Encircled

by Robin Roseau

  * * * *

  We spent the day helping with the events. There were several practice challenges, including two group events. We didn’t help with every event, but we were instrumental in perhaps half of them. Twice, the three of us were a team. Our job was to interfere with whichever team was doing the best. Another event was a tickle event, similar to one I’d once had with Jessla, but there were three women, not two.

  For our final event, we were each partnered with a challenger, helping to form three teams of two. My partner lost, but it was due to her own inexperience and not any failing on mine.

  Later, Olivia took us home. Gigi arrived shortly afterwards. We sat for dinner and then played until late.

  * * * *

  In all, Gigi kept me for two full weeks. On our last day, she stayed with me but warned me she’d be letting me go in the morning. I didn’t want her to let me go, but once enslaved, I’d never wanted to be released.

  We spent the day together. But then we did something unexpected after dinner. We gathered two of my slaves, Slip and La-la, and two of Gigi’s, Em and Vee, the two cousins who had once held temporary ownership of The Fairstreet Club. We brought them to the bedroom. I thought it would be to have some fun. I sat beside Gigi on the bed while the slaves clustered on the floor, looking up at us.

  Gigi told them what we were going to do and asked for volunteers. All four raised their hands. Gigi turned to me and said, “You pick one and I’ll pick one. We can do this again next year.”

  I stood and then offered my hand to La-la. I led her to the side of the room, kissed her, and told her, “I love you.”

  “I love you, too, Cee,” she said.

  “I want Slip to go first,” I said. “Do you understand?”

  She smiled and nodded. “But may I help?”

  “Yes, La-la. Everyone will be able to help.” We hugged and kissed once more.

  Gigi picked Vee but told Em she would go next year. And then, with the other slaves helping, we prepared Vee first. This involved Gigi, Vee, and me all removing our clothing. And then, using a device Gigi had especially prepared, Vee and I made love to Gigi. As she came, I felt the magic of the device.

  Once Gigi had recovered, it was my turn. She and Vee used the same device to make love to me, and as I came, I entered a state of deep bliss and satisfaction.

  Finally, we made love a third time, this time with Vee. And as she came, I felt a link grow between us.

  From there, all of us lay together for a while. Eventually, the slaves helped Vee to dress, and they led her to her bed, returning to us several minutes later. We were to do it again. This time, I was first, then Gigi, and Slip last.

  When it was done, Gigi kissed me deeply and said, “Now we wait.”

  In the morning, she freed me.

  Visitors

  Life was perfect. I was deeply in love with Gigi, and she with me. I was in love with Olivia, Dee, and Bee, and they with me. I loved Slip and La-la, and several other slaves. We had a happy household and happy businesses.

  Life was perfect.

  * * * *

  It was late. The Baby Blanket inn was growing quiet, and it was nearly time to lock up when the door opened, and several people stepped in. I looked up to see Olivia crossing the room, Gigi with her. I stood and accepted affection from both of them. “Did I forget something?” I asked.

  “No,” she said. “Sit. I just need a few minutes.”

  We took our seats. I offered refreshments, but Olivia declined. “I really only need a few minutes. I would like the two of you for dinner tomorrow, and between you, I want you to bring all your best pleasure slaves.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Play night?” She didn’t answer right away, and I grew nervous. “Olivia, what’s going on? Is this another game?”

  “Nothing bad,” she said. “And it’s a game, but I’m asking you to help me play it.”

  “I take it we won’t be your only guests.”

  “No. There’s a delegation from Flarvor.”

  “Okay,” I said slowly. “And?”

  “They wish to do business with us.”

  “That’s good, right?” Gigi asked.

  “Yes,” she said. “But Queen Lisdee has declared how she wants this handled.”

  “Okay,” I said again. “And?”

  She told us. I simply nodded. When she finished I said, “And you’re telling us this in pieces because?”

  “Because I would really like your help.”

  “And?”

  “And, I guess I didn’t know how you would react.”

  “You thought I’d have a problem with this?”

  “I wasn’t sure. You have at times been a voice of morality for me.”

