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AGELESS Campaign Episode 2 - Temple of the Cat-Goddess
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<blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 7096509" data-attributes="member: 8530"><p><strong>Chapter 133, "Shopping with Ela", September 13, 1882, 11:00AM</strong></p><p></p><p>Ruby hung around in her room for a while, ruminating on what her teacher and friend had just told her. Had he not been involved with killing Mina's first husband, Ruby would never have been born. She was very saddened thinking that she might not be able to easily see her mentor, and he probably wouldn't be "dropping in" to save her any time soon. It was very overwhelming for her to think on, and she was upset she couldn't speak to George about it.</p><p></p><p>She took a deep breath in then stood and checked herself in the mirror. It would be better to be out and about and not thinking about this now. Later she would speak to George about it but for now she was going to drown her thoughts by having an adventure. She smoothed out her hair, took some of George's hidden money, then returned downstairs to look for the Sheik's friend who would accompany her in the city. The Sultan brings her to a room where a young dark-haired woman is working on record books. He introduces her a Ela, his head of guest services, and also a cousin.</p><p></p><p>Ruby is a little surprised by the woman's youth for somebody with such responsibilities at a grand hotel, appearing perhaps even younger than Ruby. Ela smiles and says excitedly, "Let us go shopping." Ruby was pleased the girl was close to her age, she would understand much better what Ruby needed. "Pleased to meet you Ela, my name is Ruby. I hope it's not too much trouble to pull you away from work for the day." She laughs and says, "Helping our guests IS my work. Let's go find whatever it is that you are looking for."</p><p></p><p>The woman removes a large leather pouch from her desk, which from the sound contains coins, and fastens it to her belt and inside a front pocket of her tunic-style beige dress with flowing mint-green colored sheer silk sleeves. Her exit from the room and building is more of a dancer's skip than a walk and takes Ruby a few minutes to adjust to the pace. She smiled and took longer steps to keep up with the peppy girl. "You know, I don't really know WHAT I'm looking for. Something fun and exciting, something that can remind me of my trip here. Well, something that can remind me of your beautiful city. And of course, we can never go wrong with clothes," Ruby grinned.</p><p></p><p>Ela says, "I will take you to the finest clothier in town," she replies. "That will be excellent," Ruby replied with a smile. "But I'd also like to see what the local marketplace is like. We've done some running around through the city, I am hoping to have a closer look at things. You never know when you might find that diamond in the rough." Ela says, replies, "The we should start with my friend Habib, he makes various teas and other beverages." "Very good, let's go," Ruby replies.</p><p></p><p>Even though the girls pace was quick, Ruby took in her surroundings as they walked. It got busier and busier as they neared the marketplace. Exotic scents filled the air, while the sound of voices did too. People were hawking their wares, each one yelling louder than the next, trying to entice shoppers to come to them. They walked down a narrow street before stopping in front of a shop. "Let's go right in," Ruby smiled, her spirits already lifted from this morning's events.</p><p></p><p>The shop has the smell of incense. Various tapestries cover the wall, some appear to be Arabian and others appear to be oriental. Three men are in the far corner smoking on opium pipes, two look to be Egyptian and the other is an orc. This is the first orc Ruby has seen since leaving Arizona, where many of the Chinamen were in the area helping to build the railroads.</p><p></p><p>A man comes up from behind a curtain to a back room and gives the woman an embrace stating "Ela-sa, it is so wonderful to see you again! And you bring a friend." She replies, "Yes, an American who is visiting with the Queen. I told her that a visit to Zakazik would be incomplete if she left without a collection of your teas." She hands the man a coin and says, "Let's have no haggling here, I have not the time today. Ten Egyptian pound sterling is what we have to spend. See that she receives fair value."</p><p></p><p>He looks to Ruby and asks, "Are there any particular blends that you seek?" Ruby stepped forward and smiled. "Well, first let me introduce myself, my name is Ruby," she said with an outstretched hand. "I am not a big tea drinker but I did tell Ela that I wanted to sample your fine country. What would you suggest?" He says, "How about an assortment of seven different kinds. Each has a unique blend of local spices and oriental spices." "Sounds perfect." She glanced around the room then asked curiously, "Do you sell anything other than tea here?" "Not for only ten Egyptian Pound Sterling," is his reply.