by Robin Roseau
“For now,” Dee said.
Tess laughed. “For now,” she agreed.
Yes, they squealed their pleasure.
* * * *
We collected together in one of the sitting rooms. I found myself on a sofa, cuddling with Lisolte. Opposite us were Olivia and Kylia. From time to time, Kylia also reached out with her feet and played footsie with me, which only caused chuckling from Olivia and Lisolte.
Tess was sandwiched between Dee and Bee, although the slaves periodically got up to serve drinks or see to other needs.
Once we were settled, Olivia asked, “So you’re a professional comedienne?”
“Not the way you mean,” Tess replied. “It’s not like I get paid.”
“You didn’t get paid?” Lisolte said. “Because you left with us?”
“No, no. I do it for fun.”
“Then what do you do for a job?” Kylia asked.
“I’m a tutor. Well, an out-of-work tutor. I made a mistake.”
“Did you?” Olivia asked. I didn’t think it was at all as casual as she was pretended. “Are you a good tutor?”
“I think so. The hardest part of teaching children is holding their attention and getting them enthused to learn. If you can accomplish that, you can teach them anything. Well, I’m very good at that. I use a combination of logic, humor, and empathy.”
“We had tutors,” Dee said. “None of them were funny.”
“We would rather have had you,” Bee said.
“You hired tutors for them, Lady Olivia?”
“No. If you want to understand how that works, we’ll explain. In Charth.”
“Was that an invitation?”
“Perhaps,” Olivia said. “You were talking about your mistake.”
“Was I?” Tess asked. “Perhaps I was. My latest posting was to teach three children, two daughters and a son. The younger daughter and son were good students. The elder daughter was impervious to all my efforts. She did the least she could to avoid parental backlash, and she seemed to be quite attuned to exactly how much effort that required.”
“That doesn’t seem very smart,” Bee said.
Tess gave her a little one-armed hug. “You’re right. It’s not. I tried logic, explaining why she should care. I tried humor. I even tried bribes, which I hate doing. I did everything I could to make it fun, but she was quite good at turning everything around.”
“What happened?”
“One day, she made a joke. It wasn’t the first time. But it may have been the first time the joke wasn’t about me, her siblings, or something derogatory about the material we were studying. We were discussing a recent government project, and she made a joke, but one based on supporting the project. I didn’t really think. I took the opposite position and made my own joke. She laughed and asked a question, and then she fired another joke back. It was actually a rather good joke. I responded, and we went back and forth a few times.”
“You got through to her,” Olivia said.
“And then I heard a cough behind me. I didn’t realize it, but their father was a strong advocate for the program, and I’d been taking the opposite position, and making his children laugh about it. I was out the door three minutes later.”
“But you were only trying to connect with his daughter!” Bee said.
“Yes, well. I shouldn’t have bothered, because she watched from the window, and she was beaming widely and waved happily. She’d engineered the entire thing.”
“That wasn’t very nice!” Bee said.
“It’s going to haunt her,” Dee added.
“She expects to live off her parents and then to use her good looks to acquire a rich husband. But based on her mother, she is going to have a very narrow window to accomplish that.”
Several of us chuckled.
We talked for a while. Tess didn’t dominate the conversation, but she could be quite funny. At one point, she got Bee and Dee laughing and kept them laughing for several minutes. Olivia watched all this, holding a smile.
Eventually Tess asked, “What else have you been doing since you arrived.”
“We saw a show,” Dee said. “She died!”
“We thought it was real,” Bee added.
She snapped her gaze to Lady Olivia. “I believe I know which show.”
“Do you know Ms. Chrome?”
“Yearly? Yes.” Her eyes widened. “Olivia, did you have plans for two nights from tonight?”
“We’re not sure,” Olivia replied. “Ms. Chrome has invited us to an event. I haven’t decided yet if I should accept.”
Tess began laughing. “Oh, I do hope you do.”
“Why is that?”
“I do not normally get paid as a comedienne.”
“So you said.”
“I’ve been hired for the night in question.”
“Oh?” Olivia asked. “To do what?”
“I wasn’t told whom, but I am to pick on a particular lady, although not in a way I am likely to anger her.” She sighed dramatically. “I’m going to have to decline.”
“I am unsure why.”
“I think we both know whom the lady is expected to be.”
“It is an assumption,” Olivia said. “But we could be leaping to incorrect conclusions. So?”
“I am very good at this, Olivia.”
“And?”
“Olivia, I am sitting here, accepting attention from Bee and Dee while drinking your excellent liquor. You have offered friendship. And now I’m supposed to abuse that?”
“Is that what is intended? Abuse?”
“I think it’s meant in fun,” Tess said. “But at the same time, it’s supposed to bite. Yearly didn’t tell me what she’ll be doing. She’s perfectly capable of playing the role in question. I don’t know if she intends to overwhelm you with numbers or do just the opposite?”
“Pretend to defend me?”
“Yes.” Tess smiled again. “But I’m better than she is.”
“I have no doubt,” Olivia replied.
