Diplomat

by Robin Roseau

  “Your choice,” she said. “Listen to the rules. One of us will move for both of us. If the other clenches, then the person moving will tease herself more than the person lying still.” I laughed. “But the person moving has to answer questions either of our witnesses ask. It’s okay to refuse to answer. If it takes longer than ten heartbeats to begin providing an intelligent answer, roles shift.”

  I laughed again. “All right. Looks like you’re first.” I relaxed with my eyes closed.

  She moved, and I also felt her hands brushing resin over my legs at her sides. What was happening felt so good. I gasped a few times, and my lips parted. I wasn’t even giving her a fight, and at the moment, I wasn’t sure I cared.

  Pandary and Gibslen took turns asking Trellen questions. She answered easily. That went on for several minutes, and I felt my passions rising. I felt the resin rising. And then I felt Pandary at my side.

  “You’re not even trying,” she said to me.

  “I don’t think she minds,” I replied.

  “Undoubtedly not,” Pandary agreed. “I didn’t think this was your personality.”

  “Why are you ruining this for me?”

  “Complacent,” she continued. “Looking forward to the day you simply do this for a permanent role.”

  I opened my eyes and turned my head. “What are you talking about?”

  “This is how the most docile slaves become slaves,” she said. “They just… let it… happen.”

  “This is only until-” I gasped. “-morning.”

  “It’s a competition like any other competition,” she said. “A race. A game of cards.”

  “Shouldn’t you be asking Trellen questions?”

  “I did. I asked permission to have this conversation with you. She agreed. You’re so lost without a fight, you didn’t even hear the question.”

  At that, I shifted my eyes. Trellen was watching me with a predatory gaze. She pulled away, slowly, and then pushed towards me, just as slowly. And it felt so good.

  I looked down. I wasn’t entirely covered in Resin. I hadn’t realized it, but I must have been bathing my own breasts, as they were bright red, the nipples evident and erect. They tingled, and it felt good. I looked past my legs. Trellen was wearing her own red, but nowhere near as much as I was, not even close.

  I closed my eyes and smiled, and Trellen gave me an especially wonderful push. I offered another gasp.

  “So you’ve decided you’re nothing but a slave,” Pandary said.

  “It’s one night,” I said. “What’s your problem?” In spite of what Trellen was doing to me, Pandary was growing irritating.

  “I heard you did well against Nissault,” she said.

  I opened my eyes and turned my head again. “Isn’t this what all of you want?” I asked. “I’ve gotten the impression that each of you were hoping for your turn with me. Well, I work hard, and this feels nice.”

  “Are you suggesting we don’t work hard?”

  “So I’m cheating Trellen?” I asked. “She really is hoping to lose?”

  “No, she doesn’t hope to lose,” Pandary replied. “And right now, she doesn’t particularly care if it’s an easy win or a challenging win.”

  “Then what is the problem?”

  “You’re supposed to be the best Flarvorian has to offer,” she said. “It looks to me like you’re an entire country just waiting for us to step in and enslave all of you.”

  “Is that some kind of threat?”

  “Just an observation,” she said. “I’m just a farmer, after all. The best Flarvorian, surrendering to a simple farmer.”

  “What do you care?”

  “Did you arrive here intending to accept this complacently, Coo?” she asked. “Because I recall you suggesting you wanted your chances to win. I recall you talking about wanting to have one of us now and then. If you think I’m going to offer a handicap because you stepped into that tub and just gave up, forget that.”

  I stared into her eyes. “Why do you care?”

  “Would you sit down for a game of cards and show us all your hand? Do you not have a competitive bone in your body?”

  I looked at her. I looked at Trellen. “Please stop moving.”

  Instead, she slid towards me, and I gave a little sigh. “I don’t think so, Coo.”

  “We should just call you Coo all the time?”

  I looked back at Pandary. “Why are you trying to make me angry? Trellen, please stop. She’s being a shit.”

