by Robin Roseau
“We’ll be right out,” she called back.
She turned to a bag on the seat beside her and withdrew a scarf, then, a moment later, some sort of complicated bit of leather. I stared at it. She said nothing, and so finally I said, “You would prefer I volunteer to wear whatever that is.”
“I admitted I’m being overly cautious.”
“I made a promise to obey you,” I pointed out. “If you order me to accept it, I have to accept it.” She said nothing, waiting, and finally I nodded. “Ridiculous. You know this is ridiculous.”
“I know,” she said. She slipped to my side of the coach. I held still while she figured out which way was the front, then pulled the straps of leather over my head. There were buckles and then I even heard little locks click closed.
“Please tell me you know where the keys are.”
“Too late to ask now,” she said. “Would it be so bad if I kept you like this all the way to Charth?”
“Hard to play cards, and I like looking at you.”
“You say the sweetest things.”
“I can’t believe you’re making me do this in public.”
“But you’re okay in private?”
“We don’t have that kind of relationship.”
“It appears we do,” she said, and then she caressed my face. “This is very sexy, you know.”
“You like the helpless look?”
She took my question seriously. “Sometimes. You?”
I turned my head towards her. I’m not sure why. I couldn’t see a thing. “I don’t know. I’ve never been on either side of anything like this.”
“Never?”
“Never.”
She brushed my cheek again. “I’m not trying to hurt you, or even embarrass you,” she said gently.
“I know,” I whispered.
“I know you’re a little upset. I don’t know how to make this easier for you.” She gave a little laugh. “I see you like this, and you can imagine what I start thinking about. I’m sorry, Allium. I’m not sure Olivia really thought about the implications. I didn’t really think about your reaction until the reality set in. I only thought about how to achieve what she asked.”
“It’s fine, Lisolte,” I said.
“Are you ready?”
“Sure.”
She helped me from the carriage. After that I clung to her arm. Lisolte was very careful with me. She told me, “Cobblestones.” Then she said, “Step up. Boardwalk.” I felt with my foot for that. “Doorway, I’ll go first.” Then she led me by my hands as she walked backwards. We took a few more steps and she said, “Chair.” She helped me into it. “I’m going to see what they have near your size. This is all casual clothing, but it will be warmer than what you’re currently wearing, and it comes as layers, so you can take some of it off when you get warm or add more if you’re cold.”
“I’ll stay right here.”
“Thank you.”
It took some time. From the sounds of it, Lisolte was picking several outfits, and then she came to me and took my hands. “I’m going to help you in the dressing room.”
“I knew you wanted to get me naked.”
“You know me well.”
I let her do what she wanted. In the end, she bundled me up quite warmly then set me back in the chair.
Some time later, we were back in the carriage. Lisolte sat beside me and removed the leather.
I looked down at my clothing. It was a style I’d never worn in my life, although common enough. “Thank you,” I said.
“It’s not how I see you,” she replied. “But it’s what we could get before reaching Charth, and you’ll be warm.”
“Thank you,” I repeated.
“You look nice.”
I turned to her. She carried a worried expression. “Lisolte,” I said. “You’re taking care of me. Thank you.” I leaned over and kissed her cheek. She still had the leather headdress thing in her lap. I took it from her and looked at it. “How does it go?”
“This is the front,” she said.
Then she held still as I lowered it over her head, but she said, “I’m not giving you the locks.”
“I just want to see.” I adjusted it then did the little buckles. She accepted everything, although she seemed very tense about it. I finished and then looked at her carefully. “Why did you let me do this?” I whispered. “You’re upset.”
“I’m not upset,” she said.
“You’re all tense.”
“I’m not upset,” she said. “I feel like… I don’t know. Like I’m your jailor or something.”
“I’m here of my own free will.”
“I’m not treating you remotely how you expected to be treated.”
“As I didn’t even realize I needed an escort, you’re right. So?”
“This is a poor introduction to my country.”
“Do you know how beautiful you are?”
“What does that have to do with it?”
“Do you, Lisolte?”
“I have nice hair,” she said. “I’m not beautiful.”
I brushed her cheek. “This thing ruins the lines of your hair. I’m taking it off you.” She held still while I did it. I handed it back to her then combed her hair with my fingers. “I’m here, with you. I imagine I’m going to have your nearly undivided attention for a few days. While we’re not lovers, and we aren’t going to become lovers until we figure out what’s going on with this custom thing of yours, we do have a kissing relationship.” And with that, I leaned forward and gave the corner of her mouth a little kiss.
“Lisolte, I’ve never had anything like this. It’s all so new to me. Do you know? The last time someone saw to my comfort, I think I was about 9 years old. I have friends, but the realities of life mean I’ve grown distant from most of them. I have my career. They have husbands and children.” I made a grand gesture. “What goes on out there? The world we’re passing through: right now, it doesn’t exist. This right here is our world.” I gestured again. “There’s you and me. There’s the motion, and the sounds. But otherwise, there’s you and me. Right now, that’s not just my world, it’s our world. You’re stuck here with me, after all.”