</p><p></p><p>"And if money isn't an issue, what do you sell then?" She grinned. He says, "I have far more than teas. I have one elixir that you may want. If you give it to the man of your dreams he will then view you as the most desirable woman in the world and swear his undying love for you. There would be no danger too great or obstacle too insurmountable to keep him from you." A bigger than she had intended burst of laughter came out of her lips. "Darling, I'm not going to take that as an insult as you hardly know me, but I don't need an elixir to make a man fall in love me and do my bidding." She gave him a little wink and swing of her hip as she laughed. She chuckled a little longer to herself before stopping, she of course did not mean to offend. "However, I might be interested in any other elixirs you might have."</p><p></p><p>He says, "Well, I have one that will allow you to charm snakes. Another will allow you to temporarily move twice as fast as you would otherwise. And I have a third that is much more precious, as it will grant a man strength like that of a god." "My, my those sound very useful. As charming as I am, I am not certain those charms would work on snakes," she laughed. "And certainly the other two I am very interested in. Before we talk price, do you have anything else? You're not holding back on me, are you friend?"</p><p></p><p>He says, "I regret to say that my stocks of elixirs are currently quite low. With fears of the city being invaded by foreigners there was considerable demand for my wares. In fact, I have but two left that grant the quickness and the one that grants the exceptional strength I have only today been able to reconstitute more of, as those had all been sold."</p><p></p><p>She replies, "Oh, I'm curious Sir, you make these elixirs yourself? I'm quite interested in how exactly that works. I have a friend who makes potions but I admit, in my youth and rashness, I never bothered to ask her how she actually made them, I just wanted to use them. You know what I mean?" He says, "I collaborate on the construction of the elixirs. It is a long and complicated process, and entails the finding of very special ingredients. For example, the elixir that increases one's movement necessitates the use of some blood from a cheetah."</p><p></p><p>Ruby nodded, "True, I suppose you would need a well stocked cabinet of rare ingredients then. Interesting." She tapped her lip in thought before snapping out of it. "Well, I will take the elixirs and the tea, please." She looked at Ela and thought of George. "Oh, I suppose before I agree you should tell me what they cost." He says, " Oh they are not inexpensive. It would be 3,400 Egyptian Pounds for the lot." Ela says, "Which means they are worth around half of that, 1,700. I would says 2,000 and we would haggle until we split the difference. So let's save time, send them to the hotel and you will be paid 1,850, that is as high as we will go." He thinks for a minute and then says, "Agreed."</p><p></p><p>Ruby smiled at the girl, she was certainly going to be useful today. "Thank you Sir, it was a pleasure doing business with you." Once the girls were outside Ruby grasped the girls hand and squeezed. "Thank you so much Ela, it was extremely helpful having you with me. I LOVED it! Where should we head next?" Ruby was just as enthusiastic as Ela had been earlier. Ela asks, "Would you prefer to go to the clothing shop or the steam baths?" Ruby's eyes lit up. "Now the steam baths sounds like something very enticing. Let's go there first!" She leads Ruby back in the direction of the hotel with them entering a building three doors away with a sign in Arabic. She says "This is the one for women. The one for men is next door."</p><p></p><p>Once inside she is greeted by a bald young man who does not appear to have any facial hair, even eyebrows. The man greets her by name and she call him "Bibi". He leads her and Ruby into a side room that has a rows of metal vaults approximately one-foot square and stacked eight high covering the walls. Each vault has a round gem in the center of each door, of various colors but some clear. There do not appear to be any locks. He hands each of them a towel and holds out a small jar with some sort of aqua colored paste. Ela says, "Dip a finger in the gel when press it on a colored gem on a vault door, those are the open ones, the clear ones are in use. That will seal it to your finger so only you can open it. Put all of your things inside, they will be safe there."</p><p></p><p>Ela dips her finger and demonstrates. Ruby copies Ela, opening her own vault. She puts her bag and belongings inside. "Ready?" Ela has begun disrobing even before Bibi leaves the room. The last item that Ela removes from her unclothed body is the fancy ring worn on her hand, at which point Ruby sees the woman age from a teenager to a woman who appears to be in her late twenties. She is still quite beautiful, but lacks some of the youthful excitement that her body radiated moments earlier. Ruby undressed also, showing no signs of shame.</p><p></p><p>She asks, "Ela, it's none of my business, but why do you wear that ring? You are beautiful, you don't need it." Ela says, "I agree, but my employers feel that I can be more persuasive if I appear younger. It creates an illusion of how one looked fifteen years earlier. It had belonged to your friend the Sultan, but he has now reached an age where having it on is almost indistinguishable, so he has now instructed me to wear it." Ruby says, "Well that's certainly... I don't know the word. It stinks. Do you think it works?" Ela says, "I don't know, it probably does help with negotiations, but while I'm here I just want to be myself."