  Trellen pulled away and then pushed, deeply, but then she stayed like that. “What is it you want, Coo?” she asked me.

  “This is a good path to permanent surrender,” Pandary said.

  “It’s one night!” I said. “Is that so wrong?”

  “Do you really think you can accept this so complacently but then come in and offer someone a real challenge next time?” she asked. “Do you ever want to win? Not only are you teaching yourself to lose, but you’re not going to learn to win unless you win, and I’m not giving you a handicap if you aren’t even trying. None of us will. We’re happy to enslave you, but I’m surprised she’s using red. If you act like this with me, you’ll be blue, and I’ll find something to keep you busy all night. I can hand you a lamp and show you weeds to pull. You’ll love it.”

  I tried climbing away from Trellen, but she hooked my knees and pulled me tightly to her. “You aren’t going anywhere until we’re done,” she said. “If you want to argue with Pandary, you may do it with words.” Then she wriggled a little, and I gave a gasp, but so did she.

  I looked at her. “Do you care how much I fight you?”

  She smiled lazily. “I like an easy slave,” she replied. “Lady Olivia, now. She might be a little upset if we teach you to lose.” She shrugged. “Probably not enough to really do anything about it. She needs me as a farmer.”

  I turned my head again. “I came here for a nice time.”

  “You’re playing cards with a real prize at the end, one worth a lot more than a few crowns, and you’re playing to lose,” she replied. “If you don’t have a competitive spirit, tell me and I’ll shut up. It will take about a minute and a half before you’ll forget this entire conversation. I can even help.” She dipped her hand in the resin and then lifted it above me. As it drizzled down, it left splatters of blue.

  “What are you doing?”

  She didn’t answer but drizzled more blue resin over the top of my chest. I stared at it. “Stop that.”

  “You’re right,” she said. She lifted her hand and drizzled, and the resin was black.

  “What the hell is that?”

  “You’re probably a horrible house slave, but you’d make a good clerk.”

  “What is so wrong with wanting a little mini vacation?”

  “Nothing,” she said. She used her finger to draw on the top of my chest, leaving lines of black resin behind. “If you weren’t training yourself to give up the moment you feel the resin.” She added more resin. I didn’t even try stopping her. “I get it. It feels good. I love the resin, too. But you’re teaching yourself to accept what it does to you, which is the opposite of learning to use it to help you. If you do your best and lose anyway, that’s good practice. If you simply surrender, then surrender becomes inevitable.”

  “And what’s wrong with that?”

  “Nothing,” she said. “But that isn’t what you said you wanted the last time we talked. We talked about handicaps, and about you having a chance to win. I take it that’s not what you want anymore. Look me in the eye and tell me you’ve changed your mind.”

  “I haven’t changed my mind,” I said.

  “I suppose you think you can fight next time,” she said. “Was it your intention to surrender when you sent the note earlier, telling us you would be at dinner?”

  “No,” I whispered.

  “So that changed when you felt the resin?”

  “I suppose.”

  For the first time, her hand moved down. She cupped a bre
ast, spreading more resin. The resin mixed with the red that was there, but it turned black. It looked nice, but it felt very different. I stared.

  I lifted my may hand, intending to grab hers, but when I saw it, it was encased in black. I snapped my gaze to Trellen. “Did you do that?”

  “No,” she said. “You did, Coo.”

  “This is your fault, Pandary,” I said, waving my black hand at her.

  “It looks nice,” she said. “Black is the color of government slaves, clerks, accountants, and the like. That must be how you envision your future.”

  I stared at my hand. Pandary played with my breast, completely coating it in black resin. I didn’t even try to stop her.

  But finally I said, “Make it red.”

  “Do it yourself.”

  “I don’t know how.”

  She lifted her eyes towards mine. “Answer one question honestly, and then I’ll help you. Do you really want to train yourself to lose?”

  I stared into her eyes for a while and finally said, “No, but that’s not what I was doing.”

