At the Father, at Tim, at Veracia - even at myself, a bit, for letting myself get so upset about this. Yesterday I was scared of smitings - now I'm practically inviting one. Speaking of which -

"And that," I say, jabbing Tim's shoulder, "Is only penance if you volunteered for it or did it yourself. If the 'good' Father ordered it, then it's not penance - it's punishment. Petty punishment at that. The 'good' Father probably wished he could have me whipped instead."

I wonder, suddenly, if that's what this is really about. My story about whipping cortessans got the priest all hot and bothered, and he worked out his frustrations on Tim. That's... actually rather possible. It might even explain why he didn't ask me to stop.

Part of me really, really wants to suggest to Tim that the 'good' Father just used him as a sexual proxy for me. I could tell Tim how my story made the Father hard, how it made him want me, and how he had Tim beaten instead while pleasuring himself in private. I know it would be petty and cruel - and Tim's pissed me off enough that hurting him like that is tempting.

But he took a whipping for me. It is possible that Tim has just been raped by proxy and doesn't even know it. And that's... beyond awful.

I sigh. "Look, Tim - I didn't want to get you in trouble. Like I said, if you - YOU - really think you did wrong, then fine, enjoy your penance. But if you think that the Father took out on you what was meant for me, then let me heal you. As much as you annoy me, you've been a good friend to me when it counted. I don't want to see you punished because of me. Either way - I'm leaving. I'll stay at an inn." And stay out of your way.

-- Desiree

[Alberich]

Tim's fingers clenched when Desiree poked his shoulder, rousing the urge to slap her hand away. But before his training had come his upbringing, and part of that was - you didn't hit girls. You just didn't. Not even a little. So he didn't.

He'd never thought she could be so purblind. When she finished her self-indulgent spiel, he kept his voice even but his anger was obvious. "You haven't understood Father Pincus at all. He didn't treat you like a child. You acted like one. And you're doing it now! He treated you like a guest. If a guest asks for apple pie, and you don't have it, you offer him butter cake. And if he doesn't want it, he says so politely. That's not 'tricks' - that's good manners! And don't tell me how you think good manners should work. This is not your country!"

He really wanted to poke her shoulder back when he said that. But he refrained.

"When you couldn't have exactly what you wanted, he offered something else. So you came back with a slap in the face! That's rude even to a crossing-sweeper! Let alone a priest. No - you'd rather sulk about being bored and having nothing to do! If I ever come to your country and act like that - slice off my left hand!"

And now she ran to a wild exaggeration like all spoiled children when thwarted. So she thought the Gorielians treated her, a woman, with "respect!" More respect than she had here! Was there any other whore on earth so blind as to think that's what she was getting? But he did not voice these thoughts. That would take this argument down a darker road. Oh, and of course she wanted to flounce away. Same instinct.

He shook his head. "We have the hearing," he said. "And I doubt you could get ensconced in an inn before it starts. I'm going to give you some advice. No matter how peevish you're feeling at the members, don't try those games at the board. Even if they're not dancing to your tune! Or with anyone else while you're in this country."

One thing about being angry with her - it cooled his forbidden desires. At least while he stayed angry it did. This wasn't easy, though.

If she inisted on leaving, he'd ask her at least to check with Rose. He wasn't going to use force and he wasn't going to find those who could. But he knew a board like this had compulsory process for witnesses. Back home, that would've been the militia. Here? It might be someone more potent. He didn't want to find out and he didn't want Desiree to find out. He couldn't find himself wanting to see her hurt, or even sent back to that Goriel she'd grown so fond of.

But maybe this cool, omnicompetent Therese that Rose admired so much would talk sense into her, keep her under control, for the rest of her short sojourn. And devoutly he hoped it would be very short indeed!

[Graybeard]

"Desiree!" Therese called, her voice a little louder than she wished; one or two of the clergy poked their heads up to give her disapproving stares, before returning to their prayers.

She hurried after the half elf and put a hand on her arm. "Don't go anywhere now," she said quietly. "The last thing we want these people today to think is that we're trying to get away from them. If that happens, they'll come looking for us ... in force. We don't want that to happen." The shudder that was transmitted from her hand to Desiree's arm was entirely genuine.

-------------

Speaking of searches, there was a matter that Sister Rose wanted to discuss with Argus.

As soon as he opened the door to his cell, and the morning -- pleasantries were exchanged, she did a quick scan of his room, pausing to glance hopefully at what appeared to be a sack of laundry in the corner. Was something under it breathing? She hoped so.