</p><p></p><p>She leads Ruby through a door into a room that is warm, humid and has the scent of incense burning. There are multiple small pools of hot water, several of which have women lying or sitting relaxed inside. An alcove leads into a room where the steam appears to be coming from, where many women are seated on wooden benches and talking in Arabic to one another. Across the room is an artificial waterfall where a pair of women are bathing. At the far corner of the room are four massage tables, two of whom have women getting massaged by hairless muscular men wearing loin cloths, with another similar man seated beside each of the two unoccupied tables.</p><p></p><p>Ruby says, "As far as I am concerned, you can be yourself all the time we are together. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm headed right over there." She waves towards the massage tables. "After all, it's been a rough few days." She leads Ela over to the tables. "Anyone available?" She grinned, "Two please." The two take their places on the tables and each then has warm oils rubbed into their bodies by very skilled hands.</p><p></p><p>Ruby relaxed over the next hour, melting into the table with moans as the expert masseuse rubbed out the knots and tension in her body. She hadn't even realized just how tense she still was and when the masseuse recommended he continue on, Ruby did not complain. After all the knots were minimized, Ruby joined Ela in one of the baths. She sighed as she sunk into the hot water, "That was AMAZING." She dipped her shoulders under the water. "This is a tough job you have, huh?"</p><p></p><p>Ela says, "I've had worst days of employment. You seemed to enjoy your massage. Bibi makes sure that each masseuse is very skilled. And you need not worry about those men's thoughts, they are either eunuchs or they have had their desires suppressed with an elixir. Bibi makes sure that he is the only stallion here among the geldings." Ruby raised an eyebrow as she glanced over towards the men. "You know, I'm not usually worried about men and their thoughts, I quite frequently am the target of such desires... And who can blame them?" she laughed, "But I hadn't even thought about that today. I guess I'm a little off my game.</p><p></p><p>But those poor men, why would they ever agree to suppressing their desires or worse? Is it that good working here? As for Bibi, does he, ah, service the lady clientele here?" Ela smiles and replies, "Oh yes, but very selectively and discretely." Gesturing toward the other men she says, "As for the others, Bibi did not make them eunuchs, they came from other places in that state. For those taking the elixir, it wears off over time." "Then I suppose it's very nice of Bibi to give them jobs they can excel at. And I also suppose this might make my fiancé slightly more agreeable to me coming here." She shrugged and laughed. " Though I really don't think he would care at all."</p><p></p><p>A few minutes later Ruby asks, "So, Ela, have you been working at the hotel long? Do you enjoy your job?" Ela replies, " I have been there for eleven years. My late husband is a cousin to the Sultan. When he died I was offered a job there as a chambermaid and have been promoted three times since then. I very much enjoy my job but I have advanced unfortunately as far along as I can go. He and his Uncle have even told me privately that they would make me manager if not for the attitude towards women that many Egyptians hold. Perhaps that will change with the new Queen."</p><p></p><p>Ruby says, "You were married? I'm sorry to hear about your husband. Sounds like you've worked pretty hard to get where you are. Where I come from, it's not much different, they don't take women seriously there either. I've learned if you want something you have to just take it in whatever way you can. As for the Queen, she is young and smart, so I would bet on it that things will change."</p><p></p><p>Ela says, "Oh, I hope so. I have met her many times before, most of those time in this very room. This is one of her favorite places in Zakazik, and this town was where she would go to retreat from Cairo. It is no surprise that she chose here to begin her reign." She lowers her voice and says, "And her father believed that she met General Orabi in the palace after he was assigned there, but it was more the other way around. They had met here in Zakazik years earlier and he sought career advancement that would bring them closer together." Ruby says, "She did tell me she loved it here. My, I suppose you have heard a lot of secrets in this room. I know the Queen truly loves him. But I wonder if his feelings are the same."</p><p></p><p>Ela replies, "That is the thing about secrets, they should stay that way. I have probably already said more than I should have about our new monarch." Ruby grinned. "The only new thing you've told me is that she comes to this lovely establishment, which after coming here myself I would have guessed anyway. I've spent some time with her over the past week or so, in some ways we are much alike. Of course, now she is Queen and I am sure our paths will greatly diverge from here. Which is a shame, for she is a good friend, so I hope having to be in charge of a country doesn't have to change her too much.