  “Yes, it was,” she said. “If you don’t try to win, every time, then you become easier and easier, each time. You surrender to the resin as much as to your opponent. I get it. It feels really good. Even like this, it feels good.”

  “I-”

  “I have your attention, don’t I?”

  “Yes,” I said tightly.

  “If you just want to surrender tonight, tell me. I ruined your mood. I ruined Trellen’s, too. I can show you how to brush all this way.” She gestured. “You can swirl your hand in the resin, and all that will wash away. And then, Trellen will begin moving, and it will be nothing for you to full surrender to her and to the resin. You’ll be bright red, if that’s what she decides.”

  “You’ll be red,” Trellen said gently. “But if this is the path you’re on, I don’t promise red the next time. You need to experience another color, anyway. You need to understand how that feels, too.”

  “You’re bathing in the resin,” Pandary said. “If you want to surrender to it, I’ll help you. Trellen will take you, and you’ll have a lovely evening. If you want to actually compete, tell me. I’ll help you. Trellen will still probably win, but you’ll teach the resin you intend to be its master, not its slave. There’s nothing wrong with being a resin slave, but is that really what you want?”

  “No,” I said. I looked at Trellen. “I’m sorry.”

  She smiled. “Don’t worry about that. It’s just a little do over. I was having a nice time. I’ll have a new nice time, whatever you tell her.”

  I turned back to Pandary. “Is it fair for you to help me?”

  “Trellen doesn’t mind, and I’m only going to talk, and only a minute or two. Do you want to be a resin slave?”

  “No.”

  She shifted, moving behind me. “Relax,” she said, as I tried craning my neck to watch her. “Are you a resin slave?”

  “No.”

  “Make it a sentence.”

  “I am not a resin slave,” I said.

  “You’re here to learn to command the resin.”

  I nodded and repeated the words.

  “There’s nothing wrong with walking across the bridge and telling one of us, ‘just take me tonight’. We’ve all done that. But it needs to be a conscious decision, not a decision the resin makes for you. Do you understand?”

  I nodded. “I am in command of the resin; the resin is not in command of me.”

  “Ultimately, the resin commands all of us,” she said. “But we also command the resin. It is which of us is more in command that determines whether you’re a future citizen or slave.”

  “I am neither.”

  “Perhaps not,” she said. “But if you become a resin slave, soon enough you’ll ask someone to make you a permanent slave.”

  “Is that legal? I’m not Ressaline.”

  “It’s entirely legal,” she said. “Cross the bridge and ask to immigrate.”

  “Just like that?”

  “We’d send you to Charth,” she said. “Lady Olivia would not be pleased if we just took you. But otherwise, yes, just like that.”

  I nodded then lifted my hand. “What do I do?”

  “Start with the resin on your chest,” she said. “You are reminding both the resin and yourself that you are in control of your life, and you reject what happened earlier. Then brush it away like water. It will probably resist at first. Don’t try to peel it off. Brush at it. If you are mentally commanding, it will respond to you. With practice, you could change the color, like I turned your red to black. You aren’t ready for that yet.”

  I nodded. “I came for a proper challenge,” I said. “And I am not a clerk.” I began brushing at the black. It didn’t respond at first, but I felt my resolve harden, and as it did, the resin softened. It began to flow away as I pressed at it, and I brushed it off, letting it plop back in with the rest.

  When I next noticed my hand, it was entirely clear. I lifted the other and watched liquid resin flow down, dripping from my elbow. I smiled. And then I gave Trellen a little push.

  She gave a tiny gasp and smiled. “It’s still my turn, Coo.”

  “What are you called when you’re a slave.”

  “Win and you find out.”

  “Uh, huh,” I said. “Tell me.”

  “I’ve had different names,” she said. “And it’s my turn.” She lifted. “My first time, I was Tee.” She lowered. I let her. “I’ve been called Trell. One woman called me Teacup.”

  “When I have you, I will call you Toy.”

  She laughed. “That won’t be tonight, Coo.” She lifted, and as she did, I clenched. She gave out a hiss, and then her smile broadened. “You surprised me.”

