by Robin Roseau
“You’re quite stunning,” I said. “And I enjoy your company.”
“Why does it sound like you’re about to tell me ‘no’?”
“Let’s sit for a few minutes,” I said. I took her hand and led her to the bed. We both climbed up, and then I held her hand, staring at it. “You heard what I said earlier.”
“Yes, Allium.”
I looked up at her. “Let me say all of this.”
“I wouldn’t possibly hurt you.”
“I know,” I said. “I didn’t realize what I’m about to say, and maybe I’ll change my mind. For my first time, I think here, with you, right now, would be amazing.”
“But?”
“But you are one of three people who may be my guide for this custom no one will explain to me.”
“Mine is probably the third name on the list,” she said. “But yes.”
“Are the three of you offering, or are you getting to know me and you’ll decide if you’re willing to serve as my guide?”
“It would be very rare for anyone to turn down someone who asked her to be her guide,” Lisolte said. “There are reasons, but the most common reason is when a woman thinks the other woman is making a poor choice. Yes, we’re offering.”
“Whose decision will it become?”
“Yours, or if you are unable to decide, Olivia will decide for you.”
“Can you tell me why your name is third, rather than all three of you as equal candidates?”
“I have served as a guide a number of times, including for Claary,” she explained. “And I am told that I am an especially good guide. But I have never been someone’s first guide. Olivia was Claary’s first guide, and Claary has been a first guide for a number of people, including Kylia and Rishia. She and I have a different style, although if you like her style, you would like mine as well. There are special challenges when you are the guide for someone’s first time, and while I am fully confident I would be an excellent first guide for a Ressaline, we’re agreed that both Olivia and Claary are more experienced. You and the other women of Flarvor represent something important to Olivia, and we want you to have our best.”
“So, you feel I should invite one of them.”
“We feel you should invite the person with whom you are most comfortable.” She reached out and brushed my cheek. “And it should be someone with whom that sort of touch feels good to you.”
I collected her hand and pressed it against my cheek, then closed my eyes. She shifted slightly closer, but she simply held my cheek. After a moment, I sighed, opened my eyes, and looked at her. “If we become lovers, then I don’t know if I can ask you to be my guide,” I said. “I-” I gave her a pointed look-over. “I don’t know what to do,” I whispered. I kissed the palm of her hand and pressed it to my cheek again. “I want this, but then I don’t think I could pick you to be my guide, Lisolte. Tell me what to do.”
“Oh, Allium,” she said. “Let’s move here.” She shifted, drawing me after her, then arranged the pillows so we sat up in the bed, leaning against the headboard. She helped me get comfortable, and I snuggled into her side. Then I took her hand and pressed it to my cheek again, closing my eyes.
“I don’t know what to do,” I whispered again. “I really like you, and you feel so good.”
She caressed me, then turned and kissed the top of my head. “I wish Olivia would tell you the rest, but I understand why she is waiting. No, I won’t tell you.”
“I wasn’t going to ask.”
“I think I can safely say this: there are advantages to coming to this custom a virgin, or in your case, a virgin to women. I know that is what Olivia did. I very pointedly did not.”
“Which is better, yes?”
“There are also advantages to coming to it quite experienced.”
“That’s not very helpful.”
“I know,” she said. “I could not have done what Olivia did, but that is her story to tell, and I imagine she won’t tell you until we’re in Charth.”
“Still not very helpful.”
“I know,” she repeated. “Olivia wants you to have choices.” I kissed her palm again before taking it from my face and clasping it in both hands.
“Then we can’t,” I said. And I realized how disappointed I was. “Are you angry?”
“No, Allium,” she said. She shifted a little then lifted my face towards hers. “Can we still kiss?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
And so we did, and when the kiss ended, I threw my arms around her and held tightly. I felt like a little girl, but I was so overwhelmed by emotions, I could barely think straight. She stroked my hair and made soothing noises.
“What must you think of me?” I asked.
“I think you are very sweet, and I am pleased you haven’t run away from me,” she said. “Do you think we could have a slumber party? Do they have those here?”
I laughed. “Yes. I haven’t been to a slumber party since I was twelve.”
“Well, slumber parties in this room means you borrow night clothing from me. And then we climb into bed and hold each other while we talk.”
“And hold each other while we sleep?”
“Yes.”
“Everyone is going to assume.”
“Tomorrow, I will tell Olivia and Claary what you told me. Is that all right?”
“Yes, that’s all right.”
Chapter Seven
I didn’t have an official date for the night we attended the audience participation comedy event. Instead, Olivia asked if I would help Claary see to Bee and Dee. “They want to play, too,” she said. “Not a euphemism this time.”
“Olivia, what I told Lisolte?” She nodded. “You said if you become my guide, that Bee and Dee would help you.” She nodded again. “What I told Lisolte applies to them as well.”
“I already told them,” she said. “Does this mean we need to let someone else catch you for the dance?”
“No. It means that I don’t want to be seduced. No more than kissing and relatively tame touching.”
“I understand, and I don’t blame you.”
We rode five in the coach, as Olivia joined us. Dee announced, “This is a four-way date.” I looked at Claary. She smiled. I nodded. Bee and Dee clapped, and then Bee climbed into my lap then looked at Olivia.