</p><p></p><p>Ruby continues, "Actually, she may be meeting us, when her business this morning is done. If you've already met her, I am sure you won't mind." Ela replies "I am certain that our new monarch is far too busy with the affairs of state and stopping a war to go shopping with the pair of us." "Then you would be incorrect," Queen Neferka states as she enters the room.</p><p></p><p>Neferka is not alone as four female attendants accompany her, two like the Queen also attired only in a plush towel, but the other two are dressed in dark silk belted tunics. One has a scimitar and pistol attached to her belt, the other has three daggers of varying sizes on her belt and a rifle slung along her back. Ruby exclaims "Your Highness! I'm so excited you're here! How did the business stuff go?"</p><p></p><p>Neferka says, "So far, very well. Your fiance is very skilled at this type of negotiation. I believe that I made an excellent choice in picking him. When I heard that you had gone off with Ela I suspected where I might find the two of you. So, tell me, what have you been talking about?" As she talks the two servant girls remove Neferka's towel and help her into the pool with Ruby and Ela. The two women with the swords each take up a position near the room exits.</p><p></p><p>"Yes, George is good at that business stuff. He's clever and imaginative which I suppose helps him with all his successful business ventures. And he's persistent, he gets what he wants." Ruby giggled, "Remind me to tell you about 'the ring' story sometime. It's how he won me." Neferka says, "I will. I am in a particularly good mood. These negotiations may very well end with my remaining married to Ahmed. If Barrister Sefu were conducting these negotiations instead of your intended they would have probably ended with Ahmed hanging from a rope." Ruby says, "Oh my, now that would not be acceptable! Have you even gotten to see him yet, since you've become Queen??" Neferka says "Not really."</p><p></p><p>Ruby continues, "Anyway, Ela was just telling me that she's met you a few times, and was hoping that some of old sexist views of people around here might change now that you are Queen. I was suggesting she's very good at her job but she was told there was nowhere else to go because of the old men's views of things." The Princess smiles and says, "Oh, I may be speaking prematurely, but I believe that she may be facing a very attractive job offer to ponder in the near future." Ruby shot Ela a look about the job offer, but said nothing else. Obviously Nerfeka already knew of the girls strengths. Ela says, "A position working for you?"</p><p></p><p>Neferka replies, "No, for an American businessman. He has requested an appointment with me for either tonight or tomorrow to discuss establishing a branch of his business here in Egypt. His corporation believes in local management and control so he wants to know my recommendation for a business manager. One other incentive that you might like is that while the job will involve work in both Cairo and Alexandria, he would like to have the main headquarters to be here in Zakazik. That is in part because he has offered to fund the restoration of the Bubastis ruins. He apparently visited them a half-centry ago, before the French stole everything, and wants to make sure everything is put back in its proper place."</p><p></p><p>Ruby interjects, "Which American business man are we talking about? Someone well known? What is his actual business?" Queen Neferka replies, "You know him Ruby, he is married to your Grandmother. His name is James Parker and his business is called the AGELESS Corporation." Ruby stared at the Queen for a long moment then burst out laughing. "I should have known, I guess. I can at least vouch he's good to work for! His business is doing very well right now and it makes sense to have an outpost here."</p><p></p><p>Ruby says, "Ela, it would be so funny, we might actually be working together now and then! How fun would that be. Of course, I hope the Sheik wouldn't mind losing you too much." Ela says, "Hold on, not so fast. Who is this Parker and what type of work are we talking about?" Ruby shrugged. "That you would have to ask the Queen or James about. He does a lot of different things so I'm not entirely sure what he would be doing here. I know my grandmother went to meet him, he was arriving in town sometime tonight. I wanted to give them some alone time so I escorted the Queen back here instead of going with her. He is a historian and a sometimes adventurer. I have no doubt that he would be working hard on restoring the Bubastis ruins if that is what he said he would do."</p><p></p><p>Neferka says, "You are right about one thing Ela, it is premature to discuss it as my meeting with him has not yet taken place. Now Ruby, once we finish here where would you like to go?" Ruby says, "Well, I'd love to find some clothes from your country, something exotic. I could use the robes when I sing, I bet they would just love that back home. Maybe jewelry to go with it? And, well, George has promised to build me a house and I just love the look your country has, it's hard to explain what it is exactly. But I love the colorful lanterns and fabrics and decorations. And, well, is there a place that sells magic items? We aren't openly allowed to practice magic in our country so you definitely don't come by any kind of magical items." She stopped and chuckled. "I guess that is a lot."