  “Are you going to treat them honestly?”

  “Of course.”

  I smiled and looked at Gigi. She nodded, and so I told Olivia, “Tell us what you want us to do.”

  She did.

  * * * *

  We didn’t dress in our leather. Instead, we wore gowns. I brought six slaves with me, and Gigi brought four more. When I invited La-la, she asked if her sister could come as well. And so I collected Ti-ti from The Golden Tulip, changing her resin from blue with red piping to red with blue piping.

  Gigi and I weren’t the only Charthan Citizens. Lassa was there with Arr and Li-li. Lassa also wore a gown, and Li-li was in red. When she saw me, my sister squealed, glanced at Lassa, and then ran over to throw herself on me. We hugged tightly. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “You always thank me. You can stop, you know.”

  “I don’t know if I can,” she replied. “I’m just so happy, Claary.”

  “How’s the bakery?”

  “The bakery is great,” she replied. We hugged again before releasing each other.

  Then Lassa was there, having finished her hug with Gigi. We looked at each other, and I opened my arms. We hugged, and I whispered, “Please don’t order my sister to flirt with me tonight.”

  “For a price.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yep. You won’t mind.” And then she pulled away, but only a little, and set her hand on my cheek. Then she leaned in and began to kiss me.

  Li-li went nuts, squealing and clapping her hands happily. Lassa delivered a scorcher of a kiss, and I fanned myself afterwards, resulting in more laughing from my sister.

  I then exchanged similar greetings with Olivia, Bee, and Dee. After our kiss, Dee laughed in my ear, although it wasn’t clear what pleased her so. But she gave my ear a lick before releasing me. I held her for a moment longer and said, “I love you, Dee.”

  She tightened again. “We love you, too. You’re due to challenge Olivia.”

  I laughed. “Not for a while, but we can have other fun.”

  Olivia surprised me. She was also in a gown, and then Jessla was there in her own gown. “You look fabulous, Your Honor.”

  “It’s Jessla tonight,” she said. Then she closed the distance and we hugged tightly, exchanging little kisses in the process.

  From there, Olivia led us to her ballroom. Already waiting were seven women, each dressed in the bright colors of Flarvor. Two were older, perhaps near fifty. Olivia handled introductions, and I met Tressain Indite and Melartine Opal. Tressain had long, black hair that she wore in a complicated braid. Opal’s hair was bright red and quite curly.

  Tressain handled introductions from there. First was her eldest daughter, Rishia. Rishia had hair very similar to her mother’s and appeared to be several years younger than I was. Amber, daughter number two, was several more years younger and had even longer hair. Beside Amber was a woman of blond hair that Amber introduced as, “My cousin and best friend, Yelshie.”

  “My brother’s daughter,” Tressain indicated.

  Melartine then introduced her daughter, Kylia, and her daughter-in-law, Pelnie. Pelnie was near my age, and Kylia was perhaps five years younger.

  From there, Olivia took over. “Tressain. Melartine. I thought you should meet a va
riety of people. Jessla and I are originally from Ressaline City. Gigi, Lassa, and Claary are from Charth. And we should have… Ah, here they are now.” We turned, and I saw Bess and Marda crossing the ballroom. That led to new introductions, with Olivia saying a little further about everyone.

  I leaned to my slaves. I kept Slip with me but told the others, “Attach yourselves to the Flarvorians. See to their needs, but you take orders only from me, Gigi, or Olivia.” And so my slaves dispersed, with La-la and Ti-ti moving to Rishia, Tressain’s eldest daughter. Gigi’s slaves, and two of the four Jessla had brought also attached themselves to the needs of our guests from the south.

  We made small talk, eventually moving to the dining room. The slaves saw to our needs, of course. What wasn’t surprising was that they served as a distraction for the guests, but Olivia had asked us to pretend not to notice until someone actually said something.

  It was Pelnie, Melartine’s daughter-in-law, who was first to speak. “I think she’s flirting with me!” she said. She sounded outraged.

  I smiled. “That’s Bee,” I said. “And I wouldn’t be at all surprised. She’s very sweet.”