“Remember what I told you.”
“We remember, Olivia,” Bee said.
“Then you may play up to those limits.”
Bee didn’t wait, and I found myself very thoroughly kissed. When finally I looked, Dee was doing the same with Claary.
Olivia chuckled.
But then we arrived. Bee brushed at my face for a moment before climbing from my lap. But it was Dee who took my hand once we climbed from the coach.
The event was dinner theater, and everyone received an envelope before being admitted to the dining hall. My four were pulled aside, and Ms. Chrome clustered us together conspiratorially. “I talked to Lady Olivia before we assigned these roles,” she said. “The four of you may talk about your roles, but then you should get into character. Do you know what that means?” She talked for a minute. Bee and Dee clapped happily and assured her they were there to have fun.
“Good. If you have questions, I can answer them. Review your material.”
She gave me an envelope that said Allium Cuprite and Dee. I saw the other said Claary Rosebush and Bee. Dee moved back to my side, and we opened the envelope together. “If there’s anything you don’t understand, you should ask,” I told her.
“I will.”
I discovered she and I were to be a married Ressaline couple. My character was born in Flarvor, but I had met Dee and immigrated to be with her. Dee hugged me and said, “You’re my wife!”
“That’s right,” I said.
“Claary and I are married, too,” Bee said. “This is going to be fun!”
“Bee and I are still sisters,” Dee said. “Claary introduced you to us.”
“The four of
us are in business together,” Bee continued. “We’re import/exporters. That’s like Kylia and Rishia!”
“It is,” Claary said. “Don’t say the next part out loud. It’s a secret.”
Bee and Dee put fingers over their mouths. I pointed to the secret, and Dee and I read together.
There was a plot to kill Queen Lisdee, and we were spies. We were to figure out the people involved in the conspiracy.
I whispered into Dee’s ear, “Do you understand?” She nodded. “How do you feel about that.”
She turned, grinning widely, then pulled my ear closer. “Bee and I would be the best spies. No one would suspect us.”
The rest of the information was more background and a few rules. I read through it then looked at Claary. “Is this potentially the political nightmare I’m afraid of.”
“Yes. Possibly worse.”
“Right. Excuse me.” I handed Dee our packet and went to find Yearly. I pulled her to the side and asked her, “Do you know our stories?”
“Yes.”
“Ms. Chrome.” I pulled her further away, then looked around.
“Bee and Dee can’t handle it?” she asked, her tone gentle. “Lady Olivia said to give them real roles.”
“That’s not the problem.” I leaned down and spoke quietly. “Do you have any idea what sort of political nightmare it would be if Lady Olivia acts in a play, even a made-up play like this, where she’s in a conspiracy to murder the queen?”
Just then I heard Olivia say, “What? You’re kidding.” Then she began laughing. I looked over in time to watch…
Tess wrapped a collar around Olivia’s neck. There was a leash attached. Olivia actually let her do it.
Yearly smiled and brushed her hands. “Do you have any other concerns, Allium?”
I stared at Olivia. “She’s not part of any conspiracy.”
“As will become nearly immediately obvious, if it’s not already, she is Tessarla’s slave.”
“I don’t think they use collars and leashes.”
“Yes, well. It’s symbolism.”
“Right,” I said.
“I don’t promise Tessarla isn’t part of the conspiracy. I don’t promise Slave Olivia doesn’t know about it.” She smiled. “Did you read the rules?”
“Yes.”
“So you saw the part about buying clues?”
I laughed. “Yes.” The price for a clue was being assigned to do something entertaining, as the rules stated.
“We’ll be kind to Bee and Dee, but that means we’re going to be hard on you and Ms. Rosebush.”
“They won’t want to be left out.”
“They won’t be,” she said. “But they’ll be assisting with the amusement, not the cause of it.”
I nodded. “Thank you for helping us look out for them, Ms. Chrome.”
“Anyone who makes poor progress towards their goals gets embarrassed horribly at the end,” she said. “And while it’s possible to make progress without buying clues, almost no one ever does.” She smiled. Woo! She was beautiful. “Have you ever done something like this before?”
“No. Do you have any tips?”
“Several. First, have fun. A lot of people have trouble when pushed outside their comfort zone, but that’s the entire idea tonight.”
“That’s been my entire week, but this is a new direction.”
“Two. Interact with as many other people here as you can, but don’t spend too much time with any one group.”
“Work the room.”
“Right. And three. Really get into your character. Some people like to play them over the top. That’s great and a lot of fun. Some people make it a caricature. We have ways of punishing you for that, although the people who do it probably don’t realize why we pick on them. Mostly, though, have fun. That’s why you came out tonight, after all.”
“I’ll try. Thank you, Ms. Chrome.”
“You’re welcome. Now, go kiss your wife.”
“I think I will.”
I turned and walked back towards the trio. I put some sway into it. By the time I arrived, all three were watching. I headed straight to Dee. “Hello, my lovely, lovely wife,” I said, drawing her into my arms. As she wrapped around me, I kissed her, deeply, and then hugged tightly.
She giggled lightly. “I like being your make-believe wife.”