“Olivia, it wouldn’t be the first time she and I have teamed up on someone. Our victims have never rallied a proper defense, and frankly, while you may be more intelligent than we are, and you may think faster than we do, can you do so and remain funny?”
“Probably not. Victims?”
“Well… The last time it was a guy who tried to grab my chest,” she said. “I was going to start screaming, but Yearly started on him first, and I was able to recover. We made him look like an idiot, and in a way that his wife found out about it without us having to actually say what he did. Everyone else told her for us. The time before that was a sort of challenge, a couple of the other actors who thought they could outdo us. They started picking on Yearly, and they were being nasty about it.”
She shrugged. “We’ve also engaged in proxy battles with each other, with each of us coaching someone else. That can actually be a lot of fun for everyone.” She turned and kissed the top of Dee’s head, then turned the other way to do the same with Bee. “Frankly, I’d rather feel free to enjoy your hospitality, guilt free.”
Olivia paused, and then I saw her come to a decision. “Tess, what are you doing now? You’re unemployed.”
“It all happened last week,” she said. “I haven’t had a chance to line up anything else.”
“What are your living arrangements?”
“Normally I live with my clients. I’m currently staying with a friend. If this goes on for more than a couple of weeks, I’ll need to make arrangements.”
Olivia smiled broadly. “So you have fallen into my lap without a single entanglement.”
“Currently I seem to be in Bee and Dee’s laps. I suppose that still means yours.”
“Yes, it does,” Olivia said. “I am momentarily the Duchess of Charthan. I would like you to come to Charth with us. I will pay your expenses. Interested?”
“What would I do in Charth?”
“Learn about us,” she said.
“I ow
n several establishments,” Claary said. “I can give you paying opportunities, but not every night, and I don’t know if I can pay what you make here.”
“I would have asked Claary about that in private,” Olivia continued. “I will provide your basic living expenses, which in my mind is a roof and meals. You may find tutoring opportunities, but I have no children, so I can’t make that promise.”
“You want me to come for an extended period?” Tess asked.
“Well, it’s more complicated than that,” Olivia said. “There is a particular custom. The queen has ordered that all foreigners working inside our borders must undergo this tradition. Kylia and Rishia have done so.”
“What custom?”
“I will tell you in Charth.”
“That’s the answer they gave me, too,” I said.
“We do it again every time we go,” Kylia said. “Even though we aren’t required to. We look forward to it.”
“They’re quite mysterious about it,” I said.
“It appears so,” Tess said.
“If you decline, then I will cover your return expenses and pay you, say, three months of your salary,” Olivia said. “That will give you ample opportunity to pursue work here. On one condition?”
“Don’t talk about the custom I turned down?”
“Yes.”
“So mysterious,” Tess said.
“As for the duration of your visit: that will be up to you. If you wish to stay for a limited period before returning to Flarvor, that is one choice. If you wish to remain in Ressaline, you will be subject to all our laws.”
“And why do I think you’re going to be mysterious about those, too.”
“Because I am,” she said.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Cultural exchange. I expect you to use your evenings at Claary’s establishments to not only entertain, but also educate. If and when you return here, I would hope you would use what you learn to paint us in a positive light. At the very least, you would have a more accurate understanding of our culture, so you would be able to use that when you teach future children.”
“Excepting this mysterious custom.”
“No. Our agreement on that is only in effect if you decline to participate. We would prefer only those who have participated to discuss it.”
“So mysterious,” Tess said a third time. “Duchess, I would love to accept.”
“Excellent,” Olivia said.
And from either side of her, Bee and Dee clapped happily. “Does this mean we get to keep her, Olivia?”
“That will be Tess’s choice,” Olivia replied. “If she wishes to play tonight, you may play, but we’re not done talking yet.”
Both girls squealed and immediately turned their attention back to Tess. “You know you’re going to say ‘yes’,” Dee said, batting her lashes. “Struggling will do you no good at all.”
“I bet she likes struggling, Dee,” Bee said. She pulled Tess’s face towards her. “That’s okay. We’re very good with rope.”
Tess laughed. “You think so, do you? I think you’re really telling me you like being the one tied up.”
“I like everything,” Bee said.
“We have to behave for a little while longer,” Dee said. She snuggled in. Bee looked at her sister and then snuggled from the other side. Tess looked back and forth and then turned her gaze on me.
I smiled sweetly. “Have fun.”
“I haven’t agreed yet.”
“I don’t think they’ve really turned on the charm yet, either,” I countered.
“Duchess, tomorrow I’ll tell Yearly I won’t be able to help her.”
“Actually,” Olivia said. “I want you to keep your commitment to her, and play it however she asks you to.”
“And if it goes badly, change teams halfway through?”
“No. Are the two of you friends?”
“We’re friendly,” she said. “It’s not the same thing.”
“I know it’s not,” Olivia said. “So I can trust you?”
“Are you about to tell me something juicy you don’t want to tell her?” Olivia didn’t answer until Tess said, “I’ll honor your secrets, Olivia.”
“I want to give her the chance to show us what kind of person she is. Will she know we’ve met?”