  “I can’t tell her apart from this one,” Kylia said, gesturing to Dee. “They’re identical.”

  “Almost,” Olivia said.

  “I’m Dee,” Dee said. “Do you want to know how to tell me apart from my sister?”

  “Yes,” Kylia said.

  “I’m the one who is seeing to you tonight,” Dee said. “Bee is seeing to Pelnie.”

  I smiled at that. I wasn’t the only one.

  “Oh,” Kylia replied.

  “She’s doing it again,” Pelnie complained. Bee giggled.

  “Has Bee offended you?” Olivia said. “I find that difficult to believe.”

  “She keeps touching me.”

  Rishia snorted. “Oh, don’t be such a prude, Pelnie. It’s not like she’s ripping your clothes off or something. Mine have been touching me, too.” She looked over her shoulder at La-la and Ti-ti. “I like it. Please don’t stop.”

  They both smiled and nodded to her.

  At that, Li-li moved around the table, coming to a stop behind me. She bent down and began blowing in my ear. I jerked and spun around to wave a finger at her. “Knock it off, Lisbon.” I looked over to Lassa. “I asked you not to tell her to do that tonight.”

  Lassa smiled and said nothing.

  “I thought that one was Li-li,” Melartine said.

  “She is now,” I said. “But I’ve known her as Lisbon her entire life, and sometimes I forget.”

  “I don’t understand,” Melartine replied.

  “Claary is my big sister,” Li-li said.

  “I don’t understand,” Melartine repeated. “I thought that… outfit… meant she’s a slave.”

  “She is,” I said. “She belongs to Lassa.”

  “I don’t understand,” Melartine said a third time. “Did you buy your way out of slavery?”

  I cocked my head, but it was Olivia who said, “That’s not how it works here. We’ll discuss it later. Li-li, do you think you can make your sister blush?”

  Before she could answer – or worse, act on it – I turned and waved a finger at her. My sister laughed and bounced away, returning to Arr’s side, seeing to Tressain’s needs tonight.

  Pelnie turned and tried waving a finger at Bee. Bee pouted, and I just couldn’t keep my mouth shut. “Pelnie?” The woman turned to me. “Why don’t you want her attention?”

  “Because it’s wrong.”

  “It’s my turn to admit,” I said. “I don’t understand. What is wrong, and why is it wrong?”

  “I’m not sure I know where to begin. I think she’s trying to seduce me.”

  “Knowing Bee as well as I do, I wouldn’t be at all surprised,” I said. “And?”

  “And I’m a married woman. And she’s a woman. And she’s a slave.” She said the last word with a sneer. “It’s wrong that she thinks she has to do that. It’s just wrong.”

  “I see. Let’s address that one first. You’ve got it wrong. Bee isn’t doing anything she doesn’t want to do. Now, if we were to ask her, I imagine there are people in this room with whom she would rather do them than you, but she understands we’re trying to introduce you to our culture. She’s trying to help.”

  “You’re wrong.”

  “I’m wrong. About what part?”

  “There’s no way she can want to do that with me. She’s doing it because someone ordered her to do so.”

  “She’s seeing to you because Lady Olivia told her to help introduce all of you to our culture,” I said. “I told mine to pick someone. I rather imagine Lady Olivia told Bee and Dee to also pick someone. She might have told them to separate. Bee, why are you seeing to Pelnie tonight?”

  “She looked unhappy,” Bee said. “I thought I could make her happier.” She hung her head. “She doesn’t like me.”

  “She hasn’t given you a chance, Bee,” I said. I glanced at Olivia, who gave me a subtle nod. I took that as permission to interfere further. “Pelnie, you have two basic choices. You can decide you want to understand our culture, or you can decide you are uninterested. Both have potential ramifications.”

  “I think I understand your culture just fine,” she said tightly.

  “And I can tell you, simply based on what you’ve said so far, that you clearly do not.”

  “You keep slaves. It’s disgusting. Your own sister is a slave, and you don’t even blink an eye.”