“Dee, is this going to confuse you?”
“No, Allium,” she replied. She giggled again. “Are you going to whisper sweet things to me?”
“They’ll be in character,” I said. “But this one is real. You are truly lovely and sweet, and I could easily love you.”
She tightened. “Bee and I like you, too,” she replied. “In character now.” She pulled away slightly but clasped my face in both hands. “I love you, my wife.” She kissed me again, briefly this time, and then we turned to Bee and Claary. They had arms around each other, and Bee was smiling broadly. “We’re in character,” Dee said to her sister.
“I don’t have to be in character to tell my wife I love her,” Bee said. “But it’s fun to watch the two of you say it.” She shifted her gaze. “I love you, too, sister-in-law.”
I smiled. Okay, I’d been smiling. I smiled more widely. And I was pleased they both understood. But then I turned to Claary. “I think it’s okay.” I gestured my head towards Olivia.
Claary grinned. “That’s a good look on her.” Then she sobered slightly. “Bee. Dee. Tess doesn’t know how slaves are treated in Ressaline. Don’t be upset if she treats Olivia differently than she should. She won’t abuse her.”
“Olivia is Tess’s slave?” Dee asked. She laughed. But then she pulled my ear to her. “We need to stop this plot against the queen.”
“Yes,” I said. “We do.”
And we went to work on that.
* * * *
Being “married” to Dee was a heady experience. She was naturally very affectionate. I wasn’t, but feeling free to offer affection to her was liberating, and she appeared to entirely enjoy it. I discovered something about myself; I enjoyed offering affection. I quietly told her that, as part of my character, I wanted to dote on her, and so she let me do little things for her. I enjoyed that, too, and her obvious pleasure made it even more enjoyable.
We took Yearly’s advice; we worked the room, making one circuit and getting to know everyone else’s characters for the evening. Partway through, I realized something. I knew who the Ressalines were, and I knew Yearly and Tess were actors for the event, but I didn’t actually know who any of the other actors were, as ours wasn’t the only group here.
Amongst the men we met were two separate couples in which the man spoke with a Charthan accent. Both Claary and I noticed that, and it was Claary who commented on it when we spoke with the second couple.
“I lived in Charth,” he said. “I remember the day the Ressalines arrived.” He gave Claary a knowing look. “They kicked us out of the country and barely let us bring a thing with us.” But then he offered affection to his Flarvorian wife. “But I wouldn’t have met Meglie otherwise, and her family has treated me very well. I have a good job, a fabulous wife, and two young children.”
“I’m glad it turned out well for you,” Claary said. We spoke with them a minute longer before moving on, but Claary directed us to the side. She spoke quietly. “He recognized me.”
“Is that notable?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “We need to tell Bess.”
“What are the chances there would be two Charthan men here?”
“I don’t know. They had to go somewhere. How were they received?”
“With significant dismay,” I replied. “The Ressalines were not popular here. But it’s rare you hear about it anymore. I’m glad it wasn’t my set of headaches to solve.”
She nodded. “Where’s Bess?”
We found the major and quietly told her what we’d found. She nodded. “Don’t worry about this. We’re watching the two men. I don’t think they
’re going to cause any trouble. Neither of them is drinking alcohol, so at least we won’t have a pair of bitter drunks to handle.”
“You’re handling it,” Claary said.
“Consider it handled,” she said. “But thank you for bringing them to my attention.”
And so, we finished working the room before I said, “Yearly suggested we buy clues.”
“Yeah,” Claary said. She straightened. “Let’s get this over with.”
The price of our clue: Yearly sent us to the stage. Bee and Dee sang a song together. Claary and I had to act out what was happening in the song. Yearly told us the quality of the clue we received would be tied to the quality of our performance.
Even I was laughing long before the song was over, and Yearly gave us a pretty good clue.
* * * *
It was clear there were multiple threads going on in the room. Several times, I felt people were fishing for information from us, but we didn’t appear to be a part of whatever they were looking for, and they moved on to ferret out details from someone else.
Olivia spent the evening following Tess around, and I saw much tugging on the leash. If Olivia had an overall goal, I couldn’t detect any clues, but I thought she did a good job remaining in character, and she would have an opportunity to display her acting skills midway through the event, which I’ll get to in a moment.
Of course, we weren’t the only ones buying clues, and the prices people paid were universally deeply funny. A few people didn’t seem to entirely pour themselves into the games, but nearly everyone appeared to have a good time. My group of four spent much of the evening laughing, and when Dee and Bee declared it was time for us to buy another clue, Claary and I went along with it.
Yes, it was embarrassing, but Bee and Dee clapped their joy, and that made it far better.
We made progress. I had no idea if it was somehow intentional, but Dee overheard one of the Charthan men -- not the one who praised his wife, but the other man – in a whispered conversation, trying to convince someone that Queen Lisdee deserved some bad luck thrown her way.
And then Tess was murdered, and I was framed for it.
It happened while I was alone, seeing to personal needs. The outer door opened and closed hurriedly. I heard running feet, and then something slid across the floor, bumping into my foot. I picked it up, realized what it was, and then gave a little scream before dropping it.