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Silver Moon, post: 7096509, member: 8530"] [B]Chapter 133, "Shopping with Ela", September 13, 1882, 11:00AM[/B] Ruby hung around in her room for a while, ruminating on what her teacher and friend had just told her. Had he not been involved with killing Mina's first husband, Ruby would never have been born. She was very saddened thinking that she might not be able to easily see her mentor, and he probably wouldn't be "dropping in" to save her any time soon. It was very overwhelming for her to think on, and she was upset she couldn't speak to George about it. She took a deep breath in then stood and checked herself in the mirror. It would be better to be out and about and not thinking about this now. Later she would speak to George about it but for now she was going to drown her thoughts by having an adventure. She smoothed out her hair, took some of George's hidden money, then returned downstairs to look for the Sheik's friend who would accompany her in the city. The Sultan brings her to a room where a young dark-haired woman is working on record books. He introduces her a Ela, his head of guest services, and also a cousin. Ruby is a little surprised by the woman's youth for somebody with such responsibilities at a grand hotel, appearing perhaps even younger than Ruby. Ela smiles and says excitedly, "Let us go shopping." Ruby was pleased the girl was close to her age, she would understand much better what Ruby needed. "Pleased to meet you Ela, my name is Ruby. I hope it's not too much trouble to pull you away from work for the day." She laughs and says, "Helping our guests IS my work. Let's go find whatever it is that you are looking for." The woman removes a large leather pouch from her desk, which from the sound contains coins, and fastens it to her belt and inside a front pocket of her tunic-style beige dress with flowing mint-green colored sheer silk sleeves. Her exit from the room and building is more of a dancer's skip than a walk and takes Ruby a few minutes to adjust to the pace. She smiled and took longer steps to keep up with the peppy girl. "You know, I don't really know WHAT I'm looking for. Something fun and exciting, something that can remind me of my trip here. Well, something that can remind me of your beautiful city. And of course, we can never go wrong with clothes," Ruby grinned. Ela says, "I will take you to the finest clothier in town," she replies. "That will be excellent," Ruby replied with a smile. "But I'd also like to see what the local marketplace is like. We've done some running around through the city, I am hoping to have a closer look at things. You never know when you might find that diamond in the rough." Ela says, replies, "The we should start with my friend Habib, he makes various teas and other beverages." "Very good, let's go," Ruby replies. Even though the girls pace was quick, Ruby took in her surroundings as they walked. It got busier and busier as they neared the marketplace. Exotic scents filled the air, while the sound of voices did too. People were hawking their wares, each one yelling louder than the next, trying to entice shoppers to come to them. They walked down a narrow street before stopping in front of a shop. "Let's go right in," Ruby smiled, her spirits already lifted from this morning's events. The shop has the smell of incense. Various tapestries cover the wall, some appear to be Arabian and others appear to be oriental. Three men are in the far corner smoking on opium pipes, two look to be Egyptian and the other is an orc. This is the first orc Ruby has seen since leaving Arizona, where many of the Chinamen were in the area helping to build the railroads. A man comes up from behind a curtain to a back room and gives the woman an embrace stating "Ela-sa, it is so wonderful to see you again! And you bring a friend." She replies, "Yes, an American who is visiting with the Queen. I told her that a visit to Zakazik would be incomplete if she left without a collection of your teas." She hands the man a coin and says, "Let's have no haggling here, I have not the time today. Ten Egyptian pound sterling is what we have to spend. See that she receives fair value." He looks to Ruby and asks, "Are there any particular blends that you seek?" Ruby stepped forward and smiled. "Well, first let me introduce myself, my name is Ruby," she said with an outstretched hand. "I am not a big tea drinker but I did tell Ela that I wanted to sample your fine country. What would you suggest?" He says, "How about an assortment of seven different kinds. Each has a unique blend of local spices and oriental spices." "Sounds perfect." She glanced around the room then asked curiously, "Do you sell anything other than tea here?" "Not for only ten Egyptian Pound Sterling," is his reply. "And if money isn't an issue, what do you sell then?" She grinned. He says, "I have far more than teas. I have one elixir that you may want. If you give it to the man of your dreams he will then view you as the most desirable woman in the world and swear his undying love for