“I don’t know. Word gets around, but you know how rumor works. It starts as truth on one end and comes out unintelligible on the other.”
“Well, use your judgement. Girls, do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Yes, Olivia,” said Dee. “But Ms. Chrome is very nice. We should bring her with us when we leave.”
“Dee,” said Olivia. “I know she seemed nice, but she was playing a role last night.”
“Olivia,” asked Dee, “when was the last time Bee and I were wrong about someone?”
Olivia smiled. “Girls, if you can convince her to say ‘Yes’, you may play with Tess now, but you need to take her somewhere more private.”
“I think Allium wants to watch,” Bee said.
“I do not!” I said with a laugh.
“I know Bess does,” Dee said.
The woman in question laughed. “They’re not often wrong, Olivia.”
Bee and Dee looked at each other, and then they shifted position, each tossing one leg over one of Tess’s legs, straddling her while looming over her. They pushed her back further into the sofa and then Bee began kissing her while Dee leaned in to whisper into her ear.
No one said a word. Yes, I watched, although I felt myself blushing. Lisolte tightened her arms around me.
And then Bee lifted from Tess. Both of them were panting, and Tess whispered, “Okay.”
“You have to say ‘Yes’,” Dee said, loudly enough for everyone to hear. “We can’t play until you say ‘Yes’.”
“Yes,” Tess said.
“Grab her, Bee,” Dee said. “Don’t let her get away.” Without releasing their grips on her arms, they slipped from her lap and pulled her to her feet. Then they began dragging her towards the door as she gave token, and barely even that, resistance.
“Dee,” Claary said. The three froze. “You may do anything you want to Tess.”
“Claary!” Tess complained.
The two slaves looked at Olivia, who nodded and said, “Until you wear her out. Then the three of you will sleep.”
“Come on, Dee!” Bee said, tugging on an arm. Tess giggled, rather loudly, as they pulled her from the room.
Olivia didn’t even look at me. “Nice color, Allium. Jealous?”
“I’m not entirely sure,” I said.
“Don’t think they haven’t noticed I haven’t given you to them yet,” Olivia continued. “You weren’t ready two nights ago, and last night, I didn’t want to share.”
“I’m not sure I’m yours to give away, Duchess.”
That was when she turned to actually look at me. “I’m not sure that was ‘No’.”
I looked into her eyes. “I don’t believe this conversation.”
“That wasn’t ‘no’, either. It wasn’t even a refusal to hold the conversation. How long do you intend to wriggle around noncommittally?”
I considered my words carefully and finally said, “On these issues I am, shall we say, the least experienced person in the room. Do you have any idea how inexperienced I am?”
“Are you about to suggest you remain a virgin?”
“To women, I am.”
“And your experience with… men?” She said that word as if it disgusted her. Perhaps it did.
“I am unmarried for a reason.”
“Because you realize what men are like and have been waiting for me to swoop in and offer you far more intriguing choices?”
Even I laughed at that. “That’s one possible explanation,” I said. “I’m not exactly what a man is looking for.”
“First off, that’s hogwash. And secondly, is it the men who have been particular, or you?”
“All right. You�
�re right about the second part, but I believe when it comes to men, I am one of the more experienced women in the room, and you are amongst the least.”
“You’re an attractive woman, Allium.”
“I don’t typically put in the effort I have been this week,” I said. “And I have an attribute that the men of Barrish find quite unattractive.”
“Do tell.”
“A brain I’m willing to use.”
They laughed, and then Olivia said, “And that’s another reason you’ve simply been waiting for me. Everyone in this room, as well as the two that just dragged Tess upstairs, appreciate a woman with a brain. And so?”
“And so, I’m fairly certain I don’t want my introduction to that with women to be a mirror of what we just witnessed.”
“All right,” Olivia said slowly. “What do you want?”
“I can’t believe we’re having this conversation.”
“I wonder how many others here are listening very, very closely, especially the woman holding you right now.”
“Yeah, pointing out that makes this easier for me.” I considered what I wanted to say. “All right. Fine. I don’t know what I want. I don’t have a clue, actually. Except I think I want slow, and gentle, and sweet. What we just saw looked like fun, but not for my first time, Olivia.”
She nodded then said gently, “Thank you for explaining.”
“Now, there is something I do know I want that I don’t mind telling you.”
“Oh, please do.”
“I very much enjoyed the dancing the other night.”
“We didn’t have a plan for that when we arrived, but I’ve arranged for the same musicians two nights before we go. The queen is hosting an event our final night. And we’ll host a similar dance when you come to visit.”
“Thank you, Duchess.”
“We enjoy it, too,” she said.
* * * *
We talked for a while, then I turned to Lisolte. “It’s late. I should go.” We stood. I offered “good night” to the others, exchanging tokens of affection with several of them. And then Lisolte took my hand, but we turned to the stairs. I knew what she wanted, or thought I did.
I let her lead me to her room, and when we arrived, with the door closed, I turned to her. “I love your hair,” I whispered.
“My most striking feature,” she said, giving it a fluff.