  “Did I?” I asked. “What are you going to do now?”

  She lowered herself again. I enjoyed it, but not quite as much as she did. Then she lifted, and I could feel her clenching, so I didn’t fight her. But when she pressed, I clenched partway down, pushing the device further into her. She gave a gasp, but then I accepted the rest. She squirmed while we were pressed tightly together, which felt really quite nice.

  “The magic is going to grab both of you,” Pandary said softly. “It demands a winner, and it’s going to grab both of you. Make it work, and when it wins, you’ll go deeply.”

  “Aren’t you supposed to ask her questions?”

  “Ask her yourself,” she said.

  * * * *

  She moved. Some of the time, I received more of the pleasure from her movements. Some of the time, she did.

  Red climbed my legs. When I lifted my hands from the resin, they were red as deeply as they’d been submerged. I didn’t paint myself.

  But I stared at my red hands, letting Trellen do what she wanted for a quarter minute, giving a few gasps, but then when she lifted, I clenched, and she gave a hiss and a gasp. “Why don’t I have any resin climbing from my waist.”

  Trellen froze, there at the top. “Um.” She started to lower, and I held tightly. She gave out a moan, reached the bottom, and we both squirmed.

  “Allium’s turn,” Gibslen announced, the first words she’d said in a while.

  I didn’t wait.

  * * * *

  I was lost, wrapped in the magic, and red from my toes to my neck. Trellen was nearly as red, but my resistance was entirely gone. I could feel her trembling, but then the magic took the last of me, and I gave out a cry as I began to deeply shudder.

  I was just sufficiently alert to realize I had lost, but I’d done quite well. I knew that, too.

  I lay there for a while, entirely spent. And then I had a second gasping orgasm, brought on by the quivers from Trellen’s. I wondered if we had both lost, although it took me time to form the thought. I opened my eyes, although I stared straight ahead, which really meant at the ceiling, until I was sufficiently with it to lift my head and looked at Trellen.

  I was in time to see what was happening. The resin was slowly re
treating from her body. Her eyes were closed, and it took time, but then she lifted her hand and opened her eyes. She stared as the resin dripped. Her head lolled, and she looked at Gibslen. “I think we could use a little help.”

  * * * *

  My time belonging to Trellen was different from my time with Nissault only in the smaller details. In the morning, she released me, and when finally I was ready, she held my hand as we began the walk across the bridge. At the halfway point, I turned her to me. “Did I nearly beat you last night?”

  “Yes,” she said. “If you’d had more experience than you do, you would have won.”

  “You let me.”

  “No,” she replied. “The conversation with Pandary was, in effect, a large handicap. It brought you back from being quite lost and made you angry besides. It didn’t have the same effect on me. Do not grow complacent. You probably won’t do as well next time.”

  “Why did she do it?”

  “From things I’ve heard, you take your responsibilities seriously. Not only do you see to your primary duties of repairing roads and bridges, but you also mentor your crew.”

  “Yes.”

  “Does everyone?”

  “No.”

  “Well, we take our responsibilities seriously, too, and those responsibilities do not include teaching you to be a resin slave.”

  I laughed. “I think I understand. Trellen, thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” she replied. “Thank you.”

  I smiled. “You’re welcome.”

  “Will you invite this again?”

  “Count on it. Will you accept?”

  “Count on it.”

  We hugged, and then I turned to finish my walk across the bridge, but Trellen set a hand on my arm. “Are you sure you’re good?”

  “I’m good,” I said. “Tell Pandary I’m looking forward to using her lessons against her.”

  She laughed again, and I stepped across the official border.

  * * * *

  We did our jobs. We came back, every seven to ten days, I brought us back and declared a rest day. And each time, I sent a girl across the bridge with a note. And each evening, those who could came to the Verlies View Inn. Sometimes they were waiting when I arrived in the dining hall, sometimes they arrived after I’d been sitting for a while. Sometimes they chose their partners; other times I had my choice.