you. There would be no danger too great or obstacle too insurmountable to keep him from you." A bigger than she had intended burst of laughter came out of her lips. "Darling, I'm not going to take that as an insult as you hardly know me, but I don't need an elixir to make a man fall in love me and do my bidding." She gave him a little wink and swing of her hip as she laughed. She chuckled a little longer to herself before stopping, she of course did not mean to offend. "However, I might be interested in any other elixirs you might have." He says, "Well, I have one that will allow you to charm snakes. Another will allow you to temporarily move twice as fast as you would otherwise. And I have a third that is much more precious, as it will grant a man strength like that of a god." "My, my those sound very useful. As charming as I am, I am not certain those charms would work on snakes," she laughed. "And certainly the other two I am very interested in. Before we talk price, do you have anything else? You're not holding back on me, are you friend?" He says, "I regret to say that my stocks of elixirs are currently quite low. With fears of the city being invaded by foreigners there was considerable demand for my wares. In fact, I have but two left that grant the quickness and the one that grants the exceptional strength I have only today been able to reconstitute more of, as those had all been sold." She replies, "Oh, I'm curious Sir, you make these elixirs yourself? I'm quite interested in how exactly that works. I have a friend who makes potions but I admit, in my youth and rashness, I never bothered to ask her how she actually made them, I just wanted to use them. You know what I mean?" He says, "I collaborate on the construction of the elixirs. It is a long and complicated process, and entails the finding of very special ingredients. For example, the elixir that increases one's movement necessitates the use of some blood from a cheetah." Ruby nodded, "True, I suppose you would need a well stocked cabinet of rare ingredients then. Interesting." She tapped her lip in thought before snapping out of it. "Well, I will take the elixirs and the tea, please." She looked at Ela and thought of George. "Oh, I suppose before I agree you should tell me what they cost." He says, " Oh they are not inexpensive. It would be 3,400 Egyptian Pounds for the lot." Ela says, "Which means they are worth around half of that, 1,700. I would says 2,000 and we would haggle until we split the difference. So let's save time, send them to the hotel and you will be paid 1,850, that is as high as we will go." He thinks for a minute and then says, "Agreed." Ruby smiled at the girl, she was certainly going to be useful today. "Thank you Sir, it was a pleasure doing business with you." Once the girls were outside Ruby grasped the girls hand and squeezed. "Thank you so much Ela, it was extremely helpful having you with me. I LOVED it! Where should we head next?" Ruby was just as enthusiastic as Ela had been earlier. Ela asks, "Would you prefer to go to the clothing shop or the steam baths?" Ruby's eyes lit up. "Now the steam baths sounds like something very enticing. Let's go there first!" She leads Ruby back in the direction of the hotel with them entering a building three doors away with a sign in Arabic. She says "This is the one for women. The one for men is next door." Once inside she is greeted by a bald young man who does not appear to have any facial hair, even eyebrows. The man greets her by name and she call him "Bibi". He leads her and Ruby into a side room that has a rows of metal vaults approximately one-foot square and stacked eight high covering the walls. Each vault has a round gem in the center of each door, of various colors but some clear. There do not appear to be any locks. He hands each of them a towel and holds out a small jar with some sort of aqua colored paste. Ela says, "Dip a finger in the gel when press it on a colored gem on a vault door, those are the open ones, the clear ones are in use. That will seal it to your finger so only you can open it. Put all of your things inside, they will be safe there." Ela dips her finger and demonstrates. Ruby copies Ela, opening her own vault. She puts her bag and belongings inside. "Ready?" Ela has begun disrobing even before Bibi leaves the room. The last item that Ela removes from her unclothed body is the fancy ring worn on her hand, at which point Ruby sees the woman age from a teenager to a woman who appears to be in her late twenties. She is still quite beautiful, but lacks some of the youthful excitement that her body radiated moments earlier. Ruby undressed also, showing no signs of shame. She asks, "Ela, it's none of my business, but why do you wear that ring? You are beautiful, you don't need it." Ela says, "I agree, but my employers feel that I can be more persuasive if I appear younger. It creates an illusion of how one looked fifteen years earlier. It had belonged to your friend the Sultan, but he has now reached an age where having it on is almost indistinguishable, so he has now instructed me to wear it." Ruby says, "Well that's certainly... I don't know the word. It stinks. Do you think it works?" Ela says, "I don't know, it probably does help with negotiations, but while I'm here I just want to be myself." She leads Ruby through a door into a room that is warm, humid and has the scent of incense burning. There are multiple small pools of hot water, several of which have women lying or sitting relaxed inside. An alcove leads into a room where the steam appears to be coming from, where many women are seated on wooden benches and talking in Arabic to one another. Across the room is an artificial waterfall where a pair of women are bathing. At the far corner of the room are four massage tables, two of whom have women getting massaged by hairless muscular men wearing loin cloths, with another similar man seated beside each of the two unoccupied tables. Ruby says, "As far as I am concerned, you can be yourself all the time we are together. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm headed right over there." She waves towards the massage tables. "After all, it's been a rough few days." She leads Ela over to the tables. "Anyone available?" She grinned, "Two please." The two take their places on the tables and each then has warm oils rubbed into their bodies by very skilled hands. Ruby relaxed over the next hour, melting into the table with moans as the expert masseuse rubbed out the knots and tension in her body. She hadn't even realized just how tense she still was and when the masseuse recommended he continue on, Ruby did not complain. After all the knots were minimized, Ruby joined Ela in one of the baths. She sighed as she sunk into the hot water, "That was AMAZING." She dipped her shoulders under the water. "This is a tough job you have, huh?" Ela says, "I've had worst days of employment. You seemed to enjoy your massage. Bibi makes sure that each masseuse is very skilled. And you need not worry about those men's thoughts, they are either eunuchs or they have had their desires suppressed with an elixir. Bibi makes sure that he is the only stallion here among the geldings." Ruby raised an eyebrow as she glanced over towards the men. "You know, I'm not usually worried about men and their thoughts, I quite frequently am the target of such desires... And who can blame them?" she laughed, "But I hadn't even thought about that today. I guess I'm a little off my game. But those poor men, why would they ever agree to suppressing their desires or worse? Is it that good working here? As for Bibi, does he, ah, service the lady clientele here?" Ela smiles and replies, "Oh yes, but very selectively and discretely." Gesturing toward the other men she says, "As for the others, Bibi did not make them eunuchs, they came from other places in that state. For those taking the elixir, it wears off over time." "Then I suppose it's very nice of Bibi to give them jobs they can excel at. And I also suppose this might make my fiancé slightly more agreeable to me coming here." She shrugged and laughed. " Though I really don't think he would care at all." A few minutes later Ruby asks, "So, Ela, have you been working at the hotel long? Do you enjoy your job?" Ela replies, " I have been there for eleven years. My late husband is a cousin to the Sultan. When he died I was offered a job there as a chambermaid and have been promoted three times since then. I very much enjoy my job but I have advanced unfortunately as far along as I can go. He and his Uncle have even told me privately that they would make me manager if not for the attitude towards women that many Egyptians hold. Perhaps that will change with the new Queen." Ruby says, "You were married? I'm sorry to hear about your husband. Sounds like you've worked pretty hard to get where you are. Where I come from, it's not much different, they don't take women seriously there either. I've learned if you want something you have to just take it in whatever way you can. As for the Queen, she is young and smart, so I would bet on it that things will change." Ela says, "Oh, I hope so. I have met her many times before, most of those time in this very room. This is one of her favorite places in Zakazik, and this town was where she would go to retreat from Cairo. It is no surprise that she chose here to begin her reign." She lowers her voice and says, "And her father believed that she met General Orabi in the palace after he was assigned there, but it was more the other way around. They had met here in Zakazik years earlier and he sought career advancement that would bring them closer together." Ruby says, "She did tell me she loved it here. My, I suppose you have heard a lot of secrets in this room. I know the Queen truly loves him. But I wonder if his feelings are the same." Ela replies, "That is the thing about secrets, they should stay that way. I have probably already said more than I should have about our new monarch." Ruby grinned. "The only new thing you've told me is that she comes to this lovely establishment, which after coming here myself I would have guessed anyway. I've spent some time with her over the past week or so, in some ways we are much alike. Of course, now she is Queen and I am sure our paths will greatly diverge from here. Which is a shame, for she is a good friend, so I hope having to be in charge of a country doesn't have to change her too much. Ruby continues, "Actually, she may be meeting us, when her business this morning is done. If you've already met her, I am sure you won't mind." Ela replies "I am certain that our