"I think we should proceed with the plan that we discussed last night," she said, still eyeing the pile of clothes. "Harker's our best hope for finding Margot. Besides, it'll get him out of that panel's line of fire. We certainly don't want them questioning him..." Her own shudder was remarkably well synchronized with Therese's.

[Drusia]

"You haven't understood Father Pincus at all. He didn't treat you like a child.
So you came back with a slap in the face! That's rude even to a crossing-sweeper! Let alone a priest. No - you'd rather sulk about being bored and having nothing to do! If I ever come to your country and act like that - slice off my left hand!"

So much for my attempt at an olive branch. Well, if there was any doubt, Tim lacks any sense of sublty. He completely missed what was going on last night, only seeing the most surface version. Then again, what did I expect - he's so narrow minded, he sees what he wants to or expects to. Ugh. Never mind. We should never have come here. This really is the only place that treats women worse than Goriel - of all the stupid places to end up.

"I'll be at an inn," I repeat coldly, turning away from him.

"We have the hearing," he said. "And I doubt you could get ensconced in an inn before it starts. I'm going to give you some advice. No matter how peevish you're feeling at the members, don't try those games at the board. Even if they're not dancing to your tune! Or with anyone else while you're in this country."

"The hearing has nothing to do with me," I snap. "It's Luminosan business, and as you and Father Sadistic have made abundantly clear, I have no place anywhere near Luminosan business." I turn away again.

"Desiree!" Therese called. She hurried after the half elf and put a hand on her arm. "Don't go anywhere now," she said quietly. "The last thing we want these people today to think is that we're trying to get away from them. If that happens, they'll come looking for us ... in force. We don't want that to happen." The shudder that was transmitted from her hand to Desiree's arm was entirely genuine.

Her shiver cuts off my the sarcastic retort building on my lips. I turn away from her, embarassed, tears in my eyes.

"Fine," I say softly. "I can't imagine what use any of us will be at their stupid meeting, but fine. Let's just get this overwith. Then maybe we can get away from this stupid, backwards, country."

-- Desiree

[Graybeard]

"That's best," Therese replied. She started to release her hold on Desiree's arm ... but not yet.

"When all this is done," she continued, "perhaps we three --" she included Anfisa -- "can return to my own homeland." She produced a gentle smile. "I think it's more your kind of place."

[Alberich]

Anfisa had taken Desiree's other arm and stroked her cheek to comfort her. She also spoke softly. "Boy, they are stupid, aren't they? I think it was a lovely story. They don't know a good thing when they've got it! Only when you tell us stories later, put in all the parts you left out for these sissy-men..."

Tim didn't hear any of this. But he saw that Therese was able to check Desiree peacefully. If Therese had looked back at him, she'd've seen the gratitude in his face, anyway. He left with dignity. A couple of local priests asked him what'd been going on, if there was anything that needed attention. He was able to reply, truthfully, that nothing did.

And regardless of how the "princess" felt, if it meant she'd guard her tongue before she caused a diplomatic incident that her secret half-elf homeland could scarce afford, then the entire exchange had done some good.

[Drusia]

"That's best," Therese replied. She started to release her hold on Desiree's arm ... but not yet.
"When all this is done," she continued, "perhaps we three --" she included Anfisa -- "can return to my own homeland." She produced a gentle smile. "I think it's more your kind of place."

"That sounds like a lovely place to visit," I agree. And... well, we'll see. "I'd love to see some of your temples and learn more about your goddesses."

"Boy, they are stupid, aren't they? I think it was a lovely story. They don't know a good thing when they've got it! Only when you tell us stories later, put in all the parts you left out for these sissy-men..."

I smile a little at that. "Maybe when we get that inn room. Later." I sigh. I really don't want to go to this stupid hearing.

--Desiree

[Drannin]

Harker peeked his head up out of the pile of blankets. "I'm looking for who now?"

Argus frowned at his familiar. "Where have you been exactly?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"... Never mind. I have a job for you."

"I heard. Who am I looking for?"

"Rose's sister."

Harker blinked. "Oh. Alright. Details?"

Argus gave him the rundown. Harker sighed in response. "Always the plum jobs, eh Boss? Okay, I'll see what I can do. And yes, I'll keep my head down." The familiar padded out of the room.

Argus watched him leave. "Well, with Harker on the job, all we can really do is... wait."