She smiled, but it was ragged. “I’m afraid.”
“That I’m going to misbehave?”
“No. Allium, I really like you. This custom-” I pressed my fingers to her lips, but she pulled them away. “You’re going to be shocked,” she said. “I promise you. Allium, I promise you. We’re not tricking you. This is something we all do. We all have our first time. I was sixteen, and I’d been looking forward to it for several years. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve done it since. I think by now, I’ve been a guide more than a, um, participant, but I haven’t counted. Nearly all of us would tell you exactly the same thing. Okay, Lady Olivia has definitely been a guide more. But you know what I mean.”
“Lisolte, it’s okay.”
“No, it’s not. You’re going to be shocked. I can’t begin to tell you how much I want to be your guide. And I’m terrified you’re going to hate me and run back to Flarvor as fast as your horse will take you.”
I took her hands. “I won’t hate you. I don’t know how I’m going to respond to the custom, but I won’t hate you.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Would you hate me?”
“No, but our worlds are different. I’d hate your life. Imagine if the situation were different.” She looked away for a minute, thinking. “Okay. For example, picking something drastically different than what I’m accustomed to. Imagine that, in order to do business in Flarvor, I had to offer authority to a man. I don’t know that I’d hate you if you carted me all the way there before you told me, but I’d be angry with you, and I wouldn’t stay.”
“Well, I’m going to take a lesson from Lady Olivia. I’m not going to make promises if I’m not entirely positive I can keep them. But I can make this promise: I’m not going to hate anyone. You can imagine I’ve tried to
figure out what this could be, but nothing I’ve come up with makes any sense. You’ve done this. Kylia and Rishia look forward to doing it. I presume you enjoy both roles.”
“I do, although I’m to the point I probably will almost always only be a guide now.”
“That rules out just about everything I’ve been able to think of,” I said. “You’re all acting like I’m going to freak out, but I can’t think of anything that fits all the known information.”
“Well, I don’t want to talk about particulars, because…”
“You don’t want to give it away. I don’t want you to, either. If I just can’t bring myself to accept, then we’ll still be friends, but you’ll have to come to Flarvor now and again. Is that even possible?”
“It’s possible, but it could be years in between.”
“Which I realize, which means I’m motivated,” I told her. I tapped the leather. “I didn’t like this on you. I like your hair free like this.” I combed it with my fingers again. “How did I look?”
“Deeply, deeply sexy,” she said. “And then you let me dress you besides. Do you have any idea how hard it was not to take a few extra liberties?”
I laughed. “Anything you do to me, I have permission to do to you,” I told her. “Except this.” I tapped the leather once more. “Lisolte, you surprised me with some of this, and I had to absorb it a little. But I’m happy I’m here with you. All right?”
She smiled. “All right.”
* * * *
And so, we journeyed. We played games. We talked. We flirted. We flirted a lot. Whenever we stopped somewhere, she blinded me, and I pretended I was better with it than I really was.
But she doted on me, and yes, she took a few liberties, which I enjoyed and encouraged.
At night, we slept at inns, sharing a bed. Once the door was closed and locked, she removed the blindfold, replacing it in the morning. We didn’t become lovers, but we did kiss and cuddle.
And through all this, most especially when we kissed, or when I woke with her arms around me, or when she took a few of those little liberties, I rotated through three thoughts. What if I couldn’t go through with this custom? If I did, how was I going to choose a guide? And the biggest: how could I ever go back to a life without this, without Lisolte, and Olivia, and Claary, and Bee and Dee?
I didn’t have answers.
It wasn’t the journey I had anticipated, but long before we reached Charth, it had become a journey I relished.
Chapter Ten
“It’s time,” Lisolte announced.
“What is the plan?”
“We’ll find Olivia. She’s most likely at Government House. I’m not sure what happens after that.”
I thought about it. “I have obeyed every order.”
“You have,” she agreed.
“I wasn’t a bitch about it.”
“No, you weren’t. Are you worried about my report to the duchess?”
“No. I’m worried about my presentation on arrival. Please, is there some way I could bathe and change clothing?” She paused, and I saw her going through the possibilities. “You must have public baths. You can still blindfold me. It won’t ruin the leather if it gets a little wet. I’d prefer to be able to wash my hair, but I understand.”
“Yes, we have public baths, but I don’t want to explain why we can’t use them. I could take you home with me, but it would be hours before we’d have hot water.”
“Just a sponge bath would be better than nothing.”
“I think I can give you a choice, but it might take a couple of stops. I’m sorry. We need to do this part first.” She lifted the leather, and once I nodded, she pulled it over my head. She did the buckles, working more carefully than she might normally, and then the locks.
I turned towards her. “Thinking of getting me naked like this and bathing me?”
“I wasn’t,” she replied. She gave a little groan. “I am now.”
I laughed. “So. Choices?”
“My home has been shut down while I’ve been gone.”
“No hot water.”