new monarch is far too busy with the affairs of state and stopping a war to go shopping with the pair of us." "Then you would be incorrect," Queen Neferka states as she enters the room. Neferka is not alone as four female attendants accompany her, two like the Queen also attired only in a plush towel, but the other two are dressed in dark silk belted tunics. One has a scimitar and pistol attached to her belt, the other has three daggers of varying sizes on her belt and a rifle slung along her back. Ruby exclaims "Your Highness! I'm so excited you're here! How did the business stuff go?" Neferka says, "So far, very well. Your fiance is very skilled at this type of negotiation. I believe that I made an excellent choice in picking him. When I heard that you had gone off with Ela I suspected where I might find the two of you. So, tell me, what have you been talking about?" As she talks the two servant girls remove Neferka's towel and help her into the pool with Ruby and Ela. The two women with the swords each take up a position near the room exits. "Yes, George is good at that business stuff. He's clever and imaginative which I suppose helps him with all his successful business ventures. And he's persistent, he gets what he wants." Ruby giggled, "Remind me to tell you about 'the ring' story sometime. It's how he won me." Neferka says, "I will. I am in a particularly good mood. These negotiations may very well end with my remaining married to Ahmed. If Barrister Sefu were conducting these negotiations instead of your intended they would have probably ended with Ahmed hanging from a rope." Ruby says, "Oh my, now that would not be acceptable! Have you even gotten to see him yet, since you've become Queen??" Neferka says "Not really." Ruby continues, "Anyway, Ela was just telling me that she's met you a few times, and was hoping that some of old sexist views of people around here might change now that you are Queen. I was suggesting she's very good at her job but she was told there was nowhere else to go because of the old men's views of things." The Princess smiles and says, "Oh, I may be speaking prematurely, but I believe that she may be facing a very attractive job offer to ponder in the near future." Ruby shot Ela a look about the job offer, but said nothing else. Obviously Nerfeka already knew of the girls strengths. Ela says, "A position working for you?" Neferka replies, "No, for an American businessman. He has requested an appointment with me for either tonight or tomorrow to discuss establishing a branch of his business here in Egypt. His corporation believes in local management and control so he wants to know my recommendation for a business manager. One other incentive that you might like is that while the job will involve work in both Cairo and Alexandria, he would like to have the main headquarters to be here in Zakazik. That is in part because he has offered to fund the restoration of the Bubastis ruins. He apparently visited them a half-centry ago, before the French stole everything, and wants to make sure everything is put back in its proper place." Ruby interjects, "Which American business man are we talking about? Someone well known? What is his actual business?" Queen Neferka replies, "You know him Ruby, he is married to your Grandmother. His name is James Parker and his business is called the AGELESS Corporation." Ruby stared at the Queen for a long moment then burst out laughing. "I should have known, I guess. I can at least vouch he's good to work for! His business is doing very well right now and it makes sense to have an outpost here." Ruby says, "Ela, it would be so funny, we might actually be working together now and then! How fun would that be. Of course, I hope the Sheik wouldn't mind losing you too much." Ela says, "Hold on, not so fast. Who is this Parker and what type of work are we talking about?" Ruby shrugged. "That you would have to ask the Queen or James about. He does a lot of different things so I'm not entirely sure what he would be doing here. I know my grandmother went to meet him, he was arriving in town sometime tonight. I wanted to give them some alone time so I escorted the Queen back here instead of going with her. He is a historian and a sometimes adventurer. I have no doubt that he would be working hard on restoring the Bubastis ruins if that is what he said he would do." Neferka says, "You are right about one thing Ela, it is premature to discuss it as my meeting with him has not yet taken place. Now Ruby, once we finish here where would you like to go?" Ruby says, "Well, I'd love to find some clothes from your country, something exotic. I could use the robes when I sing, I bet they would just love that back home. Maybe jewelry to go with it? And, well, George has promised to build me a house and I just love the look your country has, it's hard to explain what it is exactly. But I love the colorful lanterns and fabrics and decorations. And, well, is there a place that sells magic items? We aren't openly allowed to practice magic in our country so you definitely don't come by any kind of magical items." She stopped and chuckled. "I guess that is a lot." [/QUOTE]
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AGELESS Campaign Episode 2 - Temple of the Cat-Goddess
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