  “I was quite unhappy when it happened,” I said. “Even though I knew she’d be very happy. We were running our inn together, and I couldn’t stand not having her around anymore.”

  “I’m sorry, Claary,” Li-li said.

  “But you’re happier now than you were then,” I replied to her. “And I’m happy for you.”

  “How can you be happy your own sister is a slave?”

  “Pelnie,” I said. “Look around. Do any of the slaves look unhappy?”

  “They’re putting on an act.” At that, every slave in the room made some reaction, including a few snorts.

  “The only unhappy slave in the room is the one you’re rejecting,” I said.

  “What would you know about it?”

  “More than you can possibly imagine,” I said. “Did you want that education, or are you too closed off to receive it?”

  “Did you just call me close-minded?”

  “Not at all. I’m letting you decide for yourself whether you’re close-minded.”

  She glared at me. I smiled sweetly. Then she looked around the room, and nearly everyone was watching her, with her mother-in-law offering a severe expression. The two locked gazes for a minute. I tried to read what it meant. Finally Pelnie turned to me. “If I decide I understand enough?”

  “I am not the duchess here,” I said. “I was invited to help, that is all. If I were to guess, however, I might suspect that Lady Olivia will possibly give you one more chance, and after that, she will declare you as ineligible to conduct business within our borders. But I’m only guessing. Now, I’m a business owner. I operate several inns, restaurants, and pubs in and around Charth. I don’t know what your business is. We haven’t discussed it.”

  “We want to engage in greater trade,” Tressain said. “And we’re trying to negotiate doing so with lower tariffs.”

  “Are you here to negotiate tariffs?” I asked. “Or to establish business ties.”

  “Both.”

  “Well, then, our businesses are similar in some ways. It is important I understand my customers. I need to understand that the clientele have different expectations at The Golden Tulip than if they come to The Baby Blanket. I’ve also found that knowing my customers by name, and remembering their favorites, makes them feel far more welcome. Tressain, do you hope to understand us?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  I turned back to Pelnie and raised an eyebrow.

  “But what she wants is wrong,” Pelnie said.


  “Ah, so you have abandoned the idea she is doing anything she doesn’t want to do,” I said. “Good. See? You have learned something already.”

  “I didn’t mean it that way.”

  I sighed. “What Bee wants is to help you be happy. Well, she wants more than that, but that’s a start. But if she offends you, I imagine there are, oh…” I looked around the room. “Hmm. A dozen other women who might appreciate Bee’s attention.”

  “But it’s wrong.”

  “You keep saying that,” I said. “What’s wrong about it?”

  “She’s a woman.”

  “Yes, she definitely is. You perhaps have noticed a complete lack of men inside our borders, and your delegation is all women.”

  “We weren’t allowed to bring any men.”

  “Correct. So we have ascertained everyone here tonight is a woman. And?”

  “I’m a woman.”

  “Yes. Go on.”

  “And that’s wrong.”

  “Is it?” I asked. “So it’s wrong for me to love Gigi. And it’s wrong for Lassa, Li-li, and Arr to be in love. I suppose it’s wrong that I also love perhaps half the people in this room. Is that what you’re saying? Love is wrong.”

  “I didn’t say love is wrong. Sex between women is wrong.”

  “So you condemn our entire country,” I said. I managed to do so without turning cold about it.

  “I didn’t say that!”

  “I have personally had sex with all but two or three of the Ressaline women in this room,” I said. “And now you tell me that is wrong for some reason. I didn’t realize. Excuse me if I don’t take your word for it.” I shifted my gaze. “Lady Olivia, I am sorry. I don’t know what to do about that attitude.”

  “Neither do I,” Olivia said. “Pelnie, perhaps you would do better serving on a mission elsewhere. I will provide transportation to the border in the morning.”

  Melartine began slowly shaking her head. I glanced to Tressain. I decided she looked resigned. The other women weren’t all that surprised. But it was Rishia who spoke up. “You’re a rude guest, Pelnie. You always have been. You think you know so much more than everyone else. But Bee is right. You are unhappy. You’re unhappy all the time. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen you smile. You didn’t even smile at your wedding.”