“Right. So I can offer you that sponge bath. Or, if you’re willing to be seen by a few more people, I can take you to the home of a friend.”
“So a bunch of people are going to watch me bathe?”
“No. But a few people might see you blindfolded like this.”
“Half of Ressaline has seen me,” I said. “I’m sorry to be such trouble.”
“You’re not trouble,” she said. “Do you mind if I bathe with you?”
“No. But we’re not playing find the little ducky.”
“We’re not playing what?”
I laughed. “Never mind.”
“Oh, no,” she replied. “What is this game we’re not paying?”
“It’s just a joke.”
“Uh huh. Keep going. That’s an order.”
“It is not an order!”
“It certainly is.”
“Fine, but now we’re really not playing,” I said. “It’s something a friend of mine said about her husband. I didn’t ask for details. But she said he liked it when they played find the little ducky while bathing together. As it was a little ducky and not a monster ducky, I presume it was her ducky they were talking about and not his.”
“First: eww.” I laughed. “Second: I don’t understand.”
“I think you do.”
“About this size thing. Why do you presume it was hers and not – eww – his?”
It took me a second and then I began laughing. Hard.
“It’s not funny.”
“It’s really funny,” I said. “You really don’t know what I’m talking about.”
“I can figure it out, but I don’t understand about size.”
“Guys think all that matters is size.”
“Well, that’s just stupid. Isn’t it? Okay, not that I would know. But there are practical limits. And it’s not size that matters, but technique.”
“You’re overthinking it,” I said. “It was just a joke.”
“An eww joke.”
“Are you telling me you have no interest in looking for my little ducky?”
“Now you’re teasing.”
“We’ve both been teasing for days. In case you still don’t get it, it’s down here.” And I reached for her crotch, but she caught my hand.
“Wrong little ducky there, Allium!”
“So you do know what I’m talking about.”
We tussled a little. I let her win, and she wrapped her arms around me, holding me tightly for a moment. Slowly, we settled. And then she got to her feet. I heard the window open and screeched from the draft of cold air. She yelled out, “Take us to the Baby Blanket Inn.” She closed the window. “Sorry.”
“That’s Claary’s place.”
“That’s right,” she said. “We’re going to ask her to solve this puzzle for us. Do you mind if she sees you?”
“No.”
“Excellent.”
* * * *
We came to a stop. “You may wait here, or you may come inside with me and let all sorts of strangers see you.”
“How frightful do I look?”
“You don’t look at all frightful,” she said.
“It’s just an inn like the other inns you’ve paraded me through,” I said. “Maybe we can get something warm to drink.”
“I think we can arrange that.” So she helped me from the coach, spoke briefly to our driver, and then wrapped an arm around me for a short walk.
From the sounds, the inn wasn’t empty. Lisolte helped me to a seat then said, “Is Claary here?”
“I think she’s in her office,” said a woman with a Charthan accent. “I’ll go get her.”
“Thank you.”
Lisolte took a chair to my right and then collected my hand. We sat quietly while I tried to overhear the conversations around us. When I could make out words, I realized they were quietly talking about me, or at least the people co
ming through most clearly were.
“Tell them it’s a new custom from Flarvor,” I said.
She laughed. “I’m not telling them that.”
“I think you should.”
“If I tell them that, they’re all going to hop the next coach south. Then they’ll search your entire country for another you, and we both know you’re one of a kind. They’ll eventually come back here, disappointed, and blame me for it.”
“You’re probably right,” I said.
“Are you hungry?”
“A snack might be nice. Is fruit hard to get? I’ve heard that it’s hard to get fruit in Ressaline.”
“Well, in winter in Ressaline City, it can be quite dear. But we’re in Charth, and it’s still harvest season.”
“Could we get a little fruit to share? And maybe warm cider? Something like that?”
“Of course.”
I heard footsteps and then the same voice said, “Claary will only be a moment. Would you like something while you wait?”
Lisolte ordered for us. The service was very efficient, and Lisolte was sliding slices of apples past my lips by the time I heard fresh footsteps and Claary said, “Lisolte! Allium! You made it.”
I carefully stood and accepted a hug. “This is a good look on you,” she said.
“The clothing or the headgear?”
“The entire ensemble,” she said with a laugh. Then she helped me sit. I heard her hug Lisolte, and then the two alternated who fed me and helped me find my cider.
“Well,” Claary said. “I bet you’re here for more than a bite to eat.” At that, Lisolte explained about baths before meeting with Olivia.
“Ah, say no more.”
“I want to speak with you privately first, Claary,” Lisolte added.
“Um. Sure.” I listened as the two stood. They were gone for a minute before they both sat back down again. “I sent someone to see to it. We have time to finish feeding you. Did you want more cider?”
“A half glass more would be nice.” She saw to that, then I made a point of looking around. “I like what you’ve done with the place.”
They both laughed. I still had the headgear on, after all, and couldn't see a thing.
“I’d show you, but Lisolte won’t give me the keys,” Claary replied. “Olivia’s taking this too far. She did the same thing with Yearly and Tess.”